Chapter Three: The Golden Horse

Hiranneth felt the wrath swell up around her and she fell on her face. It was like a a tidal wave of heat that had come to expunge all living things, but as she looked up nothing was on fire. It was merely the heat of the hatred that had pushed her down.
She turned and looked at the edge of the forest; it could still be seen. And there stood Ahéawan, frozen by his power. With all her strength she lifted herself up and yelled to her. "Ahéawan! Resist this power! He is not as strong as you think!" Her voice was strong but deep inside she tried to keep from crying. She closed her eyes to keep form seeing something that might happen to Ahéawan. And then she began to pray. "Oh Valar…how can I save her?"

Suddenly out of the forest ahead came a horse. It was golden and tall, with a mane whiter than snow. Its eyes were like fire and burned through her soul. Hiranneth seemed to lose all track of time, as it moved past her and headed to the forest's edge. Could this be a sign?

Kiarton ran after Hirraneth until he was just at the edge of the forest. But suddenly a sharp searing pain ran down from his head all the way to his feet and he felt as if he had been torn in half. He yelled out in pain but then summoned his strength to look back. There was Ahéawan, stuck fast with a look of pure terror on her stony face. Then a horse that ran like a sun beam flew past him and stood between the kind elf and Fly, the sun of Sauron.

The horse burst through the forest and stood between the son of Sauron and Ahéawan. It spoke at length. "I am Goldwen, horse Lord of Hunvel. Take thine evil spirit from these people, and I will think of sparing you." His voice was loud and commanding.

Ahéawan felt a searing pain course through her that seemed to darken her whole body. She felt nothing but darkness, pain, and hopelessness. Just when she was about to succumb to the awful power which held her, a light burst through and banished the darkness. Ahéawan was thrown to the earth by the sheer force of it.
Using all the energy she could muster, she looked up to find the source of the blinding light. It was a horse, with a coat of gold brighter than a thousand suns, and a mane of brilliant white. The horse charged and stood firmly between Ahéawan and the son of Sauron. The horse commanded something of the evil demon that coursed through her, and slowly Ahéawan felt its darkness receding. She gazed upon the brilliant horse one last time, then everything went black.

Fly felt the wrath of his father surging through his veins like flame. He called to Ittegar, his flying beast who came swiftly. He hopped on its back and it began to fly after the fleeing humans. As he came upon the brilliant horse, his beast extended it's long talons, and grabbed it.

Kiarton smiled weakly at Hirraneth and stared at the great horse that separated Fly from Ahéawan. But then the talons of a large creature which the son of Sauron was riding closed over the strong body of the horse. In a flash of light as brilliantly white as the horse's mane, the horse turned into an elf, strong and tall, with glowing white hair and long robes of gold. He hung limp in the monsters' talons and was carried off, his sacrifice made.

Kiarton managed to stand up and helped Hirraneth to her feet. Then he looked around. "Where is Kiran?" The two of them hurried out of the forest and Kiran rode slowly out of the wood.

"My horse got spooked and through me off." Kiran said in a pained voice. Then a ways off, they saw Ahéawan lying unconscious on the hard earth. The three ran to her and Kiran dismounted. Hirraneth was at her side.

"Aheawan please don't be dead." She whispered with tears in her eyes. The older woman stirred slightly and mumbled something. Hiranneth let out the breath she was holding and looked to the north in the direction that the great beast and the son of Sauron had taken the horse turned elf. "We have to go after him!" Hirraneth blurted out.

"We should follow the map," Kiran said. "Perhaps there is someone there that can heal Ahéawan. Maybe that is where the elf was taken as well. It seems to be the cause of this mystery, it may the answer as well."

Hiranneth felt a sadness come over her as she looked off in the direction of the beast and the horse that was in its grasp. The horse was not a horse but a kind elf who out of his generosity was taken up by an evil creature and left to an unknown fate."You are right Kiarton. We must save the elf, for we are in his debt."
She looked at the injured Ahéawan. "But we must first go to the village on the map. I feel they will be able to help us." Hiranneth took up her things, threw them over her back, and urged the others to continue.

Ahéawan stirred as the two young lads made an attempt to wake her and continue on their journey. She was still somewhat disoriented, but the group managed to find her horse and hoist her onto it. She followed closely behind her companions as they headed into the forest. She knew little of what had happened, but was determined to find the son of Sauron. She would find him and have her revenge.

Kiarton followed the others into the forest. He hurt all over but Hirraneth looked so determined that he urged himself to go on. They trudged on until the sun was setting. He watched intently as Hirraneth examined the map closely. He was very tempted to blurt out are we there yet but he fought the urge and kept his mouth closed. "I am sorry to interrupt you Hirraneth, but I don't think that I can go on much longer without some sleep." He said.

Hiranneth was fully determined to continue, but Kiraton was right. They all looked tired. She put aside her pride and decided they should rest for the night, seeing how the sun was setting fast. They stopped in a small clearing just inside the forest and made camp there. Hiranneth pulled out some rations of bread and dry fruit and got water from a nearby stream. Crouching near some dried wood she had gathered, she tried in vain to start a fire. Hiranneth sadly realized her father had never gotten around to showing her. She sighed and said mostly to herself, "A lot has happened in the last day or so. I've fought the son of Sauron, was able to summon a horse of power, and look!" She threw dirt onto her helpless form of a fire. "I can't even light a fire." She sat down in sadness and wrapped herself up in her cloak, with her face slightly covered.
She then laughed aloud, thinking how stupid she felt for making such a fuss, but her family still hung over her head. Her emotions burdened her heavily, but they didn't matter now. She had friends to look after and they would in turn look after her.
The her mind suddenly thought of Fly. She asked aloud, "What if he's not done with us? What if he comes back before we get to Hunvel?"

Kiran moved to Hiranneth's side. "I he comes back I suppose we'll just have to find a way to deal with him," he said as he attempted to light a fire. A spark caught and grew, spreading it's warmth as it became a good sized fire. Kiran warmed his hands near it. "We have been lucky so far. It's like someone is protecting us."

When Kiran had started a good sized fire, Kiarton turned to him. "You're right about the luck being on our side. I have had this experience before. When my mother was killed by orcs, two of my brothers and I were left helpless, but a miracle much like your horse was given. A lance hovered in mid air, suspended by an aura of light. When I took it, not only did it give me courage, but it returned to my hand when I had killed the orc that so brutally took her life." He reached behind him and pulled out a beautiful lance, it was carved of the finest wood and the gold spear head gleamed in the firelight. "Look here," he said as he turned it over. "It is a strange inscription that I cannot read. I have gone to many scribes, but not one could decipher the script. Perhaps in this village that you speak of is some one who can read it," he mused.

Hiranneth smiled as the fire grew steadly, the sparks catching up in the air and dancing about the fire.
"I know what you mean about this protection we are under. A light has seemd to engulf us with safety and care. I know not what this source comes from but it has certainly saved us." She looked at her friends and smiled, "I am glad you're all here with me. I've never been alone before, and when my parents died... I thought I would be alone forever." She felt suddenly strange, like something had just happened, like a light of hope had been burnt out. Forever lost in the void of time and space. A sadness came over her and she lay back on the ground against a log and silently fell asleep.

Ahéawan slowly unpacked her things from her brown horse and laid them by the growing fire. She listened to the others talk, deep in thought. The day's events had turned quite strange, and Ahéawan felt very strange, as though the haunting spirit of Sauron still hung over her. The whole event was still a blur to her.
She lay down on her bed roll a ways away from her companions, trying to get some rest. The last thing she saw before closing her eyes were the smiling faces of her young friends. Ahéawan laughed silently at herself. Friends. I have friends now. She smiled one last time and drifted off to sleep.

Both of the women were asleep, but Kiran didn't really feel tired at all. He fed his horse Dune a carrot and brushed him. When he was finished, he sat back down and stared into the dying embers of the fire, still feeling no desire to sleep whatsoever.
There's something about Hiranneth, he thought. She makes me feel so...different. He looked at her face as she slept and listened to her slow, calm breathing. For the first time since he saw the lone trail of smoke, he remembered that he had lost his last remaining family, his father, in the same fire that the son of Sauron had started. I will avenge him, and Hiranneth's family as well, he thought. I will kill Fly, the Son of Sauron. With that, he lay down and fell into a fitful sleep.

Hiranneth awoke the next morning to the sound of birds in the trees and the sound of sleeping friends nearby. She turned over and looked up at the sky. It looked to be nearly midday; they had slept in. She quickly got up and went about the camp grounds to pick up her belongings and remaining food. She walked by Ahéawan and spoke to her gently. "Wake up, it's the morning hours. We must move on." The older woman did not reply. How strange...
Hiranneth turned back to her and kneeled beside her. Ahéawan still drew breath but would not wake. Hiranneth began to panic. "Aheawan! Wake up, are you ok?"
Nothing was said. She woke up Kiran and Kiraton to get help.

Kiran woke with a start. Hiranneth, a worried look on her face, had shaken him awake, and Kiarton as well, before going back to Aheawan's side. He knelt beside her. "What's the matter? Is she still breathing?" He checked and found that she was, though she showed no signs of consciousness. "We must take her to the village," he said decidedly.

Kiarton woke up abruptly and opened his eyes to see Kiran and Hirraneth leaning over Ahéawan. He heard Kiran speak of taking the woman to the village. "How shall we transport her though?" Kiarton asked. Then he remembered his uncle's house that resided in a town not far from the forest. "I know there are some horses at my uncle's house," he said. "We can take the east road to the village."

Hiranneth carefully helped put Ahéawan on Kiran's horse, Dune. "Yes, let us go, Kiraton. I do need a horse, and maybe you need one as well." She laughed to herself.
They quickly set off down the east road to get horses. As Ahéawan was slumped over on Kiran's horse, her brown horse followed behind them. It would be some time before they would get out of the region they were in by the looks of things on the map. They had at least three miles to go and noon was approaching quickly. The walk was silent and long drawn out, but finally they made it to the little house.

Kiarton sighed as he looked upon the familiar home. He led the company into the stable. His grey horse Maorn got up to greet him. "Hello my friend." Kiarton said to the stallion. Then he walked over to another black mare. He led the two horses out and handed Ril, the black mare to Hirraneth. "Here you are." He said and then turned to Kiarn. "You will probably want to ride your own horse." Kiarton said. "I will leave a note for my family." He said and then mounted Maorn.

Fly looked down in surprise as his winged beast screeched. The elf-horse had been crushed between Ittegar's claws. The beast that Fly was riding dropped the elf it held in its talons. The elf fell through the air but then began to slow, a shining light engulfed it and his body dissapeared into the night. You will not escape so easily, Fly said to himself, staring off into the direction the mortals had fled.