A/N:
Thank you Kasia Greenleaf and M Excellent for the reviews - it means a lot to know that someone is enjoying the story. And it certainly makes me write faster!
Chapter 3
Legolas, Estel, and Elrond sat in the elf-lord's study, Isiltirmo's tale leaving a dark mood hanging over the party.
"Unqüatan." Legolas's brow was knitted. "I have never heard of such things, but if they are as Isiltirmo recounts, something evil is at play. To strip a fëa from a being…"
"Now, Legolas, we cannot be sure that this is exactly what they are. Many things in this world could cause a man to appear possessed - perhaps they are simply overly loyal followers of some fell lord." Elrond attempted to reassure the prince. However, he too was concerned by the tidings. "Hollow or not, these men taking control of the pass does not bode well. First orcs begin to wander our lands, and now we see our own kin attacked on well-travelled roads. The enemy grows bold."
"We cannot allow such a bold intrusion." said Estel. The man was outraged, even more so than the elves were, for he had not seen darkness venture this deep into his homeland during his lifetime.
"Indeed. Much as I appreciate the hospitality of your house, Lord Elrond, I will need to journey home at some point, which seems ill-advised to do while the pass is controlled by some faceless foe."
"No, they cannot be allowed to stay," agreed Elrond. "I only wish Isiltirmo had been able to tell us more about this force. We know not how many there are, nor what they are aiming to accomplish by taking the pass."
There was a pause, and Estel and Legolas shared a glance. They sensed that they were of one mind about the course of action needed, but knew they must choose their words carefully; the elf-lord would not be thrilled at their proposal.
"Perhaps… Perhaps Legolas and I should go on a scouting-mission?"
Elrond's dislike of this idea was evident on his face. Having just tended to one victim of the unqüatani, he was not keen to have his foster son and the prince of Mirkwood run head-first into the same danger.
"Without gaining further information, we would struggle to assemble an appropriate force to tackle this threat," pointed out Legolas. "With just two of us, we could use stealth to gain intelligence."
"We seek not to confront this foe, only to better understand the nature of what we are facing." Estel added to the prince's argument.
Elrond did not argue, as he knew that their thinking was sound, and that the two were well placed to conduct the investigation. "I do not disagree. We need this information to launch an appropriate response."
The elf-lord stood up and began to pace in his study as he continued, "I must ask you both sincerely however, to exercise caution. As you yourself have said, you are not seeking to confront the foe, only to understand them."
Uncomfortable memories flashed through his head. It had been little over a year since this pair had had a particularly eventful misadventure breaking up a band of wandering bandits. While they succeeded at that particular mission, Estel had been injured in the encounter.
Elrond could see the pair's return to Imladris clearly in his mind's eye; two riders returning on one horse, a dark-haired man sitting limp in front of an ashen faced elf, the pair not slowing within the city gates and riding hard directly to the houses of healing. The man had been pierced by a sword, and was shivering from both blood loss and infection by the time he reached his father. The nights that followed were long and difficult for Elrond, spent tending to his son and praying that he would not succumb to the injury. The Mirkwood prince too stayed by the man's side until he awoke, overcome with misplaced guilt at having failed to prevent the incident, and filled with fear from having been faced with his friend's mortality.
No, Elrond was not keen to repeat such events. "I would like you both to return in one piece. Avoid detection, and gather what information you safely can."
Legolas and Estel could plainly see in Elrond's face that he was remembering the incident with the bandits, and it was not a fond memory for either of them either. Estel shuddered to think how close a call that had been, but he was confident that his abilities had grown since then, and felt sure that he would not end up in the same position. Legolas too, felt that they would avoid that outcome; seeing his friend so injured had been devastating, and he was determined that he would not allow something like this to pass again, even if he would have to jump in front of the blade himself.
"The enemy will never even know that we have paid them a visit." assured Estel. "I propose we leave at dawn, on foot to avoid having to hide the horses when we arrive, as it is only a day's march."
"I would second this plan - we will spy on whatever shadows are lurking, and return to Imladris within 3 days."
Elrond nodded. "So be it. If you have not returned within 3 days, I shall send a party after you. For now, go take an evening-meal and rest."
…
The first rays of Anar shone over the hills and illuminated a beautiful morning. The air was crisp, and dew glittered on the trees and grass.
Legolas and Estel stood at the gates of the city, wearing travelling-cloaks of deep green and bearing arms they hoped they would not need to use. Elrond bade them farewell after giving them another stern warning about avoiding trouble.
The first half of the journey was mostly spent in silence, both individuals lost in thought.
Estel's thoughts were mostly on the mission at hand. He was mapping out the layout of the pass in his head, trying to think of where the unqüatani may be hiding, and what possible routes there may be to observe them - without being observed in return. He knew of a cave that could be found off a pathway a short way into the pass. This seemed the most likely location to pitch a camp, as while a few other side-paths existed, they were all narrow tributaries which quickly looped back to the main pass. However, if the enemy indeed lurked in the shallow cave, Estel worried that their scouting mission may prove difficult, as the pathway to the cave was a narrow crevasse in the rock, with little room to conceal oneself until one reached the cave.
Legolas was pondering the significance of what they were fighting on a grander scale. For many months now, there had been talk of a growing shadow, and he was glad for the opportunity to confront it head-on. He did not like facing a foe he could not name, and was growing weary of hearing of seemingly random orc attacks and wandering wargs. Perhaps this could be a turning point.
Composing on the spot, he began to sing quietly as they walked.
A clue in the dark, a foe to be fought
A trail we can finally follow
A new hope will spark, to cure all the rot
Bring hope of a brighter tomorrow
Farewell to the orcs, the goblins, the wargs
And any dark masters you serve
And soon you will face my bow and my swords
So you meet the fate you deserve
His voice was clear, as most elvish voices are, and he somehow sang in harmony with the morning's birdsong. The first time he sang the song, it was perhaps more slowly than the lyrics would have desired, with occasional pauses as he carefully chose words for the next line. Then each time he repeated it, his confidence grew and the melody developed. The tune and tempo could best be characterised as "if you had asked a hobbit to compose a battle-song" - it was in a major key, was quick and rhythmic, and had little embellishment.
Estel enjoyed the elf's singing, though by elvish standards his lyrics could be considered a touch clumsy. While his friend was undeniably capable of weaving a tune, he was unlikely to be remembered as a great songsmith of his age. Estel was starting to enjoy the song slightly less by the 10th time he had heard "And soon you will face my bow and my swords", but he would not have dreamed of asking the elf to stop, as he sensed that the song was a much-needed outlet.
After a time, the singing died down, and they walked in silence again. However, before long, the elf started singing once more. This time, the song was sadder, slower, and had more of the typical embellishments present in elvish arias. The song was also more familiar. Estel recognised the melody, for he had heard his father singing these words not too long ago. They sounded somehow alien coming from the younger elf.
A wood that once was green and fair
Of faceless darkness reeks
Foul whispers, orc-stench stain the air
The breeze of violence speaks
Ai! The peaceful days are done
Ai! Our race begins to fade
We'll stay until the course is run
Until our allies need no aid
Our foes seem filled with strength anew
While we only diminish
Like cornered prey, our options few
Until the fiery finish
Ai! The peaceful days are done
Ai! Our race begins to fade
We'll stay until the course is run
Until our allies need no aid
"Do not put too much stock in those words, Legolas. There are many things which my father sang of which in the end did not come to pass"
"All the same, the words ring true to much of what we have been seeing. I worry, my friend. I worry that this present threat is but a warning of what is to come. I worry that before long, our world will be at war, torn apart by forces that we are only beginning to sense."
"Legolas, I dislike the threat as much as you do - it still fills me with outrage that some band has had the audacity to claim our pass. This is all far too close to home for my liking. But I feel this is a single incident, some over-emboldened followers of darkness overstepping their bounds. We will drive them out! And the world will right itself before long."
Legolas hoped the man was right.
The pair marched on and soon Anar was low in the sky. They were perhaps only an hour from the mouth of the pass when Legolas noticed a faint sound. Footsteps.
Pattering some 10 metres behind them was a pair of small feet. The elf was careful not to change his gait or turn around, not wanting to alert the pursuer that their presence was known.
Estel had not heard the footsteps, light as they were, but he suddenly felt his friend gently squeeze his arm. Something was amiss. Listening more closely to the woods, he also became aware of the pattering feet. He casually checked that his sword was within easy reach.
"Estel, dinner. We should stop. For food. Now." Legolas said, uncharacteristically ineloquently. He intended to observe what their follower would do if they stopped.
Estel caught his friend's intent, but could not help but smile at the elf's utter inability to make pretend. He hoped that their pursuer was not well-versed in the ways of elves - if they were, Legolas's awkward invitation may as well have been the statement "Estel, I think we are being followed."
There was no discernible change in the footsteps following the announcement of dinner, but once the friends stopped by the tree, the pattering quickly fell silent. The friends could see movement in some bushes nearby, as something tried to conceal itself.
Not entirely confident as to what the plan was from there, Estel dropped his pack and made as if to sit down. He did not finish the motion. Legolas, evidently having different ideas, moved with a speed that surprised even Estel and pounced at the bushes with cat-like agility. Estel heard a brief scuffle, then the elf emerged from the bushes, grinning triumphantly.
Looking at Legolas now, Estel was suddenly reminded of a fishing trip on which his father had sent him some time ago with some rangers. He had this image in his head of one of the men standing on the dock, proudly holding a very large trout by its tail. This image was now echoed in front of him, with a blonde elf instead of a dark-haired man, and instead of the fish - a wriggling and very frightened-looking goblin.
"Have you any rope, my friend?" Legolas asked.
Estel retrieved a fine rope from his travelling pack, and they bound the creature to a tree.
"I suppose this may make our mission a touch easier," said Estel. "Having a captive to question may eliminate the need entirely to venture into their base."
"If one trusts the words of a goblin." The elf looked sceptical.
"If one gets any words out a goblin." Estel was quite conscious that the creature had not yet said anything. Switching to the common tongue, he addressed the creature.
"Identify yourself, goblin."
The creature narrowed its eyes and said nothing.
Legolas joined Estel in the interrogation, crouching down and staring the goblin directly in its eyes, "It would be wise to follow my friend's instructions. You are a trespasser in this land, and you are now a captive. I am certain that even a wretched goblin brain can grasp that this is a very perilous position to be in."
The goblin squirmed uncomfortably under Legolas's gaze but said nothing.
"He is scared of you, we can use that." Estel said in Sindarin. He paused for a moment, considering his next move. "Draw your blade."
Legolas kept his face stoic, conscious that the goblin would be trying to interpret their conversation, but he could not keep the horror out of this voice: "Estel, he is our captive, and he has not made any attempt to harm us. Surely you cannot intend for us to…"
The man bristled slightly at the elf's insinuation. "Of course not, what do you take me for? I merely intend to frighten the creature. I suspect that his own race is less than merciful to captives, so he should break easily at the threat. If we make you seem frightening enough I am sure he will be more than willing to tell us what we need to know."
"Goblins are weak to such tricks - they are not exactly known for their critical thinking." Legolas agreed, then drew one of his twin daggers, trying to make the action as menacing as possible.
The goblin struggled desperately against his restraints. He had just witnessed his two captors exchange tense words in a strange tongue, and now the fair one was drawing what could only be a magical weapon - he had never seen a blade that looked so sharp and fine, and it seemed to glow a faint otherworldly blue.
Estel began a dramatic speech to the creature.
"I suggest you start speaking. My friend here, Úmëamornië, longs to have his blade taste goblin blood again. He is the bringer of darkness to goblin-folk, and has purged your kin from many lands. I have seen him once in action; he invaded a dark, dank cave, which a tribe of your kind had taken as their own. He crept along the walls, unseen and unheard. He scuttled across the ceiling like a spider, before dropping into the midst of 50 goblins, his knives slashing through neck after neck like butter. Those who tried to escape, he picked off with arrows as his bow sung a song of death! Speak! Or you will meet the same fate."
Legolas fought hard to keep his face stoic, trying to embody the character "Evil Darkness, Slayer of Goblins'' which Estel was describing to the goblin. He was fighting very hard to keep from laughing at how outlandish both the name and invented backstory were.
The ridiculous tale was working. The goblins eyes grew wider and wider as Estel continued to speak, until he cried out "Hránzin! I am Hránzin, scout and servant of Nárendúr."
Legolas and Estel shared a satisfied glance.
Looking back at the goblin, Estel repeated his name slowly: "Hránzin."
He held the creature's gaze for several long moments, in which the goblin looked as if it was trying to wish itself into another plane.
"And tell me Hránzin, how is it you find yourself so far into elvish lands?"
"I travel with my company. I follow Nárendúr."
"And who is this Nárendur?" Legolas chimed in.
At this, the goblin pulled his lips firmly shut. Legolas fell back into character and began to twirl his knife between his fingers.
"Do not make me say! He will kill me! He does not know mercy nor reason!"
Legolas and Aragorn merely stared at the goblin, unimpressed. Silence weighed too heavily in the air, so the goblin resumed his protests.
"Do not make me speak! He is a cruel master! He drags us through missions we care not for. He promised us riches, and power, and so we pledged ourselves to his service. He lied. We wander stupidly through elf-forests, always the stupid elf-forests. We say, 'let us go back to the deep mines', we say 'we want gold and food and maybe to rule some other goblins", but still he does not listen to our wants! Still we get dragged through elf-forests, and many of us do not survive the dangers at which he throws us. He cares not in the slightest for our lives, and many perish in his service. Yet we dare not try and escape, for if we get caught..." The goblin drifted off, the implication clear.
The pair very nearly felt sympathy, as it was plain that the goblin held no stake in the invasion of the pass.
"But what is the purpose of these… these missions in elf-forests of which you speak?" Estel asked.
"I know not! Him and the strange man-folk that follow him, they lead the important parts of our missions. We goblins are left to just 'guard this', 'follow that'... And even then, never when it is important!"
"Strange Man-folk. I suppose these would be the unqüatani of which Isiltirmo spoke?" Leglas commented in Sindarin. Switching back to Common, he implored: "Tell me more about these man-folk, Hránzin."
The goblin shuddered. "Most unnerving they are. Rarely sleep, never talk. We call them Spooks."
Legolas leaned in, intrigued. "And why do you call them Spooks?"
"Because they spooks us." The goblin shrugged.
Estel chuckled as the elf's face fell. It was quickly becoming evident that the goblin had limited insight to bring. He decided to re-direct the questioning to more practical matters.
"The rest of your company. Where are they camped?"
"In the rocky little cave in the pass. We find the path, the third path in the pass, down we go, and there is a cave! Not as deep as the ones we long for, but deep and winding enough that our company can sleep well, and our master can hole himself away all on his lonesome in some deeper chamber."
"And how many are your company?"
The goblin looked nervous at this question again, and his brow furrowed as he tried counting under his breath, "One, no two… and then twenty… and then more….". Hránzin did seem to have some sort of methodology in his counting, but it was not inspiring a great deal of faith.
"We have somewhere between 23 and 227 goblins, and between 5 and 74 Spooks." Hránzin declared, proudly. He was smiling in the manner of a young student who had just given a correct answer when quizzed by a particularly demanding tutor.
"23 and 227? That is a rather large range, master goblin." Estel remarked.
The goblin's face fell, and he started whispering numbers under his breath again.
"Hránzin, if you had 3 lots of 5 gold coins, plus 4 more gold coins on top of that, how many gold coins would you have?" Legolas asked the goblin.
"3 lots of…" the goblin looked truly frightened again, his face as contorted as it had been when listening to Estel's tale of Legolas's goblin-slaying.
"3 lots of 5, plus 4 more." Legolas repeated.
What followed was a load of frenzied muttering and counting on fingers - at least in so far as he could still use them while being tied to the tree.
"28?" came the final response, though there was no conviction behind the number.
"He cannot even count. I do not think there is anything more of value that he can tell us," said Legolas in Sindarin while stepping away from the captive.
"I tend to agree with you," Estel responded in kind.
The elf frowned at the bound goblin. "We cannot release him. He will surely go running back to his master and warn him of our presence. Perhaps we should take him back to Imladris- while his information is incomplete, it has given us a good base to work from, and we could bring together a party to confront this Nárendur. Perhaps your father has even heard of this villain."
Estel considered the elf's words. Legolas continued, "We could leave now and walk through the night - avoid the risk that someone will go looking for Hránzin. Isil is almost full and shines brightly, and we could be back by dawn."
Estel replied thoughtfully: "I do agree that Hránzin should be brought back to Imladris. And yet, I do not think it is time for us to return. I would rather like to have a look at the pass, to write the lie of the land to my memory so that we would have a complete plan of action. We have not yet even examined the pass, which is what we set out to do."
Legolas nodded, "I admit, I too have a desire to further explore the area. You are right that there is more information to be gained; perhaps returning now would be over-cautious. May I suggest we camp here for the night then? It is far enough from the pass that we should not be at any risk of discovery. In the morning we can find somewhere to bind Hránzin while we explore, and we will journey back that afternoon or next."
"That is a sound plan. Come then, let us sup and sleep. The tree above Hránzin looks comfortable enough for us to spend the night."
The pair shared a quiet evening meal of waybread and some foraged fruit, and they found places to sleep in the boughs of the tree that their captive was bound to. Feeling less need for rest, Legolas took the first watch.
Staring at the moon, the elf began to sing a slow, soft lullaby. However, he did not get further than two lines, before the goblin quite spoiled the moment by attempting to sing along.
The goblin did not know the words, or speak the language, but was making a valiant attempt to join in the tune. His croaky voice contrasted sharply with the elf's sweet tones.
"Isil la-la-la lorna lorn la-la-la elen li-li cala" the creature spewed a string of nonsense, mimicking some words or sounds he thought he heard
Legolas shouted a half-hearted instruction for the goblin to be silent, but he supposed he could not deny the creature a song - painful though it was to listen to - since he himself took great pleasure in an evening tune.
The singing, if it can be called that, continued for a few minutes. Then the elf heard a branch break in the bushes. Suddenly alert, he snapped a much harsher instruction at their captive to be silent. In the newfound silence, he realised with growing horror that he could now hear movement from many sides, and heavy breathing in the darkness. He mentally cursed himself for allowing the foul creature below him to sing, as he realised this must have been a cover to allow its allies to get into position.
Estel was attempting to sleep on the branch below him, and Legolas bent down to gently squeeze his hand and get his attention.
"Estel… We are surrounded."