The Serpent's Snare
Chapter Six
I was completely lost; every blasted tree in this place looked the same and each of them were towering above me as if reminding me how small I was in this vast land. Finding my way through the darkened forest was becoming monotonous. I was trying to keep my calm, but the thought of a crazed elf woman trailing behind me couldn't escape my mind. Paranoia at it's finest. I had no evidence she was following me, but I knew I was not exactly going to step foot beyond her reach without being pulled back, whether by the urge to find my ring or by the intent she had for me to become the savoir of her lost daughter.
"That's far enough!" I spun around, my muddy dress shoes sliding perfectly into an exposed root causing me to fall hard upon the moistened earth. Well at least I recognized the voice.
"Hey, I thought we were passed this?" I strained as the point of Estelon's arrow reflected into sight.
"And I thought I had instructed you to remain where I left you?" Ah yes, there was that. I shook my head as I rubbed my fingertips upon my soil riddled palms. I was growing very tired of being covered in dirt; this land was after me…or at least the very threads of my suit which was utterly ruined at this point. There was no salvaging it.
"Look, I've got to tell you…your Lady Galadriel is bloody off her rocker!"
"Excuse me?" I rolled my eyes as the elf lowered his arrow.
"SHE'S CRAZY!"
"Do not speak ill of the Lady Galadriel in my presence, it will lead to consequences you are not prepared to face my friend." Loyalty. Commendable in a sense, but highly aggravating given these circumstances. For once, Granger's words struck a nerve and I could not help but think in this moment that it would be nice to have a friend. The situation, the fact that I was in an alternative world, everything was beginning to sink in. I was in way over my head here.
"She thinks I've come here to save her daughter, who I have never met in my life but apparently I'm supposed to fall in love with? I don't know what magic she's using with that mirror of hers but this is just all too much to comprehend here. I need-"
"You need to take a breath." Estelon smirked while securing his bow upon his back until he offered a hand to me. I had nearly forgotten I was still on the ground from all that was going on within my mind.
"You saw Lothuialil? In the mirror?"
"Yes but-" I started until I remembered this was still an individual who has strong allegiances here, for once I needed to consider choosing my words before I speak them. But, much to my satisfaction, Estelon decided to speak in my stead.
"Lady Lothuialil was…the most amazing creature I have ever had the honor of meeting. She wields a power of both gentle beauty and undeniable strength. Her smile…it brought life to a land that was all but barren in the wake of the renewed age of men. Elves were leaving, by the hundreds, it was not until Lothuialil's birth that elves realized we may yet still have life to live in this world." The admiration flowing from his lips was incredibly poetic. But I had to know…
"What happened to her?"
"Well…that is the great mystery. Some are convinced that the dark lord has taken her in hopes of diminishing this newfound pride the elves have found within ourselves, while others say she left on her own free will. There's even rumors she was taken by dwarves for ransom."
"And what do you think?" I asked. The blonde smiled as he sat on a rounded boulder nearest us.
"I don't know what to think. But I can tell you that she has much more to her than meets the eye. Her thoughts, her dreams…even the way she moved, it was as if she walked in starlight."
"Forgive me but you speak as if you cared for her." I did not mean to pry, but something about the cloak of darkness and the chill within the air was enough to allow honesty guide my words.
"You said that you are meant to fall in love with her and I can tell you that you will find no easier thing to do in your entire life than to fall in love with such a beautiful soul." Wow. Talk about deep. This Lothuialil must be quite an impressive individual to have such words being spoken about her.
"I don't know if I'm meant to or not."
"If you have seen it in Lady Galadriel's mirror, then is most certainly meant to be." I wanted to tell him that I was not yet convinced that this mirror was more than a petty illusion led by the hand of Galadriel herself but at least I knew that her daughter may not be as…terrifying as her mother.
"I am not able to speak for Lady Galadriel, but I will say in her defense that though she guards her secrets, she cannot keep her pain from being seen by her people. And I do not know what you know of pain…but the pain she suffers is not easy. Spare your mind of hatred towards her and try to understand that she is simply a grieving mother desperate to be reunited with her daughter." Those words struck a nerve, but a nerve that I think I needed to be felt. I knew a lot of pain. But I also knew a lot about a grieving mother. My mother…everything she did, every decision whether it was great or small, was made with me in mind.
"Point taken." That was the only thing I was able to say. Thoughts of my mother, my home, everything we had gone through as a family was enough to soften my hardened thoughts towards Galadriel.
"Let's get you back to your friends shall we?"
"Let's not." I quickly replied causing Estelon to laugh.
"Are they that bad?"
"They're worse." I breathed.
I found our walk returning to Potter and Granger to be quite enlightening. I had learned much of Galadriel, Celeborn, this land and an elf by the name of Haldir that Estelon had grown to admire from a very young age. I also found myself inquiring further about Lothuialil. Weirdest name I have ever heard, but I think weird names was a requirement of elves, at least that's what I gathered upon my arrival and introductions. But I mean if I was destined to fall in love with this chick, I think I deserved to learn more about her and I was more impressed with her the more I heard.
She was starting to sound far too perfect to be real the way Estelon talked but there was one thing in his drawn out speech of her greatness that stood out to me. She saw the good in everyone. That was something she must be able to do if she found it possible to have feelings for me.
I found it impossible to believe what I saw in the mirror to be my future but the thought was still enticing to say the least. I couldn't quite explain it in any other way than I hoped it would be a future I could look forward to but there was an ocean of obstacles, doubt and sheer confusion that stood in my way at the moment.
As we neared the camp where Granger and Potter were still sound asleep I turned to Estelon.
"What's next for us? What am I supposed to do next?"
"I am not the one you should be asking."
"I'm not about to go talking to Galadriel again." Estelon laughed at my remark. He found my fear of her amusing, while I found his total trust in her to be foolish.
"I do not believe you will have to do so." Estelon spoke quickly as he stood at attention before bowing. Wonderful, who will I have to contend with this time? I spun around to see Lord Celeborn approaching, his expression as cold as ever.
"Leave us." Celeborn motioned for Estelon to leave us, I felt the urge to object his demand but I thought it may be best to remain rather quiet in the presence of this man. He did not care what I had to say, or at least that's what I had in mind.
"Of course." Estelon replied before giving me a reassuring glance, he then took his position nearest Granger and Potter.
"Would you prefer we speak elsewhere?" I offered while looking up at the stern gaze staring a hole right through me.
"What exactly is your business here boy? What are your intentions?" The interrogation approach, well I couldn't say I wasn't used to that sort of thing back in the magical world. But I honestly did not know how to answer him; I did not plan my arrival let alone have time to imagine a course of action.
"Well you see-" I started.
"No, you see here boy…whether you like it or not your fate is now intertwined with another person of which I care deeply for." Lothuialil. I had a feeling I would never stop being told of her, her importance and how I am meant to save her but if someone would let me get a word in around here maybe they would see that I was not the man for the job. I am a stranger to this place, I had no clue where I would go, who I would speak to or what to even expect except more of…this.
"You are far from the incredible, honorable creature Galadriel has predicted would arrive to restore all hope in the people of this land. You are nothing but a child! No wisdom to speak of and no great worth that my eyes can see. But…you are all that we have so you will do as you have been foretold to do, am I clear?" This conversation was feeling very one sided and I was quite sure that was not the extent of his disrespectful words he had within his mind.
"Look…I really need to think about all of this." I watched as the elf shook his head.
"Is this what you want? Is this the only reason you are here?" He held out his hand and there sat the golden ring I had been so fixated upon since I first laid eyes upon it. There it was. Right before me, I could already hear the whispers dancing about my ears as the gleam of its surface caught the light of the rising sun.
"You men are all the same. Your blood is weak in the face of temptation. I do not know what ties you have with dark lord but at the moment that is not my concern. My only concern is the safe return of my daughter and if giving this to you will ensure that to come to pass, then I offer it to you freely." I couldn't deny the fact his words hardly made sense when all I could focus on was the fact the ring was so close to being back in my possession.
I quickly reached for it, but Celeborn coiled his hand and awaited my gaze to return to his own.
"I have no choice but to place my faith in you boy. Bring her back home for if you do not, there is no place that will harbor you safety from my reach. You do not want to test the wrath of a father who has nothing left in this world." I swore I saw tears beginning to swell within his anger filled eyes but I did the only thing that felt right to do, I nodded while he opened his hand once more, allowing the ring to appear before me once again.
In a blink of an eye I had taken the ring for my own and tucked it safely in the lapel of my jacket. Best not admire its beauty in his presence.
"Could you, I mean, would you be so kind as to offer me any information on the land? Maybe share a map and any sort of information you could think of in regards to your daughter? I mean…if I'm to do this…I need a little more to go on." I admitted. I couldn't believe I was going to do this, I mean I was going to do this right? Well I had nothing else to do while I was here, not exactly the most noble of reasons to accept such a quest but hell, I was a Mafloy afterall.
"Your friends will allow Estelon become your guide. You will have a few of our finest warriors at your disposal. You will not stop to rest, you will leave no stone uncovered do you understand?"
"I'll find her." I said without thinking. Damn, perhaps not the best thing to say without the slightest idea as to what I was doing or how I would find this girl but I watched as Celeborn's expression softened at the sound of my words.
"Please see that you do."
Author's Note: Alrighty, late update yet again, I'm getting a bit late on my updates and I do apologize but life is just busy but I hope my updates are always worth waiting for!
Oh a quick request, please everyone take a read of my other fics, they could always use some attention, love and I always love hearing from you all in the review department!
Also I hope everyone who has been in the path of hurricane matthew in the US is safe and sound, thoughts and prayers with you all!
Well, hope everyone enjoyed the update, looks like the quest has officially started, thoughts on what will happen? What about the ring? Anyone have any predictions as to what lies ahead for our favorite Malfoy? Well please take a moment to drop a review, as always I will reply to each personally in the next update! Thanks!
SmileSimplify: Hello again my friend, thanks as always for your in depth reviews, I'll as always do my best to respond to the best of my ability!
As for your grammar nit picks, they're not my favorite, but I welcome them and will always read them if you provide them. I do not have much free time to go back and fix mistakes such as those, I simply ask my readers to overlook them, but I know for some it is a daunting task, but I am merely human and mistakes are always made I'm afraid, but I will try my best to be more aware of them for you. And I thank you for taking time to point them out so if you wish to add them in your review, that is fine!
Yes, Draco will have a love interest, it's a bit of an interesting, weird situation so far though for the relationship set up, I totally did that on purpose, instead of the typical boy meets girl, boy falls in love blah blah, I wanted something a bit more complex. Hope you like that!
With Celeborn's initial dislike for Draco, Galadriel (in my story) is quite open with Celeborn with her visions and I don't believe I said in the story (you can point out to me otherwise) but i didn't clearly say she did not see his face in her visions. She did see his face, but even if she did not, she has seen an outsider arrive with the one ring so with Draco being the one carrying the ring with him upon his arrival, the assumption would be that Draco is the one in her visions therefore both Galadriel and Celeborn would look to him as this person without much else to go on, does that make sense? The ring is sort of the giveaway, her visions did include this "hero" had the one ring.
I corrected the spelling (hopefully) in Lothuialil's name in the story/chapter title. And as for your question if the elves know about how has taken her or her whereabouts, I think the chapter itself has answered that question for you but I'm making it a bit more interesting as to where she is. No one really knows, makes it very hard for our trio who have never been here before, but never fear, I will find a way to throw a few believable clues their way to help in their search. What do you think happened to her?
About Galadriel's mirror, I know it is not a mirror so to speak, I know it is not an exact equivalent to the mirror of Erised but I played with Draco's lack of knowledge of her "mirror" in that scene. To his eyes, perhaps that all he could compare it to in his mind to make sense of what was happening. And you are so right about Voldemort, he would have given anything to acquire such a thing. *chuckles*
And as for your statement about DM and not falling victim to the darkness of the one ring you totally nailed that, I honestly think he was the best character from HP to bear it. I think many people would argue Hermione or Harry would be better suited but I look at them as being exhausted from the wars of Voldemort and may actually be tempted by the darkness just by that fact alone. A tired, taxed mind would be all to easy to be ensnared. And DM is my favorite character too by the way, I wish they didn't make him such a prat in the movies, but anyways yes I do believe his entire beliefs, what he's gone through and everything about him make him an unlikely, yet most believable bearer of the ring without being so tempted. There is desire yes, but he is not thinking of it as a "weak" power hungry man would.
Well I can't give away how the spells being cast on middle earth will turn out, but you will enjoy it and will learn next update my friend!
And I think I may have some other LOTR characters make an appearance in the story. Aragorn and Arwen are for sure going to be in the story, but the others I'll leave as a surprise!
Thanks again for your amazing, in depth review, I enjoy responding to them and I hope this chapter was to your liking! Thanks again!