something or someone external, is going to come to our rescue
and we will live happily ever after.
Dr. Robert Anthony
Chapter 2
Ethan
The elves and Aragorn conducted a thorough search of the entire floor, including the bedrooms and closets, but nobody found a trace of Anayah - nor did any of them again see the apparition of the human man. After the Thurin Tirith trackers finally admitted to their Captain that they could find no trail at all, Rahan made the decision to summon Lord Elrond with Elladan and Elrohir volunteering for the task. It was only a short time later when an out-of-breath Lord Elrond followed closely by his sons, Gandalf, King Thranduil and Glorfindel ran up the stairs. Everyone tried talking at once until Elrond raised a hand, finally signaling for quiet.
"Perhaps it would be better if one person at a time talked, for otherwise I will not be able to understand what is going on here. Elladan?"
The elder twin shifted his feet nervously, occasionally glancing around him at the shadows of the darkened hallway.
"We were in the family sitting room, telling ghost stories and having a good time, when strange things started happening. All the candles in the room went out and the fire in the fireplace died down to mere embers - all within a few moments, then there was a swirling wind in the room, the door got stuck - it's not raining outside - at least not on our side of the house - and the moon is behind the clouds. Then Anayah's Guards and Greyfell come into the room saying they heard screams although the only screams were from us after they scared us half to death."
When the eldest twin saw his father looking at him intensely, he stopped speaking, realizing that he sounded like an elfling trying to tell an adult about something scary that happened. He blushed and looked down at his hands and Elrohir put an arm around his brother's shoulders in support.
Seeing that all his children and even Legolas were quite unnerved from something, Elrond sighed and kissed the eldest twin on the brow.
"Sometimes fright has no respect for the wisdom and experience of years, so just take a deep breath, Elladan, and continue for I must know everything that has occurred."
"Well, like I said, we were all taking turns telling ghost stories and I told the one about the human man that disappeared when Elrohir and I were elflings - you know, the man that was always getting lost and who claimed he went to a big house with many doors."
Elrond frowned and nodded.
"Yes, my son, I remember the incident as well as the stories that were told after the man disappeared."
Elladan continued.
"It was after I finished the story that all the strange things began to happen. When Greyfell pointed out that the weather was not the same on both sides of the house, we all came out here to see for ourselves and that was when we all saw this strange human man walk by us. Before we could stop her, Anayah pushed her way through us and followed him up the stairs but when we got up here, both Anayah and the man were gone. That is all Ada - I swear."
Elrond sighed deeply before turning to Glorfindel.
"Glorfindel, I would appreciate it if you would gather some warriors and conduct a thorough search of the grounds - and make sure you tell them to report anything out of the ordinary - I don't care how insignificant the thing might be considered."
Glorfindel nodded then turned and left.
Elrond then looked at Rahan.
"Captain?"
"Súrion and Saeros cannot find any signs that Anayah or anybody else was ever up here, Lord Elrond. I am sorry."
Elrond turned to Gandalf.
"Gandalf, do you sense anything out of the ordinary here?"
The grey wizard closed his eyes and held up his staff and when he did the stone on the end began to glow. After spending a few moments standing silently, the glow in the stone disappeared and Gandalf opened his eyes.
"I cannot sense her, Elrond, nor do I detect a magical signature of any sort which is strange indeed for I can hear rain striking the roof on this side of the house but not on the other. Indeed, I do believe there is something strange going on here, although I will have to wait for a bit before I can speak with certainty or be able to give you any kind of a definite answer. While it is obvious that we are dealing with something we have never before encountered, I do not think - I cannot let myself think - that all has been lost."
Gandalf looked at those around him.
"I want each of you to keep track of every odd occurrence when it happens and if it does happen again, keep track of what else may be happening at the same time - lighting, odd weather occurrences, time, sounds - everything."
Whatever else the wizard was going to say was interrupted by the sound of running feet coming right towards where they were all standing. Everyone looked around them but could see no visible signs of anyone approaching, then when the invisible runner was upon them, they felt an icy breeze envelop their bodies and set their nerves on edge before the same footsteps continued on their way down the stairs. Shortly afterwards, the footsteps came running back in their direction and once more passed through them and once more continued on down the hall until the sound died away and the hallway was once more silent.
Suddenly, there was a scream of fright and pain, and just for a moment, the air in front of the group shimmered before everything became silent once more. Nobody moved, for they were all frozen in place by the strangeness of what had just happened. Then Súrion and Saeros moved away from the group and made their way down the hall at a half-crouch, examining the floor, walls and ceiling as they went. Súrion stopped and touched the floor with his fingertips and after a close examination of what he had touched, turned to the others with a worried look on his face.
"It's blood, and it's elvish."
Again there was a stunned silence.
"Since this incident seemingly started with a story in the family sitting room, I suggest that we retire there and try to determine just how we are going to proceed with this matter."
As everyone turned to go down the stairs, Elrond put a hand on King Thranduil's shoulder.
"You have been awfully quiet about all this, my friend. Your thoughts?"
Thranduil paused a moment before speaking, looking up the hallway then back at Lord Elrond. He turned to Legolas and told him to follow the others and that he would be along shortly then turned back to speak his thoughts to his friend.
"I am worried for her, Elrond. I don't have even a small portion of your skill in matters such as these, yet I can sense that she is terrified. I do not know, nor can I even guess at what is going on wherever she is, but I do know she is in terrible danger. This is one time when her insatiable curiosity may just get her killed."
Elrond smiled sadly.
"I also feel this just as I believe it is the case with Gandalf as well, for perhaps he did not give full voice to his thoughts because he did not want to frighten or worry anyone more than they already are." He turned the King towards the head of the stairs. "Let us go join the others and hopefully come up with a plan for dealing with all this - planning something is always better than just standing around worrying about things and doing nothing at all."
When they walked into the family sitting room, all conversation ceased. Elrond tended the fire, all the while trying to give order to his thoughts and calm himself, for on the outside he may have been the calm leader of his family and people, but inside he was just a worried father who didn't really have a clue on how to proceed. Finally he sat himself on the couch beside the twins and after Aragorn had served him a glass of wine and had once more seated himself, Elrond finally spoke.
"Never in all the millennias of my life have I ever heard, seen or experienced something like this so I have nothing to base what knowledge I do have, on. We are all familiar with different forms of magic and know that particular art is no more than an intimate knowledge of how our world operates and what we have to do to manipulate it. There are just so many things that I do not know and in this case wish I did." He looked down at his hands as his eyes misted up then Elladan put a comforting hand on his father's shoulder and Elrond sighed.
"It would be very arrogant of any race of beings or individual of those races to assume that when Ilúvatar created this world, that it was the only world he created or that the life on Middle Earth is the only life that exists. We don't know every note that the great choir of Ainur sang before their Lord, for it is not the time for us to do so, if ever it will be. It is an inconceivable thought for us that in each lake and stream in this life, and in each ripple and eddy of those lakes and streams, lies more ripples and eddies and so forth. Infinity, as opposed to immortality, is an extremely large concept and not one that many beings are comfortable talking about."
Elrond sipped his wine.
"It has always been said, and until now said only lightly, that of all the days of any year, that on this particular night, the 'veil' - the breath between each of the notes of the great Creation song, is the thinnest it will ever be. Perhaps when this was first said it was meant to be a warning - and not a joke - and was never to be taken lightly as we seem to have made it a habit to do. We were never meant to live our lives in fear of disturbing our Lord's song but I think we were meant to respect it a bit more than we do."
He looked up at the others.
"I can only speculate at this point as to what has happened although I have no idea what to do about it." His breath hitched and he had to take a deep breath to calm himself. "It is my belief that many years ago a human man that was working here at Imladris probably by accident, found a doorway leading out of our reality - our world.
I am guessing, and from what I remember of the human's explanation at the time, that what he found and what Anayah has obviously found, was something akin to a corridor, a hallway, if you will, that exists between each note of Ilúvatar's song. I also believe that each of the doorways he told us about leads to other places - perhaps places like this house or this world. This is only speculation, although unless we could talk to either the man or Anayah about it, would only remain speculation."
"Ada, what can we do? How can we get Anayah back?"
Elrond looked at his youngest son and from the look on his face, it was obvious the young man was expecting his father to produce a miracle. It saddened the elf lord that this might just be one time that he would have to disappoint him.
"I don't know, Estel. I don't know if there is anything we can do." When he saw the hopeful expression disappear from Estel's face, he hurriedly continued. "But do not lose hope my son, for we have some of the most brilliant minds and courageous hearts of this age right here in this room, and that has to count for something. We will figure this out - do not despair."
8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by the sounds of a mighty fight in the common room, loud yells, bangings and crashing followed by an explosion and screams from two different voices. When the group rushed to the door and stepped through it, they froze. The common room lay undisturbed with no signs of either a battle or an explosion. Greyfell frowned.
"Do the rest of you smell that?"
Everyone took a deep breath and more than one elf started sneezing and coughing as a pungent odor was taken into their lungs, tickling their noses and throats as it did so.
"I recognize that smell." The Mirkwood King turned to Gandalf. "I smelled that once before many years ago after Anayah had used a fireball during her duel with the Captain of the Shadow Wraiths. What do you think, Gandalf?"
The wizard nodded his head, a look of concern on his face.
"I agree with you, Thranduil. It is the lingering odor of a fireball."
Elrohir's head turned to the upper landing, for he had heard a noise. Seeing that his son's attention was focused upstairs, Elrond stepped to his side.
"What is it Elrohir?"
"I thought I heard something upstairs, something faint."
The youngest twin began to walk slowly toward the stairs, and not wanting a recurrence of another child disappearing, the rest of the family followed closely. Elrohir was the first elf to reach the top of the stairs and proceed down the darkened hallway running his fingertips along the wall as he walked.
"Sweet Elbereth." He said in a voice that was almost a whisper.
Four deep gouges ran along the hallway and over the closed doors of the bedrooms. Everyone looked closely at the marks and tried to determine what had made them. Finally, Elladan turned to the others.
"These look like they were made with knives." He put his fingers on the marks and was alarmed to find that the marks fit the spacing of his fingers perfectly, looking as if someone or something had drug their hand along the wall. He looked at the others. "Claw marks?"
As the others were looking at the mysterious marks, Semoro, Rahan's brother, sat on his heels and looked at something on the floor. Like Súrion before him, he touched it with his fingers.
"Semoro?"
"It's blood, Rahan, elvish blood. Anayah is wounded and bleeding heavily."
Rahan looked at Elrond and Gandalf with a spark of fire in his eyes.
"How do we get in there?" He asked the two fiercely.
"I don't know." Elrond admitted, feeling helpless.
Greyfell had gone into Anayah's room and when he returned, the others could see that he had Anayah's sword with him and was buckling it onto his belt beside his own. Elrond was just about to query the elf when Gandalf held up his hand, signaling for silence. When they had all quit talking and moving about, they heard what Gandalf had heard some moments before - the sound of someone crying softly to themself. Elrond started to walk towards the sound but Gandalf put a restraining hand on his arm.
"Let me go, Elrond, for if it is anything strange and dangerous, an Istar Wizard would stand a better chance of survival." With a wink at the elf, the Wizard turned and walked slowly and quietly down the hall.
Everyone was poised to rush to Gandalf's aid at the first sign or sound of trouble and it wasn't but a few moments later that Gandalf reappeared out of the shadows - and he was not alone. Elrond's hand flew to his mouth and he involuntarily took two steps backward and may even have fallen if not for the steadying hands of the Mirkwood King and Legolas.
"Ethan."
At the sound of his name being spoken the human looked up from where he was walking beside the grey wizard, leaning heavily against him. The man was horribly thin and had an air of perpetual terror about him, readable in both his eyes as well as his body language. When he saw who it was in front of him, he drew himself free from Gandalf's support and rushed forward as best he could, sinking to his knees in front of Elrond and burying his face in the Lord's robes as he began to sob.
Elrond sank to his knees in front of the human and drew his head to his shoulder where he rocked the man and tried to comfort him. Though the human seemed almost the way he had been on the day of his disappearance many centuries before, Elrond did notice that his hair was now snow white. Motioning to the twins, Elrond helped the man rise.
"Let us help you downstairs, Ethan, where a glass of wine awaits you."
The human tentatively smiled at the Lord as he gratefully accepted the help to get to his feet.
"Welcome home, my friend. Oh how we have missed you."
TBC