In An Age Before – Part 44
Chapter Thirty-one
Calenglad i'Dhaer(Eryn Galen)– The Second Age of the Sun
The years following the War of the Elves and Sauron had seemed to pass all too quickly to Helluin, and with every new decade some of the ancient nobility and spirit within Arda diminished or was lost. Yet day by day, life had slowly advanced without dramatic traumas or the sharp turning points of doom. Beinvír and Helluin wandered the lands of Eriador and Rhovanion together, coming at times also south of the Ered Nimrais to the Kingdom of Belfalas. They were known in Lindon, Mithlond, and Imladris, and 'twas taken for granted that they would be together fore'er, whether in Arda or in the West.
Now in the years after the war concluded and Helluin retrieved Anglachél and delivered his remains to the Vanyar from Aman, few things of great renown came to pass in Middle Earth. Yet amongst those few events whose rumor has been passed down to latter days as lore were the first White Council of Imladris, and the love of Elrond and Celebrían, the daughter of Celeborn and Galadriel. Indeed the two events were linked, for when Galadriel had come to Imladris from Lórinand in S.A. 1710 seeking Celeborn, she had been accompanied thither by their daughter.
To that initial council no summons had come to Helluin. Indeed she was hardly surprised. Yet again she had been excluded from the counsels of her king. Gil-galad, Círdan, Galdor, Glorfindel, and many other lords from Lindon and Mithlond had journeyed 'cross Eriador to meet with Elrond and the leaders from the other Elven realms. Thither, as was said, had come Galadriel and Celebrían, and with them King Amdír of Lórinand, his son, Prince Amroth, and many of his advisors. There also went King Oropher of Greenwood, e'er suspicious of the Noldor, accompanied by his son, Prince Thranduil. From yet further still came an emissary from King Lenwë of Edhellond. Besides Helluin, those not invited included Tórferedir and all of the Laiquendi.
The meeting of the council was hardly a secret. In the forests 'nigh rebuilt Sarn Athrad upon Baranduin, the wood was thick with Green Elves. Ne'er since the war had they seen so many of the nobles of the Noldor and Sindar riding together with purpose.
"Whither goes't yonder lords, riding hence so many and so fair, think thou?" Asked Gwilolrán¹, Tórferedir's lieutenant, as he looked out from the trees at the throng passing by, the King's Hunter too looked to Helluin. ¹(Gwilolrán, Flying Moon= gwilo- (fly) + -l (act pres part suff) rán (moon) Sindarin)
"I wager they go either to a council or a celebration well planned," she said, noting that the Noldor came with no great escort of soldiers, but with scribes and store of provisions, and they went not in haste, nor tarried as if at their leisure. "They art too many for a private holiday, and too few for a siege. They ride too fast for a lighthearted revel, and far too slow for an emergency. By their direction, I should say they make for Imladris or Lórinand, for Eregion lies in desolation and Ost-In-Edhil in ruins."
"And they doth seek neither thy company nor thy counsel, Helluin?" Tórferedir asked.
"Tórferedir, they asked not my aid in the war, and when at last I arrived following our battle, thence to the Dúnedain was I consigned. Nay, no word has come to me, nor should I expect such," Helluin said, trying to stifle her annoyance at being yet again disregarded. "Yet perhaps I should go thither and arrive uninvited, simply for the sake of embarrassing the hosts. Indeed I am curious as to what they intend. Art thou not curious as well?"
"If thou think'th that to a council they go, then yes, indeed I am curious," he said.
"Perhaps thou should come before them with some dire tidings known aforetime to none other than thyself," Beinvír suggested, "t'would be in character at the least."
"T'would make Gil-galad all the more resolved to ignore me 'til the end of days," Helluin said, "and leave me thence subject to some errantry unwelcome, I wager, for e'er aforetime has such been my reward." Still, she couldn't help but grin at the prospect.
"I would see thee not dispatched thither to Harad or Khand on account of my curiosity, Helluin," Tórferedir said, chuckling, "nor would I see Beinvír sent thither with thee."
"I appreciate thy concern immensely, of course," Helluin said, "yet I am tempted to hasten thither on my own account in despite of it."
"Perhaps 'tis time to let lay the dogs and leave them to scratch their own fleas," Beinvír said, "I should rather like to see again the Greenwood, but without enduring Oldbark's welcomes. Since no royalty accompanies us now, t'would be possible, would it not?"
She looked at Helluin hopefully. Helluin smiled back. Go whither I am unwanted, or go thither and abet my beloved's desire, Helluin asked herself, 'tis hardly a choice worthy of thought. And in truth I have no desire to see Harad or Khand.
"Very well," she said, "to Calenglad i'Dhaer we shalt go."
Beinvír well 'nigh danced with happiness. As always, her enthusiasm and joy warmed Helluin's heart. She held out her hand and Helluin immediately clasped it.
"I suppose we shalt be going," Helluin said to Tórferedir and Gwilolrán.
The two nodded to them, expecting no further farewells. Amongst their people 'twas not uncommon for one to take one's leave informally and return whene'er they chose, with neither schedule, nor itinerary. By declaring their destination, Helluin and Beinvír had already supplied as much information as was customary. Their route and its time frame was their own business, and in time of peace the Laiquendi would ne'er think to constrain them or pry with further questions. 'Twas simply against their nature.
So Helluin and Beinvír walked out of the forest hand in hand, the riding of the Noldor only recently past. Dust still hung in the air and hoof beats could still be heard drawing away into the distance. Helluin and Beinvír ignored them and followed the road to Sarn Athrad at a leisurely pace. Once 'cross the ford they immediately left the road and headed through the woods to its north, though they continued to follow its track. Their next destination was the Sirannon and the West Gate of Khazad-dûm. To reach it, they would cross the Gwathló at Tharbad.
Now when they came to the ruins of Ost-In-Edhil 'twas a sorrowful sight to look upon. Broken walls and scorched masonry traced the line of the outer wall. Toppled towers and the twisted gates marked the entrance. Helluin shook her head as they passed, and neither were willing to tarry amidst such a depressing landscape. Through a gap rent in the courses of stones lay the vista of a city leveled to the ground. As usual Sauron's troops had spared 'naught, consecrating their destruction with fire.
Star-blue eyes swept past the place where Helluin recalled the White Tower standing, but now there was 'naught save more rubble to mark the site. A short distance away, only the steps that had led up to the threshold marked the Hall of the Gwaith-i-Mirdain. Somehow the interval 'twixt the two seemed shorter than Helluin remembered it, now that no buildings filled the intervening space. For a moment, she wondered why even the steps had been spared, then came to the suspicion that they had remained as a monument to Sauron's triumph. Upon those very steps his soldiery had taken Celebrimbor prisoner. The thought made her seethe as she helplessly recalled his fate and Sauron's cowardice.
Bastard ran from me, she silently chaffed, unconsciously producing a low growl in her throat at the memory. Beside her, Beinvír cast her eyes at her partner. The Noldo was seeing with her mind's eye rather than what lay before her. She shook her head.
"Helluin, the ghosts that haunt thee art only in thy mind, for the departed have made their way 'cross the sea. Revive not their shades to torment thee, my friend."
"Hard pressed am I to silence their cries, though they ring only from my fancy unto my waking mind," Helluin replied.
"The war is past, meldanya," Beinvír said, trying out the Quenya she had heard Helluin speak. It didn't translate exactly from Sindarin, a fact she liked very much.
"Yet the memories remain, meldis meldwain nín," Helluin replied.
"I know," Beinvír agreed, "longer than the fallen leaves."
Two days later they rounded a curve on the road to the West Doors and found the sentries numbering two dozen and already awaiting them in a wedge formation. Behind the soldiers stood several others of the Naugrim, one amongst them very familiar.
"Helluin of the Noldor, hail and well met," the captain of the company called out in Sindarin, "we rejoice that thou hast survived the war." He and the other guards offered the two ellith a bow.
"As do I of thee, O stalwart Captain," Helluin replied, bowing equally low. "Hail and well met."
She then shifted her attention to one amongst the others, her lips curving in a smile.
"Hail and well met, Master Narvi. Glad am I that thou hast survived the war," she said.
"Glad am I to see ye both, my friends," Narvi said as he came forward to greet them. Today the Elves felt a lingering sadness upon the vibrant craftsman. "So many have been lost of late…so many fallen. Oft in these last years I have desired in vain that somehow we could have done 'aught to amend that of which thou spoke at our last meeting. Alas, we could not. Now art Celebrimbor and all his folk lost, his city and realm fallen to ruin, and many others slain as well. The victory is tainted with bitterness and the world stands diminished by their loss." He heaved a great sigh and looked deeply into Helluin's eyes. "So must the kindred of Belegost have mourned the loss of Azaghâl in the Nirnaeth at which thou fought. The memories of this war sadden us. However dost thou maintain thyself, Helluin, with all the memories thou hold?"
"Sometimes I know not, my friend," Helluin said, "and the weight of such should hasten my Fading. But for Beinvír's love and the black rage of battle I should certainly have become fore'er morose."
"And so thou still love thy place in Arda," Narvi said, "and despite all that has come to pass, thou art still attached to this world."
"Indeed so. In all Creation there art for my kindred only the Hither Shores and the Undying. Well did I explore the lands 'cross the seas, and now their greatest attraction is fore'er lost. Stronger is the call that I feel to these lands and those living upon them still. I am not yet weary of it."
Narvi nodded in understanding and for a time was silent, but after a while he resumed, and those of the sentries listened intently to his rede.
"My folk tell of an unseen enemy upon the foe's west flank in the years when they fought in Eregion. Some force had marched there and fell bitter upon the Glamhoth. Yrch prisoners taken by our companies claimed that one there flung into their camps the heads of their slain fellows, and of that enemy did they feel great fear. The called their tormentor the 'Butcher of Bruinen', who provided them with much meat. I have always thought that in their words I felt the echo of the darkness thou hast claimed. Thou marched not with Celebrimbor, Helluin; dost thou know 'aught of what I speak?"
Helluin sighed ere she answered. In the time spent whilst Beinvír healed in Imladris she had actually become surprised at how her conduct had evolved. Flinging the severed heads of the Yrch into their camps had been but the beginning and not the worst. She had fallen deep into the depths of her wrath and she had given free reign to her darkness. She was uncomfortable about it now, yet not wracked with remorse. This in itself troubled her. That she could do thus, know it to be questionable, and yet not feel more strongly some revulsion o'er her deeds.
"'Twas as thou hast thought, Narvi. Upon the western flank of the enemy did Beinvír and I wreck havoc upon the Glamhoth in support of the retreating Elven host. Ere Sauron turned to fight the armies of Khazad-dûm and Lórinand, we harried them about Bruinen. Then when they withdrew south, we followed."
At her words the Dwarves gave a great cheer.
"Unto the Ghost Warriors of Mitheithel and the Butcher of Bruinen we give honor and renown," the captain of the sentries vehemently declared, "most fearsome enemies of our enemies. Ye hast spilt the blood of the Yrch in such plenty that all our warriors envy your prowess. Hail to ye, allies of old. Ye shalt be held in high honor amongst our kindred 'til the last of our days."
The company gave another great shout. Beinvír looked up at Helluin and the Noldo read much in her eyes. Surprise that their deeds were known and recalled waged with darker memories of what had come after. There too was yet more surprise that those she had e'er distrusted aforetime had come to hold her in such high esteem. 'Twas far removed from her old expectations of being roasted and eaten by the Naugrim. She hoped they wouldn't ask what she and Helluin had done for the rest of the war though.
"We extend our hospitality to ye both," Narvi said, "and I am sure that many in Khazad-dûm shalt desire to honor ye. Many will be the feasts when word of your deeds is spread. And indeed, I desire your company and your counsel. Wilt ye not enter our halls and stay amongst us a while?"
Helluin looked to Beinvír, who gulped and nodded. The Green Elf still felt a residual discomfort at the prospect of being underground, but she was resolved to master it. Narvi at least, was a friend. And in Helluin's company, she had already wandered farther and seen more than any other of her people. And so she was excited to think of being the first of the Laiquendi to set foot within a mansion of her people's traditional unfriends. T'would be yet another new experience to add to the tale of her years, and what more did one live for, save love and adventure?
"We shalt be honored to accept your kind invitation, my noble friends," Helluin said, as she bowed to her hosts, "for your timely coming in aid to Eregion upset the enemy, and ye bought with your blood the preservation of many lives. We honor our league of friendship and your courage upon the battlefield, and we would honor ye as well as receive honor from ye."
The words of praise were traditional in spirit and greatly approved by all those who stood 'nigh. And so Helluin and Beinvír were ushered through the West Gates of Hadhodrond and into the deep halls of Khazad-dûm. 'Twas 17 Lothron, (May 17th) 1710.
"So I am now a Ghost of Mitheithel as well as a Ghost of Drúwaith Iaur," Helluin whispered to Beinvír as they passed through the Ennyn Durin¹, "and thou with me." ¹(Ennyn Durin, Doors of Durin, the enchanted West Gates of Khazad-dûm, built by Narvi and Celebrimbor. Sindarin)
"I understand now thy earlier claim, that titles art the wage of many miles trudged and many battles lost," Beinvír whispered back, "and I should gladly trade this one for the peace that was broken and the lives that were lost."
"As would I, meldis meldwain nín, yet such is not our choice."
Neither mentioned the title 'Butcher of Bruinen'.
By their fourth day in Khazad-dûm, the two Elves had eaten so much of the Dwarves' fare that each felt as if they had gained a third again in body weight. The feasting had been well 'nigh continuous. The speeches had become well 'nigh mind-numbing. The toasting and drinking and other celebrations had become well 'nigh revolting. Indeed all thoroughly enjoyed the excess.
"I shalt find my demise here in the deeps more quickly than upon any battlefield," Helluin remarked. "I should doubt that my armor even fits me anymore. Galadriel shalt think me drinking enchanted waters yet again, though this time from a stream whose virtue increases only girth."
"Perhaps she shalt think thee with child?" Beinvír suggested. Helluin choked.
Beinvír was reclining beside her on a sofa, her hands covering her face and her legs sprawled straight out in front of her so as to reduce the experience of a lap. The pressure on her bloated tummy was distinctly uncomfortable.
"Thy friends torture us with merriment and banquets more surely than Sauron with his fires and black arts," she groaned. "Rather than my old fear of being eaten, I have come to believe the Naugrim slay with excess of food and kindness. I shalt eat myself to death at their tables long ere they roast and eat me. 'Tis such a twist as ne'er would I have imagined. Yet through night and day they sit beside us supping as ones with bottomless stomachs. Indeed how do they do it?"
"In all honesty I know not, my friend," Helluin said, "unless it be that the food goes directly to the increase of their beards." She couldn't help revisiting an unwelcome memory of Iarwain's beard chewing the crumbs split from his mouth. She shuddered.
Beinvír tilted her head and regarded Helluin with one eye.
"Say not that I shalt awake with hairy face and bulging belly," she begged. "We must be on our way ere we expire here in the dark. Without sun and moon all times seem as mealtime. 'Tis neither natural, nor wholesome. We shalt become as Morgoth's thralls in Utumno; Elves ruined in his deep dungeons. Let us be on our way upon the morrow, please…"
In spite of their greatest efforts at courtesy and their greatest restraint at table, 'twas two more days ere the pair were paroled and made their way from Azanulbizar Gate into Nanduhirion. By then both felt glutted as ne'er aforetime in all their long lives. The Naugrim had bid them a joyous farewell, replete with oaths of friendship and alliance, and invitations to return.
Amongst a people whose language held o'er 140 different words for slaying or being slain, the toll that Helluin and Beinvír had exacted upon the enemy during the war was regarded as a wondrous testament to the depth of their wrath and their prowess in unleashing it upon their foes. That the enemies had been Yrch was regarded even more favorably. Indeed Helluin had ne'er seen the Naugrim so jovial as when the slinging of the severed heads into the Yrch camps was recounted in the halls of Khazad-dûm. The two Elves had become celebrities; well 'nigh icons of Dwarvish martial culture, and the apotheosis of the warrior spirit. The result was an almost embarrassing form of hero worship…along with endless o'ereating, drinking, and retellings of the slaughters. Helluin thought a month's starvation a goodly balance for their last week of o'erindulgence. Beinvír was contemplating begging Helluin to jog with her all the way to the Greenwood, despite her native distaste for traveling in imposed haste.
"No talan in Lórinand is sturdy enough to hold us now, I wager," Helluin muttered as they came 'nigh Celebrant the next evening.
"I cannot imagine climbing for at least a week," Beinvír agreed. "Our weight shalt surely insult the trees. Perhaps we should bypass Amdír's lands entirely." She looked at Helluin, and then off to the south.
"I am not sure I should trade Lórinand for Fangorn," Helluin said, warily eyeing the dark splotch upon the landscape to their south. It seemed to her eyes a blot of night shadow fallen upon the western slopes of the Hithaeglir, leading down to the Vale of Anduin. "Besides, 'tis out of our way."
"Thou art correct, of course," Beinvír said, "nor would I favor the dark-hearted and groping trees there o'er the golden mellyrn. Very well, to Lórinand we shalt go, and anyway, our welcome is 'nigh at hand."
The words were fresh out of her mouth when the branches ahead parted and Haldir, March Warden of the Northern Borders, stepped from the trees. He smiled in welcome as he walked toward them.
"Ai a mae govannen¹, Helluin en Rimb Finwë a Beinvír Laiquendi²," he said. "Many hundreds of years it hath been since last 'neath the mellyrn ye walked. I bid ye welcome on behalf of King Amdír in his absence." ¹(Ai a mae govannen, Hail and well met, a traditional greeting. Sindarin) ²(Helluin en Rimb Finwë a Beinvír Laiquendi, Helluin of the Host of Finwë and Beinvír of the Laiquendi, gen. const., Sindarin)
As he came closer Haldir's eyes widened, for now he found himself looking up at Helluin more steeply than his memory recalled. He gulped and blinked.
"Greetings, Haldir, noble march warden of Lórinand," Beinvír said, offering him a smile. "I am glad to find thee well after the war."
Haldir gave her a smile and nodded to acknowledge her words, but his eyes soon flicked back to the Noldo.
"Hail and well met, Haldir," Helluin said, "and yes, I am again taller than when last we met in thy lord's hall. I am sure thou hast noted a similar effect upon Celeborn and Galadriel in the past as well."
She couldn't help smirking at him. Celeborn at least, had appeared taller when she had seen him in Eregion and Imladris during the war. She could only assume that the same was true of his lady and that the Sinda Prince had drunk from Oldbark's stream merely to keep up with her gains in height.
"I am sorry, but seeing again this effect indeed took me at unawares," Haldir said. "Taller thou art every time I see thee, and sooth, such effect too was in the lord and the lady seen. But that was o'er 300 years past, and though 'twas shocking to us at that time, somehow since then familiarity has bred…familiarity."
"'Tis just so, yet glad am I for thy remark upon my height rather than upon my girth."
At this remark, Haldir was completely baffled and he cast his eyes repeatedly up and down Helluin's figure. She stood girded in her black armor and battle dress, the same as she had been when first she'd appeared before him 1,550 years ago, save that she was now a full hand's length taller. No change in her girth, neither of gain, nor of loss had he marked in her proportions.
"Art thou with child?" He muttered, but he could detect no trace of a second life within her. He looked to Beinvír in his confusion and found 'naught but laughing eyes and a furtive grin upon her lips. He shook his head to clear it. E'er had he found her beauty distracting.
"In proportion thou art much as thou hast e'er been," he finally declared, "save only for thy increase in height. Neither stretched, nor squashed dost thou appear to my eyes, I am sure. Whyfor then should I have remarked upon thy girth, Helluin?"
At this both Helluin and Beinvír couldn't restrain themselves from snickering, so seriously was Haldir regarding the dark Noldo. Their laughter confused him yet more.
"I am sorry, my friend," Helluin finally said whilst wiping tears of mirth from her eyes, "for I should rather laugh with thee than at thee. We art come of late from the halls of Khazad-dûm, wherein we have endured a week of feasting and revels that have left us o'erstuffed like fatted sows. Indeed 'tis a wonder that Dwarves art not taller, in light of how dedicated they art at table."
At this, Haldir did chuckle knowingly.
"Ahhh-ha, more plainly now do I understand thee, for in the war and after, many times heroic feats of consumption by the Naugrim did I witness. For sooth, 'tis a wonder they stand not taller than the Tor, or at the least as bulky." He chuckled. "Come hence, my friends, to Caras Galadhon shalt I be honored to convey ye."
With that, they made their way o'er Celebrant and through the golden wood, a small detachment of the border patrol joining them for the march. Through the afternoon and into the evening they walked, trading stories of the war and tales of their years apart. By nightfall they had come to Tuna-i-Aldoen, and Helluin saw that the central mellyrn had grown tall, forming a crown of trunks about the remains of the ancient central stump. Again, she noted the faintest of glimmers upon that parcel of land, as if some last remnant or fugitive memory of a Valier's touch still lingered there. Here perhaps Yavanna herself once lay down to rest from her first labors in Arda, and in her thought conceived the first mallorn in the days of Aulë's lamplight long ago, she thought.
They stopped for the night a league further southeast, and despite their original misgivings, Helluin and Beinvír were soon ensconced together on a talan with Haldir, whilst the remaining guards took up watch on another talan in a tree nearby. Long they remained awake, and by the light of a shrouded lamp, shared many tidings.
"Ill as was the war, still through it, I deem, some good has been achieved," said Haldir, "for in the years since Sauron's defeat, of the Yrch 'naught has been seen. Few and fearful they art, if indeed any stray so far south of Gundabad, or so far north of Mordor."
"That is good tidings, Haldir," Beinvír said, "for we art making our way hence to Greenwood and shalt travel the more at ease for thy words."
"Another thing there is then of which I should speak," he said, "for in the last two years, unto the banks of Anduin have come some Men. Settlers they art, living in homesteads apart from one another. They bother none and art courteous after their fashion, yet independent also and indeed somewhat aloof. And there is yet more. Upon a few nights in this same time, my guards have marked the comings and goings of great bears such as have not been seen in many long years. In the Vale of Anduin and up the slopes of Hithaeglir they doth roam. At times we see them sitting, gazing up at Ithil as with reverence, and sometimes at the mountain peaks. They too bother none and we hunt them not, for they enter not the forest."
"Do not hunt them, Haldir," Helluin told him, "nor hinder the Men. Neither mean thy people harm, nor will they enter into the forest save only at great need. This pact they have with thy folk from the days of King Lenwin, and with the peace they have returned to their ancient homelands. Dost thou know them not?"
"Nay, I do not."
"Then I shalt only say that they art enemies of the Enemy as art thou, and all fell creatures do they abhor. They art ancient, Haldir, though I know not the right tale of their origins. Like the Onodrim they look after their own, seeking neither alliances, nor waging open war. Yet they were, in days long past, the allies and friends of the House of Durin, and call the mountains their home. I am glad they have returned."
"Thou hast known them aforetime, these settlers?"
"Indeed so. I have fought in their company with the Naugrim at our sides. Long ago I called one friend. They art noble and shalt trouble thee not."
Haldir nodded, accepting Helluin's opinion. Of all those he had come to know from beyond the borders of his own lands, none had her breadth of experience. Indeed, the only one he had e'er met who approached Helluin's range of travels was Galadriel, and she was strange to him, and had been even more so since shortly ere the war. In the future she would become stranger still, yet eventually he would come to understand why.
In the morning they went on their way, coming to Caras Galadhon in the early afternoon. There Helluin and Beinvír stayed as guests for two days, trading tidings with those of King Amdír's advisors who had not gone to Imladris for the council. On the third day they set out again, going forth from the forest, north toward the River Gladden ere they crossed Anduin. Perhaps 'twas mere sentimentality, but Helluin wanted to check something there for old times' sake.
To Be Continued