I created all the characters seen here, but the mentioned Feonor and world is Tolkien's.

I earn no money from posting this, so please don't sue, but just enjoy.

Ascarant's mount stumbled on a loose stone. The elf on his back who should have spied in the dark that which would trip his mount was instead flooding the beast with emotion that might have made the horse less likely to mind his own hooves in the light of day. The stumble allowed Tarman to catch up and grab the mane of the horse while turning on his own steed's back to glare into his brother's face. "Ascarant! Stop this at once!"

Ascarant leveled his own glare at his elder brother even as the twins and Romdar surrounded him. The archers also directed glares at him. The musician stared at him with more compassion. Ascarant, however, spat back at Tarman. "Odd, 'brother,' you do not ask what I am doing!"

Tarman's own gaze and voice softened as he replied without looking away from his brother's gaze. "You are doing what you always do, what you have done since that dreadful night, but it will not bring you peace …"

"I don't seek peace! I seek to face him and then death!"

Tarman flinched. "Ascarant, before he was captured, he asked me to protect you and I have, even from the consequences of breaking the oath we took to protect all forts. even from our own returned to us from under our enemy's gaze …"

"We should have gone with him!"

"We swore to follow Feonor's sons as our liege lords. We took that oath as assuredly as they took theirs for the silmarils."

"We were fools!"

"I understand …"

"No, you don't! You weren't the reason he was captured in the first place!"

"But I was the one responsible for the decision not to let him in, to prevent you and all of us here from going out to him and encouraging all of you to follow our liege lord's orders to pretend he never existed!"

"We have been less kind to him than one who was not our close kin!"

"I know." Tarman placed the hand not holding the mane of the horse his brother rode upon Ascarant's shoulder. "But all may not be lost. Perhaps when we are all in Mandos' Halls, and if not then, perhaps in Valinor, we will be reconciled and can beg his pardon."

"No! We abandoned him here! We should face him here!"

Tarman's gaze and form hardened. His grip on his brother's shoulder tightened. "Ascarant, must I also knock out 'you' and then carry you to the destination Caranthir commands us go?"

"No!" And Acarant struck his brother's hand holding the mane of his horse causing it to lose its grip. Then he shoved his brother's arm away and rode on. Tarman raised his voice in worry and rage. "Ascarant!"

. . .

Lathwinn paused in following the orcs to look and blink in a direction the latter were "not" headed. Sarnin paused to watch her with widened eyes. Neither said anything.

A combined group of almost a hundred orcs continued, sometimes marching sometimes climbing along the canyon walls, to travel somewhere through these mountains before them. Still, Sarnin watched Lathwinn keep her gaze fixed somewhere else another moment before turning to follow the stragglers of her prey again. Sarnin kept back a sigh wishing she could speak. What had she been doing. How could she help her in this upcoming fight? How many did she expect to slay with her arrows? Was it possible to kill two with one? Did she have any advice she hadn't given her before on how to kill an orc? Speaking would give them both away. So the older elleth merely followed fingering the knife of obsidian Celuant gave her and her ever present bag of river stones hard and heavy enough to at least stun an orc with a blow … she hoped.

Suddenly Sarnin froze, as she saw once again that Lathwinn had already done so before her. Her eyes widened to mirror those of her niece. The two groups of orcs they had been following joined "another" force which had already arrived at what seemed to be their destination. Together they coated every crevice and crack one of them could cling or squat on turning their ugly faces to the two ends of the canyon.

Lathwinn removed, strung her bow, and notched an arrow in it, but she did not yet pull back on the string. There was soft hissing and grumbling among the orcs as the new arrivals brushed up against those already there covered whatever sounds she might have made performing these acts. Sarnin almost shook her niece. There were now well over one hundred orcs before them more than twice the number of Lathwinn's arrows. How could they hope to slay so many. But she knew it had long been her sister's children's aim to protect all they could from foul creatures, particularly for her sister's only daughter once kidnapped by such. If the sight of so many foes hadn't yet quelled Lathwinn's spirit trying to turn her from her mission using their love to do so would be doing her niece's spirt a wrong. Part of what they were supposed to do based on Iluvatar's and Yavana's instructions was to protect the living things in Arda from such as these. But oh, they might both lose their lives or worse be dragged down together to whatever fate the orcs had wanted for Lathwinn before. Sarnin had lowered her gaze thinking of these things. She raised it again to see her niece holding her bow and arrow to point it before her feet undrawn while staring in the same direction as some of her targets.

Some orcs began to squabble more loudly with each other snapping, snarling, and hissing at sharing a shelf to sit on or cling to, but when orders were growled they mumbled again, and then settled down into silence. They seemed like owls watching the ground from a perch. Of course! This was an ambush and with so many it must be for warriors they feared. She and Lathwinn had only to like wait and spring a trap of their own when whatever allies Lathwinn hoped to save arrived and they would have help defeating this foe!

What do you think?

God bless

ScribeofHeroes