Disclaimer: The Lord of the Rings is property of Tolkien and there are many references throughout to Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I only own what you do not recognize. The character Chinky is not meant to cause offence and is named after a real horse whose name has been shortened from a Fiat Cinquecento (Chinky – Chento).
Authors Note: Poor Amy just when she thought things were all right. Here is the first chapter of the last part of this monstrous story. Thanks for all the reviews, gota love getting reviews, especially as it tells me I have emails. Which I'm addicted to. Happy reading.
Part 6: Life in a new age
Chapter 51: Idleness
It was the year 960 of the Fourth Age of the sun, and the fair land of Middle Earth had begun a change that could never be reversed. The fords of iron and industry had started to riddle the land, slowly at first and then like a torrent faster and faster. People were unaware and uncaring of these changes, there was only one person still alive that cared and mourned this change to the ever beautiful land.
Sat at the end of the citadel, that fronted a huge white tower, a young girl sat swinging her slender legs, neither thinking nor bothering to care about the huge drop that lay before her. Sitting in her vantage point she could see the entire walled city stretch out before her, beyond the tower of the sun, for that was its original name, she could see the Pelennor Fields and further to the city of Osgiliath, which had been rebuilt since its sundering, and the great Anduin River.
Minas Tirith sat in the shadows of the White Mountains, neither moving nor changing greatly in structure. None of these little problems bothered the girl swinging her legs; the only thing on her mind was the new heir to the throne of Gondor. Early that morn a child had been born to King Edaining and Lady Romana, their first heir. The girl had watched over the birth and it had been smooth, first to hold the child however she noticed something unique about him. A bright silver light was within his eyes, and his ears bared a faint elvish point. Handing over the boy to his mother she placed her blessings and left to be with her thoughts.
She had not moved now since the hour after sun rose, and before her the sun was starting to sink. The infant that had just been born into the world had all the elvish blood his noble ancestors could give. Yet it would be brought up in a world where elves were nothing but stories and legends, a world where magic was fading slowly, consumed by iron and industry. She knew in her heart that this child was special; she knew in her heart that he would change the world just like his ancestor Aragorn the second did a millennia ago. All she had to do now was think of a name. Almost instantly a face appeared in front of her, rugged like it had been carved from stone, and soft like the morning sun. The same silver eyes stared at her, and she knew in an instant what his name would be. Smiling she stood up and walked slowly back to the White Tower, the ceremony was about to begin.
OOOOOOO
"Son of Edaining and Lady Romana, born in the year 960 of the forth age of the sun, the first rays of light touched you and blessed you." Amy said, holding the child in the air. "I name you Elessar Telcontar after your great forbear Aragorn the second. Duty is within you, duty has bound you, and duty will kill you." She said in the fashion of all newly raised kings. Lowering the child to his parents she smiled, "he will be a king like no other."
OOOOOO
Amy sat alone in the great chambers that she lay claim to; the huge vaulted room was filled of her paintings and drawings. Great paintings that covered the walls, paintings on the huge ceiling, all depicting her life in Middle Earth. Except the paintings featured tall beings fair of face with points for ears. Trees with eyes and ears that looked to be talking to one another, small creatures with curly hair and hairy feet, centred around these pictures were paintings of two horses, one black and white, the other pure black. A girl was also with them, a girl with black hair and eyes, a girl that laughed with a tall blonde creature; these pictures were alien to the race of men that now resided in the Tower of the Sun, now the Tower of the Guard or Minas Tirith. They were the people of legends of fairytales. People were starting to doubt their existence; people were losing faith in the stories of old. People were losing interest in the girl of immense power that was said to reside in the tower. With this last thought a single tear fell down her cheek.
Rising she slowly walked over to a painting which showed herself flinging balls of fire, she touched the paint slowly with one hand, gently, almost as if she was scared it would break. In her other hand a ball of fire appeared. She stared at it in fascination for a second, gritting her teeth and scowling she shut her hand and the ball of fire extinguished, just like the many races of creature upon this earth.
A knock on the door brought her out of her thoughts of past memories, grunting in response she allowed the person to enter. A young man of no more than twenty stepped through. His hair was jet and loose about his shoulders, and his eyes were silver and shone from within. But most noticeable about the young man before him was his ears. Slightly pointed ears protruded from his straight hair. Not as pointed as her own, yet more so than the race of man. For the handsome man in front of her was named Elessar, and a fine man he had grown into, just like she predicted.
"You have been crying again Amy." He said as he closed the door and ran silently over to her.
"It is nothing Elfking." She replied for Elfking was the name she called him in private.
"You lie, fair creature." He said placing his arms around her shoulders and leading her to her bed.
"In truth, I am bored, bored of this forsaken tower, bored of hearing about my so called powers. People have no faith; your father has no faith. Just because I can control things, doesn't mean I do it on a regular basis. There has been no need for me to use my powers, and so I haven't!" Amy said working herself up.
Gently brushing back her hair he whispered elvish into her ear. This tongue was long forgotten in the realms of men, yet Amy had taught it, along with its script to every young king she was told to train. Elfking was the only one to have had any fluency and any flair for the language, and it comforted her to hear her own speech. When he was a child, they used to talk across the table, and no one around could understand, for the king had long forgotten everything she taught him. It was a fun game for a child to play, yet he now knew how much it comforted her and spoke in the tongue wherever he could. "I believe in you. You just have hidden your self away in this tower so long; many people think you must have died! When was the last time you left the citadel? You say you are bored of this tower, come ride out with me. My father has given me leave until I am needed, I am to go and learn of the world, I have to travel to Arnor as well. Come with me and show me these places that you speak so gently of, show me the lands of the elves, and the caves of the dwarves. Take me to the great Mount Doom wrought with fire. Show me the places in your stories and paintings. Come ride out with me!"
He said this with such a passion that Amy stared at him. Wonder filled her eyes at the thought of travelling, sleeping under the stars and catching her own dinner. Yet as soon as that wonder came it left. "You know I cannot leave Gondor I am bound to the Kings line. I cannot leave until he releases me."
"You forget with who you travel, I am of the king's line. You named me yourself, come you can leave Gondor as long as you are within the presence of one of the line you are fine."
With that Amy stood. In the eyes of Elessar Elfking Telcontar she grew. Power shone in her black orbs and her pointed ears made their presence known underneath her jet like hair. A golden aura surrounded her and she smiled. A radiant smile, one that showed true thankfulness.
OOOOOO
Amy stood at the end of the citadel and faced the king, "I am travelling with your son, to protect him from harm, on my life and my pledge to Gondor I will let no harm come to him."
The king looked at the girl in front of him, and suddenly knew the power of which his forbears spoke. No longer was her hair falling loose over her shoulders, it was braided back in the traditional elvish fashion, half up, half down. Her long pointed ears on show to the world. She was no longer garbed in the dress of a Gondorian soldier, but instead in silks and soft wools of the elves. A midnight blue tunic lay over a soft blue shirt and silver breaches. A long green cloak hung around her neck, with a mallorn leaf pin. The king knew of mallorn leaves for one such tree had been planted in the land of Ithilien. What shocked him more were the weapons hung upon her. On her back was strung a mighty bow that was nearly her entire height. She kept it strung and he did not know the range it fired, yet he figured it would be vast, yet he did not know whether she had the strength to fire it. On her right hip hung a blade in the shape of a leaf. Elven script was engraved down one side, yet he could not understand it. What was on her left side though was what interested him the most. A large dual handled sword hung from her hip. Its point nearly touching the ground. On the scabbard twin dragons twisted their way down to the point. Jewels were cast into the scabbard, making it look ornate and heavy. Realising what he was looking at he suddenly took a step back, as did most of the lords surrounding him. "The Dragon blade? Is it true?"
Amy looked at him, almost in disgust, the men before her bore little resemblance to the great Aragorn she knew and loved. This was a distant line of his, and she knew that greatness would only be restored with the rising of Elfking to kingship.
"This is the sword of the dragon. For I am the Child of the Dragon, the daughter of Onlee. Do you not listen to your forbears? I am the oldest living thing this side of the Undying Lands, and the most powerful. Never underestimate the strength of the elves in war. You think I cannot fire this bow, you think it is too hard for me?"
In a blink of an eye an arrow was shot and a bird of the sea fell 300 yards from the sky. The men stared at her in awe, for none of the Gondor soldiers could fire so quickly and accurately.
"You think I cannot wield my sword, I challenge any one of you blade masters to a duel, and I can beat everyone of you hands down." Keeping her anger in check she looked away from the men. "Aragorn son of Arathorn taught me the sword. A great sword master he was and after a time I learnt to beat him. My elvish heritage allowed me to have greater reflexes in play and in war. You have never seen me in battle, and I pray to the Gods that I serve, that you never shall see me in war. Never doubt my power, for the moment you do I will string you in the air by your feet. Long have the kings of Gondor sat idle again, not seeing beyond their borders. Trouble stirs in the South, I can feel it. I will leave now and take your son and train him the ways of all the ancient races of this land. He will not be crippled by only learning the skills of men. For he bears all the elvish blood his ancestors could give him; I will train him to be a mighty king."
OOOOOO
"That was some speech you gave to my father and the lords." Elfking said placing a bridle on his roan coloured mount.
"Every word was true, trouble stirs in the south, idleness is what killed Denethor son of Ecthelion in the third age; he was corrupted by his own power of state, and did not see the power of Sauron until it was too late. Too many died by his hand, I will not let it happen again!" Amy said walking down the stalls to choose a mount. A shadow still lay heavy in her heart at the thought of Moridin, her lovely Mearas stallion now lingered in the Undying Lands with Legolas awaiting her return. She hoped they had made it there safely, and that pain no longer lay in their hearts. She had not done a great deal of riding since the loss of her great black war horse, and only went out on occasional border patrols, and so had never seen the need to find another mount. Now she realised that they could be travelling for a year or more and she needed a strong horse to bare her.
"There are four horses in the end stalls that have yet to be assigned riders. I'm sure they would not notice if you took one of those." The prince said from next tp his strawberry stallion.
Amy nodded absentmindedly as she watched a string of stable hands run down the block towards a stall that was emitting screaming. Not thinking anything of it she jogged after them. She did not bat an eye as one of the grooms was thrown out the stable and landed in a groggy heap on the floor; she was too intent on the horse that was currently being held down by five stable hands. A bit-less bridle was around a dished chestnut head, six ropes coming off all the pressure points, one rope however was now trailing on the floor. Elfking was now at her side and both looked on in horror as the stable hands pulled hand on the ropes activating all the pressure points on the bridle to try and control the horse. Yet by pulling, the horse was in immense pain and screaming and kicking out. Amy could watch no more, and without thinking about it she drew in her power and then exploded it outwards, knocking all the stable hands back against the walls with strong weaves of Air. Very rarely she used her power, and very rarely in front of people, but a fiery rage was consuming her.
"What in the Lord's name do you think you are doing?" She yelled. "Do you whip a child when it is in pain and thrashes? Do you whip your wives when they misbehave? Never do you whip an animal that screams in pain. Do you know nothing about bit-less bridles? Those pressure points you were pulling on could have broken that horse's nose, or shattered the poll behind his ears!" Grabbing a groom by the neck she lifted him clean off the ground, the rest gasped at her strength. "Tell me what is its name!"
"It does not have a name my lady. It arrived yesterday, we found it wandering the plains, and brought it in. No bridle could hold it; we had no choice but the bit-less." Came a stuttering reply.
"So you abuse that piece of tack? What right did that give you? Why was neither myself or Amy told of the new arrival?" Elfking said taking the groom off Amy and holding him even higher.
"So sorry my lord, so sorry. We were going to kill the beast, for it was no use to us. We did not think you would want to know."
"Elessar my friend, I think I have found my new mount!" Amy said, smiling at her friend.
Elfking smiled and dropped the groom before gesturing towards the horse. "Take him, he is property of my father, and as my father does not know he is here." He said leaving the sentence open.
Grinning Amy walked slowly towards the fiery chestnut. The horse who had stood stock still as soon as he felt the ropes slacken backed slowly away. His whites showing as his eyes rolled in fear. Amy turned her body side on, like she did so many years ago with Moridin.
"Fear me not, I will not hurt you." She whispered gently in elvish.
Using the smallest amount of Fire she could she quickly burnt the bridle from its head. Instantly the horse reared in shock and spun around, yet the fire did not touch him. In that instant when its back was turned, Amy did something very clever, yet very stupid. She leapt onto its back. In an instant it stood stock still again. All muscles tense, all muscles quivering. Reaching out with her mind she gently touched the horse in front of her.
'Fear me not my friend. I am of the ancient kind. Ride with me and I shall never mar your mouth with the bit and never smother your smooth gait with a saddle. Ride with me and you shall be free to gallop the plains, splash through water, and leap the highest mountains. Ride with me and we will be free together.'
Amy smiled as the chestnut beneath her relaxed, despite not being able to understand the speech of men, all creatures of light could understand the minds of the elves. Smoothing the fiery coat she gently turned the horse with soft movements from her legs. Ignoring the looks from the grooms she called to her friend. "Elessar are we ready?"
And without another thought they turned galloped out of the city not to return until the girl spirit saw fit.
