AN: Thank you sooooooooooooooooo much to all who reviewed (in or outside FF.net)! I love you all! : ) Thanks for all the encouraging reviews, and very constructive in some cases. They really motivate me to keep on going and so this is the fourth chapter.
Chapter 4: Plans
Alfirin looked at the elf walking next to her. He doesn't look back at her but she knew that he was aware of her presence nonetheless. She eyed the elf carefully, wandering whether she had chosen the right thing. The elf was acutely aware of his surrounding and was walking very quickly. So quick that sometimes Alfirin found that she was running instead. The elf was obviously whishing to go back to its previous task as soon as possible. Realising that it was probably for the best, she rested her thought and ran forward, trying to catch up with the fast elf in front of her.
As she ran, she spotted a white stone, covered in moss beneath her feet. The familiar stone greeted her cheerfully; oblivious to the war that raged on leagues from where it stood. To it, world means naught and so was the affairs that happened in the forest in which it resided. Alfirin envied the stone. She also whished that her life was as simple as that. No pain, no suffering. Just felt time ebbing away as the age pass by.
As she saw the familiar stone, she realised that they were nearing the kingdom and should arrived there soon. There was no time to change her mind and Alfirin knew this. She shook her head, trying to diminish the sense of foreboding that had occupied her soul ever since her leave from both Er-Galadh and Fíriel. The knowledge of Fíriel's past did not lessen the feeling. If anything happened to it, it had increase instead, leaving her more miserable than she was before. Something was going to happen and she knew it, but how could she help? She was, after all, unable to fight and her skill was already mastered by the elf lady. But something was going to happen and she could not stood silent and left it behind as though nothing happened. The last time she felt it, it has been her father's death. She shuddered at the sudden memory and made up her mind.
"Come Alfirin, hurry. You know that I must go back as soon as possible to the rest of the company." The elf looked at her irritably. She had stopped her pace when she was lost in her thought.
She muttered her apology when a sudden idea struck her mind. She contemplated on it for a while before saying, "Leave me now then. You will, as you've said, be needed and I know the way from here. No harm will come unto me. You have done your task. I will be alright now."
The elf looked at Alfirin for a while, apparently considering her offer. He gazed forward to where the kingdom laid and shifted it to the south of Mirkwood where the war raged. Thinking that the young elf's offer was for the best after all, he nodded in agreement and left.
Alfirin watched as the elf's figure disappeared behind a tree. She smiled triumphantly before running after the elf, carefully keeping the distance between them.
*****
Er-Galadh eyed the robed figure. He, like his niece, had also figured out that it had always stood in the darkest part of the wood. Or at least the part that was the darkest at the time. He wandered at this custom as they waited for the elf that was to escort Alfirin back to the kingdom. He was suspicious about the figure. Something about the figure had always distracted him from his concentration and he always found himself wandering ever towards the face beneath the hood.
//Why did he always put up his hood? Even as he sleep he would never cast it down. Like he is hiding something. Something that we should not know. But what?// Er-Galadh wandered, //What?//
Er-Galadh also saw the relationship between the hooded figure and his niece. A pang of feeling surged his heart as he saw Alfirin slept peacefully in his embrace. His niece seemed to have trust the mysterious figure as easily as the rest of the elves, and he didn't like it. Could it be that it was because of his experience that he over-reacted to this intruder?
He was one of some that had survived the War of The Last Alliance. The time when Sauron was defeated and the One Ring was taken away from him. He wasn't sure of what had happened to the Ring but he knew that whatever happened to it, Sauron was not defeated yet. The prove came into his life years after the war in which he had thought that, for once, his could live his life in peace. Creatures of darkness came to the wood in which he live, invading his life once again.
He sighed. It would most likely be him after all. He, though, thought that the young elf was too naive. Very unlike her. He had watched them after he left the two alone. Whatever the figure had told Alfirin, it was not to be trusted.
"Er-Galadh, come! We are going now." Legolas called, waking him from his thoughts. He looked at the young prince in disbelief. They were supposed to wait. "What had changed his mind?" Er-Galadh asked himself in confusion.
"Perhaps I can help you in that, Er-Galadh," a voice whispered in his ear. He turned around in surprise. He did not hear any footsteps nearing and yet there he was, that hooded figure, behind his back.
He glanced at the apprentice of Radagast irritably before saying, "What is it that you know?"
"More than what *you* know, that is for sure." the figure replied sardonically then shrugged, "But I see that it simply the cause of your ignorance."
"What prove do you have to say such accusation?" Er-Galadh replied angrily. He was annoyed by the presence of someone who would not showed his face for he could not study the change of expression, if there was any. The shadow had always fell upon the hood making it impossible to see within.
"You were not present when your prince, Legolas, called for your counsel. But he has no need for it now for the decision has been made. We are leaving now."
"How is it that my Lord change his mind?" Er-Galadh asked, his attention was given again at the sudden decision.
"It is done so as we do not have time to wait any longer for the elf to return without missing the war altogether." The figure shook his head ever so slightly but it could still be seen nonetheless. "No, we cannot afford that."
"What made him think so?" But even as the question escaped his lip, the answer had woven itself inside his head. He gasped at the realisation and spoke slowly with obvious control over the anger that stirred inside of him. "What did you said to him?" he whispered, afraid that others might hear and disapproved of his question over Legolas' authority, even if it was influenced by this treacherous man. "What have you done?"
"I was trying to help. Fear not, the elf know of the way and will not be in any danger if it is what your main concern lays."
Er-Galadh glared at the calmness of his adversary. He envied as well as respected him, though he loathed to admitted it. He had answered his mind as though he was able to read through it. Yet he still could not understand.
The figure was able to make decision with such emotional detachment, that he could understand. How his prince could possibly agreed with it, he could not. However, it seemed that he must leave it till later for the company had started to walk again, leaving the two of them behind.
"Come, Er-Galadh. We must leave. Trust me. We will meet your friend again. Sooner than what you think but all in good time." he whispered in his ear ominously, "All in good time."
Rettaw, I know about the tactic of Sauron, but not everything I can reveal in a short three chapter. Plus I don't think the White Council would know anything about it. The plan for war was already planned before hand and so the meeting in the first chapter was only to decide on how they would do it and basically leave ASAP as they would, no doubt, wanted to get rid of Sauron (especially Saruman. Imagine how anxious he is!) I think the White Council know of Sauron's existence in Dol Guldur at this time. It was written in both LotR (first and in the appendix) and The Silmarillion. I don't think I would involved many upper classed people. Hopefully this doesn't tell too much about the plot of this story...Thank you so much for the constructive criticism as this is the only way one realise one's mistake and learn from it.
Many thanks also for those who read my work but did not have time to review! I love you too! ; )
