Huan leaves the party. Celegorm and twins continue.
9. Farewell, Huan
As I treated their wounds, the twins prattled on, completing each other's words the same way the Ambarussa did.
"We wanted to look for Ada…"
"Durin told us elves go to the Halls of Awaiting… "
"He don't know where…"
"Huan say he know and take us there…"
Huan? I turned to raise a quizzical eyebrow at my hound. Huan only yawned lazily and flopped onto his side. Huan had never spoken to me in all our time together.
"How does he sound like? He never spoke to me before. Does he sound like this?" I mischievously raised the pitch of my voice so that I sounded like a bird.
"No, no!" The twins giggled. Huan cocked his ear. I mimicked the high-pitched chirping of a chipmunk and had the twins guffawing. Huan let out at annoyed huff. He rolled over and smacked one paw between my shoulders, forcing my face into the grass.
"He has deep voice, like Durin," Elurin volunteered. "Durin wanted us to bring food but Huan says he cannot carry everything. We leave food behind."
"We not hungry now…" Elured added. He toyed with one of the pale wispy flowers which covered the meadow.
A lassitude came over us and we slept. When I awoke, I checked the twins' feet again. The blisters were healing but they would not be able to stand for long without some pain. Huan chewed on my braids as I cut up my goat-skin cape to make crude booties for them. The petty-dwarves had taken away their boots when they were captured. There were fibers from the grasses and thorns which I fashioned into thread and needles to stitch the pieces together. I had learnt that from Moryo, who was surprisingly resourceful when it came to needlework. Once he had managed to stitch Cousin Finno and Nelyo into their bed rolls as they slept using their fishing line and hooks. We had a good laugh at the sight of the hapless pair wriggling about like fat caterpillars the next morning.
Elurin and Elured amused themselves making flower chains and draping them on Huan's head only to have him shake them off. It was so peaceful a scene. We could have stayed there forever in this restful oasis, lounging and napping in turn.
"What is it, Huan?" I asked. Huan had lifted his head off his paws and had his ears cocked as if listening for something. He barked and wagged his tail. Then I heard it – Lord Orome's hunting horn. I cried out in relief. Huan leapt to his feet and danced about us like a puppy.
I tried to rise but the strength had gone from my legs. Not yet, Tyelkormo. I heard my Valar mentor's voice in my mind and wept. Your task is not yet finished. I glanced at the twins, who were just waking up, roused by the hunting horn.
Huan whined, paused and glanced back at us. He hesitated as another blast from the horn shattered the quiet.
"Go to him, Huan," I fought to keep my voice steady and wiped my tears away. "Lord Orome is waiting."
Huan padded over and placed a gentle paw on my chest instead. He licked my face. I hugged him.
"Go, Huan. I will take care of the little ones, I promise… Until we meet again, outside…"
"Till we meet again, Tyelkormo…" Huan spoke. He sounded a bit like Grandfather Finwe, or Atto before his obsession with the Silmarilli – dignified, kindly, wise and above all else, reassuring.
He tuned and bounded off though the flowers. We caught a pale glimpse of Lord Orome astride his steed through the mist. Huan gave a loud bark of sheer joy and leapt into the mist. Then they were gone - the mist, Lord Orome and Huan. Only the flowers remained.
"Where Huan go?" Elured asked as he stifled a yawn.
"Who that big elf on horse?" Elurin asked as he rubbed sleep from his eyes.
"That is Lord Orome, Lord of the Hunt. Huan has gone to him," I replied.
"Will he treat Huan well?" the twins asked as one.
"Yes, definitely. He will take Huan hunting in his Woods…" The weakness had left us and we stood up, ready to continue our journey to the Halls of Awaiting. I described the beauty of Lord Orome's Woods and his magnificent lodge where the hunters gathered by Telperion's light to feast and celebrate the forest's bounty.
"Can we go visit Huan someday?" Elurin asked.
"Of course, I think Lord Orome will love to meet you…" When you are reborn into Aman. I do not know if I would ever see Huan again.
"Will you come with us too?" Elured added.
"I'd love to," I smiled. What I would give to be able to return to those days of carefree bliss under Lord Orome's tutelage.
I checked the twins' feet once more. The skin was almost done healing. They could walk easily without too much discomfort now. Even the bald patches on their scalps were starting to show a light, silvery fuzz. My own wounds had healed into an ugly patchwork of dark scars. The meadow beneath our feet was turning muddy. We were entering the marshes and I can hear the faint gurgling of water. We were near a creek, the next stage of our journey. The flowers and grass gave way to tall reeds and brooding willows.
Pushing through reeds, we came to the creek. Bobbing on its surface was a flimsy-looking boat. A pale Feanorion lamp glowed on its bow. Wading out, I carried and placed each of the twins in the craft in turn before pushing it off the muddy bank. The elflings helped me into the boat as the slow current caught it.
Water sloshed at the bottom of the boat. There was a tin mug there which I handed to the twins for bailing out the fetid liquid. I stood in the stern and took hold of the rudder. The creek was sluggish and there were numerous muddy banks and tussocks we had to avoid running into.
The hair on the back of my hair stood on end as I heard a soft murmuring. The twins were oblivious to it at first. They splashed water at each other when they grew tired of the monotony of bailing. More than once I had to catch a twin by the collar to save him from falling over the side into the inky water.
My unease grew as the murmurs grew in volume and started forming into words. A grey fog was closing in on us. The twins ceased their games and cowered in the bottom of the boat, whimpering uneasily.
Kinslayer… The tendrils of fog hissed and tugged at my hair and clothes. A stray willow branch caught my cheek and gashed it. I gripped the pole until my knuckles went white and peered into the fog. I could not turn back or risk running aground. I sat down to avoid the low branches. Instinctively, the twins crawled towards me.
"No, stay put," I warned. Our weight could sink the boat if concentrated all in the stern.
"Go to the bow and look out into the fog. Warn me of any trees or rocks," I instructed. Thankfully, the pair obeyed. I was blind now in the thick fog. All I could make out were the pale glimmer of the lamp in the bow and the hunched figures of the twins. Indistinct shapes swirled about us, phantoms of friend and foe alike.
Ghostly orc-like swirls gripped and tore at our craft, snarling in deathly silence. Fingolfin's likeness formed in the fog to my right while his eldest appeared on my left, both battered and bloodied. They melted away and reformed as Dior and Beren, both clad in armour as if for war.
Not real, I repeated to myself. They were gone. Next, Finrod's pale face floated before me before turning into a wolf-like being with bared fangs. Traitor. Drool or blood dripped wetly down… Not real…
"Tree, turn left!" Elured's voice piped eerily from the gloom. The wolf vanished into the fog. I steered the boat accordingly, feeling the scraping of the boat as it passed too close to some slimy rock.
Author's Notes:
Huan has returned to Orome. The elves are approaching the Elven Halls now, but their trials are not quite over yet.