Above the closed and fringëd lid
'Neath which thy slumb'ring soul lies hid,
That, o'er the floor and down the wall,
Like ghosts the shadows rise and fall
Edgar Allan Poe
Chapter 6
For Home and Family
Preparations were being made by the Guards to "infiltrate" enemy territory, as Súrion said with a grin, at which time they would determine enemy strengths, positions as well as points of vulnerability. Aragorn glared at the Silvan Guard.
"I know you are just loving the fact that we don't have a clue as to what you just said so will you quit picking on us and repeat what you just said in a way that even us lowly know-nothings can understand?"
Súrion put one of his big arms around the young man's neck and after pulling him closer, ruffled his hair. Aragorn pulled away and made a great show of smoothing down the unruly locks that had already been unruly before the Silvan elf had further disturbed them.
After the quiet laughter had died down, Aragorn once more turned to the elf, noting that there was now an extremely serious look in the elf's eyes, quite different from a few moments earlier.
"I'm sorry, Estel, but I had to lighten the mood around here – at least for the moment." He looked at the expectant faces of the others. "Saeros and I will go through the house and try and find the enemy also known as beings from Lament. We will not only find them, but we will observe them for as long as it is safe to do so in order to determine if they have any weak points that we can use when we finally engage them."
Rahan adjusted the blanket on a peacefully sleeping Anayah.
"You two," he said while indicating Saeros and Súrion, "make a quick trip to the barracks and grab the equipment bags and bring them back here."
After the Guards left, he took a quick look at the others, noting that everyone was already wearing their swords. Elrond noticed that he was checking to see if they had any weapons.
"No matter how safe we think we are, Captain Rahan, it is always better to be prepared when we know that danger is near. I don't believe that there are any among us, even Gandalf, who would relish the prospect of death. Yes, we gathered our weapons after Anayah disappeared and have kept them with us since that time."
Rahan nodded appreciatively.
Every conscious being in the room turned to the door of the infirmary with their hands on their swords when they heard the approach of rapidly moving footsteps. They all sighed with relief when they saw that it was only the returning Thurin Tirith, Súrion and Saeros. Saeros smiled at the group as he set two of the equipment bags down on a vacant bed.
"I am glad to see that you were all prepared to meet the enemy even though it was only two Thurin Tirith stealth masters walking heavily to let you know that it was only us and not some ugly beast from another time and place that was approaching your place of sanctuary."
Rahan shook his head.
"Will the two of you expend some of that excess energy preparing yourselves and let the rest of these elves and humans alone?"
As the others in the room once more relaxed, the two Guards opened their equipment bags then began to prepare for what they were about to do. As the two changed into their stealth uniforms, Rahan once more briefed them on exactly how he wanted them to conduct their mission.
"I hope the two of you fully understand that this is only a stealth mission and that there is to be absolutely no contact with anyone or anything that you find. The only time this order should be considered breakable is if the circumstances are dire, and that means, that only if you are in danger of dying. It is imperative that at least one of you gets back here with the information we need."
The two elves nodded then continued putting on their uniforms which also included special hair ties that would hide their hair and a thick paste that would help make any exposed skin look like part of the normal shadows of the room.
"Captain?"
"Yes, Elladan?"
"I know very little of the Thurin Tirith Order and find what you have shared with us to be fascinating. However, I couldn't help but note a certain coldness when you told your elves that it was imperative that at least one of them get back here with the information on the enemy. What about the elf that would get left behind? Isn't it your Commander's policy that nobody gets left behind?"
Rahan thought about the question for a moment.
"Yes, young Lord, it is Anayah's policy that nobody gets left behind, but she also knows that there is always a chance that one of us, herself included, might have to pay the ultimate price to protect the innocents under our care, the innocents being everyone in this room. There isn't a Guard in my unit that wouldn't go above and beyond to see that everyone makes it back, but we all know that sometimes that isn't realistically going to be possible. As a warrior you know this as does everyone else in this room. You have all left friends and acquaintances on the battlefield knowing they were not dead. Sometimes it is just not possible to get everyone to safety."
"A sad fact, but a true one." Elrond said sadly, while thinking back over the long millennia of his life and remembering those he had to walk away from.
The other elves and humans continued to silently watch the Guards prepare, amazed at how such large elves could almost disappear while standing in front of them. Though the twins, Legolas and Aragorn had witnessed almost the same thing while they had been in Hoth, they were still fascinated at the procedure and the careful attention to detail. They looked at the Guards from different directions and different angles, noting how the two already blended in with their environment even before they had finished dressing in their stealth attire.
Súrion was almost amused at the almost childlike fascination the young ones were showing. He let them touch the face paste and rub some of it on themselves all while explaining what it was supposed to do. Though the older elves remained silent, all the Guards knew they were just as interested in what was going on as the young ones were.
"One of the main components in a stealth situation is the elf's ability to hide his fëa, for it is this, that a target can usually sense, no matter the species the target belongs to." He met their eyes. "Haven't all of you at one time or another, been somewhere when you suddenly feel like someone is watching you and when you look, see someone on the far side of the room staring at you?"
He could tell by the expression on their faces that this had actually happened to them. He continued.
"Haven't you ever questioned why or how you knew they were watching you? While most beings would attribute this talent to carefully honed instincts, what you actually sensed was the fëa of the person turning its attention to you – it actually and sometimes accidentally touches your own. We are trained to hide our fëa ... to silence it and blind it ... so that it can not be detected by another."
Rahan continued the explanation so that Súrion could finish his preparations.
"Another tactic we use is misdirection and applying the unexpected." The Captain smiled at the young ones. "Súrion was telling me that when he made contact with you in the slave barracks in Hoth, Estel, that somebody interrupted your meeting but when you, Halgar and Lothur turned, he was gone. The misdirection and the unexpected came into play because he used your attention being turned to another to disappear, if you will. The unexpected was when you expected that he had disappeared out the window which he had not done – that is where most beings would have expected him to go."
"Then if he didn't go out the window, where was he?"
Aragorn jumped and grabbed his heart as Súrion touched his left ear with one finger. He glared at the grinning elf who pointed at the ceiling.
"No. You weren't!"
"Did any of the three of you bother to look up?"
He could tell that Aragorn was thinking about it.
"We don't try to hide ourselves but just make ourselves a part of our surroundings and hide our fëa. This paste we put on ourselves helps us blend in with the natural shadows of a particular place and also neutralizes our scent which in an elf is usually related to nature anyway although the smell of a forest setting no matter how peaceful and ordinary it may seem to us, would seem out of place to ... an orc for example ... and he might be alerted to our presence and would start looking around – hence the paste."
"It certainly amazes me that someone as large as you four can hide yourselves so easily."
All heads turned to Ethan who blushed with embarrassment at the attention and dropped his eyes. Saeros put an arm around the man's shoulders to try and put him at ease.
"It doesn't matter how large or small a person is, Master Ethan, whether they are halfling size or troll size – if they know their surroundings, their environment and hopefully something about the enemy, or target, they have a better than average chance of being successful in their mission and getting out of it alive."
Both Guards were now fully prepared to leave and had replaced various items in the equipment bags then had put the bags aside. Súrion sat himself on the edge of an empty bed.
"Anybody can be fooled or misdirected – size matters little in that area as well."
He and Saeros went to stand on either side of Rahan then the Silvan Guard smiled.
"When I was taking the required test for my Master's ranking, I managed to do something that my fellow Thurin Tirith friends said wasn't possible. I stalked my teacher."
There were surprised looks on many of the elves that were gathered around listening.
"You stalked your teacher?"
"Yes, Prince Legolas. I stalked my teacher and took a piece of meat off his dinner plate while it was sitting in front of him on the dinner table - and he never saw me do it."
"And I still don't think it was funny. It was innovative, however, and there was no way that I couldn't grant you your Master's ranking."
Rahan was glowering fiercely although the wink he sent Súrion softened the severity of the moment.
"Well, boss, I think it is time that Saeros and I got this thing done."
Rahan nodded in agreement. Both elves kissed Anayah on her forehead and when Súrion was doing so, those nearest to him could hear him whispering to her.
"We will be back soon, little sister. You just rest, for you have earned it."
Both Guards touched fists with Greyfell and though he said nothing, he was touched by their gesture, for it meant that the two Guards now counted him as a trusted friend.
The two walked to the door, where they turned and looked at the beings in the room one last time. They both tapped their hearts twice with their fists before they turned and disappeared into the shadows beyond the door.
8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
After the two elves left the infirmary, they began their hunt for the unexpected. Neither they nor those they had left behind could say for sure exactly who, or what, they were going to find. They could find one creature that Ethan had told them about or they could find 20 creatures that nobody knew about or had seen before. The only constant factor that they could come up with was that they should look for whatever wasn't normal – what they had never seen in Lord Elrond's house before.
Using hand signals that only another Thurin Tirith could see, the two went from room to room, looking in closets, under the beds, in cupboards and in chests and drawers. They found five creatures, the only ones that either Ethan, Anayah or Greyfell told them about being conspicuously absent was the Once-human as he was called and the shadow horde that had attacked Anayah and Greyfell just before they had found their way home. Even though nobody could say with certainty what the Once-human actually looked like, Saeros and Súrion could find nobody that matched the profile they had put together from the thing's conversation with their friends – nor could they find the shadow horde.
After the two elves had gone through the entire house, they quietly and carefully began making their way back towards the infirmary. They had just stepped out of the Hall of Fire when Súrion gave his partner the hand signal to freeze. Although Saeros was standing next to a wall and was better able to blend in and therefore, hide, Súrion was caught a few steps away – he was in plain sight of one of the faceless creatures from the shadow horde.
8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
No fear, no mind, no emotion, no sight. The Silvan Guard thought to himself.
He closed his eyes and in his mind, pictured a black void, hoping that when he did so, the nearby creature would be unable to detect his presence. In truth, nobody could say for certain how the things could detect anything for all Anayah and Greyfell and even Ethan could say about the things was that they were small, deadly and all they had was a mouth with razor sharp teeth.
Though his consciousness was centered someplace else, Súrion was still aware of the creature snuffling around near his feet. As Saeros would later inform him, the creature could sense something but couldn't tell where that something was. There were few elves, even among the Thurin Tirith Order that had mastered the mind discipline that would allow them to hide in plain sight as Súrion was doing now.
After its curiosity seemed to have been satisfied, the creature moved on. The two Guards waited a few more moments then continued to make their way back to the infirmary while all around them, the great house groaned and creaked as if it was waging its own war with an invading world.
8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
When the two Guards opened the door to the infirmary, they both almost met the business end of more swords than they would have liked. After some profuse apologies for startling everyone, the two Guards sat down in the chairs that the twins and Aragorn got for them then spent a few moments relaxing and unwinding from the stress of their mission. Rahan put a hand on Súrion's shoulder for he had noticed the barely perceptible tremors of the elf's hands.
"Súrion?"
When the Guard only held up a hand to signal that he needed a few moments to collect himself, Rahan frowned with concern and looked at Saeros who he could tell was as concerned for the Silvan Guard as was he.
"Saeros?"
"The void, Rahan. A small faceless creature was sitting almost at his feet."
Rahan nodded in understanding then turned to the others and walked them a few steps away to give Súrion a few moments to collect himself.
"There are few elves who can totally empty their minds then maintain that condition for any length of time, for the physical and emotional effort required can easily exhaust an elf. When this is done correctly, however, it can seem like the elf has disappeared into thin air. In effect, they have left nothing behind that any being can detect."
8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
After Súrion had spent a few moments relaxing and regaining his focus, he signaled to his Captain who had just spent time with Saeros and the others, telling them of the creatures that had been found. It was decided that as Master of his home, that it would fall to Lord Elrond to "assign" different people to different creatures. They all hoped that things would go smoothly and the beings could be dispatched quickly then sent back to Lament, for there wasn't one among them who didn't want the nightmare to end.
Elladan and Elrohir would seek out the shapeshifter who could take on the form of a wolf. The beast had last been seen in the family's downstairs sitting room, snuffling around the papers and furniture as if it had never seen such things before and was investigating both them and the scent that the others had left behind.
Elrond would seek out the other shapeshifter, the one who resembled Thuringwethil from their own elvish mythology, the bat messenger of Sauron. This creature had been found in the basement.
Gandalf would seek out the "skinny man" as he was called. This individual had been seen lounging on the furniture in the Common Room and looking out the windows.
With Súrion as his backup, Rahan would seek out the large human who had been seen in the Hall of Fire, for it had been unanimously decided that because of his size, the Captain would stand the best chance of surviving the encounter.
The task of seeking out the dark-skinned man with only one hand was given to Aragorn and Legolas while anybody and anything else that had entered their world from Lament would be taken care of by Glorfindel, Thranduil, Ethan, Semoro and Saeros. Greyfell would stay in the infirmary to watch over Anayah. That job was well suited to the elf who was already weakened from his previous encounters with the creatures from Lament.
The Once-human would be taken on by whoever found him. Nobody was comfortable with the fact that he had been conspicuously absent when the two Thurin Tirith had been going through the house looking for beings. They already knew he had lied to Greyfell and Anayah about there being no doorway from Lament to their home so it would only stand to reason that he had some other way for himself to travel back and forth. As long as the two worlds were "stuck" inside each other, just about anything was possible.
As everybody was preparing to leave, Gandalf called them all together for some last minute instructions.
"You are all going to be facing creatures and beings that you have never had a chance to get to know and while this will be understandably stressful, I am confident that each and every one of you will survive – such is my faith in the strength of your hearts and spirits. Be strong for each other, back each other up and do not, under any circumstance even consider defeat. None of us can say with any degree of certainty just what the outcome of all this will be. Know only that you will be fighting for your family and your home – perhaps even for your very lives."
Gandalf stepped back as Elrond walked forward to give the group his blessing.
"Ethan tells me that in Lament, these creatures had remarkable regenerative powers, such that even death was not a permanent condition. Remember this and never turn your back on the beasts, even if you believe you have won the battle. I am proud of the courage you are all showing and such speaks so highly of your character that I have no doubts that our home as well as our lives are in good hands."
Elrond turned to Rahan.
"Captain, if you and your elves are ready …"
Rahan looked at Greyfell.
"Take care of our baby, Captain Greyfell. We are trusting you with our heart."
Greyfell met the Captain's eyes.
"Rest assured, Captain Rahan, that as long as I draw breath, no harm will come to Anayah."
Rahan nodded.
"Just make sure you both are here and in one piece when we return."
With one last nod and a final glance, Rahan and the others turned and left the room.
TBC