Even Tolkien acknowledged racism and discrimination in his stories but, by example, reminded us that we can rise above it without losing our dignity in the process.
Sindarin will be in italics and the English translation will follow and will be inside parenthesis (translation).
Chapter 13
Cruel and Inhumane
The jail was a dismal place by Elf or human standards, having but few windows and no furnishings other a single cot in the main floor's single cell. However, the elf they had come to see was not in the cell on the main floor, rather, they followed Thorn as he descended a set of stairs into a dimly lit smaller room where there was another cell, dank and musty smelling with no window at all. It was in this room that they found the elf they had come to see.
When the three reached the cell housing the Elf, the wretched creature before them, obviously frightened, scooted to the far side of the cell. Anayah could clearly see that the fair being was bloody and bruised, having been beaten severely at some point since his arrest and when she turned to Thorn, Anayah's green eyes held fire in them and the human, when he saw the look on the she-elf's face took an involuntary step backwards.
"Please let me into this cell, Master Human." Her voice was low and controlled but left no doubt that she was angry or that she expected him to act immediately upon her request.
Unable to look at the angry she-elf, Thorn lowered his eyes.
"I'm sorry my Lady, I cannot do that for this elf is violent and dangerous and could harm us."
Thorn squeezed his eyes shut for a moment as he realized that he had just made the remark about a violent and dangerous elf to two elves who had the potential to be much more violent and dangerous than the poor thing in the cell.
Anayah continued to keep her glare on the uncomfortable human in front of her.
"And you are not dangerous, Master Human?"
Without waiting for any further action from the human, she turned to the cell and after placing her hand over the keyhole of the door she briefly closed her eyes and spoke silently to herself, the words that would open the door. With a quiet click, the door of the cell popped open.
Her actions almost unhinged the already nervous human and he turned, fully intending to leave but when he did so, he found his way blocked by a serious-looking Rahan.
The big elf with his arms folded across his chest, looked impassively at the human as all blood drained from the man's face.
"Peace, Master Human. I will not eat you, I only wish for you to stay and learn a little about what you call fairness and compassion."
Though he did not verbally respond, Thorn looked at Rahan one more time then returned his attention back to the she-elf who was now inside the cell.
"You are an elf-witch aren't you?"
The question, though an ignorant one, was meant to be an innocent question and so Anayah just smiled at the human and continued what she was doing.
She walked slowly towards where the elf sat cowering against the far wall with his eyes closed. Carefully, she slipped one hand under his neck and the other hand under his knees then picked him up off the cold floor and walked the few steps towards the cot where she gently laid him down then sat herself so the injured elf's head was in her lap.
It took no small amount of control for Rahan not to burst out laughing when he saw the astounded look on the human's face as he watched Anayah pick the elf up off the ground and, seemingly without effort, carry him to the cot. Rahan just shook his head and continued to watch in silence from where he stood by the door.
Anayah took the small water flask off her belt and opened it, carefully pouring a few drops into the traumatized elf's mouth, stroking his throat, encouraging him to swallow. Once he felt the cool liquid run down his parched throat, the Elf reached up towards the flask with his own shaking hands and took long slow drinks, not stopping until the flask was almost empty. After he had drank his fill, she replaced the stopper in the flask and set it aside.
Sensing that she meant him no harm, the elf wrapped both of his thin arms around her arm that was closest to him almost as if he feared that if he let go she would leave him alone once more. Cradling him as close to herself as she could, she gently rocked the elf, hoping to soothe him and in a soft voice, so as not to startle him overmuch, she spoke.
"Im Anayah o Imladris. Man na lin enneth? Mirkwood na lin bair? Thranduil na lin Taur?" (I am Anayah of Imladris. What is your name? Mirkwood is your home? Thranduil is your king?)
She neither expected nor received an answer although she was hoping that just the sound of her voice would be enough to soothe the elf she held tenderly in her arms. She sensed that there was something familiar about the fair being, that she had seen him somewhere before, and ceased her rocking so she could looked at him more carefully. She felt him begin to tremble once more and as she quickly resumed her rocking, the realization hit her why he seemed so familiar to her. This elf had been part of the King Thranduil's royal guard and had been in Imladris the day she accidentally walked into the Mirkwood King. She frowned as she tried to remember his name.
"Ah yes - Arminas. Lin enneth na Arminas. (Your name is Arminas.)
When the elf still remained unresponsive, she again turned an angry glare on Thorn.
"This elf's name is Arminas and he is a member of the royal guard of King Thranduil of Mirkwood."
Carefully extricating herself from the elf's arms, she rose and walked toward the human who took an involuntary step backwards as she leaned in close to the human to speak to him.
"I hope for your sake, Master Thorn, that this elf is guilty of the crime you accuse him of because if he is not and the Mirkwood King finds out that you have mistreated him in this fashion, he will be most displeased."
Thorn swallowed nervously.
"I am here to try and find out the truth of this matter, good or ill, whether it be towards men or elves. I can assure you that I will be fair in my investigation and I hope that my faith in your fairness from this point on will be returned."
The human's head bobbed up and down in nervous agreement.
She continued to glare at the human though her tone of voice was even and calm.
"However, Master Human, fairness dictates that I not tolerate abuse in any fashion, towards any being."
Knowing of whom she was spoke, the human immediately addressed her concerns.
"What does this elf require, Lady Anayah."
"Arminas is a Silvan elf, a wood elf, and like any healthy woodland creature, he requires sunlight and he needs to be able to look at the stars at night. I must, therefore insist that you put him in a cell on the top floor of this building. I will tend to his injuries myself, but, I must have your oath that he will suffer no further hurts until this matter is resolved. Do I have your word on this?"
Thorn looked at Rahan who had adopted an intimidating stance, then back at Anayah.
"You can move him now if you wish."
Nodding her head, she knelt by the elf's side and whispered into his ear reassuring him that all would soon be well. Then she stood and walked out of the cell making room for Rahan who carefully picked the elf up and held him in his arms, waiting to follow whenever Anayah left.
As she left the cell, Anayah laid a hand gently on the human's arm and leaned closely to him so that she could speak softly and quietly into his ear.
"I saw you look at my Captain, Master Human, and I saw the blood leave your face. I promise you, Master Thorn, that if the Mirkwood elf comes to any further harm until our business in Nen is concluded, whether it be towards your favor or ours, that Captain Rahan will be the least of your worries, for it will be me that will become your worst nightmare. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"
Thorn tried twice before he finally managed to get sound to go with the words he was trying to speak.
"Yes, my Lady. I understand you perfectly."
8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
Following Thorn and Anayah upstairs, Rahan walked to the only cell on that floor and gently placed the injured elf on the cot inside. After requesting hot water, which Thorn brought to her as quickly as he could, she began to tend to the injured being's many wounds. Other than severe bruising on his torso and arms and an ugly gash on the side of his head, there were not as many physical injuries as she at first had thought. She made a pain and sleeping draught and administered it to the elf and after she was satisfied that he was finally sleeping a healing sleep, she left the cell which Thorn closed and locked himself.
"I will have two men that I trust come and stay with the elf to see that he suffers no further harm, my Lady. They are good men and will be faithful to their charge."
"I thank you for that, Master Thorn. I was quite sure that after we had cleared up our little misunderstandings, that we could come to an agreement on the treatment of the prisoner. Now, I must beg your leave for I must meet with the other three members of my guard at your tavern."
"I also want to reassure you Lady Anayah, that I will also put out the word that you and your escort are to receive the full cooperation of all our citizens. If you have any further difficulties in that regard, please let me know and I will handle the matter immediately."
She bowed her head and touched her heart to show her elven gratitude then turned on her heel and left the building. Having followed her out, Rahan stepped up to her side and glanced at her carefully trying to judge her mood.
"I take it from the dour expression on your face that you do not care for this human."
Without looking at her companion, she answered him, her voice flat and angry.
"No, Rahan, I do not. However, my personal likes and dislikes are not up for consideration at this moment. Perhaps I will feel better after we meet with the others and see if they have found out anything."
Quietly, with no further conversation, the two walked toward the tavern and their noontime meeting with the other three members of her guard.
When the two of them walked through the door of the tavern, every patron inside fell silent causing Anayah to roll her eyes in frustration at their unwarranted reactions. Then, after seeing the other three elves sitting in a darkened corner of the room, she and Rahan walked to their table and sat themselves in vacant chairs sharing greetings with the others as they did. Anayah was quick to note than none of the four were sitting with their backs to the people in the room.
She sighed as she took off her gloves and placed them next to her on the table. The tavern keeper walked up to their table and smiled at them.
"Perhaps I could interest the five of you in a little lunch?"
Anayah smiled up at the man.
"That would be very nice, sir, for I am fairly starving." She looked at the others. "Are you four ready to eat?"
She noted the strained expressions on their faces as they all nodded.
"Yes, please bring lunch for the five of us."
"Homemade stew, freshly baked bread, home grown vegetables - that will be all right with you? And how about something to drink? Would the five of you prefer ale or water?"
"Water, please."
The tavern keeper was startled for a moment as they all answered in unison. Then, his smile returning, he nodded his head then turned and left to gather their meal.
"So. What did you three find out?"
It was Semoro who was ready to give the report.
"I counted 35 townspeople. However, what I found that was extremely odd," he looked at the other two who were already nodding in affirmation, "was that there are no young children or old ones living in Nen - anywhere."
"What about the layout of the town? Saeros?"
"There is only this one tavern, a blacksmith/stable, an inn, a general store, a healer's office, the jail and a town square but other than the stable, none of the businesses seem to be open which I think is odd because it is in the middle of the day in the middle of a human week. All the houses seem to be clustered beyond the buildings at the south end of town."
He leaned closer to the others obviously forgetting that none of the humans present in the establishment could hear their natural tone of voice as it was.
"We could get none of the townspeople to talk to us as they hurried away whenever we tried to approach them."
"Hm." It was an almost an automatic response to the elf's words as, for a moment, the she-elf's mind seemed to be elsewhere though she had been fully attentive and had heard every word they had said. "Their attitudes may change after Thorn has a talk with his people." She swung around in her chair until she faced them fully.
"Lady Anayah, what is troubling you?" Rahan's expression showed his concern that something was wrong with his young charge and had noted that she had been somewhat quiet since they had entered the establishment other than when she had order their lunch.
It was about this time that the tavern keeper returned with their meal and all four spent the next minutes eating.
"Oh, in answer to your question, Rahan, I felt - displaced - for a moment, almost as if I were in two places at once. It was quite an odd feeling. Perhaps I just need to eat."
Surprisingly, Súrion, who had not said much up to this point, admitted to having had a similar experience.
"I must confess that I, too, have been experiencing something similar. What I am feeling is something akin to what the humans call 'having been there before,' like they have been to a certain place before but cannot recall the circumstances surrounding the feeling. It is quite an odd sensation - and disconcerting - I might add."
"I think the 'creep factor' for this town just went up about 50 points!"
All of them laughed at her remark.
"Anyway," Anayah continued after they had all quit laughing, "did any of you get a chance to see the alley where the girl was killed?"
Having finished his meal, Saeros put down his spoon and sat back from the table.
"Aye, we saw the place where the deed occurred - in the back of an alley between the tavern and the general store. Even at this time of the day, the place was quite dark though we had no problem seeing the tracks that still remained in the alley as well as the strange scorch marks on the walls of the buildings on either side. There were tracks leading into the alley and an equal number of tracks leading out." Saeros looked at Semoro.
"I found a set of tracks in the middle of the others that lead neither in nor out. They are just there and move about a bit in the middle of where the murder took place."
Rahan looked at his brother, noting the sadness in the elf's eyes as he described what he had seen.
"And how is the elf?" Semoro seemed only too glad to redirect the conversation.
Anayah learned a good lesson about the four Thurin Tirith warriors at that moment and that was, no matter how long an elf had been a warrior, what they had seen and experienced, there was still a place deep down inside of their hearts that still allowed these battle hardened warriors to 'feel.' Just as Legolas had told her after their battle with the Shadow Wraiths - that it was sometimes a good thing to feel that kind of pain because it let you know you were alive and kept you from losing your perspective, from losing sight of the values that you held most dear. Her respect for the four elves sitting in front of her grew to immeasurable proportions at that moment.
"His name Arminas, he is a Silvan elf, and when Rahan and I left him he was sleeping comfortably. I knew right away that I had seen him some place before and then I remembered that he was part of King Thranduil's royal guard when the King was at Imladris some time ago." She trailed off, remembering the deplorable condition she and her Captain had found the elf in. "He had been beaten and there was a large gash on his head and he had been given neither food nor water, and until we intervened, had been kept in a dark cell in the basement of the jail." Though she said no more for the moment, the three who had not seen the elf could well imagine what being kept in a dark, windowless cell could do to a wood elf.
Súrion slammed his fist down on the table in frustration which caused those sitting nearby to look up at him. He closed his eyes for a moment, gathering his thoughts, then turned to Anayah.
"My apologies, Lady Anayah, for losing my temper. It benefits no being for me to behave thus."
Anayah frowned.
"Thank you for apologizing, my friend, but your apologies are unnecessary for if you showed no compassion for the elf, and a fellow wood elf at that, I would perhaps wonder. But I always appreciate honesty of emotion as well as input and your expression of emotion tells me that you are with all of us that are concerned about the welfare of Arminas. Just keep in mind that along with this allowable emotion, you are also expected to remain on track with what you know we have to do. You cannot help him if you allow yourself to become too overwrought. Do you understand?"
She smiled and laid a hand gently over those of her Silvan guard as he rested them on top of the table, attempting to remove the tension from them.
He returned her smile and inclined his head toward her in thanks. Then, having again mastered himself, he recounted what he had learned from the trees.
"Much of what the trees tell me makes no sense. They talk of 'before times' and 'great confusions and sicknesses.' They do say, however that there either is, or has recently been, an evil in this town of which they are very much afraid but even though they are confused they do say that they will watch and report to me if anything strange happens while we are here."
Anayah felt a chill wind touch the back of her neck that sent a chill right down her spine, making her shiver involuntarily. Rahan noticed and was about to ask if she was well when their lunch as well as their thoughts were interrupted by a shrill scream from one of the female patrons of the tavern.
TBC
I now have all the chapters names so I will be giving previews.
COMING IN THE NEXT CHAPTER: Deadly Visit: Their friend, the tavern keeper was backing up, hands raised in front of him in a gesture of compliance, for there was a long dagger pointed at his chest. And while this fact was, in itself, bizarre, what made the event even stranger was that there was no one attached to the other end of the dagger.
DesolateAznVamp: Hope you enjoy this chapter!
THECheeseTurkey: Welcome! I am glad you are here and enjoying my story. When I get a spare minute, I will go read yours.
The plot for my story is kind of complicated, not only because of what it is about, but because of the number of characters I have in it. Most stories will have, maybe, 3 to 5 major characters and any number of minor characters. I have at least 10 major characters and many minor characters as well. To keep track of everything that is going on, I use an outline which I frequently refer to. I am having a great time writing the story and seeing peoples' reactions to it.
The elf in the prologue is a minor character. He was just an elf that was in the wrong place at the wrong time - or was he? If it hadn't been for him, the old woman wouldn't have gone to Lord Elrond for help - or would she? LOL! Whether in Tolkien's world or our own, all things happen for a reason and always end up where they should be whether it is by one road or another.
Anayah is an elf that is capable and willing to do what needs to be done. She has a lot of skills, yes, but has also spent a long time learning them, and practicing them.
Actually, there is only one Shadow Creature in this story and although I don't want to give out too much information about him, I will tell you that he is slowly evolving. He can only go to a place where he has been before or if he has been invited. The reason he can go to Imladris, a protected realm, is because of the unconscious elf (he went throught the elf in the Prologue), or, as Ninniach has warned them, if they openly talk about the creature.
The bats were sent to kill or disable either Aragorn, Anayah or both, by someone who is trying to protect the Shadow Creature and who knows that either of the two is capable of interfering with the "Master Plan." The bats were big enough and mobile enough to be capable of inflicting a lot of damage and almost killed Anayah as she was trying to protect Aragorn. But, they were destroyed by Anayah's falcon so they are gone for good, which only served to anger the one who sent them in the first place - he doesn't like failure.
Everything in the story is supposed to tie in with the final results. I had fun creating all the ways that this happens.
I usually post on Tuesdays and Saturdays but if I finish writing the story and get the outline done on the next one, I may be able to start posting 3 days a week or more.
Sindarin will be in italics and the English translation will follow and will be inside parenthesis (translation).
Chapter 13
Cruel and Inhumane
The jail was a dismal place by Elf or human standards, having but few windows and no furnishings other a single cot in the main floor's single cell. However, the elf they had come to see was not in the cell on the main floor, rather, they followed Thorn as he descended a set of stairs into a dimly lit smaller room where there was another cell, dank and musty smelling with no window at all. It was in this room that they found the elf they had come to see.
When the three reached the cell housing the Elf, the wretched creature before them, obviously frightened, scooted to the far side of the cell. Anayah could clearly see that the fair being was bloody and bruised, having been beaten severely at some point since his arrest and when she turned to Thorn, Anayah's green eyes held fire in them and the human, when he saw the look on the she-elf's face took an involuntary step backwards.
"Please let me into this cell, Master Human." Her voice was low and controlled but left no doubt that she was angry or that she expected him to act immediately upon her request.
Unable to look at the angry she-elf, Thorn lowered his eyes.
"I'm sorry my Lady, I cannot do that for this elf is violent and dangerous and could harm us."
Thorn squeezed his eyes shut for a moment as he realized that he had just made the remark about a violent and dangerous elf to two elves who had the potential to be much more violent and dangerous than the poor thing in the cell.
Anayah continued to keep her glare on the uncomfortable human in front of her.
"And you are not dangerous, Master Human?"
Without waiting for any further action from the human, she turned to the cell and after placing her hand over the keyhole of the door she briefly closed her eyes and spoke silently to herself, the words that would open the door. With a quiet click, the door of the cell popped open.
Her actions almost unhinged the already nervous human and he turned, fully intending to leave but when he did so, he found his way blocked by a serious-looking Rahan.
The big elf with his arms folded across his chest, looked impassively at the human as all blood drained from the man's face.
"Peace, Master Human. I will not eat you, I only wish for you to stay and learn a little about what you call fairness and compassion."
Though he did not verbally respond, Thorn looked at Rahan one more time then returned his attention back to the she-elf who was now inside the cell.
"You are an elf-witch aren't you?"
The question, though an ignorant one, was meant to be an innocent question and so Anayah just smiled at the human and continued what she was doing.
She walked slowly towards where the elf sat cowering against the far wall with his eyes closed. Carefully, she slipped one hand under his neck and the other hand under his knees then picked him up off the cold floor and walked the few steps towards the cot where she gently laid him down then sat herself so the injured elf's head was in her lap.
It took no small amount of control for Rahan not to burst out laughing when he saw the astounded look on the human's face as he watched Anayah pick the elf up off the ground and, seemingly without effort, carry him to the cot. Rahan just shook his head and continued to watch in silence from where he stood by the door.
Anayah took the small water flask off her belt and opened it, carefully pouring a few drops into the traumatized elf's mouth, stroking his throat, encouraging him to swallow. Once he felt the cool liquid run down his parched throat, the Elf reached up towards the flask with his own shaking hands and took long slow drinks, not stopping until the flask was almost empty. After he had drank his fill, she replaced the stopper in the flask and set it aside.
Sensing that she meant him no harm, the elf wrapped both of his thin arms around her arm that was closest to him almost as if he feared that if he let go she would leave him alone once more. Cradling him as close to herself as she could, she gently rocked the elf, hoping to soothe him and in a soft voice, so as not to startle him overmuch, she spoke.
"Im Anayah o Imladris. Man na lin enneth? Mirkwood na lin bair? Thranduil na lin Taur?" (I am Anayah of Imladris. What is your name? Mirkwood is your home? Thranduil is your king?)
She neither expected nor received an answer although she was hoping that just the sound of her voice would be enough to soothe the elf she held tenderly in her arms. She sensed that there was something familiar about the fair being, that she had seen him somewhere before, and ceased her rocking so she could looked at him more carefully. She felt him begin to tremble once more and as she quickly resumed her rocking, the realization hit her why he seemed so familiar to her. This elf had been part of the King Thranduil's royal guard and had been in Imladris the day she accidentally walked into the Mirkwood King. She frowned as she tried to remember his name.
"Ah yes - Arminas. Lin enneth na Arminas. (Your name is Arminas.)
When the elf still remained unresponsive, she again turned an angry glare on Thorn.
"This elf's name is Arminas and he is a member of the royal guard of King Thranduil of Mirkwood."
Carefully extricating herself from the elf's arms, she rose and walked toward the human who took an involuntary step backwards as she leaned in close to the human to speak to him.
"I hope for your sake, Master Thorn, that this elf is guilty of the crime you accuse him of because if he is not and the Mirkwood King finds out that you have mistreated him in this fashion, he will be most displeased."
Thorn swallowed nervously.
"I am here to try and find out the truth of this matter, good or ill, whether it be towards men or elves. I can assure you that I will be fair in my investigation and I hope that my faith in your fairness from this point on will be returned."
The human's head bobbed up and down in nervous agreement.
She continued to glare at the human though her tone of voice was even and calm.
"However, Master Human, fairness dictates that I not tolerate abuse in any fashion, towards any being."
Knowing of whom she was spoke, the human immediately addressed her concerns.
"What does this elf require, Lady Anayah."
"Arminas is a Silvan elf, a wood elf, and like any healthy woodland creature, he requires sunlight and he needs to be able to look at the stars at night. I must, therefore insist that you put him in a cell on the top floor of this building. I will tend to his injuries myself, but, I must have your oath that he will suffer no further hurts until this matter is resolved. Do I have your word on this?"
Thorn looked at Rahan who had adopted an intimidating stance, then back at Anayah.
"You can move him now if you wish."
Nodding her head, she knelt by the elf's side and whispered into his ear reassuring him that all would soon be well. Then she stood and walked out of the cell making room for Rahan who carefully picked the elf up and held him in his arms, waiting to follow whenever Anayah left.
As she left the cell, Anayah laid a hand gently on the human's arm and leaned closely to him so that she could speak softly and quietly into his ear.
"I saw you look at my Captain, Master Human, and I saw the blood leave your face. I promise you, Master Thorn, that if the Mirkwood elf comes to any further harm until our business in Nen is concluded, whether it be towards your favor or ours, that Captain Rahan will be the least of your worries, for it will be me that will become your worst nightmare. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"
Thorn tried twice before he finally managed to get sound to go with the words he was trying to speak.
"Yes, my Lady. I understand you perfectly."
8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
Following Thorn and Anayah upstairs, Rahan walked to the only cell on that floor and gently placed the injured elf on the cot inside. After requesting hot water, which Thorn brought to her as quickly as he could, she began to tend to the injured being's many wounds. Other than severe bruising on his torso and arms and an ugly gash on the side of his head, there were not as many physical injuries as she at first had thought. She made a pain and sleeping draught and administered it to the elf and after she was satisfied that he was finally sleeping a healing sleep, she left the cell which Thorn closed and locked himself.
"I will have two men that I trust come and stay with the elf to see that he suffers no further harm, my Lady. They are good men and will be faithful to their charge."
"I thank you for that, Master Thorn. I was quite sure that after we had cleared up our little misunderstandings, that we could come to an agreement on the treatment of the prisoner. Now, I must beg your leave for I must meet with the other three members of my guard at your tavern."
"I also want to reassure you Lady Anayah, that I will also put out the word that you and your escort are to receive the full cooperation of all our citizens. If you have any further difficulties in that regard, please let me know and I will handle the matter immediately."
She bowed her head and touched her heart to show her elven gratitude then turned on her heel and left the building. Having followed her out, Rahan stepped up to her side and glanced at her carefully trying to judge her mood.
"I take it from the dour expression on your face that you do not care for this human."
Without looking at her companion, she answered him, her voice flat and angry.
"No, Rahan, I do not. However, my personal likes and dislikes are not up for consideration at this moment. Perhaps I will feel better after we meet with the others and see if they have found out anything."
Quietly, with no further conversation, the two walked toward the tavern and their noontime meeting with the other three members of her guard.
When the two of them walked through the door of the tavern, every patron inside fell silent causing Anayah to roll her eyes in frustration at their unwarranted reactions. Then, after seeing the other three elves sitting in a darkened corner of the room, she and Rahan walked to their table and sat themselves in vacant chairs sharing greetings with the others as they did. Anayah was quick to note than none of the four were sitting with their backs to the people in the room.
She sighed as she took off her gloves and placed them next to her on the table. The tavern keeper walked up to their table and smiled at them.
"Perhaps I could interest the five of you in a little lunch?"
Anayah smiled up at the man.
"That would be very nice, sir, for I am fairly starving." She looked at the others. "Are you four ready to eat?"
She noted the strained expressions on their faces as they all nodded.
"Yes, please bring lunch for the five of us."
"Homemade stew, freshly baked bread, home grown vegetables - that will be all right with you? And how about something to drink? Would the five of you prefer ale or water?"
"Water, please."
The tavern keeper was startled for a moment as they all answered in unison. Then, his smile returning, he nodded his head then turned and left to gather their meal.
"So. What did you three find out?"
It was Semoro who was ready to give the report.
"I counted 35 townspeople. However, what I found that was extremely odd," he looked at the other two who were already nodding in affirmation, "was that there are no young children or old ones living in Nen - anywhere."
"What about the layout of the town? Saeros?"
"There is only this one tavern, a blacksmith/stable, an inn, a general store, a healer's office, the jail and a town square but other than the stable, none of the businesses seem to be open which I think is odd because it is in the middle of the day in the middle of a human week. All the houses seem to be clustered beyond the buildings at the south end of town."
He leaned closer to the others obviously forgetting that none of the humans present in the establishment could hear their natural tone of voice as it was.
"We could get none of the townspeople to talk to us as they hurried away whenever we tried to approach them."
"Hm." It was an almost an automatic response to the elf's words as, for a moment, the she-elf's mind seemed to be elsewhere though she had been fully attentive and had heard every word they had said. "Their attitudes may change after Thorn has a talk with his people." She swung around in her chair until she faced them fully.
"Lady Anayah, what is troubling you?" Rahan's expression showed his concern that something was wrong with his young charge and had noted that she had been somewhat quiet since they had entered the establishment other than when she had order their lunch.
It was about this time that the tavern keeper returned with their meal and all four spent the next minutes eating.
"Oh, in answer to your question, Rahan, I felt - displaced - for a moment, almost as if I were in two places at once. It was quite an odd feeling. Perhaps I just need to eat."
Surprisingly, Súrion, who had not said much up to this point, admitted to having had a similar experience.
"I must confess that I, too, have been experiencing something similar. What I am feeling is something akin to what the humans call 'having been there before,' like they have been to a certain place before but cannot recall the circumstances surrounding the feeling. It is quite an odd sensation - and disconcerting - I might add."
"I think the 'creep factor' for this town just went up about 50 points!"
All of them laughed at her remark.
"Anyway," Anayah continued after they had all quit laughing, "did any of you get a chance to see the alley where the girl was killed?"
Having finished his meal, Saeros put down his spoon and sat back from the table.
"Aye, we saw the place where the deed occurred - in the back of an alley between the tavern and the general store. Even at this time of the day, the place was quite dark though we had no problem seeing the tracks that still remained in the alley as well as the strange scorch marks on the walls of the buildings on either side. There were tracks leading into the alley and an equal number of tracks leading out." Saeros looked at Semoro.
"I found a set of tracks in the middle of the others that lead neither in nor out. They are just there and move about a bit in the middle of where the murder took place."
Rahan looked at his brother, noting the sadness in the elf's eyes as he described what he had seen.
"And how is the elf?" Semoro seemed only too glad to redirect the conversation.
Anayah learned a good lesson about the four Thurin Tirith warriors at that moment and that was, no matter how long an elf had been a warrior, what they had seen and experienced, there was still a place deep down inside of their hearts that still allowed these battle hardened warriors to 'feel.' Just as Legolas had told her after their battle with the Shadow Wraiths - that it was sometimes a good thing to feel that kind of pain because it let you know you were alive and kept you from losing your perspective, from losing sight of the values that you held most dear. Her respect for the four elves sitting in front of her grew to immeasurable proportions at that moment.
"His name Arminas, he is a Silvan elf, and when Rahan and I left him he was sleeping comfortably. I knew right away that I had seen him some place before and then I remembered that he was part of King Thranduil's royal guard when the King was at Imladris some time ago." She trailed off, remembering the deplorable condition she and her Captain had found the elf in. "He had been beaten and there was a large gash on his head and he had been given neither food nor water, and until we intervened, had been kept in a dark cell in the basement of the jail." Though she said no more for the moment, the three who had not seen the elf could well imagine what being kept in a dark, windowless cell could do to a wood elf.
Súrion slammed his fist down on the table in frustration which caused those sitting nearby to look up at him. He closed his eyes for a moment, gathering his thoughts, then turned to Anayah.
"My apologies, Lady Anayah, for losing my temper. It benefits no being for me to behave thus."
Anayah frowned.
"Thank you for apologizing, my friend, but your apologies are unnecessary for if you showed no compassion for the elf, and a fellow wood elf at that, I would perhaps wonder. But I always appreciate honesty of emotion as well as input and your expression of emotion tells me that you are with all of us that are concerned about the welfare of Arminas. Just keep in mind that along with this allowable emotion, you are also expected to remain on track with what you know we have to do. You cannot help him if you allow yourself to become too overwrought. Do you understand?"
She smiled and laid a hand gently over those of her Silvan guard as he rested them on top of the table, attempting to remove the tension from them.
He returned her smile and inclined his head toward her in thanks. Then, having again mastered himself, he recounted what he had learned from the trees.
"Much of what the trees tell me makes no sense. They talk of 'before times' and 'great confusions and sicknesses.' They do say, however that there either is, or has recently been, an evil in this town of which they are very much afraid but even though they are confused they do say that they will watch and report to me if anything strange happens while we are here."
Anayah felt a chill wind touch the back of her neck that sent a chill right down her spine, making her shiver involuntarily. Rahan noticed and was about to ask if she was well when their lunch as well as their thoughts were interrupted by a shrill scream from one of the female patrons of the tavern.
TBC
I now have all the chapters names so I will be giving previews.
COMING IN THE NEXT CHAPTER: Deadly Visit: Their friend, the tavern keeper was backing up, hands raised in front of him in a gesture of compliance, for there was a long dagger pointed at his chest. And while this fact was, in itself, bizarre, what made the event even stranger was that there was no one attached to the other end of the dagger.
DesolateAznVamp: Hope you enjoy this chapter!
THECheeseTurkey: Welcome! I am glad you are here and enjoying my story. When I get a spare minute, I will go read yours.
The plot for my story is kind of complicated, not only because of what it is about, but because of the number of characters I have in it. Most stories will have, maybe, 3 to 5 major characters and any number of minor characters. I have at least 10 major characters and many minor characters as well. To keep track of everything that is going on, I use an outline which I frequently refer to. I am having a great time writing the story and seeing peoples' reactions to it.
The elf in the prologue is a minor character. He was just an elf that was in the wrong place at the wrong time - or was he? If it hadn't been for him, the old woman wouldn't have gone to Lord Elrond for help - or would she? LOL! Whether in Tolkien's world or our own, all things happen for a reason and always end up where they should be whether it is by one road or another.
Anayah is an elf that is capable and willing to do what needs to be done. She has a lot of skills, yes, but has also spent a long time learning them, and practicing them.
Actually, there is only one Shadow Creature in this story and although I don't want to give out too much information about him, I will tell you that he is slowly evolving. He can only go to a place where he has been before or if he has been invited. The reason he can go to Imladris, a protected realm, is because of the unconscious elf (he went throught the elf in the Prologue), or, as Ninniach has warned them, if they openly talk about the creature.
The bats were sent to kill or disable either Aragorn, Anayah or both, by someone who is trying to protect the Shadow Creature and who knows that either of the two is capable of interfering with the "Master Plan." The bats were big enough and mobile enough to be capable of inflicting a lot of damage and almost killed Anayah as she was trying to protect Aragorn. But, they were destroyed by Anayah's falcon so they are gone for good, which only served to anger the one who sent them in the first place - he doesn't like failure.
Everything in the story is supposed to tie in with the final results. I had fun creating all the ways that this happens.
I usually post on Tuesdays and Saturdays but if I finish writing the story and get the outline done on the next one, I may be able to start posting 3 days a week or more.