Glorfindel carefully felt his way down the stairs. He was still as soundless as he'd ever been, but it was awkward for him. He supposed it would probably appear very comical to the servants, if any of them were to see. But he heard them at work several rooms off, and none were heading to the stairwell.
Glorfindel decided that, notwithstanding the love and respect he had for Arwen and Aragorn, he was still very grateful that they had no children. If one was to come careening down the stairs like a bat out of hell, as Arwen had done when she was a child, what would he do? Or if a toddler were seated at the foot of the stairs, and he happened to step on it, what-
"I still say you ought to have the night sky painted on this ceiling, Arwen. Both the height and positioning are perfect." There was Legolas, and apparently Arwen and Aragorn, but in what room? How far?
If what Mirkwood's prince had said earlier was true, and his hearing was indeed sharper, then perhaps no one was where he thought them to be at all.
Glorfindel entertained the thought that, if his hearing became strong enough, he would be able to hear men working in a distant town. If blindness made his other senses stronger, if he lost his sense of smell, would he be able to hear the horses in Rohan?
He laughed quietly at the thought.
"Legolas, I wasn't aware that you knew much of architecture," he heard Arwen comment.
"It is Gimli's doing, I am afraid."
"And so you still blame everything on Gimli," Aragorn replied.
Where was the dining area? Glorfindel halted, three steps from the landing (though he did not know how near he was). He had said he would be at supper. But he had never agreed to be brought there. If Aragorn had caught the discrepancy, he would have said something, and he had not. Which meant that he trusted Glorfindel to come.
But to come, not to be carried! The Elf gripped the banister hard, and considered returning to his room and, if asked, merely saying he had overslept.
Deep ran his pride; deeper still ran the honor he had carried with him since the days of Morgoth, and he would not go back on a promise made to a friend. He would go and meet them, and follow them to the table.
He found the next step down to be the hardest yet.
********
"Glorfindel! You're on time. I hope you have brought your appetite," Arwen greeted him as he slowly made his way through the doorway. His three friends tensed, as if preparing to help him, but each was stopped in turn by the others.
"I suppose I have, Lady Arwen. If the aroma is anything to judge by, then I won't be able to refuse your chefs." His foot caught the edge of a table and he stumbled, but he turned his foot away, before the table could be tipped over.
A white overstuffed chair gave him more trouble; he had to feel his way around it with his hands. "Well, do not stand here for my sake! Lead on," he said, forcing cheer into his voice.
"This way?" Legolas asked Aragorn, though he knew already. But Glorfindel needed sound, any sound, to follow.
"Yes," Aragorn nodded, and he and Arwen followed Legolas through the room. "I will go and tell the kitchen that we're almost ready to eat." He disappeared down the hall, to the kitchen, and Legolas and Arwen continued to the dining table.
"Which chair?" Glorfindel asked quietly, when he had found his way safely there.
Arwen took his arm gently in one hand and guided him a few feet to his right. "This one."
"Thank you," he murmured as he eased the chair back and sat down. Arwen took her place and then Aragorn entered and sat next to her. Within minutes, an orderly procession of servers came in with trays of soup, drinks, steaming vegetables, bread, fruits, cheese, and meat.
One or two faltered when they saw Glorfindel, but recovered quickly enough to stop whatever they carried from being spilled. After the servants were no longer hovering over them, they spoke comfortably with one another, and the time passed quickly.
"A strange thing happened this morning," Aragorn commented thoughtfully. "A messenger from Vel Ptens of Laskan came with an invitation to a banquet. Laskan is so small that even through my travels, I have never been to it. They ask for me to bring an honor guard of six...but to a place that is not in Laskan at all. They asked me to Gancuron, which is far from the principality Laskan was once a part of."
"Maybe Ptens is a mayor or in alliance with Gancuron?" Legolas asked.
"I assume he has a considerable amount of influence, as he has re-named part of it. But it makes little sense to hold a meeting in a land so far from his own." Aragorn sighed.
"When is the banquet?" Arwen asked.
"I leave in less than a week, and I will be gone twelve days." He gazed at her apologetically, but Arwen smiled, attempting to reassure him that there was no need.
"Whom will you bring?" she asked.
"Beregond, for one, but I must give further thought to the others."
Arwen and Legolas had informed Aragorn of the recent Elf disappearances, and he had immediately begun organizing a task force, which Legolas would head. Messengers had been sent out, warning others of what was happening.
Glorfindel was to go with Legolas, at least as far as he wished. No one really expected him to fight or scout with the group, including himself.
********
With Beregond and Faramir's council, the best of Gondor's men were chosen to go to the banquet in Olde Laskan, the newly renamed section of Gancuron. They left the day after Legolas and Glorfindel.
The country was mainly lush, green farmland, spotted every now and again with a small house or two. But they found that the town, Gancuron, was abandoned. The small, close homes were neglected; the streets were empty, marked with holes; the fields of vegetables and grain were sparsely packed.
"This land smells of death," said Aragorn quietly, to Beregond.
But Beregond was not the only one to have heard. A man, younger than those in Aragorn's party, came forward. His hair was dark, as were his eyes, and he was dressed in fine green and blue cloth. The confident, observant presence in this man left no doubt in Aragorn's mind as to who this was.
"A plague." Vel's eyes followed one of the crows as it carried food back to its young in the dry corn fields. "But come. You have traveled long. Indoors, King Elessar, there is much to see and you will not be subjected to the stench of those long dead."
A young girl, no more than six, poked her head out of her run-down cottage and watched them pass. She seemed to be alone in the cottage, but she also seemed well-fed, in defiance of the dust and emptiness that engulfed the rest of the town.
Vel noted their curiosity and explained simply, "The town is missing many members now, including that girl's parents, but it leaves more food to be distributed among the future generation."
He led them towards a large home, which was not quite grand enough to be considered a palace. "I have business to prepare for this evening, which we will discuss at dinner." Vel left them quickly, after first making sure their needs and wants were seen to.
Many men, when agitated, would pace, or become irritable. But Aragorn became still, and grave. "Would that I had learned of this sooner! I have been to this town, long ago. The people of this principality are generous and hard working. Alas, that I could not have helped them!"
"Despair not," Beregond said. "Perhaps Vel has brought us here to plead their case."
Aragorn wearily looked out over the town. "I hope that is the case. But I dare not put faith in it."
Each man brought only one guard to dinner. Sen had his theories for this. For one, Vel needed someone to pour the wine and dispose of the dishes, assuming that anything was eaten, or that the wine was drunk. In this case, it would be Sen.
Aside from that, it would be suspicious to tell the King of Gondor to come alone to the forest for supper. And it would be worse to ask Aragorn to bring but one guard if Vel had eight.
Furthermore, if anything Ral had taught Sen was true about Kings, then he knew Aragorn was more likely to give a false reaction in front of a group of people. Asking him to choose one person would compel him to bring the most trusted member of his Honor Guard, and he would have less of a 'mask' on.
And lastly, with or without all the other reasons being true, Sen knew that Vel truly just enjoyed seeing others squirm. Especially those who held more power than he.
The coach, pulled by two gold and black horses, exited the town and followed the dry road through the countryside.
"I had not traveled out this way," Aragorn said. "I imagine it was once beautiful; but the fields are here forsaken." The sun was much lower now, making it difficult to see.
Yet in the moonlit gloom, a black field came into view; a field, or perhaps even a forest, but the trees were only seven feet tall at most, and they had small and few, or even no limbs. At the top, the trunks were much straighter and thinner then the rest of the tree. The few stout limbs (never more than eight, and most often four on a single tree) were gnarled and twisted, as if frozen in a moment of agony.
The coach turned a corner and the forest was hidden by a tall, bare hill.
The carriage stopped. Aragorn stared out the window in bleak dismay. "I believe I know where the town really is." He turned to Beregond. "Say nothing once we leave this coach."
The driver pulled the door open, and immediately the stench of death threatened to over power the two men.
When they were able to force their eyes upon the field, the trees revealed themselves at last, not as trees at all, but as men and women impaled upon tall wooden spikes; sometimes upside down, and some pierced through the stomach.
Sitting in the midst of this was Vel, his kind dark eyes alert, and even amused. "Welcome to the forest of Olde Laskan, Elessar. Please, have a seat, and let us speak." Aragorn's hand moved to the hilt of Anduril. "Stay your hand, King of Gondor. You would deeply regret bringing that sword upon me."
"So you are the plague which you said took these lives?" Aragorn asked, his voice cold as the wind bearing frost.
Vel gave a disdainful snort. "Hardly. Rather, they were the plague, and Laskan the blade to remove them. And look!" with a half-serious smirk, he swept his hand over the gruesome scene, and stopped when he pointed to a lone golden spike, away upon a knoll, supporting only a skeleton. "Their prince was the first; even in death, he finds himself above his people."
Aragorn's sharp gray eyes observed this sadly; at last, he turned them back to Vel, and it was a wonder the captain of Laskan could endure the hateful glare as well as he did. "You deserve death, and worse."
Vel moved not a muscle. Quietly, when it was meant to sound entertained, he said, "And I know that you crave to be the one who delivers my sentence." His dark brown eyes shifted away, and his cool detachment returned. "I assumed you would say as much, though you are made of firmer stuff than I thought. Still, I do have business which may concern you, so do take your seat."
Aragorn sat across from him, and his gaze did not waver. "For what business would you have brought me to this place?"
Vel watched Sen. "Reassure my servant." At which Sen looked up. "He worries that this banquet has sparked the wrath of Gondor."
"And you dare hope that I will forget this?"
"No. But I would hope that, when your anger cools, you will remember," he glared at Aragorn, eyes burning in the darkness, in opposition to the cold brooding in the King's gaze. "That this 'forest' was made by only three of my least competent men, and no word was ever sent to Gancuron's allies, Gondor included. No one knew of this, Elessar, and if you act rashly, how many more will die?"
Vel took his wine goblet, sifted it, and placed it back on the table. "Now I expect that you will rush to your allies, to warn them or make certain none of their citizens have met my army. But, before you go, bear in mind that there are a certain number of beings whose fate lies mainly with your actions. And by my word will they live..." he looked over their surroundings, "Or else find only lingering death."
********
Ral groaned as he sat down. He supposed the Elves were more tired than he; he had been riding for two days straight, while they had been walking. But he doubted Elves ever tired. They weren't panting even now, and they never slept. They hardly even blinked, he had found.
"Distribute the rations," he ordered, and closed his eyes for a moment.
"Taur Thranduil dortha u hae o si?"
Ral could hear their soft, musical voices. But he let them be. Why yell at them for trying to comfort one another?
"U hae...dan law gent em. Ias dortha car em u maer ir erem."
"Thenid. Dan gard ist nam coth!" Ral smiled at the tone in this Elf's statement. The friend sounded so...morose, while this one seemed triumphant, or desperate. He had learned triumph and desperation were nearly the same, differing only in circumstance.
"Manen? Man agorech?" Disbelief, or surprise. Ral knew those sounds only too well.
"Law garin! Min taur u awarthant em! Tad tawarwaith tolinner anem." That tone...reassuring, perhaps?
"I coth ganner sain?" And this Elf was back to sounding hopeless.
But what was said next sounded victorious, confident; Ral wasn't certain what to make of it. "U farn avorn. Min roch noront dan an Eryn Lasgalen. I rochon ristant; I roch noront agarwaen. Heniadh?"
"Avo echadich blannan ech." Sarcasm.
The more optimistic Elf laughed, and they fell into silence. But the peaceful quiet was broken when one of them cried, "Tiro! Cennin I muindor o Collerusc!"
Ral, roused first by the sharpness in the Elf's voice, and then by the sounds of a fight, looked over, and found one of the Elves they had taken from the forest-realm wrestling one of his guards. Ral watched for a moment, and when he decided the guard was losing and that no one else would step in without being told to, he reached over and unchained three wolves.
They sprang free, and in minutes had the Elf down. One had hold of his arm, another his leg, and the third, the largest, was snapping for his face and throat. Galtaur fought to hold it off with his free arm.
This caused the rest of the Elves to try and break free, in order to aid their comrade. The men laughed and cheered, beginning to bet away their evening rations. Ral sighed in irritation and whistled low, the signal for the wolves to leave their prey.
When they stepped away, Ral walked over and stared down at Galtaur. He was bleeding heavily, and the fear of the wolves, still hovering near him and snarling, probably only made it worse. "You are new here?" Ral asked. He crouched a little lower and studied the Elf's tunic. "Your clothing...differs from these others. You are one of those we got from the Elf King's swamp." He sat back on his heels.. "Do not fight; that is a rule, and this is the only warning."
He glanced up at one of the other men, wondering if what he'd said was comprehensible in the Common Tongue. The other man nodded, and Ral straightened. "See to the wounds on his leg. But keep the wolves free; maybe now he will think twice before he acts."
They began to clean and dress Galtaur's leg, but they had barely enough time to finish before Ral ordered the group to move on. "If infection sets in, so be it. If he cannot keep up, kill him and leave him to the birds." Ral's instinct was to be more lenient, but he knew that such a thing had no place in the army of Laskan. Not while Vel was Master. Ral drew himself up and pressed on.
********
Vel rose from his seat. "Clean off the table." Aragorn and Beregond were on their way back to Gancuron, and Vel's coach was waiting, but he seemed in no hurry to leave.
Sen obeyed, though he was torn between his anger at Vel's dismissive attitude after he had placed his own people in such danger, and his fear that he would be added to the Treeless Forest. Bitterly, he thought, "Are you pleased? You have brought the vengeance of Gondor and all its allies upon us."
The silence dragged on. Sen began to hear (or, surely, to imagine that he heard) the citizen's last screams, and slow, endless groans. They stopped abruptly with the ghostly clopping and creaking of an old, familiar carriage as it pulled up. Sen straightened; Vel smiled.
The carriage was gray, weather beaten, the wooden side panels warped from years of abuse, the leather top cracked and dry. The windows were broken out, allowing the tattered white curtains to flap out, as a phantom's hands waving in the night air. Even without the windows, the gloom was too thick to see the passengers.
The door opened, and five got out, four men and one woman. Each was bony, pale, and wild eyed. This was an image Vel had intentionally brought out in them, to cover the cunning abilities Sen knew they had.
For these madmen, half-starved and beaten into their servitude, were some of Laskan's finest spies. Just as Vel could, at will, hide his cruelty behind gentle features, so he had taught these poor creatures to walk behind any disguise he told them to.
"King Elessar of Gondor is back in Gancuron," Vel said quietly. "Follow him; tell me what his plans are, and delay him as best you can. But beware! He is quite observant, and his senses are remarkably strong. Stronger than yours." One hissed to himself at this warning, but swiftly he fell silent again.
Vel opened the door to his elegant coach and pulled a box from under the seat. He tossed old, worn clothing to the spies; it was in the fashion of Gancuron. Vel went on, "He has seen that most of the adults are dead."
"Then I will go in alone," the woman announced. She smiled as she rubbed her costume into the dust and dried blood. "Soft he will be."
The spies changed quickly and went from thin, well armed warriors to sick, haggard peasants. The woman shook loose her hair; it was stringy and gray in that light. Then the five separated and, in each his own direction, set off for Gancuron.
Vel climbed into his coach. "Are you feeling less insolent?"
Sen bit his tongue and bowed his head. "No, Master Vel."
The captain nodded. "For your honesty alone, Sen, I give you the opportunity to live. I will send for you in the morning." to the driver, he called, "Ride on."
And Sen was left to himself.
"Taur Thranduil dortha u hae o si?" means "King Thranduil dwells not far from here?"
"U hae...dan law gent em. Ias dortha car em u maer ir erem." means "Not far...but he did not see us. Where he lives does us no good when we are alone."
"Thenid. Dan gard ist nam coth!" means "True. But he has knowledge of our enemy!"
"Manen? Man agorech?" means "How? What did you do?"
"Law garin! Min taur u awarthant em! Tad tawarwaith tolinner anem." means "I did nothing! Our King has not abandoned us! Two Elves came for us."
"I coth ganner sain?" means "The enemy caught them?"
"U farn avorn. Min roch noront dan an Eryn Lasgalen. I rochon ristant; I roch noront agarwaen. Heniadh?" means "Not fast enough. One horse rode back to Greenwood. The rider was cut; the horse rode bloodstained. You understand?"
"Avo echadich blannan ech." means "Don't make me hurt you."
"Tiro! Cennin i muindor o Collerusc!" means "Look! I see the brother of Collerusc!"