Long Lost Leaves - part II

[feawen]

Nami walked up to the dark enterence, watching the bright light of the others torchs bob down the stairs. Standing now between the two guarding elfs Nami looked at Ellysa's offered hand. "I'll be ok Ellysa." Looking up at the sun one last time Nami breathed deep, "To whatever end." and stepped in the dark.

Dark quickly surrounded Ellysa and herself. The light from the enterence grow small and vanised, so the two traveled in the small pool for pale night.

"Well," Nami turned to Ellysa voice barely above a whisper, not wanting to break the silence of the place. "Its not too bad. Sure its dark and oppresive, and the air tastes of damp and mold, but still!"

Coming to a fork in the road, Nami strained her eyes. But no matter how hard she looked, the light of the others torches could not be seem. Looking around Nami looked for a sign for the others passing, but nothing could be seem though the thick encrusted filth. Nami stood in her pool of light and looked over to Ellysa, the only other source of light she could see. Her heart and breathing quicken, the circle of light wavered slightly from her hand. "Erm...i think we're lost."

[Mari]

Ellysa looked up when Nami said something about being lost. She'd been so busy thinking of her vision and what could possible induce her to betray everyone that she hadn't paid much attention.
"Lost? But how?" She wondered how they had gotten lost so fast. Maybe elves lost direction underground?

"Don't worry though. We are still together so my vision hasn't started yet and the air is not entirely still. Maybe it's best to keep only one torch lit and to do some exploring?
I quite like caves, though the caves I know are quite different. Of course this is not a cave, it used to be a fortress or something right? It's smart to build them underground. Harder to attack and much cooler."

Ellysa knew that she was babbling, but she was a bit nervous about what was to come and she was worried about Nami. She didn't look too good.

"I lived in a cave for a while. But that one had a hole in the roof for some daylight. It was quite comfortable living and it was easy to catch small animals who came to rest there. I tried cultivating some greens there too, but I had to leave again after some... problems. I wonder what happened to them? If I get home I should try and find that cave again. But maybe it has been covered by sand by now. That's the natural course of things in a desert. Things are never the same for longer then a few days. If you have no sense of direction and knowledge of the unchangeables, you'll get lost and be dead within a day. Not that that ever happened to me, I always quite know where I am.
Except for when I got to your forests, they are so confusing!"

Ellysa turned to look back at Nami. "Uhm... Nami?"

[feawen]

Nami bit her lip as she looked from one path to the other. She frowned as she tasted a metalic taste in her mouth. Putting her free hand to her lip she felt the hot stickyness of the blood she had made spring though her bit lip.
"Oh great!" Nami sighed. She vaguely hard Ellysa talking away, but she was too busy trying not to pass out so she could find a way out of this place. Feeling a slight wind from one of the paths Nami took a few steps towards it, holding her shaking torch up infront of her.

"Maybe...maybe down here is the way?" Nami peered into the dark as she waited for Ellysa to reply. "Ellysa?" The girl had gone quite all of the sudden.
Nami turned slowly around. "Ellysa?" Nami's light shone on its own, "Ellysa its not funny, where are you?"
Paniced Nami span around in a circle trying to throw as much light as she could around her. "Ellysa, answer me!"

Nami came to a stop, her breathing quick, her heart pounding so fast she could hear it in her ears. Her heart sank as old fears and memorys closed in around her. Nami was alone with only the dark and her memorys as comfort.

[Midge]

When Aerin's eyelids fluttered open, there was a guttering light above her which had not been there when she'd passed out. Trying to put things together in her head, she sat up to find a strange-looking woman sitting beside her.

"Who are you?" she demanded. Falling asleep had not been intentional, and it had proved to be just as dangerous as she'd imagined, apparently. "How long have I been sleeping?" The latter question she'd not meant to ask this silent person; it just slipped out.

As if trying to emphasize her queries, her stomach growled loudly.

[Acalewia]

Aelfwine held her torch in front of her. The mustiness of the caves was invading her nostrals. Soon she, Quickleaf, Borin and Hedrim came to a fork.
"So which way shall we go? Or do we spilt?" Aelfwine turn to the others. "Where's Nami and Ellysa?"

[Aikanáro]

It came as a relief to Tabrîl that Haldis did not press her further about going underground, deciding instead to let Truor accompany her. She had not expected the woman to understand her apprehensions nor the reasons behind them. It seemed, though, that she had accepted Tabrîl's decision without argument.

It was still Tabrîl's opinion that going anywhere near Dol Guldur was not a good idea. Moving their camp closer to the place, as Radagast had said they must, seemed wrong to her, but she supposed he knew what he did. She was in no mood to be helpful, however, and so simply followed after the others and stood outside the entrance to the tunnels until they had all gone in.

The place still felt evil to her, and she wondered if they would be able to cope with its dangers. If Haldis would be. The idea that she might die because her existence was tied to that of a mortal woman foolishly seeking out strange Mysteries in dark places was not at all appealing to her, and she hoped it would not come to that. Yet she knew also that there was nothing she could do to change what would be, and so she did not let the thought trouble her.

Instead, she sat down by the entrance, and took up a low chanting, a tale of the deeds of her tribe in days past. She did not mind that Abasi heard. If it bothered him, no doubt he would ask her to stop. Silence by Dol Guldur, however, was not calming to her, and it felt right to her to break it.

[Willow Oran]

Haldis shrugged, contriving to look non-theatening, this elf had clearly been down here for much too long. Now that she (Haldis was relatively certain of the stranger's gender) was awake, the gaunt limbs and hollow cheeks spoke of a being at the end of their endurance and in need of food and reassurance.

Haldis could provide the food, but though she vaguely recognized the lilting dialect as of Lorien, she did not speak it.
"I have no way of counting time here," she said, hoping the elf would understand her Sindarin, "But I do not think it has been for too long, I have only just had to light a new torch. Here," she held out a honey cake and a handful of dried fruit, "Eat slowly."

[Coffeehouse]

Quickleaf held his torch up towards Aelfwine "They're here..", turned around to make sure, but behind them.. emptiness. Pitch black. Huh? "Ellysa? Nami? Can you hear us?" but there was no answer.

"They must have taken the right turn earlier, eastwards. Hedrim and I did not go that path last time. This is not good."

Quickleaf looked to Borin, to Hedrim, to Aelfwine, worried.
"Should we go back to get them? Radaghast and Branwyn are ahead of us, as is Haldis. I say we look for the girls, the wizard will know what to find. But we must seek them out quickly, for our torches will die out, and Radaghast will be disappointed that we aren't spending our time wisely.."

The air was heavy. Every breath a poison, traces of evil.
"Master Dwarf, Lord Hedrim, Aelfwine? What do you reckon? Search for the girls? Search for the library?" Quickleaf felt not the least at ease down in this abyss of Dol Guldur.

[Mari]

Ellysa was staring in disbelief at the empty space behind her. Nami didn't follow her?
"Nami!? Can you hear me?! Please answer me!" No one answered.
She didn't decide it was too dangerous to go with me and turn back, did she? No, that's nonsense! Nami is my friend. She wouldn't leave me! She must have gotten lost somehow. Quickly Ellysa suppressed her fear. She needed a clear head.

She looked at her torch. It wouldn't last forever, so she'd better put it out while she was thinking about what to do.
In the dark she sat down, waiting for her senses to get used to the silent darkness while clearing her head and to think.

I'm underground and I'm alone. Nami must have gotten lost somewhere between the place we first noticed we were lost and here. Sofar nothing happened and from what I've seen of this place it looks sturdy enough. And Borin said as well that it wouldn't cave in. So I need to walk back slowly, checking the crossings for footsteps of Nami and find her. If I can't find her, I have to get back to the surface to find someone who is apt at tracking.
Yes, that is what I have to do!

A small voice in the back of her head kept screaming "Nami is going to die! They are all going to die! You killed them! All your fault!" but she pushed it away.
Her vision would not come to pass. She would not allow it. As long as she didn't leave everyone, all would be fine. It had to be!
She remembered the way back to the point where they'd first noticed they'd gotten lost. And she was confident she could somehow find the way back from there as well.
Determined Ellysa got up and started walking back.

[feawen]

Nami dropped her torch and slowly took steps backwards until she hit the wall, her back against the wall she slid down until she was sitting on the floor, head in her hands, torch flickering on the ground.

Closing her eyes and covering her ears to the imaginaed sounds and red eyes in her head Nami tried not to think about the dark.

"I am going die, i am going to die! I am to be crushed to death, alone."

As the darkness crept in around Nami she lost the track of time, two minutes, two hours it was all the same.

Slowly a forgotten memory come to her, first as a soft flickering in the back of her mind, then a slow hum, then words and meaning and a loving voice from long ago singing a young Nami to sleep.

Nami looked up around herself, the light of her torch flickering its last rays of light, as if bring blown by a wind from one of the pathways.

Nami stood up and slowing walked over to the torch, bending to pick it up she felt a slight coolness on her skin. Where theres cool air theres a way out. Nami took out her spare torch, lighted it and dropped the dead torch to the ground.

She had survived the dark before she would do it again. Torch in her shaking hand Nami started off down the cooler path, her free hand run along the filthy wall, leaving a small path of cleanish wall where her hand had been.

As she walked Nami softly sing her mothers song to her self.

[orithil]

Hedrim was rather hesitant "Knowing Nami and Elyssa...didn't they both have a fear of this place...Which most likely means they have panicked and gotten lost" Hedrim lean't on a wall "I can't really say, if they are lost we should find them..." Hedrim lowered his head in frustration "I can't call it I suppose we should, Master Dwarf what would you say?"

[The Sasquatch of Fangorn]

"We look for the girls. Aelfwine, you are the fastest rider. Go tell Radagast what we're doing. Tell him to go on without us and that we will catch up." He grabbed his warg's leash. "Does anyone have anything with their sent on it?"

[Coffeehouse]

Quickleaf's eyes agreed with a look at his companions.
"Then it is settled. We search... through this long snake of darkness until we find them. Whatever evil is here, we must make haste, and I think this calls for harsh measures",
and Quickleaf withdrew from his cloak a light of Lorien, Isalien, a flask of silver water that shone in the blackest of places.
"I have feared to use it here before, the first time when we were vulnerable, but we cannot afford to let them wander around in this place now, without direction! So be it." and he shook the flask and out poured the most brilliant light the dark of Dol Guldur had seen in a long time.

"Aelfwine, will you inform Radaghast that we are going back.. going east. Take my torch so that you have a spare. We don't need one now, I think I will risk using my Isalien"

Nodding to Borin and Hedrim, Quickleaf pulled out his long dagger and they walked back, meaning to head eastwards after they'd reach the fork in the corridore.

[feawen]

Coming to a corner Nami first pushed her torch around and then poked her head around the corner before the reach of her body followed her head. Nami's path seemed to going neither up or down but carried on a level plane. One corner after the other, Nami followed the cool air at each turn, her hand always on the wall her fingers trailing in the dirt.

"Well this isn't too bad, sure your own your own in the former dark lords lier but still it could be worse he could still live here."

Cold bony fingers brushed against her leg, causing her to jump and yell. Thrusting her torch in its direction, the light revealed long dead eye sockets, bleach white bones could be seen against dirty broken armor.

Nami laughed nervously as she kicked it is dead leg, sending a few bones rolling away from the main body. "Well at least your dead, you can't kill me if you'r dead...Stop talking to the dead Nami...and stop talking to your self in the 3rd person you sound crazy! But then i only sound crazy to my self.. that doesn't make it any better does it?...I really need to get out of here!"

[Mari]

Ellysa was walking calmly back the way she came. She only lit up her torch at forks, to look for footprints or something on the ground. She wasn't a hunter or tracker or something though, so it didn't help her much.
She had been able to keep her mind off her vision so far. Once she had spotted a door and opened it out of curiosity, but she couldn't recognize the purpose of the room so she closed the door again and continued onward.

If she hadn't been worried about Nami and her vision, she might have actually enjoyed walking there in the dark, using her memory and the streams of air and sounds on her senses to guide her, her ears perked to hear the elven woman.
She had a goal for the first time in a long long time and it gave her some peace of mind.

Then she arrived in a larger hall. When Ellysa lit up the torch she recognized it as the room where they had concluded they were lost.
I couldn't find her on my own. I must get help! Now how do I go from here? Slowly she thought back of the route they had taken and she tried to see past the memories of thinking of doom that she had had when she entered this place. She couldn't remember exactly, but it was good enough.
Still confident, though worried that she hadn't found Nami yet Ellysa started heading for the exit.

[Midge]

Wary of this wild-looking woman offering her food, Aerin eyed the cake and fruit. Was it safe? How could she know?

"Are you a witch?" she asked in the same language she'd spoken originally, though this time it was for safety measures, not out of habit. It didn't matter much, in any case, as this particular witch-look-a-like could not have any reason for ill will toward her, and their meeting must be a coincidence. A very large coincidence, considering the size of this horrid place.

The food the woman held out to her smelled just as tantalizing as the lembas had smelled earlier. She reached out and slowly accepted the food from the woman, watching her carefully for any sign of malice in the woman's face. Placing the food in her lap, she also reached for her pack without taking her focus completely off the woman. She would need the sustenance of the lembas, for though she hated to fight, the first Rule of Messengers had been broken: Remain hidden and protected if at all possible, as long as possible. Now, though she didn't like to admit, she must follow the second Rule: Do not be caught unawares. Her presence was known to this woman, and if she must resort to some sort of weapon, she wanted the strength to be able to do so.

[Earniel]

Radagast and Branwyn had gone quite a way down the corridor before another side passage appeared. This one only led to a single room. Radagast put his hand on Branwyn's shoulder when the younger man had stepped forward to investigate. Silently the wizard indicated the two stone statues near the entrance.

"Let me check that out first," he said.

Branwyn handed him the torch and stepped back, but Radagast soon noticed safety measures were unnecessary here. The stone watchers were silent and empty, one of them even broken.

"They are harmless. Galadriel's power reached this deep. Still, it would indicate we're indeed going in the right direction."

They entered the small chamber, and found it disappointingly empty. There was no furniture and not even a scrap of paper inside. Only dust.

"Strange," Branwyn remarked, " to have an empty chamber guarded."

"Indeed, let's raise the light a little higher. Perhaps there is something we missed."

They did so and in the far wall, Branwyn saw metal reflect the light. "There is something there on the wall."

[orithil]

"Alright" said Hedrim. He drew his sword and held it infront of him, as he stalked down the hall.

[Willow Oran]

Haldis did not know what the elf had asked her, but her offering had been accepted, so she took that as a sign that she did not look like a threat to the other. Moving slowly and deliberately, keeping her hands in sight, Haldis sat back on her heels and watched as the elf pulled some sort of waybread from her pack. So. The elf was low on food, but not entirely without. Interesting.

The elf was still watching her, waiting for an answer to the question not understood. Haldis made a guess and gestured to herself, "I am called Haldis," she said, pronouncing each word carefully, "What are you called?"


As Haldis was engaging in non-conversation with the stranger. Truor was making his way back along the path they had marked. He had been alarmed, of course, when Haldis had abruptly disappeared on him, and mightily annoyed. She was the one who needed to look around these archives, after all. He was the wizard's friend, not the wizard's pupil.

At first he had thought that she had simply decided that this room wasn't worth looking at and retraced their path to go down a different passageway. But then... there had been no sign of her. That was strange. Haldis was not the fastest of people, he'd noticed, there was simply no way she could have evaded him that cleanly, nor would she have been that reckless.Yet after two torches of searching he had still found no trace of her and so, on his third torch now, he went back. He had reached the second chamber when a faint draft from one of the tunnels not taken brought an even fainter scent to his nose. A familiar scent.

Intrigued and determined to find something before returning aboveground, Truor followed his nose.

[Ingwe]

"Morning, afternoon, and evening becomes the darkest night, in those unstable and dark halls. As young an Elf as you, A'mael, would not understand death. You would not understand what you will face if ever we are to go down there." Ingwionis was standing and speaking to A'mael as she sat on a flat rock with her elbows on her knees and her hands under her face. A'mael looked up as if to respond to her husband, but said only "uhuh" and shook her head agreeably.

"A'mael, you also aren't focused on anything going on right now, are you? Including my words? What is it that steals your mind?"

A'mael looked at her husband again, and this time stared into his eyes. A'mael's eyes opened widely and Ingwionis sat quickly on the rock next to her, and her eyes followed his while he hit the rock, nearly hurting himself.

Elyssa had given Ingwoinis and A'mael a concerned look the night before when everyone (well, most everyone) was off to sleep. And knowing about the said visions that she and some others now were having, the situation began to feel dark and panic slipped through Ingwionis as A'mael stared into his eyes, and some seconds into it, Ingwionis' first guess was to close his eyes and stop this, whatever it was from going on. His second guess was to keep this going.

As he looked into A'mael's eyes, he saw random thoughts through his wife's eyes, thoughts of Lothlorien when she tended to those brought to her. She had been an aide, and a healer of some kind, but it was not clear. More random thoughts came through A'mael to Ingwionis, and the coming of war crept into thought. Trees flew by quickly as if on a horse that was flying over the ground at a pace unseen by any horse, or bird, and the darkness of a forest came into view.

He could see through A'mael's eyes the two of them, sitting on the same rock they were sitting on now, and as the thought went on, they disappeared and the region went back to the way it was before the downfall of Dol Guldur. As if on the edge of a supersonic wave, the thoughts carried back through the trees, into the deepness of the forests, to an army of Elves sent from both Lothlorien and Mirkwood. Sindar, Silvan, Noldor, Nandor, so many Elves holding armor and swords, bows and knives with sections behind the infantry bringing ballistae, ladders, and other weapons with which to lay siege to Dol Guldur. The thoughts raced through the ranks of troops and through a battering ram and not a half a league behind was Galadrial on a white horse, unbelievably not in her normal garb but battle armor and a great battle sword. She was armed to the teeth, but would not need to use her weapons much in that fight. Thranduil rode along the line of Mirkwood troops joining with Galadriel's and Celeborn's forces. Celeborn rode to Thranduil, it seemed the two were arguing of the plans for battle, then as quick as sound, the thoughts went through the trees again to Dol Guldur, and the Nine who had long noticed the forces approaching, were on their steeds, the Witch-King with his mace and many powerful warriors surrounding him. The Witch-King blew his horn and the vision faded to a new one, vision after chopped up vision came, the Storm Queen bringing down the walls and the Nine retreating with what was left of their forces, and the casualties of war that had taken many lives came into view. A young Elven girl, A'mael, was treating wounds of soldiers when she herself was grazed by an arrow and at that same instant, ten Elves around her were hit in the head by other arrows from the retreating Orcs, dying quickly or instantly. The vision passed as the others had and the trees went by again very quickly, to A'mael returning to Lothlorien, in tears at losing some of those she had befriended.

A'mael had indeed seen much of war just like Ingwionis had.

A'mael turned away from her husband and the visions ended there, but one more still crept into Ingwionis' mind.

"YOU ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!" A voice was thrown into his mind. Ingwionis nearly fell back and he put his right hand on his head and grunted loudly. "Where!!! Where did this come from!!?" A large boulder fell onto him all of the sudden and as he could not react, he saw only a brilliant white light and then darkness. He broke the vision and fell the rest of the way onto the rock him and A'mael were sitting on.

A'mael quickly threw herself at his aide, and put her hands on his face. Ingwionis opened his eyes again, and widely.

"What? What have you done to me?"

"I have done nothing, my husband, I swear! What happened?"

"My mind, something in my mind. You're right, it couldn't have been your doing. A'mael, you must not go into those corridors!"

"You just need some rest." A'mael took her husband's hand. "Come over here!"

"I am mad, A'mael, I have truly gone mad! Please, leave me here. I am of no use now!"

"Ingwionis! What can I do to help?"

"Nothing, I will be fine......leave me be for now. You're right, I probably just have to rest. A'mael, you did fight well in those days for as young as you were. I should never doubt you. But we should never have come here. We've got to get out of here! If I'm right, this is not the day nor the place to be here!"

Eversince his poisonous strike with the spiders weeks ago, and their proximity neared to Dol Guldur, ranting and raving was not all that uncommon for some in the company. And running in fear, in-fighting, and fear of one's own company had begun to divide some from others, and some from their minds. To Ingwionis, this felt as if he was being divided from his spirit. Had it been his time to be consumed by the mortality of these lands, he would have known, but still, something harmed him and he was now sick, an uncommon and panicked situation to be in if you're an Elf. What is this feeling? Is this death or is this just my madness? Father, help me!!! Ingwionis passed out slowly and fell asleep. He could not tell now if A'mael was still just above him, trying to read his ailment, or if she had left him be alone for a while as he told her to do. He was slipping out of thought and into sleep, uncontrollably. Normally, he could be without sleep for a long time, days, if needed. He had been awake for eight days during the War of Wrath, when he had searched perilously for his father, for his friends, after having only been away from home for a few months. He couldn't find Ingwion, he could not find Eonwe who held the banner and could have looked after those lost after the battle. No, he could only dig himself out from the Earth around him and did so for a few more days. The land defeated him then, just as lethargy was defeating him now. His mind was darkened and depressed, and though he could get up, he felt the same way he did when he laid down after having dug his way out of the crevasse in the earth over two ages ago. He was utterly hopeless as his eyes darkened and he fell into sleep. On the edge of sleep, he uttered "please don't let this happen..."

A'mael looked at her husband as he fell into sleep, the expression in her face showed desperation, and she now knew what her husband had seen. After she looked behind her and above her and all around, Ingwionis was already asleep, and his mad gaze was now only the face of a peaceful rest. He was breathing very slowly, well more slowly than usual.

Ingwionis didn't dream nor see anymore visions in the next two hours as he slept, and he awoke to A'mael standing above him, and as the evergreen tree above them waved in the wind and the pine needles fell, A'mael kissed him lightly. Ingwionis was peaceful in awakening and relieved to see that his wife stayed with him. He saw the light of the sun was not so high anymore, so it had been a couple of hours. As he rose, he put his right hand under A'mael's left arm and around her and his left hand brushed her hair and he quickly put her against his body and passionately kissed her, and they rolled together off the rock onto the grass below. They remained in the grass, with each other, for a longer time than Ingwionis was asleep and as they showed each other their love, the late afternoon came and the clouds had grown heavier, and darker. The sun was behind the clouds now, and thus the weather, with a cloudy night or roaring storm, would be arranging a meeting with the company not long from now.

When they rose to sit back on the rock again, Ingwionis pondered the situation the company was in. "Have the journeyers returned yet? It has been a long time." It was time for dinner now, or whatever they would call dinner when they were so far from home, not in decent places. However, in such a short time, Ingwionis had found peace in his rest and could manage the thoughts in him, as he had also the support of one familiar to him. How would I have lasted even through these simple matters if not for her?