Part 5

The morning brought with it a fine mist that settled on the bracken that the Elves were using for beds. It highlighted the gossamer webs threading each jagged rock to the next around their makeshift camp and it sparkled on the Elves' pale skin, illuminated by the soft rose hues of the morning sun. The Mirkwood party awoke silently and quickly, gathering their possessions and stretching their limbs. Scarp Hedin was munching on a pastry and sniffing the air like a dog. "The Iron Hills are freezing this time of year, and the rain is a day away. We need to be through the range before it comes or we will be forced to take a different route and risk losing our quarry. Even you Elves would have a hard time stepping on rock ice."

"A human might," replied Brinwier as he slung the two bows across his back, "just lead us to the trail you found yesterday."

Hedin did not answer; instead, he strode off towards a gravel path that led between the two tallest hills in the Troll's Spine range. As the Elves followed him Emedial whispered in their native tongue, a whisper so low that only his brothers would hear it.

"I do not trust the human."

Legolas turned his head and nodded in Emedial's direction, as did Dellane. Brinwier made no acknowledgement as he deftly avoided a jagged rock to leap down to the path.

Legolas' muscles felt heavy this morning, he had not slept as soundly as he had hoped for, and the bitter cold had penetrated his bones during his watch, even as he sat dangerously close to the camp fire. He could not get the slaughtering of Primdale, Fremora and Ambrore out of his mind and last night he had come to a decision. If he should survive this mission and make it back to Mirkwood, he would banish himself from the village. This was the only way he could see to prevent his father's name being tarnished.

The human ranger had disappeared again behind some tall, scrubby bushes and Emedial 'hurrumphed' his displeasure. "I'm telling you," started Emedial, "he's leading us into a trap. Every route he has led us on has few escape routes, now we have the stone blades of these hills to keep us fenced in. Should the Dwarves attack…."

"We would finally have the chance to avenge our brothers." finished Brinwier. "Your feelings may be true, but the human is still our surest means of finding the Dwarves again. If he is in league with these devils then he has the blood of Mirkwood Elves on his hands – I will see that he is punished."

The venom in his voice startled the other Elves and they fell silent once again. A figure appeared half way up the side of the left hand hill and they heard the human's voice carried on the bitter wind. "This way! I've found fresh tracks!"

Scarp Hedin had not moved from his position when the Elves finally caught up to him. The human knelt by the path that had now turned from gravel to loose soil and traced the partial remains of a footprint with a twig. He looked up at them and grinned. "This is no more than a day old. Luckily the morning drizzle did not wash everything clean."

"This makes no sense," scowled Brinwier, "why would a Dwarf haul itself up here instead of retreating to a cave or a mine?"

"Maybe it's a decoy." said Legolas as he bent to examine the print more closely.

"They're not that clever," replied Hedin, erasing all trace of the print with his own boot, "come, let's catch them napping with their loot!" With that he bounded off along the path, which made a sudden turn around the belly of the hill. The Elves followed but Legolas hesitated and looked at the ground where the print had been, a print that had seemed to him too large and slender to be that of a Dwarf.

An hour of strength sapping trudging along the spiraling path later and the party found themselves at the base of a sheer wall of granite. The path ended abruptly and there seemed to be no other course to take. "Great! A dead end!" moaned Dellane.

"No, look up." said Emedial.

At least 150 feet above them, at the top of the smooth cliff, the Elves could see a wooden joist and loops of rope. "A pulley," said Hedin, "probably for a bucket or platform. That's how they get up and down."

"So how do we get up?" asked Emedial, "Do we shout to our friends the Dwarves to lower the bucket?"

"No," replied Brinwier, "but we will use their gear. One of us must climb up and operate it."

"I'll go," said Legolas a little too eagerly, "you all know I'm the fastest climber out of the four of us."

Surprisingly Brinwier put up no resistance to Legolas'claims. Instead he shrugged off his bow, tied a thread from his belt to one of his arrows and fired it gently up. The arrow flew directly towards the joist, cleared it by an inch, made a shallow arc and then descended back towards the party who all took a cautionary step back. The arrow thudded into the damp soil and Brinwier picked it up. The thread was still attached and had un-spooled perfectly from its hook on his belt. Brinwier took the remainder of the thread and tied it to the end of Scarp's rope, then he tugged on the thread hanging down from above and the Elves watched the rope ascend towards the joist like a charmed snake.

The weight of the rope was no match for the strength of the Elven thread and it spiraled up and over the joist. As the end of the rope left the ground Brinwier tied two daggers to it and they flashed and danced on their journey upwards. After a few moments, Brinwier was left holding the dangling end of the human's rope, the other end looked securely wedged in the joist by the protruding daggers. He held out the free end to Legolas. "Up you go." It was less of a request, more an order. Legolas took hold of the rope, gave it a cautionary pull, and then hoisted himself up it, pulling himself towards the top using only his hands.

In less than a minute Legolas was at the top. Before swinging out onto the plateau he peeked over the edge. The top of the hill was flat, as if some mighty giant had cleaved the peak off cleanly with his axe. In the center of the plateau was a perfectly round lake and in the center of that was a small island, barely big enough to hold six people. Right in the middle of the island was a stone wall. Legolas imagined that from the back of a hawk this must look like some huge eye. He scanned the whole area but there was no one to be seen. Heaving himself up onto the edge he tied off the rope and signaled for the others to follow.

As he waited he took a moment to survey the view from this strange summit. He could see Mirkwood to the South West, he could just make out the highest peaks surrounding Mordor and he could see clouds of dark birds circling the swamps to the East. Legolas allowed himself the opportunity to dream of happier times back in his village. Brinwier appeared in all of his memories and he wondered if they would ever be friends again.

A soft voice dragged him from his thoughts and he turned to face Dellane. "I said have you seen any evidence of them?"

"Sorry," replied Legolas, "no, nothing. Just that island."

The Elves began to scout around the edge of the lake while they waited for the human to huff and puff his way up the side of the cliff. Legolas joined Emedial and Brinwier by the water's edge. "How deep is it?" he asked. Emedial disturbed the surface with the toe of his boot. The water was so dark it seemed to absorb light; they could barely see the ripples. "I can't tell," answered Emedial, "something about it doesn't feel right."

Standing by the lake they could now see that the stone wall was, in fact, a circular structure. "A well?" whispered Legolas.

"Possibly," replied Brinwier, "whatever it is we need to check it."

Emedial was already removing his boots. Dellane put her hand on his shoulder and bent down to face him. "Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Well, somebody's got to get over there." he replied unconvincingly.

"Then," said Dellane, "I suggest we use the boat."

Emedial looked at her, confusion clouding his face, then was distracted by the sound of scraping. He looked over his shoulder and saw Scarp Hedin dragging a small boat around to the Elves. The human smiled as he reached them. "This was sitting in the water on the other side of the lake. You couldn't see it from here."

"Really?" said Emedial gruffly as he started to pull his boots back on.

Brinwier's face softened slightly for the first time since the battle. "Thank you for the offer Emedial. Scarp, collect up your rope and the daggers, the rest of you climb aboard."

The Elves and the human had to use their hands to paddle across to the island. The water was unbelievably cold and they had to take turns for a few seconds whilst the others warmed their frozen fingers. After a short while they reached the island and pulled the boat up onto the stone shore. Legolas was the first to the stone circle and he carefully glanced over the edge. The top of a ladder bolted to the side of the stone peeked out from the darkness and suggested a long climb down. Even with his Elven sight Legolas could not see further than a few feet down the hole.

Brinwier had already decided on their course of action. "Emedial, you and Scarp stay up here and watch our backs, and be alert. We do not want Dwarves before and behind us." Emedial started to protest but was cut short by the waved hand of Brinwier. "One of us will come back for you should we need more help, all we intend to do is take a quick look inside this hill and work out our next move." He walked over to the hole and swung a leg over the edge and onto the top rung of the ladder. "Come Dellane, Legolas, let us see what we can unearth." With that he vanished into the darkness. Dellane followed, whispering to Legolas, "We will need to use our ears instead of our eyes Legolas, stay sharp." before disappearing. Legolas smiled at Emedial, then nodded to Scarp. "Keep safe." he said before following his brothers into the hole.

"Can you hear them?" asked the human as Emedial sat on the edge of the stones.

"Just barely," replied the Elf, "strange, this hole does not echo."

"These are the dark arts at work my friend," mumbled Hedin, "we should not be meddling in them."

Emedial gave him a scornful look, and then turned his attention back to the hole.

The human walked closer to him. "Can you hear them now?"

"No," answered Emedial, "I can't hear a thing."

"Good," hissed the human raising his arm, "then they won't hear this!" Before Emedial could turn the ranger had brought the Dwarven axe down sharply, slicing into the Elf's neck and covering his mouth with his free hand. Emedial's spine was severed instantly and he shuddered as he died. It was all the human could do to stop the body from falling into the hole. Hedin dragged the lifeless form back to the shore and rolled it into the water. Black, slimy weed rose to the surface and greedily smothered Emedial's body before pulling him into the depths.

Hedin wiped his hands on his tunic and kicked the boat from the shore, out across the lake, where it drifted towards the other bank.

Then he returned to the stone circle and stealthily began to descend into the dark.