~ Chapter 55 ~

'But Arwen went forth from the House, and the light of her eyes was quenched, and it seemed to her people that she had become cold and grey as nightfall in winter that comes without a star.  Then she said farewell to Eldarion, and to her daughters, and to all whom she had loved; and she went out from the city of Minas Tirith and passed away to the land of Lórien, and dwelt there alone under the fading trees until winter came.’' 

LOTR: Appendix A: Here Follows a Part of the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen

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~ TA 3018 2^nd day of Nárië:  Ai!  I must see to the sheep! 

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‘Tis chill for a day of late spring.  A low screen of clouds roiled above our heads, having reached down from the north o’er the night.  The day dawned dimly.  With so few beasts upon it, the grass has sprung thick and tall upon the pasture.  A brisk wind blows from the north and whips the meadow into waves, and my daughter and I seem to be adrift upon a sea of green.

“Come, lapsinya!” I call as I peer across the meadow only to flap at the fly that seeks to settle yet again upon the back of my neck. 

Ah!  A plague on them.  I had hoped the wind would have deterred their flight, but the further we walk, the more of them are to be found.  They come with the wet and settle upon man and beast alike.  Ah!  Curse them!  I slap at my neck. Their bite stings.

“Elenir?”

Ah, there’s the child.  She has plucked long grasses and swings them about, singing some indistinct tune.  She runs to catch up, but then squats to examine somewhat more closely in the turf. 

Once we passed beneath the spreading arms of the oak tree and through the gate, she had kicked out of my grasp and toddled along behind me.  We come nigh to the press of the shaws upon my lord’s pastures and still no sign of the sheep. 

The day was bittersweet, for though bees clambered in the petals of the plum trees, the thin light of the sun waxed and waned swiftly behind waves of clouds roiled by a cold wind.  To those below, it seemed we were sunk beneath deep waters and peered up from their depths at the surface of a tumulted sea in which all but the greatest of ships would founder.

My daughter had awoken with a mind determined to wrest joy from the day.  I did not find her in the trundle bed, snug beneath her bedclothes.  No, indeed, for she had hidden herself in the crevice between the posts of our bed and the wall afore which it stood.  I would not have known it but for the giggling issuing from that spot in which only her small form could fit, and the little fingers that played upon the wooden post where I could see them.  And when she would spring forth and bounce upon her toes, I made sure to make a great show of startlement, there to set her laughing and scuttling back to her hiding place to enact the play all again. 

My lord and I spent much of the early hours of the day away from the other’s company.  I awoke to find I was alone in our bed.  My lord was not below stairs, nor had he left word of when to expect him next.  ‘Twas but by the sight of his pack by the great door and the sword he had left in its place upon the wall behind his table I knew him not gone.

And so, I took up my day with no word as to when I must farewell my daughter.  Halbarad, I came to find, had taken his steed and my lord’s horses to the farrier’s, there to see to their shoes.  I knew, then, we had not long and it sat as a cold stone in my belly.  Those sundered by the Wild are not like to see the other again.

Once, I had been much used to leaving her in Elesinda’s care when about the Angle in pursuit of my duties, but when Elesinda sickened, could no longer do so.  And, in truth, even ere that I left her behind seldom, unless forced to it.  And so, my daughter and I spent much of the early morn together.  There, first, we visited the healer’s workroom.  I had intended to meet Pelara, for we were to inventory Nesta’s supplies.  But she was not there, and I found Nesta alone. 

It seemed we are low in all things she might need and Nesta, herself, heart-sick.  I sent her from the workroom where she need not list all the ways in which her stores were insufficient and add to her weary spirit.  When done, I found her sitting upon the grass with the young green heads of yarrow nodding about her in her garden.  My napping daughter nestled in her lap and Nesta wiped silently at her own tears so that she would not disturb the child.  She refused to say what troubled her, but begged I leave Elenir to her care while she slept.  When I returned to retrieve her from my next errand, I found my daughter much absorbed in examining a painted wooden top and begging the healer to spin it for her and set it whirling about the floor.  Both she and the mistress seemed in refreshed spirits for their time together.

‘Twas yet early when we returned home. There it was to find my lord again at home, but much occupied with Halbarad reviewing the movements of his men and their reports.  I had no need to speak to my husband, nor his kinsman, and so spent little time in the hall but for passing through from buttery to pantry to garden. 

When my daughter tired of her pleas for my attention, Halbarad set himself to amusing her while my lord sat at his table repairing his gear and I took to the pantry to gather what may be spared for her journey.  I gathered what little we had of dried fruits, mushrooms, and nuts and set to preparing the dough with our ration of flour for a plain, fried biscuit to send with my lord’s men. 

Elenir sat with my lord’s kinsman upon a bench afore the hearth and put him to feeding her poppet from a bowl of pottage she conjured from the air, all this while my lord looked on.  Having given up all pretense of attending to the letters and lists and gear afore him, he leaned his chin upon his hand, his face soft and fond.

And when that no longer diverted her, Halbarad set Elenir to tumbling about the hearth.  She pattered on her small feet to the farthest corner of the hall, her giggling trailing behind her, only to turn and find my lord’s kin looking upon her in horror.  She then growled, plummeting across the stones to fling herself upon him where he sat.  He threw himself to the floor, clutching her in a wild tangle to his breast and, to her father’s laughter, crying out as she pummeled him with her small arms and legs.  Once he had enough, she pushed herself to standing and, laughing at his pleas for mercy, fled back to the corner to do it all again.

This they repeated until Halbarad, hardened Ranger of the North, was weary and begged for her pity and set her upon her feet.  

‘Twas then my daughter caught sight of the light linen of my wrap about me, the spindle hooked to my belt with its wad of roving, and the scarf upon my hair. 

Without delay, the child plunged across the floor and, unaccountably, halted midway, falling to her knees and wailing.  She drew breath only to scream and lay her little face down upon the stones of the floor, clutching and slapping at her head. 

‘Twas only when I had picked her up and settled to kissing and soothing away her tears that I looked up to find my lord watching.  His hands stilled upon his task, he turned a stricken look upon his daughter.  I knew not his gaze when he directed it to me, for I could not return it.  Shame settled a heavy hand upon me and turned me away. 

In the turmoil that was the revelation of my lord’s plans I had neither brought the sheep in the night afore nor set them to their pasture at the breaking of our fast upon rising.  With so few of the ewes left, in my distraction I may have missed their complaint. 

I shake the precious little grain I can spare in its sack and call for the sheep yet again as I climb.  Ah!  I have not the time for this.  ‘Tis of my own doing but I have little patience for it.  Had I kept my head, my daughter and I would not be spending the last of our time together in weary wandering about the pasture in search of a flock that has no doubt found some low-lying place and sheltered there from the wind.  Surely, I shall tramp up one hummock or another and see them just beyond, lying about in the grass only to interrupt them from their chewing.

The air about me darkens for the scudding of the clouds and I set myself to climbing the last hillock ere the end of the pasture.  Should they not be here, I know not where else to look.

The bag of grain rattles to a thump at my feet.   

Oh!  Oh, ai!  Beyond the rise they are there. They lie in bundles of blood-soaked wool and splintered bone upon the green of the pasture.  Clouds of flies buzz greedily about them, for the ewes’ bellies are torn asunder and the ground about them dark for it. ‘Tis not the work of one wolf, nor a pack, nor hunger. That I have seen afore. They would have killed a few and been satisfied.  This is a dozen or more dead.  What could have done such a thing?

I step back from the rise.  Ai!  How far the house behind us? 

A shadow emerges from beyond a clump of bloody wool and the wind whips about, driving a rankness o’er the meadow as had the very gates of Udûn opened upon the corruption wrought there.  Crouched low, eyes burn from behind blood and bone, deep as a forge open against the dark of night.  Oh, ai!  The tales seem but a pale shade of this… this, thing, that pulls all light and breath from about it as it rises.

"Mamil?  Mamil?  Mamil?" Elenir's small voice babbles behind me.

 Ai!  What possessed me to bring my daughter?

"Elenir!" I call, stepping back and stretching a hand to my child, though I shake and my voice is too thin for her to hear no matter what force I attempt to bring to bear.  "Come to Ammë." 

"Mamil!" she demands, her thoughts only for this thing in the turf that has captured her attention.

I dare not look away else it is sure to spring from where it crouches its body close to the earth and stares at me.

"Elenir!" I insist louder. I can taste naught but the tang of metal in my mouth.

Its tongue darts between sharp, white teeth as it catches our scent upon the wind, and a long pale limb eases forth from the shadow beneath its body to place a soft step toward me. 

“Come here, woman, where I can see thee,” it calls in a voice that echoes hollowly in my head.

Ai, no, no, no, no!  Nienna, have pity!

Back I stumble and only once hidden again below the rise of ground do I twist about and snatch up my daughter and clamber down the slope.  Startled into grabbing onto me, her small arms cling to me and her voice whimpers in my ear.

I dare not look back but run over the hillocks and across the turf, the meadow a blur beneath my feet.  My daughter’s head bobs against my chin setting my teeth to clacking, and the spindle bangs against my hip, swinging wildly from its hook.  The grasses, once soft and inviting, are as sharp-edged switches that cling and tear at my boots.  Yet, I hear little but the pounding of blood in my ears and the sound of laughter that follows.

From the corner of my eye, I catch a flash of eye kindled with a fell flame ere a grinning mouth darts in and nips at my flank.  I scream and stumble away from its teeth as I fly.

“Run,” it cries and laughs, its tongue dripping steam.  I speed forward only for it to dart away again and keep pace at a distance. 

My small daughter is heavy and the very air slashes at my throat I gulp at it so. 

Ah, Elbereth, Lady Kindler!   I move with all the grace of an over-laden cart while it glides through the grasses at an easy lope.  It husbands its strength and wears mine away.  I know where is the gate, but each step closer to it sets me in the path of slashing teeth.

Dark shadows skim beneath the heads of the blowing grass and laughter echoes against hummock and stone wall.  

“Run! Run, mother, run!”  

More voices take up the call as one and yet another beast darts in to snap at me as I run.  I lurch from the slash of their teeth and cry out.  They howl in mirth, dancing away to do it yet again until, in my flight, I am caught up upon the edge of the pasture. 

Branches lash at my face. I press my daughter’s head to me as she screams.  Teeth latch upon my skirts from behind so that I stumble through the edge of a small copse of trees nigh upon the pasture wall, only to be let go as quickly as they had caught upon me. 

“No!” I cry and thrust my weight back from the reach of snapping jaws that appear of a sudden ahead.  Its spittle alights upon me and sends up the sharp scent of burning wool from my skirts.  I twist about so I might yet find a path free of them only to stumble back ere the slashing fangs of yet another beast can latch upon me.

“My lord!” I scream and lunge away from a third set of teeth. The beast bounds to me and, in a leap, snatches at my scarf where it has come undone and trails behind me.  My head jerks roughly upon my neck and I must stumble aright against the weight of my daughter in my arms.  Oh, I must keep to my feet or all is lost.

A great howling arises from the beasts as it shakes the bundle of my scarf in its jaws, wrenching its head upon its thick neck and sending the cloth whipping ere letting it fly. 

My daughter has gone silent where I clutch her to me.  She makes no noise but the hitch of breath where she weeps and clings to my dress.  I have no breath left and can only gasp for air to fill my lungs and moan, but it matters not.  There is nowhere else to run. They have caught me up against the stone wall about the pasture.  They have herded me so far from the gate, no call could possibly rouse my lord or his kin.

Ai!  ‘Tis done. And they know it. There they pace beyond reach at their leisure and watch me with their strangely eager eyes.

“Come, woman, why cease thy running?”  says one, its tongue lolling and red.  “The house is not far.”

“Aye, mayhap thou mayest make it there yet, should thou be unburdened.” 

“And we busy filling our bellies.  We could help thee with that, mother,” says the third.  It fixes its keen eyes upon me and, slowing in its pacing, slinks low to the ground.

“No!” I scream.  “Get away, thou fiend. Thou shalt not have her!”

It but laughs and creeps upon my left where I must turn to keep it in my sight. 

With that, I am buffeted from the back by a great weight.  I trip over somewhat hard and am knocked to the ground, my daughter flying from my arms as I fall. 

Ai!  No, no, no, no!

I scramble about upon the dirt and bat at teeth that nip and catch upon hair and dress and sleeve.  I must get my feet beneath me!  Where is Elenir!  Where is she?  Where is my daughter!

There!  She shrieks in fear and a glimpse of her sobbing face and fingers outstretched for me tears at my flesh with greater pain than the knives that this beast has for teeth.  Beneath the thin boughs of the willow, her fingers work as would she pluck me from the air.

I catch upon somewhat slender and hard in the grass and, wrenching it from the grip of the turf in which it lies, I launch myself to my feet and thrash it about.  Some strange high sound rises about me, and only later do I know it for my own voice. 

“My lord!” I cry and sob for breath. 

Jaws snap afore my face and I flail the switch at the sight.  The beast leaps back, licking its lips where I struck it.  

At this, the beasts fall silent and still.  No breath heaves their sides.  No sounding of the air stirs their muzzles, but, crouched low, they stare at me with their glowing eyes and a deep throbbing upon the air arises from their stillness.

“Oh, Child, thou shalt wish thou hadst not,” a beast says as it steps forth.  Its sharp gaze pins me in place. “The scion of Draugluin am I.  I have no need for thy blood to satisfy my thirst. Thy pain is satisfaction enough. There are others who might make good use of thee ere we feast upon thy body.”

With this, I draw a sharp breath and fly upon it, flailing the branch wildly.  “I care not. She is mine, thou fiend of Morgoth! Thou canst not have her!” 

It snaps at me as it seeks to gain the branch and pull it from my grasp.  It is then one of the remaining beasts arises from where it crouches low.  Its eyes are trained not upon me, but upon the small child behind where I stand.  Aye, I have heard the tales too oft to not know what comes next.  When it reaches her, it shall snap its jaws about my daughter’s head and shake her silent. 

“My lord!” I sob, but it comes out no more than a smothered wail, drowned beneath my daughter's shrieks of fear. 

I choke and swing wildly and the beast afore me snarls, darting in to slash its teeth against the air.  I catch it upon its eye and though it may cringe away, it is for but a brief instant and another beast circles behind where I cannot see.

“Aragorn!” I scream, the force of my cry blinding me.

Thundering across the pasture on his warhorse, bare of saddle and holding onto his flanks with his knees comes my lord with his naked sword raised in his hand. He clings close to his mount’s neck as they pound toward us. My lord slides from his mount into a run and calls out harsh commands, leaving the horse to guard his back.  Rising and whirling about, my lord’s gelding screams and strikes at the beasts with his sharpened hooves.  Kicking out with his hind leg, he catches full upon a beast and sends it hurtling aside with a yelp that is as quickly silenced.  The horse has followed swiftly and stomps, rising and falling upon it. 

His sword bright as flame in the thin light and his voice a fearsome roar, my lord flies upon the beast that creeps toward his daughter.  

It is then I am upon my back and gasping for air in a rush of the stink of the beast’s breath and the pain of its claws scrabbling against me.  Patient and snarling in sudden feints just out of reach, it waited until my gaze was upon my lord and daughter to press its advantage. Claws rake at my side. They rip at linen and catch upon my belt.  Ai!  It pins my arms to me so I cannot move!  Teeth snap and slash at my face and neck.  Foam flecks from its mouth and the stench of burning flesh arises from where it falls upon me.  

I kick at it with all my might, but though I land a blow that thrusts it from me, it falls swiftly upon me again, swinging its underbelly away from the threat of my booted feet and grabbing at the meat of my arm below my shoulder.  Jaws seize upon me in a bright burst of pain so that I cry out.  The beast yanks and jerks upon me and it seems it might tear the very limb from my shoulder. 

And then it is as had we taken flight and I bump across turf and root. I know not how it came to be in my hand, but I have torn the spindle that bangs upon my hip from its hook and with a cry swing my arm and jab the metal shaft of it at the beast.  At its yelp, I fall from its grip and a great gout of blood falls upon me in a burst so foul that I gag at the taste. 

It snarls and gnashes its sharp teeth and leaps upon me again, but my lord’s shadow falls upon me as he towers above.  I hardly know him.  His face a grotesque mask of rage, he brings his sword down in a terrible thrust upon the back of the beast, crushing the breath from me as it falls.  My lord kicks and heaves the dead weight from me.  Then, pulling his sword from the beast with one hand, he reaches down and yanks me to my feet with the other so my head spins. 

“Take her to the house!” he yells.  His eyes wild, he thrusts me toward Elenir and I flail to keep my feet. 

It is only then I hear it, the distant howls and laughter ringing amidst the trees that skirt the pasture.    

“My lord!”  He could not possibly mean to stay. 

"Our child, lady!  Halbarad awaits!  Go!  Run!" he commands ere turning away.  He whistles sharply, and his gelding breaks off pounding the beast into the mud and grass of our pasture to trot to his master.    

I grab up my daughter and run. 

Halbarad stands tall and finely balanced upon the rock wall beside the gate to my lord’s toft.  There, having grabbed his longbow from where it rests beside the great door, he might guard both the door through the garden and my path as I run to it.  He has been at it some time, for, as I near, I pass darkening fur and limbs and white, white teeth.  About them rises a miasma of heat and smoke where their fëa unknits from their flesh and burns the ground where they fell. The stink fouls the air above the meadow.  Bolt nocked to the string, Halbarad scans the fields and pastures for slinking shadows upon them.  

The beasts may have withdrawn a little at the fierceness of his defense, but still their snarls and howls echo about the pasture.  In my flight, I know not the rustle of grass behind me as the wind or should I next feel jaws close upon me again and take me down in sight of my own house.

Once we draw near, Halbarad drops down from the stones and leaps into a run.  I think he races to take my daughter to make us the faster, but he does not slow. 

“Go to the house!” he shouts, the wind of his passage snatching at his words. “Bar the doors and shutters!” 

He pauses but the length of a heartbeat and draws back the string of his bow to let fly a bolt.  It sings past my ear so close I could have touched it and halts of a sudden in a high-pitched yelp behind me. 

I stumble up the stairs to the solar and run across the boards heedless of the pounding of my feet.  There I thrust my daughter into the small crevice behind the head of our bed. 

"Stay and be silent!" I command and drag the low chest afore it.  So frightened is she, she huddles to the floor and remains still in that small, dark space.  

I leave her there to rattle back down the stairs and burst into the hall where all is in disarray. Papers spill from the table and flutter, sunk to the floor by the heavy seal upon them.  Black ink pools and soaks into the wood of my lord’s table and the fine linen upon it.   My lord’s chair tilts and rests where it struck the banner behind it, tearing a great rent in the cloth. The bench by the fire tips upon its side and crockery tumbles upon the hearth. The housing of my lord’s sword lies upon the floor where he had flung it.  I trip over it in my haste and catch myself against the settle.  Pain explodes through my arm so I can only gasp and cling to the wood.  Ai! I must move. 

The doors I can both close and bar, but the windows of my lord’s hall are very tall and the shutters that close them are heavy.  I wrestle with the long pole that stands in the corner by the buttery but the hooks upon the shutters refuse to catch.  It seems I can do naught but make a horrid din against the shutters and scream my vexation at them. 

And then I am standing in the solar at the head of stairs, my daughter still and quiet in her hiding place behind my back.  I have been standing here for some time. How long, I know not.  My eye burns for the blood slipping down my skin and all about seems in a red haze.  From whence had I taken up the knife?  But it is in my hand.  I have it raised in a vain attempt at defense. It is my lord's and long and keen of edge.  I blink at it. 

A banging rends the air and echoes through the hall as had the buttery door been shuddering beneath a sustained assault for some time until it has loosened in its moorings.  The blade plucks light from the air and there it trembles upon the wall about the stairs. And then comes the sound of wood splintering and swift steps that pad across the stone of the hall. 

A shadow crosses the bottom of the stair.  From some distant place, I know I gasp for air and clap a hand over my mouth to still the noise.  For surely, Halbarad is dead. My lord is dead. And soon there will be none left to protect the small child secreted in that dark space behind me.  At this, the light from the hall at the bottom of the stairs gutters out.

Ai! Elbereth Star-Kindler, give me strength! 

Lifting his face to peer into the gloom of the solar, it is my lord.  With him, he carries his sword at the ready.  It is red with blood and dark with matted fur.  About him he is in shadow but for the face he lifts to gasp at the sight of me, and I see him as were he at a great distance below and I high above him and the foul smell of smoke about us.

“You did not answer!” he cries and leaps up the stairs.

“Elenir?” he asks as he comes upon me swiftly.

“She is not harmed,” I manage.  My legs suddenly boneless, I drop his knife in a clatter of metal and sink to the floor at the top of the stairs and sit there trembling.

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