Chapter 25
A shadow in the north.
The moment I heard the name of Angmar I knew my meeting long ago must have been the black captain himself. That all I had seen would come to pass in one way or another. I do not think anyone saw my fear except for my love as she stood by me and we could easily feel each other. Our Fea's and Hora's were one after all.
"My love," Tauriel said lowly and I looked at her.
"The Iron crown is coming" I simply replayed to her and turned towards her. "We must prepare and get the Dunedain to move, if not they will all die or at least their descendants," I said looking at my redhead wife and our company.
Idril did notice and moved over to us and said in a careful tone.
"What are your orders my ladies?" she could sense something was amiss.
For a few moments Tauriel and I stood there talking in Oswane so no one could hear and then we agreed.
"Leave the Angmarindrim where they fell," Tauriel said as I turned towards the Hillman Banith.
"From where do you come Banith of Rhudaur," I asked and he looked up at me in fear, for he was not used to the fair kin of the West even though we lived as close as we did.
He took time to respond to me and when he did he could not look at me, for in one way I was sure I had scared him with my singing that it had made him speak to me of the fear in the north.
"Just… south… of the first… m m m mmmmm mountain… range…. Lady of the elves" he finally said, looking to the ground.
I nodded and seethed my sword.
"Then I will give you a free council Banith. Leave these lands never to return. Go south as far as the white mountains. Settle there and live a life in peace and love the land you take there. Love your wife and children. Help others when you can, yet do not be a fool and get used. For I will say only this, if you and your people stay in these lands your children will die and your family be gone in not too long. War is brewing in these lands and the men in black will come with more numbers and with demands from the Iron Crown"
At this, he looked up some, yet could not keep eye contact with me or any of the elves there. I made a sign to let him go and with his head bowed he said lowly "Thank you lady" No begging to stay, no pleading for aid, deep down I was sure he knew what was to come.
He then got up and ran as fast as his legs could bear him back to his kin and in a language we did not understand he made them all gather their things and, some complained, yet others just did as told. One of the Dunedain came forth to us and bowed his head at me alongside Captain Landor.
"My lady Elwen, we are happy for your aid, but they killed…"
"They did not kill your man, one of these dark men did, the arrow in his chest is not made by the middleman's hand," I said before I even looked at him. "Are you the leader of the Dunedain here?" I asked.
"I am; I am mayor Fanath of the Dunedain settlement…"
My wife then took over as she knew as much as me thanks to Oswane.
"Then tell your people it is time to leave these lands. If they want to see their children grow old" she said in a sad tone.
"We cannot leave our home, my ladies. Everything we own and have is here… we cannot just leave it." He tried to explain and we both looked down at the dead man again.
"If you don't, more like this one will come and you will be destroyed either in service to the iron crown or fighting it. The hillmen of other tribes will unite under the banner of the cold north and you will die." I said. To this, he had little response other than a look I had not seen before and we slowly went to our horses again and mounted them riding back to our company.
"Let them go, no guard will be placed on them nor any punishment given, the men that killed yours are dead and you killed several of theirs as did we. Now I call for a meeting to be held with all the people of this town. Old and young and everyone in between" I said in a forceful tone as I felt the hand of my wife grab mine.
"It is the right thing to do, even if we cannot save all we should do this for as many as we can," she said with a smile and reached over to kiss me.
Our company then separated a gap for the hillmen to leave and they did not even look north again. Just south and set off. If only the Dunedain would be this easy to convince, but they had not felt the fear the hillmen had.
"I feel a bad omen is about to come," Tauriel said out of nowhere and looked northwards as I slowly did too. The skies had grown dark in the time we had been here. Like something or someone was watching what has happened here.
"As do I, my love," I said and thought for a moment. "maybe we should send scouts north to investigate" I added slowly after.
"I think that is wise," she said and before I could she was calling for Idril.
"yes my ladies," she said and stood at attention between our horses looking at us both.
"The skies to the north worry us," Tauriel said lowly so few would hear. "We wish to know if something is coming south, have our best scouts dispatched as quickly as you may" I added and she looked curiously at us, but did not say a word. Bowed her head and was off.
I think Landor had picked up on our feelings as he came over not long after and said in a simple tone. "The skies?" at which we nodded. "I feel the same about them. We should not linger here" that we both knew in our hearts. But still, we did not wish to leave the Dunedain alone to face what was to come.
Not much more happened before nightfall we all rested by fires and had food and water. The dark skies were now hidden in the darkness of night and our scouts had not yet returned. We did wonder why, but the Dunedain living there were not happy that we wanted them to leave. Several comments had been spoken to us and some were still very angry about the one that died.
Landor, Idril, Tauriel and I sat alone by a fire talking when one of our warriors came over and whispered so only I and Tauriel heard him.
"The Dunedain want to talk," I said and sighed. "It is for the better" Tauriel said and put her hand on me and her face smiling made me feel better about it all.
"I am with you my ladies, as always," Idril said and Landor just nodded to her comment. We then got up and headed towards the crowd of Dunedain and our warriors had formed a line between them and us. Temper was high already as these were Dunedain that did not want any connection with Arthedain or Cardolan. Yet still I wanted to help them and so did my wife.
The moment they saw me and Tauriel curses were sent at us and angry tones overall. From stealing their land to letting murderers go. Yet none wanted to let us speak to explain why we had done as we did. In the end, I guess our warriors had enough of the disrespect and their spears came down and a shield wall was formed in a very defensive posture. Yet I did not blame them for the temper of all was high around us.
"Are you to attack us now? For standing up for our town? Who are you and by what right do you do this to us? Letting murderers flee from justice" They screamed at us.
"If I may speak without being disturbed!" I then cried in a scary tone that was loud and menacing towards the crowd and it seemed like that scared them or at least made them aware that they should listen. A trick I had learned from my Ada.
"First of all. My name is Lady Elwen of Imladris, Daughter of Lord Elrond and the Lady Celebrian. Here is my wife the lady Tauriel and nay we are not here to attack you or to drive you away from your lands if you do not wish so. We came here only to aid in the dispute with the hillmen and in doing so we saw a sign on one of the black-clothed men killed by your archers."
They all seemed to listen now as I continued speaking.
"The symbol on the man's forehead is that of the Iron Crown of Angmar. If these men have come to your land it won't be long before the influence of the Iron Crown will follow. The hillmen have already felt what comes with that and decided to leave for safer land and peace. War will come!" I cried loud so all could hear it.
The Dunedain talked between themselves and in the end looked at our banners and started talking some more between themselves and then a tall man dressed in the men-at-arms armor of the Dunedain.
"Of what may happen if we stay lady? I know some of your kin has the gift of foresight and to me, it seems you are sure of what is to come."
I noticed him and gave him my attention as came closer to me.
"Not only of what I have seen, but what I have met. Man of the Dunedain. Long ago before any of you were born, my wife and I were to ride to the former realm of Arnor in council of the darkness I and my father lord Elrond had seen. During travel, we came upon a shadow in the dark mist that surrounded us a wraith stepped into the road before we were assaulted by orcs. That same wraith had the same crown on his head that the dead man wore on his forehead. The black captain is in the north and is to wage war on the former realm of Arnor. If you stay you will only be the first to fall as you nor we alone have the strength to resist him"
Again the crowd rumbled in talks of what to do. Two camps formed quickly. One around the man at arms and one around the mayor. Fanath. I did not know why, but neither I or Tauriel got a good feel for him. He had darkness in his heart, but how deep we knew not.
The talks by the man at arms died down and he slowly approached us and asked to talk and our warriors let him pass.
He greeted us in the elven way and bowed his head.
"Thank you for coming to help us lady Elwen and Lady Tauriel. I am Anarath Captain of the town guard." He stated simply and we returned the gesture to him.
"We are happy to aid your kin, yet I fear we cannot stay for too long," Tauriel said and looked over the wall toward the shadow we had seen.
"As my wife says Anarath, we want to aid you and the people. But if it is not wanted and you wish to stay there is little we can do" I simply informed him.
"Nay that is not what we wish. But I fear that is what the people around Fanath want. Long have I suspected a dark connection to him and he was one of many mayors to fight to separate from Arnor and I think there are more reasons for it than the stone at Amon Sûl" he said lowly so only we could hear him.
"Do you know him well?" My wife asked the Captain and he looked back at the Mayor.
"Nay my lady, I do not. Few here do and those that do are now around him. The people I have spoken to ask to come with you when you leave and so will I. I deem your council very wise and fear the north more day by day." He said and now Tauriel truly got suspicious of Fanath.
"Idril," she said lowly and our captain came up to her "Make sure to keep eyes on Fanath and make sure the gate is secured."
Idril said nothing and hurried off making sure four warriors followed her and then they were gone.
As the night darkened more and more we waited on their choice of leaving or staying. Yet Tauriel got very anxious to use that word.
"My love we should have left when we could" she said and turned to me.
"Why my love? We are safe inside the walls and we would still not have been home even if the Dunedain decided to come with us. Maybe not even if we set off riding hard" I explained.
"Nay we would not, but I would feel better being in our land even if only at the guard post," she said as I noticed she looked for any stars.
"There are no more stars" she stated simply and looked at me even more anxiously. "This is not normal my love," she said and came to sit with me and I held her. "Have Turan returned?" I asked as I saw he was one of the scouts picked to ride north.
"None have returned yet, my lady," Landor said and made sure to inform us we had elves guarding the gate with the Dunedain.
Then I looked back at my wife and held her tight.
"Nay none of this feel natural my love" I said and gave her a kiss.
The rest of the night we could get no rest and we all felt something outside the gate, something dark, evil, and full of hate for us and all inside the town. Yet only we could see them. Not the Edain for their eyes were too weak to see shapes of the lost, the tormented, souls of long lost warriors and spirits of the dead.
Tauriel and I were worried for our scouts as none had returned, not Turan, Gaerdir, or Carandoldir. All of them are great elves and I would hate if anything happened to them. We did walk around the town and most of its people were scared. The dread was over them and we could do little to help them, no matter how much we tried to tell them we would protect them. That was when Idril came to me and pulled me aside.
"Fanath is gone my lady, we cannot find him or several of those that agreed with him. The gate is closed and we have found no other ways to leave the town unless they jumped the walls" she informed me.
"When did you lose sight of him?"
"Not long ago my lady. Just before the dread from outside the wall was at its worst. The town people came to us for comfort and we gave it, but he was gone."
I thought for a moment.
"Search the town quietly. See if there are hidden paths we need to be cautious over"
"Yes my lady" she responded and were off.
Tauriel then came over to me her hand resting on her sword and she was shaken as we all were, but said nothing but to hold my hand.
"This is not natural" she let out.
"Nay it is not, I fear the black captain is behind it and he does not want us here."
"He does not. I remember when we met him, it was all hate in his eyes. But I do not think he knows who you or I are." She said.
"He will soon enough" I responded firmly.
As night passed several of the town folk disappeared and few remained other than those who followed Anarath. We had tried to see what happened, but no matter what we did they dwindled in number until the sun rose again, and with it we saw a pile now lay where the dark-clothed men fell to the Dunedain arrows.
"What can it be? It was not there when we shut the gate last night. Who made it? What passed?" Many of the whispers that came and went from the town people and we decided to check it out. But we asked all that was to come with us to make ready and we would leave as soon as we had eaten.
Ten elves, ten men, including Anarath, Tauriel, Idril, and me walked out of the gate and towards the pile and soon the elves of us saw it was dead town people piled up. All their throats had been slit open, their bodies mutilated and through the head of the Mayor was blade with a note written in the black speech.
The elves among us were too disciplined to react to it, but the Edain cowered by the note and what they saw. Yet so little they knew of what this truly was. For the blade was not an ordinary long dagger or knife.
As I reached for it Tauriel tried to stop me, but I had my gloves on and I removed it from the head of the late Mayor and removed the note.
"Idril, cover this in cloth and put it in a saddle bag, do not touch it more than you must, but we need to show it to my Ada," I said and she grabbed a cloth and did as told.
As the blade was taken away Tauriel came and looked at the note.
"What does it say? I know not what language that is…" she said and was to say more but I looked at her and she could see something was wrong in my eyes.
"I know why…" I said stopping myself. "For this is no language of the West. But of the east. In black speech it says. Not the time of the firstborn yet, of the latecomers we will deal with, and secret homes will burn at the end. Those that fail the Iron and dark crown will die. Long live the one" I read and looked up.
"It is a threat…" Tauriel said and looked at the bodies.
"Show us their wrists or chests" she demanded and as they were brought forth there was a sign of the same mark of the iron crown under the wounds that had been on the dark-clothed ones.
The moment that was shown the elves with us drew their swords and pointed them at the Edain and Idril had her sword on the throat of Anarath.
"Show us your arms, NOW" she cried in the common tongue so none could mistake it and they all pulled up their shirts and tunics. None wore the same mark of the Iron crown and we defused the situation quickly.
"Lay down your swords sheath them," I ordered and our warriors complied
The Edain, breathed out a sigh of relief as the weapons were lowered and Anarath bowed his head to us before he ran back to the town and checked every single person there. None of them had the mark of the Iron crown and all were shaken by what had happened. It seemed they had all walked willingly to their death at the hands of what had been outside the walls that night. How we knew not. But staying in Rhudaur for another night was not an option.
Anarath said that the other towns and villages of the Dunedain had gone with the Hillmen either out of an agreement, alliance or simply not wanting to leave their homes. In our hearts, we knew that would end in their death. But we had many families to help to safety and a long road to the watch tower of Amon Sûl.
Everything that could be taken with was and what was left was burned down. None wanted the place to be used by the darkness in the north or servants of any other evil. That was when we heard familiar voices of Turan, Gaerdir, and Carandoldir. They came riding quickly out of the north and came up to us.
"My ladies, Captains," they said and bowed their heads.
"Where have you all been? We were so worried for you!" I said in a happy tone to see them.
"Never scare us so again!" Tauriel commanded them and Idril looked at them with eyes wide open.
"Where have you been? I was sure you all lost!" she let out.
They looked at each other and then at us and down on their horses for a few moments.
And then Carandoldir spoke first.
"I truly know little of what happened, my lady. As I rode north the shadow came closer to me and my horse slowed down, slowly but surely a mist came around me and it was like I could hear a large host march. My bones were shaking and on the road, I saw a few creatures moving. No shades they were and soon they passed me, not noticing me or caring I was there. I followed them back to town and no matter what I tried I could not get close, a mist held me away, and cries of death of slaughter and then nothing. The sun was up and here you all are"
We could not believe the story he told, but then Turan and Gaerdir told the same story from different places. Like they were ignored and it was all to scare everyone and take revenge for the dead men in black clothes.
Still, it would be years before the wars with the Iron Crown, but it seemed to prepare for it and so should we. After their return and burning of the town we all set out for Amon Sûl and it took a good two weeks of travel. Many were old and sick and some needed constant brakes and help. No darkness or anyone followed us. But we asked the Arthedain guard to send a messenger to Annûminas with a report of what happened and Tauriel and both signed it.
The black speech note on the other hand I kept along with the dagger. Our company was curious about it yet no one asked for it. In fact, few had spoken at all during the time after we left the town. Landor had gone back to the guard post with my order to fortify it as much as possible as well as take note of any sign of threats and report it to us or Ada.
Both Tauriel and I were ready to get home to Imladris and so was our company. We rode hard and two days later we came to the gatehouse beyond the bridge. Our arrival had been announced by horns and Ada, Nana, the twins and Arwen met us.
We were so happy to see them and hugged them hard when the questions of why we had been away for so long came. What had happened? How could we explain that to them?
I looked at my wife and she at me and back at them.
"It will be a long story," I said and Tauriel nodded. "may we bathe first and have some food?" She did not even call Ada Lord or Nana Lady. Just that made all wonder what had happened.
As they agreed to it and would get food ready for us after we bathed we hurried to our room. To our surprise, our handmaiden was there waiting for us with other elleth servants and they just bowed their heads to us and started to help us out of our armor.
"Welcome home my ladies," Estelwen said with a smile. "I hope your travels went well and that all is safe" as she received our swords and quivers with knives attached to them.
"All is well" I responded and looked at her with a blank stare.
"A reminder of what is to come happened" Tauriel added.
Estelwen put our swords at their wall knobs and came over again.
"If the ladies want to speak my ears are well used to it and my mouth is sealed," she said holding her hands and looking at us.
With that, the low-ranking servants were done taking our armor off and we stood there in only the under-tunics, pants, and underclothes with the other servants leaving.
"It is not that we do not want to say it Estelwen, it is more of the dread that comes with it and we have not yet informed my Ada" I responded to her trying to keep the tone light.
She then looked at the bathroom door, led us there, and started to undress the last of our clothes herself.
"I understand my ladies, but I am here if need be," she said with a smile that warmed both our hearts.
We both walked in and even if our clothes were not really dirty we had them on for a long time and it felt so good pulling them off. Tauriel even smiled as she saw more and more of me and I could not but do the same as I saw more and more of her. Estelwen simply took our used clothes and went out as I went into the bath first and reached for my wife's hand to help her in. Who would have known bathing each other would be such a nice time and we each took a washing cloth and rubbed each other clean. We did not rush it or hurry in any way. Just slowly made sure we did not miss a single little spot.
Tauriel is very fond of closeness so she felt me much as she washed me with her other hand too. Her smile was not to be mistaken as I could feel how much she enjoyed it and I started to do the same with her. Her eyes had been wandering and now they had locked with mine and she reached over and kissed me. Slow it was, but full of emotion and love. Her soft fingers were over my body as our fea's danced. She was not shy at all anymore and felt me all over yet so slowly to make sure I enjoyed it as she did. I could no longer hold back and my hands did the same to her. The love of my life. The silvan elf my heart had longed for so long. We did not need to speak as our bodies did it for us and for once Tauriel took much charge of what was happening. She knew what she wanted and she went for it. My breath got strained more and more as I felt my wife love me and I love her. Our hands at each other's most intimate spot. We knew not how long we had been going and our gasps matched before kisses, deep loving kisses resumed and giggles came from us both as we slowed down again. Tauriel's smile was all over her face and I heard her whisper in my ear. "I love you" and I without a thought said back "I love you too dream wife of my life" and kissed her cheek. She then sat down between my legs and leaned back at me, my chin on the top of her head and we just sat there close. The water cooling, but we did not care. For the first time in weeks, we had a moment alone, a moment we had craved. For even if we had been married for many long years the lust we had for each other never got extinguished.
That was when we heard the knock on the bathroom door and the sweet voice of Estelwen.
"Are you well my ladies? You are so quiet." She simply informed us and we giggled at first before Tauriel spoke up.
"We are well Estelwen, please enter." She said and we both looked at the door as she came in, her gaze clearly to the floor and dresses in her arms.
"Good, may I be of aid? Or do my ladies want to help each other dry off?" she asked.
"Please help us" I responded and Tauriel added "We are so hungry"
At this, our maid's comment could not hide itself any longer.
"I am sure my ladies, you two were so busy just now" and she looked up with a teasing smile.
We both smiled at it and blushed a little as she laid our dresses down and fetched us towels to dry off and aided us both. Little needed to be said as we got our bodies dried, our hair dried and fresh under clothes put on, and braids done. Tauriel doing my hair and Estelwen doing Tauriel's braids. For her hair was much longer than mine and I would not know where to even start.
We only small talked about what had happened in the valley while we were gone and apparently very little, except travelers that came and left and messengers from the west and south.
Then Estelwen said she was done and Tauriel the same not long after and Estelwen found our circlets and put them on our heads.
"There. Clean and respectable ladies again" she said with a happy grin and nodded her head.
"Thank you again dear friend" I said and gave her a hug. Tauriel followed up and did the same as Estelwen returned the hugs and sent us on our way. She had a bathroom to clean now.
We left our room and walked hand in hand down the hall and stairs to the main area of the house and greeted the servants and they returned it. They informed us our family was at the dinner table waiting for us and we rushed to get there. Both our bellies were growling and we could not wait for the chef's food again. Not that the travel packs were bad, for they were not by any means. But a hot meal would be beyond amazing.
The moment we entered the room we saw Idril standing there with the saddle bag containing the dagger and note and our hearts sank, yes this had to be brought up before dinner.
"My dears" We then heard and Nana came over and hugged us as Ada was not far behind.
"You were gone for so long, there must be a story behind it!" Nana said and the twins got eager "Yes sister and Tauriel. Tell us what happened. Even Arwen seemed curious and joined in with the twins and thankfully Ada said we could tell the tale while we ate.
So it was that we told the story during dinner and Idril had left the bag with us before she excused herself. At the end of the meal and before the cakes came Tauriel hinted for me to show Ada the blade and the note.
I can't say I wanted to, but Ada gave me a look as he felt something when I lifted the bag off the floor.
"What is this?" he said and his brows got pointy, like when he is worried but curious and needs to know at the same time.
"The blade we found in the head of the Mayor. Ada," I said and a coldness came in my hand as I lifted it up even if it was in a rug.
"I hope it is not what I think" I added.
He then gave both me and Tauriel a look before he pulled the rug from it and gasped as I had done.
"A Morgul blade," he said with no hesitation.
"Yes," Tauriel then said and everyone leaned over to see what we had brought.
"And this" my wife showed him the note.
He read it to himself and calmly I said.
"it is coming," I said simply.