South of the Dark Mountains. July 1, SA 722
THRANDUIL jumped. Someone grabbed him from the side, but he was already falling.
His name blasted through the air, but the roar of the water swallowed all other sounds as Thranduil rammed into the dark turmoil.
The force of the water slammed him hard across his chest. It was no longer just water, but a beast. With immense strength, it sank its teeth into Thranduil, bashing and thrashing him. Sinda spun and could not tell which was up or down.
All the while, Thranduil struggled against the watery foe as it yanked him, then threw him, again and again.
Thranduil's chest burned as his breath caught among the violent thrust when he hit something hard underfoot. He kicked hard against it and broke through the churning surface.
The deafening roar of the beast assaulted Thranduil's sensitive hearing when the current grabbed him and threw him back into the water again. He smashed against a rock, then tossed downstream.
His instinct was to kick harder and stroke faster, putting more strength into his arms and legs. Fighting against instinct, he elongated himself, relaxed his body letting the water wash over him rather than smack into him. He rolled onto his back, allowing the water to send him down current until the strength and the roaring of the water eased.
When he saw a rock protruding from his path, Thranduil grabbed onto it, then climbed on top. He planned to have the currents push him down the river as far as it would, but for now, he needed to take a breath.
Once on top, he looked about, trying to assess whereabout he was. There was only scant daylight, and the sky was all gray.
From where he was, he could hear the roaring of the waterfall, but he could not see it. Twilight descended like a black net over the waters.
He wanted to send up his light to the sky to let the warriors above the waterfall know he had made it, but sending up light now would also mark his location for the Orcs to see which would not do. He needed the element of surprise on his side for now.
But such thoughts lasted only a moment when he saw two figures in the water. They were trying desperately to stay above the water.
Eryn? Thranduil could not believe it, but he could not mistake the head of tightly braided rows. No one among the warriors or ellyth had such a hairstyle. The Elf-woman was tossed over the current, and she lost her grip on the other on whose neck she had one arm hooked. But the roaring water threw them down, dragging them down into the water. Thranduil jumped back into the river when they did not surface. When he came up for air, the woman surfaced.
"Eryn!" Thranduil called to her, but she was thrust downstream, away from him, by the swift current. But the other, he did not see.
Fighting the clamoring current that tried to throw him off, Thranduil took a breath and went under.
The roaring stopped as the air was cut off. It was as if he walked into a silent storm that he could not see or hear, just feel. In the darkness, the water churned, jolting him. Thranduil released as much light as he could produce, thrusting it out of him like tiny stars. He scattered his lights far and wide. Fighting against the churning current, Thranduil looked around the murky darkness.
Just a few feet from him, a dark figure struggled against the current, his strokes and kicks frantic and labored. But he was losing. The movements slowed as the lad's hands clawed the water.
Thranduil dived under the elf, and coming behind the elf, grabbed the scruff of the young elf's leather armor and kicked hard with everything he got.
When he broke through the surface, the river was rough but calmer than before, and the roaring dwindled into a growl. Thranduil looked around, desperate for something to hold. Galion was not heavy but keeping his one hand on the young elf limited what Thranduil could do. It was all he could do to keep his and Galion's heads above water. And he was losing strength in his arms and legs.
"Galion." Thranduil pulled the young elf close to him as the lad hung limp in his arms. A current rose, then thrust them up, slamming them down again. Among the spray of water, Thranduil saw the rocks coming at them. He curled around Galion's body, his back to the rocks. With a thud, he slammed into a rock, then was flung back into the water as he felt something crack behind him. A sharp pain laced down his back. But he didn't have time to think about that. Keeping a firm grip on the Green Elf, Thranduil rolled over the water, then kept Galion over his shoulder to keep the water off the lad as much as possible.
The current weakened considerably as the river widened, but steep rocks rose on each side of the river, allowing no chance for Thranduil to get out of the mouth of the beast. As he passed a group of rocks peeping just above the watery surface, Thranduil grabbed one and pushed Galion onto one of them so he could grab the lad's face. Thranduil slapped the young elf once, then twice. Thranduil's stomach knotted, and he jounced the lad. Galion pulled away, mumbling incoherently. Thranduil breathed out. Relieved now, he looked around.
Ahead, he caught sight of Eryn as she sped downstream with such speed he did not have time to call out to her.
As there was no way for them to exit the water where they were, Thranduil dragged Galion down from the rock and allowed the water to push them downstream after Eryn. He needed to make sure Eryn was safe.
The river curved then narrowed and the growl of the watery beast grew, and so did the strength of its current. Occasionally the water dragged Eryn down, but she came back up. She was too far ahead of them. He could barely make her out as the twilight turned murky. But he had no time to think about her. It was all he could do to stay afloat, keeping a firm grip on Galion, relieved to feel the young elf's heart thumping under his arm.
The steep sides sank slowly as the night fell. The darkness was complete as there were no stars tonight, but with it, water's strength ebbed. As exhausted as he was, Thranduil pulled out his light and scattered them in front of him, keeping them low on the water's surface.
"Galion." Thranduil shook the elf in his arm. "Wake up. Galion!"
"Thran…duil?" Galion picked up his head.
"I got you, Galion. You are okay." Thranduil said, more to convince himself. "Can you swim?"
"I can't feel my leg," Galion said.
"We'll be out of the water soon. Just hold on. Keep awake." Turning Galion onto his back, Thranduil untied the rope holding the quiver and looped it around Galion, tying the quiver to the young lad, then looping it around himself. It will slow him down further to drag Galion like this, but he needed both his arms.
"Eryn!" Thranduil shouted into the darkness ahead of him. "Are you there? Eryn?"
But no sound came from ahead of him. And like the surrounding darkness, fear came, its arms cold and choking.
Did Eryn stay afloat? Did she go down? Thranduil knew if he lost Eryn here, Durion would never forgive him.
"Eryn!" He called her a few more times, trying to project his voice down into the darkness. Silence.
If only he had stars tonight, Thranduil prayed. But the sky remained dark and everywhere oppressive darkness tightened around him.
Thranduil pushed his lights to the side of the river, hoping to glimpse a sight of shore or even a riverbank low enough for them to access. Perhaps Eryn found one. But his lights only showed steep rock walls on both sides of the narrow river.
Eryn must be far ahead of him. She must be. That was why he could not see her or hear her. The current had pushed her down faster than them because he had Galion to weigh him down. While the current had slowed, it was still fast-moving water. Even if Eryn drowned, her body would still be moving. Wouldn't it? It must be, Thranduil reasoned.
"Eryn," Galion spoke, his voice weak and scratchy. "She was in the water."
"I know. Be my eyes. See if you could spot her."
Instead of just letting the current carry them down, Thranduil dove with the current. He needed to find Eryn.
Thranduil concentrated on his strokes and keeping his body flat and sleek, gliding down the current, grateful for all that he had learned from Lord Cirdan's people at the Grey Havens. He had hated the seawater, but Elrond had insisted they learn to swim in the ocean. There were many times either Elrond or Thranduil had to be fished out of the water half dead, but they had learned to swim in the rough waters under Lord Cirdan's tutelage.
He didn't know how long he was at it. It was hard to tell the time in the darkness. Thranduil's arms grew heavy with each stroke. He pushed himself until he felt he could not go on further. He flipped onto his back to rest, knowing he must find a way out of this water before he lost any more strength. He needed to catch up to the boat which he couldn't do without his strength.
"There. Something is there," Galion said when Thranduil's arms felt like a dead weight. He turned over and picked up his head for a look. But the water was in his eyes, and he could not see.
"Just a few more feet ahead." Galion pointed.
Thranduil reached into the last bit of his strength.
But it was not Eryn. Just a piece of wood plank floating in the water. It was not even big enough for Galion to rest on.
A wind screeched past them.
Thranduil was so tired. At this rate, both of them would drown. Maybe Eryn was dead already. Thranduil bit down a groan. His body didn't feel like his own. It felt so heavy he wasn't sure he could move anymore. How was he to catch up to Lord Istuion like this? The fatigue mingled with anxious despair burned through him. And with them came anger that rushed through his veins.
"Why the hell did you two jump after me?" He could take care of himself, but this two unexpected baggage was dragging him down. A sudden heat surged through him as sharp pain radiated down his left arm. A growl escaped between his clenched teeth.
"Damn you all!" Thranduil roared, then barreled through the water. It was as if the strength that he didn't know he had gushed through him. He sped over the water as if he was a fish and not an elf when his lights that illuminated the path ahead went out suddenly, throwing them into pitch darkness.
Thranduil stopped, unsure which way to go. Pain seared his left arm and shook it. He faltered as a sudden burn seared through his arm.
He heard only his rough breath. The blood that boiled calmed as his breathing slowed. Then he remembered the young elf.
"Galion?" Thranduil pulled the rope he had placed around Galion.
A flickering light appeared next to him. Galion held out a small light in his hand, like a candle in a drafty room. On the lad's tired face, there sat fear.
"What happened?" Thranduil turned to Galion.
The youth flinched as if he feared Thranduil would strike him.
"What's wrong?"
"You just… you flew over the water. Did I just imagine it? How could you swim so fast?"
Thranduil frowned, not understanding when ahead of him, something flickered.
A small ball of light hovered over the surface of the water just a few feet ahead of him. A shape moved behind the light.
"Is that you, Thranduil?" Eryn's voice sounded weak and strained.
"Eryn? Are you well?"
"I am all right. Galion. He was in the water." Her voice faltered.
"I'm here," Galion said.
"But he is injured. We need to get out of the water. Can you see anything ahead?"
"I found a piece of plank," Eryn said. "Come this way. I have space only big enough for Galion, though. But you can hold on to it." Eryn pushed her light toward Galion's flickering light. Thranduil tried to add to it with his light, but he found he was too exhausted.
Two pale lights circled each other, widening the area of illumination.
"Do not send it up higher. We do not want to signal anyone our location right now."
"I don't have the strength even if I wanted to," came the reply.
From what he could gather, the river, instead of widening, narrowed and headed toward even lower ground. From where they were, they could hear the gurgle of water rise into a roar.
"Try to come this way," Eryn said just ahead of them. Thranduil reached in to bring out his light again, but he found he could not.
"Galion, can you see?" Thranduil pulled the lad closer to him. When his hand landed on Galion's arm, he was icy cold. "Are you well, lad?"
"I am all right," Galion said, but his face under the flickering light was pale and sickly.
But there was no more time. The water was roaring again.
If only he could see better. It was hard to gauge the directions or whereabout they were because he could not see.
Please, Elbereth, give us your light, Thranduil prayed.
Then it was as if the Lady of the Stars heard his prayer. The night sky brightened.
"Look, Thranduil," Galion's feeble voice trembled. "The stars. The stars are shining."
Thranduil looked up as the wind picked up, moaning and writhing down the river. Above them, the darkness cracked open, and the stars shone, throwing a silver glimmer onto the rough surface of the river.
Ahead, he saw Eryn atop a floating thing. Thranduil pushed against the current. Eryn's light trembled, dim and pale in the night.
"Push Galion over here. I will grab him," she shouted over the increasing roar of the water.
The current was jostling him again. Thranduil pulled off the rope and lay Galion's body flat on his back.
"I am going to glide you over the water. Don't move your legs, just keep your body elongated. Ready?" Thranduil lifted Galion out of the water. He wasn't sure if Galion could take another dip into the river.
Galion nodded. Gathering strength into his arms, Thranduil thrust the youth toward the Eryn.
The Green Elf grabbed Galion and fished him out of the water. Thranduil kicked and lunged, but the water current pushed him away. Whatever strength that he had was already leaving him.
"Grab onto me," she shouted as she leaned, extending one of her arms. Thranduil kicked again and reached. Eryn pulled him over to her. Thranduil took a breath, hanging onto the edge of a large piece of wood. Once she made sure Galion was comfortable, she crumbled next to the lad as if her limbs would support her no longer.
"You crazy Sinda," Eryn huffed. Her light flickered, then dissolved in the air. Galion's light had gone out, too, but the stars shone brightly in the sky.
With two Green-elves sprawled on it, there was space wide enough to accommodate Thranduil. But having something to hold allowed him the rest he needed. It was a pale wood, edges ripped as if it broke off under a great force. Thranduil's lips pulled up. It was as he had hoped.
Thranduil kicked, pushing the plank toward the clumps of grass, away from the current of water. He needed to get out of the water now. He needed to replenish his strength if he hoped to track down the Orcs.
"Let's hope that all this grass means that the water is not deep." He knew that wasn't true, having seen water grass grow twice his height back at the Mouth of Sirion. But he hoped this wasn't Beleriand.
"You wish," Eryn who lay crumpled next to Galion turned to Thranduil. "I spent most of the last century of the First Age at Ossiriand. I've seen water grasses grow taller than you."
"Just the last century? I thought you grew up there?"
"No." Eryn sat up and turned to Galion. "I grew up at the Neldoreth Forest just outside Menegroth. My mother was a Sinda. She made my father stay within the girdle, and that is where I was born. But when the Dwarves attacked, and the girdle was no more, my father moved us to Ossiriand with his people."
"Is that why you prefer Sindarin over Silvan tongue?"
"Sindarin was my first language. I learned Silvan at Ossiriand, but they made fun of my accent."
"It was wise to leave Menegroth when you did." Otherwise, she would have seen the horror of the kinslaying that came only four years later.
"Well, I don't know. We had dragons burn down our forest. So." Eryn asked Galion where he hurt the most, then took off Galion's boots to examine his leg.
Thranduil wondered which was worse: the spilling of the kin's blood or the burning down of a forest. Both were horrific, although, for him, there was no comparison. One was by your kin and the other by your enemy. No. There was no comparison.
"Then, you must have known Thranduil as a child," Galion said, clenching his teeth as Eryn ran her hand down his leg.
"Everybody knew him," Eryn said, her eyes not leaving Galion's injury. "He hard to miss, the only child at Menegroth, and the only one with a tumble of golden hair."
"I don't remember you," Thranduil said.
"Why should you? You a little lordling and we nobody important. My father was a hunter and my mother a weaver. I think I have been inside Menegroth barely enough times to count with my hands."
Galion cried out when Eryn moved his injured foot. Eryn's face turned grim. "Your leg broken. It needs to be set." Eryn threw Thranduil a fiery gaze.
Sinda knew Eryn blamed him, but then so did he.
"Tell me more about Thranduil," Galion said, clenching his teeth. "Tell me, did our people recognize him?"
"We all did. When he ran about the forest, we all took turns watching over him."
"What are you talking about?" Thranduil tensed. He didn't like where this was going.
"You Lady Siloril's grandchild. She our people. We considered you ours."
"So did my father told us when Farion talked of you." Galion gazed down at his leg.
Thranduil pushed the plank harder. He needed to get out of there. Who did they think they were, talking as if he belonged to them?
"Then you knew who I was when we met?"
"Not until I found you Lord Oropher's son. But even then, I didn't realize you that same blond child I remembered from Doriath. You had red hair, remember?" Eryn glanced up briefly before she turned to one of the several pouches attached to her leather armor.
"What red hair?" Galion looked at Thranduil, then at Eryn.
"And you so different. Even though you just a child when I've known you, most people don't change that much."
Thranduil turned away, clenching his back teeth.
"What was he like as a child? What—"
"What were you two thinking?" Thranduil cut off Galion's question to Eryn. "Why did you two jump into the waterfall? Did you two have a death wish? Are you insane?"
Ahead, under the faint starlight, a long row of grass could be seen. Thranduil kicked harder and pushed through the top of the submerged grasses. He needed to get out of the water and assess where he was. He had work to do. He found the water shallow where they were. He could walk on it now.
"I didn't jump." Eryn looked up, her eyes fierce. "I just try to stop you and fell in because I caught your armor as you fell. It was Galion who jumped after you."
Galion flushed under the starlight. "You said I was to stay with you. So, I did. I… didn't want to be separated."
"Never mind us. What were you thinking?" Eryn glared down at Thranduil. "You crazy jumping in like that when that warrior clearly told you it was dangerous."
"Danger is something we have to overcome as a warrior. Lord Istuion's life is at stake. Him and his family."
"And other warriors? Are their lives not important?"
"I never asked any of them to follow me."
"You don't understand how they feel. They are like Galion. Want to be with you, be at your side. Do you not understand that this should be teamwork? Why are you so reckless and unthinking?"
"I am not mindless as you believe." His feet were beginning to feel numb, but the shore seemed far away. The marsh area was wider than he had expected.
"Really? And what did you think? Not think you could be injured? Galion's leg is broken, dashed among the rocks, I reckon. He cannot walk for a while. And for what? We can't go further now. We should have just waited until dawn when there would be light enough to see. But you didn't think about that, did you?" Despite the fatigue on her face, Eryn's voice boomed, shattering the night.
"You two were not in my plan, and I would have been fine, just as I am now. Even if I sustained some injury, I knew I would heal fast enough that it wouldn't have been a problem."
"Yes, you think you indestructible. But even if you not injured, how did you expect to catch up to those on the boat?" Eryn scoffed.
"These are Orcs. They don't know how to handle a boat, and they fear water. Yet, they took the boat. Do you know what that means? They were commanded to by their master. But their master cannot control the boat for them." Thranduil knocked on the plank where Eryn and Galion sat. "You see this piece of wood? It is from the boat. In these rough waters, with debris, rocks, and sharp turns, the Orcs must have smashed onto the rocks. There were more of these on the water. They may be ahead of us, but they are bound to ground the boat and must travel by land."
"But they all guess. What if you wrong? And even if you right, we are two days behind them. How you catch up to them?"
Thranduil looked up at the sky. It was full of stars. Even if he was wrong, there will be sun tomorrow. Orcs could not ride the boat under the full sun for too long a time during daylight hours. But more importantly, Elven boats were light, not meant to carry heavy loads like Orcs in their armor and weapons.
"I'll think of something."
"There you go again. You don't share. You just make your own plans and not think about others who worry about you. But then you don't care about us, do you, Thranduil? We too beneath you."
"He's not like that." Galion looked at Thranduil as if to apologize in Eryn's stead.
Thranduil looked down at Eryn, the fire burning through him. The she-elf met his eyes, her chin raised, not backing down.
"Am I wrong? You don't mingle with us. You don't dance or sing. You don't join us when we laugh."
"You do not know me."
"I know you think we wild and crude, and maybe we are. But it's because we passionate about our forest and our people. Because we love unconditionally. When we give our hearts, we give our whole. We don't play hide and seek like you refined folk."
Thranduil shoved the plank to the bank full of tall grasses, then carried Galion out of the plank, leaving Eryn there. Water was everywhere, the flowers and bushes half submerged. He didn't turn to look, but he heard the soft feet over the watery ground and knew Eryn was following.
There were no trees near, so when he found a small elevated area without water, he set Galion down.
"You ignoring me now?" Eryn said, taking out her dagger to cut down the reeds about her, tying them together as she measured them against Galion's leg.
"Think whatever you wish."
Calming his rough breath, Thranduil reached behind to examine his bow. He knew his sword would be fine. It was the reason he tied it to his back, to protect it from the rocks. But he knew his bow could get damaged. He had heard something crack behind him. When he unbound the bow, he found there were cracks in its grip.
"Here, use this to bind Galion's leg. That reeds wouldn't do." Thranduil snapped his bow in two and threw them next to Eryn.
Eryn took the broken bow and looked up.
"I know you a chestnut. There is that goodly center. I see it. But why make others' hands bleed to peel it? I say this for the sake of others. For your warriors and other Silvans." Eryn's voice was softer now.
Thranduil kicked the dirt, clamping his mouth into a thin line. He examined his quiver to find most of the arrows broken. He would have to rely solely on his sword, it seemed.
Eryn continued. "They try so hard. They so want to get to know you. They want to see you happy, to share their joy in life. But, you-"
"I don't deserve to be happy!"
What came out shocked him as much as it did Eryn and Galion. Both Green-Elves looked up, their eyes wide, their mouth hanging open.
Thranduil turned away.
"I don't have time for this. Lord Istuion needs me."