Chapter 18: New Discoveries

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The days and weeks passed as the Companions recuperated from their battle in the cave.  All the while, the fate of Telemire was never far from their minds, and all were anxious to find and rescue their friend.  They knew that he would eventually make his way to Angband as a slave, but fate intervened.

Morgoth's spies infected Beleriand, and the Companions stayed in the service of Thingol, guarding the borders of Doriath.  Also venturing into the realms of the Noldor princes to the East, rarely with their knowledge, the Companions hunted and killed every one of Morgoth's servants they could track. 

Save one.

As the weeks merged into months, then into and years, it became all too painfully clear that Telemire was gone forever.  Shaelina, Taurensil, and Curcam had accepted, and mourned, their friend's fate.  The Companions honored him as a great warrior, and cherished the memory of his friendship.  They had given up on ever saving their comrade.

Save one.

e'Narmire never gave up hope of finding his student.  He knew that Telemire was still alive and waiting for him.  At times he began to doubt his faith, but never fully lost it.  And this faith drove the Vanyar.  It soon became common for Shadow-bane to disappear, often for months at a time.  At first, this began to worry the rest of the Companions, fearing that he may be killed or captured, but they soon realized what was haunting him and left him to his cause, never questioning him.

With e'Narmire absent for extended periods of time, the rest of the Companions began to become permanent residents of Doriath.  They grew accustomed to its sights, sounds, and smells.  When traveling through the wilderness, they would often talk of home, of Doriath and the caves of Menegroth.  Curucam, especially, became fond of Thingol's underground city, speaking of the caves with a longing reverence.  Taurensil spoke fondly of the forests that carpeted Doriath, while Shaelina sang of the River Sirion that weaved along the western border of the realm.  Before long, their excursions became less frequent.

But their life would soon change as destiny had other plans.

Menegroth became alive with excitement.  Thingol, usually in a dour mood, even seemed cheerful.  It wasn't long before the Companions discovered the cause of the excitement.  Finrod, son of Finarfin and Prince of the Noldor, was arriving.  The grandson of Olwe, Finrod was the grand-nephew of Thingol, Olwe's brother and King of the Teleri in Valinor.  With him came his sister, Galadriel.

For a time, Finrod and Galadriel were honored guests of Thingol and his queen, Melian.  They soon became filled with awe at the beauty, strength, and majesty of Menegroth.  Curucam took a particular interest in guiding Finrod through the city, boasting prideful at how it was his kinsmen, hired by Thingol, who hewed the stone to create such a wonder beneath the mountain.  Many of these kinsmen still dwelt within the halls of Menegroth, working in the armories of Thingol, creating beautiful masterworks of sword, axe, and shield to equip the warriors of Doriath.

Galadriel, too, marveled.  But she was not as interested in the crafts of dwarves or the business of warriors and smiths.  Instead, she chose finer, more refined, pursuits.  She would rather spend time with Melian, speaking often of Valinor, for Melian was of the Maiar, the lesser spirits that had descended into Arda with the Valar, and she knew well of life across the sea.  Often with them was also Shaelina, for Melian had sensed a greater, and familiar power within her.

But there seemed to be a darkness that surrounded Finrod and Galadriel, despite attempts to hide it.  It was a darkness that Melian and Thingol sensed as well.  It was a darkness of which the Companions knew the cause, for Telemire had confessed the sins of the Noldor to them.  It was a cause they dare not tell Thingol, for the alliance with the Noldor princes was tenuous at best, and could be fractured with even the slightest misspoken word.  It was an evil darkness that could cause a war among the Eldar, a war that the Enemy would be most grateful to exploit.

The Companions came to fear that this secret had been revealed when they were summoned to carry out a special task for Thingol.  But this fear was unfounded.  Finrod had revealed nothing but a dream, and a desire to build a fortress of his own in the likeness of Menegroth.  It was for this purpose that the Companions had been summoned.

They knew Doriath and the surrounding areas well, having ventured throughout Beleriand on their hunts.  It was this knowledge that Thingol sought now.

"You know of caves along the River Narog?"  he asked of Taurensil and Shaelina. 

They nodded.  "You will take Lord Finrod to the caves and remain in his service until such time as he judges it best to release you.  Upon your departure, keep you destination secret, for none but myself and your party are to know.  Be wary on your journey, for the Enemy still has many spies and other evils as yet undiscovered.  I shall let Lord e'Narmire know of your mission when he deems it necessary to return for you."

He then turned to Curucam.  "Master Dwarf.  You, too, know of the caves?"

"Aye," responded Curucam.

"Return to your kinsmen in the Ered Luin.  Enlist only the best of your craftsmen and lead them to the caves.  Lord Finrod shall soon have need of their skills."

Thingol provided all the provisions the party would need to make the journey.  Taurensil had decided to go west through Doriath to the River Sirion.  From there, the party would travel south in small boats until coming to the Long Wall, then turn west again to the River Narog and the caves.  He figured the route would draw the least amount of attention as it avoided all major settlements once they left the borders of Doriath. 

Two young warriors were also assigned to the expedition.  They were to accompany the Companions as far as the Long Wall, then return to Doriath with the boats.  It was a simple assignment for two untested warriors to gain some valuable experience.  It was also a simple test of their loyalty and trustworthiness for future expeditions.

One of the warriors, Tir-Estel, was a young, fragile looking youth.  He seemed to visibly nervous, never looking anyone directly in the eye.  Shaelina tried to reassure the warrior with a few kind words of encouragement and a gentle touch of his hand when she immediately understood.  Tir-Estel looked directly into Shaelina's eyes, and at once, she knew what thought lay behind them.

"Don't worry," she said with a soothing, wry smile.  "I won't tell."

The journey through Doriath was uneventful, as expected.  With Melian's enchantment guarding the borders, there was no need to worry about any of Morgoth's minions lying in ambush.  The river journey was just as uneventful, as the water was smooth and the current swift.  The only real trouble occurred when the other warrior misread the current, panicked and capsized boat, dumping Taurensil and Finrod into the cold water.  The only damage done was to the warrior's pride.

They made camp near the Falls of Sirion.  It was here that the Sirion flowed over a cliff, gathering in a deep depression where it then cut its way through three tunnels to emerge at the foot of the Long Wall nine miles further south.  From here, the rest of the journey would be made on foot.  Tir-Estel and the other warrior would portage the boats back upstream to Doriath.  They would get an early start in the morning.

During the night, Shaelina could not sleep.  There was something menacing in the dark, but she could see nothing unusual.  She had felt this fear before, in Mithrim after Maedhros had been ambushed by fire-demons, a fear of the unknown, of a new evil.  In the morning, as everyone was breaking camp, she made this fear known to Taurensil.  Knowing to never doubt her premonitions, he decided not to take any chances.  If there was something new stalking them, he wanted all the blades he could muster.  Tir-Estel and his comrade were told to hide the boats.  They would not be returning to Doriath.

For days, the party traveled west along the Long Wall.  There were no ambushes, no surprises.  Orcs had not been seen patrolling this far south for years.  But Shaelina could not shake the feeling of being stalked.  She knew something evil lay in their near future, but the waiting was trying her patience.

The River Narog flowed through a valley below the end of the Long Wall.  On the other bank was a vast forest that stretched for miles to the south.  To the north, the forest continued, but it climbed up into a small range of hills.  Here, the party turned north for a short distance until Taurensil pointed to a peak rising out of the forest.

"There is your new kingdom, my Lord," he said to Finrod.  "But there is only one way into it.  We must cross the Narog further up and make our way south to the River Ringwil.  From there, we find a ford and come up the back of the mountain to a narrow ledge and follow it to the entrance to the caves."

Finrod nodded his understanding and followed Taurensil with a new excitement.  They made their way to a shallow ford along the Narog.  It was getting late and everyone wanted to get a fresh start with first light.  With any luck, they would be in the caves by nightfall.  A fire was built, a watch set up, and everyone settled in for a night's rest.

That is when Shaelina's fear attacked.

She was awakened by desperate shouts for help and the thud of steel hitting the ground.  Instinctively, she grabbed her short sword and jumped to her feet.  Taurensil had also sprung to his feet, sword in hand.  From behind her, she heard Tir-Estel running toward the fire in the center of their camp.  Next to the fire, she saw the other warrior, blade drawn, hacking down furiously at where Finrod slept.

Finrod had managed to avoid the first strike of the warrior's sword, and was scrambling for a weapon as the warrior was cutting down for a second strike with a screeching howl.  The blow never landed as Tir-Estel had flung his body into the air, taking the warrior of his feet.  But the warrior was quicker to regain his feet, landing a vicious sword blow across Tir-Estel's back.

Knowing that surprise was now lost, the warrior now turned on Taurensil.  With a claw-like hand, he muttered an incantation, paralyzing him with fear.  Taurensil suddenly stopped, as if hit in the chest with a giant fist, and looked as if he were ready to run.  Shaelina also began to feel an uncontrollable fear well up inside of her. 

Satisfied, the warrior looked for his initial target, wanting to finish the job he had started.

Unable to act, no one moved.  Finrod was frozen in terror, looking upon his assassin helplessly and waiting for the inevitable.  Shaelina caught a glimpse of the warrior's face in the flickering fire light and was horrified at the twisted expression of hate and contempt she saw.  Without realizing she was doing it, she began to pray.

The warrior's expression of hate was soon replaced with one of agony and pain.  Regaining his senses, Taurensil began to stir.  He felt a renewed courage in his heart and began to close in on the screaming warrior when he heard a soft, melodic voice in his mind.  It was Shaelina's.  She was singing.  He knew the song.  The Song of Ulmo.

In agony and unable to react, the warrior never saw his death-blow coming as Taurensil raised his blade and brought it down hard on the warrior's head, splitting the skull.  A horrible shriek echoed off the hillsides as the warrior slumped to the ground.

Shaken by the death-cry, Taurensil pulled his blade free.  "That was not the cry of an Eldar."  He need not say anything else.  He and Shaelina had heard that sound hundreds of times before.  It was the death-cry of a shadow servant of Morgoth.
But this was a new shadow, one they had never encountered before.

And there was a new power, one that she still didn't know that she possessed.