Chapter 12

Mel jammed the Yavannacor on her finger and for a brief moment… felt nothing. A swell of panic bubbled up in her chest.

What's wrong? Why isn't it working?!

Then a pulse of power ripped through her, trembling her body with the force of a jackhammer. There was a white explosion in her head. Everything in the world faded away and she was bathed in brightness. She grabbed her head and tried to scream, but her voice was nothing in this white void. Then there was a deep, familiar voice… a woman's voice…

"At last… at last, my child. You have returned."

The light vanished and was replaced by total darkness. But in the darkness there were voices, thousands of them, all crying out her name.

"Calenhiril! Calenhiril! Calenhiril!"

The voices of the trees were calling. She felt a rush of relief and joy even as the noise of their calling made her head start to ache. The trees were calling for her. And she could answer them.

She slowly became aware that the darkness surrounding her was only the result of her closed eyes. She was doubled over as if she were in pain. She could hear a voice from the outside, someone calling her other name.

"Melody! Melody, are you alright?"

But the voice of the outsider was faint. She could barely hear him with the rest of them yelling in her head. She had to stop that. She straightened slowly, feeling something familiar building inside her, a power she had felt before but couldn't understand. It was authority, something that had been forced upon her, but that she had at her disposal. Something she had the power to use.

She opened her eyes and her voice came out a whisper, but it echoed through her mind and she felt the power pulse and ripple out of her into the darkness, out toward the glimmering dawn on the horizon. She spoke only three words.

"I am here."

The trees fell silent. Everything in the courtyard paused and the world stopped turning for one tiny second. She turned her head and saw Boromir. He was only a few paces away, his hand reaching out to her. But it was his face that concerned her. Something was there that she had not seen before, not when he was looking at her. It was fear. Was he afraid of her?

The background faded away and all she saw was his face. And then she heard another voice, like the voice of the woman, but different, the voice of a man, unfamiliar but with that same resonating power that made her shiver. This voice frightened her, whispering out of the darkness.

"A life for a life."

She took a breath and everything started moving again, as if it was all in fast forward, like the world was trying to catch up with itself. She heard a shriek from the tower above her head and she looked up, but it was so dark she couldn't see. And right at that moment, Boromir grabbed her around the waist and pulled her aside, pressing them both against the black stone. But she almost didn't notice any of this, because the trees had started talking again. She could hear them. Some whispered, some shouted, some were speaking normally. She hadn't realized how far her mind's ear could hear. Just the sound of their voices was enough to make her so happy she felt like her heart might burst.

"Melody?"

Boromir's concerned voice brought her back to Isengard. She looked up and his face was no longer afraid. Instead he looked worried.

"Melody, are you hurt?"

She gently took his face in her hands. The touch reminded her that she was in the presence of a miracle. He was warm and alive and real. She felt like she was soaring.

"I'm perfect. Everything's perfect."

His eyes softened, and in that moment she could have kissed him.

But suddenly there was a scream of pain. An Ent cry. Her head jerked toward the sound, searching frantically for the source. She bent her mind to the voices, trying to distinguish one from the other, but… something was wrong. None of these voices were Ents. Shouldn't she have been able to hear them? The Ent cried out again and Mel flinched, pulling away from the tower, her eyes flitting wildly over the chaos of Isengard. But she felt like she was flying blind. Why couldn't she hear him?

"Melody!" Boromir shouted, "Over there!"

She turned where he was pointing. She wondered how she could have missed it. He looked like a giant beech tree swaying about. And he was on fire. Orcs surrounded him with burning arrows and shot at him mercilessly, piercing his bark. He was viciously stomping them into the dirt, but the damage was done. Flames licked at his branches. Mel's blood ran cold.

"Break the dam!" she screamed. But it seemed to take so long for her to say it. Her mouth was still moving, long after the words should have left her lips. And the way her lips formed the words… It felt so odd…

She had no time to think about it. She suddenly realized exactly what kind of a position the breaking of the dam would put her in, and the position it would put Boromir in as well. They were on the ground. If the water was released they would drown! She turned back to Boromir.

"We need to get higher!" she yelled.

She spun in a circle looking for anywhere that they could go to escape the flood. And that was when she heard two tiny voices that almost brought tears to her eyes.

"Mel! Mel, up here!"

"Treebeard, there she is! Mel!"

"Get closer, she can't see us! Mel, we're up here!"

She turned and looked up. Pippin was waving his arms wildly at her, a huge grin on his face, while Merry pointed and directed the huge Ent that carried them.

Treebeard… Mel was suddenly certain that she had to be dreaming.

Treebeard lumbered toward her, stomping on a few scattered orcs that happened to be in his path. Mel felt her breath catch in her throat. He was much more majestic than she had thought he would be. Huge though he was, he had a certain grace and patience in his movements that belied his size. And his giant eyes were expressive and bottomless, even now when Mel knew he was angrier than he had ever been. She felt the urge to kneel in the presence of such power and wisdom beyond her comprehension, but she couldn't make her legs work. She was trembling. She felt Boromir standing behind her and she leaned back into him to steady herself. He put his hands gently on her arms.

Finally, Treebeard came to a stop in front of them and slowly bent at the waist. He was… He was bowing!

"Calenhiril has come at last," he rumbled, "The tales prove true. Welcome, little sister."

Mel's mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. She was paralyzed by shock. Little sister? Could he possibly be talking about her?

She gulped and forced her vocal cords to function.

"Treebeard…"

But again, the word seemed to take much longer to say than it should have. She touched her lips, bewildered. What was happening?

Her confusion was cut short by the piercing cry of the beech-like Ent. The fire was spreading through his limbs, though he valiantly tried to put himself out.

Treebeard straightened, assessing the situation, and then called out with a voice like a roll of thunder, "Bregalad!"

Instantly, a tall, spindly Ent looked up and started to run across the expanse of Isengard toward them. It took Mel's breath away. She had never seen a rowan tree before, but now she knew what one looked like. Because this was Quickbeam, the Rowan Ent. It took him only a few paces to reach them and he skidded to a halt, sending dirt and rocks flying in his wake.

Treebeard harrumphed, "True to your name, as always. Come, you must take up Calenhiril and her companion before we wash away the wizard's evil."

"With the greatest of pleasure!" Quickbeam exclaimed. He turned to Mel, who was still getting used to the idea that this was Quickbeam in front of her, and held out one silvery green hand, "Come, little sister, you will be safe with me!"

Treebeard was already taking giant steps toward the dam on the far side of Isengard. Mel didn't see how they had much choice. She glanced at Boromir, who was eying the Ent warily. Mel tugged at his sleeve.

"Come on!"

She pulled him along with her, into Bregalad's hand and then up his spindly arm, both of them scrambling until they were each settled on a shoulder, Mel on the left, Boromir on the right. Mel grabbed at the waving limbs around her, and caught Boromir's eye. She grinned at him.

"Hold on!" she shouted, playfully.

Treebeard's voice boomed across the courtyard of Isengard.

"Break the dam! Release the river!"

Mel braced herself against Quickbeam's trunk. She heard a series of loud pops and resounding cracks, and then the roar of rushing water. She turned toward the frothing wall of water that surged toward them and she had a single moment of doubt.

Please let us be high enough…

Seconds later the river was rushing under her, soaking her through with the spray as it struck the trunk of the Ent that held fast beneath her. She saw steam burst from under the earth like geysers as the forge fires were doused. Mel looked up. Saruman stood on his balcony, his face twisted in rage as he surveyed the destruction of his stronghold, destruction brought on by the trees he had sought to control through her.

As if he could somehow sense he was being watched, his crazed eyes found hers. There was no surprise. He had known. She remembered the shriek when she had recovered the Yavannacor. It had been the wizard. He had known she was there. His lips curled into a feral snarl, but he couldn't hurt her. His power was not so great now. She could sense his despair, the defeat that they both knew was coming. It thrilled her. Every cell of her body seemed to vibrate as she watched the man who had become her greatest enemy stand on his balcony and growl at her like a German Shepherd who, having reached the end of his chain, realized that he was just short of his prey. A smile twitched on her lips.

He glowered at her one final time before he whirled and fled into his tower, slamming the doors behind him. As if it could sense that the dark forces had been safely contained, the sun peeked over the horizon, flooding the courtyards of Isengard with light, sparkling in the muddied waters of the Entwash as it filled the holes in the earth and washed away the filth of Saruman's schemes.

At the same time, Mel felt her anger and her hate and even some of her fear wash away with it. She took a deep breath and could smell the freshness of the green leaves that surrounded her, clearing her mind of any lingering bitterness. Even the joy she had felt at Saruman's helplessness seemed petty, a waste of energy. And as these things flowed out of her, she was left only with exhaustion. Her small reserve of strength had been all used up. She sagged back into the branches of the Ent as the adrenaline that had kept her going started to dissipate. She felt her eyelids start to droop and she forced herself to stay alert.

"Melody?"

She glanced up. Boromir was watching her closely.

"Are you alright?"

She almost asked him the same question. He looked as tired as she felt. How long had it been since he'd slept?

"I'm just tired," She said. Her voice was hoarse and cracked. She must have screamed at some point, really screamed, but she couldn't remember. Her head was cloudy.

Quickbeam rumbled beneath her, "Harum, when the waters recede I will put you in a safe place to rest, little sister."

Her fuzzy mind registered the words and recognized that they had been used before. Little sister…

"Why do you…?" she started to ask. But the words felt weird in her mouth. She knew what she was saying. She could picture the words. She understood how they should be pronounced. But what came out did not sound anything like what she had intended. It was guttural and rough. It took entirely too long to leave her lips and it was completely unfamiliar. Some of the sounds that came out didn't even sound human. More like… more like wood rubbing on wood. Her exhausted brain tried to piece together something that made sense, but what was there was cloudy and fully impossible.

"Your questions will be answered soon, Calenhiril," Quickbeam said, "First, you must rest."

All she did was nod, afraid of what might come out if she opened her mouth again. She looked at Boromir. He was staring at her with a mix of confusion and concern on his face. He probably thought she was crazy, babbling on with those weird noises. As a matter of fact, that thought was not entirely out of the realm of possibility. But she was too tired to worry about it. She watched the water line lower as the pent up river slowed to a trickle.

Then she heard small voices calling out.

"Mel! Boromir! Mel!"

She dragged her mind away from the hypnotic flow of the river and searched for the voices. Merry and Pippin were almost falling out of Treebeard's branches they were waving so enthusiastically. She smiled and gave them a little wave back to let them know she heard. Both of the Ents sloshed toward the broken gates where the water had almost come to a standstill. Quickbeam gently gripped Mel around the waist and lowered her onto a large piece of rock wall, and then did the same for Boromir, who looked very uncomfortable with the idea. No sooner were Mel's feet on solid ground, she was almost knocked over. The hobbits both grabbed her around the waist and held on tight, babbling so fast that she couldn't understand a word either was saying. Mel felt an overwhelming sense of relief that brought tears to her eyes. They were here. They were safe. And she had lived to see them again. She dropped to her knees and grabbed at them, pulling them closer and clinging to them both, letting a few stray tears fall into their curly hair. A small part of her brain told her that she was just really tired and that's why she was so teary and emotional, but a larger part of her just wanted hold them and listen to their excited voices tell her all about everything that she already knew.

Finally, Pippin realized that she was crying.

"What's wrong?" he asked, pulling back to look her in the eye. He was actually tall enough to look down at her now and it made her smile. "Mel, are you hurt?"

She laughed and wiped her eyes. Merry was scrutinizing her too, searching for the source of her tears.

"No guys," she sniffed, "No, I'm just so glad to see you."

"Well, we were about worried sick!" Merry said, "How did you even get away from that huge orc?"

Mel's stomach lurched. They didn't know. They thought she had escaped the Uruk-Hai. They didn't know that she had been brought to Saruman. They didn't have any idea what she had been through…

"And what happened to your hair?" Pippin asked, "I almost didn't recognize you."

Snippets of her capture fluttered through her mind, memories of terrors she didn't think she could relive.

"So, how did you get away, Mel?" Merry asked, his face eager for a romping good tale of escape.

And she had escaped. She had escaped, but not on her own power. A face, she remembered a face in the dark. Boromir's face, flickering above her in faint torchlight. And she heard her own voice, shouting words with a loathing she didn't think was in her.

"Where's Boromir? What did you do to him?! He's dead and you killed him, killed him and took his face…my Boromir is dead and you took his face…"

It was a memory she didn't really remember, like watching through someone else's eyes, listening to someone else's desperate, broken voice yell the sickening words that filled her with awful gut-wrenching guilt. It wasn't real… It couldn't be! But it was her voice. It was her memory.

"Let her breathe, halflings," Boromir's deep voice commanded gently, "She will answer your questions when she's ready."

Hesitantly, she lifted her eyes to meet his. No wonder he had been so hurt. She had said horrible things to him, terrible things, and now… now all she saw was a tired kindness. How was that possible? How could he even look at her? He had saved her life and she'd been so awful to him… She watched as the hobbits surrounded him and began to chatter excitedly. She tried to catch any sign of anger or resentment, things that he surely had to feel. But she saw nothing. Maybe she had made it all up in her head. Maybe she hadn't really said anything at all. Maybe it hadn't really happened.

"Calenhiril,"

Reluctantly she turned toward Treebeard's voice.

"We will leave you and your companions to rest here," the ent said gently, "You need not fear. We will keep watch over you. All of you should rest while you can."

She nodded and managed a watery smile.

"Thank you." She tried to say, but once again it took several moments to say whatever it was that her mouth decided should come out. She saw the edges of Treebeard's mouth turn upward in a smile.

"I will answer all of your many questions when you wake."

Then he and Quickbeam splashed away. Mel rubbed her eyes and tried to think. But she was just so tired… She looked up. Merry and Pippin were both staring at her with slightly open mouths.

Finally, Merry whispered, "Mel? Was that… Was that Entish?"

Entish? Was that what it was? She supposed it made sense. But why now? Why here? And why couldn't she control it? There were too many questions and she felt very lightheaded. She closed her eyes and before she knew it, she could feel cold stone on her cheek. She was lying down. There were voices chattering all around her, but they were fading in and out of her consciousness. Then everything got quiet, and two strong arms scooped her up. She struggled against the blackness and managed to open her eyes. Boromir had her, carrying her to the far side of the gate rubble. She watched his face for any sign of irritation. There was none. He gently set her down and arranged her cloak around her. That was when he noticed she was staring.

"What is it?" he asked, "Why do you look so frightened?"

Mel decided this was one question that couldn't wait for her to wake up.

"When you came to get me, did I…" She struggled for words, "Did I say anything?"

She didn't even need him to answer. His face darkened, he turned away, and she knew. Every bit of her memory was true.

She closed her eyes and a tear slipped out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh god…" she whispered, "God, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it, I didn't mean any of it!"

She opened her eyes expecting to see the anger, the mistrust, the resentment, but Boromir surprised her. He was smiling.

"I know," He said, "Some things take you over and you can't control the effects. You were upset, and you were sick. You didn't know what you were saying."

"How can you… How can you be so nice? What I said, it was awful, and you just…"

Boromir gently tucked her cloak under her chin like a blanket.

"Melody," he whispered, "The things I've said to you in the midst of anger and madness… You should despise me. But instead you risked your life to come for me, to save me from a fate I more than deserved. You have never left my side, despite my best efforts to discourage you."

He put a hand on her forehead, smoothed back the fringe of her hair.

"What kind of man would I be if I could not show you the same compassion?"

His fingertips came to rest on her cheek. Mel sighed and closed her eyes.

"Your fever is back." He murmured.

"M'fine." She muttered, "You look tired."

"I will sleep when you are well."

That wouldn't work.

"No," she said, fighting to stay focused, "You need to sleep. I'm alright."

"Melody, go to sleep, you're exhausted."

"Not unless you do," she said, her eyes struggling open, "You've slept less than I have."

"I am accustomed to it."

"Bullshit."

That earned her an inquisitive raised eyebrow.

"That's not true and you know it," she clarified, "I'm not sleeping 'til you do."

To emphasize her point, she started to sit up.

"Melody, you're going to make yourself ill. Lay down."

He put a hand on her shoulder and she collapsed under the weight. But she crossed her arms stubbornly.

"Fine, but you can't make me sleep."

He looked like he might argue. But instead he just sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"You are so stubborn."

"Only when I have to be."

He smiled, melting away a mask of strength. Behind it the exhaustion was staggering. He looked ready to collapse. And he was this tired because of her. She was the reason for this. Her heart ached.

"Please lie down," She whispered, reaching out and taking his hand, "Please. We're safe here. I promise."

He closed his eyes and nodded. He lay down only a few feet from her. She turned on her side and watched him. It didn't take long for his breathing to even out and deepen, for his face to relax. She waited until she knew he was asleep. Then, she sighed and closed her eyes, finally allowing herself to drift off into oblivion.

Boromir had not meant to sleep. He had only meant to close his eyes until Melody drifted off. But when he lay down he could feel unconsciousness overtake him with a speed that was astonishing. He was asleep before he could stop himself. And in the darkness of his dreams, the beautiful face that was not a face, the mask of the Valeir Yavanna appeared. Her lips turned up in a semblance of a smile and in his mind he heard the whisper like falling leaves.

"Well done, Son of Gondor. You have saved the life of my daughter. In return, I will do what I can to save you."