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Thanks to all who have reviewed!!! I absolutely love all of the input, although I was a little surprised that you liked it. I personally did not like that last chapter at all, but I am glad you did. I love hearing from my readers, actually, it is one of the only glimmers of hope that I can see amidst the bore of the daily grind of life. Also, if you have any lengthy ideas or more questions, I also welcome you to email me. I am looking for someone to edit my next chapter, my editor is gone on a business trip, and so I am at a loss. If you would be willing to ruthlessly tear it apart, let me know by emailing me.
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Chapter 13
Rain swept across the plains with a fearsome ferocity in heavy, thick torrents of water.
"Follow me everyone! There is a small guard post near here where we can find shelter!" One of Elrond's guards yelled through the tumult.
They followed the respective elf, taking care to check their speed for the woman's sake. Surprisingly, she kept up with them with ease.
After everyone was made comfortable, they all sat quietly around the blazing fire. Celeborn cast a curious glance at the mystery woman, then to the door, and then to Haldir, "Since we will be here for some time, I think that this would be an opportune time for you to tell your tale, miss."
The woman gazed into the fire with a gentle smile on her face, "My name is Curiel, but you may call me Cee. I have traveled here from Rohan. My mother was Ellaya of the third house of Galahaddon. I will not divulge any more of my tale unless I am speaking with Haldir. As I have said before, he is my father."
There was a moment of silence. Haldir could feel Lord Celeborn's eyes piercing into him, so he simply said, "I am Haldir."
She looked at him warily, the light from the blaze dancing off of her bronzed complexion. 'I wonder if my nose is that big,' Haldir thought absently. She raised a raven colored brow, "Where is the brightest jewel of middle earth?" she asked simply.
The phrase caught Haldir off guard. It is what he had said to his first lover over a hundred ages ago. It brought back memories that he had not thought of in many years. The ride, the mission, the fall….her. Every detail was recalled from the depths of his memory. The sudden rush of memories stunned him slightly, but he replied in a faint voice, "In the fairest of all hearts in all of Rohan."
Satisfied, she nodded with a severe jerk of her chin, "My mother told me that I would be able to identify my father with that phrase."
Celeborn interrupted, "I am glad to hear all of this information, I am sure that it is pertinent, but would either one of you like to inform the rest of us about what exactly is transpiring here?"
Haldir turned to his lord, "About a year after my coming of age, I was sent on a diplomatic mission to talk with the King of Rohan. And as you most likely recall, we were attacked by wolves and scattered. You also know that I sustained an injury in that attack and stayed in a small village on the outskirts of Rohan while I healed. What you don't know is that what transpired while I was healing."
One of the guards smirked, "I bet I can guess."
Haldir ignored the comment, " It all started the night we left. There were four of us…"
((((("Come on, Gaarin; you are making us late!" Haldir called impatiently. He reined his flighty steed to a slow jog, scowling heatedly.
"Calm down, young one. We have a long ride ahead of us and you really don't want to tire your horse out this early in the journey." Came Elad's voice.
Haldir did not respond, but did not speed back up.
Craytor eased his horse next to Haldir, "You are troubled." Haldir ignored the comment, making a show of guiding his horse to jump over a fallen tree.
"Haldir…" Craytor prompted gently.
The young elf looked into the wizened eyes of his elder, "I am frustrated, my teacher. I am well past my maturation, yet they are treating me like an elflet."
The old tutor chuckled, "Do not worry yourself more about that matter, they do not mean any harm by it, it is just habit; a habit that is hard to break even by myself. Don't worry, as you prove yourself to be the elf I know you to be, they will come to respect you more."
Haldir sighed, "Yes, I know you are correct, it is just that some part of me knows that that habit holds a grain of truth. In many ways I am still an elflet and it angers me. I have not even found my lifemate."
The elf smiled, "It will come in time. All comes in time, but you must learn to be patient."
They rode for two weeks at a slow, but steady pace. On the sixteenth night, just after they had bedded down, they heard the call. Wolves were out, hunting; and they were near. The five elves huddled around the fire, knowing that it was the one thing that the beasts feared the most.
Haldir knew that the others' were correct to stay together, but he sneaked away anyway, determined to prove his adult prowess by bringing down one of these beasts.
He sat crouched in the crook of a tree branch, his bow held taunt, waiting. He had a plan: when one of the creatures passed by, he would slay it and then drag the carcass to their camp. Then they all would know that he was as much a grown elf as any other. A simple act, yet one that would prove to all of them that he was not just a silly little elfling.
There was a rustle in the bush beneath. Haldir drew his bow taunt, all of his senses focusing on his prey as he brought the matted hide into his sights. So focused, in fact, was he, that he did not realize until it was to late that the horrid creature had been acting as a decoy. A sharp pain ripped through his body as steel jaws clamped onto his leg and pulled him from the tree; and with sudden clarity, he realized that the rest of the wolf pack had formed an ambush behind him. As he fell to the ground, he cried out. The last thing that he remembered was the sight of a wolf's leering face hovering just above his own, suddenly being cloven in half by an elvin blade.
He did not know how much time had passed when he awoke. It was quite a while, for the carcasses that lay strewn about him smelled horrifically, and the blood on the deep lacerations on his leg had crusted over. With a groan, he sat up. The world spun a few times and he concentrated on controlling his heaving stomach. As his vision cleared, he saw about twenty wolf carcasses lying on the ground at varying distances from him. And to his utter dismay, he identified the faces, now a pale gray in their death, of all four of his companions.
So stricken was he by the sight of his fallen comrades that he did not see the figure that just stepped into the clearing.
A startled voice gasped, "Oh my!"
He raised bloodshot eyes to the form at the edge of his vision, "Help, please." He gasped, just before his vision once again turned to darkness.
The dark veil slowly lifted from Haldir's consciousness. He heard someone singing softly in Rohiiran. The scent of sweet incense caught his senses gently, drawing him closer to the real world.
He heard someone groan. He wished that person would be quiet so that he could hear the beautiful song better.
The song stopped and he felt a cool cloth wipe his brow, "So, you have finally awaken."
He realized that it was his own voice that had been moaning. He quickly stopped, embarrassed at making such undignified sounds. He opened his eyes.
She was beautiful, cream colored skin and raven black hair. Her eyes were the color of midnight, sparkling with the light of the stars.
"Where?" He asked, his voice gravelly from unuse.
She put her finger on his lips and made a shushing sound, murmuring, "I found you in the northern field a few miles from my house. I have brought you home, and your leg has mended very well; although, I will warn you that the villagers are not elf friendly, so you must lie quietly until sunset. After then, you will take my horse and ride back to wherever you came from."
He did not try to speak again, heeding her warning about the villagers.
At sunset, the woman approached Haldir again, "It is almost time for you to leave. You should try to sit up."
Haldir did so. Even though his wounds had long been healed; she wrapped her dainty hands around his shoulders to steady him. As she did so, he caught the scent of lilies on her midnight hair.
"Wait," He said, "I don't even know your name." )))))
Haldir recounted, his face flushing slightly at the memory of that night.
"The next day, I left, quite unwillingly except that she assured me that the rest of the villagers would hunt me down and kill me, so I rode off in the pale light of dawn." Haldir finished.
There was silence for a long while as all present contemplated his tale.
Celeborn softly asked, "And I assume that you have a good reason for not telling us this in the first place?"
Haldir shook his head, "No, my lord. I was ashamed that I had fallen in love with a mortal and I did not want that to taint my future as march warden of the golden wood."
Cee looked at him sharply, angrily accusing him, "And YOU did not want YOUR future to be tainted? What about my mother? Suddenly, she ends up PREGNANT with an illegitimate child. No one will marry her! And then, she is BANISHED from the village and had to move to another settlement under the false pretense that her husband had died in a battle! What about her? What about the fact that she had to scrimp and save just enough to pay a wizard to cast a spell upon me so that I did not have the appearance of my father, therefore sparing my life?"
Haldir did not meet her accusing gaze.
Cee took a deep breath, visibly calming herself and continued, "I did not come to accuse anyone. I did not come to make you feel bad. I came for your help." Everyone looked at her expectantly. She finished, "I need all of your help."
Haldir smiled feebly, "How can I help you?" He asked.
She shuddered, closing her eyes and said softly, "My husband and daughters have been captured and enslaved, taken three weeks ago by a group of orcs to Mordor. I need you to free them. Riders from my own country have tried valiantly, but in vain to liberate them, they are guarded heavily at the minefields at the edge of that accursed land."
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Élharma laid strewn hap hazardously across the bed, tears staining the silken coverlet of the massive bed. For a while her body shook harshly as violent sobs ripped through her very soul.
She did not care that the party was carrying on merrily just a short distance away. It did not matter. It did not matter that it had suddenly started raining. It did not matter that her hair and clothes were becoming quite mussed. Nothing mattered now. Nothing mattered, that is, except the face that leered at her from behind her closed eyelids. Nothing mattered but the fear that was slowly winding its way down her spine, around her arms, her legs, her hands and feet, slowly covering her in a blessed blanket of numbness.
After a while, though, the cries subsided; her eyes dried; and her body stopped responding to the fear. She lay as a statue on the bed, an alabaster statue against the soft blanket. The candles had burned low, their flickering flames causing the faint shadows to dance on the walls.
There was a knock.
"Leave me BE, Lirahall!" Élharma yelled through the thick wood.
There was a slight pause before a hollow 'click' echoed through the room. A soft breeze signaled to her that the door had opened and closed, allowing someone into her quarters.
"Now, is that any way to speak to your husband?" His gentle voice asked softly.
She turned vehemently to face him, "You are not my husband. You never were and you never will be."
He smiled easily, "Nay, beautiful maiden. I very much will be your husband, for I do recall a certain agreement that your father made with my father."
She scowled, "I do not have to honor that agreement. My father is dead. Plus, as you well know, I am well past the bonding age. I am free to choose whomever I will wed, now."
He softly clucked his tongue, "Ahhh, but you must recall that those rules of trade only apply if I never came to claim you as my bride. And as I recall, I most certainly DID."
She tipped her head defiantly, "And as I recall, we were not bonded that night."
He looked at her slyly, "A mere technicality, one easily remedied."
She glared at him, "Do not come any closer."
He ignored her, "But my dear, do you not remember how much fun we had…"
She did.
(((("NO." She whimpered. It was the night of her coming of age and her betrothed had come to claim her. Now, they were in his suite at the outermost edge of Maeglin. He had just come into the room, she felt his eyes on her and she sensed an animalistic hunger emanating from him.
He licked his lips, "Oh yes, my dear."
She tried to flee, tried to dodge past him and out the door. He easily intercepted her, hooking a meticulously booted foot behind her own and tripping her to tumble upon the floor. With movements resembling that of a cat, he pounced on her, straddling her, successfully pinning her to the floor.
She struggled for a moment before squeezing her eyes shut and lying still, fear enveloping her very being.
"Open your eyes, my dear." He commended in that silken voice.
She complied, staring at him with the look of a caged animal.
"I will not have my bedmate looking as if the sky was about to fall on her pretty little head." He said easily.
A glimmer of hope sparked in her face, would he let her go??
He continued, bringing his hand up to caress her cheek, "No, by the time I am finished with you, leaving will be the last thing on your mind." As his fingers trailed down her neck, her collar bone, his touch light and gentle.
He continued caressing her, teasing her skin with his fingertips until she begged him to touch more of her. With a satisfied grin, He lifted her to stand in front of him and easily began working at the clasps of her dress.
It was then that she made her move. He had discarded his belt and sword upon a chair by the door, and at the moment that his grasp on her loosened, she dove for it.
Her actions faster than even his elfin eyes could follow; she drew it from its ornately decorated sheath and leveled the point with his chin. He raised his hands in surrender.
"I am afraid that I will not be able to continue our little rendezvous; unfortunately, I must be going," She said calmly.
He smirked at her, "Kelutanya has taught you well, but I don't think that you will get far because there are two guards posted at the doorway."
She narrowed her eyes, "I am sorry that I have to do this, but you leave me no choice."
She drove the sword through his shoulder until it was securely buried in the bedpost behind, leaving him pinned to the bedstead. Without another sound, she deftly leapt through the window and did not stop running until she reached Rivendell. As she left that accursed place, she saw the wild men of the woods fighting with the elves loyal to her father. So, the rebellion had began, it was a long time in coming. ))))
In Rivendell, Lirahall made to step towards her. A bad idea. She made a slight movement and a loud "Thunk" echoed through the lavish room as the quivering handle of a dagger pressed cold upon his cheek, pinning him to the door by way of trapping his hair beneath the cross-section of the handle.
He calmly removed the blade from the door, nonchalantly commenting, "Good shot. I see you have been practicing."
She continued glaring at him, "You call that good? I was aiming to cut off your ear."
He ignored her remark, inspecting the fine blade with great care. He looked at her with a new fire in his eyes, "Than if you will not honor the promise your father made to me, than I will just have to pursuade you to love me."
She laughed, the sound ringing clear, "I say not, dear sir. My heart belongs to another."
He rolled his eyes demurely, "You mean that Haldir fellow that has been hanging upon you since you came?"
Uncertain now, she nodded. What was he getting at?
It was Lirahall's turn to laugh, "I am sorry to dishearten you, but his heart belongs to another."
She did not understand, and her confusion was written obviously across her features as she demanded, "WHAT?"
He said lightly, "Oh yes, as a matter of fact, we passed his DAUGHTER on our way in. Nice girl."
When she heard this, she began trembling in rage. How dare this pompous, cold-hearted elf say such things about her honorable Haldir!
He continued, "And even if he did love you, do you really think that he would still love you after he finds out what you REALLY are?"
Regaining her composure, said, "He knows what and who I am."
He shook his head slightly, "I dare say not. I have been asking around, and it is painfully apparent that no one, not even the prestigious Galadriel had an inkling at that part of you. You have successfully kept it hidden from everyone."
She sneered, "And what part is that?"
"The fact that you were trained as not only a sentinel, but as an assassin." His voice steadily increasing as he said, "That YOU are the warrior princess of the lost city of Maeglin! Trained ASSASIN by Kelutanya."
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