Idrial's Quest
By Lady Annalease
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A/N: Since, apparently, all the Elves in this chapter are Aronel (whoever decided they should be called that deserves to be shot, by the way), I took a little licence in exactly who they were.
A/N 2: Because of the nature of Emnet Gullies, quests can be done in any order, so the order that is used here is the one I used myself. Also, I apologise for the short length, I was a touch pressed for time. The next chapter will be longer.
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Chapter Four - East Emnet Gullies:
Aronel returned to us in the early hours of the morning with a detachment of a few warriors, including some of those who had fought with us before, with provisions and with orders to see us safely to Rohan and then take our mounts back to the sanctuary of Lórien. Berethor spoke little during the long ride, I wondered if he still mulled over whatever he and my Lady had shared. Elegost, on the other hand, seemed full of new purpose and Hadhod seemed far easier now than ever I had seen him. When we came to East Emnet, out of the safety of Elven-patrolled lands, Aronel and his men spread out to scout further ahead, leaving us quite alone for the moment on the edge of the Anduin. We could hear the Falls of Rauros in the distance.
"This is the place," Berethor murmured to himself, then he raised his voice so the rest of us might here: "the Fellowship landed here, I think," he said, "is there any sign of them?" Elegost scoured the ground for signs.
"A company of Uruk-hai passed this way," he murmured.
"What of the party from Rivendell?" Berethor reiterated.
"It is difficult to tell," Elegost murmured, "…wait - here!" They bent to examine a mark upon the ground but, unbeknownst to them, they were being watched. An Uruk-hai solider stood upon a higher outcropping, about to shoot; one of them, perhaps both, would have died in that moment had it not been for the Elven arrow that suddenly pieced the beast's chest. Rúmil stood behind it, bow raised. He tossed his head back haughtily.
"You should not scout so far ahead," he spoke, "these lands are filled with danger." His superior tone immediately had our ire up.
"You have been watching us?" Berethor demanded. The double meaning of those words was not lost on me; I had felt Rúmil's eyes upon our small company, particularly Berethor and I, throughout the journey from Lórien.
"Yes," he replied, almost a growl, then he spoke again after a pause, "Cáno Aronel asked one of us to stay and guard you." …And you volunteered; I finished his statement in my mind. My foolish brother had obviously not noticed the tension between Rúmil and Berethor; I could forgive him, though, for there were obviously far greater and graver matters on his mind.
"We are quite able to defend ourselves!" Berethor almost snarled. Rúmil leapt down so he was on level ground with us and stood toe-to-toe with the Man.
"I have buried others who were so arrogant as to speak those words!" the ellon hissed dangerously. I could see this was not going to end well if someone did not step in. I pushed between the two of them and, with hands on Berethor's chest, urged the Man to step back.
"We thank you, Rúmil, for you aid. Is there aught we can do to help my brother's men?" I asked. The ellon looked fit to spit, as obvious as I had made my preference, but he could not very well do anything rash where he was so outnumbered and under the sole command of one of my relatives.
"These gullies are swarming with Uruk-hai," he spoke coldly. "We must cleanse them. Help the patrol so we may break through the Uruk-hai blockade." He turned and strode off. I gave a sigh of relief; I have never been gladder to be spared from the company of an Elf.
"Unfortunately, I think we have earned his ire," Elegost spoke. I laughed bitterly.
"Do not be so generous, mellon nín. It is better said I have earned his ire and I do not think that is the last we shall see of it either." The Ranger grimaced at me.
"I am sorry, Idrial," Berethor suddenly spoke, "I did not mean to be so provoking. Had it…had it been even a few minutes later, I would have behaved better. It is just…now I have seen this place I know my Lord Boromir is dead. Your Lady showed me what happened to him…among other things, but I could not truly believe her until just now, until I saw this place myself." He rubbed his face. "Come, we need not tarry here." I drew level with him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder as we began to move on.
"I am sorry, melethron nín," I murmured, "but I know something of this as well. Boromir redeemed himself with his fall. The task you set out from Gondor upon is over, but we must now aid the Fellowship in their quest." He nodded.
"Yes," he said, "that is what we must do. Come!" he cried, in greater spirits, and took off at a run.
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We caught up to Rúmil, finding him trapped by a band of Uruk-hai. I knew he was still furious with us, but he could not very well turn our help away when he was about to be skewered.
"Find the rest of the patrol," he spoke after the battle, "then we will be able to fight our way out of this curséd maze of rock." He turned and strode on once more. Impolite as he had been, I could not be aggrieved to see him go. As we continued on, I had to wonder whether or not any of Rohan's famous riders were hereabouts, if there was an Uruk-hai blockade, one assumed they must have been blockading for some reason other than a small Elven patrol. As if to confirm my suspicions, we found what looked to be an outpost of just such a company, but it was unreachable because of a wicked rift in the ground. We knew we must head deeper into the maze-like gullies if we were to find a way in. We came suddenly upon two Elves running from a band of Uruk-hai, they were not wounded and they called out praises as they beheld us and we turned to face the enemy. They thanked us profusely once we were victorious and told us that we should seek for the others in the patrol toward the blockade and in the Warg Cave…whatever that was. The scouts promised to make their way toward the blockade so they could help us break it when we found all the patrol. We continued on. We were suddenly startled by a loud crash and an explosion of light. When we recovered we looked upon the figure of Gandalf the White. We stood, frozen in shock for a moment.
"So, we meet again," he spoke. We bowed to him.
"You are transformed!" I cried in delight. "We never thought to see you again." He smiled.
"Yes, I did not think to see you so soon either, my dear, but here I am."
"What are you doing here?" Berethor asked. At that moment, the Wizard turned suddenly.
"Right now, I am warning you of Orcs!" he cried and disappeared as the beasts leap upon us. We could scarcely believe what we had seen.
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We soon found the entrance to the outpost we had seen over the ravine. There were many graves of dead Rohirric warriors and I spoke a soft prayer for their peace in the Halls of Mandos. The outpost was abandoned and crawling with Uruk-hai, but the supplies within were still serviceable and we needed all that we could get. We found out soon after that what the Elven scouts had meant by the Warg-Cave. Inside a cave we found a great matriarchal warg, she must have been ancient; she showed evidence of many wounds and many battles, and bones of men and beasts alike littered her den. She almost took Hadhod's head from his shoulders in her first pass, and though she was a fearsome foe, we finally succeeded in putting her out of misery. Her lair was massive and we frequently ran into what must have been either her mates or her get. At the back of her den we found a single Elven warrior, he was badly wounded. I healed him. He thanked us profusely and promised we would see him again at the blockade. In another offshoot of the cave we found another Elf we had been seeking. He was dead. I knew him instantly as one of my brother's scouts, though I had known him little personally. All I knew was that he would not be missed; his parents and any siblings had sailed West long ago and he had never bound himself. I leaned down and brushed a kiss across his forehead, murmuring prayers and swearing vengeance. Berethor placed his hand on my shoulder comfortingly as I knelt there. We left him there; we had no choice, for there was little time to do anything else.
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Mithrandir appeared to us once more and begged us to help him reassemble Éomer's scattered forces east of Helm's Deep. We agreed, of course.
"I wish I could stay," he spoke, "but there are others that I must see. Fare well!" He stalked off into the craggy rocks.
"He has not changed overmuch," Elegost murmured.
"No," I agreed, "he has not, really, has he?" We continued through the rock-maze until we came upon a plateau where another group from my brother's band stood ready to ambush the approaching Uruk-hai. They were quite happy for us to join them. We had all the advantages, most obviously the high-ground; the Uruk-hai barely got off a shot. The Elves congratulated us on a good victory and then went off to join the others at the blockade. We came upon the final group of Elves, cornered by a pack of Wargs. They were exceedingly happy to see us. One of them told us he had seen a Rohirric rider overpowered and captured by Uruk-hai, but the man was still alive, and begged us to save him as the man had proved a vital distraction which had saved their lives. The group then ran off to the gathering near the blockade. Next, we found a captured Rohirric stockade towering above all else in the Emnet Gullies, the supplies it afforded us were well worth the trouble it cost to liberate it. At the summit of the outpost we were afforded a magnificent view of the Argonath, bathed in the gleaming colours of the sunset. It was truly breath-taking. Much to the chagrin of the others, Berethor swept me up in an embrace and kissed me. I had to laugh at his high spirits, misplaced as they may have been, but perhaps a little gaiety would do us all well. We all sat there on the ridge until the sunset had faded and twilight was upon us.
--
We found the Rohirric soldier that the scout had earlier spoken of in the company of a large group of Uruk-hai. We had reached the blockade! Aron and his Elves were there, set up on the cliffs above us, and they lent their aid as we battled against the almost overwhelming number of Uruk-hai. We eventually defeated them. The foul creatures had devoured the Rider's mount - damn those heinous beasts! - but the Rider himself was alive, albeit a little worse for wear. I healed him easily.
"You have strange powers, lady," he murmured, a quaver in his voice, though he was properly grateful. I invited him to accompany us until we found more of his people that we could leave him in the care of. He agreed readily, knowing it would be suicide for him to remain alone, especially without a mount. Aronel then came down from the high-ground, his patrol flanking him. He bowed to all of us.
"Here, we part company," he said. He braced arms, warrior-style, with Elegost, Hadhod and Berethor. "Namáraie," he said. "Take care of my sister." Then he stood before me. I knew the time had come. We had spoken of this both before I had left to seek Berethor and in the hours we had spent travelling to Rohan. He dragged me into his embrace, wrapping his arms so tightly about me that it was difficult to breathe and my ribs ached, but I cared not. I felt his tears wet my hair as my own tears trailed down my cheeks.
"Namáraie, tithen-muinthel," he breathed into my hair. "Amin mela lle, always; I know I shall not see you again upon this Middle-Earth, so know that above all. Sílo Anor bo men lín á no i Melain na le." He then glanced up at the others, before looking back down at me and meeting my gaze. "I know you shall never be alone," he murmured, "but aphado nín, I beg of you." I bit my lip.
"Le annon veleth nín, gwanur," I replied, stroking his cheek, "pân natha maeed." That was the only answer I could give him, for I was not at all sure I would be able to honour his request. He stepped away from me, tears still falling down his cheeks as they were down mine. He looked behind him to his patrol, Orophin and Rúmil stood there, slightly ahead of the rest of the group. Aron looked back to me then and, suddenly, raised his sword high in the air, the other Elves did likewise.
"Gurth a chyth-in-edhil!" they cried. "Gurth a chyth-in-edhil!" With that, they wheeled their mounts about and galloped away. I raised my own blade over my head.
"Gurth a chyth-in-edhil!" I called, my voice quavering with tears. "Namáraie, gwanur! …Namáraie." Berethor finally approached me and I had to pull myself together. I had known this was coming, after all. I wiped the tears from my cheeks and turned to face him. "We need to leave here," I said, "it is not safe for us to remain." He looked like he wanted to say something, protest maybe, but he finally just gave a nod.
"If that is what you wish," he replied.
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Translations:
Cáno - commander
Ellon - male Elf
Mellon nín - my friend
Melethron nín - my (male) lover
Mithrandir - Gandalf, literally Grey Pilgrim
Namáraie - farewell
Tithen-muinthel - little sister
Amin mela lle - I love you
Muinthel nín - my sister
Sílo Anor bo men lín á no i Melain na le - may the sun shine on your road and may the Valar be with you
Aphado nín - follow me
Le annon veleth nín - I give my love to you
Gwanur - brother
Pân natha maeed - all will be well
Gurth a chyth-in-edhil - death to the foes of the Elves
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A/N 3: Please forgive my excessive use of Elvish in the last scene, I couldn't help but putting in some of my research. I know it's disjointed and some of it is probably incorrect, but…. Also, exactly what happened between Idrial and Aronel will be revealed in the next chapter!