Chapter 29: First Fight (Angharad)
c/w: blood, violence (most graphic chapter in this story)
(~***~)
"Angharad, where are you?" a voice said in her mind. She knew that voice. She would know it anywhere.
"Ada?" she thought back.
"Yes, it is us," Legolas answered Angharad. "Where are you? Why are you being chased?"
"Ginnar, open the lock now," she shouted at her friend. The prisoners were screaming, too. The lock popped open with a crack and Ginnar pulled on the chain, which slipped through the manacles easily.
"I do not know where to go," Angharad thought to her father, feeling desperate. She picked up her staff and tested its weight out of habit. This would be the first time she used it outside of practice. She was glad she'd brought daggers, too.
"Angharad explain the situation to me, please," Legolas asked her again.
"They are Imperial soldiers. We have been with a rebellion for months now. If they catch us they will bring us back to the Emperor and I do not know what he will do to us. What if he kills Ginnar, ada? He is mortal – he will die forever," her thoughts were taking on the tone of a shriek.
"Go into the ruin and block the door," Legolas thought to his daughter, directing her attention to the old buildings a ways off in the woods. "If they can only come in one at a time, they will be easier to handle."
"Into the old village!" Angharad shouted at her companions, pointing at the crumbling old houses and wall off to their left. They all ran.
As Angharad fled, she felt for the other presence hanging back in her mind. "Nana, are you here, too?" she thought.
"Yes, sweetheart, I am here. I love you. Listen to your ada, he can help you best now," Lossrilleth told her daughter. Angharad was so relieved to hear her voice she wanted to weep.
"Do not get distracted," Legolas warned her. "What can you do with that staff?"
"I should have brought a spear!" Angharad chastised herself. "This is only really good for disarming someone or knocking them out. And I have daggers."
"We can work with that," Legolas told her. Falling back into the role of encouraging her felt so easy. He was glad – the last thing she needed was him panicking in her ear. "Will the others fight?" he asked.
"I do not know. Let me ask," Angharad replied.
"Who else can fight?" she yelled at the fleeing humans. Three of them shouted back at her, then two more, then another four.
"Nine fighters, no weapons," Angharad reported back. "But they fight hand-to-hand a lot here. There is this thing called the Tradition…"
"No time, dear," Legolas interrupted her. She was almost at the door. "Remember, block everything up so there is just a small entrance."
Angharad slipped through the archway in the high stone wall. The door was old and rotten.
"Ginnar, we need to block up the door so they can only get in one at a time," she said. She repeated it again in Eastron. A few of the prisoners understood right away. Two strong men started breaking doors and shutters off the building. Others ran inside and dragged out collapsed chairs and a table.
"Right! Like the raid at Gushi,"[1] Ginnar replied. "We should put a bend in the chute. It will make them slow down on the way in," Ginnar added.
"He is right," Legolas told Angharad. So the dwarf knew battle tactics. Another good thing to know.
"How did you know that?" Angharad asked as she helped barricade their entrance. Ginnar dragged things into place, showing the others how to turn the objects into a tunnel with a sudden bend that would force their opponents to slow down or hit their faces.
"We were just offered a free tutorial on the entire military history of the Far East, which you would know if you had listened instead of daydreaming about doing backflips," Ginnar shot at her, sounding irritated.
"Hey!" Angharad shouted. "Do you want me to do some backflips now, or should I sit inside and wait for you to handle it?"
(Legolas let himself release a surprised bark of laughter. He understood this dynamic.
Lossrilleth was dismayed. "They are getting distracted!" she protested anxiously.
"If it keeps them from losing nerve, let them talk," Legolas told her. "Keeping heart in battle, remember?"
Lossrilleth let out a stressed breath. She was holding Thranduil's hands so tightly it hurt him. He squeezed hers back, whispering to her, "Keep your fear contained or she will catch it."
"How?" she asked. "I cannot breathe for fear."
"Lean on me," Thranduil offered her. He was already in her mind. It was easy to lend her his strength now. The young mother did as he said. Anything to help Angharad through this.)
Ginnar harrumphed back at Angharad. He was focused on getting their entryway right.
"You stand here," he told Angharad, pulling her next to the chute that would corral the soldiers into the yard. "That is best for disarming, right?" he said, gesturing towards her staff.
"Yes," she said, letting him position her.
"So do that. Disarm them as soon as they come in. Try to get their weapons as far from them as possible so the other fighters can pick them up," Ginnar commanded.
"It is a good plan," Legolas agreed. "He knows what he is doing. Perhaps you should have paid attention in this class he mentioned."
"Ada! Not you too!" Angharad exclaimed in her mind. "It is as much because he was always captain in capture the flag," she grumped at her father.
Legolas allowed her to feel his amusement. He could tell she was moving out of feeling terrified and into a state with more space to think. That was good.
"Can you do it? Can you disarm them?" he asked his daughter seriously. The way she held the staff felt good, but he did not know her skill level.
"Yes, I can," Angharad told him with confidence at first. "At least I could in sparring and those were good fighters. I have been practicing a lot," she explained, doubt creeping into her voice. But it sounded promising to her father.
The sounds of the soldiers' approach had been getting louder and louder. Now they were right outside the wall.
"Surrender in the name of the Emperor!" one of them called out.
Angharad was about to reply, but Legolas stopped her.
"Hush! There is no reason to give away your position by speaking," he told his daughter. She passed this on, making a gesture to everyone on her side of the wall to stay silent.
A man could be heard moving carefully through the blocked-up doorway. As he stepped out of the entrance, Angharad engaged him. He had been holding his sword in front of him, cautiously peering into the yard to get the lay of the land. The pale girl was in his face so swiftly he fumbled. With two quick strikes, she had knocked his sword flying. The soldier raised a blocking arm and was reaching for his belt knife when his vision went black.
"Well done, Angharad!" Legolas encouraged her. She did know what she was doing, he noted with relief.
One of the prisoners ran forward and grabbed the sword. A few more took hold of the unconscious soldier, handing his belt knife off to one of those who had volunteered to fight. The remaining prisoners began to figure out how to restrain their captive.
Another soldier was moving through the chute as all this happened. "He's gone," the soldier called back to his companions.
"What do you mean, gone?" someone shouted over the wall. They received no reply. Angharad had not even bothered to disarm the soldier first this time. She understood the advantage of Ginnar's design now. By the time they poked their heads out from the doorway, she was already right next to them, just outside their vision. She'd given the soldier a swift wallop to the temple, and he'd fallen where he stood.
Two more of the rebel fighters armed themselves with his weapons. There were now five armed fighters waiting around the entryway, waiting for their opponents. It was a good thing, because the soldiers were done allowing themselves to be herded like cattle into a culling. A half dozen grappling ropes hitched over the top edge of the wall. Two of the new swordsmen hacked at the ropes even as soldiers started climbing up the wall.
Angharad managed to subdue one more soldier in the doorway, arming two more of the prisoner fighters, before things got more complicated. The swordsmen had cut three of the grappling ropes, but soldiers jumped down from the wall where the other three had been.
One of the armed prisoners was a teenager who looked determined but overwhelmed with a spear in his hand.
"Switch weapons," Ginnar told Angharad and the boy. She was the better fighter, certainly. "You subdue them as they come through the door," Ginnar commanded the boy. "You take care of some of these soldiers," he said to Angharad.
"Yes, captain!" Angharad saluted Ginnar as she grabbed the spear from the boy and gave him the staff.
A soldier from the wall rushed at her, sword raised. Now they began to really fight, and Angharad's father and grandfather got to admire how much work she had put in. Their girl engaged with the man, blocking swiftly when he swung at her, and jabbing at him with the spear point in between. He got too close to her at one point, and she leaped back gracefully, using the spear to leverage herself into a backwards flip that she landed effortlessly.
("Tell her not to waste energy," Thranduil told Legolas. Legolas ignored him. He'd received this comment countless times already. One backflip wasn't worth throwing her off her game with criticism.
"She is excellent for her age," Thranduil told Lossrilleth. "I have rarely ever seen such a young elf fight so well. Her naneth should be proud."
Lossrilleth nodded, keeping hold of her father-in-law's hands as she continued to try to hold her nerve.
"Is it good enough?" she asked him shakily.
"She is doing well so far," Thranduil said. "I do not hear many soldiers left on the other side of the wall anymore, do you?" he asked the frightened mother. He wanted her to try to understand the situation for herself. This battle appeared to have an end point, and they were moving closer to it.)
Angharad finally managed to wrestle the sword away from the man she was fighting. One of the armed prisoners had joined her at her side and rushed in before the soldier could take out another weapon, dropping him where he stood.
Legolas felt his daughter's shock as a spatter of blood hit her arm and she watched the man fall. So, she had not seen death in battle yet. She certainly had not killed.
"No time, my dear," he thought to her. "We can talk about it later. Keep going."
Angharad let out a breath and looked for the next problem to address. She could hear no more soldiers over the wall, though she knew far too many more were uncomfortably close by. For now, eleven remained in the yard, engaging with the armed prisoners. Ginnar and one of the women had armed themselves with legs from the broken table and were ganging up on one of the attackers.
Near the door, the nervous teenager was fending off an unusually tall man. The soldier brought his blade down decisively and the wooden staff snapped in two. Angharad raced over, lunging at the soldier with her spear point. He smacked her blade aside with the flat of his sword and turned his full attention on her.
In an unusual move, the man grabbed the shaft of her spear and pulled her towards him. She tried to yank it back, but he just pulled at her again. She tried once more, but he was too strong.
"If you get stuck, change the fight," Angharad voiced in her mind. She had not meant for her parents to hear, but they did.
Legolas did not have time to ask where she'd heard that – some kind of teaching phrase, he thought. Angharad yanked hard at the spear and when the man yanked back, she let go. The man stumbled backwards, cursing. He tripped over his own feet and dropped his sword.
"Good girl!" Legolas encouraged her. It had been a smart move. He was so proud.
Angharad was on the man like a wildcat, daggers in both hands.
The man stood up and faced her, adopting a hand-fighting stance. The two fighters beat at each other, using their forearms like sword blades. He punched at Angharad with great, strong blows. She dodged them or smacked them aside without surprise.
He backed up a step and she rounded on him, hitting him in the chest with a high kick strong enough to truly impress Legolas and Thranduil. But whatever she was doing, this soldier knew how it worked. He grabbed Angharad by the ankle and twisted. She spun her whole body around in the air and landed again.
(Lossrilleth was aghast. She could not believe what she was seeing. Had her daughter, an elf of Arda, learned Kung Fu!?)
"Clever girl," the big soldier jibed at Angharad. She did not bother to reply. She was like Legolas in this way: not interested in mid-fight banter.
The man came at her again, this time throwing heavy blows at her one after the other, forcing her into a defensive pattern. He kept her close, then punched at her face, making her dodge sideways. He used her own momentum to spin her around and grabbed the smaller fighter in a tight bear hug.
Angharad nearly panicked. This had been the one thing she had never figured out how to get out of in practice, although she'd tried. He was so much stronger and heavier than she was. She struggled against his grip. He locked one arm around her and started moving the other towards his knife belt. Even with one arm, she could not get free.
"Hit him in the face with your head," Legolas told her.
But something zipped past and the man gasped. His grip on Angharad faltered. She pushed away from him. When she turned to look, he was grabbing at an ornamental hair pin sunk deep into his eye. Blood colored the silver blossoms that wept down his cheek red. He went down with a thud, going limp on the ground.
Angharad looked around in shock. Seven soldiers remained in the yard, engaged with armed prisoners. The prisoners were weak with hunger. They struggled against their better-fed opponents. And across the yard –
"Xiaoqing!" Angharad screamed. She looked at the demon lady, dressed in a surprisingly ornate outfit for their location, then back at the man with the hairpin in his eye.
Xiaoqing waved at her, wearing her best shit eating grin.
"How are you here?" Ginnar asked her in Westron. He'd just finished knocking out the soldier he'd been fighting. He was as surprised as Angharad and nervous about what the demon's presence meant for their fight. You never knew with Xiaoqing.
"I've been following you since you left the city in those terrible, stinky fish barrels," Xiaoqing said casually, inspecting her manicure.
"Who is she?" Legolas asked Angharad, unsure of why his daughter was so stunned. The woman had just saved her. Surely this was a good thing?
"It is hard to explain…" Angharad thought back to him. "She is unpredictable, and usually selfish. And she is very powerful," she explained to her father. The adult elves did not like the sound of that.
"I – why?" the young elf asked. Xiaoqing had no reason to be here for her own benefit.
Xiaoqing let out a silver laugh. "You two are one of the most interesting things that I've seen since, I don't know, the crowning of the Yellow Emperor? I wanted to see the rest of the story," Xiaoqing said.
One of the pairs of fighters got a little too close to her. Nonchalantly, she kicked the soldier in the back of the knee, knocking him off balance so the prisoner could finish him off.
"The Battle of Zhuolou was real?" [2] Ginnar said in surprise. "You'd have to be at least, what, four thousand years old to know that!"
"If you say so, tiny craftsman. Although, I was hardly young at the time," Xiaoqing shrugged. Now Angharad was confused. Xiaoqing was older than Legolas? The adult elves were also surprised. Was this strange woman an elf? She didn't act like one.
"But, you – you're helping?" Angharad stammered.
"Yes, hatchlings, I've decided I like you. And I'm feeling generous today. So tell your fighters if they want to live – get out of my way," Xiaoqing said with a hiss, her forked tongue flicking out.
"Retreat! Rebels retreat!" screamed Ginnar in Eastron. The remaining fights all paused. Confused, the prisoners ran back to the tiny, bearded boy who had, so far, been full of good ideas. Angharad was backing up against a wall.
"What is happening?" Legolas demanded of Angharad.
"She is a skin changer," his daughter replied with a feeling of nervous awe.
Before their eyes, the woman's body writhed as she stretched into the biggest snake any of them had ever seen. The soldiers who had been sneering at their cowardly opponents stumbled and tried to flee. But Xiaoqing was fast. In two minutes, the fight was over.
Xiaoqing morphed back. She didn't like being crowded in a little yard when she was big. She inspected herself for blood smears.
Ginnar started cheering. The escapees joined him as they realized the demon was – unbelievably – on their side!
"The lady serpent is mighty indeed!" he crowed.
"Uhm, thank you," Angharad said breathlessly.
"So," Xiaoqing continued in the children's preferred Westron. "What's next? Soldiers found the Hidden Village, by the way. Ironic, isn't it. They wouldn't help these poor prisoners and now they're the ones in chains."
Angharad was terribly alarmed. "We have to help them!" she cried out. Jade Fox! Li Zicheng! All the orphan children! She shared a distressed glance with Ginnar, who was starting to visibly panic.
"No, no, no, that would be a mistake. It was cute at first, but I'm tiring of these errors of youthful passion. I can stop you without hurting you, you know – hurting you permanently, I mean," Xiaoqing said, waving a finger at them like naughty babies.
The children gulped. They hadn't asked for a guardian demon. It was turning out to be tricky.
"Well, we have to find somewhere to wait? For my parents to come? Unless you know how we could get on a ship West?" Angharad said nervously.
"Do not go with her unless you absolutely must. Tell us where you are. We will come to you," Lossrilleth's voice commanded.
"How do you know your parents are coming for you?" Xiaoqing asked sweetly. She wasn't convinced about this 'parenting' thing. She was kind of trying it a little with these funny creatures. She still couldn't imagine crossing an ocean for a troublesome infant.
"I, well," Angharad stammered. She hadn't had a chance to tell Ginnar what had happened before the battle. "We can kind of feel each other's spirits and, well, just now, just since this battle… we're talking to each other in our minds. They can see what I see right now."
"What!?" Ginnar shouted in surprise.
Xiaoqing grinned and leaned down to look her in the eyes. "Well hello, my fellow old souls. Or are you all babies, too? Your offspring is impressive. I never met a hatchling that was so feisty when it was so tiny. I have some news for you. Your daughter has managed to antagonize both an Emperor and the leader of the only real opposition against him as well."
"I didn't antagonize the Dashing King!" Angharad protested.
"Oh, no? When you defied his orders and it ended with the core of his movement in chains?" Xiaoqing asked innocently. "Your grandfather is a king, right? I'm sure he would appreciate your behavior."
(Thranduil snorted. He didn't much like this serpent woman picking on his granddaughter, even if she did have a lesson to learn. But he understood Xiaoqing better than Legolas and Lossrilleth did. He had a feeling if they were discussing someone else, he and the skin changer might get along fine.)
"That wasn't my fault! They chose to do that supply raid on their own. Nobody saw me when I went spying – I did it right, just like I told them I could!" Angharad argued. Xiaoqing had made it sound so bad. With her parents watching for the first time in so long!
"Nobody saw you because I scared a soldier away during his morning piss and none of them were willing to go near that spot again for days," Xiaoqing corrected her.
Angharad gaped. "That was you!?"
"Like I said all the way back at the palace. Aunty is here to fix it for you," Xiaoqing simpered. She pinched Angharad's cheeks. This was hilarious. One of her best tricks of all time. Could good deeds always be so fun? The fact that the parents were watching made her want to roar with laughter. Instead, she let out a delicate little chortle.
"So. Mommy and daddy will come find you, but you need someplace safe to stay. And like I said, you're not very popular right now. Ideas?" She said.
Angharad and Ginnar looked at each other helplessly. Angharad felt awful. Was this all her fault? All these burned bridges? The rebellion ruined and in chains? (Xiaoqing had exaggerated the extent of it, of course, though the children couldn't know that.)
"Hmm, didn't think so. But speaking of fixing things, I have a solution for you. Hear anything different lately, elf?" she prompted the girl.
Angharad listened. Far off, unhurried footsteps were approaching them. There was an odd sound with them, like wood clacking against wood.
"Who are they?" Angharad asked.
"They are the Brothers of Temple Mountain. Which means I need to leave soon – I don't fancy a run in with a spirit knife today. Be careful of those, I don't think they'd do you any you any good either, elves."
"But you go with the Brothers, wait there. They are the only ones left in this land with both the strength and reason to conceal you while you wait," Xiaoqing said for the parents' benefit as much as the girl's.
"We are losing the connection," Lossrilleth said to the other adult elves. It felt like Angharad was getting farther and farther away. "These Brothers, I think they are like the nuns we met in Anfalas. Better than keeping company with this tricky old snake!"
"I agree," Legolas said. "I do not fully like this Xiaoqing, for all it seems she has helped Angharad many times. She wishes to help them for now, so I hope her advice is good. But I do not trust her not to change her mind."
"Indeed," Thranduil opined. "If we are almost out of time, we must know where to look for her. We must pray these Brothers are as good as the sisters who helped us before."
"Do as she says," Lossrilleth told her daughter. "Go to Temple Mountain and wait. We will find you there."
"But Jade Fox said the Brothers at Temple Mountain were nasty to her and they won't teach girls the Tradition and they made her clean all day! They don't sound like nice people to me, or wise!" Angharad protested for the benefit of both audiences.
"Your teacher is false!" Xiaoqing hissed forcefully, her forked tongue lashing out. Even a small display of anger from her was sobering to the youngsters. This ancient demon was very powerful, they knew.
"The Brothers are human. They are not perfect. I know that better than anyone – they have no mercy for my people. But they are good enough for this purpose. Many children reside at Temple Mountain in their care. It is the best answer for you."
"Tell your parents to come by way of the Ghost Bay, halfway up the Eastern coast of the Longqing Emperor's kingdom. Humans do not go there. They believe it is haunted. Do not be tempted to sail up the river to Longhai City – the navy is too strong. They will have to walk to Temple Mountain." [3]
"Is it haunted?" Angharad squeaked.
But to her parents she thought "Be careful here! The Emperor collects unique people. He knows about you. He wants to capture you!" The poor girl's alarm nearly broke parents' hearts.
"Only by us," Xiaoqing giggled. "I want you to win, I've decided. I'll tell the other demons to look for the pale tree spirit people. We can show them the way through the wildlands to Temple Mountain. There is no need to be near humans at all between the ocean and the mountain."
The footsteps of the Brothers were getting closer. Angharad could feel her parents fading in her mind.
"Do as she says, sweetheart. We will come looking for you at this Temple Mountain. It may take a long time; I think you are far away. Wait for us," Legolas told his daughter firmly.
"We love you, Angharad. You bear it in your very name. I am so proud of you – you look so strong. But be safe. We are coming," Lossrilleth assured the girl, radiating her love with all the strength of her heart.
"And if you should have trouble with the Brothers, you can always come find me in the forest," the demon continued. "I know Temple Mountain. I lived in its woods for a few centuries. The winters are cold, but from what I have seen of elves, you at least, could survive it. I cannot say as much for your friend. I will be watching you, just to make sure you succeed."
Xiaoqing was ambling over to the few soldiers that had been knocked unconscious and tied up.
"But elf, you should know. My people are like you, but not like you. We are wilder, I think. Eat or be eaten. So if you come to me, be ready," the snake woman said.
"Be ready for what?" Angharad said nervously.
"To get your hands dirty," Xiaoqing replied serenely as she snapped the neck of a helpless soldier in his sleep. As she had said, she had decided the elf and the dwarf should win. No witnesses to tell the Emperor or his troops where they'd been seen. It was essential.
Angharad gasped.
(Lossrilleth gasped. Even Legolas was taken aback.
Thranduil kept his thoughts to himself, but privately, thought this might be a necessary evil if the children were indeed being pursued by this Emperor. If Xiaoqing were a queen of a neighboring realm, he would treat her with much respect. He was glad she was interested in watching over Angharad for now. He trusted her to be effective.)
"DO NOT GO WITH HER UNLESS IN DESPERATION," Angharad heard her mother scream in her mind as she felt her parents drift farther and farther away.
"I will not!" Angharad promised, shouting back over the distance. "We will wait at Temple Mountain!"
And then the presence of her parents was gone from behind her eyes. But their song in her spirit remained. She could not feel them they way they could feel each other – but she could tell, always, how much they loved her. She was still scared. But they were all whole now. She wanted to weep with the relief of it.
"Time to go!" Xiaoqing said brightly over the dead soldiers at her feet. As quickly as she had arrived, she slipped back into the trees she had haunted since time immemorial. She wanted to have a little chat with Jade Fox before she made her way to the mountain.
"We have to go with the Brothers," Angharad told Ginnar. "My parents are gone now. I do not think they will come back like that again, it was so strange. They will be looking for us at Temple Mountain."
Ginnar was very heartsore over the fate of the Hidden Village. He'd made so many friends there. What would happen to them? But there was a real answer to the problem of getting home now. The elves were really coming to save them. Over this, he felt great relief.
Ginnar nodded at Angharad, who joined him and put an arm over his shoulder. The prisoners had all fled when Xiaoqing left. When the Brothers arrived to offer care to the wounded, the only ones they found alive were two battered Western children with their arms around each other. They begged to be taken to Temple Mountain, where their parents would be looking for them eventually.
"Very well," said the fighting monk, Fahai. Helping others was his religion. He wanted to hear their whole story. He had been certain there had been reports of a vicious snake demon around lately, and these children seemed strange in their own way. Maybe they could tell him where he could find, and kill, the snake once and for all. [4]
(~***~)
Footnotes:
[1] This is me imagining a situation where a choke point could have conceivably been used. There was a minor raid on a supply depot in Gushi during the Battle of Guando and the associated conflict that I fictionally ascribed this to.
[2] The Battle of Zhuolu between the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou is a legendary battle said to have taken place in the 26th century BCE.
[3] This location of the fictional Temple Mountain is based on the location of the actual Wudang Mountain in China. Ghost Bay is fictional. Longhai city is real.
[4] We're back to the Legend of the White Snake with the introduction of Brother Fahai! Fahai the Buddhist monk, along with Bai Suzhen (the white snake) and Xiaoqing (the green snake) are key players in this legend. Bai Suzhen is unfortunately indisposed at the time of this story, as Fahai has imprisoned her in Lei Fang Pagoda for the crime of marrying a mortal. Fahai's traditional characteristics in this story make him the perfect person to also have been the abbot of Jade Fox's tale… All of my knowledge is based on research I've done that is available in English, as well as pop culture depictions of this story.
In general: Hopefully this situation – the boon of the Valar – made sense. Everything about what's happened to this family is a deviation from Eru's original plan for Arda, so (to me at least) it follows that a limited divine intervention may be warranted to keep things from going off the rails.