Chapter 12
The sun was red and fiery. It bore down on Ohtar in fury and pain. He ran from it but it was always there above him. He could not bear to look at it but gradually it enveloped the whole sky, as though staining it with blood, and he could not escape it. He was compelled to see it. He raised his gaze to the sun but it was not the sun as he had thought. It was a great lidless eye, lashing out at him with its furious glare. Burning him to the depths of his soul till he felt as though there was nothing left of him to burn. Questioning him, it drove on inside his mind, searching for something Ohtar could not give him. Ohtar collapsed on the burning ground. He was surrounded by the flames and there was no way out.
"Ohtar!"
He awoke of a sudden and found himself in the darkness of his tent. A man stood over him holding a lantern.
"What is amiss?" Ohtar asked him.
"The maiden lives."
"What?"
"Her things are gone from your tent and I believe that she was the ranger who warned us of the Uruk-hai, for that ranger had her sword. Melfalas, I deem, knows it also. He let her leave before I had a chance to do aught."
"Of course she lives," muttered Ohtar, shaking his head, "The ring was not destroyed. That fool Amrothos has it. You must take it from him and destroy it. Hurry."
"Shall I tell him of the maiden?"
"No."
"But if she is alive you will not be tried for her murder."
"If he believes her to be dead already he will not hinder us in destroying her and he will not look for her himself."
The man nodded and left. Ohtar lay back down and the flames from his dream threatened his mind.
*******
With ropes tied to the boat, Lindil and Mithlhach dragged it behind them. They had to trudge around the mountain and along the riverside till they could find a place where the waters were not too rough for their small boat.
"Lindil," said Mithlhach, "How do you bear being apart from Nimril? Do you not miss her terribly?"
Lindil smiled sadly.
"I feel as though I have left a piece of my heart behind."
"And yet you wish to remain in middle-earth without her?"
"She does not feel as I do about these lands and I did not mean to stay here without her. Circumstances led me to travel with you…"
"Suspicions," mumbled Mithlhach.
"…but in the end I shall return to her. Perhaps you do not understand because you are mortal, time is not the same for us as it is for you. The time I spend in delaying my departure is naught compared to the infinite blessed ages I shall have with Nimril."
"But what if you do not return?"
"I shall return. Were I not sure of it I would never have left her side. Do not feel wretched," he added, seeing her face, "I do not regret my decisions. 'Tis true that at the start I did not deem that I would be with you for so long but you told me to turn back many times. I chose to stay.
"My love for Nimril goes beyond time and I shall be with her again before long. You question me on being apart from my loved ones yet you too are away from those you love."
"I had no choice."
"Yet you have been able to keep yourself from going back before for you knew in your heart that when the time came you would be reunited. Is that not true?"
"Yes."
"Then you understand me?"
"Not entirely."
"Would it not be wrong for me to sacrifice your well-being for my own happiness? A happiness that would be mine whether or not I stayed? You said so yourself that there must be a greater reason that bids me to stay that neither of us can comprehend. Let us leave it at that."
"As you wish."
"Look, here we can let our boat on the river."
"Let us eat a little first."
Lindil took some bread from the boat while Mithlhach collected wood for a fire. She wanted a hot meal, she told the elf. Under his awed gaze, she took a twig from the pile of wood and held it in her hand until it burst into flame. She then put it among the other pieces of wood to create a blaze while she took vegetables from the boat to chop.
"I would never have got my sword into that mountain the first time had I not melted the rock a little first," she said as she prepared a stew.
"Surely you jest," said Lindil.
Mithlhach smiled and shook her head.
"Though I did not expect it to work. Without Aulë's blessing on my sword it probably would not have."
Lindil stared at the fire she had made and then at her.
"How do you do it?" he asked.
"I do not know."
She took what was left of the twig out of the fire and crushed the ashes in her hand.
"Having the ability to destroy is nothing to be proud of," she said, letting the black ashes blow away in the breeze.
"Does your brother share your ability?"
"No," said Mithlhach, washing her hands in the river before starting to eat, "He does however have a kinship with swans, like my mother did. Himthol is very much like his namesake. Never one to get cross or lose his temper. Cool of mind and warm in manner; he has many friends in Dol Amroth and other parts of Gondor. He is also very learned in lore. He would at times journey to Minas Tirith to learn from Lord Faramir all that was taught to him by Tharkun."
"Tharkun?"
"Ah yes, that is the name the dwarves know him by, I do not immediately recall what we used to call him as children."
She chewed her food thoughtfully for a few moments. It was a pleasant early spring day with a warm sun shining down on them and a cool breeze blowing gently over their faces. A mist was about them caused by the crashing falls a little way behind them and the rush of the river was mingled with the sounds of chirruping birds overhead. Mithlhach looked up at them and saw a single grey cloud pass across the sky.
"I remember now," she said at last, "His name is Mithrandir."
Having heaved the boat into the river the two friends started again downstream. The current was still strong and where the tributaries of the Entwash met the Anduin, they needed all their strength and concentration to prevent the boat from crashing into the banks or spinning out of control. It was quite late in the day when in the red glow of the setting sun Lindil saw something ahead of them.
"Look," he cried.
The mists cleared before them revealing the shape of a mighty ship blocking the path of the river and heading upstream. The river foamed at its prow and seagulls circled it, crying out in their shrieking voices as though in warning.
"It is the island, Cair Andros," said Lindil.
But island or not, they were still headed for it at a great speed and were in danger of being dashed against the rocks. They steered the boat as far right as possible but a stray current knocked them suddenly onto the side of the island so they had to get out of the boat to push it back in.
No sooner had they got out of the boat then several people suddenly surrounded them, peering at them curiously with spears in their hands. Lindil had just begun to explain their presence when from the crowd a tall young maiden suddenly burst out and bent down a little to embrace Mithlhach. Mithlhach felt drowned in the maiden's golden hair. She cleared it away from before her own eyes and saw Lindil looking amusedly at her for an explanation. But she had none to give him.
The girl finally moved back so that Mithlhach could see her fair face. So different they looked standing together. The girl was but sixteen years old, or so Lindil deemed, though she was far taller than Mithlhach. She had a smile on her lips and a twinkle in her bright blue eyes, whereas Mithlhach looked up at her in confusion, her own skin noticeably darker from her years under the sun.
"Adugristwen?" said Mithlhach uncertainly.
"Yes yes, so you recognise me at last," said the girl.
"You have grown a great deal since last I saw you."
Adugristwen laughed.
"Else you have shrunk!" she said, "Where have you been all these years? Tell me all there is to tell!"
"I shall tell nothing till I hear what has brought you here. What is a maiden of Rohan doing in Cair Andros? And where have you left your poor dear pony?"
"Ah, so you remember him! I have grown far too big for him now and now must ride a horse. He is very beloved to me too, you must see him. But enough of my chatter for now, for we sup soon and you must join us."
She looked to the people behind her for approval and when they nodded she turned back to Mithlhach, smiled at her and Lindil and then led them onto the island where preparations for a feast were being made. Lindil's unexplained presence was not lost on Adugristwen. She was puzzled by it and she insisted on knowing what he was doing journeying with her friend. However, Mithlhach would explain nothing until they were alone.
After they ate, Adugristwen led them to the highest point of the island so they could gaze at the distant city of Minas Tirith and tell their story to her. Mithlhach told her only the things she would find pleasing and mentioned nothing of Ohtar. Lindil found himself comparing her story to the one that he had told to Brethildur. Mithlhach took care not to leave out anything that would make her friend smile or laugh and throughout said not a thing of her own feelings. When Lindil had spoken to Brethildur he had focused a great deal on his own feelings. Yet both accounts omitted the details surrounding Ohtar and to Lindil's surprise, Mithlhach spoke of Lindil's feelings at every occasion with uncanny accuracy.
Then it was Adugristwen's turn to explain. She was on her way to Gondor after the messengers came to Rohan to tell of the end of the war of the ring. She decided however, to stop at Cair Andros as in driving the enemy away from the island the men defending it had suffered great losses and many were wounded. Since then, she had remained to help with things and would be journeying back to Rohan in a few days.
Lindil had a question for her this time for he did not yet know how she had come to know Mithlhach. Adugristwen animatedly told him how Mithlhach had passed through Rohan on her way to Bree. Adugristwen met her there, walking across the plains and insisted on going with her as far as she could. Which, as it turns out, was not far at all as she was very young then and Mithlhach would not allow it. Still, she had not forgotten her and was very pleased to have met her old friend again. Adugristwen's talk had a way of lightening the hearts of others so that when Mithlhach lay down to rest she was able to sleep in peace, untroubled by dreams and Lindil was able to put aside the worry that was growing in his heart.
But the fiery eyes that troubled Ohtar haunted another. They searched his mind, probing his thoughts painfully. Bearing down in their blinding brightness on his soul.
"Where?" it seemed to ask him again and again.
He lifted his arms to shield his face from the intensity of the light and cried out that he did not know. Forcing open his eyes he dragged himself out of the dream back into the darkness of his room. Slowly the walls of his rooms appeared around him as he opened his eyes, yet he felt the eye looking at him like a flame before his own eyes. He soon realised that the red glow was coming from the Mithlhach's ring as he held his hand in front of his face. It had shone strong like this when he had crossed the borders of Gondor, looking over at the ruins of Mordor to the east.
He heard a knock on the door and sat up, sweat dripped from his brow and an aching pain lingered in his heart.
"Come in," he heard himself say.
"There is a messenger here from the camp, your majesty."
"What has happened? Bid him enter."
The messenger came in and stood before Prince Amrothos.
"I bear ill tidings," he said, "The camp was attacked by Uruk-hai from Dol Guldur. We have lost no comrades but are greatly delayed."
"And Ohtar?"
"He is recovering steadily, though he is troubled by strange dreams."
"Dreams?" repeated Amrothos, with a hand on his wet brow.
"Yes, sir. He speaks of fiery eyes. In his sleep he once called out 'the sea is ablaze'."
Amrothos frowned and turned his head to look out of the arched opening of his window to the moonlit sea. When he turned back he saw the messenger looking intently at the ring but when he realised Amrothos' gaze was upon him he quickly turned away.
