Chapter 8: A Past Not Forgotten
She awoke to the smell humid dog breath and felt wet, slimy drool land solidly on her cheek and slide down towards her ear. As it entered, she screamed, sitting straight up in the bed, forcing Goldor to yelp and flail away from her. When she had finally managed to rid her ear of almost all of the slobber, she sent him a disgusted look to which he flattened his ears against his head in shame. Coran raised her eyebrows at him and asked, "Why?"
He offered no explanation. He muttered his apology before stating his real purpose behind his coming. "We must flee from here. There is a secret meeting in the Chamber of the Lord Elrond. The important guests from last night and some of the ones we travelled with are there. We were not, however, invited. The Lord Elrond actually ordered Lhûn to occupy us for the day. Now, I figured we should go to that meeting… There is a roof that hangs over the meeting and there are stairs up to the roof. We could go…" He continued to babble about the meeting and their apparent espionage mission.
She did not answer but started to change into her ranger clothes. If they were going on such a mission, she would need trousers and not the limited movability of a dress' skirt. "Why were we not invited? I have testimony just as Aragorn and Frodo about the happenstances that had occurred."
Goldor cocked his head to the side, in a way willing her on. Coran continued. "You know as well as I do that this is Aragorn's doing. He would not have me disgracing him or the Dúnedain."
The wolfhound had knowledge of human discrimination. Those who are different were lesser. Women were below the men. Those of a darker color, below those purely pale. Those of mixed race, beneath the common folk. Those who must sacrifice honor and must extort their bodies to feed themselves or their family are the lowest of the low. He did not understand their thoughts of differences as with his kin, he was accustomed to helping every creature in need. Were they not taught to accept others of their kind? They had hate for those different than them only because of the differences and not for their soul. "Why would he think that?"
"Apparently women get too emotional for such topics as war and evil…" She sighed and faked a faint onto her bed. "It's best left to the men." As they sat in silence, Coran and Goldor succumbed to their thoughts of the places of people in society.
They heard the cheery voice of Lhûn approaching from down the hallway, her song echoing brightly off the walls. Springing up, Coran nodded to the window, marking their exit. She put a finger to her lips as they quickly snuck out of her room and onto the balcony. They were about eight feet up from the ground. She mouthed the word 'go' to Goldor and the dog went over the railing. Coran followed after him. Soon they were away, running breathlessly and silently to the safety of trees and shadows.
As the pale golden and green leaves hid them from the eyes of Lhûn, they could not save their laughter. Thankfully, they were too far into the thicket for their voices to be recognizable. As their laughter died, Coran pulled on Goldor's tail harmlessly and teasingly. "Do you remember when you were but a pup and we would run away from Feredir just as we did from Lhûn?"
"We were much more frivolous in those days." He sent a searching look over Coran's features. Moving forward cautiously, he muttered, "Those days were before your sister died…needlessly."
As quick as the subject was changed, her mood did as well. She snapped, hurt and angrily at him, "My sister did not die needlessly. She died so that she could live and she could love him."
"You still blame her for your sister's death?" Goldor had taken to sitting next to the tree she leaned against. She slid down slowly next to him, feeling the bark prickle at her back.
In the faded light of the trees, she cast a hand over her face, shielding it from his sight. She repeated the words she had rehearsed in her head and out loud so many times before. "Arwen Undómiel left my sister to die at the hands of an Orc pack that attacked them on their way back from Lórien." She became a bit distracted by the wind in the leaves as she continued. "It's just a bit too convenient that Calithil loved Aragorn."
"You were very young when Calithil died. Surely you might not remember…" The fact of the matter was that no one except those present at the time of the attack knew what had happened. Coran only knew what her mind had deduced and the report given by the Elvish Company. He was also very young then, only being a puppy. His mind, however, was not marred by bias or aging.
"I was eight winters old. I remember fairly well. Last time I saw her, Calithil was going to profess her love to him. I warned her against it. She knew she would never be able to marry him, seeing as we are close cousins. But, at the end of the day, what harm would her professing her love would do? It got her killed!"
He narrowed his eyes at her narrow mind. He barked in fury, "Do you really believe that Lady Arwen deliberately left your sister behind? That it was a planned action?"
"The rest of her escort returned yet my sister did not! Certainly, that was her fate, to die for unrequited love!"
He watched her stand before he continued. Her body shook with anger or perhaps, sorrow. "There must be another reason why Calithil did not return."
"Only Arwen knows, and she does not share secrets. She did not even express regret or her sympathies." Her words came out as frozen as the October morning. "She has no heart."
He nudged her aggressively, pushing her back towards the Last Homely House. "I grow tired of this. Neither of us should be arguing about past happenings. What transpired, transpired. There is nothing we could have done then nor now. Come; let's go to the Lord Elrond's meeting."
She agreed, following slightly behind him. He did not wait for her or look back. As they moved through the trees, he could hear her light footsteps. She drifted between thoughts and memories, her brain mixing them into truth. As the wind whipped through her hair she could not help but think of Calithil.
"Wait Calithil! Wait for me!" Coran's little six year old legs ran after her older sister. "I want to come with you!"
With a laugh and twinkle in her eye, Calithil turned to Coran and put her finger to her lips to ask for her silence. She crouched low and motioned for Coran to do the same. The little girl dropped to all fours and crawled to Calithil. "Aphado nin," she whispered in her airy Sindarin. "Follow quickly!"
The two of them stalked their prey like a mountain lion stalks a stag. It was growing ever darker as they hiked up the foothills, chasing shadows and noises. They were hunting down an elk that had escaped from its herd. If it had made it into the mountains, then hope was lost. The chance of survival dropped drastically as the elevation increase, for not only did bears and mountain lions roam the higher passes but goblins and orcs as well.
The young elk darted from behind a bundle of trees and into a clearing near some aspen trees to nibble on the bark of the tree. "Look, Calithil! The elk!" The animal raised its head in alarm. Tense was its stance; its eyes wild with fear. The older girl gave her sister a disapproving look. She raised her hand as if to say 'stay'.
Coran watched her sister lurk very close to the ground, her long black hair cascading over her form. With elegant form and swift action, a lariat was slipped about the elk's neck. When it realized that it had been caught, Calithil was immediately there to calm its nerves, pressing her forehead against its in a soothing motion as she whispered comforting words. "Come here, Coran. Do not be afraid." She held her hand out to her younger sister, encouraging her forward.
Coran nervously walked to the elk, keeping eye contact with the animal as to not frighten it. She reached out to pet it and her legs faltered, sliding over a root. She was sent tumbling to the ground with a loud cry that echoed throughout the silent groove. Calithil did not move to help her up, but shushed her as she strained to listen. "Coran, do you hear that?"
"No, I do not hear anything…"
"We must move!" She took Coran by the hand and started to run, almost dragging the girl along.
"Calithil, I'm too slow!" Stopping for a second, Calithil picked up her younger sister and put her atop the elk.
"Hold tight to him." Whispering in Sindarin to the elk, she told it, "If you drop her, you surrender yourself to the most painful of torture." She started again, running through the aspen as the sun sank lower and lower.
She heard it then and it sent a shiver down her spine along with the fear that made her blanch. An evil noise bounced off the barks of the trees and over the foothills, an Orc horn sounded deep in the forest behind her. And they were not too far behind.
Slowing her pace to think, she pulled them into an alcove hidden by thick brush. She helped Coran slide off and told her to sit quietly and that everything would be okay. The elk pranced nervously about them as he could sense the Orcs nearing. Thinking quickly, she pulled out her curved long dagger. "Coran, look away." Just as she did, Calithil sawed open the young elk across its abdomen. She pulled some of the squirming intestines out and then called for Coran. "Come here."
The girl nearly puked at the sight of the elk, its insides splayed out and bloody on the grass before Calithil. "I need to hide you." Coran could guess where. Her sister was tactical. She would hide Coran in the elk carcass and lure the orcs away from her. She didn't want to do it, though. "I know, Coran, but it will save you." She kissed her forehead and brushed her dark hair aside. "Do not come out until you hear Dúnedain. Do you understand me?"
"Yes." She calmed her stomach and crawled inside the gushy warmth of bloody elk's stomach. She became nauseous as she felt the blood run through her hair and into her mouth. She shuddered with disgust as she pushed her mouth to the cut in the elk so she could breathe.
"May the Valar protect you, love," Calithil whispered to her.
Calithil gathered branches and bush to hide the elk carcass. Laying them gently over the body she was trying to cover. What transpired next she only knew from the story she had heard from Calithil.
Calithil could hear their foot falls, rough and uncoordinated as they ran towards her position. Fleeing, she led them away from her sister. She was quick but soon they were upon her swarming over the hill in a pack. She counted fifteen as she looked behind her. Fearful that the sun was dropping too quickly in the sky and that dark was coming, she slowed her pace and faced them, drawing her sword. She had a better chance of fighting in the light.
The orcs surrounded her, clanging their weapons against their chests in an effort to terrify her. She scoffed at them, standing straighter with hooded eyes that gave away only impatience. "Cowards," she hissed, turning her head to the side and glancing at those who were behind her. "Fifteen against one, fifteen against a woman?"
"Be quiet!" The leader, tall and broad, stepped forward from the outer edge of the circle. He was the ugliest thing she had ever seen. The right half of face was bulbous with pus and his nose was gone. Fire had burned away his left ear and most of his cheek. Most of his teeth were rotting and his skin was a putrid gray color. As he reached her, he circled her. "What is the little girl doing in the wood alone and at night? There are monsters here."
He swiftly grabbed hold of her sword arm before she could pull away with his clawed hand, drawing blood and made her drop the sword. "Speak," he commanded forcefully as he kicked the sword away.
She blinked back tears of pain and whispered her answer quietly, "Hunting."
He laughed and released her before landing a punch on her stomach causing her to fall to her knees. "That is where the little girl belongs, on her knees. That is the only job for a bitch." He walked out of the circle without turning around. "She's yours, boys."
They descended on her with noises of excitement and their claw ripped at her skin and her clothes. She screamed as they bruised and beat her and whimpered as they cut her, beginning to fillet bits of her. Then she heard the most comforting sound, the whizzing of arrows. One by one her assaulters were felled, their shrieks dying upon her ears.
"Dúnedain!" the leader called out, but it was too late. What was left of the Orc pack had been slaughtered and he joined them as well, his disfigured head rolling.
"Calithil," her brothers and sisters came to her, pulling her to her feet, checking the small cuts on her arms and legs. Feredir sheathed his sword with a clink and advanced upon her. His eyes were filled with worry and he gripped her shoulders, his brow furrowing. "Where is she? Is she safe?"
"Yes. Come, let us retrieve her." Calithil knew that Feredir was talking of her sister. They were betrothed; they had been since Coran's birth. He was her protector and always would be. Knowing that she had wandered into dangerous territory with her caused him to worry and she felt a pang of guilt for it was her encouragement that let her sister face danger. She accepted his arm of support but she almost could not bear the disappointment that radiated off him.
She brought them to the alcove, and pointed to the area, before propping herself up against a tree, waves of pain cascading over her from movement. Feredir sprinted to the pile of branches, pulling them off the elk. He looked over to Calithil in disgust as he uncovered the animal. He admired her quick thinking but he knew that Coran would be scarred by the experience of being stuffed inside. He knelt, his fingers brushing gingerly against hers, the only things visible of her. She quickly retreated them inside. The elk had become like a womb, protecting her.
Bending down closer to the opening he whispered in a soothing voice. "Coran, I am here."
He heard a little cough, a gurgle more like it, as she tried to talk. He shoved his hands inside the animal, grasping her shoulders and pulled her out as gently and quickly as possible. She looked like a newborn, except she was covered in blood. She gasped as she gulped down air and clung to him. He wiped some blood off her face, forcing her to look at him as he brought his face to her, touching his forehead to hers. "You are safe."