Chapter 27
Alone
There was laughter in the grey eyes, for finally, he had managed to get to the she-elf, that meddlesome little half elf. Maybe now, he could get back to the business at hand without any further interruptions. There was, after all, a demon to catch.
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Elladan and Elrohir organized a search party from those in the Hall and when they asked for volunteers, many answered their call, more than willing to brave the elements to search for the she-elf. She was liked by many of the Imladris elves for she had made it a habit to offer of herself freely when she saw a need, no matter the size or level of difficulty of an elf's problem.
The first place they had looked had been the stables and were relieved to find Elias still in his stall and Shakir sitting on the stall's door. At least they knew that she was still somewhere within the realm's boundaries.
They had to fight the rain and the high winds that had uprooted many great trees by the roots and although they had looked almost everywhere, they had still met with no success. Two of the guards were in the house questioning Findor, who, unable to keep his mouth closed when the intimidating elves questioned him, had finally told them everything. He was released into the custody of his father to be held until it could be decided what to do with him. Súrion and Rahan then went to find Lord Elrond, to tell him what they, themselves had been told.
"He said WHAT?"
Hearing their father speak in that tone and at that volume, the twins, Aragorn and Legolas rushed to his side.
"What is it father? What did Findor say?"
The Noldor Lord turned to his eldest son. The look of fury in the elder elf's eyes caused Elladan to take a step backward until Elrond put a comforting hand on his shoulder, stilling his movements.
"Peace, my son. It seems that Master Findor's assault on Anayah was one of words as well as a physical one. He told her and seemingly convincingly so, that she was sent here to Imladris because nobody in Lórien wanted her and that she was an embarrassment to her Grandparents and us as well. Findor said she would not fight back when he attacked her because of her respect for our house.
Seeing the fury in his eldest son's eyes, Elrond did his best to channel the emotion where it could best be used.
"My son, put your energy to a good use and find Anayah. There will be time to mend her heart after she has been found."
Though the search party searched all night long they found no trace of the young elf. They searched the valley from one end to the other, all the buildings, and even the Last Homely House, thinking that she was somewhere inside. They found nothing. Elrond released most of the searchers from their duty as the sky was lightening, just before dawn. The four Thurin Tirith refused to give up the search as did the twins, Legolas and Aragorn.
Elrond turned to go back into the house when he met Glorfindel and Erestor who were coming to fill the positions that some of the searchers had left vacant.
"Thank you my friend." The Noldor Lord told his friend and advisor.
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By that evening, they still had not found her. When Elrond tried to get Captain Rahan and his fellow elves to come inside and rest, the big Captain just smiled.
"Your concern is appreciated, my Lord. We cannot, however, do that until Lady Anayah is found. We have sworn oaths to keep and protect her and so we will not rest until after she is found. She would do the same for any one of us." Nodding his head in respect, the Captain returned to his search.
"And where will you be searching this evening?"
"We will be searching the far end of the gorge and working our way back here. We should be back by daybreak but if we find her before then we will alert you immediately." He turned and in a few moments both he and the other three disappeared into the darkness of the night.BRBR
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Her whole world was pain. When she had first regained consciousness and had tried to move, she had cried out, or had tried to, for try as hard as she could, she could make no sound - for she had no voice. When she could get none of her limbs or her head to move, Anayah had panicked but when all that had produce was another bout with unconsciousness, she decided that remaining still would be the wisest course of action.
The second time she had regained consciousness, she had heard familiar voices though the elves the voices had belonged to had not come anywhere near her position. She tried to make a sound but found that she could not even manage to produce a tiny whisper.
Her strength was leaving her and she could feel herself growing weaker. After spending a few moments assessing her wounds she found that she couldn't tell anything, for there was no feeling in her arms, legs or back because, for some reason, she was completely paralyzed.
Anayah had no idea how much time had passed for one moment was just as long as the next. Her mouth was dry and she would have given just about anything for one sip of water. She knew that she was dying and that if it was too much longer before someone found her, it would be too late. She just hoped that Mandos was ready to receive her because she was going to do her best to give both him and his sweet wife as much trouble as she possibly could. These were her last thoughts before darkness took her one last time.
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The Peredhel family, the Mirkwood Prince, Glorfindel and the four Thurin Tirith Guards were sitting in an empty Hall of Fire, staring into the merrily crackling fire in the fireplace. Every one of them jumped when Aragorn jumped to his feet and started running towards the door. Elrond called to his son.
"Estel, where are you going? It is too late to begin another search, for evening approaches and it will be full dark in another two hours."
Excitedly the young ranger turned back to his father and the others, rapping himself on the top of his head with the knuckles of his right hand.
"What were we thinking!"
Elladan stood up and placed a hand on the shoulder of his youngest brother.
"Estel, speak plainly. What exactly are you talking about?"
The excited young man grabbed his oldest brother by both shoulders.
"The falcon, Elladan. We should have done it the night she disappeared. We should have sent the falcon out to search for her."
Then without waiting for a reply, Aragorn turned and ran out of the house. It would not have surprised him if he had turned back at that moment to see that every single person that had been in the Hall as he had spoken was running closely behind him.
When Aragorn reached the stable, he ran to Elias's stall and grabbed Shakir's falconing glove that Anayah kept with Elias's tack. Putting it on, he looked at the falcon who was eyeing him sharply as if to say, "Well, its about time!" Aragorn coaxed the bird onto the glove, then walking to the door of the stable, he caught the bird's attention and spoke to it.
"Find Anayah, Shakir."
The falcon looked around him for a moment then took off and flew toward the river.
"Not to the river, Tasty Treats, you stupid bird. Its not time to hunt, its time to find your lady!"
Elladan was doing everything but jump up and down in anger at the bird's actions. They had been feeding the falcon so why did he feel the need to hunt? He walked to where the bird had disappeared and had to dive out of the way as Shakir suddenly came out of the forest right at him. Circling once and screeching, he flew back along the same path as he had before.BRBR
"I think he may have found something."
Aragorn went in the direction the falcon had disappeared, closely followed by the four guards who, in turn, were followed by the rest of the elves. They found Shakir sitting on a newly fallen tree, wings still spread.
They all stopped in shock for at the base of the tree, pierced through and pinned to the earth by a branch, was an all too pale hand and arm.
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Aragorn immediately threw himself on the ground on his stomach. First he felt the wrist with his own trembling fingers, searching desperately for a pulse.
"I don't feel anything."
Legolas had found the approximate place where her head should have been and dug frantically through the mulch. He stuck his hand in the hole he had dug until he located her head. He sighed and closed his eyes in silent thanks when he located her face and felt her warm breath on his hands.
"She is breathing, she is alive."
The Prince turned toward the others who were almost weak with relief.
"Ilúvatar was looking over her, even in this, for it appears that when the tree fell on top of her, she was knocked into a depression in the soil. I could feel the slope of it when I was searching for her head. That doesn't mean she escaped serious injury, it only means that she escaped death because of it."
He then pointed out the depression on either end of the fallen tree. Súrion joined him and together they went from her head to the soles of her feet, trying to locate any other branches that might have pierced her body. They dug with their hands on either side of the depression but could tell little. It was decided that they would lift the tree up a few inches and put small logs under either end. That would make it easier to tell what they were working with.
Aragorn remained on the ground, on his stomach, holding his sister's hand and stroking her arm, trying to let her know that she was no longer alone. But when the elves lifted the log for the first time, though she made no sound, her hand clutched, spasmodically at the soil beneath it.
"Stop. Stop it. You're hurting her."
The elves gently set the tree back down.
Súrion felt along her body, trying to locate a branch that may have pierced her that they could not see. When he stood up, his face was grim.
"Her thigh is pierced with a broken branch about an inch thick, her arm you already know of and there is a branch that is pressing against her throat. I suggest that we cut the branches so that we do not cause her unnecessary pain when we remove the tree."
Elrond nodded his head then both Legolas and Súrion removed their boot knives and sawed quickly through the branches that had pierced Anayah. Five minutes later, with everyone helping, the tree had been lifted off of the injured elf.
Elrond was immediately on his knees beside Anayah, checking for and finding a weak and irregular pulse. There was blood covering the side of her head, her throat was swollen from where the piece of branch had pressed up against it for almost two days. Her upper left forearm had been pierced as had her right thigh. What worried Elrond the most was that there was no pain reflex in her legs. It appeared that she was paralyzed.
The Noldor Lord knew that they would have to completely immobilize her body before they moved her but when he turned to ask, he found that Saeros and Semoro had already made the trip to the Healing Wing, retrieved a stretcher, backboard and enough spare bandages to immobilize everybody there.
Very carefully, and with the twins help, Elrond strapped Anayah to the backboard with the bandages. Then, with many hands steadying her, they carefully turned the backboard over.
Elrond took the water flask that was offered to him and poured a small amount of water over his fingers. He let a couple drops trickle into his foster-daughters mouth. They could all see her as she worked to swallow - it had almost been too much. Opening her mouth and looking down her throat, Elrond frowned when he saw how swollen it was.
"She had enough room to breath, barely, and that is about it. Let us get her back to the Healing Wing, immediately."
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When Anayah next opened her eyes she looked into the worried silver eyes of her brother. When she tried to turn her head away, she found that she could not move it and settled for closing her eyes instead. Tears trickled down her cheeks and she felt as Aragorn wiped them away with a cool cloth. Gently he released her hand then, after kissing her on the forehead, he left the room to find his father.
Though she did not open her eyes, she heard the approach of familiar steps then felt as her Captain sat in a chair by the side of her bed.
"I am here, young one. You have no more need to be afraid. Just rest."
He remained quiet and though he knew Anayah was awake, he said no more.
Then the door of the room opened and Lord Elrond hurried in followed by both twins, Legolas and Aragorn. Rahan moved from the chair to the other side of the room, making room for the Imladris healer to work.
"Anayah, open your eyes for me please."
When she did not comply, Elrond frowned.
"I know you are awake, for Aragorn told me you were."
When there was still no response, Elrond motioned for everyone to leave the room, including Rahan.
"Anayah, it is just you and I in the room now. Will you please open your eyes for me? Please?"
This time Anayah complied and opened her eyes. Elrond flinched from the despair and hurt that he saw. He smiled at her.
"I have a question to ask you and I wanted it to be asked in private. Now I don't want you to try talking yet so just blink your eyes once for yes and twice for no."
Anayah blinked.
"Have you been happy living at Imladris?"
Blink.
"Do you understand that your brothers and I love you very much? Not just for what you can do but for who you are."
Blink. Blink.
Elrond sighed, realizing that there was a lot of damage to undo to his foster daughter's heart.
"Anayah, Findor lied. No one is ashamed or embarrassed by you and the only reason your Grandparents sent you here was because they wanted you to know the happiness that a family could provide. It was a gift to you and it was very hard for your Grandparents to let you go. Since you have been here, I have seen you grow as an individual and I am very proud of you and I do love you - daughter. Do you believe me?"
For a moment, Elrond thought he wasn't going to get an answer but then she did.
Blink.
"You have given this house a female perspective that we very much appreciate. Since Arwen has been in Lórien, we have missed having a female around to remind us to be gentlemen."
Anayah looked at the glass of water that was sitting on the small table beside the bed. It was the only way she could ask for water.
Slowly and carefully, Lord Elrond fed the water to her, one spoonful at a time. When she had enough, she blinked twice, signifying that she didn't want any more. As he put the glass aside, she swallowed twice then managed to croak out a few words.
"Ada." Elrond looked at her, surprised that she could get that word out.
"How am I?"
"Well, evidently there is more improvement to your throat than when I checked you earlier. Where your arm and thigh were pierced by the wood is healing nicely, the gash on your head is almost closed and the dehydration is much improved."
When the healer didn't continue, Anayah frowned.
"Well? What about my back?"
"The swelling is down, but there is still no pain reflex. I am afraid that you are still paralyzed."
Seeing the look of panic in her eyes, Elrond laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. Other than her eyes, the only way she could express how she was feeling was in her breathing and at the moment, Lord Elrond felt it was much too fast.
"Elladan!"
Everyone must have been just outside the room because Lord Elrond didn't get the word out of his mouth before the door opened and the oldest twin entered the room. He had been anticipating an episode like this and had the appropriate medicine ready. Taking the stopper out of the bottle and being very careful not to breathe the fumes, Elrond poured a small amount onto a clean piece of linen. Then, after replacing the stopper, handed the bottle back to his son. He held the linen over the distraught she-elf's nose and mouth for a few seconds, until she went limp.
TBC
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COMING NEXT: Broken Spirit: Though the healer in him protested greatly, there was something about the way she spoke, the tone of her words and the determination in her voice when she spoke, that he could not ignore and so he began to carefully cut the restraints around her. Even without turning, he could sense that the room was becoming crowded with elves. Finally, the last restraint had been cut and he then sat back and waited.