Far Horizons 21:  Hunting

This forest was going to his head, Legolas thought.  It was filling his ears with song and it was welcoming him as if it had been waiting for him from the day of his birth.  He ached to bring his children here, so they could grow up with its life in their bones, part of all they were and would be.  And yet – deep within him there was a frisson of fear.

‘Do you think that Sirithiel will be happy here?’ he asked Elrohir.

His friend knew him too well not to hear the question he was really asking.  ‘I would not bring Elerrina here yet, Legolas,’ he said sympathetically.  ‘It would be wiser to wait until the living conditions are a little less – primitive.  You do not want to turn her against the forest.’

‘I will find it hard to leave, my friend,’ he replied quietly.  ‘And I do not want to have to wait too long until I return.’

‘You can return all you want,’ Elladan grinned. ‘Just do not bring Elerrina until there are shops.  And bathing chambers.  And an adequate supply of scented soap.’

‘Sirithiel will relate well to the trees,’ Elrohir said after a moment, ‘but she, too, is accustomed to living in comfort.  I do not know how long it will be before I will feel able to bring her here, but it will certainly not be until after the elflings are born.’

After the surge of congratulations and teasing, they lapsed into silence.  ‘It is difficult, is it not?’ Legolas said.  ‘I do not want my wife to decide she hates it here and insist on dragging me back, yet neither do I wish to alter the forest to turn it into the home to which she is accustomed.’

‘You are under-estimating them,’ Camentur told them.  ‘It is easily done.  Ellyth are not the frail creatures they like to make us think.  They encourage us cosset them, but, if they make their mind up to something, they are ruthless.  Look at Nisi – would you not say that she is a delicate little flower who needs protection from a strong breeze?’

Legolas thought of his brother-in-law’s wife.  Camentur was exaggerating, but he would certainly not expect much from Nisi outside social manoeuvring.

‘Yet,’ Camentur went on, ‘shortly after we were wed we went to visit her grandparents.  There was a storm that left us cut off, without horses, miles from home.  I was knocked senseless and, even after I came round, I could not see straight for several days.  Nisi found us a shelter, made it watertight, got me inside and dry, made a sling from a strip of my leather jerkin, caught rabbits, prepared and cooked them, stitched my head and found the herbs to make a healing paste.  Without once bursting into tears and complaining about breaking her nails.’

‘Nisi?’ Legolas said incredulously.

Camentur looked at him with some amusement. ‘Once we were safe she refused to speak of it.  She spent about half a day in the bath and came out looking as if it had never happened.  Elerrina will cope, my brother.  Just keep telling her how wonderful she is and how much you appreciate her generous heart.’   

‘Deer tracks,’ Elrohir changed the subject. ‘I think it is time to seek them out on foot.’

‘We will leave the horses here,’ Elladan said.  ‘There is enough grass for them.’  They swiftly checked over their mounts and requested them to stay nearby, before picking up their bows and readying themselves.

‘We will hunt in pairs,’ Legolas suggested. ‘I will go with Camentur, and you two can work together.  We will seek out the freshest tracks – but unless we are offered an irresistible opportunity, we will save our hunt until tomorrow.’

Elrohir smiled.  ‘As you wish.  We will return here by moonrise.  You are on cooking duty tonight, my friend, so have our meal ready for us.  We will be hungry by then.’

Camentur raised his eyebrows as the twins faded into the trees.  ‘They seem very casual about this.’

‘It is only a hunting trip,’ Legolas told him.  ‘There should be nothing to cause us difficulties.  Tineithil would have told us if there was anything we needed to know.’

***

Alagsir was surprised.  So far, although they had seen other elves of the forest, it had been as if they had been born from the forest, only to disappear back into its protection as soon as they had seen as much as they wanted.  This was different. This was the place that some of the elves called home.

Some open-walled roofed shelters settled in open spaces between the trees and the spreading branches held flets of silver wood, their sides rolled up to allow the soft air to circulate.  It was beautiful, Alagsir thought, reminding him of nothing more than his home village in the Golden Wood.  There was a relaxed busyness about the place. Elflings played in the area of open grass while their naneths weeded the flourishing garden plots.  Sweet singing came from one of the larger shelters as older elflings apparently learned their lessons by repeating songs he had learned in his own youth. A delicious fragrance spread from a communal cooking hearth where several flushed ellyth were preparing an evening meal sufficient for themselves and their visitors.

‘How is it that we have not found this place?’  Vondil asked curiously.  ‘If we are only a day or two from the camp, we must have sent patrols in this direction.’

Dumir shrugged.  ‘We would not let you come into our settlements before,’ he said simply.

‘But how could we have missed it?’ Alagsir frowned.  ‘It is not hidden.’

‘It is a large forest,’ Dumir stated, meeting his eyes.  ‘And a small settlement.  If you had come too close, you would have been led away.’

‘What has changed?’ Falas wanted to know.  ‘You would not let us come before – why have you let us come now?’

‘The Lady says it is acceptable,’ Dumir told him.  ‘She is happy for you to see this place.’  He hesitated.  ‘I think she wants you to know that we live as you do – that our customs are little different.  She does not want you to take back the impression that we do not cultivate the forest.’

‘May I see what you grow in your gardens?’ Falas narrowed his eyes to see the neat patches.

‘Ask those whose gardens they are,’ Dumir shrugged.  ‘I cannot imagine that they will object.

Alagsir drifted forward unthreateningly to the playing elflings, who stopped and stared at him.  Several of them, like him, had light hair and sea-grey eyes.  He sat down near them and waited for them to decide to make an approach.

‘Is this your village?’ Aelindor asked Domeniel.

She shook her head.  ‘We live in the forest.  Adar feels that, in the settlements, people are too close together.  He prefers to be one with the forest.’

‘What do you think?’

She smiled.  ‘I have no say in the matter,’ she told him. ‘But, in truth, I am happy where I am.  If I lived in the settlements I would have to dress up in skirts and behave like a proper elleth.’

An elf approached them.  Clearly one of the elders, he frowned at Dumir disapprovingly.  ‘You are welcome,’ he said shortly. ‘Would you care to share our evening meal?’

Vondil bowed.  ‘We have fish caught in the great river,’ he said.  ‘We would be glad if you would accept them as some recompense for your generosity.’ 

The elf returned the bow.  ‘The Lady has asked that you be made welcome,’ he said coolly.  ‘We are happy to carry out her requests.’

Vondil smiled.  Happy, he supposed, could cover a variety of meanings, just as could welcome.  It remained to be seen what interpretation would be put on them here.

***

Legolas touched his hand to Camentur’s arm.  ‘He is big,’ he murmured. ‘He would be worth going after, just for the sheer size of him.  He will be a wily one.’  He looked up.  ‘We should probably let this one pass, my friend,’ he said regretfully.  ‘It will be more sensible to take back a rather more portable catch.’

‘We are not out after trophies,’ Camentur agreed.

Legolas flicked a look at him, but held his tongue.

‘Although, of course,’ his brother-in-law continued, ‘Wood Elves do not hunt for trophies – or so Elerrina tells me.’

‘No,’ Legolas agreed. ‘The forest nurtures us – we do not use it for our indulgence.  We hunt for food, or, on occasion, because the land requires it, but not for pleasure.’

Camentur nodded. ‘I like the way you think,’ he said.  ‘I do not mean to sound patronising, but you all seem closer to the song – I look forward to visiting my sister here in years to come – and I hope you will agree to foster Surion when the time comes for him to learn of other houses.’

‘Your adar will not appreciate that idea too much!’ Legolas grinned, looking round quickly.  ‘I suppose we should go back.  We know where to come to find our deer – and I have the feeling that the trees are none too welcoming at the moment.’

‘I wonder why that might be,’ a quiet voice observed as an elf stepped out of the shadows right behind Camentur, his thin bladed knife glinting in the starlight. 

Legolas found himself mentally practising some of Gimli’s best curses as three other shapes moved the air behind him. How could he, not just a Wood Elf, but Thranduil’s son, have been unaware of the approach of strangers, here, in the forest?  And that, he realised, was the problem.  This was their forest and, although the trees courted him, their loyalty lay elsewhere. 

‘What problem do you have with our being here?’ Camentur asked – and remarkably mildly, Legolas thought, considering he had a knife at his throat.

‘You have invaded our forest – and you are planning on hunting for deer in our realm. Is that not problem enough?’  

Legolas sighed.  ‘Tineithil – do you know him? – suggested that we should hunt here. He did not seem to have any difficulty with the idea.’

The elf paused and shrugged.  ‘No matter,’ he said as the others with him removed their weapons. ‘You will come with us.’

***

‘They have not returned,’ Elladan said, as he got out the apples, bread and cheese they had brought with them.

‘I had spotted that myself,’ his brother agreed.

‘I wonder what has become of them.  They cannot still be seeking deer – this part of the forest seems to be full of them.’

‘I expect they have lost themselves,’ Elrohir grinned.  ‘You cannot expect a Wood Elf to be able to find his way round a forest.  He has been in a state of confusion ever since he arrived. If they do not turn up soon, we will go and look for them.’

‘We will wait until first light,’ Elladan decided. ‘There is no point all of us chasing each other round the trees in the dark.’

Towards dawn the sky clouded over and a fine mist of rain began to drift down, dripping through the leaf cover and saturating the sheltering elves.

‘This is just what we needed,’ Elrohir complained.  He shook himself as a large drip landed on his forehead.  ‘We might as well see if we can find Legolas and Camentur – before whatever traces they have left have been completely washed away.’

‘H’mm,’ Elladan grunted, looking around anxiously.  ‘This is not like Legolas, my brother.  I am beginning to worry.  This forest might not be as well-disposed as Tineithil would have us think.’

Elrohir closed his eyes and opened his senses to the forest song.  ‘It feels curious rather than malign,’ he sighed.  ‘But there is some reserve – I think we should be careful as we look for them.’

‘We should have known,’ Elladan told him with resignation, ‘that we would not have been able to come off on an excursion such as this without tumbling into some adventure.’

***

Minalcar held his hands away from his face.  He did not believe he would ever get rid of the smell of fish.  He really had not objected at all to missing out on last night’s supper.  He did not think he would ever willingly eat fish again.

‘I have never seen anything so funny,’ Loareg remarked as he emerged from the trees.

Minalcar scowled.  He would never become accustomed to the way these elves stepped out of nowhere to arrive right beside you.  ‘What do you mean?’ he asked crossly.

‘Gutting the fish – anyone would think you had never done it before.  And then, the way you hurled them back in the water!  It was hilarious.  Although when I told my adar, he did not seem to think it was quite so funny.  He said you were wasting the forest’s gifts,’ Loareg told him.  ‘How is it you did not know what to do?  Ambantor was all right.’

‘Ambantor has the kind of old-fashioned adar who expects him to be able to do a bit of everything,’ Minalcar complained.  ‘He used to take him hunting when he was younger and they would sleep under the stars.’  The sneer on his face made Minalcar’s opinion of the activities perfectly clear.  ‘My own family believed in making sure I have skills that are more useful at court.’

‘It is a shame you missed out,’ Loareg said with sincerity.  He took out a chunk of bread and some cheese and bit into them deliberately.  ‘Have you eaten yet today?’ he enquired.

‘Loareg,’ Glorfindel’s voice sounded quietly behind him.  ‘Unless you wish to find yourself sharing in Minalcar’s trouble, I suggest that you switch your attentions to some other member of the party.’

The Forest Elf suddenly looked much younger as he turned to the expedition’s leader and found himself also looking at his adar. ‘Yes, my lord,’ he said meekly, glancing swiftly to try to discover what Tineithil thought of his baiting of the young Noldor lord.

‘Ambantor is cleaning up from breakfast,’ his adar remarked as he slid past.  ‘I recommend that you offer your assistance – and that you perform at least half the task.’

His son flushed, but was not foolhardy enough to complain. ‘Yes, Adar,’ he agreed.

Glorfindel’s look at Tineithil was full of laughter, but he kept his voice sober. ‘Tell me,’ he said, ‘how did you manage to teach your son to behave with a modicum of good sense?’

‘My wife and I started when he was very young,’ the other elf replied seriously.  ‘Once you let them think they can rule you, you have problems.’

‘Would you say that Minalcar is too old to learn?’ Glorfindel asked.

‘It would depend on his level of intelligence,’ Tineithil observed.  ‘Which on current showing is not very high.’

Minalcar’s eyes blazed, but discretion kept his mouth closed.  Little though he wished to be here, Ambantor had reminded him why being sent back would be worse.  His adar had been extremely angry about those gambling debts, and only the unexpected invitation to join this expedition had saved him the indignity of actually having to work for a living.  If he was packed off home in disgrace, he could not imagine how his parents would react.

‘Although, perhaps,’ Glorfindel remarked, watching him closely, ‘there is a glimmer there.’ 

His lips pressed firmly together, Minalcar drew a deep breath and refused to react.

Glorfindel nodded.  ‘You can clearly control yourself at need, ellon,’ he said briskly. ‘And, if you are not to be sent home with next week’s messengers, you will work very hard to keep a leash on your temper.  Gwathor has agreed, with some reluctance, to give you some basic training in how to survive in the forest – and that includes how not to annoy your colleagues.  For now,’ he narrowed his eyes, interested to see how Minalcar would deal with this pressure, ‘that means that you will join him in fishing.’

A brief nod was the only reply Minalcar could bring himself to make.

‘Off you go, then,’ Glorfindel instructed him and he and Tineithil watched as the young elf stamped off across the clearing.

***

The Lady paced.  It was not something she did regularly.  Normally she was serene; occasionally mischievous; rarely she seethed with a fury that made others avoid her – but now she was nervous.

When she had come to the forest, she had found it filled her with a sense of calm and purpose.  This place was pure; here she could be what she had always been meant to be.  She could nurture the land, sing with the trees – and she could wait.  Those who were here had welcomed here, she was one of them, she was one with them; she was their Lady.  Others had joined them over the centuries and gradually she had found herself the unofficial ruler of an informal kingdom, where no-one made laws or demanded guidance.  The trees listened to her and she heard their song.  She and the forest were one.  Yet still she waited.

Her patience had been as deep as the roots of an ancient oak; her calm had been the calm of a forest pool; her strength had grown from the bedrock beneath the earth to stretch up to the sun.  Trees did not worry about the future and neither did she.

But these arrivals unsettled her.  Change was in the air.  Change for the forest and change for her.  Would either of them be ready to deal with what was coming?  After all these years of waiting, would she be getting what she wanted?  Or would it be better for her to run and hide, to turn the forest against them and send them back whence they came?  Only time would tell.

***

Loareg packed away the cleaned items and looked around to make certain that the area was scrupulously tidy.  Ambantor watched him, rubbing his hands on the green tunic that he usually only wore to go hunting with his adar.

‘Have you been told what you are to do next?’ the young Forest Elf asked him.

Ambantor shook his head.  ‘I am intending to keep my head down,’ he said.  ‘I cannot say that I am exactly keen to put myself in Lord Glorfindel’s way at the moment.’

‘Understandable,’ Loareg grinned, ‘but it would probably be wiser to report to him before he seeks you out.’

‘Perhaps if I found someone else – how about him?’ Ambantor nodded to where Rindor was finishing his reports.  ‘He might have something useful I could do – that will not involve me in hard labour.’

‘I have tried avoiding trouble,’ Loareg shrugged. ‘It generally makes it worse.’

Ambantor sighed.   ‘Come on then, help me find him.’  He looked gloomy.  ‘Any guesses what he will have me doing?’

‘I am not putting myself in the way of danger!’ Loareg exclaimed.  ‘I have already found myself on the receiving end of adar’s displeasure once today.’

‘You are the one who wanted to get to know the visitors better, my son,’ Tineithil remarked from nearby.  ‘How better than by working beside them?’  He looked at the two young elves.  ‘Ruindel has decided on a suitable spot to prepare and plant a garden.  He requires labourers to help him open the ground.’  He grinned.  ‘Your naneth has sent some young plants to give the project a good start,’ he said blandly, ‘and she has asked me to tell you that she will not be happy if they fail to thrive in your care.’

Loareg sighed. ‘I enjoyed watching from the trees, Adar,’ he observed plaintively.  ‘I do not know why we had to become involved.’

‘Go on, lad,’ his adar laughed.  ‘Show them what it means to live in the forest.’

‘Is this to be my task?’ Ambantor asked warily.  ‘Or should I seek out Lord Glorfindel?’

‘I believe Glorfindel will be happy enough to surrender you to Ruindel’s care,’ Tineithil said pleasantly.  ‘As long as you work hard.’

***

The flet reminded Legolas of Lothlorien.  It was large: a series of platforms that fitted into the trees, linked by high walkways, and yet it would have been possible to travel through the forest at ground level and remain unaware that, high above, a gracious residence existed.

Legolas thought that he should feel more nervous.  The elves escorting them remained polite and distant, but they clearly had no intention of allowing them to evade their control.  He only hoped that the twins would be able to escape notice – and that they had the sense to go for assistance rather than throw themselves headlong into a rescue attempt.  Although, he sighed, there was really more chance of the sun coming up in the west.

‘Wait here.’

Their escort came to a halt as the first elf leapt into the lower branches.  Legolas and Camentur sat in response to a signal from one of the group and the remainder squatted around them, watchful but not threatening.  The grey drizzle of the damp morning depressed Camentur.  This seemed an ignominious end to his mission as the High King’s representative, he thought, whatever the outcome.  Clearly the elves who had long made their home among the trees were not as welcoming as first contact had led the new arrivals to believe – which was hardly surprising, he reflected.  He would not himself fling his arms wide to welcome a group of strangers who rode into his homelands demanding, however politely, the right to come and establish autonomous rule.  He glanced at his brother-in-law.  Legolas seemed remarkably calm and his alertness seemed more fixed on the forest song around him than on any hope of intervention.  Camentur sighed and allowed himself to fret – he was not going to be a great deal of help here if this situation turned dangerous.  He lacked the experience to deal with battle and this did not appear to be the moment to start learning.

‘Come.’

Their captor returned, looking them over impassively with his mist-grey eyes.  They stood and dusted themselves down before following him into the lower platforms.

‘I should not worry too much,’ Legolas breathed into Camentur’s ear.  ‘Those who intend harm rarely take you into their homes.’

***

It helped, Elrohir admitted to himself, that they had known exactly which direction Legolas and Camentur had taken.  It also helped that Camentur was less at home in the forest than the rest of them – and that his experience consisted merely of going after game, rather than of being the object of the hunts of others.  The traces Elrohir picked up were almost exclusively evidence of his passage: Legolas had left virtually no record of his passing.

Their capture had left barely enough to hint at what had happened: a few blades of grass, a disturbed leaf or two, a footmark in the forest litter – and a sensation among the trees, a feeling of guilt, of apology.

‘Why would elves take them?’  Elladan asked quietly.

‘And where?’

‘We go after them?’

‘Of course,’ Elrohir returned, then hesitated.  ‘We should probably go back,’ he said. ‘It would be wiser to involve Tineithil in this.  He would be the most likely to extract Legolas and Camentur without upsetting local sensibilities.’

Elladan looked at him, but remained silent.

‘It needed to be said,’ Elrohir apologised.  ‘We are old enough not to jump in without considering the situation.’

‘And now we have considered it?’

‘They went that way,’ Elrohir pointed out, and they exchanged grins before following the path along which their friends had been led some hours before.