Title: By Sunlight and Moonlight

Author: Elvensong

Rating: R

Summary: Glorfindel wishes to know more about the elusive advisor to Elrond and in so doing gets caught up in his story and his curse.

A/N: This coming week I have some time off of work so hopefully I can get more chapters out soon. Thank you for reading and I hope you will find some surprises along the way.

Chapter Eleven

Together we kept on going until I was sure we were far away from our pursuers and safe from harm. My companion slowed to a trot and kept going a little while before finally stopping. I jumped down and gave him a granola bar. My thoughts turned to what Elrond had said, that Erestor's fëa was dormant in the stallion. For the first time I actually thought my dear friend wrong. More of Erestor lay within this form than what anyone thought, perhaps even Erestor himself. Why else would a horse never before ridden accept me, save me?

"Thank you, my friend." He nodded almost as it in acknowledgement of my words. Smiling, I kept my course with him as my accompaniment.

The miles went by quick and I knew we would arrive at our destination this day. Before our leaving, Elrond had given me the most likely place to find Asenath, the witch who had cursed my friend all those years ago.

As usual, my mind wondered from my point, which was our journey, and its point of conclusion. I did now know what to make of Elrond's vision or of what it might mean to us. All I had was a direction, a time and a hope that all could be made right.

We arrived that day at the settlement Elrond had directed me to. It was a normal town set up along the trade routes from different lands of Middle Earth. As typical in towns such as these, many different races from many different places resided there. Am I not a poet or what?

There were multiple shops set up along the main road, but one's eye could not be deterred from the large stone fortress that stood high atop the largest hill. It was an overbearing figure.

The road took us well into the heart of the shopping district where food, clothes, weapons and even children's toys were all for sale by noisy shopkeepers yelling out their trade.

"Livestock for sale! Best from Gondor's herds!"

"Fresh fruit, from the branch to your mouth!"

"My Lord!" One human yelled, rushing up to me, "Here are the finest brides from Rohan. Would fit your mount perfectly."

"No, thank you." I said and with a touch, guided the black horse on down the road. We simply kept walking because I did not know what to do now.

As we walked, another sneering man came up to me, "Is your horse for sale? Imagine the line that could be bred from him. I have some of the most desirable mares and would share the offspring profits with you and also give you one of your choosing."

"He is not for sale." I could only imagine his surprise when the sun went down, or Erestor's when he found out I had sold him. I laughed to myself at the thought of the look on his face.

Luckily, the hustle of the place kept my stallion very close to me. He startled easily and seemed unsure.

We had come through most of the marketplace and entered a quieter part of town. Here there was no shouting, but people simply sitting outside their establishments. It seemed they were content with the fact that if someone wished to buy their goods they would let them know.

As we came towards the end of the road I was going to turn us around to head back to find something to eat and perhaps a place for the horse to have some water when a voice, quiet and disbelieving, stopped me in my tracks.

"That horse." She said not to me, but to him, "Black as night. Here I'd thought I had seen the last of you."

It was an older human woman who walked up to my charge and to my utter shock, when she reached out he nuzzled her with his nose and allowed her close.

"He is kind, isn't he?" she spoke to me, "But not nearly as kind as the elf that comes out at night." She peered into my eyes as though reading my mind. "Only at night."

"Yes." I said timidly.

"Come." She said and I had no choice as my friend was walking away with her. We went around to the back of her shop where there was a small pond from a trickling stream that had it beginnings somewhere in the hills above. The black stallion quickly began drinking. "He's been running hard," she said, "as have you. I see still no mark of bridle or shoe upon him. After all this time he remains free and unbroken. That is good. Come and sit with me. He will be just fine here."

I followed her as she went inside. Her shop was very interesting. There were many different types of candles, herbs and stones. Many books surrounded the walls entitled, "Mastering the Stars" and "The True Power of Water". One caught by eye immediately labeled, "Drawing Down the Moon".

"Who are you?" I asked.

She handed me a glass of wine and we went back out onto the back patio where the horse was now munching on some of the delicate grasses that grew there.

"Someone who was involved in the story that has caught your imagination, Master Elf."

"Glorfindel." I corrected.

The woman smiled, "The famed Balrog Slayer? Who else could bring him back here, who else could confront her? I should have known." She said, chiding herself with her tone.

I almost pleaded to her, "Tell me."

Smiling, she sat back in her chair as Elrond often does when he would about to tell a story. The light caught her hair, which was now silver but still long and fine. Around her eyes were the signs of aging as with most mortals, but her bright eyes still shone through and I knew she was a powerful person. She wore blue robes and a necklace with a bright blue-white stone that seemed to glow with inner light. It fascinated me, as I had never seen anything like it.

"I was an apprentice of Asenath many years ago when I was young and blinded by anything with power over the elements. As the only human she had ever taken as a student I was eager to learn any and all I could from her." She looked sad and I could tell this sadness had been with her for a long while, "I was studying with her when Erestor had first caught her eye. I was there when he was but a scribe in the ruling court and I heard her angered words at his refusal grow into a fire hotter than that of Mordor."

"You know what he is."

"Yes." She could not take her eyes off of the black horse slowly pacing around her gardens. "Only too late did I realize what was going to happen. I was not strong enough to stop the spell from being cast. I could only do a small favor to him to make up for my ignorance."

I knew what it was, why the horse trusted her after all this time apart.

"You set him free and allowed him to escape her."

She looked at me; "I went into the stables that night and released the chains she had on him. I opened the door to his freedom and set him lose to try to survive. Never did I think I would see him again." As a person coming out of a trance, she focused. "Forgive me my manners, Glorfindel, my name is Ranyla."

I set my glass down and looked to her for guidance, "I was told to bring him here. Someone dear to us both told me that a way might be found to break him of this curse. Do you know what it is? Please, help us."

She looked down to her necklace and took the stone into her hand. "Do you know this stone, Friend Elf?"

"I do not." I confessed.

"It is a moon jade. Very rare and the source of Asenath's powers. The stone structure overshadowing us is hers. Inside there is a temple with a floor of nothing but this stone. There the power of the moon comes forth, but once every five years, the sunlight will come through the series of windows and line up with them, allowing the light to touch the stone. The sun must touch the stone in order for it to be regenerated; to refuel its power. That is the time when the power caging our friend may be suspended while in this recharging mode and the opportunity for him to stand as an elf during the hours of the day may be realized." She said, "But he must be standing on the stone at the time, the light of the sun and the stone at his feet will free him for those precious moments."

I was confused, "But I thought the dark forces cursed him."

"Oh, they did. But to every curse there is a cure and the curse the dark forces sent down was based on the witch's powers. They made the curse of the moon and sun because Asenath felt as if she had the most control over him then. Every curse is tailor made to the wielder, as all people of the old arts knows."

"When will the light hit the stone?"

"Tomorrow." She said, "We have very little time and an opportunity that will not soon come again. Immortality may belong to the elves, but Erestor cannot survive forever as he is before sorrow takes his spirit."

TBC