As the sun rose and the sky changed from black of night to the red of dawn, the group were assembled, ready to depart, desperate to move on and yet dreading to do so. Anié remained with Legolas and a good distance from Maeglin, who had returned to the group but had said nothing – he looked deeply pensive.
They stood and they waited, but the man did not reappear, nor anyone in the group know which way to go. No eye contact, no-one spoke – it was an awful atmosphere. Suddenly, a wind began to pick up and blew in one particular direction. The group then noticed that a new pathway into the tunnel had appeared that they had not noticed before.
"It must want us to go that way" Maeglin pointed out the obvious.
For a split-second, no-one dared move. The group were encircled by a thick silence which was only broken by a snort from Idhrenion.
"This is madness!" he exclaimed.
"Why are we following this man's orders and walking around into danger like willing sacrifices? The Royal Family! We would not do these for other clans, others who might take us hostage!"
Everyone found flaws in Idhrenion's theory:
"What do you suggest, then?" said Legolas. "Sit here and wait for death?"
"If we do not move on, we will never get out" said Maeglin.
"We are not in any danger" stressed Anié, for everyone seemed to have this in their minds. "If our lives were under any threat, he would have tried to hurt us by now. This tunnel is more than a simple trap".
"You will stay with me, Idhrenion. You will go where I go" commanded Thranduil.
Idhrenion felt as though he had been chided and sheepishly bowed his head a little. He stood with Thranduil as usual, but he had started to look rather nervous and most of them assumed that he would be next, even more so when the group looked ready to move forward. After a period of silence, before they entered the tunnel, he bravely took a step forward so that he was standing before Thranduil and asked him:
"Would you pardon me, my Liege? Would you forgive me any wrong, a humble servant who had always obeyed you and never questioned why? I, who has always stood by you and would continue to do so even at the point of death?"
"Are you going to give me a reason why I should punish you or why I should doubt your loyalty?" Thranduil asked, his voice without emotion.
Idhrenion, temporarily struck dumb, suddenly stood to attention before his King and master:
"Hail Thranduil, strong and almighty King of Greenwood the Great as was".
'Yes, then', thought Thranduil.
Eventually, step by step, they moved forward as a group, Idhrenion by now the palest, the slowest-moving and the most fearful of the whole company. One could say they were more prepared now than they were the first time they walked down the tunnel the previous day, but that didn't make any of them feel any more confident.
They walked in darkness for some time – some began to fear that they may be lost – until then, from around a corner, came the familiar blue glow. Idhrenion nearly stopped dead in his tracks. Upon approaching the glow, they found themselves in the same places as before – they all stood round the mysterious blue glow and soon, images would appear to show yet another memory that nobody really wanted to see. As the blue light began to shimmer and change shape, Idhrenion attempted to slip away from the others – he didn't want to see this, he knew what was coming – but Thranduil grabbed him by the scuff of his tunic and pulled him back to the King's side:
"You are staying with me" Thranduil ordered.
Idhrenion gulped and stood by his King, resolute yet terrified.
As the image formed, Thranduil recognised the room before him at once, as did in fact everyone present save Maeglin, who did not live in the Mirkwood Palace. It was a bedroom similar to most of those found in the Great Palace, but Thranduil recognised it particularly as that shared between him and his wife.
In the room stood Idhrenion, alert and almost twitching to stand resolute – he had clearly been summoned there. He did not look uneasy as such, but he didn't look terribly comfortable, nor did he look as though he honestly wanted to be there. Shortly afterwards, a tall slender woman – Queen Tariel, to be precise - walked swiftly into the room and shut the door properly behind her. As if on cue, Idhrenion snapped to attention and bowed low to the lady.
"Hail my Queen!" he pronounced loudly.
"Oh stop it, Idhrenion" she snapped back, "how many times must you say that in one day?"
Idhrenion stood up straight, still on ceremony, and did not utter another word, feeling a little chastised. Upon removing her long cloak and seeing the expression on his face, she suddenly smiled at him and her mood and speech became significantly more relaxed and comfortingly:
"Oh Idhrenion, there is no need for you to stand in ceremony so. I summoned you here because I wanted to talk to you, that's all – you're not my guard here".
She poured two goblets of wine and extended one to him: "Drink?"
Idhrenion's poor mind was now torn: to accept would be drinking alcohol whilst on duty, to decline would be turning down an offer from his Queen. The Queen, however, knew the minds of men such as him and knew he'd be having this little mental turmoil and so, whilst holding back a frustrated sigh, simply placed the goblet back down on the table and took one to drink herself.
"Have you had a pleasant day?" she asked innocently.
"Yes, my Queen" he replied – a default answer.
"Please…" she said almost immediately, looking at him over her shoulder, "call me Tariel".
This made Idhrenion feel even more uncomfortable than he already did (for he felt he knew why he had been summoned here) and he found himself in another socially awkward situation. Upon turning around to face the guard, goblet in hand, her poignant eyes were fixed upon his and her physical stance was very particular, almost deliberately appealing.
"Why are you so uncomfortable, Idhrenion?" she asked him plainly, her voice now slightly deeper than before.
Idhrenion could not reply – she was starting to get to the point and it terrified him. What would his King say if he found out why he was here? Tariel walked towards him as she spoke until their faces were almost touching:
"I call you by your first name, so it is only fair if I allow you mine?"
Idhrenion wanted to step away but he knew she would only follow him – what she wanted, she would get. So, with great bravery, he looked down into her eyes and stated quite clearly: "I shouldn't be here".
The smile evaporated from her face: "Of course you should, I summoned you here".
Her voice then became very quiet and her hands slithered up to his strong, broad shoulders: "I wanted you here…"
Idhrenion's eyes fell shut – despite the fact that this sensation would be most pleasurable in different circumstances, his fear and suspicions had been proved correct.
"I want you here, because…"
"Please, my Lady…" Idhrenion gently pleaded, desperately trying to do what was morally right.
Queen Tariel continued on regardless: "…because I think you deserve more than what you have. That bully, Thranduil, pushes you around all day like a slave, not giving you a word of thanks or well-earned praise…but I see your talents. I see everything…"
By this point, they were positively breathing the same air. Her fingers had crawled up to his face and were now caressing his cheeks and fleetingly stroking the tips of his pointed ears.
"My husband gives me no pleasure, no fulfilment, no thrills. Oh, he may be satisfied himself, but me, I get nothing. But you… you're different. You care about people, you'd be soft, gentle, romantic…wonderful. I watch you, you know. I look at you across the Great Hall, and oh how I fantasize…"
Tariel could see he was tense, but small parts of him were slowly beginning to sway under pressure and give in to temptation. Idhrenion slowly and gingerly raised his arms and gently gripped hers, be it a gesture to bring her closer or to push her away, no-one could be quite sure.
"Thranduil won't be back for many hours yet" she continued. "We are quite alone, with no-one to disturb us".
She leant forward into his ear and asked dangerously: "Dare you defy me?"
After a moment's pause as she gazed (or did she glare) into his eyes, she moved forward purposefully and sealed his mouth with her own. If Idhrenion ever had a choice in the matter, it was taken away from him by that one gesture. His lips moved almost against their will – she was so passionate and forceful – and whilst kissing her in return, he found himself moving downwards towards the bed. As they lay themselves down, the memory slowly faded out and the image disappeared.
The company were all quite glad of this, as no-one wanted to watch what happened next, but just when they thought they would have to endure another dreadful moment of deadly silence, they realized that the memory had not yet finished. A short while after the first scene had fully disappeared, the mysterious blue suddenly burst into life again and revealed a new image; this time, instead of in a Mirkwood bed chamber, the group could see down one of the palace's many corridors. It was dark, deserted and silent.
Soon, footsteps began to echo, the sound resonating and growing louder as it bounced off the walls. From the furthest end of the corridor appeared Idhrenion, looking smart and formal as ever; from the other end (though the company in the tunnel could not yet see her) appeared Tariel, equally as regal as ever. The two of them walked down the same corridor in opposite directions and made no eye contact as they passed each other. They continued walking, but just before Idhrenion disappeared from view, Tariel stopped near the end of the corridor and called his name in a knowing tone. Idhrenion stopped and slowly turned to face her. She too turned and walked towards, not speaking again until they were closer and she could talk to him more quietly.
"I know you know" she said simply.
"Know what, my Lady?" replied Idhrenion innocently.
Queen Tariel responded instantly and with great emphasis: "I know that you know".
After a brief moment's pause to think, Idhrenion replied: "I can sense it".
"If you can sense it, so soon will Thranduil" Tariel said, unobtrusively placing her hand on her abdomen where in its very early stages, a baby had started to grow.
"I will sleep with Thranduil tonight and we will have no reason to believe that it is anybody else's child. It should work so long as nobody tells him the truth".
She stopped. A sudden terrible thought struck her mind like lightning. She lifted her head and stared with wide eyes at Idhrenion, who was staring at her with a completely emotionless face.
"You haven't told him?"
Idhrenion neither responded nor moved.
Her eyes now looked terrified: "Tell me you have not told him".
Although she was his Queen, Idhrenion deep down now hated her more than anyone else, and he deliberately held the silence in order to unnerve and terrify her more.
"I should have told him" he finally answered, guilt like bile making him feel wretched inside – he was so fiercely loyal to his King.
"I should have told him everything, so he could see what traitorous people we really are".
"Hold your tongue!" she snapped, hissing so as to keep her voice down, "we indulged in pleasure, that is no crime!"
She suddenly leaned towards him, a menacing look in her eyes:
"You will tell him nothing. Besides, I think he would trust his Queen over a lowly advisor".
Idhrenion was deeply offended at being derogatorily titled in this way and came very close to pointing out that this 'lowly advisor' was now the father of her unborn child, but he decided to hold back and said nothing.
Tariel sighed: "That my first child should be born from an absurd passionate love affair. Oh the irony".
With that, she turned swiftly on her heels and departed. Before Idhrenion had time to move or speak again, the image faded and the memory turned into a simple grey wall of rock. All attention returned back to the group and the heavy blanket of awkwardness which (like so many times before over the past day or two) fell over them.
Thranduil said not a word, only thinking silently in his mind and remaining perfectly still. Slowly, all eyes rose from the floor to find Idhrenion to see what he would do now - in all honesty, few believed he would survive the next twenty-four hours – but they had difficulty doing so. They all turned round, frantically scanning the room in which they stood for any sign of the King's long-standing advisor, but he was nowhere to be found. Idhrenion had disappeared without a trace.