Mim and sons learn the hard way you do not mess with elflings or elf-hounds when Celegorm is about. Some violence ahead proving Celegorm lives up to his reputation.

8. A Rescue

Another dead end. Another gloomy glade without a bridge in sight. I was so certain I had taken the right fork in the path. Once more I doubled back. Perhaps the way to the Halls of Awaiting was not as straightforward as I had initially thought. The surrounding trees closed in on me almost menacingly. Hefting the pack on my shoulders, I plodded on. It has been hours, perhaps days or weeks since I left the Naugrim but I did not feel hunger or thirst. I stopped often to rest my weary feet.

I missed Huan's company. And I missed them.

There was no wet nose and tongue to comfort me. There were no childish questions and antics to distract me from the monotony of the silent woods.

The path seemed closed to me. It twisted and turned all round in circles until I was hopelessly lost. I encountered that lunatic elf once. He was singing up a tree, naked. His garments were strewn about the base of the tree. He kept babbling about his clothes being stolen and refused to be coaxed down from his high perch. I had to leave him behind.

"Please stop! No!" The Elurussa? I started. A shrill scream of pain rent the still air.

The boys were in trouble. I threw aside my pack. It was slowing me down too much. More screams rent the air and I followed them. I slid and slipped over some loose pebbles down a steep slope. Near the bottom, I tripped over something which whimpered weakly.

"Oh Huan…" It was my friend. He licked my face as I kneeled down. He was pinned under a large rock slab. A dead-fall trap, skillfully set and camouflaged. We had used such traps in Aman and Beleriand to catch small game. Poor Huan must have blundered into it. More screaming filled the air. I cursed and used my staff to try levering the rock off Huan. I could not leave him there. He might have broken his ribs, back or legs…

Finally after much straining, I managed to move the rock a fraction of an inch, it was just enough for Huan to crawl free using his front paws. He whimpered as he dragged his back legs free. His legs might be crushed but I had no time to see to him. I let the rock fall back.

"It hurts!" A shrill scream echoed through the trees. I only had my staff and a Dwarven dagger. I hastened towards the cries.

Burning. I smelled smoke and something more sinister. A fire. I saw a glow through the brambles. In a clearing, a fire burned. On a rock beside the fire glinted my missing jewelry and the twins' daggers atop a pile of clothing. Three petty-dwarves stood around a tree trunk. Tied to the tree were the Elurussa.

"Tell us where Ellf keep jewels and we let you go," Mim hissed and the glowing end of a stick to the soles of Elured's bare feet. The sickly smell of burning flesh filled the air as the elfling screamed in pain. He repeated the same with Elurin.

"We don't have any!" Elurin screamed. One of the other petty-dwarves hit him across the face.

"Y-you p-promised to help Huan," Elured sobbed through his pain. The pair's garments were torn and bloodied. Tufts of their silver-blond hair had been yanked out. They were so small and trusting. The petty-dwarves could easily have overpowered them.

I growled. Feral rage filled my veins. The wretches will pay dearly for this. Roasted petty-dwarfsounded appealing, and not as dinner. Had I been at full strength I would have charged them headlong. I was still feeling the effects of the wounds from the pool. Instead, I decided on stealth and cunning.

There was a muddy patch nearby and I streaked my hair and face in the stuff, just as I had learnt from Lord Orome for stalking prey on foot. I stripped myself of the baggy Dwarf-shirt and streaked my chest too, wincing as the mud touched the still-healing wounds. Dagger in hand, I crawled to the edge of the clearing and mimicked the cry of an injured deer.

That got their attention. Mim growled something to one of his companions. The petty-dwarf shambled away from the fire and towards me. I waited until he is deep in the shadows before striking out with my dagger. I wanted to crack in his skull but the dagger-hilt just bounced off it. Fucking Naugrim.

He gave a grunt of surprise. I acted to stop him from crying for help, shoving him face-first into the ground and ramming my blade into his back twice, piercing the lungs. He's dead already so I guess I did not technically kill him, right? For good measure, I sliced the tendons in his feet as he lay gasping for air. They might be stunted, but the Naugrim, even petty-dwarves, were all muscle.

Just in time I slipped back into the shadows as the second petty-dwarf came seeking his brother. As he bent over his fallen kin, I sneaked up behind him, grabbed him by the hair and slit his throat down to the spine. I left him gurgling atop his brother with his tendons similarly slashed. Now for Mim.

Sensing something amiss, Mim was shouting for his sons but they were in no state to reply. I stepped out of the shadows, bloody knife in hand.

"Hello again, scum," I spat.

Mim gave a squeal of fright and dropped the burning stick he had been torturing the Elurussa with. He reached for the Elurussa's daggers but I was quicker. I leapt between him and the weapons and lashed out, ripping through coarse fabric, flesh, and bone. Dwarvish blades were sharp. Rolling on the ground, Mim clasped his torn side to keep his innards from falling out. Blood pounding in my head, I kicked him into the fire, grinding him into the red-hot embers with my boot. The smell of roasted dwarf filled the air as he squirmed and cursed.

Finally, the heat got too much for me and I lifted my lightly-singed boot off the captive. Blackened and charred, the wretch crawled clear of the fire. I was not done with him yet. Ignoring his pleas, I stomped on his brunt legs until I hear the satisfying crunch of bone breaking.

Only then did I return my attention to the Elurussa and cut them free.

"Ada, you came back!" Half-blinded by tears, the pair embraced me. I guess with my fair hair blackened by mud, they might have mistaken me for Dior.

"I am not your adar," I swallowed. It was so good to see them again. Sobbing and whimpering from his burns, Mim was trying to crawl away on his arms and shattered legs. I took the stock of the petty-dwarves' cache. I retrieved my jewels and my shirt with the Feanorian star they were wrapped up in. Thieving petty-dwarves. I returned the daggers to the twins and went back for my pack.

I had no medicine but the water-skin provided some relief for the twins' burns. I tore up my linen shirt and used it to bind their feet. Carrying both under my arms I returned to Huan, pausing to give Mim a kick. Huan was lying on his side, wagging his tail in greeting.

"Oh, Huan…" I gingerly felt his ribs and hips. They were broken. His back legs have been broken in several places. He would not be able to walk, much less carry the twins.

"Let us…" the twins pleaded. They crawled over to Huan and placed their tiny hands on the elf-hound. The twins seemed to be glowing again. Huan's legs twitched and he let out a surprised bark. Part Maia. The twins were healing Huan's injuries! Slowly, Huan staggered to his paws.

Suddenly both elflings swooned as if the effort had been too much. I checked them over. Their eyes were closed, their breathing light but steady enough. Their pulses were strong. They would be alright. Huan nosed Elurin and whimpered.

"You take one, I will take one," I shrugged. We would have to leave the pack and victuals from Durin, not that we needed them in the woods of Mandos. I draped Elurin over Huan's back and tied him in place. I took Elured on my back. The path seemed to open up before us as we left the maimed petty-dwarves behind. It was not long before we were crossing the bridge and standing in a beautiful meadow.

Here we stopped to rest. I untied Elurin from Huan's back. There was a clear-flowing stream I could use to clean the elflings' burns in. The pair was starting to stir. Huan yawned and plopped down on the soft grass.

I undid the bindings and checked the burns. There were still raw blisters on the soles of their feet. I wonder why they could not heal themselves with their Maia power but I guess they were just too young to understand how to use their abilities. There were some plants in the meadow I recognized as being good for soothing pain. I ground them up and applied the paste to both their burnt soles and the raw spots on their scalps where the hair had been torn out. I mussed their hair a bit to hide the bald spots.

Author's Notes:

The twins Elured and Elurin have Maia blood from Melian and they should be have some abilities which even they are not that aware of.