Dragonfly: Yes, one would hope that Anomen's heightened senses would turn out to be useful in some way.
Joee: Yes, you're right: Elladan should have simply said "when something goes wrong"!
Kel: OK, I'll see what I can do about saving that wayward elfling.
Matrixelf: Thank you. I hope you like the fourth chapter as well.
Karri: OK, will try to sort things out for Elrohir. Afraid it will take counseling, however.
Blessing of Earendil: Yeah, it's amazing how effective refresh buttons can be if you figure out just the right way to jiggle the handle.
MoroTheWolfGod: You mean all this time you haven't had a computer!? How did you survive!?
Beta Reader: Dragonfly.
Blind Fate: Chapter 4
As Anomen descended, a stream of rainwater rushed by his feet, and when the tunnel leveled out, the water began to rise. First it swirled above his ankles, then about his knees, then his thighs. At last it reached his waist. Undaunted, Anomen steadfastly pushed on through the darkness. From time to time an almost imperceptible breeze would tell him that he was passing a side tunnel. Whenever he encountered one, he stopped and shouted Elrohir's name. Hearing nothing, he would move on.
The water rose to his chest, but still he forged on. At last, however, he reached a point where the ceiling of the cave dipped down. If he were to go forward, he would have to submerge himself.
"The ceiling has dipped low at several points," he said to himself, "but it has always quickly risen once again. Perhaps this is such an instance. It may be that if I swim under this barrier, I will find the passageway unobstructed on the other side."
Anomen spared only a few seconds to ponder his course.
"Yes," he resolved, "I shall swim until I feel myself growing short of air and only then, if need be, shall I turn back."
Taking a deep breath, Anomen ducked under the water and swam forward, swimming on his side so that he could feel with his hand whether the tunnel was opening up once again. His gamble was rewarded. Almost immediately, Anomen's hand lost contact with the ceiling, and he surfaced. He was met with a shout.
"Anomen! How came you here!? The way is blocked."
Elrohir stood facing him, water up to his chest, his torch held high.
"There is nothing blocking the tunnel," Anomen replied insouciantly.
"Anomen, how can you say that!? It's blocked with water!"
"Then how came I here?" Anomen replied, grinning.
"That's what I asked!" exclaimed Elrohir, a little nettled.
"One can pass through water, troll-brain. But, really, Elrohir, I only had to go a trifling distance under water. If you duck underneath right here, you will almost immediately come up in an open space on the other side."
"But the torch will go out," Elrohir said miserably. "Did you leave a torch on the other side?"
"No, but never mind about that," Anomen answered. "We can still find our way out. There are a few side tunnels, but luckily you followed a straight path. It shall be a simple matter to hold to the main tunnel."
Elrohir was afraid that they would never be able to avoid blundering off the main path without the aid of a torch, but he had no choice but to trust Anomen. As they talked, the chamber they were in was continuing to fill, and the water was now up to his shoulders. If they did not escape soon, perhaps the entire cave would be submerged. He nodded. Tossing aside the torch, he took hold of the back of Anomen's belt, took a deep breath, and, when Anomen ducked under the water, he ducked under as well.
They came up in the air but in utter darkness as well. Desperately clutching at Anomen, Elrohir followed as his foster-brother steadily retraced his steps. Anomen took pains to reassure Elrohir that they were making progress. He was able to do so because he had taken note of the number of side tunnels, and each time they came to one, he counted them down.
"Do you feel that breeze," he said to Elrohir when they reached the first one. "That's a passageway that leads off to the left. We shan't take it, but now we've reached it, there are only five more tunnels that we must pass before we reach a place where the cave begins to angle upward. From that point onward, the water shall begin to rapidly decrease in depth."
As the water now lapped at their throats, Elrohir could only hope that Anomen was right.
They reached the second passageway, and the third. By now they were swimming, with Anomen trailing a hand along the side of the tunnel in order to keep his bearings.
"Do not worry, Elrohir," he called above the sound of churning water. "Even if the flood continues to rise, the ceiling in this portion is high above us."
"How do you know?" shouted Elrohir.
"I can feel it," Anomen called back. "If the ceiling were within a few feet of us, I should know it."
Anomen and Elrohir swam past the fourth and fifth passageway.
"Only a little further," Anomen encouraged Elrohir. He could feel that his foster-brother trembled, either from cold or fear, mayhap both. "Here, do you feel that? We are just now passing by the sixth side-tunnel."
After swimming a little ways past that point, they were indeed able to touch their feet to the bottom, although just barely. But they pressed on, and soon the water was down to their shoulders and then to their waists. On and on they trekked, and at last the water was no higher than their ankles.
"We are very near the entrance now," said Anomen.
They scrambled a little further, and at last they could see light. His fear forgotten, Elrohir jubilantly pushed past Anomen and hastened forward. He was the first to climb out of the cave, with Anomen right behind him.
Once out, they found Elladan sitting miserably by the entrance to the cave. From his face, it was obvious that he had cried long and hard. Putting on a show of bravado, Elrohir tried to make light of this fact.
"Anomen," he jested, "it is no wonder that the cave filled with water, for Elladan has cried much."
To Elrohir's shock, Elladan flew into a rage.
"Do you think so little of me," he shouted, "that you would mock my grief!? I thought you were drowned, aye, and Anomen as well!"
Elrohir was more than chastened; he was shamed to his very core, perceiving as he did that the depth of Elladan's fury was in proportion to the depth of his love.
"I am sorry," he said contritely to Elladan. "I have acted as if your love were a trifling toy rather than a great gift."
He turned to his foster-brother.
"Anomen," he said humbly, "you could have drowned whilst trying to rescue me. Hannon le, gwador-nîn. I am grateful."
Neither Anomen nor Elladan was in the mood to politely say, "Oh, never mind."
"You have wronged us both," Elladan said in a straightforward tone that he rarely used with his twin, "but for my part, I forgive you because I love you."
"I as well," said Anomen, equally forthright. "You were heedless, but I will not hold that against you."
Elrohir was not offended by the plain speech of his brothers. Instead, he was relieved and grateful that they would offer their forgiveness so freely. He knew that it was more than he deserved—much more!
After resting for awhile, the weary and wet elflings slowly made their way back to the Hall, where their disheveled appearance put a severe strain upon Elrond's eyebrows. Elladan and Anomen did not relate to Elrond any of the particulars of the day's events, but Elrohir bravely went to his father that evening after supper and told him the whole story—how he had insisted on leaving behind Anomen, how he had foolishly entered a cave, how he had been trapped, and how it had been Anomen who had rescued him by traversing a cave in utter darkness.
"And, Ada," he concluded, "after all the sorrow and trouble I caused, both Elladan and Anomen forgave me—although either would have been justified in spurning my company, so badly did I behave!"
"Anomen did well to rescue you," replied Elrond, "both Anomen and Elladan did well to forgive you, and you do well to be so sensible of how lucky you are to be treated with such forbearance by your long-suffering brothers!"
Several months later, during one of Gandalf's periodic visits to Rivendell, Elrond recited the tale to the wizard.
"Impressive," Gandalf mused, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Yes, quite impressive, indeed."
"Impressive, yes," agreed Elrond, "but I would rather Anomen had not been called upon to use his skills in that fashion, and I hope they are not skills he will ever be forced to rely upon again!"
"A lot can happen during the span of an immortal life," Gandalf pointed out. "Indeed, mathematically speaking, such a life subjects a person to an infinite number of adventures. I think it therefore highly probable that he will someday once again find himself in subterranean darkness."
In fact, Reader, in later years, Anomen was to find himself in such a circumstance not once but twice, both times in his guise as Legolas Thranduilion, Prince of Northern Mirkwood; and in the next chapter I shall relate both tales.