-THE GAMES OF THE GODS-
-Disclaimer:-
CS: I own nothing, especially not the coincidence that has the council scene - the first one in this FanFiction that corresponds with something in the books - being posted on the same day as Return of the King's release.
Manwë: Of course you do not. Coincidences cannot be owned, especially by mortals.
CS: ...
Rest of TGotG's cast: ...
Manwë: What?! Everybody else got to be in the disclaimers!
CS: *squeak* Vala! *points at Manwë* *falls over*
Glorfindel: *nudges CS with his foot* I think you killed her...
-34: Council-
The next day, at breakfast, I showed up in the main hall for the first time since the little fiasco. Boromir looked a little surprised, but readily accepted my company, while Glorfindel and I silently agreed to mutually ignore each other. It actually wasn't that hard, considering all the new arrivals that I had to look at. Most of them had come in yesterday, or very early this morning, so I hadn't met any of them. So now Boromir and I spent the meal quietly talking about everyone we saw.
Boromir, in particular, was interested in the dwarves, while I was interested in the Elves. I pegged Legolas right away - not because he was the most droolaliciously handsome one of the lot (which he was), or because he looked like Orlando Bloom (he didn't - this Legolas was black haired, for one thing), but because he radiated an authority that let you know that he most definitely had power. And if you didn't notice that radiation of power, the deference with which his fellow elves from Mirkwood treated him supplied it for you.
However, one can only look at new arrivals and speculate about them for so long - even Boromir fell silent eventually. So, for the fun of it, I decided to compare Legolas and Glorfindel and see which was hotter. I quickly concluded that there was no comparison, as the two were far too different. They were each handsome in their own way. I did decide, however, that I preferred Glorfindel's way of handsomeness over Legolas's. I couldn't quite say why, but there it was.
After breakfast, it was time for the Council. Boromir, despite his protestations about going to the Council initially, practically dragged me there once it was time. In the little room/courtyard place where the hall was to be kept, Erestor was waiting to seat arrivals - carefully keeping known feuding parties apart, I noticed - and he ushered Boromir to a seat at the far end of the Council, almost opposite from Elrond, before leading me to another seat - right up by Elrond himself. I glanced at Erestor in surprise, but he just smiled, shrugged, and went to greet and seat the just-arrived dwarves.
Glorfindel popped up not long later and seated himself, and after him, the Council quickly filled up. Last to arrive were, of course, Bilbo, Frodo and Gandalf. While Elrond introduced the council to Frodo, and Frodo to the council, Gandalf and Bilbo took their seats, and I was amused to discover that I had been sandwiched between them. To keep me in line? Probably.
Anyways, the Council soon started, and I was obliged to sit there and be bored while listening to the things that I had either already heard about while in the courts of Gondor or had read about in the Fellowship of the Ring - it was nothing about the Ring, just pieces of news about the goings on in Middle-Earth. Frodo looked about as bored as I, and if I had been closer, I would have started up some sort of game with him. As it was, I was obliged to listen.
Glóin got up and spoke about Moria, catching Frodo's interest, and I, too, began to take note, as Glóin's little speech was the prelude to all the interesting stuff. When Glóin finished, Elrond spoke, giving the history of the Ring insofar as he could. And then, at the end, he mentioned Gondor. Boromir, naturally, decided to speak at that point.
"Give me leave, Master Elrond," he said, "First to say more of Gondor; for verily from the land of Gondor I am come, with the lady you know as Rachel. And it would be well for all to know what passes there. For few, I deem, know of our deeds, and therefore guess little of their peril, if we should fail at last.
"Believe not that in the land of Gondor the blood of Númenor is spent, nor all its pride and dignity forgotten." Boromir shot me a look at this point, and I smiled back innocently. "By our valor the wild folk of the East are still restrained, and the terror of Morgul kept at bay; and thus alone are peace and freedom maintained in the lands behind us, bulwark of the West. But if the passages of the River should be won, what then?" Boromir continued one for awhile about what would happen if they fell, and what the enemies of Gondor and allies of Sauron were doing. Then he got to the heart of what he wanted to say - or rather, ask:
"In this evil hour I have come on an errand over many dangerous leagues to Elrond. Had I not had a guide in my traveling companion -" Boromir nodded slightly to me, acknowledging my skill in leading him here. "- I no doubt would have wandered many days before coming to your fair home. But I do not seek allies in war. The might of Elrond is in wisdom not in weapons, it is said. I come to ask for counsel and the unraveling of hard words. For on the eve of a sudden assault a dream came to my brother in a troubled sleep; and afterwards a like dream came oft to him again, and once to me." I tuned out and looked around the people at the council as Boromir described his dream, which I had already heard and repeated once myself. Most of the members of the council, I was surprised to see, were actually interested in what Boromir was saying. One of the dwarves looked impatient, but the rest still seemed to have faith in the blood of Númenor and believed that what Boromir said held some importance. I smiled in satisfaction, and then turned my attention back to the council as Aragorn stood up.
"And here in the house of Elrond more shall be made clear to you," he said, and threw his broken sword out onto the table. I resisted the urge to mutter 'shinies!' and start playing with the pieces.
What, the pieces of the sword were all polished and shiny, OK? Probably Elven magic making them glitter, but the truth was, they were shiny and they were pretty! Aragorn would probably behead me with the broken edge if I touched it, though.
"Here is the Sword that was Broken!" Aragorn exclaimed, bringing my attention back to the council.
"And what have you to do with Minas Tirith?" Boromir asked, slightly warily, and glancing at me in confusion. I grinned back at him. Ah, it was finally getting good. I had a sudden urge for popcorn.
"He is Aragorn son of Arathorn," Elrond said, though Boromir already knew Aragorn name - I think he was saying it more for the Council's benefit, "and he is descended through many fathers from Isildur Elendil's son of Minas Ithil. He is the Chief of the Dúnedain in the North, and few are now left of that folk." I resisted the urge to snicker as Boromir shot me a murderous glare. He was distracted, however, when Frodo jumped up.
"Then it belongs to you, and not to me at all!" he exclaimed.
"It does not belong to either of us," Aragorn said; "but it has been ordained that you should hold it for awhile."
"Bring out the Ring, Frodo!" Gandalf said solemnly from my side. "The time has come. Hold it up, and then Boromir will understand the remainder of his riddle." I leaned forward, curious to see the much-vaunted One Ring. It glittered in the sun as Frodo held it up, and this time I couldn't help muttering 'shiny!' Gandalf looked at me sharply, and I shrugged, giving him a look that said 'well, it is!'
"Behold Isildur's Bane!" said Elrond, bringing my attention back to the council.
Boromir shot me a furious look, I don't know what for, then spoke again, "The Halfling! Is then the doom of Minas Tirith come at last? But why then should we seek a broken sword?" I resisted the urge to stick my hand into the air and wave it about like I was trying to get a teacher to call on me. Instead, I watched with glee as Aragorn explained.
"Now you have seen the sword that you have sought, what would you ask? Do you wish for the House of Elendil to return to the Land of Gondor?" Aragorn finished.
"I was not sent to beg any boon, but to seek only the meaning of a riddle." Boromir said proudly. "Yet we are hard pressed, and the Sword of Elendil would be a help beyond our hope - if such a thing could indeed return out of the shadows of the past." Boromir looked slightly doubtfully up at Aragorn.
"It can." I said with a grin, unable to resist saying anything anymore. All eyes in the council turned to me, and then suddenly, Bilbo spoke up.
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken:
The crownless again shall be king.
"Not very good perhaps, but to the point - if you need more beyond the word of Elrond. If that was worth your long journey to hear, you had best listen to it." Bilbo sat down with a snort. Boromir looked at me and arched an eyebrow. I arched one back, refusing to let him blame me for bringing him here. Then Aragorn turned to Boromir and caught his attention, and he proceeded to forgive Boromir's doubt and give a nice little history of himself and the Dúnedain.
"Isildur's Bane is found, you say," Boromir said once Aragorn was finished. "I have seen a bright ring in the Halfling's hand; but Isildur perished ere this age of the world began, they say. How do the Wise know that this ring is his? And how has it passed down the years, until it is brought hither by so strange a messenger?"
And so followed, after only marginal complaints for food, the stories of Bilbo and Frodo and their adventures with the Ring and those searching it. I'm afraid I zoned out somewhat, and Gandalf kept on nudging me with his (bony) elbow and shooting me warning looks to pay attention. But even if I hadn't read the books, I'd heard the tales already from Bilbo, and Merry and Pippin insofar as they knew. And then Galdor, the Elf from the Grey Havens, stood up, wanting to know what proof there was that the Ring was the One Ring.
"The questions that you ask, Galdor, are bound together," Elrond said. "I had not overlooked them, and they shall be answered. But these things it is the part of Gandalf to make clear; and I call upon him last, for it is the place of honour, and in all this matter he has been chief." Gandalf then stood up and proceeded to describe the doings of Sauron and Gollum's adventures in Mordor. Then Gandalf got into detail about the One Ring, and I started paying more attention, especially as he started talking about Gondor.
"Yet there lie in his hoards many records that few now can read, even of the lore-masters, for their scripts and tongues have become dark to later men. And Boromir, there lies in Minas Tirith still, unread, I guess, by any save Saruman and myself since the kings failed, a scroll that Isildur made himself. For Isildur did not march away straight from the war in Mordor, as some have told the tale."
"Some in the North, maybe," Boromir broke in. "All know in Gondor that he went first to Minas Anor and dwelt a while with his nephew Meneldil, instructing him, before he committed to him the rule of the South Kingdom. In that time he planted there the last sapling of the White Tree in memory of his brother."
"But in that time also he made this scroll," said Gandalf; "and that is not remembered in Gondor, it would seem."
"It's a scroll that's over 3,000 years old. Why would it be remembered?" I commented, arching an eyebrow. "When knowledge has to be passed down from person to person, Mithrandir, minor things like a scroll are easily forgotten, especially among the race of Men." Gandalf nodded at me, and some of the other Council members shot me curious looks, having apparently passed over me or not really noticed me before.
"They do indeed, Rachel." Gandalf said; "But this scroll concerns the Ring, and thus wrote Isildur therein:" Gandalf then proceeded to quote Isildur's scroll, describing the Ring and his foolish declaration of it being bound to his bloodline. He went on to tell of the search for Gollum, and Aragorn told of his capture of Gollum, and then Gandalf told of what he learned from Gollum about the Ring's origins.
"And if that is not proof enough, Galdor," Gandalf said when he had finished with that, "There is the other test that I spoke of. Upon this very ring which you have here seen held aloft, round and unadorned, the letters that Isildur reported may still be read, if one has the strength of will to set the golden thing in the fire a while. That I have done, and this I have read:
"Ash nazg durbatulúk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulúk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul."
Gandalf's voice as he spoke the black speech of Mordor became menacing, powerful and harsh as stone. A shadow seemed to pass over the sun, and the council area for a moment grew dark. The other Elves, I noticed, were plugging their ears, trembling as much as everyone else. For me, while it was impressive, and did make me rather afraid, I knew it was only Gandalf speaking the words, and there were worse things in my world. I listened with only a little hunching of my shoulders, and was pleased to note that my automatic inner-translator DIDN'T translate the Black Speech.
"Never before has any voice dared to utter words of that tongue in Imladris, Gandalf the Grey." Elrond said as the shadow passed, looking distinctly pissed off at Gandalf.
"And let us hope that none will ever speak it here again," Gandalf replied. "Nonetheless I do not ask your pardon, Master Elrond. For if that tongue is not soon to be heard in every corner of the West, then let all put doubt aside that this thing is indeed what the Wise have declared: the treasure of the Enemy, fraught with all his malice; and in it lies a great part of his strength of old. Out of the Black Years come the words that the Smiths of Eregion heard, and knew that they had been betrayed:
"One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the Darkness bind them."
Gandalf went on to say how he learned from Gollum that Sauron knows the One Ring is found, and then Boromir asked what became of Gollum. Aragorn said that he was in prison with the Mirkwood Elves, and Legolas was forced to speak up at that point and admit that Gollum had escaped, and tell the whole tale of how it had happened.
Then, of course, came the tale of Saruman's betrayal. I scowled during the whole thing, occasionally muttering implications at the wizard, but then brightened at the memory of the image from The Two Towers of the Ents destroying Isengard. Boromir kept shooting me strange looks throughout Gandalf's tale, but I ignored him.
When Gandalf was done, Elrond made a little comment about maybe having to ask Bombadil. I twitched in remembrance of his 'poetry' and 'songs' in the Fellowship of the Ring. They went on about Bombadil, and I shifted impatiently in my chair. My stomach was starting to remind me how long it had been since I'd eaten, and I wanted to get to the good part of the Council - of course, with this Council, quite obviously, following the books and not the movies, there would be no REALLY interesting part like the forming of the Fellowship, but I was itching to find out where Sam had hidden himself. Try as I might, I hadn't been able to spot him yet - that hobbit was a very good hider.
Turning back to the council at the sound of Glorfindel's voice, I found that Glorfindel was commenting that even Bombadil would not be able to protect the Ring, and would in the end be conquered by Sauron. Then the Elves started debating hiding the Ring.
"I know little of Iarwain save the name," Galdor said, using Bombadil's recently revealed alternate name, "But Glorfindel, I think, is right. Power to defy our Enemy is not in him, unless such power is in the earth itself. And yet we see that Sauron can torture and destroy the very hills. What power still remains lies with us, here in Imladris, or with Círdan at the Havens, or in Lórien. But have they the strength, have we here the strength to withstand the Enemy, the coming of Sauron at the last, when all else is overthrown?"
"I have not the strength," Elrond said; "Neither have they."
"Then if the Ring cannot be kept from him for ever by strength," Glorfindel spoke up again, "Two things only remain for us to attempt: to send it over the Sea, or to destroy."
"But Gandalf has revealed to us that we cannot destroy it by any craft that we here posses," Elrond said. "And they who dwell beyond the Sea would not receive it: for good or for ill it belongs to Middle-earth; it is for us who still dwell here to deal with it."
"Then," Glorfindel replied promptly, "Let us cast it into the deeps, and so make the lies of Saruman come true." Glorfindel went to continue, but my snort stopped him, and he shot me an annoyed look, and I arched an eyebrow.
"What good would that do, but put us in more danger? If Elves can be twisted by evil into Orcs, how long do you think it would take Sauron to twist some innocent sea creatures to do his bidding and have them search the Seas? And anyways, even if we could get to the Seas - which are, I'm sure most of you know, a rather long ways away - casting it into the water would only delay the problem. Sauron's life force is bound to the Ring, and as long as the Ring is not destroyed, he will keep coming back, no matter how many times you kill his mortal body." I said. "And I really don't think anyone here wants repeat after repeat of the Last Alliance? After all, it WAS the LAST Alliance." There was silence in the Council, and Glorfindel gave me an appraising glance, Gandalf and Elrond approving ones. Probably because I hadn't said anything that even hinted at my knowledge. Me, I was just happy to have been able to say something while at the same time cutting out a bunch of prattling from Glorfindel and Gandalf. My stomach was getting more insistent.
"What Rachel has said is true." Gandalf said after a short moment, and Galdor nodded in agreement.
"If the return to Iarwain be thought too dangerous, then flight to the Sea is now fraught with gravest peril. My heart tells me that Sauron will expect us to take the western way, when he learns what has befallen. He soon will. The Nine have been unhorses indeed but that is but a respite, ere they find new steeds and swifter. Only the waning might of Gondor stands now between him and a march in power along the coasts into the North; and if he comes, assailing the White Towers and the Havens, hereafter the Elves may have no escape from the lengthening shadows of Middle-earth." I credited my fight with Boromir about the might of Gondor for his not blowing up at Galdor for the comment about the waning might of Gondor, though I doubt, in such high company, he would have done so, anyways.
"Long yet will that march be delayed," Boromir said. "Gondor wanes, you say. But Gondor stands, and even in the end of its strength is still very strong."
"And yet its vigilance can no longer keep back the Nine," Galdor commented. "And other roads he may find that Gondor does not guard."
"Because they are one Kingdom of men, holding on without aide, trying to hold back an evil so great it has returned from death." I replied, seeing Boromir getting a little annoyed. Galdor nodded in my direction in acknowledgement of what I had said, and Boromir relaxed.
"Then," Erestor put it, "There are but two courses, as Glorfindel already has declared: to hide the Ring for ever; or to unmake it. But both are beyond out power. Who will read this riddle for us?"
"None here can do so," Elrond said gravely, shooting me a stern glance. I looked back innocently. "At least none can foretell what will come to pass, if we take this road or that. But it seems to me now clear which is the road that we must take. The westward road seems easiest. Therefore it must be shunned. It will be watched. Too often the Elves have fled that way. Now at this last we must take a hard road, a road unforeseen. There lies our hope, if hope it be. To walk into peril - to Mordor. We must send the Ring to the Fire." Silence fell, and everyone became absorbed in their thoughts - except for me, who was still trying to spot Sam. The hobbit had probably seen me looking and was terrified of being caught now, though. I never caught sight of him, and was drawn back to the council as Boromir spoke.
"I do not understand all this," he said. "Saruman is a traitor, but did he not have a glimpse of wisdom?"
"No." I stated, drawing the attention of the council once more. "Not in matters of the One Ring. The One Ring is corrupt, and corrupts all who seek to use it, either for good or for ill. As Saruman has shown, one does not even need to have seen or possessed the Ring for it to corrupt them. Absolute power corrupts absolutely - any who try to use the Ring will eventually be twisted to its evil ways."
"As you say, Rachel." Elrond said with a nod in my direction. I nodded back at him, enjoying the Council much more now that I could actually say something worth saying.
"So be it." Boromir said. "Then in Gondor we must trust such weapons as we have. And at the last, while the Wise ones guard this Ring, we will fight on. Mayhap the Sword-that-was-Broken may still stem the tide - if the hand that wields it has inherited not an heirloom only, but the sinews of the Kings of Men."
"Who can tell?" Aragorn commented blandly. "But we will put it to the test one day."
"May the day not be too long delayed," Boromir said. "For though I do not ask for aid, Gondor needs it. It would comfort us to know that others fought also with all the means that they have." And so the council went on past the interesting part into the status of where the other unaccounted rings were - the Seven, presumed taken, and the Three, the Elves would not tell the location of. Not that I needed to be told. I could shock the socks of Elrond and Gandalf - if they even wore socks; I hadn't thought to find out - by telling them where all three of the Three Elven Rings were if I wanted to.
Then Elrond got going about who should take the Ring to Mordor, and Bilbo popped up and volunteered to take the Ring. Frodo got a rather possessive look on his face when Bilbo mentioned taking the Ring again, but it passed when Gandalf told Bilbo that this was no long his tale, and it was not for him to take the Ring to Mordor.
"I have never known you give me pleasant advice before," Bilbo said with a laugh. "As all your unpleasant advice has been good, I wonder if this advice is not bad. Still, I don't suppose I have the strength or luck left to deal with the Ring. It has grown, and I have not. But tell me: what do you mean by 'they'?"
"The messengers who are sent with the Ring." Gandalf replied promptly.
"Exactly! And who are they to be? That seems to me what this Council has to decide, and all that it has to decide. Elves may thrive on speech alone, and Dwarves endure great weariness; but I am only an old hobbit, and I miss my meal at noon. Can't you think of some names now? Or put it off until after dinner?" Silence reigned, and I grinned as every looked amongst each other, even as the noon-bell rang. Finally, Frodo spoke up.
"I will take the Ring," he said, "though I do not know the way."
"If I understand aright all that I have heard," Elrond said, looking piercingly at Frodo, "I think that this task was appointed for you, Frodo; and that if you do not find a way, no one will. This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields to shake the towers and counsels of the Great. Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it? Or, if they are wise, why should they expect to know it, until the hour has struck?
"But it is a heavy burden. So heavy that none could lay it on another. I do not lay it on you. But if you take it freely, I will say that your choice is right; and though all the mighty elf-friends of old, Hador, and Húrin, and Túrin, and Beren himself were assembled together, your seat should be among them." And at that, of course, Sam emerged from the dark shadows in the corner of the meeting area - where he had been hidden from my view by the dwarves - protesting that Frodo couldn't be sent alone.
"That's where you were hiding!" I exclaimed, snapping my fingers. Sam blushed, and Elrond made his little comment about Sam and Frodo being inseparable, and telling Sam he could go with Frodo. I - and most of the Elves at the Council - then heard Sam's comment about what a nice pickle they'd gotten themselves into. All the Elves shared amused smiles.
----To be continued...with Shadowfax!----
(Hey, he may only be in one or two paragraphs, but dangnabit, I like those one or two paragraphs!)
-Authors Note:-
And that's the last chapter for the day! From here on in, it's going back to one-at-a-time updates...unless I get really REALLY bored during Christmas vacation. Even then, though, I might simply up the frequency of those updates...to, say, once every other day. We shall have to see. I may not even be allowed on the computer, since I have a 5-week overdue report that I've barely managed to finish the first draft of. *wince*
Anyways. Thanks to all my reviewers and readers - please review! Even if you don't, just for reading this, you all get palantír-look-alike marbles. Doesn't sound like much, I know, but I'm running out of things to give out now that I'm banned from all three Elven kingdoms...Ooooh, wait, they didn't say anything about the Grey Havens! Alright then, everybody who reviews gets a ticket to a cruise to Valinor and back on an Elven ship! You won't be able to set foot on Valinor, because Manwë and the rest of the Valar are scary, but hey. Seeing it is better than nothing, right?
Hope y'all managed to get out and see Return of the King today, unlike me, or if you didn't, you already have tickets, unlike me! I'm off to drool over my pumpkin cheesecake while trying to finish the afore-mentioned report...
~Crimson Starlight
-Disclaimer:-
CS: I own nothing, especially not the coincidence that has the council scene - the first one in this FanFiction that corresponds with something in the books - being posted on the same day as Return of the King's release.
Manwë: Of course you do not. Coincidences cannot be owned, especially by mortals.
CS: ...
Rest of TGotG's cast: ...
Manwë: What?! Everybody else got to be in the disclaimers!
CS: *squeak* Vala! *points at Manwë* *falls over*
Glorfindel: *nudges CS with his foot* I think you killed her...
-34: Council-
The next day, at breakfast, I showed up in the main hall for the first time since the little fiasco. Boromir looked a little surprised, but readily accepted my company, while Glorfindel and I silently agreed to mutually ignore each other. It actually wasn't that hard, considering all the new arrivals that I had to look at. Most of them had come in yesterday, or very early this morning, so I hadn't met any of them. So now Boromir and I spent the meal quietly talking about everyone we saw.
Boromir, in particular, was interested in the dwarves, while I was interested in the Elves. I pegged Legolas right away - not because he was the most droolaliciously handsome one of the lot (which he was), or because he looked like Orlando Bloom (he didn't - this Legolas was black haired, for one thing), but because he radiated an authority that let you know that he most definitely had power. And if you didn't notice that radiation of power, the deference with which his fellow elves from Mirkwood treated him supplied it for you.
However, one can only look at new arrivals and speculate about them for so long - even Boromir fell silent eventually. So, for the fun of it, I decided to compare Legolas and Glorfindel and see which was hotter. I quickly concluded that there was no comparison, as the two were far too different. They were each handsome in their own way. I did decide, however, that I preferred Glorfindel's way of handsomeness over Legolas's. I couldn't quite say why, but there it was.
After breakfast, it was time for the Council. Boromir, despite his protestations about going to the Council initially, practically dragged me there once it was time. In the little room/courtyard place where the hall was to be kept, Erestor was waiting to seat arrivals - carefully keeping known feuding parties apart, I noticed - and he ushered Boromir to a seat at the far end of the Council, almost opposite from Elrond, before leading me to another seat - right up by Elrond himself. I glanced at Erestor in surprise, but he just smiled, shrugged, and went to greet and seat the just-arrived dwarves.
Glorfindel popped up not long later and seated himself, and after him, the Council quickly filled up. Last to arrive were, of course, Bilbo, Frodo and Gandalf. While Elrond introduced the council to Frodo, and Frodo to the council, Gandalf and Bilbo took their seats, and I was amused to discover that I had been sandwiched between them. To keep me in line? Probably.
Anyways, the Council soon started, and I was obliged to sit there and be bored while listening to the things that I had either already heard about while in the courts of Gondor or had read about in the Fellowship of the Ring - it was nothing about the Ring, just pieces of news about the goings on in Middle-Earth. Frodo looked about as bored as I, and if I had been closer, I would have started up some sort of game with him. As it was, I was obliged to listen.
Glóin got up and spoke about Moria, catching Frodo's interest, and I, too, began to take note, as Glóin's little speech was the prelude to all the interesting stuff. When Glóin finished, Elrond spoke, giving the history of the Ring insofar as he could. And then, at the end, he mentioned Gondor. Boromir, naturally, decided to speak at that point.
"Give me leave, Master Elrond," he said, "First to say more of Gondor; for verily from the land of Gondor I am come, with the lady you know as Rachel. And it would be well for all to know what passes there. For few, I deem, know of our deeds, and therefore guess little of their peril, if we should fail at last.
"Believe not that in the land of Gondor the blood of Númenor is spent, nor all its pride and dignity forgotten." Boromir shot me a look at this point, and I smiled back innocently. "By our valor the wild folk of the East are still restrained, and the terror of Morgul kept at bay; and thus alone are peace and freedom maintained in the lands behind us, bulwark of the West. But if the passages of the River should be won, what then?" Boromir continued one for awhile about what would happen if they fell, and what the enemies of Gondor and allies of Sauron were doing. Then he got to the heart of what he wanted to say - or rather, ask:
"In this evil hour I have come on an errand over many dangerous leagues to Elrond. Had I not had a guide in my traveling companion -" Boromir nodded slightly to me, acknowledging my skill in leading him here. "- I no doubt would have wandered many days before coming to your fair home. But I do not seek allies in war. The might of Elrond is in wisdom not in weapons, it is said. I come to ask for counsel and the unraveling of hard words. For on the eve of a sudden assault a dream came to my brother in a troubled sleep; and afterwards a like dream came oft to him again, and once to me." I tuned out and looked around the people at the council as Boromir described his dream, which I had already heard and repeated once myself. Most of the members of the council, I was surprised to see, were actually interested in what Boromir was saying. One of the dwarves looked impatient, but the rest still seemed to have faith in the blood of Númenor and believed that what Boromir said held some importance. I smiled in satisfaction, and then turned my attention back to the council as Aragorn stood up.
"And here in the house of Elrond more shall be made clear to you," he said, and threw his broken sword out onto the table. I resisted the urge to mutter 'shinies!' and start playing with the pieces.
What, the pieces of the sword were all polished and shiny, OK? Probably Elven magic making them glitter, but the truth was, they were shiny and they were pretty! Aragorn would probably behead me with the broken edge if I touched it, though.
"Here is the Sword that was Broken!" Aragorn exclaimed, bringing my attention back to the council.
"And what have you to do with Minas Tirith?" Boromir asked, slightly warily, and glancing at me in confusion. I grinned back at him. Ah, it was finally getting good. I had a sudden urge for popcorn.
"He is Aragorn son of Arathorn," Elrond said, though Boromir already knew Aragorn name - I think he was saying it more for the Council's benefit, "and he is descended through many fathers from Isildur Elendil's son of Minas Ithil. He is the Chief of the Dúnedain in the North, and few are now left of that folk." I resisted the urge to snicker as Boromir shot me a murderous glare. He was distracted, however, when Frodo jumped up.
"Then it belongs to you, and not to me at all!" he exclaimed.
"It does not belong to either of us," Aragorn said; "but it has been ordained that you should hold it for awhile."
"Bring out the Ring, Frodo!" Gandalf said solemnly from my side. "The time has come. Hold it up, and then Boromir will understand the remainder of his riddle." I leaned forward, curious to see the much-vaunted One Ring. It glittered in the sun as Frodo held it up, and this time I couldn't help muttering 'shiny!' Gandalf looked at me sharply, and I shrugged, giving him a look that said 'well, it is!'
"Behold Isildur's Bane!" said Elrond, bringing my attention back to the council.
Boromir shot me a furious look, I don't know what for, then spoke again, "The Halfling! Is then the doom of Minas Tirith come at last? But why then should we seek a broken sword?" I resisted the urge to stick my hand into the air and wave it about like I was trying to get a teacher to call on me. Instead, I watched with glee as Aragorn explained.
"Now you have seen the sword that you have sought, what would you ask? Do you wish for the House of Elendil to return to the Land of Gondor?" Aragorn finished.
"I was not sent to beg any boon, but to seek only the meaning of a riddle." Boromir said proudly. "Yet we are hard pressed, and the Sword of Elendil would be a help beyond our hope - if such a thing could indeed return out of the shadows of the past." Boromir looked slightly doubtfully up at Aragorn.
"It can." I said with a grin, unable to resist saying anything anymore. All eyes in the council turned to me, and then suddenly, Bilbo spoke up.
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken:
The crownless again shall be king.
"Not very good perhaps, but to the point - if you need more beyond the word of Elrond. If that was worth your long journey to hear, you had best listen to it." Bilbo sat down with a snort. Boromir looked at me and arched an eyebrow. I arched one back, refusing to let him blame me for bringing him here. Then Aragorn turned to Boromir and caught his attention, and he proceeded to forgive Boromir's doubt and give a nice little history of himself and the Dúnedain.
"Isildur's Bane is found, you say," Boromir said once Aragorn was finished. "I have seen a bright ring in the Halfling's hand; but Isildur perished ere this age of the world began, they say. How do the Wise know that this ring is his? And how has it passed down the years, until it is brought hither by so strange a messenger?"
And so followed, after only marginal complaints for food, the stories of Bilbo and Frodo and their adventures with the Ring and those searching it. I'm afraid I zoned out somewhat, and Gandalf kept on nudging me with his (bony) elbow and shooting me warning looks to pay attention. But even if I hadn't read the books, I'd heard the tales already from Bilbo, and Merry and Pippin insofar as they knew. And then Galdor, the Elf from the Grey Havens, stood up, wanting to know what proof there was that the Ring was the One Ring.
"The questions that you ask, Galdor, are bound together," Elrond said. "I had not overlooked them, and they shall be answered. But these things it is the part of Gandalf to make clear; and I call upon him last, for it is the place of honour, and in all this matter he has been chief." Gandalf then stood up and proceeded to describe the doings of Sauron and Gollum's adventures in Mordor. Then Gandalf got into detail about the One Ring, and I started paying more attention, especially as he started talking about Gondor.
"Yet there lie in his hoards many records that few now can read, even of the lore-masters, for their scripts and tongues have become dark to later men. And Boromir, there lies in Minas Tirith still, unread, I guess, by any save Saruman and myself since the kings failed, a scroll that Isildur made himself. For Isildur did not march away straight from the war in Mordor, as some have told the tale."
"Some in the North, maybe," Boromir broke in. "All know in Gondor that he went first to Minas Anor and dwelt a while with his nephew Meneldil, instructing him, before he committed to him the rule of the South Kingdom. In that time he planted there the last sapling of the White Tree in memory of his brother."
"But in that time also he made this scroll," said Gandalf; "and that is not remembered in Gondor, it would seem."
"It's a scroll that's over 3,000 years old. Why would it be remembered?" I commented, arching an eyebrow. "When knowledge has to be passed down from person to person, Mithrandir, minor things like a scroll are easily forgotten, especially among the race of Men." Gandalf nodded at me, and some of the other Council members shot me curious looks, having apparently passed over me or not really noticed me before.
"They do indeed, Rachel." Gandalf said; "But this scroll concerns the Ring, and thus wrote Isildur therein:" Gandalf then proceeded to quote Isildur's scroll, describing the Ring and his foolish declaration of it being bound to his bloodline. He went on to tell of the search for Gollum, and Aragorn told of his capture of Gollum, and then Gandalf told of what he learned from Gollum about the Ring's origins.
"And if that is not proof enough, Galdor," Gandalf said when he had finished with that, "There is the other test that I spoke of. Upon this very ring which you have here seen held aloft, round and unadorned, the letters that Isildur reported may still be read, if one has the strength of will to set the golden thing in the fire a while. That I have done, and this I have read:
"Ash nazg durbatulúk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulúk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul."
Gandalf's voice as he spoke the black speech of Mordor became menacing, powerful and harsh as stone. A shadow seemed to pass over the sun, and the council area for a moment grew dark. The other Elves, I noticed, were plugging their ears, trembling as much as everyone else. For me, while it was impressive, and did make me rather afraid, I knew it was only Gandalf speaking the words, and there were worse things in my world. I listened with only a little hunching of my shoulders, and was pleased to note that my automatic inner-translator DIDN'T translate the Black Speech.
"Never before has any voice dared to utter words of that tongue in Imladris, Gandalf the Grey." Elrond said as the shadow passed, looking distinctly pissed off at Gandalf.
"And let us hope that none will ever speak it here again," Gandalf replied. "Nonetheless I do not ask your pardon, Master Elrond. For if that tongue is not soon to be heard in every corner of the West, then let all put doubt aside that this thing is indeed what the Wise have declared: the treasure of the Enemy, fraught with all his malice; and in it lies a great part of his strength of old. Out of the Black Years come the words that the Smiths of Eregion heard, and knew that they had been betrayed:
"One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the Darkness bind them."
Gandalf went on to say how he learned from Gollum that Sauron knows the One Ring is found, and then Boromir asked what became of Gollum. Aragorn said that he was in prison with the Mirkwood Elves, and Legolas was forced to speak up at that point and admit that Gollum had escaped, and tell the whole tale of how it had happened.
Then, of course, came the tale of Saruman's betrayal. I scowled during the whole thing, occasionally muttering implications at the wizard, but then brightened at the memory of the image from The Two Towers of the Ents destroying Isengard. Boromir kept shooting me strange looks throughout Gandalf's tale, but I ignored him.
When Gandalf was done, Elrond made a little comment about maybe having to ask Bombadil. I twitched in remembrance of his 'poetry' and 'songs' in the Fellowship of the Ring. They went on about Bombadil, and I shifted impatiently in my chair. My stomach was starting to remind me how long it had been since I'd eaten, and I wanted to get to the good part of the Council - of course, with this Council, quite obviously, following the books and not the movies, there would be no REALLY interesting part like the forming of the Fellowship, but I was itching to find out where Sam had hidden himself. Try as I might, I hadn't been able to spot him yet - that hobbit was a very good hider.
Turning back to the council at the sound of Glorfindel's voice, I found that Glorfindel was commenting that even Bombadil would not be able to protect the Ring, and would in the end be conquered by Sauron. Then the Elves started debating hiding the Ring.
"I know little of Iarwain save the name," Galdor said, using Bombadil's recently revealed alternate name, "But Glorfindel, I think, is right. Power to defy our Enemy is not in him, unless such power is in the earth itself. And yet we see that Sauron can torture and destroy the very hills. What power still remains lies with us, here in Imladris, or with Círdan at the Havens, or in Lórien. But have they the strength, have we here the strength to withstand the Enemy, the coming of Sauron at the last, when all else is overthrown?"
"I have not the strength," Elrond said; "Neither have they."
"Then if the Ring cannot be kept from him for ever by strength," Glorfindel spoke up again, "Two things only remain for us to attempt: to send it over the Sea, or to destroy."
"But Gandalf has revealed to us that we cannot destroy it by any craft that we here posses," Elrond said. "And they who dwell beyond the Sea would not receive it: for good or for ill it belongs to Middle-earth; it is for us who still dwell here to deal with it."
"Then," Glorfindel replied promptly, "Let us cast it into the deeps, and so make the lies of Saruman come true." Glorfindel went to continue, but my snort stopped him, and he shot me an annoyed look, and I arched an eyebrow.
"What good would that do, but put us in more danger? If Elves can be twisted by evil into Orcs, how long do you think it would take Sauron to twist some innocent sea creatures to do his bidding and have them search the Seas? And anyways, even if we could get to the Seas - which are, I'm sure most of you know, a rather long ways away - casting it into the water would only delay the problem. Sauron's life force is bound to the Ring, and as long as the Ring is not destroyed, he will keep coming back, no matter how many times you kill his mortal body." I said. "And I really don't think anyone here wants repeat after repeat of the Last Alliance? After all, it WAS the LAST Alliance." There was silence in the Council, and Glorfindel gave me an appraising glance, Gandalf and Elrond approving ones. Probably because I hadn't said anything that even hinted at my knowledge. Me, I was just happy to have been able to say something while at the same time cutting out a bunch of prattling from Glorfindel and Gandalf. My stomach was getting more insistent.
"What Rachel has said is true." Gandalf said after a short moment, and Galdor nodded in agreement.
"If the return to Iarwain be thought too dangerous, then flight to the Sea is now fraught with gravest peril. My heart tells me that Sauron will expect us to take the western way, when he learns what has befallen. He soon will. The Nine have been unhorses indeed but that is but a respite, ere they find new steeds and swifter. Only the waning might of Gondor stands now between him and a march in power along the coasts into the North; and if he comes, assailing the White Towers and the Havens, hereafter the Elves may have no escape from the lengthening shadows of Middle-earth." I credited my fight with Boromir about the might of Gondor for his not blowing up at Galdor for the comment about the waning might of Gondor, though I doubt, in such high company, he would have done so, anyways.
"Long yet will that march be delayed," Boromir said. "Gondor wanes, you say. But Gondor stands, and even in the end of its strength is still very strong."
"And yet its vigilance can no longer keep back the Nine," Galdor commented. "And other roads he may find that Gondor does not guard."
"Because they are one Kingdom of men, holding on without aide, trying to hold back an evil so great it has returned from death." I replied, seeing Boromir getting a little annoyed. Galdor nodded in my direction in acknowledgement of what I had said, and Boromir relaxed.
"Then," Erestor put it, "There are but two courses, as Glorfindel already has declared: to hide the Ring for ever; or to unmake it. But both are beyond out power. Who will read this riddle for us?"
"None here can do so," Elrond said gravely, shooting me a stern glance. I looked back innocently. "At least none can foretell what will come to pass, if we take this road or that. But it seems to me now clear which is the road that we must take. The westward road seems easiest. Therefore it must be shunned. It will be watched. Too often the Elves have fled that way. Now at this last we must take a hard road, a road unforeseen. There lies our hope, if hope it be. To walk into peril - to Mordor. We must send the Ring to the Fire." Silence fell, and everyone became absorbed in their thoughts - except for me, who was still trying to spot Sam. The hobbit had probably seen me looking and was terrified of being caught now, though. I never caught sight of him, and was drawn back to the council as Boromir spoke.
"I do not understand all this," he said. "Saruman is a traitor, but did he not have a glimpse of wisdom?"
"No." I stated, drawing the attention of the council once more. "Not in matters of the One Ring. The One Ring is corrupt, and corrupts all who seek to use it, either for good or for ill. As Saruman has shown, one does not even need to have seen or possessed the Ring for it to corrupt them. Absolute power corrupts absolutely - any who try to use the Ring will eventually be twisted to its evil ways."
"As you say, Rachel." Elrond said with a nod in my direction. I nodded back at him, enjoying the Council much more now that I could actually say something worth saying.
"So be it." Boromir said. "Then in Gondor we must trust such weapons as we have. And at the last, while the Wise ones guard this Ring, we will fight on. Mayhap the Sword-that-was-Broken may still stem the tide - if the hand that wields it has inherited not an heirloom only, but the sinews of the Kings of Men."
"Who can tell?" Aragorn commented blandly. "But we will put it to the test one day."
"May the day not be too long delayed," Boromir said. "For though I do not ask for aid, Gondor needs it. It would comfort us to know that others fought also with all the means that they have." And so the council went on past the interesting part into the status of where the other unaccounted rings were - the Seven, presumed taken, and the Three, the Elves would not tell the location of. Not that I needed to be told. I could shock the socks of Elrond and Gandalf - if they even wore socks; I hadn't thought to find out - by telling them where all three of the Three Elven Rings were if I wanted to.
Then Elrond got going about who should take the Ring to Mordor, and Bilbo popped up and volunteered to take the Ring. Frodo got a rather possessive look on his face when Bilbo mentioned taking the Ring again, but it passed when Gandalf told Bilbo that this was no long his tale, and it was not for him to take the Ring to Mordor.
"I have never known you give me pleasant advice before," Bilbo said with a laugh. "As all your unpleasant advice has been good, I wonder if this advice is not bad. Still, I don't suppose I have the strength or luck left to deal with the Ring. It has grown, and I have not. But tell me: what do you mean by 'they'?"
"The messengers who are sent with the Ring." Gandalf replied promptly.
"Exactly! And who are they to be? That seems to me what this Council has to decide, and all that it has to decide. Elves may thrive on speech alone, and Dwarves endure great weariness; but I am only an old hobbit, and I miss my meal at noon. Can't you think of some names now? Or put it off until after dinner?" Silence reigned, and I grinned as every looked amongst each other, even as the noon-bell rang. Finally, Frodo spoke up.
"I will take the Ring," he said, "though I do not know the way."
"If I understand aright all that I have heard," Elrond said, looking piercingly at Frodo, "I think that this task was appointed for you, Frodo; and that if you do not find a way, no one will. This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields to shake the towers and counsels of the Great. Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it? Or, if they are wise, why should they expect to know it, until the hour has struck?
"But it is a heavy burden. So heavy that none could lay it on another. I do not lay it on you. But if you take it freely, I will say that your choice is right; and though all the mighty elf-friends of old, Hador, and Húrin, and Túrin, and Beren himself were assembled together, your seat should be among them." And at that, of course, Sam emerged from the dark shadows in the corner of the meeting area - where he had been hidden from my view by the dwarves - protesting that Frodo couldn't be sent alone.
"That's where you were hiding!" I exclaimed, snapping my fingers. Sam blushed, and Elrond made his little comment about Sam and Frodo being inseparable, and telling Sam he could go with Frodo. I - and most of the Elves at the Council - then heard Sam's comment about what a nice pickle they'd gotten themselves into. All the Elves shared amused smiles.
----To be continued...with Shadowfax!----
(Hey, he may only be in one or two paragraphs, but dangnabit, I like those one or two paragraphs!)
-Authors Note:-
And that's the last chapter for the day! From here on in, it's going back to one-at-a-time updates...unless I get really REALLY bored during Christmas vacation. Even then, though, I might simply up the frequency of those updates...to, say, once every other day. We shall have to see. I may not even be allowed on the computer, since I have a 5-week overdue report that I've barely managed to finish the first draft of. *wince*
Anyways. Thanks to all my reviewers and readers - please review! Even if you don't, just for reading this, you all get palantír-look-alike marbles. Doesn't sound like much, I know, but I'm running out of things to give out now that I'm banned from all three Elven kingdoms...Ooooh, wait, they didn't say anything about the Grey Havens! Alright then, everybody who reviews gets a ticket to a cruise to Valinor and back on an Elven ship! You won't be able to set foot on Valinor, because Manwë and the rest of the Valar are scary, but hey. Seeing it is better than nothing, right?
Hope y'all managed to get out and see Return of the King today, unlike me, or if you didn't, you already have tickets, unlike me! I'm off to drool over my pumpkin cheesecake while trying to finish the afore-mentioned report...
~Crimson Starlight