A/N: Thanks to the following reviewers –
Miriellar: First of all, thank you for the review. I love it when people actually give me Positive pointers. I know what you mean and I am terribly sorry for it. I was having a writer's block and so, there were times – you know. Keep reading and soon I will be posting "Crystal dreams" which is a Haldir based story. The first chapter is already on the way. It shall be posted by next week. Nice readings!
Slowness: I owe you so much! Thanks for all the supports you rendered and I dedicate the first chapter of "Crystal dreams" to you. Thanks! Hope you read it! The first chapter will be out by next week.
Disclaimer: After all these chapters, you ought to know! I don't own anything. No copyright infringement intended!
This IS positively the chapter before the last chapter. It might be a little long – but what the heck! Enjoy! And don't forget to tell me how my story was as a whole in the end. The main story ends here and the next chapter is an epilogue sort of thing.
I would also like the people who have followed my story to kindly tell me what they feel is good about the story and which was the chapter you liked best. Thank you!
- Anarya of Lorien.
The Prophecy
Chapter 18 (Pain and peace)
For how long he fought he had no idea. Gandalf smote another orc with his staff as he plunged his elven blade into another one.
"Mithrandir, we finally meet." A voice echoed in front of him. The orcs surrounding him and Gimli began to clear back making space for their mistress. The elleth rode towards the Istari as Gandalf glared at her.
"Have you not forsaken the ways of evil, Nwalme? Even after the prophecy was made?"
She laughed as she flicked her hand gently and a sword materialized in her hands.
"Evil is the other half of good. In every good deed, there is a small amount of evil and there is a bit of good in every evil deed. Now, for instance, I will send you to the Valar by killing you now, the dwarf too. That way you can inform them that Nwalme comes to claim what is hers."
"Valinor was never yours." Nwalme twirled the sword idly. "Yes. But I can wish and desire can't I?"
With that she charged forward at Gandalf who fended her blow off at the last minute.
"You are good Mithrandir!"
"As you are evil." He breathed. Striking her back. Nwalme laughed as she stopped his blows with a lazy air.
"You waste your time, old man. Go back from whence you came and let the east belong to the Torment, as it should rightly belong."
"And if you would stay here away from Valinor, I would sell my soul to Melkor."
"Your wish!" she sighed as she struck him again. "You have a valiant steed. A maera isn't he?"
Shadowfax reared in anger as she spoke his name. She laughed again as she backed her steed, a grey winged stallion just in time.
"Quite fiery for a horse. But can he fly?" she kicked her stallion's flanks and the beast rose up into the sky.
"Very brave of you, Nwalme."
"Oh, but my real weapon is the child! Your child. In a few hours, she shall be a year old and then you shall see."
She laughed and flew towards the castle.
"Oh Valar!" Gandalf swore. "Let that be a lie."
"What do you mean?" Gimli asked, clearly beheading an orc. Gandalf nudged Shadowfax towards the castle.
"We must hurry."
The various passages snaked their way around and the dark walls cast ominous shadows, as Silme's torch grew dimmer and dimmer.
"We must hurry and find new light or else-" the last flicker of the torch died into complete darkness, completing her sentence for her. Aragorn grazed his fingers gently over the walls until her felt something smooth.
"There is a door here, I reckon. Let us try to open that. Maybe… maybe we shall find Luinil there." He pulled at the smooth knob when there was a loud squeak and the black wooden doors opened to reveal a large hall.
"The court of the Torment." Isilya murmured as she walked into the lighted hall. But the light the revealed the room came from huge lamps burning with fire that flickered and flamed.
"And it is empty." Legolas stepped in after the March Warden.
"You are not permitted here." A sweet voice sounded from behind them. Aragorn turned sharply to see a young elleth stand there with her eyes fixed on him. She had black hair that cascaded down to her waist. Her blue eyes looked so much like the ones of an elleth he loved. There, in a white robe stood Arwen's daughter.
"Luinil?" Aragorn asked barely a whisper. The elleth turned towards the rest and finally looked at Aragorn.
"Have we met before?"
Aragorn was at a loss of words. "I am – I am,"
She smiled a little and Arwen gleamed before them. "You were the one who rode against the Torment. You were brave. But it pains me to see you as does it pleasures me. Can you tell me why?"
Silme looked at Isilya at this. The March Warden was clearly surprised just as she had been. Was the child aware of what was to happen?
" I am Aragorn-" he stopped again at the sight of Luinil. She was looking at him in a strange fashion, like a saint's vision on a commoner.
"I am Luinil. Born by the grace of Eru, like you." She placed a hand over her chest and bowed down. Aragorn took a step closer,
"Do you not remember me?" he asked. Luinil looked at him, her eyes clearly seemed like those of a plane higher.
"I see no need to remember anyone! We shall all be joined as one when we pass to the undying lands, into Eru." She turned to look at the rest of them. When her gaze fell on Silme, she smiled and Silme lowered her head.
"Silme of Edona. It pleases me to see you."
"As it pleases me to see you, milady. But-" a loud bang interrupted her from completing that sentence. The door to the other side of the hall burst to debris and out of the smoke that cleared slowly, Nwalme approached. Her hands held her sword, a black blade with Nwalme, carved intricately on its hilt. Her armour and gauntlets shone as she moved through the light of the torches.
"You have erred, Aragorn, by thinking that you can defeat me with such weak allies," her eyes shone at Silme who glared back. "Now all must seek your ends, from me."
Aragorn removed the Anduril from its sheath. "That is for me to decide." Legolas had already notched an arrow onto his bow and Silme had unsheathed her own sword, Eledhwen gleamed as she changed stances. Nwalme glanced at the sword, and for the first time fear entered her golden brown orbs,
"Eledhwen was Sulé's sword! You-"
"I was Luinil once. My mother died protecting me."
"As shall you." She said as she lunged at Silme. Silme ducked just in time and blocked the blow with her sword.
"Eledhwen hold true its name. It is a powerful sword." Nwalme breathed as her eyes gleamed with madness and hatred.
"You are no match for the torment my dear!" Silme looked at the elleth before her with no fear. Nwalme was about to plunge the sword into her heart when Silme jumped high into the air. Nwalme remained disoriented for a while as Silme landed behind her. as Nwalme turned back, Silme plunged the hilt of her sword into Nwalme's stomach. The sorceress fell back a few paces as her eyes watered in pain.
"Even if you shall not die by me, I can cause you pain, Nwalme."
"Enough!" a voice sounded through the halls. Luinil stood between Nwalme and Silme. She turned to Nwalme.
"Your battle is with me. Fight me and win if you desire all that you want! Valinor, a place higher than the Valar - defeat me. I stand between you and your desires. I was the one born to see you die. To kill you! Why kill these innocent people then?" she then turned to Silme and wrenched Eledhwen out of her hands.
"This shall be the weapon I shall use. If you don't mind!" her hold on Nwalme's wrist tightened as she felt the elleth try to break her grip.
"It shall be an honour!" Silme smiled as she cast one last ugly look at Nwalme and backed away. Luinil then turned to face Nwalme,
"I shall release you. But I wish you would change." There was pity in her eyes. Silme's eyes narrowed. Why show pity to a creature as her? She strung her bow and readied her arrow. Isilya, who looked at the elleth act in this way sighed as she shook her head.
"One shall die of this battle. And believe me it shall be Luinil." Silme glared at Nwalme who was pacing the ground as though each was waiting for the other to attack. "It better be." She muttered angrily.
Luinil twirled the sword around in her hand. Nwalme was watching her every move. "I taught you the art of warfare, and now you use it against me?"
Luinil smiled as she shifted Eledhwen from one hand to the other. "You should have killed me when you had the chance, Nwalme. Perhaps, Eru demands us to do his bidding, even you?"
"Nobody commands me!" she snarled as she lunged at Luinil. they fought as time wore on. Everything outside them seemed to stop to see both the ellith dance around each other with blades that scraped the other. Both of them were evenly matched and that one reason was the one that leant such beauty to such dangerous a ritual.
At long last, Luinil pushed Nwalme to the ground. Her face was pale and the blue eyes gleamed with what looked like power beyond recall.
"Lle lava?" (do you yield?) Nwalme snarled, "Never."
Luinil sighed as she twisted her blade to such that its point faced Nwalme. Nwalme looked at the blade with fear. Nwalme brought her blade up to block Eledhwen with such force that Luinil was blown backwards. Nwalme jumped back into the arena as she gripped her black blade tightly.
"Now, you shall yield, as my sword you do not wield, my dear!" as she neared Luinil, the elleth lifted her hand and Nwalme felt some force drive the sword out of her hand. With a loud thud the sword hit the wooden door, with such force that half of the extremely long sword plunged through the door onto the other side.
"Now you are weapon-less." The door crashed open as Gandalf and Gimli stepped in. Nwalme momentarily turned to look at him. At that moment, Luinil got back to her feet and pulled Eledhwen above her to plough it through Nwalme's body. Nwalme who turned back just in time, backed away and blocked the attack with one of her daggers.
" Didn't they teach you not to attack a person who has their back facing you?" she asked smirking as she threw her dagger at Luinil. Luinil dodged the knife-edge as she replied back,
"It was you who taught me, Nwalme. Funny don't you think? Do not fret, I shall pay my respects to you as a student once you are dead." She plunged her sword into Nwalme's shoulder as the other elleth gave a shout of pain. She staggered back away from Luinil who advanced on her with her sword dripping red.
"Stay away, I am injured."
"So were a million others before you killed them." Luinil drew Eledhwen high above her head. Nwalme backed away faster only to stop abruptly.
Her eyes widened as surprise and pain made their way into her countenance. The black bade that pierced her heart, dripped with her own blood. Nwalme had been slain.
"And by her own sword, she falls." She sighed as she dropped Eledhwen to the ground.
"My work is complete. I must return." Silme nodded and bowed down in front of Luinil. Isilya followed her actions.
"We thank you for the immense help you have rendered to Edona. How ever are we going to thank you,"
"It was my duty to destroy her, though I half expected her to reform." Luinil closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Sometimes the things we dread happen fast." She opened her eyes and turned to look at the rest of them. Aragorn stood there, staring at her, with tears in his eyes. She smiled a little as tears streamed down her face.
"Luinil," he breathed as he walked towards her and enveloped her in one of the warmest hugs.
"Now I know why it pained to see you," she moved away and looked into Aragorn's eyes. Her hands tightly clasping his, "Ada." She smiled as she kissed her father gently.
"It is time we left, Luinil. Though we have lost the pleasure of seeing your childhood, we will be more than happy to accept you back, amidst us as our princess." Luinil smiled and turned to look at Silme and Isilya. Silme, who was about to kiss Legolas, froze at the look the elleth gave her. She slowly removed herself from Legolas' embrace. He looked at her surprised. Silme turned to look at Isilya who lowered her eyes to the floor.
Luinil smiled. "And it is as I feared. Fear not my friends. I hold no aggression against you." She then turned back to Aragorn and caught his hand between hers.
"Ada, I don't know how you will take this, but there was a purpose for which I was born." Aragorn smiled and said,
"I know. You were born for a purpose and it has been fulfilled." Luinil closed her eyes as tears threatened to erupt again.
"Yes it has." Aragorn hugged his daughter once more as she cried unrestrained onto his shoulder. She removed herself from her father's embrace and turned to the opposite direction.
"Ada, there are a few things you don't understand and I hate to be the bearer of this news." Aragorn looked bemused at his daughter.
"I must go." It took a while for the message to sink into his mind. Here, she stood. His one and only daughter and yet she seemed so far away. Her eyes looked mysterious as though she was a race apart, the grace of the Valar themselves… he smiled a little and shook his head.
"Surely, you mean back to Gondor." He asked, his voice thick and constrained. Luinil sighed as she bowed down her head. She raised her read again to meet those eyes, which now gazed at her. Whatever had occurred there was to be lost forever.
"You know what I mean, Ada." Her voice sounded superficially calm, as though she had accepted her fate without question.
"But you cannot. You are our child. Arwen – your mother has not even seen you. After you were born. You should come back at least for he-"
"-Ada, please. I cannot. Naneth will understand. She is after all the granddaughter of Galadriel. She knows that Valinor is not far from her. We shall all meet one day. Until then, I beg of you-"
Aragorn hugged his daughter fiercely drowning the rest of her sentence. "Amin hiraetha, Ada." She completed. Her eyes closed in pain as she tightened her hold on her father. He took a deep breath as though he willed himself not to cry. Not to be weak. He released her from his embrace as she straightened. He placed on of his callused hands onto her cheeks. She leant in onto his hands as tears flowed again.
"Ada-" she began. He smiled as he placed his hands on her lips,
"Amin sinta, Lirimaer." (I know, lovely one.)
She smiled a little as she backed away a little. "I shall travel to the west with you. But I beg of you not to call me to Gondor. I head for the Gray Havens. It is my rightful place and it will be the best thing for me to do."
Aragorn nodded and walked away from her, towards the door, where Nwalme still hung – limp and dead. Footsteps behind him indicated that the others were following him. he seemed to care little where he went. He seemed not to care at all.
So there's the end of it all. But a proper ending is due which shall form the other chapter – the REAL Last chapter. Please read and review.
- Anarya of Lorien