The Tale of Caran Elenath

~Part Three~

'Legolas! LEGOLAS!'

The Elven Prince opened his eyes slowly, the hazy form of ...Galier? Nay, Linel, the hazy form of Linel looming over him. Elsewhere, his keen ears detected movement, the shuffling of feet, seemingly frantic.

'What... What ails thee, Linel...?'

The slightly shorter Elf yanked on Legolas' hand with an urgency about him, hauling him roughly out of bed.

'Cara-'

'Caran has vanished!' Shiara shouted, thrusting her head, raven locks swirling about her, through Legolas' door. The prince's eyes widened in disbelief, horror.

'She has WHAT?!' Linel clamped a hand over Legolas' mouth.

'Prithee, whouldst thou not wake the entire kingdom, Prince Legolas Greenleaf?!' Legolas was about to reply when any sound he could have possibly made was drowned out by a deafening peal of thunder.

'Well,' Galier muttered, trudging into the room, filling a large burlap sack with various supplies from across the prince's quarters, 'whomever that idiot has not awoken with his foolish cries is most likely up and about by now!' Legolas, however, was not listening to his friend. Instead, his eyes gazed, trance-like, out of the carved-out window, watching the rain pour down in sheets and the thunder rip across the sky like eagles' talons.

'Dost thou know where she hath gone to?' He whispered. Shiara shook her head.

'A note... She wrote of... "Finding the sun"...'

Legolas whirled about, snatching up the parchment in question, eyes widening as he read the script upon it.

'No...'

His three companions gazed upon him, none daring to say a word, knowing that their prince -their friend- was deep in thought, and worried...

Quite worried.

'Mine friends...' Legolas began in a quivering voice. 'Mine friends... We must fetch Caran Elenath...'

His storm-gray eyes darkened.

'Quickly!'

~*~

It was not as if Caran Elenath was scared -nay, she was in fact far from fear in any form. Her task was merely difficult, plowing through the mists of Mirkwood at the very hour of beasts, through deafening rainfall, difficult for even an Elf such as herself. The crystal water droplets clung to her face, and yet, her eyes burned on, and she felt in her heart that her eyes would burn forward forever.

She could smell it... The dust and decay that hung about the air wherever the vile creature walked.... Caran's Elvish ears picked footsteps far, far in the distance, and cries; But she knew they would never reach her.

The tiny child's eyes again shone with that bloodlust, and she began to sing softly:


'I was born unafraid,
'For I was born free,
'And I was born knowing freedom laid,
'Far across the Sea.
'And now is mine time to give up immortality,
'Not for love alas but for the chance for others to be free.
'Oh! Adan Elenath!
'Bless upon me the soothing wave

'Of the mother sea to envelope me
'As I approach the mortals' grave!'

Presently, Caran stopped, the leaves crunching beneath her boot as she quickly pivoted, and she found herself staring into icy eyes.

Eight aqua eyes, nigh-glowing, bore into her flesh. From hairy mandibles, saliva, foam, and soft clicking noises were set upon her, perhaps a mere foot from her face. Eight great hairy legs clicked them selves about her, tapping out their own melody, as if her doom.

And then, Caran Elenath, Daughter of No One, saw it: A pale peach on the belly of the gigantic creature, almost calling to her.

'The Mark of Rhen..." She whispered slowly as she drew forth from her belt the glistening bowknife. The clicking intensified, What do you do child? What do you do?

'Foul Beast of Rhen!' Caran growled as she took up a stance, the dire mists of Mirkwood now framing her Elven form,

'Thou shalst come with me to the mortals' Hell!'

~*~

Speeding through the woods as hares being chased by a tenscore Wargs, Galier, Linel, Legolas, and Shiara rushed across the leaves of Mirkwood. It had indeed taken much "persuasion" before the prince would allow the lady to accompany them, but she had insisted that the young Elven girl was as much close to her heart as the girl was to his own.

That, and the fact that Legolas had no time to argue.

'Thou shalst come with me to the mortals' Hell!'

Galier whipped his head about, bellowing to his prince. 'Legolas! Come hither!'

Legolas bounded toward his friend, the brother and sister close on his heels. Silently, Shiara closed her eyes and offered a silent plea to those far across the Great Sea.

I pray we are not too late.

~*~

The bowknife flashed silver in the glinting moonlight and rain; With a cry, Caran drove it toward the Mark of Rhen, but not before a barbed claw could slash across her Elven features, blood seeping down her face.

Flung backward, the creature lunged toward her; She could feel the saliva from its jaws dripping onto her face, mingling with her blood; A soft hiss emitted as she felt ready to vomit.

Not wanting to lose her blade, Caran quickly tore an arrow from her quiver and drove it between the mandibles. The Great Spider emitted an unearthly squeal as it reeling backwards; Caran took her chance to grab the knife and strike!

The squeal deepened into a gurgle as blood and puss oozed from the wound. The Beast of Rhen's many eyes began to waver, it hissed, and suddenly, in a mad rage, flung itself upon Caran Elenath.

The Beast of Rhen was now doomed to die, but it did, in its wicked mind, that it would not go alone into the Underworld. The onslaught Caran faced was one no man alive could have fended off; She struck blindly with her knife as fangs sank into her flesh, claws ripped across her body, and poison slowly filled her veins. Her strikes were becoming less and less fierce as her vision blurred; She did not notice the creature becoming weaker as well. All she saw were the poison-dripping fangs lurching toward her throat.

TWANG!

Shiara's arrow hit true, the center of the creature's horrid head. It fell at last, unable to fight the mortal wound inflicted on the Mark.

The Beast of Rhen would kill no longer.

'CARAN!'

Legolas dashed to the bloody heap, lying upon the forest floor, silver glinting upon crimson as Caran's body sagged for breath and the raindrops mercilessly battered against it. Linel and Galier rushed forward; Shiara put a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder, pulling back and biting her lip when Caran gave a short cry of pain.

'Caran...' Legolas said softly. She looked up at him through dilated eyes, and, weakly, gave her her infamous grin, pearly teeth now pink with blood.

'Brother Laeglas... I killed it! I've brought the sun back upon Mirkwood!' Legolas closed his eyes tightly, willing it all to go away.

'That you did, brave young one... That you did...'

Galier was crying freely, and growing impatient. 'Shiara, all be damned! DO something for this child!' There was a hiss from his companion.

'Hold thine tounge, Galier Crossback, Son of Ithilgaer the Flameshot! Can you not see mine sister is as distraught as you are?!' Linel lowered his voice, kneeling next to Caran and searching her eyes, this girl that he loved as his other sister, searching her eyes for that mirthful sparkle. Alas, her eyes were all but dead.

'Caran...' Shiara said quietly, voice a whisper with the trees and the rainfall. 'Is there... Is there a thing at all that we can do?!'

There was a brief silence, and when it passed, a memory that would remain with the four Elves forever was forged. Caran's eyes became passive, and she sighed wistfully, and her gaze, with what strength she had to alter it, turned to the west.

'Twould it... Twould it not be a trouble to thee... Mine friends... I should dearly... love to gaze upon the Sea....'

And so passed the young Elf Caran Elenath, Daughter of No One, known as The Nuisance, The Hero, and The Finder of The Sun.

~*~

The body of Caran Elenath was wrapped in the cloak of the prince himself, and placed in a small boat, set afloat upon a river that led to the Great Sea. The Beast of Rhen had been vanquished, for the life of a child never meant to die. Legolas, Shiara, Linel, and Galier remembered Caran and her life forever, and indeed, many say that at times it was the memory of the Elven girl and her sacrifice that pushed the prince onward during the more hopeless times of The War of the Ring, for because of the girl Caran Elenath, all knew that the Sun was indeed in reach for any who sought it.