Friends of Nimrodel: Tapestry of Dreams

[Orual]

"Lying and stealing," Erundil echoed thoughtfully. The boy nodded. "Lying and...you say he admitted his theft to you?"

"More than once," Aeron said.

"This is grave," the Ranger muttered. The young woman he had spoken to at the beginning watched him closely, her brow furrowed. "Perhaps I was wrong to take my eyes off of him."

"What do you mean?" the red-haired man asked, putting his hand on the young woman's shoulder.

"Ravion, since he lost his father, is prone to...violent shifts of temper. I am afraid that without the supervision I had been giving him, he has come back to the sort of lifestyle he often slips into. Perhaps you have seen him like this? Hunting down the remnants of the war in bitterness, because he feels he was slighted during the war; wearing out his body in fruitless chases and then with drink; wearing out his mind with futility. But if it has come to theft and lies, then it is time he came back to Gondor, and with me."

He stroked Gond's mane absent-mindedly. "Will you help me?"

[Imladris]

Aeron groaned. "You want us to help you find your ranger?" he asked, his eyebrows shoot upwards. "What is this? I thought that rangers were trackers...why do you need our help? We have lives too you know. We don't exist to come at your beck and call."

"It was a request," said the Ranger calmly. "Not an order."

Aeron fell silent. One could not argue with a request...but it still irked him. Why else would two children, a useless woman, and a strange red headed man be journeying through the wilderness unless they had a quest to complete. But no matter. Gwyllion and he didn't have to go along help this ranger. They'd stick together until day break and then they would go back to Gondor. Hopefully the blasted merchant wouldn't still be trailing them...

[mark12_30]

Raefindan held Mellonin's eyes, and thoughts raced through her mind.

Go crawling back to him? Stir all that madness back into the seething pot? I have just begun to ... to... I am free now. I have no desire to.... we don't need him. We don't.

Raefindan spoke. "You know we'll be luckless without him."

She snorted and gestured at Aeron. "Luck?"

Raefindan watched her evenly. "That's not what I mean. We can't track a two-week-old trail, and you know it. And we owe him this. He has saved each of us from death. If this ranger is concerned about Ravion, how can we discount our debt to him?"

"He released us from that debt. He released us from everything, " Mellonin retorted. I was glad to be freed. Do not push me into that snare again.

Raefindan stepped closer to her and dropped his voice to a whisper; the others looked away, save Aeron, but he did not hear Raefindan's words. "In your heart, were you glad of that release?"

Mellonin 's lips tightened. "My heart is fixed on seeking my brother, " she whispered back.

"For that we need a ranger, do we not?" Raefindan persisted. "And what other ranger would you choose?"

She stared at him for a long silence. This redheaded brother does not bend like my own younger brother. How I miss my Mellondu. How I wish he were here, and I would care not one whit for Ranger nor thief. Oh, Mellondu, where are you? Why have you not come home? If I must track you, then Raefindan speaks truly.

She turned to Erundil with a shrug. "As you wish. We will seek the departed ranger."

[Orual]

"We will seek the departed ranger."

Erundil nodded sharply, as though it was obvious that they would. "Then we should start off. There is no telling how far he has gotten--even without a horse, he makes excellent time; this is especially true if he suspects he is being pursued."

"You speak like he has been a fugitive," the young lady said suspiciously. Erundil glanced at her. Her face was set, but there seemed to be a struggle behind her brave front. The Ranger wondered briefly what it was about discussion of Ravion that made her so uncomfortable.

"He is a fugitive only in his own mind," Erundil said, "but always a fugitive there. He blames himself for his father's death. He blames himself for his orders during the war, for not being at the front lines. I fear for his safety if he has had another one of his...spells."

"Spells?" the red-haired man echoed, looking anxious.

Erundil took a breath to respond, then shook his head. "It is not your concern. I will see to Ravion, and I will bring him back to Gondor. He should not be out on his own. You will not be burdened with him again, I promise you."

[littlemanpoet]

Raefindan gestured to the ranger Erundil to lead the way, saying as he did so that they would willingly follow him, since he was the most likely to find Ravion. He asked Mellonin to follow Erundil, leading Gond as she did so. She agreed to with a curt nod of her head.

Since Aeron and Gwyllion were no longer officially members of their party, Raefindan felt that it was not his place to make a request of them as to what place in line they should hold to, so he let them decide. Aeron chose to take up the rear, Gwyllion with him. Jorje made it quite clear that he had every intention to dog Raefindan's steps.

They set off. It was a new direction, not the way they had come, even though it was the only way Raefindan knew to Minas Tirith. He assumed there must be another way. He was glad of it, for all that, for it meant walking wide of the home of the swamp elf.

They walked for an hour, slowly, for Erundil got down on hands and knees often, to make sure of his trail, saying that Ravion's skill as a ranger was making it harder for Erundil to track him.

Once, when this happened, Raefindan glanced behind him and saw Aeron, but not Gwyllion.

"Aeron," said he, "where is your sister?"

Aeron looked about him, dumbfounded. "I do not know. She was walking with me just minutes ago!" He made a face. "Well, behind me minutes ago. I think."

Raefindan turned to face the ranger. "Erundil! We have lost a member of our party!"

"Make that two, for Ravion's trail has confounded me in the dark. I may as well see to this other lost one." He stopped near Aeron. "When was she last seen?"

"We do not know," Raefindan said.

"Stay here while I test the trail behind us," Erundil said.

Worse and worse. They really did need Ravion, and this pointed it up as clearly as anything. Ravion would have forced his will on Aeron, no matter how difficult that proved to be, and would have made sure to keep track of all of them. Just over an hour under his leadership and their youngest and most helpless member was gone, drowned in a murky bog, for all he knew. Jorje had not even nosed or heard her disappearance.

Raefindan looked to Mellonin. "We needed Ravion. Such as this would not have happened with him."

"Do not blame yourself, Raefindan. This breaking of the fellowship has riven our group into aimless factions and it was Ravion who caused that."

Gond snorted, whether in annoyance at Mellonin's blame or something else, Raefindan did not care to guess. He shrugged in response to her well argued point, and looked back down the path, trying to peer beyond Aeron, to see if he could make out Erundil's hoped for return. He knelt down and scratched Jorje's ears. Jorje sniffed at his other hand, and whimpered. Gond snorted again. Maybe the horse could tell that something was a miss in their group. Raefindan heard sniffles and whimpers behind him. Mellonin crying again. He could imagine why. She liked her privacy in such moments, so he kept his face toward the path they had walked.

Gond snorted again, seeming more disturbed this time, and moved a few steps. It was dangerous in this swamp to move a horse in the dark, path or no path, especially without a ranger to lead them. Mellonin had stopped crying, so Raefindan felt it was seemly to ask her to keep the horse still. He turned to speak, but she was not holding Gond. She was not there.

"Mellonin?" The horse looked back to him. Jorje trotted forward and sniffed the ground where Mellonin had been standing, then sniffed the air, whining.

"Mellonin!" Raefindan sighed. "Just great."

"What is wrong?" Aeron said.

"Mellonin is missing too."

If Aeron had had a ready quip to comment on the good fortune of Mellonin being gone, it died on his lips. Instead he turned and called out his sister's name, fear and panic in his voice. Raefindan called Mellonin's name again.

"What is wrong?" Erundil asked, hurrying back to them. Raefindan gave him the news.

Erundil nodded. "I have found the place where this one's sister was last with us. I cannot make out the cause of her loss in this dark, though I checked the waters around that place carefully enough, and I do not think she merely stumbled into a bog. Have you enemies?"

Raefindan's heart went suddenly cold, and he watched Aeron's eyes go wide.

"The swamp elf!"

"Tell me of him," Erundil said.

Raefindan related his own experiences, but did not mention his dreams, even though he suspected the swamp elf regarding them. When he was finished, the ranger nodded.

"We should remain where we are, facing each other, until dawn. Do not sleep!"

[Imladris]

Aeron listened carefully to Raefindan tell of the swamp elf. How rudely the swamp elf had treated him, of his and Ravion's part in rescuing him (a broad grin of pride broadened his face), and finally his suspicion that the swamp elf had captured Gwyllion and Mellonin.

"But why?" Aeron blurted angrily, his hands balled in fists. "Why would he capture Gwyllion?" He ran his fingers through his tangled hair. "Why would an elf do that anyway," he snarled, pacing. "I thought they were supposed to be good and gracious and full of light and goodness," he added in a mocking high pitched voice. "Or do they turn out to be just like our 'good' rangers?" he added, glaring at Ravion's friend.

He breathed heavily. What would the elf do to her? He never should have put her down...never should have woken her up. He should have held her like he had been doing. If they hadn't been delayed, if they hadn't listened to that dratted ranger...

Don't talk about the ifs.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Stupid Aeron not holding me, Gwyllion thought resentfully as she plodded behind him. She wasn't that heavy...he could have held her until they found Ravion. But no, he had to be all pushy and mean.

She rolled her eyes and sent him daggers with her glare. She dropped her eyes. She was too tired to make sure that he felt the piercings in his neck. Sleep wrapped her arms around her...fogged her brain with her whispers.

Dreams -- frightening dreams. She was underwater...she was drowning. A great tentatacled monster drifted closer. His snake like arms clutched her, grabbed at her. Poison rushed through her veins...she was dying...

[littlemanpoet]

Raefindan smiled at Aeron's protests and questions as he hunkered down beside Jorje, whose right flop ear perked up as he sniffed the menacing air.

"Let us be fair to Master Erundil, who has shown nothing but honor so far. And he has told us some of why Ravion may have proven less able a leader than we thought, and that is a good deed. Come, sit with us and watch."

Erundil secured Gond's reins and walked the horse over to the other side of Raefindan from Jorje.

Reluctantly, Aeron shuffled over and knelt next to Jorje. "I would rather be looking than sitting," he said.

"I would the same," Raefindan replied, "but it is no use in the dark. Let us bear each other-"

There was a sudden thud, and Gond rose on his rear hoofs with a scream. Erundil stood, holding onto the reins tightly. Raefindan and Jorje stumbled out of Gond's way, which was lucky, for the horse came down on its side. There was an arrow protruding from Gond's neck, near the left shoulder.

"Hold him down!" cried Erundil. "That arrow must come out now!"

"Should we not take cover?" Aeron yelled.

"Where would you go?" Erundil said. "We are in the open all about. The only safe place is under water, and we may end up there yet! Hold steady now!" Erundil grabbed the arrow in one hand, and placed his other on Gond's shoulder for purchase, and pulled.

Suddenly, Erundil and Gond screamed together: an arrow had pierced the ranger's hand and sunk into the horse's shoulder. The ranger switched his free hand to the new arrow and pulled, groaning loudly with the effort.

"Raefindan! Pull the other arrow out! Aeron! Grab a cloth from Gond's saddlebag!" Aeron looked up at the darkness fearfully, then furrowed his brow, and dove for the saddlebag, rummaging through it with quick hands. Raefindan grabbed the arrow still in Gond's neck, and pulled at it with both hands, unwilling to give their tormentor a fresh and easy target.

Erundil bent down and sniffed the wound in his hand, as well as the two on Gond. "Poison! Curse it! The arrows are coming from there!" Erundil pointed beyond where Gond had been standing. "Hide behind the horse!"

But no more arrows flew for the rest of the night. Erundil fought to stay awake, but his breathing became labored, despite Aeron carefully preparing poultices according to the ranger's directions. One was wrapped around Erundil's hand, and two more were laid on Gond, who did not get to his feet.

[Imladris]

Aeron paced the mucky floor of the swamp like a trapped dog, his tangled hair flying into his face, mud splattering onto his baggy trousers. Of all the things to happen so far this was the worst. Drat Ravion for leaving them. If he hadn't left then this wouldn't have happened. His eyes darted across the land scape, searching for Gwyllion.

A snort from the horse and a particularly heavy breath from the other ranger (drat his name -- impossible to remember) caused Aeron to turn on his heal. The ranger's eyes were only half open. What remained to be seen of his eye was glazed and foggy and unfocused. A barely perceptiable grimace flickered around Aeron's mouth.

"I'm going to look for Gwyllion," he said abruptly.

Raefindan rose slowly to his feet. "You can't, Aeron."

Aeron flushed hotly. "And why is that, Red Head? You doubt my courage? You think me a coward like that skulking, lying, thieving Ravion?"

Raefindan sighed and shook his head. "I only doubt your eyes, Aeron," he said slowly. "You do not have the skill of the ranger's in tracking."

"I don't care," Aeron snapped. "I'm going to find my sister. It's not as if he'll be able to find her," he said, gesturing to the ranger. "We have no idea what sort of poison flows within his veins. He could be dying!" Aeron shouted. "So it doesn't really matter when I go look for Gwyllion, does it, because either way he won't be able to help me!"

"We don't know if it's septic yet," said Raefindan quickly.

"What?" asked Aeron irritably. "Use words we can all understand."

A strange expression passed over Raefindan's face, but he said calmly, "We don't know if it's deadly or not. And," he went on before Aeron had a chance to continue his rant, "if you leave us now you'll either be sucked to your death in the swamps or else fall captive to the swamp elf."

"Are you going to try and stop me?" asked Aeron softly, his eyes narrowing. "Just try and do it, why don't you?"

He turned on his heel and began to trot towards the swamp. He had no idea where to start looking...he figured that if he looked under ever scraggling bush, crossed every bog, he'd find her sooner or later.

A heavy weight bored into him, sending him to the ground. Drat him! Aeron flailed wildy, but Raefindan wrapped his arms around him and said, "I can't let you go!"

"Get off me!" Aeron shouted, trying to flip over so that he would be in a suitable position to pound Raefindan's stomach into a pulp. "Let me go, my sister's out there! I'm not going to sit around watching a ranger sleep when Gwyll could be dying! Let me go!"