Whoa! I am so terribly sorry. I had left it up to a friend of mine to post this chapter on the first of this month. Obviously, she didn't do so. I got back in town on Wednesday and now that I've checked the site, I'm quite upset with her.
As if I haven't made you guys wait enough. Sigh I'm sorry. Here's your chapter.
Thanks to: Dazzler420, Soccer-Bitch (Love the name..have I said that before? Oh, well. Heh.), LalaithoftheBruinen, LegolasnDcolorblueinterestsme, Julia, Laer4572, Silabrithil, LadyJadePerendhil(x2. Sorry about the wait. Hope this is okay. Next chapter will be better, sooner.) Norie Ape1, Kat, Margartia, Aeglos, the Snow-Point Spear, Cheekah.
Once again, sorry for that unnecessary wait. Enjoy and get ready for some new character in the next chapter!
Chapter Eight: Anger of the Half-Breed
Haldir
The morning mists were gently making one last swirl through the silver trees as they turned to gold. Somewhere high in the branches, an animal moved and a bout of frozen, golden leaves fluttered downward and settled onto the ground.
The sun was rising outside the forest and was gently streaking inside like water into pebbles as it glittered over the icy frost.
It had been two days since I left Celebruim and its people.
The return to Caras Galadhon was well needed. I'd been greeted with enthused joy and welcome from my friends and command.
Eruidel, my second in command, immediately fell into step telling me everything I needed to know about the borders, about the training units, and about rumors that needed to be settled before spreading like a dangerous wildfire.
I was March Warden here; a force to be reasoned and reckoned with.
And I was away from Ashk - that human woman who would mother my children.
The woman I silently pondered over while I was alone. It was a terrible habit I had to break soon. It was distracting.
Distraction was a key reason I did not have relationships that lasted longer than a month or two. My duties often flooded into my personal life and I heard the words 'pushed away' one too many times.
Over the past two days, I'd managed to shove Ashk out of my mind, but an echoing question still swirled.
How would I balance children? I could do without Ashk, handle her as an acquaintance, but what of the children?
"Haldir." Orophin's voice was crisp and my eyes focused again only to spot the silent, oncoming riders.
Any questions would have to wait.
The riders aboard the silent horses reached us at break-neck speed before stopping on a coin. I raised a brow into the smiling eyes of our visitors.
"Did I scare you?"
"Do you ever?"
The Elf smiled in that slow, charming way that I knew would break the hearts of many with this visit. He was young, naive still. But he'd grow.
"He will learn one day," Olimar said with a much wiser smile than his younger brother. His hand moved forward and mine clasped around his forearm. "Good to see you, Haldir."
"Likewise, Prince," I replied, my smile easing into one we both knew from years passed. I looked at Legolas. "And you, young Prince."
Legolas chuckled. "Not so young anymore," he reminded me. Orophin laughed as I did.
"You are to me, and you always will be," I told him before briefly greeting the four guards that had traveled with the two Greenwood princes.
"Seems we have some things to discuss," Olimar said softly to me in Westron as we started toward Caras Galadhon. I looked at him with a raised brow and immediately knew what he spoke of.
I sighed; so much for keeping recent occurrences in private.
"Yes, I imagine we do," I replied grimly.
Ashk
I stared at the rubble that had once been a dangerously leaning working shed. It was still lying in the same condition it had fallen in. The new shed was being erected on the opposite side of the house, not to block the setting sun as the previous one had.
However, this garbage was getting on my last nerve.
"Ashk!"
Looking behind me, I spotted Gronig with an armful of packages with him.
"I fear for my life if I carry these much further," he admitted breathlessly as I neared. My laughed as I told him to put them down before calling for Donavon.
Gronig sat with a huff on the cold snow, his cheeks and nose red from the winter air and his breathing coming in huge gulps.
"You shouldn't push yourself so," I told him gently, my hand resting on his shoulder.
"Oh, dear, please," he muttered with a frown. "I used to be able to pull a hay cart without the dragging horse!"
I laughed. "I'm sure you could, but maybe not anymore. It's nearly time to retire to a fire and a fine bottle of whiskey."
At that moment, he happened to pull a flask from his vests and toasted to me. "Quite right," he amended. "Surely."
I only shook my head as Donavon hurried towards us.
"Take these upstairs, would you? Third bedroom," I instructed. Donavon nodded, greeted Gronig, then lifted the boxes effortlessly and strode back towards the house.
"A good boy," Gronig mentioned, taking another drink of his flask. "Real quiet though."
"Yes," I murmured, staring after the teenager. "He certainly is."
I didn't mention the fact that I heard the boy in his nightmares for two nights now. There were quiet groans and muttered pleas I could not understand. I'd longed to wake him and pull him from the misery he was so obviously tossing in, but somewhere inside I knew he'd never look at me the same if he was aware I knew of his fears' life in the night.
Donavon was alone in the world. How did it come to that?
A sharp whinny caught my attention and Gronig's. We both shifted to look behind us, to the outside of town a few hundred yards away.
Near the stables a man struggled with control over a gleaming, beautiful black horse. He reared high in the air, his hooves kicking for a dangerous path. He landed with a shake of his heavy mane and snorted.
"Hector is in town," said Gronig, struggling to a stand before I helped him up. "That is one of his horses."
"He's beautiful," I muttered.
"They all are," Gronig replied. "He breeds special horses. Mixed with Elven and human bloodlines. Silent like Elvish - beautiful like them too. But, colors of the human breeds and the ails of sickness and tempers."
"Half-breeds," I said, mostly to myself.
Somewhere in that dark horse I only saw at a distance, I saw something deep inside him. His temper was high and hot, but it was as if he controlled it himself. For his own reasons, he was enraged.
He was a half-breed; not human nor Elven. He knew it just like we did, and just as his kin did.
…Neither human nor Elven.
…A half-breed.
"Does this Hector sell?" I questioned lowly.
"Of course," Gronig replied.
"I want that colt."
Gronig's eyes grew wide.
"Oh, Ashk honey," he stammered as the colt reared high again, pulling his reiner with him a good few feet. "I don't think that is such a wise idea."
"He's a colt, Gronig. He'll settle eventually," I replied, walking towards the house and knowing exactly where I'd pull the funds from.
"He's dangerous! They all are! They're angry at the world, Ashk. They know they're not good enough for either of their parents' kind. They are bred only to be the horses of warriors, not lassies like yourself."
I ignored him.
"They're smart like Elvish horses, mean-spirited though. I beg of you, don't buy that horse. You'll have children to worry about in a few months and Haldir will have no horse like that around, I'll bet my bottom coin!"
I stopped stiffly before turning and staring at Gronig.
I said nothing, nor did he. Instead, I just stared at him for a long moment before turning again and walking up the stairs. Gronig did not follow nor say anything further.
If a colt couldn't accept being a half-breed, could my children? Would they forever be angry at the world we'd brought them into? Never to be good enough for either race; never one or the other.
If I could teach a colt to love, surely I could teach my children.
If I couldn't...
Oh, who was I fooling? I had to. I had no choice. The colt could help to teach me how.
Evening
Haldir
"You have yourself a certain predicament, my friend," Olimar said with a raised brow, absently swirling the wine in his glass. I only tilted my head in agreement, gulping back the remainder of my own drink.
"Not one I imagined," I said, placing the empty glass down and glancing towards the rest of the dining hall. Olimar and I were far enough away from other conversations and conducted our own in Westron. My secrets would remain my secrets.
"Nor I," Olimar replied in thought. He cleared his throat a moment later and I set a heavy gaze on him. He was obviously thinking deeply and I used what sober patience I had left to wait. Finally, he shifted and spoke, "And this woman, is she...worthy?"
"She is not a whore, Olimar."
"Yet she was fully willing to lie with a stranger," Olimar thought aloud. "An interesting contradiction, Haldir."
I opened my mouth as if to say something, but it seemed I had been rendered speechless. What was I to say? Did I defend her, or care less what my friend thought of her?
Olimar's clear eyes moved to mine again and he tilted his head, knowing I was silently wrestling with myself. "You do not remember any of the night?"
I paused a moment before lifting my shoulders as if to shrug. "I remember parts here and there. Mostly in dreams…sometimes when I look at her."
"Common," Olimar stated dryly. After a time he sighed. "You should have stayed in Caras Galadhon, Haldir. You could have avoided this."
"I could not stay here," I said lowly, my eyes trailing into the crimson wine in his glass.
Screaming, pleading. The sobbing of children and women...and men.
I had known this was coming. I could have prevented this. I had the choice to prevent it. Why did I hesitate? What did I do to these people?
I could only watch from my great distance as the attack continued and I was powerless to interfere or stop it.
And as I watched, I slowly felt a shadow passing over my mind.
-
Walking over the blood-soaked snow the sightless eyes that stared at me kept me silent, as they did my troop.
No one survived.
I could have prevented this.
I'd led them into a slaughter.
I shook my head, raising a hand to rub over my eyes as I felt suddenly exhausted. Olimar was peering at me and when my eyes shifted to his again, I saw understanding swirling in the Greenwood prince's eyes.
"I see," he murmured softly. "You still have not let that go, have you?"
My silent stare was his answer, but he did not shake his head in regret as most did. Instead, he only nodded and finished his drink.
"Well, my advice to you then, my friend, is to realize you will have a family soon. You may not be soulfully married to this woman who will mother your children, but those children will be yours and hers...together."
He stared at me a moment before a small smile trickled over his face. "Children are beautiful gifts, Haldir. Trust me. With them in the world, it is as though nothing else really seems as important as it used to...and some things seem all the more important. They teach you things with a glance.
"You worry for the change in your life, I see it in your eyes, but fear not. You'll learn to balance them. You have no choice in the matter."
I was silent and unmoving for a moment before I smiled. "This from a father himself," I reminded him before the other Elf smiled broadly. Olimar and his wife, Hiera, had their first child nearly two years before. "How is the little elleth?"
"More like me every day," he replied making us both laugh.
"Then give Hiera my condolences," I said with a chuckle.
"She will need them for the next several months." I frowned in slight confusion but Olimar only grinned like a fool. "There will be another soon."
"For Valar's sake, Olimar! Give her some time to rest!" I laughed before motioning for another round of drinks.
Morning
Ashk
BANG!
I grimaced while staring at the barn doors that were securely locked. Donavon was still as statue beside me.
BANG, BANG!
"Oh, dear," I murmured to myself.
"Are you sure about this?" Donavon questioned, peering at me and I glanced at him with an unsteady breath. I shrugged.
"He has to eat," I said, looking back to the barn doors.
"Yes...But...He wasn't exactly easy going last night, either," Donavon reminded me.
I grimaced again.
He was right. I'd dealt with the horse trader, Hector, for the black colt the night before. I'd been nearly ready to wring his neck by the end of the debate as I paid a compromise for him. However, getting the colt from the stables to the barn at home was quite the task.
After some time struggling with him, the stable hand had decided to blindfold the horse. It gave the colt no choice but to follow where he was led.
He'd been quiet all night, but now that it was morning he was making quite a ruckus in his stall. Donavon and I hadn't even gotten the courage to open the barn doors.
BOOM!
There was silence after the last resounding echo and I bit my lip. It took another thirty seconds before I finally stalked up to the door - Donavon protesting behind me - and threw it open.
The early sun rays rained inside and a surprised whinny echoed.
I stared inside and into the wide, rolling eyes of the colt as he glared at me before rearing high with a shriek.
"Well, good morning to you too," I huffed, grabbing the bucket of feed from Donavon and moving forward.
The colt snorted as he stomped the ground and pawed at the stall door. As I neared, his mouth lunged forward, teeth bared to bite until his broad chest hit the door, restraining him.
"Ashk, I don't think this is a good idea," Donavon murmured from behind me.
"We can't just not feed him and keep him in here, Donavon," I replied, clenching my free hand into a fist while staring at the grunting horse as he strained against the door.
I continued to near him and lifted the bucket to pour the feed over the side.
"Ashk!"
I nearly dropped the bucket as the horse swung his head around to nip at my coats. He barely missed as I pulled away. With a gulp of surprised air, I glared at the animal as he seemed to wicker with laughter.
He was nothing but a big bully.
"Look here, you!" I declared, pointing at him as if it would prove my point. "This is your food. I am going to feed you. Now stop being such a pig-head and let me feed you!"
The horse seemed to peer at me, measuring me to him. I remained still, glaring directly back at him in the silence of the barn. Finally, he ducked his head and backed away from the door. I wasn't quite sure how intelligent Elven horses were, but I took a risk and moved towards the door again.
I could nearly hear Donavon's teeth chattering in fear and cold.
I made it to the door and began to lift the bucket over the edge. Victory in sight, I relaxed slightly.
Yet, it was short lived as the colt blew out an aggravated breath and jumped forward at me.
A surprised shriek left me as I staggered back, tripping over my own feet and crashing to the ground, feed and bucket flying.
I didn't even give Donavon time to help me up before I jumped to a stand, ready to lunge at the colt myself as he bobbed his head and snorted.
"Don't want to eat?" I growled, brushing away the hay and feed that had clung to my coats. "Fine!"
Swirling I found a small stool, pulled it to me, and sat with a plop.
Silence reigned for a time before Donavon shifted. "Um...Ashk..."
"Go on, Donavon," I ordered. "Take the day off and do what you like. This business will be sorted by the end of the day."
Donavon was looking at me in uncertainty, but I was staring at the colt instead who seemed to be staring at me as well, daring me to look away.
Hours passed slowly and I found it easier to pass the time while chatting away to the animal that so obviously loathed his current position. Yet, sometimes, I couldn't help but feel the eerie feeling that he knew exactly what I was saying as he paced his stall or stared at me in contempt.
It was easier to talk to a horse that someone who I knew would judge.
By the time I finished with telling how my middle sister, Mauriel, had married the colt was leaning his weight on the stall wall as I paced. I sighed as I looked at him and he mimicked the sound himself.
My stomach growled then and I glanced down, my hand covering the abdomen that was already starting to show evidence of a mother. The flat plain was developing a distinct bump.
I grumbled under my breath as I looked at the colt whose ears had perked as if in interest.
"Going to have little ones running around here eventually - You can't be throwing your temper tantrums with them," I told him, stooping to retrieve the refilled bucket of feed. The colt's ears twitched.
"They'll be like you, you know. Half-breeds." The colt snorted and his nostrils flared as he took a deep breath. "It's not a bad thing, really. Just...different."
He stared at me.
My stomach growled again and it was soon followed by the loud rumble of the colt's stomach. He turned his head as if to see where that vicious noise had come from.
I smiled briefly before lifting the bucket. "Should we try this again?"
The colt looked greedily at me.
Moving forward, I lifted the bucket to raise it over the door. The colt did not move and acted as though he wasn't looking at me. Gingerly I leaned over the door and poured the feed into his feeder and withdrew.
The colt remained still for a moment before turning and sniffing the grain. I raised a brow before his muzzle crushed into the array of seeds and hay.
"Yes, well...You're welcome," I muttered, putting the bucket down. Turning, I walked away, eager to get a bit of food myself.
However, as I passed the barn doors, a gentle nicker reached me and I glanced back to see the colt staring at me.
If he was human, I could almost take that gaze that warred a battle behind those dark eyes.
Well, I thought as I closed the doors from the cold wind, at least he wasn't trying to break down his stall door again.
BOOM!
I stopped with an aggravated sigh and didn't bother with turning back to the barn.
Haldir
Having been given a warm greeting days before from the Lady and Lord themselves, I was at ease on the high talan the Lady had called me to.
She smiled at me as I stepped off the stairs and the escorts bayed away without a word. I glanced their direction before shifting my feet apart and my hands clasped in front of me.
Galadriel only continued to smile and went on with her painting. "How are you, my Warden?"
"I am well, milady," I replied softly with a nod of my head.
"I'm glad to hear it," she said gently, standing and placing her brush down. "And Ashk?"
I hesitated. There were times when I wished she would not be so polite about things. I was very aware she knew everything that had been going on between Ashk, myself, and the small place of Celebruim. But, mostly for my sake, she asked instead of told.
"Well enough," I replied.
Galadriel stared at me a moment before making a high, interested noise and walking towards the edge of the talan.
"Not without incident," she mentioned aloud.
I nodded in reply and knew she would continue.
Which, of course, she did.
"There was a man not long ago," she said. "Nearly two weeks now." I said nothing. "He came close to disaster."
"He did," I agreed.
"Why?"
I stumbled. "Why?" I repeated. What was I to say? "He had his own motives."
Galadriel's crystal clear eyes shifted with a slicing speed to my own and I immediately felt her mood shift.
"Yes," she replied. "He did. And he remains without punishment."
I gave him the punishment I could.
I nearly spoke aloud what I thought, but I withheld it. It was pointless and I saw the minor, all-knowing smile Galadriel gave me.
"You always do," she replied softly.
Lady Galadriel turned then and neared me. Her hand, always soft as silk, rose and brushed over my cheek as she so often did. But, as I stared at her, there was a soft remorse in her eyes.
"Your trials still lie ahead, Haldir, but there will be those with you to help you pass them."
"I don't need help," I murmured and she smiled into my eyes.
"Of course you don't, my Warden. But do not dismiss it." Her gaze grew serious. "You will regret it if you do so."
Riddles.
She used riddles to hint toward things she could not tell in detail.
However, details were not always the point.
Night
Ashk
I didn't know what woke me, but something did.
The house was warm as I'd rolled out of bed and wrapped myself in a cloak.
Having walked through the upper level, I was now peering through the first floor which happened to be silent as death.
The shadows from the dancing embers of the once roaring fire was eerie as I closed the pantry door and glanced around the kitchener.
There was nothing.
Sighing with a roll of my eyes, I knew I was being foolish. But as the nights continued to pass without Haldir nor anyone else spite Donavon and I in the house, I would admit to becoming increasingly paranoid.
Dreams of Septh had been reoccurring for four nights.
"Ashk."
A shadow moved and a shriek rose in my throat before the shadow dashed forward and a hand clamped over my mouth, halting the scream deep in my chest.
"Shh! It is only me!"
My pulse throbbed in my neck and my breathing wouldn't catch even as Rumil's voice slid over my ears like a gentle, comforting rain.
Slowly, he released me.
I promptly turned around and hit him in the chest.
"What are you doing sneaking around in here!" I demanded, hitting him again. "You scared the life out of me!"
"I'm sorry!" he defended, flinching as I shifted, obviously awaiting another slap. However, I restrained myself from the urge to hit him again. "I didn't mean to frighten you. I only came to check in."
"In the middle of the night!" I hissed.
"Well, I did not plan on waking you, Princess," he replied with a scowl. "Sorry for my concern!"
We both stared at each other for a moment before the first chuckle strained through and we had a good, middle-of-the-night laugh muffled between our hands, careful not to wake Donavon.
"You are testy in the night," Rumil told me.
"Yes, well, I could say the same," I replied, raising a brow. "What are you doing here at night for anyway? Why do you not come during the day?"
"We have all been very busy. Now was the only time I had the ability to make it here."
"What about Ha-" I stopped there and swallowed my words. It was good to see Rumil, it had been a week and a half. But, it had also been a week and a half since I'd seen the father of my children or heard from him.
So much for a 'few days' absence.
"Haldir is well. He plans to return very soon but, as you can imagine, they are keeping him busy in Caras Galadhon while he is around."
I nodded and was about to say something before a noise came from upstairs.
Rumil immediately tensed, but I only sighed.
"It's Donavon," I told him. "He has nightmares almost every night."
Rumil's frown was apparent even in the dark as he peered towards the stairs where we could both easily hear mumbled words and pleas…and quiet tears from a teenage boy.
"What does he dream of?"
"I don't know," I replied, crossing my arms. "I don't have the heart to wake him. He is so guarded with himself I fear I would scare him to distance himself even more."
Rumil's frown remained.
The cry from a child to a mother nearly echoed before silence fell and I knew the boy had awoken to his own cries. I remained silent even as Rumil shifted.
"He dreams of his family then," Rumil murmured.
I nodded. "He is alone," I mentioned. "He became that way somehow...and I fear it was not gentle."
Rumil quietly agreed.
- - -
Now, if you are wondering about Legolas's brother, Olimar, he is fiction. Though heavy rumors fly about Legolas having siblings, Olimar is not a Tolkien creation. However, I do hope he holds up to standards.
Again, if you're wondering about the wait, see the first note at the top of the chapter. Hope to hear from you guys soon! Next update projection: November 18.
-Slater