A/N1: There is a warning for use of foul language and suggestive situations resulting from an assault. Please do not read this chapter if you feel that this subject matter might be disturbing to you.
A/N2: I got a chuckle from realizing how well the speech from the movie Independence Day fit the theme of this chapter. Too many women, and men also, who are victims of domestic violence just bow their heads and 'soldier on' when they should be fighting for their freedom. The woman I dedicated last weeks chapter to tried to 'soldier on' and lost her life. How did I meet her? In a battered women's shelter – because I had been a victim of domestic violence. I chose to declare my independence and fight for my freedom and that's why I am here today.
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Chapter 38
Repeating History and Waking Up
Today I will once again be fighting for my freedom. And not just from tyranny, oppression or persecution but from annihilation. I will be fighting for my right to live - to exist. And should I win the day then it will be remembered as the day I finally declared, "I will not go quietly into the night! I will not vanish without a fight! I am going to live on. I am going to survive. Today I will celebrate my Independence Day. (Adapted from "Independence Day" speech)
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By first light, the elves and human were assembling in the courtyard, readying themselves to begin the search for the kidnapped elf. Glorfindel and Elrond had decided to stay behind as they felt that leaving Amrún alone and unprotected, even in Imladris, was virtually inviting problems to occur. Just as the searchers turned to leave, Elias joined them, fully saddled, wearing his hackamore, and pursued by a worried stable keeper.
"I apologize, my Lords, but he came to me carrying his bridle which meant that he wanted to be saddled. I merely mean to check that he is in fact welcome on this journey."
Elias trotted up next to Rahan's horse, his usual place when traveling. The horse seemed to be trying to carry on a conversation with the big elf who, strangely enough, seemed to understand everything the horse was trying desperately to tell him.
Rahan looked at the Stable Keeper.
"I assure you that this fine horse is more than welcome to travel with us and it is only right as it is his Lady that has been taken."
Seemingly reassured, the Stable Keeper bowed, then turned and walked back toward the Stables, mumbling to himself as he did so.
Elrond and Glorfindel stood and watched as the seven elves and the human rode away from Imladris and when Elrond sighed, Glorfindel turned to him worriedly.
"They will find her, Elrond, for there is not a soul among those eight who could not track an insect across bare rock in the dark. They will find her."
Elrond placed a hand on the shoulder of his friend.
"Of that I am assured, my friend. My worry is that they will not find her in time."
Glorfindel frowned.
"Do you know the identity of those who took her? Again, I apologize for missing the meeting this morning."
"Aye my friend. I know them well from an incident that happened many years ago." He stared off into the distance as he remembered that time.
"I was not sure until this morning. When they arrived in Imladris, I thought then, that there was something familiar about those five but it was only this morning, after I received a reply to my communication with Galadriel that I was certain."
"Who are they, Elrond?"
"They are the grandsons of the human who kidnapped Anayah when she was an elfling and who was also responsible for the death of her mother."
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Anayah was suddenly brought back to consciousness when someone grabbed her hair and forcefully dragged her up from the ground where she had been laying unconscious. For a few moments she stood, weaving, and still groggy, as her attacker held her up.
"Well, well, well. Look at who has decided to wake up. If it isn't her Royal Highness herself!"
The man looked her up and down as she stood before him, shaking her head and trying to clear the fog left there from the drug they had forced on her the night before. She had not gotten a chance to get a good look at any of them yet, but when she did – well, suffice it to say that she would make them pay a heavy toll.
Finally, the mist before her eyes cleared and she got her first look at the humans that had dared to take her forcibly from her home - she saw them and thought she was going to be ill. Anayah recognized the five human's immediately for all bore the distinctive look of their grandsire and though it had been many years since she had last seen them, there was no mistaking them for who they were.
"Hey Hedrig. I think she recognizes us! I didn't think elves were smart enough to remember things from that many years ago."
Anayah gasped as she felt the man run his hand down her thigh and if she had not still been recovering from her previous injuries, the human would now be taking his final breath. For the touching had been something she had never forgotten from before – the touching and other things.
Though many years had passed since she had escaped her kidnappers, the Grandsire and Uncle of the humans who now kept her, she still remembered every moment of every day that she had spent living in the same pen with the pigs. She remembered every beating and every other crime committed against her that would make a female of any species cringe. The crimes perpetrated against a young elfling that were so heinous and so abhorrent that she had never ever given voice to them, had not even spoken to Haldir or her other friend about what had been done to her, even though both beings knew full-well everything that had occurred.
When she finally realized who it was that now held her captive, she felt a door slam in her mind, a door that would keep the bad memories away – and for a time again caused her to become the terrified elf-child of all those years before. She knew little of what the five did to her that day, where they were going, or how long they traveled. From the time they mounted their horses and rode away from the first campsite, her time with her captors became a time that would long remain buried and forgotten.
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The elves and Aragorn rode swiftly all through the day, following the black stallion who seemed to know exactly where he was going. At first, their hearts held some doubt that the stallion would or even could lead them in the right direction but each time they would pause to rest and look around them for signs of the five humans and their captive, they would always easily find their tracks close by. The unmistakable sign of a horse, limping and virtually dragging one of its legs was all the search group needed to reassure themselves that they were following – and gaining on – those whom they were seeking.
A trip without incident was not to be their lot, however. Towards dusk on the first day, as they were galloping ever closer to the humans, the big stallion in front of them suddenly halted, his ears flicking back and forth as he began his dance of warning.
"What is it?" Aragorn asked Saeros, the guard riding beside him.
Saeros reached over and loosened his sword in the saddle-scabbard before he answered.
"He does that when there is danger near. Be prepared, Estel, for I have never known the stallion to be wrong."
The elf had barely finished speaking when orcs suddenly spilled out of the trees surrounding them. Quickly the eight of them dismounted and immediately entered into the battle, and though the sons of Elrond and Legolas had not had a previous chance to fight with the four warriors, they were soon suitably impressed by their skill.
They saw as the big Noldor Captain grabbed on orc by the throat, crushing his windpipe, while with his sword he separated another orc's arm from its body then threw dead body of the first orc into the face of a third creature. The other three warriors were no less savage as they mowed through the mass of orcs like sharp scythes through tall grass.
The battle was soon over and they all paused for a moment, catching their breaths and cleaning the blades of their swords before returning them to their scabbards. Then, as suddenly as they had stopped to do battle, the searchers remounted their horses and rode on, resuming their search. The younger elves and human were respectful and admiring of the skill of the four Thurin Tirith warriors, as well as their focus.
They rode on through the night pausing only long enough to rest and feed the horses. It was shortly after dawn when they finally came to the borders of the Golden Wood and it was not long after that a familiar voice called out to them, bidding them welcome.
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The five humans had been having fun with Anayah all day, passing her back and forth between them, groping and pawing at her without mercy or reprieve.
"Come on Princess – how about giving us a little kiss – for old times sake?"
The one called Targin kissed her neck before passing her off to his brother Stednil who pressed his body up against hers and tried to kiss her on her lips his hands lewdly pawing at her as he did. The oldest of the brothers, Hedrig, grabbed her after she had successfully managed to escape Stednil's groping hands.
"Where do you think you are going?" He grabbed her from behind and pulling her body tightly to his own. "You, your highness, are our own little family heirloom and we are now going to show you just how happy we are to have you back with us once more. Besides, once you get used to us again you won't ever want to go back to those nasty elves."
Things might have gone ill for Anayah if things had not been interrupted by a cry from high overhead. Somewhere deep inside her mind where she had gone to hide from the ugliness of what was happening to her she heard the cry from the black falcon, a cry that served to wake her up and bring her back to the present. She stood in front of the brother call Hedrig, blinking as if she were just waking up from a deep sleep, and when he again reached for her, she grabbed his wrist, squeezing until he grimaced in pain.
"Why you little she-bitch! I'm going to have to teach you a little lesson in manners!"
The human's threat never reached fruition, for at that moment Anayah shoved aside the frightened elf-child that she had been hiding behind and became their worst nightmare. Swinging her arm with all the force of her anger behind it, she caught Hedrig in the temple with her elbow, sending the man to his knees where he spent the next few moments in a daze. Pausing, and trying to get her breathing as well as her anger under control, she glared at the others as they stood staring at her in shock.
"You know," she began, "I have had a real rough couple of months and I am feeling neither happy nor cheerful at this particular moment." Sensing movement behind her she whirled and brought her knee up into the groin of Hedrig who had been trying to come at her from behind. The human fell to the ground, clutching himself, his face a shade of green that most men only dream about in their nightmares.
"A tree fell on me and almost paralyzed me." She punched the brother called Targin in the face and he put both hands over his nose, whining about her breaking it.
"I got bit on the neck by a giant bat."
When Targin came at her seeking retribution for his broken nose, she hit him once with her right fist, once with her left then when he stood in front of her weaving drunkenly, she clasped her hands and brought them up underneath his chin. The man's feet almost left the ground as he flew backwards before he hit the ground and finally lay still.
"A warg tries to drag me away by my leg!"
She picked up a broken tree branch as big around as her own wrist and holding it securely with both hands, gave a mighty swing as a third brother ran at her, hitting him in the head. When the hard-headed human did not go all the way down, she kicked him hard in the stomach then hit him again in the head with the branch yelling in anger as she did so.
"A friend of mine gets murdered!"
She hit the fourth brother, the one called Frilnok in the bridge of his nose with a backhanded swing and when he did not go down all the way, hit him again then on the back swing she took out the fifth brother, Stadnir, kicking him for good measure as well.
"And a demon beats the crap out of me and almost kills me! Like I said, I have had about the worst couple of months imaginable, and now I have to deal with the five of you!"
She looked at the assortment of bleeding and unconscious bodies around her and giving one last shout of rage and frustration threw the branch at them. Then sensing something behind her, she whirled, but not before she felt the hot fire of a dagger entering the small of her back near her waist.
When she whirled, her instincts kicked into high gear and she aggressively attacked the human behind her using some of the hand-to-hand combat techniques she had been learning from her Thurin Tirith Guards. She easily blocked a blow from the second dagger and after grabbing Hedrig's wrist, bent the thing inward and down until the hand suddenly lost all feeling and the blade dropped from his nerveless fingers. Then, using the heel of her right hand and putting all the weight of her body behind the blow, she punched Hedrig in the sternum. It was only the difference in height between the two that saved the human's life. It did not, however, keep him from losing consciousness.
Anayah stood over the man, looking at him for a moment before kicking the unconscious human one more time.
"I am really going to have to work on my anger management." It was all she said before she limped away into the night.
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"Haldir, my friend, it has been too long!"
Rahan dismounted and walked toward his long-time friend.
"Greetings, Rahan."
Haldir looked at the others, nodding his greeting to each then turned back to his friend.
"Did you bring Lady Trouble with you?" His own smile slipped from his face as he saw the expression on the face of Rahan as well as those riders still on their horses.
"I am deeply sorry if my words have disturbed you. What has happened?" He looked around, his own fear mounting. "Where is Anayah?"
"Haldir the worst has happened." The Captain's grey eyes darkened with his own worry.
"A day ago Anayah was forcibly taken from Imladris by the Grandson of the humans who kidnapped her as a baby. We are riding in close pursuit on a trail no more than a day old, which passes to the East of Lórien. Since we were so close, we stopped to see if you would wish to accompany us on our search for this is Lórien land and you would know it better than do we."
Haldir's eyes were smoldering as memories returned to him of the years of Anayah's captivity and also the years he had spent trying to integrate her back into a semi-normal lifestyle. She had never fully recovered from those years and it was only after she had gone to live in Imladris that he had seen any personal growth in her at all. Though she had turned into a bright, loving, capable young elf, there would always be a part of her that would remain lost to them – and her - forever.
"Of course I will come – you need not even ask."
The Lórien Captain turned away to get a horse when he found himself nudged and almost knocked to the ground. Turning, he found himself face to face with Elias.
Aragorn laughed, as did the others.
"I think that he is offering you a ride. I do not know about you, Haldir, but I, for one, would be too frightened to refuse his offer!"
Haldir reached up and affectionately rubbed the stallion behind the ears.
"Hello, old friend. I thank you for your kind offer and I would be honored if you would be willing to carry me while we search for your lady."
After the horse nickered in response, Haldir grabbed the long mane and swung up onto the broad back. After giving instructions to a guard to inform the Lord and Lady of what was happening, the group turned away, heading east.
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It was afternoon when they finally found the campsite of the five humans who were all in various stages of regaining consciousness. Although the elves and human looked carefully around the campsite they found no sight or sign, of Anayah. All nine, furious riders jumped down from their horses and moved towards the humans although it was the Guards who were the first to reach them.
Legolas stood looking around him at the bloodied and beaten humans, shaking his head.
"She would have been entirely within her rights if she had killed them all."
Aragorn glanced at his friend.
"I have to agree with you there, my friend, although we both know that is not her way."
Hedrig's eyes widened in alarm when he at last saw and recognized the elf that was holding him upright by the collar of his tunic. Being a natural bully, his nature now worked against him as he unwisely came to the conclusion that aggression would be the tack to take, and in this, he made the most monumental error of his life – aside from being born, that is.
"Well, if it ain't the big and stupid one. What's the matter? Did you lose something?"
The man suddenly realized he had made a mistake when the big Captain placed one large hand around his throat and slowly lifted him until his feet had left the ground.
Just as the human's face had began to turn purple, Rahan felt his brother's calm hand on his arm.
"He is not worth it brother. Let him be. A contingent of warriors from Lórien has just arrived. Let them take the humans back to Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn. You do not want the blood of this filth on your hands."
Realizing that his brother was speaking true, Rahan ever so slowly lowered the human and when the man's feet finally touched the soil, the Lórien warriors surrounded him then led him away to join the others.
Rahan turned away and took a deep calming breath before he turned back to face the others.
"I suggest that we fan out and look for her tracks. Only Ilúvatar knows what they did to her before she got away so I suggest that we make as much haste as we can to find her."
When an hour of fruitless searching produced no results, everyone was frustrated. When Anayah did not want to be found, it was extremely difficult to find her trail – although not entirely impossible. It was Elrohir who found the first evidence that Anayah had even been in the humans' camp.
"Look! Over here!"
The others rushed to where he was standing, stopping behind him so as not to destroy what it was that he had found. The younger twin stood then pointed to different areas as he spoke.
"Look. This is where the five humans lay. Here, here, here, here and over there."
The others looked then nodded as they too saw the depressions made in the soil by the humans. Then their attention turned back to the younger twin, expecting him to continue.
"None of them had any major wounds other than cut heads and bloody noses. They all bled, but not enough to warrant this."
He pointed at the ground at a pool of blood the size of his palm. Their eyes then followed his hand as it pointed to the trail that led off into the forest.
"She was here, she was wounded, and she left in that direction. It appears that she is losing a lot of blood so it is my suggestion that we find her as soon as possible."
"I believe I know where she is going."
They all turned to look at Haldir but found the elf staring off to the east, the direction also pointed to by the bloody trail.
"Haldir?"
Rahan put a consoling hand on his friend's shoulder bringing the elf back to the present.
"She is going to see her mother." There was grief, both old and new, in the elf's voice.
Elladan called for their horses which all came trotting up to their friends.
"Our sister has suffered grievously at the hands of these men and has been forced to face an old pain from her past that should have been gone forever. Now she is wandering alone, with both old wounds and new ones so I suggest that we make haste to find her and do what we can to help her. Haldir – if you would lead us, please?"
Having noticed the young ranger's silence, Legolas touched Aragorn on the shoulder and when the young man turned to him, the Mirkwood elf was shocked at the depth of the grief he saw in the silver eyes.
"We will find her Aragorn. All we need to do is find her then let her know she does not need to bear this hurt alone. She is strong, inside where it counts the most, and you must have faith that she can get through this."
Aragorn turned to his friend.
"I know this Legolas. It is sometimes hard for me to think of myself as human when I see the depths of the barbarity of humans and the pain, physical and emotional that they can inflict on others. I do not think I will ever fully get past this."
He sighed then straightened himself.
"But enough of this! We have a sister to find!"
After taking one more look around them Legolas and Aragorn finally turned and trotted their horses after the others.
TBC
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COMING NEXT: Reflections: The nine riders were drawing near the clearing. Their worst fear was that some predator would attack the wounded elf in her weakened condition and though they had happened across more than one wolf, the animals had both been dead though how this came to be would always remain a mystery. When their horses finally entered the clearing and they saw the she-elf lying on the ground, their hearts were first glad, then fearful, as each of them wondered if they had arrived too late.
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kahui(): I am glad the 'boo boo' thing made you laugh. Anayah is an elf although since her formative years weren't spent around the elves some of her speech and mannerisms are different. It has been her underlying sense of humor, an internal instinct to lighten a much too serious moment, that sometimes makes her say things you wouldn't expect. A lot of times the humor is so subtle that the reader will go right on by it without even noticing it.
I am absolutely thrilled that you enjoyed the Black Rider story and especially if you read it twice. That really made my day! Thanks for the review and hope you enjoy this chapter.
Soccer-Bitch: Thanks for the review. Hope school and soccer are going well for you. I live across the street from a grade school and often watch the kids play soccer from my apartment. Those little 'teeny-tinys' really put their heart and soul into the game. Some of them have these little shorts that reach their knees – but they still run after that ball. They are so cute. I just hope that some of them grow up to have the same love for the sport that you do!
DesolateAznVamp: Thanks for the review. Yes, this is another long one – and I could have made it longer but tried to keep it down a little. LOL! That was one of my big problems in college and a habit every professor I had kind of 'cut me some slack' for. I could never cut things short! I really, really tried but when I have something to say I just have to say it – my way!