Chapter Twenty-Four: Through Dungeons Deep and Caverns Old

Haldir jerked into wakefulness as he was rudely brought back to consciousness by the sudden shock of icy water poured over his skin. He sat up abruptly, sputtering and coughing as some of the liquid went down the wrong way. A hand gripped his shoulder and he hissed, remembering the pain, as he pushed it away.

“Haldir! Wake up! It’s all right. It’s us!”

Haldir wiped the water from his eyes, blinking dazedly.

“Come on. Help me get him on his feet.” Strong arms lifted him up and set him on wobbly legs. He wavered for a moment before finding the wall and leaning heavily against it. When his vision finally cleared and the floor stopped shifting beneath him, he looked up.

Rameil and Ancadal were looking at him with no small amount of concern. Through his surprise at their sudden appearance, Haldir tried to piece together his last moments of consciousness. There was still the faint stench of the strange incense in the air.

He looked at his friendÂ’s haggard faces who were still staring at him as they waited for him to sort himself out. They both looked unspeakably weary and their faces were grey with fatigue and pain but they were alive and Haldir felt great relief spill through him.

Dragging his gaze away from his friendsÂ’ concerned faces, he hastily cast a glance about the room, recognizing the vile prison which held the last of his memories. The candles had guttered and the oak door stood wide. Haldir blinked in confusion for a moment.

“How did you find me?” he asked in bewilderment, still recovering from the shock of finding them here. His throat felt raw. Rameil glanced towards the door as though checking to make sure that they would not be overheard. Ancadal cast a sheepish glance at Rameil; there was a glorious bruise puffing up his right eye and dried blood clung to his lip from a bloody nose.

“We looked through every door we could find,” the younger elf said, holding up a ring of keys. Haldir frowned in bemusement and shook his head.

“We had to overpower the guard. There was a foul scent upon the air,” Rameil sniffed disgustedly. “Someone may have heard the disturbance. We should go.” Haldir nodded and tested his weight on his own two legs- relieved to find that they would hold him.

“Commander?” Ancadal asked, his youthful, almost childish face, troubled as he looked up at his superior officer. Haldir took a deep breath, shivering as the chill water continued to run off his shoulders. He brushed his stringy hair out of his eyes as he looked around at his small company.

“As soon as we can, we must find the prince and the King.” He shivered again. Ancadal noticed and immediately offered his cloak apologetically. How he had managed to keep it, Haldir didn’t know for all of his weapons and clothes save his leggings and boots only had been taken from him long ago, probably to be locked up in some storage room.

“Come, sir. We must find you some dry clothes to wear first.”

Haldir suddenly realized that he was soaking- with water that no small bucket could have held. He looked at Ancadal.

“Why am I so wet?” he asked lightly, trying to ease the sombre mood a bit.

“That was the third time we’d doused you,” Ancadal answered gravely, biting his lip as his white fingers clutched the wooden bucket. Haldir looked away.

“Sir?” Ancadal said softly, gently touching the back of his captain’s shoulder. Haldir turned and his eyes fell to the hand the younger elf extended to him.

It was bloody.

“You’re hurt.”

“As are we all I expect,” came the dry rejoinder as Haldir pointedly eyed the younger elf’s blackened eye. Ancadal grinned and touched it delicately, wincing only slightly as Haldir shrugged off the concerned glance Rameil gave him. “’Tis a small flesh wound. Nothing more.”

Rameil looked skeptical.

“A flesh wound?” The elven soldier’s tone left his captain in no doubt of what his opinion on the matter was. Haldir’s head snapped around, a wave of irritation flooding through him. They were wasting time with this pointless chittering!

“Yes! A flesh wound! It is unimportant. I do hope you have something more to be concerned for.” Confused and slightly alarmed at the fire that crackled behind his commander’s eyes, Rameil nodded with bowed head. Haldir sighed, seeing that his friend was worried and abashed. He shook his head in self-reproach.

“I am sorry, Rameil,” he said softly. “I-”

“It’s all right,” the other elf assured him, smiling slightly. “But let me have a look at it won’t you, sir? Even if it is just a ‘small flesh wound?’” Haldir nodded, having no such intention.

“We’ve got to get out of here first,” Ancadal put in practically, motioning for silence. Haldir shook his head.

“You two go. I have to find Legolas,” he said in a low voice

“Sir, that is impossible- it’s a labyrinth down here. We wouldn’t know where to look and the longer we stay, the greater the chance of our discovery,” insisted Rameil immediately.

Even as he spoke they suddenly stiffened at the sound of footsteps hurrying down the corridor. They moved to either side of the doorway, keeping out of sight for as long as they could but the soldier had seen the open door and rushed towards it without thinking. He was armed. They were not. But they were also three.

And he was one.

Rameil was on him in an instant, kicking his legs out from under him and pinning him to the floor while Ancadal relieved him of his weapon. Haldir stared, realizing he recognized this youth.

It was the young guard that had whipped him. The soldier blenched as he tried to throw off RameilÂ’s hold but Ancadal pressing his own blade to his throat soon ceased his movements.

“Where is your master?” the dark-haired elf demanded.

“I don’t know.”

The blade pressed in deeper and he winced, trying to lift his head back further. But his eyes were steady and unafraid as he gazed up at his former prisoners.

“I will not betray him.”

Haldir moved the sword edge aside with a reprimanding glance at Ancadal.

“Let him go, Rameil.”

Startled, the Rivendell elf did as asked, relinquishing his hold on the guard so he could get to his feet. He rubbed his neck with a surprised and extremely wary glance at all of them. Haldir stepped forward, redirecting his attention.

“Whatever Ainan has told you, it is a lie. We are no more traitors than you are.” He took the sword from Ancadal and handed it back hilt-first to its owner.

“There. You are armed. We are not. You can easily kill all three of us if that is your desire.”

Rameil shot a sharp look at his commander, wondering what in Middle-Earth he was thinking. What if the guard did just that?

The soldier stared at him in disbelief then abruptly sheathed his blade with a shake of his head.

“I am no murderer. But I cannot allow you to go free.”

Haldir stepped forward, his hands spread in a placating manner as the guard jumped and grasped at his sword hilt. But the Lórien commander’s eyes reflected only sorrow and pain.

“You know what Ainan has done to the kingdom. It is crumbling around you. Entire families are missing. Elves have been slain within these halls- you know this,” Haldir said darkly. “You know what he has done.”

The young guard shook his head in the face of the otherÂ’s words as though longing to block them out. For the first time, his face held a look of anguish.

“You have no idea how powerful he is.” He paused and a look of pain passed across his face. “He said he would kill my family if I did not obey him.”

“We will not let that happen,” Haldir swore vehemently. “We are going to stop him but we need to find him first- or the prince: have you seen him?”

The guard shook his head hopelessly. “The forest will fall into shadow. There is no hope left.”

Rameil seized the young guard by the shoulder and shook him.

“If I believed that, I would not be alive. You must trust us and help us- Ainan is not all-powerful and we can stop him but he must not know of our escape for as long as possible, do you understand me?”

Dumbly, the guard nodded, his face white as parchment but he straightened himself and brushed a hand across his eyes.

“I will do what I can- though it will not be much.” He took his hand away from his face and cast a beseeching glance at them. “Can-can you do something for me?”

Haldir nodded.

“My wife’s name is Brethiel; will- will you tell her I did my best? That I love her?” he asked desperately, his eyes looking pleadingly up into the elf captain’s. Haldir laid a hand on his shoulder.

“You have my word.”

The guard nodded slowly and stepped back. Quickly, he told them how to get out of the dungeons, looking as though he were steeling himself against some inner storm of irresoluteness. The three elves thanked him and made their way down the dingy corridor, their eyes trained and ears straining for any sound or sight of anything. But there was utter silence.

That was even more unnerving.

It was very dark and the lighted lamps were few and soon faded into darkness. For what seemed an immeasurable time, they groped along the walls in pitch blackness. Haldir felt his way as though he had been stricken sightless, hearing only the soft breathing of his companions behind him. With his arms fully outstretched like a blind man, he could brush the walls on either side with his fingertips. Suddenly, his right hand met open air and he felt a chill, damp air against his cheek.

Water rushed softly away on their far right but little else could be seen or heard as they moved on, cautiously, conscious of the vastness of the open space and the danger of unseen enemies. They clung close to the wall which continued to run on their left.

Haldir moved gingerly, listening intently for anything that would tell him where they are. A little ways ahead and above his eyelevel, a small red light gleamed. He made towards it, nearly stumbling over the first of a shallow flight of broad stairs. The light grew closer and Haldir realized it was a lamp, hanging limply from a bracket in the wall. He stepped up onto the landing, gazing up and down the corridor as Rameil and Ancadal came up beside him.

The dark-haired elf squinted against the suddenly bright glow of the lantern, glancing back into the darkness behind them but AncadalÂ’s attention was focused on the doors laid at intervals on either side of the long hall. A narrow barred slit served as a window at eyelevel in each door

“More cells.”

Haldir moved forward, nearer to the lantern which cast flickering shadows along the paved way and peered into the first cell on their right. There was a clink as though of chains from within the darkness and a thin shape moved forward, pressing himself as close to the bars as his manacles allowed. He looked thin and bedraggled in the pale light. Haldir could count every rib under the white skin.

“You are not one of them,” the prisoner said, staring at their disheveled and haggard appearances. “Have you come to help us?” he asked, a glint of hope kindling in his eyes. “Did Legolas send you?”

“Be silent, Tirien,” another, hoarse voice snapped out of the darkness on the left of the three elves. “They have no weapons and no great numbers. More than likely they are Ainan’s rats sent down here to see if we will break for one of our own. They are traitors- what good can come of speaking to them but another beating?”

“You know nothing, Edraien. Why would they be so injured then if they were sent to test us?” Tirien responded back with much more equity than his companion as he glanced with compassion at the pain etched into the three elves’ faces. “Ainan. He is nothing but lies.”

“You have seen Legolas?” Haldir interrupted eagerly, ignoring the opposite prisoner’s scornful snort.

Tirien hesitated a moment, searching HaldirÂ’s face carefully.

‘I did. I cannot remember how long ago… I have not seen him for several days at least… Is he in danger?” he asked, catching the flicker of disappointment that flashed across Haldir’s face.

“Ainan has taken him.”

Tirien’s eyes darkened and a greyness came upon his face as though his last hope had gone with those words. “I warned him,” he murmured, laying his forehead against the bars with a deep sigh as he closed his eyes.

Haldir dearly wished he had some hope to give the disheartened soldier. But theirs was a desperate mission as well without hope of success. He didnÂ’t know how they could escape this labyrinth without being seized again and he was beginning to feel oddly dizzy which made it difficult to think. RameilÂ’s voice snapped him back into awareness.

“Well, twice blessed is hope un-looked for,” he said briskly, pushing the ring of keys they had used to free themselves with through the narrow cells bars. “Do what you can with these.”

The elf stooped and snatched them up quickly as though fearing they would sink through the floor, his gaunt face flooding with gratitude.

“May Elbereth guide your path, my friends. I do not think we shall meet again before the end- whenever that is granted,” Tirien said gravely, bowing his head with his hand to his breast.

With darkening hearts, Haldir and his companions returned the gesture before hastening onward. Already they felt that time was growing short though they knew not what drove them. The silence still pressed against their ears but there was an urgency, a wariness in it and the lamps like winking eyes watched all.

Stopping for a moment to regain his breath which he felt should not have been so short, Haldir glanced over his two friends, noting how they looked almost ghostly in the flickering torchlight.

“Are you both all right?” he asked, slightly ashamed that he hadn’t asked earlier.

Rameil smiled mirthlessly as his keen eyes scanned the chamber they had just entered.

“As all right as you are,” he said with rare good humor.

Haldir ignored the gentle jibe, his brow furrowed as he thought of something that had been bothering him since theyÂ’d left his cell.

“How did you get free?” he inquired, still scarcely able to believe that they had made it out of the dungeons alive though he knew they not safe yet by far. Rameil shook his head bewilderingly.

“A-a messenger came to me- freed me of my chains. She said that others would be waiting for us if we managed to escape.”

“Where?” Haldir asked immediately. Rameil shook his head.

“She did not say- she said they would find us.”

“We cannot depend on that,” Haldir said, clutching the cloak which had nearly slipped from his shoulders, tighter about his form. He had gotten his friends into this mess and his guilt ate relentlessly at him as he feverishly tried to think of a way to get them out.

That proved more difficult than even thinking of it. Akin to the clandestine labyrinths of long-lost Menegroth, the palace of Mirkwood was a veritable warren of twisting passages and long winding staircases. Endless tunnels where strangers could wander for decades before finding the front gate. They paused at a crossroads where two hallways intersected. One continued to run on straight the other careened up a flight of stairs on the left and plunged lower down on the right.

The passage they faced was beginning to widen and tall carven figures of marble stood as silent sentinels, their empty eyes watched the passage. But they were comfortless and cold, ancient and dusty. They had not been cared for and had fallen into ruin in the damp and darkness down here. There werenÂ’t even torches to light the way and the lamps they did find, hanging at intervals along the walls looked newly placed. The walls, plain and discolored with age, moldy with the damp of the river werenÂ’t even blackened with smoke.

“We should arm ourselves and tend our wounds,” Rameil suggested, leaning wearily against one of the statues for a moment as they rested. He looked rather pale and his eyes carefully veiled the pain in his body.

There was no way Haldir would go on before finding Legolas- but he saw the wisdom in his friendÂ’s words. If he hoped to free Legolas, he would need to at least arm himself first.

“We cannot linger here,” he said, laying a hand on Rameil’s shoulder, his anxiety for both of them showing plainly in his eyes. The dark-haired elf shrugged him off with a wry grin.

They turned left and stepped lightly up the broad stone stairs. Slowly, their surroundings became steadily familiar and more open, lighter; the air did not feel so chill here. Their hearts lifted. As they grew closer to the surface, the light and beauty of the elves returned around them. Richly woven tapestries adorned the walls and the statues were clean and polished, their marble eyes glittering in bright torchlight.

The three escapees glided soundlessly down the passage, every fiber in their bodies tensed, listening intently for the slightest noise. But the corridors around them were still empty and still soundless. It was as though everyone in the palace had died and they were but the ghosts stirring up the gloomy shadows in the dust.

Up another staircase, narrower and deeply cloven, a door stood- the last before they finally reached the upper levels of the palace. Unsettled by the unyielding quiet, Haldir thought that at least Ainan would have sent soldiers looking for them or maybe it was a trap, luring them into a false sense of security. Or perhaps, the young guard had been faithful and he didnÂ’t know yet.

Haldir dearly hoped it was the latter.

But that hope died as he peered through the crack between frame and door only to snatch it back quickly again as he spotted the two figures robed in the green of the woodland king marching just beyond it.

There were two of them who looked as though they were readying themselves for relief. They paced before the doorway slowly, carefully watching the corners and speaking in low tones. It was the only way out of the lower realms of the palace.

Haldir turned to his friends in the faint light from a guttering torch a little ways down the hall. He held up two fingers and Rameil and Ancadal both nodded to show they understood and readied themselves. Haldir shrugged out of his cloak knowing that the garment would only impede him now. He waited a moment longer to make sure the guards were right before the door before he hurled himself against it, ignoring the burst of pain in his shoulder as it connected solidly with the wood.

The door exploded open and smashed into the two guards, knocking one over completely and striking the other in the shoulder, spinning him almost all the way around. The three elves burst out of the doorway, throwing themselves upon the surprised elves before they had a chance to recover. Rameil and Ancadal quickly pinned the downed guard, relieving him of his weapons before he even had a chance to rise.

Haldir saw a flash of steel and quickly threw himself aside as a sword blade whistled over his head. The other guard was not down yet and he, though shocked, was quickly collecting himself as he lunged forward. Haldir dodged the edge of the blade again, narrowly. His wounds protested his quick movement but he disregarded them as he danced aside, trying to avoid being spitted.

Spinning in too close for the other to use his long blade, he fisted his hand in the guardÂ’s stomach, doubling him over with a grunt. Striking the inside of his sword wrist sharply, Haldir made him drop his blade with a muffled cry and with another blow to his temple had stunned him. Snatching the sword up from where it had fallen, Haldir leveled it at the guardÂ’s throat, chancing a backward glance at his companions who already had the other guard on his back, unconscious.

Rameil was glancing at one of the guardÂ’s swords with interest while Ancadal looked nervously up and down the hall. Their impromptu battle had sounded like a herd of oliphaunts. There was no way they were going to be able to keep the secret of their escape now.

Haldir stooped and unsheathed a long knife from the downed guardÂ’s boot, taking his belt as well to gird it about his waist. Rameil and Ancadal followed his example, taking the sword and bow and quiver the other guard had worn.

As an afterthought, Haldir slid the tunic from the taller guardÂ’s person and slipped it over his own shoulders; it was a little longer in the sleeves but it was better at any rate than running about the palace half-clothed. The guards were beginning to stir feebly on the ground as Rameil and Ancadal strapped their borrowed weapons to their sides.

“Tolo (Come on),” Haldir bade them, loosening the long knife in its sheath as he looked towards the far eastern door that yawned up on their right. They passed through the archway and broke into a sharp run, racing as fast as they dared now that the passage was well-lighted and stretched empty before them, occasionally branching off into dark paths on either side of them but they stayed on the main one coursing through the heart of the palace.

Suddenly, Haldir stopped abruptly, gazing through one of the doorways which led into a grand hall which looked like the throne room. Rameil and Ancadal pulled up sharply as they realized their commander was not following.

“Man cenich? (What do you see?)” Ancadal hissed but Haldir hushed him, nodding at the doorway. His brow furrowed in puzzlement, Ancadal followed his gaze and muffled a gasp of surprise and sudden panic. He recognized Ainan’s lieutenant, the tall, thin Noldorin elf with the wild eyes. The dark elf stood beside a young woman, cloaked and hooded, conversing in low tones.

The woman’s eyes flickered past the dark elf and suddenly fixed on Haldir’s. Her face flickered once with surprise but she mastered herself quickly and turned back to her companion. But Tindómëtir had caught her gaze and glanced over his shoulder.

Haldir swiftly pulled his head back around the corner, stiffening and readying his knife in his sheath. But when he cautiously glanced back, the young woman had her arm looped through the dark elfÂ’s and was leading him away from their hiding place. Puzzlement rushed through him but he had no time to wonder for at that moment, there was a rush as though of wind and one of the soldiers that they had fought in the halls came bursting through the eastern door across from them, breathing heavily with blood running from a cut above his brow.

“The Lórien prisoners have escaped, sir!”

“What?” Tindómëtir’s face blackened with fury and the guard quailed before him, taking a small step back. “Where are they?”

“We- we lost them in the halls, sir,” he stammered in reply, wiping away the blood that was beginning to trickle into his eyes.

“Show me.”

The guard nodded briskly and turned on his heel, leading the dark elf back out the eastern door.

The woman remained, staring after them for a long moment. Then without hesitation, she walked straight towards them.

Before they could even think of fleeing, she was beside them, looking up into their pale faces.

“I am the messenger. I have been sent to find you.”

“You are Ainan’s creature. Why should we trust you?” Haldir asked, his eyes darkened with suspicion.

“You think Ainan is the only one capable of deception?” she asked silkily, her eyes snapping with green fire. “I hate him more than you. He ripped my family apart.” Her voice was thick with bitterness and anger. She shook her head as though to clear it of troublesome thoughts and turned her attention back to him.

“I can take you to a place of safety but we must go now. Every moment we waste is precious time lost- they will be back soon.”

“How do we know that we can trust you?”

“I’m not asking you to trust me. But you will do better with me as a guide than blundering about by yourselves and risk capture again,” she retorted saucily.

The three elves exchanged a silent look. Rameil wordlessly shook his head, eyeing the woman with deep mistrust. Ancadal looked torn between wanting to believe her and not. Haldir himself felt his thoughts spiraling.

“You three, if I’m not mistaken, will need food- and perhaps other things,” she said, looking knowingly up at their wan faces. A strand of her hair gleamed like fire in the flickering torchlight.

Haldir raked a hand through his sweat-drenched hair uncertainly. They could not stay here vacillating like this for long- Tindómëtir would return and with him, the guards. But his head was throbbing worse than ever, making it difficult to think. He pushed his pain as far to the back of his mind as he possibly could and scrutinized the young maid before him. He could sense the anger radiating off of her in nearly palpable waves but somehow he knew that it was not directed at them.

She was the closest thing to an ally they had a chance of meeting and without her they would almost certainly wander lost in these halls until by sheer chance they found the gate or were found. And even if they did find the gate? What then? They had no horses, no food or water, were weary and wounded. They could not expect to get far. They needed help.

Haldir stared hard at the woman for a moment longer then slowly nodded his acquiescence. She nodded once in reply then, pulling her hood closer about her face, she turned and began to walk briskly through the great hall, glancing furtively this way and that before leading them onward.

Haldir turned to follow and suddenly stumbled, a sudden nauseating dizziness attacking him with a vengeance. His brow furrowed as a sharp pain lanced through his head as he shook his head to try to clear it of the ominous black dots. What had that foul poison done to him?

Rameil darted forward and grabbed his commanderÂ’s arm as he faltered. The back under his hand was heaving and drenched in sweat- or blood, he couldnÂ’t quite tell and it frightened him.

“Haldir…”

The woman stopped, wondering at their slackened pace.

“You do not look well,” she told him bluntly, narrowing her eyes at Haldir’s ashen face.

“I knew it,” Rameil said, a reproachful light flashing in his eyes. “Sir, you must rest.” Haldir shook himself from his friend’s clasp, determinedly straightening his aching shoulders.

“Will you rest knowing the peril we are in?” Haldir countered, staring hard at the dark-haired elf. Rameil sighed deeply, lowering his eyes.

“No.”

“Then how can you ask it of me?”

To that the dark-haired elf answered not.

Relieved when Rameil did not press him, Haldir walked towards the woman then wavered again, bringing a hand to his head. The Rivendell elf caught him by the arm, his brow furrowing in consternation. Haldir determinedly shook him off again but the dark-haired elf continued to watch him carefully until Haldir, fed up with his scrutiny, shot him a reproving glare.

“I’m all right, Rameil. Stop looking at me like that.”

“Haldir, you are most certainly not! You nearly collapsed in my arms just now!”

Haldir just shook his head and turned away but Rameil would not be ignored and grasped his arm boldly. The elf captain stared sternly down into his friendÂ’s eyes but Rameil did not back down, his gaze concerned and pleading.

“What did he do to you, mellon nin?”

Ancadal glanced between them anxiously, wondering what was going on. Haldir sighed deeply but made no answer and was thankfully spared by the young woman who had stiffened her eyes wide.

“Come on. We must hurry- it’s not far,” she reassured them and without another word rushed out of the hall and up a long flight of stone stairs with they following behind as fast as they could.