Last chapter before the epilogue! Just wait to send the hate mail until the very end. Anyway, enjoy!
It was just before dawn when Tinwe stopped, dismounting Alagos and looking up at the mountains.
"Just a little bit further," she said softly to herself, her hand absentmindedly stroking the mare's neck. Tinwe pulled her bag of supplies off the saddle and rummaged around, finding a small piece of bread, which she began eating as she continued fishing through the bag. Eventually she found what she was looking for, a tinder box, twine, and a flask of oil. She carefully hid these items on her person before looking up at the mountain again, taking a deep breath and beginning her ascent into the mountain pass.
Tinwe had done her research, both in the archives of Gondor and in long trips out to the pass in the previous weeks. But she had not ventured far into the pass itself before now, so she had to move slowly and silently, listening for any signs of movement. She had almost reached the point where the pass began among the foothills when she paused, hearing hooves not in front of her, but behind her. Quickly, she melted into the rocky landscape, watching the path carefully. She was not expecting the newcomer to be Faelon, of all people.
"Faelon!" she hissed, slipping out from her hiding place, forcing him to bring his mount to an abrupt stop next to her. "What do you think you are doing here?!"
"I could ask you the same thing," he said quietly, dismounting and moving off the path into a small crevice where they could talk without being completely exposed. "What do you think you're doing creeping into Mordor by yourself?"
"That is my business," Tinwe said heatedly. "Now go back to the Ithilien. Aren't you supposed to be constructing an outpost right now?"
"I would be if I hadn't seen you ride by one of my guards last night," Faelon replied, his own anger rising. "What were you thinking, coming out here by yourself?"
"I traveled on my own for over a millennium, I can handle this alone."
"Is this just some ridiculous way to prove something to yourself? Do you think getting yourself killed by ambushing a host of Orcs in Mordor would make things better?"
"I don't expect you to understand," Tinwe spat out bitterly. "But you cannot stop me. I am going into Mordor."
"I really despise your stubbornness sometimes, Tinwe," Faelon said, his scowl still prominent. "Very well. We shall go into Mordor. Hopefully once you see what we are up against you will change your mind."
"We? What makes you think you're going?"
"Do you really think I would let you go in there alone? I would rather die at the hands of the Orcs than face your husband, your parents, and the King when they found out I had let you do this by yourself."
Tinwe scowled darkly at him, but Faelon just returned the glare, his eyes showing her that no matter what she said, he was not going to back down. She made a noise that was almost a growl before turning away from him.
"Fine, but leave your horse. We need stealth over speed."
Legolas was not at all happy as he rode Arod over the plains, the Mountains of Shadow looming over him to the east. He knew where Tinwe was headed, and he knew why. But he also knew that she was not in the right mindset to be going off on a campaign like this one by herself. Even knowing that Faelon had likely caught up to her before she went into Mordor alone did not ease his concern. There were still only two of them, and Tinwe might very well get Faelon killed as she sought vegence and ignored rationality.
They were several hours ahead of Legolas and the elven hunters, and even if they caught up, there were only a score of elves. They had no way of knowing how many Orcs lay ahead of them. As the sun began to peek over the trees of the Ithilien, Legolas felt his nerves fray a little more. If he got Tinwe back safe, he was going to have Gimli build a new house just for her, where he could lock her up and keep her from such foolish, self-destructive actions.
Tinwe crept forward, Faelon silently following as they made their way along a ridge, moving north, further away from the pass and safety. Neither elf spoke, eyes focused on the Orc camp stretched out in front of them. It was still over a mile away, but more Orcs were likely to be hidden amongst the rocks, and raiding parties coming and going were a distinct possibility.
The camp was not a small one as Tinwe had hoped. There were probably several hundred Orcs sitting in that region that were visible. The elves had no way of knowing how many more were concealed among the rocky terrain at the foot of the mountains. Tinwe prayed to the Valar that they would not stumble upon any unexpectedly, which would alert the masses below.
"What exactly was your plan now?" Faelon said quietly once they stopped in the mountains above the camp, where they could watch the Orcs while simultaneously hiding under a jagged outcropping.
"Divide and conquer," Tinwe replied, not looking at him as her eyes scanned the tents carefully.
"You are going to have to be more specific."
"During the War of the Ring, one of our Hobbit friends singlehandedly rescued the Ringbearer from the Tower of Cirith Ungol. He was able to do so because of the conflict between the factions of Orcs residing in the Tower. It blossomed into a fullblown battle when both leaders wanted Frodo's mithril shirt, and the Orcs ended up killing each other. We shall use the same strategy." Here, Tinwe paused, pointing at the camp. Faelon's eyes looked in the direction she indicated, waiting for her to continue. "See, there are distinct divisions among the Orcs there. Without Sauron and the Nazgul to control them, they have broken off into groups to follow the strongest among them. We just need to get them riled up so they will kill each other. That way we can pick them off from a distance without them being aware of it."
"Sounds like a good plan, but how do you intend to get them fighting?"
Tinwe wasn't sure. She kept scanning the Orc camp for something that would be valuable enough to fight over. Nothing stood out. She bit her lip, eyes darting back and forth frantically, looking for something that would instigate a riot.
"You may not need to do much. Look."
Tinwe looked in the direction Faelon indicated, and saw two Orcs arguing. One was distinctly smaller, but had a mean look that hinted at a dark intelligence about him.
"Stay here," Faelon said, pulling his dark cloak closer around him. "I'll start your feud for you." Before she could reply, he disappeared amongst the rocks and she could do nothing but watch and wait.
It didn't take long before the voices below reached a level where she could clearly hear everything that was said.
"I don't care 'ow smart you think you are," the larger one said, glaring down at the second Orc. "I ain't yer motha. Cook yer own food, ya lazy weasel."
"What makes you think you can talk ta me like that?" the other said in a weazy voice. "I am the leader 'round here."
"Well I think it's about time weez got a new leader," the first Orc said, standing up to his full height, towering over the second.
"Oh yeah? You think you can rally enough men 'round you to take on me and my boys?"
"Yer always hiddin' behind your stupid guards. You couldn't take me in a real fight."
"Well what are you gonna do about it?" the second one sneered. The first one just clenched his fists, glaring down at his opponent, whose sneer grew. "That's what I thought. Yer all talk."
The first Orc turned to walk away, defeated, but he didn't get far before he was hit in the back of the head by a large stone.
"Why you little…" he said, turning back around and charging at the second Orc. The smaller Orc had started back towards his tent, but turned when he heard the other Orc coming towards him, catching sight of the larger Orc moments before the two collided, falling to the ground as both began to bite, kick, and punch the other, more Orcs coming closer to watch. Suddenly, another Orc punched another standing beside him, and in moments the entire camp had broken out into a brawl of Orcs shouting and screaming.
Tinwe knew it was her chance to do some real damage. The Orcs would be distracted fighting each other, but she had to ensure that their numbers would take a severe blow or it would all be for nothing. Creeping closer to the camp, she found a large boulder to crouch behind, and there she got to work. In moments, she had an arrow notched to her bow, and was lighting an oil-soaked piece of twine attached to the shaft. As a spark lit the twine and began to burn, she stood up and fired the arrow into the middle of the camp, where it hit a tent that immediately went up in flames. Satisfied, she began firing more fire arrows into the camp, her satisfaction growing as the angry shouts turned to screams of pain.
Tiwne moved positions to avoid being discovered, trying to decide if she wanted to enter the fray or stay hidden. She was just about to break cover when Faelon suddenly appeared at her side.
"The camp is in chaos. We should leave before we tempt fate more and we are discovered."
"I can't," Tinwe said, steeling herself for the task she was about to undertake. "I came here for more than just revenge."
"Why else would you risk your life coming here?"
"I need to see if any of the gifts from the nomads survived."
"Why? It is not worth your life."
"Just cover me," Tinwe said, not giving him the chance to argue further as she stepped out of her hiding place and dashed towards the closest tent.
"If we get out of this," Faelon muttered to himself. "I am going to need a vacation. At least from Tinwe."
Legolas slowed Arod as they approached the pass. He hesitated, not sure if he wanted to risk alerting Orcs on patrol in the pass by riding in, or to go on foot and hope that Tinwe and Faelon were not already captured or killed. Before he could decide, however, one of his companions spoke up.
"Look, my Lord."
Legolas glanced in the direction the elf indicated, and was surprised to see three horses galloping towards them. He rode forward quickly, recognizing Alagos instantly.
He dismounted and ran forward as the horses stopped in front of him. Tinwe dismounted as well, and as soon as he reached her he took her into his arms, grateful to see that she was unharmed.
"What were you thinking?" he said after his heartrate returned to normal. He took a step back so he could look down at Tinwe. Faelon had ridden towards the rest of the elves, leaving Tinwe and Legolas to talk alone.
"I could not be at peace while I knew the filthy Orcs that took our baby away still lived," Tinwe said, her jaw set as she looked up at him, refusing to back down. "I needed this. I needed closure."
"You could have told me. You didn't need to do this alone."
"You would never have let me go if you had known. Besides, I needed to know if I was still capable of defending myself."
"Whatever you told yourself, this was extremely foolish, Tinwe. It is a good thing Faelon saw you riding by and was able to follow."
"I could have done this without Faelon's help," Tinwe said stiffly. "I could have managed on my own."
"You are my wife, Tinwe. The point is that you no longer have to do things on your own. Do you realize how much it hurts to have you not confide in me, especially something this important? How do you think I would have felt is something had happened to you and we had no idea where you had gone?" He paused here, looking down at her, eyes full of sadness. He took a slow breath before continuing. "You are not the only one who has suffered, melamin."
To Legolas's surprise, Tinwe did not respond with defiant, aggressive words. Instead, he saw her face fall, and tears begin to well up in her eyes.
"I know Legolas," she said softly, looking down at her feet. "I know I have not made this easy for you, and I have not been supportive of you, when all you have done is take care of my needs and wishes. I have been so selfish lately…" At this, Tinwe's voice broke, her tears falling down her cheeks as Legolas pulled her to his chest. Taking a deep, ragged breath, Tinwe kept going. "I only cared about my own misery and revenge. That's why I had to go into Mordor. I had to end my selfishness in the only way I knew how."
Tinwe broke away from Legolas, taking his hand and leading him towards the second horse. To Legolas's surprise, it was the mare they had received from the nomads, though she looked tired and ragged after the months she had spent among the Orcs. It was amazing that she was still alive at all. On her back was a satchel, which Tinwe opened slowly, pulling out a small, leather bound book.
"It's from Chief Darweal and his family. It is a book of stories from their lore. The Orcs may have taken the metal gifts to melt down and anything else they saw as valuable, but there were still some gifts that were largely undamaged. I couldn't leave them for those monsters to have. These gifts were for our baby. And someday, they will belong to another child, whether it is ours or someone else's. The spirit of our son will live on in the pages of this book."
"Tinwe," Legolas said softly, running his fingers through her hair. "You don't need possessions to remember the child we lost. In you, I see the spirit of a child in your eyes. Your joy will always echo that which is in the heart of every child. When I look at you, I can still see the child that you were when we met, and I know that our son would have had the same innocent wonder in his eyes as I see in yours. As long as we remember in our hearts, and as long as you continue to be you, Amanhen's spirit will remain."
Tinwe's tears continued to fall as Legolas bent forward and kissed her lips softly. He could feel the sorrow being exorcized from her body as he held her. He knew that soon, she would find peace.