"Where has he gone?" a member of the group eventually spoke up.
No-one was entirely sure whose the voice belonged to, but they were all thinking the same thing. There was no way of escape, as they had arrived at what seemed to be a dead end and there was no obvious way out of the room except from the route they had just come from, which only led back through the tunnel where they had already been, so where could Idhrenion have gone?
"He has gone" announced Thranduil darkly with a deep tone of finality in his voice. There was clearly no love loss from his disappearance.
Silence fell on them all once again. As they were all slowly becoming aware (and as was previously mentioned), there was no visible way out, so it wasn't even a case that the group could simply move on. They also began looking around at each other to make sure that everyone was still there, following Idhrenion's mysterious disappearance – Thranduil did not move at all, but Legolas and Anié found each other and held hands tightly, both as nervous as the other, and she checked that Maeglin was still with them, but quickly broke eye contact as soon as he looked at her. The company thought to themselves what they could possibly do next.
Finally, Anié broke the silence:
"Well, that must be it, then".
All eyes slowly turned towards her.
"We've been through everyone else here, and I have no secrets to hide, so we must have finished. This must be the end of the tunnel".
No-one said a word.
"So", said Maeglin, "are we trapped then?"
"Oh don't think so highly of yourself!" Thranduil suddenly snapped, raising his voice in great anger.
"Each and every one of us here has secrets to be told and revealed, so do not try and kid us that you are so much holier than the rest of you – you're next!"
Anié was shocked by the King's words and despite being offended, she replied as calmly as she could:
"I know you may not believe me, but I honestly don't – after everything we've been through, I wouldn't dare hide anything from you now".
"You have quite a history, Anié" Legolas spoke up, moving towards her.
"It doesn't even need to have been anything against one of us".
Anié realised that that was the first time he had spoken to her that day – almost as if he was wary of her. By the look in his eyes, Anié could tell that Legolas didn't entirely trust her, or at least was not sure. This shocked her even more and her mouth hung a little agape.
"Anié…" said Legolas a little more lovingly, "please, think hard and think deeply, we cannot leave until you recall it and we will not judge you. There must be something, anything".
"I don't know!" Anié replied, beginning to loose her nerve.
"Unless…" said Maeglin to himself yet out loud.
When he realised that he had spoken aloud and saw three pairs of despairing eyes had turned towards him, he continued:
"Well, this may sound absurd, but perhaps it could be something that Anié does not remember?"
Before the group had much time to think this over, the wall where Idhrenion's memory had been suddenly flared blue and the wall prepared itself to show another image. It seemed that Maeglin had been right and the tunnel had reacted. Anié suddenly became fearful and held onto Legolas tightly, speaking in a very panicked tone of voice:
"I don't know what this is…I have told you everything I know, you know all my secrets, I don't know what this is going to show me…"
Legolas held her back: "I know. I trust you".
All hurt she had felt against her lover a moment ago passed away with that statement and pure adrenaline overrode all other emotions. She turned her head back to the wall and as it flared again in preparation, she broke away from Legolas, walked towards the blue light and stood before the company, awaiting her fate.
"I do not know what you are about to show me" she said, boldly and aloud, "I cannot guess what you are going to accuse me of, but before all those present I tell you now: I may not be without fault, for I know no-one that is, but I am guiltless and blameless of any action you are about to show me".
The others in the room thought this was perhaps a thoughtless action and that caution should be advised, but they were soon to find out if they were right.
At first the blue on the wall began to shake and stutter, as if it was having difficulties showing the memory. Images eventually begin to appear but only in brief flashes and it was nearly impossible to see them properly or understand what they were trying to show.
Soon although they still appeared and disappeared rapidly, they became more visible as people, bodies, flashes of victims … being murdered. The images were accompanied by their pleads for mercy and their screams, but Anié recognised neither the sounds nor the faces.
"Who are they?" she asked out-loud.
As no-one responded, Thranduil grimly answered: "They are the victims of the ifanc gwanath".
Anié had heard terrible tales of the ifanc gwanath murders, but she had not seen any of it – at that time, she had not yet met Legolas and therefore had not been present in the Palace of Mirkwood to witness the panic and the grieving families and comrades. Anié looked in horror at the remains of the bodies, ranging from the lone unlucky scout or soldier to the mystery of the well-known and loved family in Mirkwood, each one of them butchered – the attacks were horrific.
The images then changed to pictures of Anié's father, a man who thoroughly hated the people of Mirkwood and particularly the Royal Family (though he dwelt just within the borders of the forest). It was no secret that he was considered as a dark and evil man, that he had killed many and would gladly do so should anyone cross his path. Anié survived his dreadful wrath and managed to run away, but she had not seen him since she was a child which was now many, many years ago. Linking the two, it was not beyond the realms of possibility that Anié's father had been responsible for the deaths, but Anié shook her head in disbelief:
"My father?" she muttered. "No it could not be – they said the killer would have to have been small and swift or they would have been tracked down or seen!"
The general consensus of the room agreed with her – although her father was a suspect for a long time and more than capable of carrying out such deeds, the practicalities of it made it seem unlikely.
However the images did not stop and pictures of her father that Anié had never seen before continued to appear before her eyes. It showed her father alone, plotting, poring over old books, and with his eyes dark and his grimace frightening, the group saw him placing his hand over the child Anié's eyes and speaking some kind of incantation (though it was inaudible, they could just see his lips moving as he read from a book). The group began to arrive at their own conclusions and although Anié made no sound, her eyes said everything her mouth could ever say and her soul screamed.
The images that followed were quite simply nightmarish – as Anié stared in disbelief and horror, she witnessed her father placing a large knife into her hand and with no knowledge or awareness of what she was doing, walking calmly through the forest and tracking down those whom her father had directed her to kill – speed, strength, stomach, none of these were an issue for one who is possessed by dark magic, even in the body of a child.
The scenes were graphic and the body count became numerous. The mystery of how one so young could be responsible for the death of an entire family was horrifyingly revealed as the child Anié (once again possessed so that she would have the ability to commit these crimes and yet have no memory of them afterwards) slipped into the house at night, opened the door from the inside for her father, who knocked the members of the family unconscious and allowed the evil in the form of Anié to do the rest.
The violence and the horror seemed without end. Eventually Anié, who had stood with mouth agape and tears rolling down her face since the dawning realisation struck her, could take it no more:
"But I didn't know!" she cried, her voice overflowing with passionate desperation and emotion. "I didn't know I was killing those people! My father is responsible – I'm not a murderer!"
With this outcry, the images slowly faded away but as the blue disappeared, a terrifying message engraved in red on the wall took its place, revealing a message that Anié would remember for the rest of her life – it read:
'But you still did it'.
The four who remained did not make a sound or move a muscle, but stood completely still in shock of what they had just seen and in grief for those they had lost. Sympathy was not quite the right word to describe their feelings towards Anié, but there was certainly not the sense of judgement or accusation as there had been with previous revelations. Anié sank to her knees, crying loudly and openly as she too was in shock. Eventually, through his abounding love for her, Legolas moved forward and held her close to him, unable to bring himself to speak any words of comfort, for there were none to give.
Silence descended upon them.