A/N: translations are in the footnote. Elvish is sourced from realelvish, the website.
Chapter 7
Kili and his small company remained camped on the western bank of the River Lhun for the day, hiding in the tall grass and remaining watchful. Kili slept awhile, rose to send and receive messages from his ravens, and at mid-afternoon made his way to the sentinel that stood looking east. Their grassy camp sat on a rise, and in the afternoon sun, Kili could clearly see the three towers on the other side. The very stone had an elvish glow, not to mention their shining lights.
The sentinel was his nephew Gunnar, taking a turn at standing watch just like everyone else. He nodded at Kili, looking very concerned. He lifted an arm and pointed to the river. "Something's there…" Gunz murmured.
Kili narrowed his eyes, spotting a tree branch move just a little.
"Could be the breeze…" Gunnar whispered.
Kili smiled. "Then it's a traveling breeze that only touches one tree at a time," he said in a low voice. "That, lad, is an elf."
Gunz looked startled. "I can't even see him..."
Kili smiled. "Neither can I," Kili consoled him. "But I'm certain they see us."
He waited beside his nephew until sure enough, two tall elves stepped into a clearing just upstream.
As sentinel, Gunz quietly alerted the guard. In a few quick minutes a dozen archers had joined them and the entire camp was up, watchful in all directions. Kili grimaced at one or two loud stumbles, but he was satisfied that his company could muster in near silence.
Kili held up a hand in greeting to the elves.
Both elves bowed, then approached the camp, side-by-side.
"You are looking rather formal, my friends," Kili said to them as they came closer.
An ashen-haired elf with a swirling tattoo on his face put one hand on his heart and bowed his head. "Mae govannen, my lord King." The elf beside him bowed again as well.
She was less formal however, shifted her weight to one side and smiled. "Eller naa n'uma lilhikke lle, amin heru aran."
Kili laughed and translated for Gunnar's benefit. "She says there is no sneaking up on us." He raised his voice and called back. "That, my friend, comes from having elven neighbors for so many years," Kili smiled, hand on heart in return. "I am glad to see you," he said, waving them forward. At the same time, his archers relaxed.
Kili grasped hands with both elves. "This is Yanu and Tuilind," he announced to his guard. "Friends since Erebor." With that, his dwarf guards stepped back in respect, though a few of the Blue Mountains Firebeards eyed the pair with a certain natural wariness.
"You remember Gunnar, Fili's son…" Kili introduced. Both elves gave a subdued and formal greeting to their young friend, eyes sparkling but mindful of his role as young prince and sentinel.
"Lye tene lle khawi," Yanu said to Kili, glancing at the ravens overhead.
"Thank you for coming. We have a wounded man," Kili said to Yanu. He had, in fact, summoned the elf friends by raven, since Yanu was an accomplished healer and fully approved by his physician Lady Wife. They left Gunnar, still on sentinel duty, and Kili led the elves quickly to a shelter in the grass. "We came upon a group of straggler goblins," he told them. "And discovered this Ranger disguised as a wandering rogue along with them." Kili slowed and led them into a small copse. "We dispatched the goblin, but this man...his wound was already a day or two old." He sighed and looked at Yanu as he led them around a rock. "I am hoping he will live long enough to speak with Halden or one of the Dunedain captains." Kili slowed and approached the grassy nest. "Skirf!" he called softly. "We have help."
Skirfir, taking his turn at guarding the injured Kenelm, stood and made a quick bow, hand on heart. "Yanu! Tuilind…" There was relief in his voice.
"May I examine him?" Yanu asked, glancing at Kili.
Kili nodded and Skirf quickly made way for Yanu.
Tuilind looked at Kili, eyes wide. "Do you think you caught Shadowback, my lord?" she asked quietly.
Kili shook his head. "No. A few of her followers. But this man, Kenelm, knows what the orc say of her." He lowered his voice. "He says that she waits for an appointed day to work some particular evil…"
Tuilind considered this. "The eclipse a few days back. We heard that it has stirred up goblin-kind. They believe it to be some kind of omen, that something will be happening..." She shook her head and snorted. "Of course that's nonsense."
Kili drew in a slow breath. "Yet just the sort of nonsense that orcs are quick to believe."
Together they watched Yanu tending to the man. Tuilind sighed. "He doesn't look good," she said quietly. She reached into a pocket and handed Kili a Dunedain token. "Halden bids us to escort you into the Westmarch…"
Yanu stood. "We should go now. I can carry this man." With that, Yanu bent to lift Kenelm onto his back. Skirfir hastened to help, but Yanu, tall and strong as any elf, stood with the big man on his back as if it were no real effort.
Kili nodded. He gestured to Skirfir, who would be staying put, and gave quick orders. They shared a firm warrior-to-warrior hand clasp, and then Kili headed for the river path. He collected Gunnar along the way.
"It is time to attend a meeting," he said to his young nephew.
Gunnar tried not to slosh his boots as they crossed the shallows of the Lhun, leaving Ered Luin and entering the Shire. He knew the geology of the two lands, of course. Ered Luin lay on different rock, had heavier forests and granite outcroppings. Westmarch and the Shire lay on older stone, with rolling hills and older trees. And roses...wild roses abounded in the Shire: soft pink, pale yellow, creamy white…
So unlike the stark landscape of Wardspire. Funny how he'd nearly forgotten the beauty of green growing things. An image of the wildflower meadows on the slopes of Erebor in spring came into his thoughts…
And he closed his mind to them. Not yet. He still could not think of home without his mother and father as they had been.
From the river, his Uncle led them up a steep embankment to a narrow trail that wound its way through tall grasses and scrubby willow. After a steady hour of threading their way through the brush of the river valley, Gunnar found himself following his Uncle up a grass covered hill with a stellar view of the river below. Ahead of them: three white towers.
Built by Gil-galad for Elendil of the Dunedain...
And then the sound of an angry shout and hoofbeats jarred him from his thoughts and with a jolt of alarm, Gunnar's hand went to his sword.
Yanu, still carrying the senseless man, dropped into the cover of the tall grass. Tuilind hissed and sprinted away. Gunnar saw his uncle look at him for a brief moment, his fingers already pulling an arrow from his quiver.
Sword in hand, Gunnar rushed to protect his uncle's back. The grass, chest-high to a dwarf, could be hiding anything. His eyes darted around them, looking for movement. He saw nothing but Tuilind running, and the horse, coming towards them at a gallop. It would pass to their right.
He looked back at his uncle: Kili nocked his arrow, sighted a scrappy goblin riding low on the back of the frightened, bolting mare, and pivoted in a quick arc as he tracked the target.
Gunnar glanced around again, sword at the ready—still seeing nothing but grass, Tuilind, and the horse.
Kili fired.
No, Gunz thought, That's an impossible…
"Aieee!" The goblin screeched and jerked on the horse's back, hands clutching the arrow in its side. It balanced for two strides of the panicked horse, then bounced off.
Gunnar's eyebrows went up. All right, not an impossible shot. He couldn't suppress a wry grin.
Then he felt Yanu's hand on his shoulder for a brief second as the tall elf raced past, aiming to head off the riderless horse.
"See to the man," Kili told him. He held another arrow at the ready, but did not aim.
Gunnar ducked back to the place where Yanu had left Kenelm and took up a defensive stance. The man lay senseless on the ground, and Gunnar tried to stay still even though his heart pounded. He took a deep breath, trying to calm it.
Tuilind shouted something in elvish, and he turned to see she held her sword pointing at something at her feet, her stance ready to strike.
She had found the goblin. His uncle darted forward. They will try to get it to talk, Gunz realized. He stayed still, holding his position as Kenelm's guard. He scanned the area, alert for an ambush, but only saw Yanu catching up to the slowing horse and making a leap—the kind only a tree-elf could make—and vault onto the horse's back. Yanu's long ashen hair flowed into the wind as he turned to look back at Tuilind. The horse, slowing, turned with him. He was patting its neck when Gunnar looked back at his uncle and Tuilind.
Kili, glowering, stood over the goblin and drew his bow, firing point blank to finish it off.
And then hoofbeats again and Yanu approached with the winded horse. Gunz reached up, offering a hand to the nervous beast. Yanu stopped close and Gunz felt hot horse breath from flaring nostrils.
"Shhhh. Le a vellyn…" Yanu murmured to calm the horse.
Gunnar stood still as stone, sword still ready in his right hand, and gently took the horse's halter with his left, making the kind of clucking noises his father used to calm the Dale courier mounts. After a moment, the horse blew out a long breath and its ears flicked forward.
Yanu slid from its back and went to Kenelm. "I'm putting him on the horse," he said, easily lifting the wounded man. "Hold her," he said to Gunz.
Gunnar did.
And then Yanu was next to him. "Go with your Uncle, lad," he nodded toward Kili. "I'll stay with the horse."
Gunz didn't need to be told twice. He dashed to his uncle just as Kili turned to him.
"Come along. Goblins have the Tower stables."
Gunz, drew his long knife, and armed now with two blades, fell in behind his uncle, ready to fight.
Kili ran, bow in hand. The Tower stables lay just to the north, near the base of the first tower. He jogged, Gunz at his back, to a half-fallen tree at the top of a rise, He ducked behind a low branch. Gunnar ducked next to him a moment later.
Kili glared as he checked the paddocks and stable below. "Your eyes are sharper," he said to Gunz. "Tell me what you see."
Gunnar, looking so much like a younger version of Fili, peered forward, jaw set. "There," he whispered. "Behind the smithy. Two…" Gunz shook his head. "Three. Goblins, not orcs. Looks like they're ransacking the scrap pile…"
Kili nodded. That meant goblins armed with random odd bits of things instead of proper weapons. Then again, he'd rarely seen a common goblin armed with a true sword. "Scavenging...like always," he murmured.
"Tuilind," Gunz pointed. Sure enough, the tall woodland elf had positioned herself behind a tree about twenty strides away.
Kili nodded to her and assessed the stables. He'd been here before once or twice. "This is a small outpost," he said to Gunz. "Maybe only five or six hobbits...sometimes Dunedain."
"I thought this was elf land," Gunnar said.
"Used to be," Kili said. "Look," he said, nudging Gunz. "Raven. On the roof-just there."
Gunz cupped his mouth and made a hollow "tok-tok-tok" sound, just as ravens make.
The bird would mark their position. Sure enough, after walking the length of the stable roof, the raven called back, preened a bit, and then launched itself for a flyover before circling wider.
Gunz made the "tok-tok" sound again.
The raven landed. Kili regarded it. "You're a fine fellow," he said quietly. "Goblins?"
The bird stood tall, then bobbed its head. In short time, Kili had the raven's view of things. When asked how many goblins, the raven pecked at his perch 5 times.
Kili looked at Gunz. They both knew enough about ravens to be skeptical about their counting abilities.
"Five," Gunnar said, "Give or take a hundred…"
It was an old joke of Fili's and Kili snorted. This lad, he decided, was shaping up to be a fine young Son of Durin.
"Let's go find out," Kili said. With that, he stood and charged down the little slope.
.
.
.
Footnotes:
Mae govannen - well met (greeting)
Eller naa n'uma lilhikke lle, amin heru aran - It is not easy to sneak up on you, my lord
Lye tene lle khawi - we got your raven
Shhhh. Le a vellyn… - Hush. You are with friends…
A/N Apologies for the slow posting...I do have a full time day job and the Pacific Northwest spent most of February under two feet of snow for "snowmageddon." Might not sound like much to most people, but we're at sea level (Puget Sound) and the snow is usually on the surrounding mountains, not down here in the flatland. Our infrastructure's not prepared for it. Power, internet, roads...all those things.
Happily, most of the snow is gone and it is finally looking like spring might be on the way.
In other news, I am working on a "serial numbers rubbed off" version of the Erebor 3022 stories with the intention of making them available with original characters as eBooks, both in English and in German. Woot! I'll let you know when those are up. Probably this summer.
Also a shout out to Beta Reader Jessie152...she is ever supportive and honest.
Hoping your weather has been manageable...
As always, all feedback welcome, even if you just say Hi!
Chapter 8 is almost ready as well, so it should post soon. (Hint: Sam!)
Finally, I'm off to Wondercon in Anaheim at the end of this month. A couple of programs are of interest: the Tolkien Bio-pic and promises of news about the Amazon Prime series...which looks like it will focus on the Second Age...! I'll let you know what I uncover..
Hand on heart and deepest thanks for your patience,
Summer
