Both Fang and Fire

by Erestor

Disclaimer: I own nothing pertaining to The Lord of the Rings.


CHAPTER TWO

No sooner had the hobbit fallen into its embrace than the river's rushing torrent slowed. Ginger dashed through the now-shallow water, the Elf coming behind, followed by Strider.

The hobbit, Frodo, lay face down in the water. Ginger licked him anxiously, tugging at his hood with her clean white teeth. Glorfindel scooped the hobbit up into his arms.

"Is he dead?" Strider asked quietly.

"He may be," Glorfindel replied, his voice strained. "Or worse."

"Worse than dead?" Ginger thought. "What a grim individual this Elf is."

Nonetheless, she could see the Halfling's pale, pale face, and she wondered if there could possibly be a 'worse than dead'.

"I fear we may be too late," Glorfindel said, brushing the fair hair away from the Halfling's face and frowning. "We must take him to Lord Elrond at once."

"I will," Strider said.

The Elf shook his head. "Go tend to the other Halflings. I will do this."

Glorfindel set off slowly. Ginger wondered if he ever got tired. Any human would have been gasping for breath after such a frantic run. She trotted after him, through the woods and along a narrow path.

The narrow path became bigger, and soon it became a road. The Elf continued to walk. Ginger panted, and the water on her fur dried. The Elf continued to walk, gliding smoothly along the path. He never changed his speed and he never so much as jostled the hobbit he carried.

Finally Ginger and the Elf entered civilization: a number of thatched cottages and longer buildings. "Lord Elrond!" Glorfindel called. "We need healers immediately!"

Other Elves, all so much like cats, hurried into the courtyard.

An Elf, who seemed to be their leader, took the hobbit from Glorfindel. "You have done much. You should rest," he said.

Glorfindel ran his fingers through his yellow hair. "I cannot rest yet. The DĂșnadan is coming with the others," he said. He glanced down at Ginger. "Could someone find somewhere for this dog?" he asked. "She seems anxious for a home here."

With that, the Elf turned and disappeared into the crowd.

"I like that!" Ginger thought. "Anxious for a home here, indeed! I should have nipped his ankles while I had the chance." But she liked the second voice anyway.

An Elf came forward. He had large grey eyes, and a white face made paler by his jet-black hair. "I'll take the dog," he said.

Ginger sighed. So she was still The Dog.

How fun.


The new Elf's name was Erestor. He appeared to be a very harassed individual. He took Ginger to his private quarters and found her something to eat and somewhere to sleep, looking all the time as though something else were on his mind. Eventually he actually noticed her.

"You're a beautiful dog," he said, stroking her ears. "I've always wanted a pet, though Estel will probably claim you sooner or later."

Ginger thumped her tail tiredly.

"I wonder what Estel would call you," the Elf said. He seemed to know she could understand him, but he also seemed preoccupied. "If you're lucky, he'll call you Huan. If you're not lucky, he'll call you something outrageous. He never was much good with names."

Ginger yawned and Erestor smiled. "There was a caterpillar once," he said reminiscently. "He named it Frond. That was early on, though. Then there was a frog, called Spliffer. Do not ask me why."

Ginger hoped she wouldn't be named Spliffer, or anything at all similar.

"Maybe Mudpuddle," Erestor said. "That sounds like him. For him to call you that, I mean. Mud Face is more descriptive of him."

Rather belatedly, Ginger realized that Estel was Strider. All the Elves she'd met had seemed incredibly clean, not at all like people who Erestor would call Mud Face.

"We'll just have to wait and find out," Erestor said.

The Elf did not speak after that, but stared out through his window in the direction of the infirmary.


Ginger discovered that Strider had decided to call her Carca, which apparently meant Fang in Elvish. Erestor sighed when he heard the news. ("Never was good with names," he said.) However, the fact that Ginger had a name, though an unimaginative one, meant that things were better again. Three long days had passed, but now everything was all right. After all, she had a name!

"I think Carca was one of his better names," Glorfindel said carelessly when he came to see how Erestor (not Ginger) was doing.

"Perhaps. Though you never bore the brunt of his spontaneous nicknames," Erestor said, buttering his bread and slipping Carca a piece under the table.

Glorfindel arched one yellow eyebrow. "You do not think 'Glorfy' was bad?" he asked.

Erestor sighed, looking as though he had heard that question often. Carca suspected he had. "Glorfy was bad," Erestor said, "but I always loathed the way he would call me 'Ressi'."

"Of course," Glorfindel said, grinning complacently over his own sticky slice of bread, "perhaps it was because he always ran when he saw you. 'Not Ressi', he would cry. I remember it all clearly."

"The child was three," Erestor said, frowning.

"He always loved me."

"You gave him candy."

"And you didn't," Glorfindel said lightly.

After this, the conversation grew much less interesting, at least from Carca's point of view. The two Elves stopped bickering and started discussing the Ringbearer (Frodo) and his condition. Apparently he was recovering.

Carca was glad to hear the good news. She wondered if she would ever see the Ringbearer again. After all, she thought smugly, she had helped save him.


With Frodo feeling better, Erestor acted much less worried and harrassed. After his lunch with Glorfindel, he let Carca run around outside all by herself.

Erestor smiled one of his rare smiles as he watched Carca trot into one of the courtyards. "Don't bite anyone," he said. He almost seemed to know of the way she had been viewing Glorfindel's boots. But that was impossible, wasn't it?

With Elves, maybe anything was possible.

Carca explored Imladris for a long time and decided that she liked the Elves. They had good taste. None of their buildings were tight or confining. Everyone she met gave her a pat or a few words of praise. All the Elves seemed to know her name.

"Hello, Carca," an Elf said as she poked her nose into a nearby bush. "How are you?"

Carca wagged her tail in reply, thinking, "I'm very well, thank you."

The Elf grinned at her.

"This is a smart dog," he said to his companion. "Estel found her."

"Did he?" the other Elf. "That's nice."

Growing bored by the conversation, Carca hurried away to chase a butterfly. She was only interested in Elves that gave her snacks.


By the time shadows were slanting low along the ground, Carca was completely acquainted with Imladris. She knew it like the tip of her tail and was confident that she could find her way around it at any time.

The Elves were partying. She could hear them singing and talking and laughing in one of their feasting halls. She wondered if Glorfindel were there, and if Erestor had come as well. She wondered if Glorfindel could sing, and if he had nice voice. She wondered if Strider had cleaned himself before attending. Maybe big parties weren't his thing.

Suddenly, her keen ears heard the sound of horses entering the courtyard. Carca rushed to a good vantage point and looked down at the arriving company.

It did not look very grand. The first person to come into the courtyard was walking, with his horse plodding behind him. His garments, though once fine, were dirty and torn, though somehow he looked better groomed and better bred that Strider. "He probably has a strange human name too," Carca thought. But he appeared to be very nice, and dogs can sense things like this.

Carca barked, her voice filled with authority. "Someone has arrived!" her bark said. "Whoever you are, halt!"

The man did halt, glancing up towards the sound, shading his eyes with his hand, even though the sun had nearly set. He looked tired, and Carca felt sorry for him. She trotted down into the courtyard, tail swishing pleasantly at his legs, staring up at him with dark eager eyes, her tongue sticking out cheerfully.

He reached down and stroked her soft fur. "What a lovely dog you are," he said softly. He looked around and muttered, almost to himself, "So this is the home of the Elves."

A light danced down from one of the higher balconies. "Greetings, stranger. Welcome to the Last Homely House,"a soft voice said. "I am Erestor."

This meant that Erestor had not been attending the party after all.

"I am Boromir, son of Denethor," the man said.

Erestor bowed. "I have heard of you. You must be tired, my lord." Carca watched. It amused her sometimes, the way humans (and Elves too, it seemed) showed deference to each other.

"I am tired," Boromir said. "The road has been long."

"And hard," Erestor said, his eyes flickering to the torn cloak.

The man followed Erestor's gaze to the tear, and winced. "Dirty too," he said, with a suddenly smile.

Carca liked him for that. She liked the way he had brushed away any feelings of inferiority, and managed to find humor in the situation.

"Come in and rest," Erestor said. "I will find rooms for you and your men, and lodgings for your horses also."

Boromir reached up to pat his horse, the absent gesture reminding Carca of Glorfindel. "Acorn has had a hard time of it, I fear," he said.

Acorn? Humans were so very strange when it came to names. Carca would have snorted, if it had not been impolite to do so.

"Is that your dog?" asked Boromir, as Carca followed them back into Imladris.

"She is everyone's dog, I think," Erestor said. "Estel found her, Lord Glorfindel fixed her hurt paw, and I am caring for her at the present time. Who will keep her in the end? No one is quite certain."

"I had a dog like her once," Boromir said. He grinned. "My brother and I had already named it Elendil before we discovered it was actually a girl. We had to call the poor thing Ellie after that."

Carca thought she might have liked to meet Ellie. She sounded the decent sort.


Carca watched as Boromir and Erestor hurried off into Imladris. The air outside was fresh and cool and she did not feel like returning to the stifling warmth of Erestor's room. She could hear more riders coming, and she wanted to see who they were.

Two Elves entered the courtyard, looking not only brave, but identical! Carca gave a little woof of surprise and astonishment. They rode two horses who did not look tired at all, but pranced lightly into the courtyard, heads held high.

Carca did not pay much attention to them, however, for her eyes were riveted on the sleek black dog that followed the two Elves. He was a very handsome dog indeed. Even as she watched, she could see that he had sensed her presense. His beautiful glossy head came up and his ears went back. Carca bounded onto the scene with her usual energy.

"Hello, handsome," she thought. To herself, she thought, "Oh dear. Mary-Lou's bad habits have worn off on me."

Fortunately, the black dog appeared more confused than angry. He sniffed her curiously, while she sniffed him. He smelled just like the Elves.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Gath," he replied, sitting back and looking at her. Carca felt pleasantly aware of her beautiful tawny fur.

"I'm Carca," she said, flashing him a strange doggy smile. "I came to Imladris a few days ago."

"You looked new," he said. "You belonged to humans, didn't you?"

She nodded. There wasn't much else to say. Humans left their mark on a dog, as did Elves.

"Do those two look after you?" she asked, pointing her nose towards the Elves, who were leading their horses to the stables.

"I look after them," Gath said proudly. "When they go out into the wild, I keep them company. Glorfindel says I'm an Orc-finding dog."

"Glorfindel?" Carca's eyes narrowed. Why did Glorfindel keep on showing up?

"Glorfindel is the Elf who raised me," Gath said. "He sends me on missions with Elladan and Elrohir, to make sure they don't get into trouble."

One of the twins turned and called their borrowed dog. "Come on, Gath."

"Maybe I'll see you later," the dog said, and then he trotted away, tail wagging briskly.

Carca gazed after him with dreamy eyes.

"Give me a dog called Gath any day," she said to herself. "It's such a better name than Rover."

To Be Continued...