Celebwen Telcontar: Well, here's the next chapter.
Balrog: I see. And what is going on here?
Celebwen Telcontar: Why should I tell you? It's a surprise.
Balrog: (Peeks into script book) Ahhh! You… you…
Celebwen Telcontar: (Removes script book and tosses it backstage) No more slices of granite orange for you! Please review, people. Please review.
Nicole stood in her dining room, a grave expression on her face.
"Derek, Silence, Ian, all of you, the East Lorienese people have decided to wage war on you eight personally for finding and scattering the Templar treasure, and through association the people of Eryn Lasgalen. You need to get out of Nimlad, and East Lorien, as soon as possible. I have already packed enough provisions for two weeks on horseback."
"Thank you for your Healings and hospitality, Nicole de Lonquret. We will never forget you." Derek hugged her tight, as did everyone else. The nine people pulled out their chairs and took seats.
"Employ the cover of darkness. It will shield you, and make north. Use a zigzag pattern, elsewise the East Loreinese Border Guard will find you and they will want to know the locations of the Treasure. And can use several… unpleasant methods."
"Torture?" Ben asked, looking grave but not surprised.
"At the least. The most common method of public execution is burning, for worse criminals a banked fire that roasts them. Sometimes slow boiling is used as well." Again Ben didn't look all that surprised.
"The grey and white horses—" Ben began.
"Mearas," Derek corrected.
"Fine, Mearas, they are the fastest. We only have three of them. Could we all ride two to a horse and two ride three?"
"Perhaps. Elen and Shadestalker are the stronger two; I'll ride with Ben and Victor. Silence, you will ride with Ian on Sulin. Mariah, you with Gregor and Phil." The Eryn Lasgalenese travelers nodded.
"Speed and secrecy are of the essence," Nicole said. "As soon as the sun sets, leave."
"Thank you, Nicole," Silence said warmly, hugging the Nimlad healer.
"I'll see you all later. Quick, the sun is setting." Tarichar ran in and swarmed up to Ian's shoulders, taking a perch there, looking for all the world like a caring mother checking on her kitten.
Derek looked at Ben, eyebrows raised.
"Ben, you're obviously healed, as you have been running about with no sign of limp or pain. You are in shape to ride then." It wasn't a question, but a statement. "The sun's setting. Nicole, we will always hold gratitude to you." Then the eight travelers and the cat left the house. The sunset was a brilliant red, tuning the trees into a portrait of scarlet flame. Silence and Ian mounted, a pack behind them. The others got on as well, and he tree Mearas raced off into the north and Eryn Lasgalen.
Three days later, Nicole de Lonquret, Nimlad Healer and Midwife, was found guilty of high treason and harboring the enemy, and was burned at the stake as an example to those who would help Eryn Lasgalenians.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Tarichar had long since left the group to wander through the treetops. Below her were many East Lorienese, tracking the horses' progress. With no warning Tarichar dropped like a stone to land on the leaders' head and shoulders then shoved herself back up, wildly scoring him with many marks and making him yell in fury and pain. Then, she fled to an entirely different tree as arrows hissed near where she had been. She repeated the process multiple times, each time from a different angle, immensely enjoying herself and the squeals she got from the men.
"They're all around us!" one man cried. The soldiers were on a hair-trigger, and Tarichar yowled eerily then fled in the opposite direction. The arrows of their fellow hunters pierced many of the East Lorienese hunters as they tried to shoot Tarichar, and not coming within a foot of her. The leaves stirred as Tarichar stood on a branch, catching her breath and inwardly laughing at the idiots. She loved this game!
"A ghost are you now, daughter?" a voice said by her ear. Snowdancer Tren stood there, calmly washing her paw. Her coat gleamed like snow, and she had her sapphire eyes fixed on Tarichar.
"Apparently, Mother Tren." Tarichar nodded respectfully to the cat Goddess, purring lightly from exuberance and joy at seeing Snowdancer Tren.
"If you Speak and not just speak, you can make the Secondborn know your voice."
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Riley was walking along, whistling and fingering his new acquisition, a small misshapen lump of vaguely circular gold metal. The road he was walking on wasn't even that, but a faint game path.
His gold object was very precious to him, and never left his hands. Fingers, cool and white, closed about his wrist. He looked up, and thought he had died and gone to Heaven.
She was a goddess, with her blue, blue eyes and her hair, as gold as the summer sun. She made Abigail's looks cast into deepest shade with her own fell beauty, both utterly good and terrible, as if he were looking into the face of God.
"Come." That word, beautiful and terrible in her voice, seemed to compel Riley into following. He could have no more disobeyed than cut off his own hand. Her movements were graceful beyond description, which only solidified his belief that he was looking into the face of God.
"Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee, Blessed amongst women, Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, Now and at the hour of our death, Amen," he murmured, followed by the Our Father as he was pulled along to a helicopter. As he continued to say the Rosary, he felt bands that had been unnoticed open and push away. The helicopter pulled skyward, the others looking at him, and God smiling.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
The time he had spent in what he was positive was God and Her Angels was indiscernible. His heart was full and several times he had broken into weeping from the sheer power and love in his soul. The constraints he did not know were there had been banished by a Presence. He was utterly at peace, and knew that he was going to be in Her service evermore.
"I am not God, Riley Poole, but a Servant to Illuvitar," the woman spoke. Her voice was beauty concentrated, and within that a measure of nothing but absolute power. She glowed, like…like… pure energy.
'Let there be Light!' He could imagine Her voice giving that wondrous command. But she had just said that She was not God. Was She and Angel? Or could She be His Daughter? She was most definitely someone holy.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
The Elf felt frustrated, to say the very least. 'All Dark Lords have large weaknesses,' he mused. 'Morgoth's was his arrogance, as was Saruman's. Somehow Sauron escaped destruction with his Ring.' He scrolled down the screen and his eyes saw something of importance, something horrendous. "No," he whispered. "He wouldn't dare!" but he knew that Sauron had; just as before, Sauron needed a pet volcano. The Yellowstone Caldera was growing increasingly active. Besides that , should Yellowstone erupt, it would crate worldwide mass hysteria; hysteria that Sauron would undoubtedly calm.
Legolas thrust himself backwards from the desk and raced across the room to the door. His private jet would definitely be needed here.
He made swift calculations, and knew that the world would indeed need someone to turn to, once Yellowstone erupted. That someone should be the Heirs of Elessar, Faramir, Éomer, and Bard. All four lines were remarkably strong within Eryn Lasgalen, though the lines of Elessar and Bard had merged into one.
He sat in the pilot's seat and buckled himself in, checking that he had enough fuel for a puddle-jump. Assets he had gained from centuries of hard work had paid for a tiny experimental aircraft that could soar past Mach 15, nearly unheard of speeds. He would need every second to get the people of Eryn Lasgalen into the position to take over as soon as the volcano erupted, and he had Mithrandir had best be poised to take down Sauron once and for all, if at all possible.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
"We're lost?" Ben asked.
"I have a feeling that this is the Long Lake," Silence replied to him.
"Long? It's circular," her twin answered.
"Glaciation must have carved it out more and flattened Erebor."
"What's with the platform on the lake?" Gregor asked.
"It's the abandoned project of returning Lake-Town to Esgaroth. All that's left is the platform. There's the ferry over there, for who knows what reason. They're probably going to rip up the platform for wood soon," Mariah commented.
"Why tear it up after abandoning it?" Ian asked.
"Because of the close proximity to Erebor, where another dragon dwells."
"Dragons aren't real," Silence said forcefully.
"Silence, a dragon killed Dad," Ben said.
"Father is still alive, I'm sure. You know him, though I don't. I have no reason to, I am of Eryn Lasgalen, in exile, not some ridiculous town of stupid Men." Derek snorted, and Ben glared at her.
"Dad is dead, dead, not alive! You were there!" he fumed. "You saw his charred…" Ben cut off, his voice choked. "His charred…" He crumpled, sobbing, and held to clutch at Elen's mane, much to her disgust as she pranced and snorted, to keep from falling off in his misery. "He's dead, he's dead… oh, Dad, why? Why, damn you? Why? Goddamnit, why!" he roared. Elen reared and neighed, and Victor tumbled off of her back while trying to get as far away from the maddened horse and grief-stricken human as possible. Silence looked at Ian, and made a choice.
"Well, we need someplace to stay for the night, someplace where the East Lorienese can't reach us well. The platform is as good a place as any," Silence said. They made their way over to stay the night, letting tomorrow bring what it would.
Celebwen Telcontar: How was that one?
Balrog: Ben has been in denial since the incedent with the first dragon.
Celebwen Telcontar: Can it, Balrog! You just gave away something else!
Balrog: Something else? What? What have I given away!
Celebwen Telcontar: (Points backstage, livid.) Review, people. I have to lock my pet balrog in a glacier to teach him not to spoil the story. Please do review. And kudos to anyone who figures out who the woman Riley thought was God is. He is rather amusing that way.