Haldir sat quietly upon a rocky outcrop right in the midst of a small clearing in the woods, fire burning the logs in a glory of red flame. The flames cackled like dragon fire, providing heat to the elves seated around, protecting them all from the increasing cold.
The weather had grown uncanny suddenly. With dark clouds covering the sky above entirely, the winds became cold as though from a contrivance of the Enemy somehow. Fell voices filled the air around, echoes of a distantly cast spell.
For a brief moment, the elves cried aloud, "Ai Eru! Ai Valar!", calling out to the gods in the West.
As though the Valar themselves had heard their prayers, a bright white fog covered the lands, protecting what's inside from the sight of their enemies.
The logs stopped burning as fog covered the entire terrain and drops of rain trickled down from the sky above.
Haldir leaped up and ran to the cover of the forests, his bow clutched in hands readily. So did the other elves, neither of them wishing to get wet.
"Eerie this climate is!" Rumil remarked, looking at the sky above. "What's this new devilry?"
"Nothing new," Haldir said. "The Enemy has ever been known to cover the skies with dark clouds... these are fumes from the Mountain of Fire. The Enemy works strange magic in Orodruin, it is said."
"With the sun out, the Enemy might attack soon," Orophin said aloud. "We must prepare ourselves for the onslaught. Our scouts report their sentries often riding out on their wargs. One of our scouts have also sighted trolls in their armies."
Haldir sighed. "Is this it? Is this all the Enemy can conjure? Filthy orcs and nasty cave-trolls?"
Just as he had said, loud shrieks filled the air, sending terror their way.
Though their elvish hearts did not cave into the terror, their spines tingled with an eerie chill.
"Nazgul!" Rumil bellowed at the top of his voice.
"Yes, brother," Orophin said, "it is verily the cry of the Nazgul, though I do not think they will cross the Great River. Their terror comes from the north."
His brother was right. The cry of the Nazgul had come from the north, though in that direction everything was covered in shadows that refused to be pierced by elven sight.
"I hope they don't join the fight," Rumil said.
Haldir wished so too. He had no wish to fight off the Ringwraiths. Legend had it that the Enemy had given them nine rings of power, and the men had succumbed to its darkness, eventually bowing before the One and controlled by Him.
But the Nazgul did not matter to him. They wouldn't cross the Great River. Not yet. The fords down south were guarded heavily by Gondor below the Falls of Rauros, and above it were no safe spaces unless you travel by boats. He didn't see any of the Ringwraiths traveling by any boats. The only ford across the Great River was to the far north, but that was a long way round.
Up until now, the Enemy did not wish to unleash the terror of the Nazgul onto the people of the West. They had not shown their faces to the outside world ever since their taking of Minas Ithil and turning it into Minas Morgul. They had lain quiet there while Sauron consolidated power in Dol Guldur. The Nazgul, on the other hand, had busied themselves in Mordor, preparing it for the Dark Lord's return.
Although some of the Nazgul had returned to Dol Guldur nigh three decades ago after the Enemy openly declared himself in Mordor, they hadn't really shown themselves to the Free People. The wild of Mirkwood, however, knew of their coming. Fell things began to grow in the shadows of the Woodland Realm, and their brethren kindred had been pushed far to the northern edge.
A sound from behind alerted him to another elf who came swinging from the trees. "An order from Caras Galadhon," the elf spoke. "You're to sound your retreat while the fog lasts. You're to allow the Enemy to step foot inside the Golden Wood."
The elves around spoke in murmurs.
Allow filthy orcs to step foot inside their heaven?
"What is Lord Celeborn thinking?" Rumil questioned. "That's blasphemy."
"That's an order, Rumil of Lorien," Haldir growled at his brother. "We're to do what the orders say. We are to retreat... but to where?"
"The Naith!" the elf messenger said. "You're required to form a circular guard around Caras Galadhon. New reports have come from the north and the west."
"New reports?" he queried.
The elf nodded. "Orcs have been sighted in the west, and new portways are being constructed across the River in the north. Soon, their attack will come from there. The Lord Celeborn believes our armies to be too scatttered across the woodlands and wish it to be concentrated around the defense of the city of the Galadhrim."
"But the orcs... their foul feet will spell decay and rot in the woodlands if we do not protect them," Rumil complained.
"Trust in the Lord, trust in the Lady," the elf said. "They know what they are doing."
He nodded and turned to Rumil. "We must trust them as they have always done, Rumil, brother," he said. "Ever since King Amroth's disappearance, the Lord Celeborn and the Lady Galadriel have ruled us and made our kingdom great, so great that even the Enemy fears us."
Rumil looked hesitant. "Have you forgotten our history, brother?" he asked. "The Lord and the Lady might be kin, but they are not us Nandor. The Lady is one of the highest of the Noldo, proud and mighty, and though by distant ancestry she might be kin, she has never behaved like one of us. She and her daughter and the Lord himself came to us from Eregion on the other side of Hithaeglir, only because the Enemy pressured them into coming here. And they did not stop there, Haldir. The Lady Galadriel tried to advise King Amdir into fortifying the woods and sending out elves to help aid against Sauron when the Nandor had nothing to do with the Dark Lord."
Haldir's eyes bulged wide. He had not known that Rumil had suppressed his feelings over the past deep inside the heart.
Rumil sighed. "When Amdir refused, Haldir, the Lady Galadriel rallied a few of the supporters she had and led them to war against Sauron in Eriador. Amdir was furious with her over this, but he couldn't gainsay her. The support for her had been growing in the woodland realm. And then the time came for the Last Alliance. Amdir did not wish to lead the armies of the Golden Wood to the Black Gate, content to live secluded lives in the woods, but she convinced Prince Amroth to support the Last Alliance. And so we sent our armies to the Dark Land where our king met his doom. And when the wars were over, the Lady Galadriel did exactly as she wished. Once the Dark Tower had fallen, she put in place fortifications that rumor has it she learned from an Ainu. Amroth returned to Lorien, but he did as she wished. And when he fell in love with sweet Nimrodel, he simply left with her for the havens, though we know not what really happened in the south. And then the Lord and the Lady had a free hand in the politics of our nation."
"The Lord and the Lady have led us ably and wisely, Rumil," Haldir warned his brother. "It would do us no good to question their decisions."
"What wisdom in allowing orcs to set foot inside our country?" Rumil asked. "First, the mortal is allowed to enter, but I can keep that aside as he claims he is the heir of Isildur and was Thorongil himself. But the orcs?"
All the elves around them stood uncomfortably as they listened to their argument.
Haldir sighed. "There must be some plan afoot, Rumil, that our Lord and Lady will deem fit to tell us when the time's right. Isn't that so?" He turned to the elf and questioned.
The elf bobbed his head. "They have their reasons to do this, and they do have a plan to deal with the threat of Mordor. Of that, I have the utmost faith." Turning to Rumil, the elf said, "One must not doubt the intentions of the Lady of the Galadhrim when she has done nothing but protect us from the evil of the deepening Shadow, Rumil. It is because of her powers, strange no doubt, that the Enemy fears to tread willingly into our realm. Not simply by our bows are our borders protected. There's more going on that not many in Lorien know."
Haldir was aware of what the elf was speaking of. It was quite the popular knowledge in the elves who lived in the city that the Lady Galadriel possessed a magic of the ancient past that she used to preserve the Golden Wood. This was the reason why living in Lorien felt timeless. It was as though time was stilled in this land while it sped past in the outside world. This was also why mallorn trees were only ever seen in Lorien. The elves who patrolled the borders or lived on the outer fringes of the realm did not know a lot of what went on in the city except when they visited it.
Rumil grunted and fell quiet, knowing now that he did not have the support of others. The Galadhrim had totally believed in the White Lady, and despite what the Lady Galadriel had done for the realm, Rumil would ever feel that she had treated Amdir and his son badly.
Haldir wished his brother saw sense and forget whatever happened in the past. Even if the Lord and the Lady had manipulated their erstwhile kings into the wars against Sauron, he believed they were done with the best of intentions. The war of the Last Alliance was made to ensure the freedom of the Free Peoples of Middle Earth, and that included Lothlorien. Perhaps his king Amdir was not as wise and perhaps he did not see the long term gains Sauron's defeat and overthrow would have provided. Granted the wars did not exactly bear fruit, and somehow the evil endured into this age, but the elves of Lorien did have a glorious age.
Even though secluded from the outside world, they have lived their lives gracefully as they would have done perhaps in Valinor. Lady Galadriel had brought Valinor to Middle Earth, to Lorien mostly, and if she had hatched schemes and plots to achieve it, so be it, Haldir said to himself.
Rumil did not understand much. During the wars of the Last Alliance, Rumil spent his time in Mirkwood as ambassador for King Amir and to King Oropher. He traveled from Mirkwoood to Lorien every now and then, but he did not understand the threat of Sauron like Oropher did in the beginning.
Amdir too likely did not.
Both Oropher and Amdir thought the wars of the elves and the Dark Lord were simply the affairs of their kin in the western parts of Middle Earth and the men who had come over the seas and settled in the north and the south. Rumil too subscribed to the same ideology and had never put much effort and understanding into the reason why elves and men gathered in force to finally end the evil of Sauron once and forever.
If only Rumil had talked more to Thranduil and Amroth more, he would have understood.
Haldir placed a hand on Rumil's shoulders and said, "Try not to question the orders that come from Caras Galadhon, brother. They wish only the best for our people. I'm sure the Lady of the Galadhrim will protect the woods from the foul axes of the filth of Mordor."
"As you wish," Rumil said. "I care not," he whispered, thinking his brother wouldn't hear.
But he heard and sighed.
Leaving Rumil behind, he took a horn from his belt and blew upon it thrice.
As the fog around them thickened, Haldir led his elvish battalion deeper into the woods, westward towards the Naith of Lorien, although looking behind he saw a hesitant Rumil following.
A smile played on his lips. "One day, you will understand, brother. You will understand Lorien's history."
NOTE:
Although I am going by canon, many of the events that are playing out are fictional and not what Tolkien intended. This is my interpretation of events happening in Middle Earth. Rumil's behavior and references to the events happening in the previous age will be covered in more detail when I actually cover the Last Alliance and the Second Age of Middle Earth. There are some elves in Lorien who believe Galadriel plotted the overthrow of Amdir by sending him to battle at The Black Gates of Mordor. This is not entirely right, not entirely wrong either, as you would see when I cover the events of that age. For now, we simply learn that this particular faction is few in number, and most of the elves in Lorien worship Celeborn and Galadriel without questioning their orders. Rumil questions because he too, like Silwin, lost much in the wars against Sauron. Although he has been reverent towards the Lord and the Lady, he does not support their rule. He has accepted he cannot do much and suppresses his feelings. But now when the Lord and Lady have made a decision, his suppression falls through.
If you like the story, please subscribe to the story and/or give kudos to it. There are many more chapters that will be coming through. The next chapter will have more of a confrontation between Aragorn and Silwin, and this would definitely be over Arwen Evenstar. So, if you like the story and where it is going, don't forget to leave a comment.
Stories to come:
Third Age:
1. Thorongil's Rise
2. The Hunt for Gollum
3. The War in the North
4. Death at the Side of a Brother
Fourth Age:
1. The Second Rise of Carn Dum
2. Cults of the Istar
3. The Shire-folk Adventures
Second Age:
1. Aldarion and Erendis
2. Rise and Fall of Eregion
3. Blight on the White Tree
4. The Last Alliance
I won't be writing much of the First Age, but I might write one-shots like 'Of the Departure of Galadriel', which you can read already.