Chapter 3
A/N: I own nothing. All belong to Tolkien and JK Rowling. No money was made here. Also, for now, Emel doesn't understand anyone and vice versa so English speech "[will look like this]" and Elvish speech "will look like this."
When Emel woke up it was dark outside. She could not see much on this moonless night, but she knew she was in a clearing in a forest of some kind. The ground beneath her was scorched with the magic circle left over from Dumbledore's spell. Having grown up beside the forbidden forest of Hogwarts, Emel was instantly alert and weary. She was shaky and weak, but she knew she had to get moving. The leftovers from the spell that brought her here could attract all manner of things and she didn't yet know what kinds of beast lived in these lands. Like a newborn lamb Emel began to make her way over to the tree line to try and find some secluded place to set up camp and recover.
In Rivendell…
Lord Elrond had been in his office, resting in a chair on a balcony looking over the valley. He had fallen into the restful meditative state which was an elvish version of sleeping when he was awoken by a strong magical disturbance in the west not far from his lands. He looked out into the horizon as far as he could see with his elvish sight but could see nothing unusual.
It was not long before there was a knock at his office door. When permitted to enter, the golden-haired Glorfindel, Captain of the guard bowed to his lord. He straightened and the serious captain asked, "Did you feel that upheaval in the air to the west of here?"
"Yes. I cannot say what it may have been, but it was not far from here. Somewhere in the Trollshaw forests. An hour before sunrise I want you and my son's Elladan and Elrohir to go and investigate. Be cautious when you go and take a hunting party with you. It is very likely that other forces may have sensed it as well." Replied Lord Elrond. Elrond did not yet know how right he was to be cautious.
Glorfindel bow again in acquiesces and left the room to prepare.
Emel had found an ancient drooping willow tree not too far from where she had arrived. It took what was left of her energy to set up the tent under it's concealing branches and sent up the protective barriers around the campsite as her father taught her. She did not bother with a fire pit but rather crawled onto her cot in her sectioned off bedroom of the tent, wrapped herself up in her Nana's tartan blanket and drifted off into a deep healing sleep.
The morning turned out to be dark with thick and heavy cloud cover. Glorfindel and his party made sure to wear hooded cloaks over there armor to give them some protection from the coming rain storm. The lack of sunlight meant it would be possible for orc and trolls to come down from the misty mountains, so everyone was vigilant with there weapons close at hand.
Having been resurrected by Eru and living his second life, Glorfindel was a powerful and ancient elf lord who was often liked to the Maiar. Because of this he was the most sensitive to the disturbance and led the party on its hunt.
It wasn't long before the clouds let go and rained upon the earth half drowning everyone. The roads were washed out and became perilous for the horses, so everyone dismounted and sent their steeds back to the safety of Rivendell's valley while they continued on foot.
Around late afternoon they came upon the clearing in which Emel had arrived in. Much had been washed away and turned to mud but Glorfindel could still feel the remnants of power in the earth under his fingers. He ordered everyone to fan out and look for anyone or anything unusual. Suddenly they were set upon by an unusually large party of Orcs who seemed to have brought a pair of trolls along.
A despite battle broke out and the war cries of the enemy were partially drowned out by the loud thunderclaps of the rainstorm above.
Emel woke up well after what would have been sunrise to the sound of the rainstorm. Bleary-eyed, she hobbled in her socked feet across the wooden floor of the tent to the kitchen. Still wrapped up in her blanket she made herself a cup of tea and toast for breakfast.
When she was done eating, she went into the small washroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. He hair was still neat in its tight braid and rather than change her clothes she cast a quick freshening and anti-wrinkle charm. She was a little hesitant to go outside just yet, so she settled onto one of the couches in the Livingroom in the center of the tent and pulled one of the large tombs out of her bag to read while drinking her second cup of tea.
It wasn't long before she became antsy and melancholy. The book just reminded her of Hogwarts and her father, so she stowed it away again in her backpack. Pulling on her boots and cloak she steps out of her tent. The protective enchantments also kept the rain and harsh winds out, so the deluge created a curtain of rain around the willow trees branches. Unperturbed she figured the rain would keep some of the more dangerous animals in hiding so she was safe to go exposing. She pulled up her hood and stepped out into the storm. After walking for some time, she decided to have a look around the clearing she had arrived in.
As she got closer, she thought she heard something but then there was a flash of lightning, so she figured it was just the thunder. How wrong she was. When she got to the edge of the tree line, she stood frozen in shock. She could hardly believe her eyes. Among the rain and mud were some of the most horrific beings she had ever laid eyes on. They were the stuff of nightmares. These monsters had short and gray sickly skin and rotten crooked fanged teeth. They wore crude black armor and jagged weapons. There looked to be over 100 of them and they surrounded a party of angels in the middle of the chaos.
The ethereal beings moved quickly in fluid motions faster than could be followed felling one demon after another but they were still overwhelmed by the sheer numbers. When she saw one of the angels fall under an avalanche of the demons, she accidentally cried out in horror catching Glorfindel's attention and the attention of the nearest orcs.
Forgetting that she is a witch she dicked down and covered her head with her arms in fright. The elves yelled something to her in Sindarin which she obviously didn't understand. An arrow from Elrohir Killed an orc that tried to cut her down and it dropped at her feet. This shook her out of her stupor.
Looking up again she motioned for Glorfindel to follow her and then ran back into the forest as quickly as her little legs could carry her. A group of orcs followed her, so she cast a quick disillusionment charm to hide her from sight. When she reached her camp, she looked out past the willow branches and kept a nervous eye out for the angels.
The demons ran past her hiding spot without noticing her and grumbled to each other in their guttural language making her skin crawl.
Glorfindel saw the childlike person Elrohir had saved with a well-placed arrow run back under the forest canopy. Once they had finally killed over half the orcs and the twins killed the troll the enemy realized they were fighting a losing battle and began to flee. Some of the hunting party meant to make chase but Glorfindel halted their pursuit. Of the 15 that had set out, 3 elves had been killed and two were severely injured.
Since the rain began to lighten and the storm was passing Glorfindel ordered 3 of his men to return to Rivendell to report and bring horses to retrieve the bodies of their fallen comrades. The rest were ordered to see to the wounded and burn the orc carcasses once the rain fully halted. When the messengers returned to the clearing, they were all to go back to the valley without him or the twin princes.
When everyone began to do as instructed Glorfindel, Elrohir and Elladan set out to find the child which was hopefully still alive.
Emel's POV:
It was about an hour before Emel heard soft melodious voices not far from her camp. She worried about the angels and whether they had been killed. She had collected some firewood which she dried and set into the pit she had prepared in front of her tent while she waited. When she heard the voices, she gently moved aside the willow branches and looked out. Not far from her hiding spot was the tall golden angel that tried to talk to her during the battle and two slight shorter dark hair and gray-eyed angels beside him. Luckily for them, the rain had cleared away the orc blood from there armor or she would have never made herself know to them. She was still slightly intimidated, but she was kind-hearted and worried more about there safety than her fear.
She stepped out and called them over to her.
Glorfindel's POV:
It was not long before the small hooded figure appeared out of nowhere calling out to them in a strange language. Slowly he approached and bent down to greet them at their height in order to seem non-threatening. "Hello, little one, who might you be? How did you get here and where are your parents?"
The little one just shook her cloaked head and shrugged her shoulders. It looked around nervously and then spoke in a soft and gentle voice in an unknown language. "[I don't know what you're saying, but you should come with me before the monsters come back.]"
A Small chubby hand grabbed one of his hand and pulled him through her enchantments to her campsite.
Startled, Glorfindel turned around and looked at the twins who were shouting for him. He called back to them, but they couldn't hear him which he could hear them just fine.
Emel didn't like there yelling, worrying they would call the monsters back to them, so she quickly motioned for Glorfindel to stay while she stepped back out and led the twin into the enchantments as well. It was good timing to because 3 orcs ran by not a few seconds later. Elladan went to pull out an arrow from his quiver to kill the beasts but A small had stopped him. He looked Down at Emel who had pushed her hood down while the three had been momentarily dumbstruck and he was stunned to see a little gwinig (meaning 'little baby' in elvish) with blond hair and purple eyes.
The three of them watched stupidly as she walked to her one-man tent. A few seconds later when she noticed they didn't follow she poked her head back out and motioned for them to follow her in.
Finally, Elrohir spoke aloud, "What in Eru is an Elvish baby doing all alone in the middle of the Trollshaw and what kind of magic is keeping this willow tree hidden from view? Is she a maiar do you think? Could a toddler really hold such power?"
"I know not but what I do know is she is of the Eldar and alone. She holds powers that I can sense but of what kind I do not know. I sense no evil in her only fear and uncertainty. We'd best bring her to your father. He will know what to do." Replied Glorfindel.
Stepping forward he pushed aside the tent flap and looked in, shocked he said, "By Eru! This tent had some sort of spell upon it as well."
Stepping inside he had to duck slightly due to his great height and the twins followed him inside let out their own exclamations of wonder.
Emel had disposed of her cloak onto a chair in her dining room and the three of them stared at there odd surroundings and her strange clothing.
Hesitantly she approached them. When it was clear they weren't going to hurt her, she used her wand and cast a quick cleaning spell and drying spell on the three men and motioned for them to sit on the couches in the living room.
It was late in the day and close to sundown so the three of them decided to stay the night with the little child and take her to Rivendell in the morning. Emel was not a very good cook having been served by house elves her whole life. Lucky, Dissy and the Hogwarts kitchen elves put ready-made dinner into containers in the icebox. She pulled out 4 servings of her favorite, Fettuccini Alfredo and four cups of tea. They ate in the dining room and conversation that night was very awkward.
It became very clear to the three warriors that she didn't speak any of the known languages of Arda so they had trouble communicating with her. When she put the ring on, she understood that they meant to take her to there city in the morning.
Considering she didn't know what else to do she motioned to them that she would follow. Not long after dinner, to her great surprise, Glorfindel bodily picked up Emel and put her to bed on her cot. It was going to be an early start in the morning after all.