Chapter 3: Deepening Trouble and Trips
Disclaimer: Lotr is property of Tolkien anyone else you've never heard of is mine.
The three companions had walked for a while going deeper into the forest. Legolas was awed by the trees that became larger and more majestic as they walked further into the forest until finally they came to a bridge and on the other side stood an archway made of stone, vines with small white blossoms covered it. On both sides stood to elves. They smiled when they saw Laurenor but frowned as they glanced at the dwarf. "I bring two more visitors from the shores of Middle-Earth." he said. "Prince Legolas of Mirkwood and Gimli."Laurenor said. "They seek a meeting with our Lord and Lady." The elf with golden hazel hair an dark blue eyes stepped forward. "I will escort them. You must return to your post." Laurenor sighted dramatically. "Yes I know, you mustn't remind me of my burden." The elves grinned. Laurenor turned to Legolas and Gimli. "This is Fireil he will show you to our lord and lady." He put his right hand over his heart and bowed. "Until we meet again. I bid you farewell." he said and turn to leave. Fireil turned to them. "If you will please follow me."
Legolas and Gimli looked at each other, Legolas amused and Gimli still a little suspicious, then turned and followed Fireil.
Vennsile turned back to the dwarf and elf. The dwarf looked very amused, however the elf did not."I am sorry about my pupil." he said. "She doesn't know how to be quiet even when it is obvious."
The dwarf chuckled. "Let her, she apparently likes lighting the mood and it was interesting to meet one of her kind. I have never met a fairalev before." he shook his head laughing. The elf glared at the dwarf. "I have never met one of her kind either but I think she acted more like a child." he hesitated. "Are all their kind like her?" he asked. Vennsile shook his head. "No, she has manners, in case you did not notice, others of her kind are much trickier." Vennsile finished. The elf looked surprised while the dwarf still chuckled. Michael cleared his throat. Everyone looked at him. "As nice as this talk about Fairalevs is I'd very much to know the name of our two guests." he said bowing to the dwarf and elf. "I am sorry." the elf said. "My name is Valandil of the elves of The Summer Forest." he said. "I am Nordri of the Dwarves of The Blue Mountain." Vennsile nodded. "You both know who I am," he turned to Michael and Kyle. "This are two of my disciples. The shape shifter Michael and the human Kyle." both students bowed the elf and dwarf as they were introduced. Then Vennsile turned to the two Wizards. The gray wizard stepped forward. "My name Tsiannen of the Wizard's Order." he said. The other wizard stepped forward. "I am Metriasen of the Wizard's Order."
Vennsile turned to the falcons. The falcon to Silverwing's right had a light green jewel imbedded in his throat, the top part of his head was also light green while his eyes were as dark as emeralds, he looked down at them. I am known as Wind in the common tongue they heard him reply.
The one to Silverwing's left, had black feathers trimmings like Silverwing, and the rest of him was gray, he had a black jewel imbedded in his throat and apparently was still getting over the amusing scene for his voice sounded amused when they heard it in their heads. My name is simply Night, in the common tongue he said I am quite pleased to meet all of you. Will we be seeing the fairalev again? he asked. There were chuckles from everyone but the elf. "Perhaps." Vennsile said. "Though at the moment we must discuss something of more importance." he turned back to the elf and dwarf. "If I understood the fight started over the prize of something or the amount that was traded on one side was unequal?" he asked them. The elf nodded. The dwarf nodded. "What we we're giving you was of more value than what you were giving us." The elf drew himself up and turned to the dwarf. "What we were giving you was of more value than what you were giving us." Before anyone could stop them they had began arguing again. The elf reached for his bow and arrow while the dwarf reached for his axe. "Enough!" Vennsile said loudly.
Both stopped reaching for their weapons and turned to Vennsile who was shaking his head. "Does this mean that you will not trade with each other again?" he asked. There was silence for a minute. "Perhaps if they get their values on their goods right we will consider it." Valandil said. The dwarf nodded. "The same goes to you and your people lad." They both glared once more and turned away from each other.
"As amusing as this is." Michael said. "It seems rather childish, perhaps you should get a third opinion from someone else." Everyone turned their eyes to him. Vennsile nodded "Go on." he said. Michael shrugged. "Well I was thinking that because both of your races either mined, grew, or hunted and dressed your goods you would consider them of much value but if you found someone who did not do such things and knew much about this with his or her help you could come to an accord on what the prize or how much should be traded for such things."
Kyle nodded, "I see where you're going." he said, "And we know the perfect person for the job, well it's actually two people and perhaps it will keep both of them busy for a while." he looked at Vennsile who was nodding. "Yes, I believe both of you have the right idea." he said.
The three falcons looked down at them, interest in their eyes. May we know who this two will be? Silverwing asked.
Vennsile looked up at him. "Two of my students perfect for this job, of course they will have to stay with the elves and dwarves for a while but this might be educational for them." he turned to Night. "I believe we will be seeing more of Miriam."
"What?" Valandil asked. Vennsile turned to him. "The fairalevs are much closer to dragons, they love hunting for treasures and there is none that I know of that has been cheated. They make it their business to know about prices and what something amounts too. The same could be said of the dragons." he sighted shaking his head. "This has come at a grave time but it cannot be helped." he looked at everyone. He could see that besides his two students, all wanted to know what was so grave but he knew that it was important to keep everything going as if everything was normal, or as normal as could be in this planet. "It is nothing you should be concerned with as of yet." he told them seriously. There was reluctant nod from them.
He was about to dismiss everyone for an hour when Silverwing told them, Someone flies towards us they turned to look back at the building and sure enough there was someone flying towards them, there was actually two people, coming towards them. The fairalev was flying alongside a red dragon, much larger by far than the falcons. As it got closer to them it began to be enveloped in a fiery mist, when it landed in the field instead of a dragon a young man with fiery red hair and dragon wings stood before them. He bowed to everyone then turned to Vennsile. "I have a very important message." he said. "A human city was attacked by goblins late last night." Vennsile shook his had. This happened sometimes he would have to send people to help all they can as if he knew what he was thinking David shook his head. "This was no human city within any of our continents, Vennsile, this was a human city in the human empire." There was a gasp of surprise from everyone who did not know of this. "This is bad." Vennsile said. He turned to the others. "This must wait for a while I believe it is time I call a council." he turned to Miriam. "Go sound the bell." she nodded and took of for once without comment. He turned to the other. Vennsile, what is this? Silverwing asked. "Chaos has escaped." Vennsile said. This left everyone speechless. "I must warn my people." Valandil said. "I know you must." Vennsile said, "But it would be wiser to stay and listen to all that is said, hen you may return to your people."
Vennsile turned to Michael. "Fly as quickly as you can to the Mages Isle, tell them that some of their people must be in this meeting." Michael nodded, already turning into the fastest bird he knew. As he took off Vennsile turned to Davis. "You must go to the enchanters, tell them they must be here too, hurry!" David jumped into the sky and flew away. Finally he turned to Kyle. "Find the rest of your companions, tell them I require their presence in the great meeting hall." Kyle nodded. I will assist you Night said to Kyle. Flying we will accomplish this sooner Kyle ran to him and climbed on to his back. Hang on Night said and took off. He turned to those that were left. "We will begin in three hours, make sure that our guests have a place there by that time." Vennsile said to the two Wizards, they nodded and Vennsile turned and walked away. A breeze passed by and the Wizard was nowhere to be seen.
The young centaurs followed the fairy to an Inn in the heart of the city. Evan looked up at the sign. It read The Traveler's Inn. They went in to a cool room after the day's heat. Here and there, there were men, women, and some families eating or talking. At the counter a young woman with pale brown hair, green eyes, and wearing a light rose and white uniform cleaned the counter.
Kisha walked up to her and the woman looked at her in surprise. "Kisha, I didn't know you were going to be here this week." Kisha shrugged. "It came as a surprise to me too. I'm here on important business. My friends and I need to go to the Wizard's Isle it's really important." she said. The woman was quiet for a moment and looked at the centaurs ."They are?" she asked.
Kisha turned to them. "The cinnamon colored one is Evan from the Clan of The Wide River." Kisha said. "His friend is from the Mist Forest Clan, he's name is Erell. Guys this is Maris, just like the ship, it was named after her grandmother and she was named after it." Maris smiled when they boys eyes went wide in surprise.
"I take it your parents don't know you're here?" she asked. Kisha sighted, "I knew you would ask and no they don't but this is really important Maris." she turned to Evan and signaled for him to help her. "It is important." Evan said. "My father died because of it as well as many of my kind and some humans." he said, trying not to let the tears start again. He couldn't look like a kid right now. Maris considered. "If it is that important then I'm sure my father will help you guys out but you should know that Vennsile has the best at his position. I've be surprised if he didn't know about this already."
Still." Kisha said. "This is really important, besides I want to make sure my sister is there and so does Evan." Kisha looked up at Maris her eyes pleading. Maris sighted. "My father and his crew will be stopping by later today to eat before sailing I'll talk to him." Kisha smiled. "Thank you." Maris said breaking into a smile. Maris smiled back and looked at the three. "Well you might as well eat something, on the house of course." Maris took the centaurs to another room where their kind ate while Kisha ate where everyone else was.
Maris made sure they were comfortable while she thought. Her father wouldn't like it, they were young, even if they were around fifty or sixty, they were still children and he wouldn't like taking them away. She had to think of a way to get him to help the poor dears. Just remembering Evan's face when he remembered what happened convinced her that they were better of in the Wizard's Isle than here. 'Maybe I'll just tell them that.' she thought.
As before, the storm had come out of nowhere, this time though they let it guide them to their destination. Frodo was inside with the others. Gandalf was reading a book while Aldarion and Laurenor's relative, Cael, paced back and forth. Frodo didn't blame him. He could feel that something was very bad and while he and the others knew they could stay in Valinor and not get involved they had decided to go. Frodo had come because he wanted to see his friends at least once more. He loved Valinor but he missed Miriam's jokes and the fun he had had with the others. He wondered if they had found a replacement for Ibun yet. He hadn't had time to get to know him well but he had reminded him of Gimli.
He looked out the window wondering what the others would say when they saw them again. 'I hope we can help, even if it is in a small way.' he thought. He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he only noticed the storm was clearing when Sam brought it to his attention. "Are we there then?" Sam asked. "It seems we are." Gandalf said, walking towards the door. He opened it and the others followed him out.
Outside he looked around, this time there was no one around to greet them. "I don't understand." Cael said. "My brother should be at his post." Indeed Laurenor was nowhere to bee seen. "Perhaps it has something to do with that ship." Gandalf said pointing to it with his staff. Frodo looked at it. It was an elven ship, he was sure of that. "Perhaps others came before us and Laurenor showed them to his home." Frodo suggested. Gandalf nodded. "Then perhaps we should wait to see if he returns." Haldir said.
They docked the ship and walked down the plank. Frodo looked at the other side of the river. There was no one there. Last time he had seen a boy that he had learned was a centaur, like Nolion. 'Perhaps they are in their settlement' he thought. Something inside of him told him that something bad had happened here he just didn't know what it had been. He made sure to keep away from the Ivy's Blossom while he looked at the other side of the river. "No one's there." Frodo looked up at Cael. "That is notnormal?" Frodo asked. Cael nodded. "Usually there are a few centaurs here, either fishing or guarding their side of the river from intruders. I don't understand what could have made them leave their post." he shook is head. "Whatever it was I have a feeling that it was very unpleasant."
"I don't know if I should be pleased or not." Frodo and Cael turned towards the forest. Laurenor was walking out of it with an amused look in his face. "You are the second party I have found today." he bowed to Gandalf. "It is good to see all of you again and perhaps you would like to know that I just delivered an elf and a dwarf who claimed to know you. The elf was named Legolas while the dwarf was named Gimli." Sam gasped in surprise. "We know them." Gandalf said. "We are also happy to hear they are well." Laurenor smiled and turned to Cael. "Cousin, I'm happy to see you." he said. Cael looked at him with thoughtful eyes. "You don't know yet, do you?" he asked. Laurenor frowned. "I'm afraid I don't know what you speak of."
"Something's wrong here." Sam said. "Well from what I was told." Laurenor looked at them silent for a moment. "If there is something wrong then I must return to my home. Please follow me." he said and walked back into the forest.