In An Age Before – Part 34
Helluin and Beinvír ended up spending the night in Ost-In-Edhil. At first light they led forth three hundreds of the citizens who desired to flee to Lindon. They hastened from the walls on that spring morn, and no clue to the coming bloodshed could any discern from their surroundings. The air was warm, the breeze pleasant, and the sun shone bright upon the peaks of Caradhras, Fanuidhol, and Celebdil that stood in the distance o'er Hadhodrond. Birds sang in the branches of trees alongside the road. The Elves spoke little, for they were o'erborne with uncertainty and fear, but they kept order and proceeded at a good pace. 60 leagues to the south, the army of Sauron closed in at a rate of 25 miles a day.
At the crossing of the Glanduin their company was joined by another five hundred fleeing the lands of Eregion that lay outside the city. They too were an ordered group with few carrying more than necessary. These, Helluin thought, were the smart ones, and those most likely to survive. Later would come the indecisive, those unable to leave behind their goods, and those who had first chosen denial of the threat. Their choices might cost them their lives. Helluin had no way of knowing how wide a front the enemy maintained, or how far afield their scouts rove. In another day or two, refugees might well be harried or taken by the advance companies of the Glamhoth. Helluin pitied such unfortunates, for they would most likely be tormented for sport, cruelly slain, and then tossed to the troops as rations. Knowing this, she drove the refugees forward for the next three days 'til she could o'erhear them cursing her name. It brought a smile to her lips. They have yet the energy to curse, she thought, and so I know I am not pushing them beyond their measure. By then they were a week and 175 miles from Ost-In-Edhil, and midway 'twixt Glanduin and Baranduin. She let them slow to 25 miles a day.
Three days later, as the eight hundred refugees drew 'nigh the River Baranduin, a rising cloud of dust was sighted in the distance, coming down the road from the west. Helluin gathered all those with any arms and brought them to the fore of the column. The rest of the refugees she bid to hide themselves in the woods north of the road. Then with 150 archers, she arranged a thangail pengorin him gwilorl ecthelingin¹ and waylaid the road against whosoe'er might assail them. ¹(Thangail pengorin him gwilorl ecthelingin, . Army of bowmen constantly shooting arrows" A formation (thangail, army in wall-formation) of archers, four or more ranks deep, sufficient to produce a continuous volley of arrows directed at a target. Sindarin)
'Twas against a thicket of bowmen that Elrond rode with his cavalry, and seeing them from two furlongs blocking the road four ranks deep, he called his column to a halt a furlong from their lines and dismounted to parley with those ahead. 'Twas a traditional procedure, but unnecessary, for he rode forth 'neath the banner of Gil-galad.
"Echádo tovon i-pengath!¹" Helluin ordered, and her troops stood down. ¹(Echádo tovon i-pengath!, lit trans. "Make low all the bows!", . "Lower all the bows!" Sindarin)
Helluin and Elrond met at the midpoint 'twixt the cavalry and the lines of archers. 'Twas the first time she had seen the Peredhel in a full suit of plate armor, gleaming like polished silver in the spring sun. He was girt with a longsword, but had left his spear with his horse. By contrast, Helluin was dressed in a travel stained cloak of mixed greens that covered her black battle dress and armor. Well 'nigh the only bright metal she carried was the Sarchram, and that was hidden 'neath her dingy fabric. She looked very much like a beggar.
"Helluin, I should have expected that were anyone to form an army so soon after the invasion of Sauron, t'would be thee," Elrond declared with a smile. Helluin laughed. "Whither did thou recruit them, pray tell, and whence dost thou march?"
"In Ost-In-Edhil, my Lord Elrond. Indeed these art those of the refugees who have their hunting bows with them. Another 650 art hiding unarmed in the woods north of the road. We art bound for Lindon. Dost thou ride to Eregion?"
"Indeed so," Elrond said. "What can thou tell me of conditions thither?"
"We art ten days out from the city. When we left, the enemy was but six or seven days away. By now, I deem that Ost-In-Edhil stands invested by an army of 25,000 or more. Thou shalt not break the siege with thy cavalry. I wager the city shalt stand but a week or two."
"Defenders?"
"No more than 3,000. Perhaps 1,800 archers upon the walls. The rest swordsmen."
"And Celebrimbor?"
"He refused to flee."
Elrond sighed and fell silent. Ost-In-Edhil might well fall ere he could even arrive. By now the way thither was probably held against him in force, 'cross a wide front held by many enemies with yet more to arrive soon. According to the reports from the Nandor of Belfalas, his cavalry was outnumbered by o'er 35 to 1. His wry sense of humor did not miss the fact that he had been halted upon the road by 150 refugee archers. Helluin's voice broke him from his brooding.
"Lord Elrond, whither art Glorfindel and Gil-galad and the other lords and knights of Lindon? And has word been sent 'cross the sea to Númenor?"
"Word has surely been sent thither, Helluin. I came with the vanguard; all who could be mounted in two days. The king waits on the mustering of Lindon, and then he shalt come with greater force as soon as may be."
Helluin nodded. The strength of Lindon, both Noldor and Sindar, would probably comprise no more than another 12,000 on horse and afoot. Mostly infantry, they would be slower to muster and slower to travel. It might be another two weeks or more ere they stood here.
Elrond felt his errand a doomed cause, and yet he had his orders. And every moment he stayed his ride but made the situation worse.
"We must be away, Helluin," he said, "perhaps to do little more than harry the enemy's flanks. Yet they should not take all of Eregion uncontested, and many shalt be occupied in breaking the city. We must ride."
Helluin stood aside with her archers and Elrond returned to his horse. Then taking up his spear, he gestured his column forward. The refugees stood along the side of the road as the cavalry of Lindon thundered past at a canter, a shining river of valiant knights, their armor gleaming silver in the sun. Yet they ride unto their doom, Helluin thought, and in numbers insufficient to do 'aught but worry the enemy's companies and die by attrition in battle. Amidst the Host of Fingolfin they would have been but a company.
When they had passed away down the road, leaving 'naught but dust in their wake, Helluin and Beinvír urged the refugees on. After another fortnight they delivered them to the Grey Havens at Mithlond. They had not encountered the rest of the army.
Now when they had arrived, Helluin had found that Círdan was indeed at the Havens rather than in Harlond. There he was awaiting boats that would bring the infantry from Forlond, for t'would be faster to send them by water than march them hither by land. Gil-galad would ride with his knights to meet them, and thence together they would march upon Eriador. Therefore she came to Círdan to ask tidings of the king.
"My lord Círdan, Lindon musters and indeed we met the Lord Elrond upon the road a fortnight past. Has the king conveyed any orders or summons for me?"
Círdan had looked at her, one of the few in Lindon who did so without nervousness or fear, and simply told her 'nay'. He had heard 'naught from the king naming her in any capacity. Indeed he thought this understandable. Gil-galad considered her ungovernable in battle, fey in her wrath, and well 'nigh as much a danger to friend as to foe.
Círdan had chuckled at her shocked expression adding, "Ereinion has ne'er seen thee at war. Avernien was already decided ere we came thither, but tales abounded and the bodies of Amras and Amrod and many others hewn by thy hand did he see. Thence from the survivors of Gondolin came stories of the great battles of Beleriand, and these but confirmed his impressions. He knows not what to do with thee, Helluin; indeed he fears thee. Were I thou, I should go ere he comes, for he is greatly uncertain and might well dispatch thee hence to Khand or Rhûn, simply to be done with thee."
Helluin gritted her teeth but thanked the Lord of the Havens, gathered Beinvír, and departed. She found herself intensely aggravated by her king's dismissal in time of war.
"C'mon, meldanya, let's get out of here ere by the king's grace I am sent to Udûn."
They departed Mithlond even as the first of the boats filled with soldiers were drawing 'nigh the quays. Rather than head east, Helluin took a path north up the River Lhûn 'til it joined the tributary running down from the Emyn Uial. This they followed eastward to the Hills of Twilight where stood towns and settlements of Men. To these they passed word of the invasion of Sauron, and they bid them marshal themselves such as they could for the defense of their homes, or for flight south to Lindon.
Afterwards they made their way again eastward, 'til one afternoon they stood in the same lands in which they had camped with Glorfindel. There they came upon a great conclave of the Laiquendi, well nigh a thousand with more arriving by the hour. 'Twas the first time the Host of the Green Elves had assembled in an Age.
"By the Valar, what goes forth?" Helluin asked of Beinvír.
"They know of the war, my friend, and they marshal to defend their homelands, what else?"
"How many shalt come?"
"I have no idea," Beinvír admitted, staring 'round in obvious surprise at the numbers of her people already present. "Indeed, I doubt not that they have no idea themselves. I myself have ne'er seen so many together. I am sure that such a gathering has not been since we dwelt in Ossiriand."
Helluin looked 'round again, recalling the absolute stealth with which Dálindir's host had tracked and met the sons of Fëanor returning from Avernien. She had ne'er known how many there had been 'round them in the woods. She had ne'er heard any count of their people. She had ne'er known any of the Noldor or the Sindar who had. Even now a visual count was difficult to make, for many sat motionless and seemed to vanish into shadow or the green of plant life, only to move and become visible again. With their present numbers the effect was disturbing, as though the landscape were uncomfortable in its skin and twitching, first here and then somewhere else.
Throughout the afternoon and into the evening, and then all through the night the arrivals continued. In the dark a count was impossible.
"How long shalt this continue?" Helluin asked.
"'Twas the way of our people to mass on a given date at a given place, rather than to linger for days in a place whilst stragglers arrived. I should wager that by morning all who art to arrive shalt have come, and Helluin, many will arrive by dark, favoring the cover of night."
In the morning's first light the surrounding landscape came alive, for the Green Elves shed their cloaks and stood. Amongst them moved a small cadre of their lords, and these would command them, for the king was absent and feared dead. The leadership had passed in time of war to the king's general, Tórferedir¹, an ellon of three millennia in age, who had served in Ossiriand 'neath both Dálindir and his father Denethor, the last time in which his people had stood in posture of war. ¹(Tórferedir, King's Hunter. Sindarin)
Helluin stood beside Beinvír as the commanders moved through the ranks towards them, and she noted the sidelong glances cast their way, for they had marked her as not of their kindred. Indeed Helluin had sensed more welcome in Khazad-dûm. After what seemed like hours, the commanders at last stood before them.
"Who art thou? From what company dost thou come?" Tórferedir's lieutenant asked.
"I am Beinvír and for a time kept company with Dálindir, but he is long lost and since his passing I have roamed with my friend, Helluin of the Noldor," Beinvír answered.
The general gave her a long, appraising look, but Beinvír met his glance without wavering. He nodded to her and then looked at Helluin with the slightest indication of a sneer.
"What aid can'st thou hope to give save to reveal our presence untimely? He asked.
"In truth I had no thought of aiding thee at all," Helluin said, "and I shalt certainly not serve thee. I came hither with my friend but by chance. Indeed neither of us sought thy muster and knew not even of its being called."
Tórferedir fairly gaped at her. For all practical purposes this Exile had dismissed him! He turned back to Beinvír, who nodded her agreement with Helluin's words. To Beinvír he ordered, "thou shalt join this host either by thy choice or in constraint and 'neath probation, for thou art still of our people."
Last he returned his attention to Helluin, but now he appeared openly hostile.
"I should slay thee as a spy, or perhaps take thee in bonds to Lindon for the bounty offered on the head of a deserter. The Noldor have been called to Lindon to serve their king. Thou art a renegade and a coward, I deem."
But Tórferedir had made the mistake of accusing Helluin whilst looking her in the eyes, and ere he could withdraw his gaze, her wrath at his words flared and the blue fire kindled. Then his will was dominated by her power and he was restrained, bound and unable to move. Into his mind came both Helluin's voice and the pictures of many battles, images of fighting that froze his blood and filled him with terror. No hidden assault upon an enemy unaware were these, but rather tireless slaying face to face. Blood spraying and the screaming of the wounded, the falling of bodies and the clash of arms. He saw what Helluin had seen in the Dagor Aglareb and the Nirnaeth Arnoediad; his mind walked in her footsteps and watched her blade hewing her enemies. It lasted only moments to those who stood by watching, but it shook the general more than all his years at war. Then she blinked and released him and he staggered 'til he recovered his balance.
Ere he could compose himself, Helluin snatched him by the collar and hoisted his feet off the ground. She held him thus, ignoring the rush of bows drawn all 'round her, and she pressed the Sarchram tight against his throat.
"For his trespass shalt I gladly slay this thy enemy," the Grave Wing declared.
Helluin's rage kindled; Tórferedir accusations, Gil-galad's rejection, her helplessness in saving Celebrimbor, Sauron's deceits, and the invasion all fed her anger, but without the outlet of battle it took an even more frightening form. Now, though her mouth didn't move, her words came into the minds of all standing 'nigh who aimed at her, bearing wrath, indignation, and a promise of fell retribution.
"By craven devices dost thou and thine slay from hiding, and thou presume to call me coward, spy, renegade, and deserter? I should not only slay thee, but send thy fëa beyond the Halls of Mandos and into the Void. I have taken such measure of the blood of the Enemy that my own king now fears me and disdains my service. Thou would fear me as well were thou but wiser. Neither shalt thou take me, nor lay me in bonds, and should thou constrain my beloved I shalt hunt thee down, nay, not just thou alone nor those who lay hands upon her, but all thy people unto the last though it take 'til the end of days."
Then it seemed to those who stood 'nigh, that Helluin's whole body ignited with a brilliant Light, and scarcely could they even cast their eyes upon her figure. Soon no target could they discern amidst the brilliance and no clear outline could they perceive through the glare. For if one who has lived in the Blessed Realm stands as a phosphor and at once upon both shores, what then of one who had bathed for a millennium in the very source of the Light Undying? She flung Tórferedir from her and reached out to encompass Beinvír in her radiance, drawing her into the cloud of Light. At her feet the turf smoldered and burst into flame.
Ere Helluin mastered her rage and diminished her manifestation of power, the Laiquendi had fled.
To Be Continued