[Mithadan]

Chapter IX

FANGORN FOREST

The hobbits and the rangers and the dwarf left Edoras the next day. All enjoyed the days of travel that followed, riding at ease over the rolling meadows north to where the River Entwash left the ancient trees of Fangorn Forest. The horses loved the grassy fields and looked even more regretful than the hobbits to leave behind the beautiful country of the Rohirrim.

But leave it behind they did, riding north the shortest distance to the North Undeep, where Anduin could be forded to the north of the River Limlight. From there, they would travel past the site of Dol Goldur, on roads the Dark Lord had made in the days of his dominion. These would meet the new paths that led to the Eastern Bight of Greenwood the Great. To ride the east bank of the Anduin to the Old Forest Road and then through the widest part of Greenwood to the River Running would take more than four or five days longer.

Looking at the grey woods of Fangorn Forest made Elediriel shiver to think of the still gloomier prospect of looking upon the ruins of Dol Goldur. Turry and Furry, on the other hand, seemed delighted at the prospect of not only riding past the gloomy forest, but using some of the time they were saving to take a detour to the hill where so long ago Merry and Pippin had met Treebeard, the Old Ent of the Forest. Gimli disliked the idea even more than Ellie.

"I have never liked the look of these woods! What if we stray? We should be at the mercy of the wild trees of that wood. The sooner it is behind us, the happier I will be," said the old dwarf.

"It won't take long," said Turry. "We'll be back in no time. We won't stray!"

"That's right," said Furry. "We'll just stick to the west bank of the Entwash here. The hill can't be far. You've been there yourself!"

"So take my word for it, you impertinent hobbits! There are trees and more trees and still more trees! There is nothing to see."

"What if Treebeard is there?" asked Turry.

"What if Quickbeam is there?" asked Furry.

"And what if the wild huorns from the black heart of the forest are there?" cried the dwarf. "Nothing can persuade me to go in there again! I have returned twice to tell the tale. That is enough!"

And at that moment, as they debated whether to cross the Entwash at the ford or to follow it into the forest, silvery laughter carried from the trees and a grey clad Wood Elf stepped out and called out lightly to greet them.

"Legolas!" cried Gimli. He leaped down in great excitement from the wagon. Legolas ran forward to meet him.

"After all these years, I finally see you again, and my ears hear that you still fear these woods!" laughed the elf. "What of your word to return, Master Dwarf? I have new things to show you!"

"And what of yours, Master Elf?" replied Gimli, happy to see the elf despite his previous words. "I have not seen you again in the Halls of Aglarond! Our work is done, and you must see the labour of the Dwarves. When I see you under the ground, you shall see me among the trees."

"When I see you among the trees, you shall see me underground!" retorted Legolas.

"A plague on the stiff necks of Elves!" cried the dwarf.

"A calamity on the stiffer necks of Dwarves!" cried the elf as they laughed and embraced one another.

"What's he doing here?" Furry asked Turry, who had no clearer idea than his twin brother. Ellie said nothing, but looked on, struck dumb to see the dwarf and the elf together, come to life right out of the Redbook. Maddie looked on dreamily at the handsome wood elf and fortunately Furry did not notice! Soon, they were all introduced one to another.

Legolas looked then keenly upon the hobbits and said, "I can see your grandsires in you! I should have thought so even if I had not seen you in the bad company of a dwarf! In fact, I was on my way to remind Master Gimli of his promise. Sixty-four years ago, he promised to return to these woods with me, and here he is! What could be better? You are fated to keep your bargain today, it seems." He said this last, looking meaningfully at the old dwarf.

"Another year, perhaps. And before I venture into that fearsome forest, I would have first have you come to Aglarond, and see how the dwarves have tended the glades of stone and crystal in the vaults of the earth. But now, time is pressing and we have far to journey ere we reach your father's kingdom and the Lonely Mountain beyond," said Gimli.

"Then all the more the reason to come with me through the wood. I have learned much of Fangorn Forest and its ways. I can guide you safely through. You will save almost a day on your journey and redeem your word in the bargain. Then I shall be in your debt and perforce must endure your dank caves," said Legolas.

"I will endure your watching trees again only after you have gazed upon the glory of Aglarond, though you receive the better bargain," said the dwarf, a little sternly.

"In all of Middle-earth, we are met again here this day, as if by chance, and it is on your way! We are meant to journey together again! So come! Forget your darksome hole for a time, and look upon a forest that has lived unmolested for ages upon ages," said the elf, with the slightest edge to his voice.

"Perhaps the Glittering Caverns are beneath the lofty notice of an elf!" cried Gimli, with a keener edge to his voice, as he thought of his years of labour and of the magnificent Hall of Remembrance, which the elf had never seen.

"And perhaps the living beauty of the forest is too simple for the proud interest of a dwarf!" cried Legolas, growing hot in his turn, thinking on the decades of timeless wonder and new discovery he had enjoyed in this most ancient of forests.

Ellie wondered how it was possible that these two old friends could suddenly be fighting when just meeting again after so many years, when Maddie stepped forward suddenly and pulled on the sleeve of the angry dwarf. He turned sharply and the pretty hobbit said only, "You would do it for Lady Galadriel."

The change in the dwarf was immediate and profound. His proud eyes were cast down, and his reddened face turned pale. He took a deep breath, and thanked the hobbit lass. He turned back to Legolas, whose deep elvish eyes were also suddenly remorseful.

"Legolas, my old friend. I have wronged you and the Lady. All my work in Aglarond will mean nothing if you do not share the sight of it. I shall endure your trees again," said the dwarf.

"I ask your pardon, Master Dwarf," said the elf, with his humour returning. "I should have taken more seriously your labours. I do not insist that we see the woods first. Come, we shall journey round them, though you lose a day thereby."

"No, I must insist that you guide us through these old woods of yours. I think I shall enjoy having you in my debt, Master Elf! The sooner the better!"

"Then if your friends do not mind?" Legolas asked, with a winning look at the hobbits.

"Of course not!" said Maddie brightly, and Turry and Furry agreed. Ellie still did not think much of the woods, but could hardly say anything of the sort. But the quick eyes of the elf caught hers and she felt an immediate reassurance that all would be well. The rangers, of course, had no objections, and truth to tell, were keenly interested to see the hill where the old dwarf, the wood elf and Aragorn, their king, had first encountered the wizard Gandalf, returned as if from the dead.

"I believe it was the turning point of the War of the Ring," said Aradhel, when they had come to the hill in the woods.

"Perhaps you are right, but who among us can say what was the turning point, with so many events, both great and small, that had such unforeseeable outcomes. The past is not as clear as the present and is little more clear than the future," said Legolas, as they climbed the hill. Madrigal was following fast behind him; having left Cider tied with the other horses at the base of the hill.

"I thought elves could remember the past as clearly as the present," said Maddie.

"As clearly as a dream, perhaps, which can be both very clear and very obscure. I can cast my mind back to a day when Master Gimli here did not breathe hard climbing this hill. I see it clearly. But seeing is not the same as understanding, though no doubt Aradhel is right," Legolas replied.

"It seems to me that it is as the ranger says," said the old dwarf, trying hard not to sound as if he needed to catch his breath. "Here it was that Merry and Pippin, your grandfathers, met the old Ent. And here it was that we, with Aragorn, met Gandalf again, beyond all hope. I shall count that always as the day when the days of darkness were numbered."

"Here we are," said Legolas.

They stood upon the crown of a low hill that looked through an area of the forest that was not quite as close and grey. Sunlight filtered between the interwoven branches in radiant streams through the thick forest air, casting a golden glow in the glen surrounding the hill. The Took Twins looked closely at every tree (and so did Ellie and Maddie and Gimli!) to see if any of them might be looking back at them. But there was no movement and there was no sound. The air was thick and still. There were no birds singing or squirrels playing. Even the wind did not disturb the ancient contemplation of the living forest.

"Your debt grows greater with every long moment," muttered the dwarf to the elf.

"You will appreciate this wood ere we reach its end. Come! Let us be on our way!"

They descended from the small hill and followed the elf up a narrow trail barely wide enough for the small wagon. It made its way along the banks of a stream that became the Entwash further south. They went on for sometime, until the sun sank low beyond the peaks of the Misty Mountains, hidden by the boughs and limbs of the forest.

Before they made camp, Legolas bade them wait while he ran ahead to check the site he had in mind. After a short time, which seemed long to Gimli and Ellie, the elf returned and said that the perfect spot was just ahead. He guided them farther up the path, Maddie and the Twins right behind him, Gimli and Ellie in the wagon driven by Cairdur, and Aradhel and Cairduin riding their horses behind...

At last, they came to a clearing where the River Entwash had dwindled from a stream to a small brook, which came from what seemed a hall of trees overshadowing a spring and a rocky place beyond. The hobbits had listened intently to the stories the elf told of times past when both he and the world were somewhat younger. Gimli and Ellie had shared more than one weak smile at how carefree the others seemed in the old forbidding woods. The rangers remained watchful. Despite what they knew of Fangorn Forest, none but Legolas were prepared for what happened next.

"Hooom. Hoom. Hom hooom rooom tooom hooomty toom. '...hungry as hunters, the Hobbit children, the laughing folk, the little people...' Let me have a look at you."

The voice was as deep as a sound from a hollow log, and the words were slow and measured and thoughtful. One of the trees stepped forth from the rest and only then did they see that the tree was not a tree, but another kind of creature altogether.

I'm quite sure that you yourself have heard the tales of this remarkable and ancient forest, and of the treeherds, the Ents, who tended the trees and looked after them. No doubt, in your comfortable chair, with a beverage at your elbow and references at your fingertips, you guessed before any of the travelers the surprise that Legolas had set for them. Perhaps you would have smugly expected exactly what happened and would have taken a more casual notice of the Ent as he strode forward like a walking tree. This Ent was of course, Treebeard, or Fangorn, for whom the forest was named. Legolas had made his acquaintance seven decades before, and since then, by Treebeard's leave, had explored the great forest and came back at times to talk with the ancient Ent about the things he had seen. He had gone ahead to see if the old treeherd would welcome guests.

I wish there were time to tell you even a quarter of the stories that were shared that night. Treebeard told his share, but he seemed more interested in what the hobbits had to say, as well as the dwarf and the men. He listened to them talk far into the night about the news of the lands. At last the old ent had finished asking questions for the night, and then he moved for the first time, the hobbits realized, since they had made their camp outside his home.

"Hooom," he said finally. "In my long years, there have been few times that my eyes have seen a gathering such as this. Rooom tooom hooomty tooom. From the eldest race to the youngest we are all here together in this forest. Such a thing has not happened here in this wood ever before and perhaps shall not ever happen again. But it is late and we should rest now until the morning. Then I shall send you on your way through the forest."

***

The next morning, Ellie awoke to see the old ent standing over them. The rangers were rebuilding the fire. Gimli, for some reason, did not want to be involved with it, though he normally delighted in the labour. Legolas and the dwarf were standing away from the others and quietly discussing some subject. Treebeard's deep and ancient eyes thoughtfully pondered the sleeping hobbits and Ellie felt that the ent was considering her with something like a mingled attitude of humour and sadness.

"Hmm, hoo, rumty, tumm, humm..." the ent intoned. To Ellie, he said, "You are so young. Looking upon you hobbit children reminds me of my own youth long ago, and of my great age, and of how there shall be no Entings ever again." He sighed a great sigh and murmured deep words in his long sonorous language that she did not understand. But in his eyes she saw ages of longing and of resignation. "I had hoped," he said, after a time had passed, "that you had brought word of the Entwives. I begin to despair that any of us shall ever meet again. I do not anymore hope that I shall live to see such a day myself. I now fear that none of us ever shall."

"But it is a wide world," Ellie heard herself saying. "Since the War, men have been rebuilding, and moving about through all the old lands. Even the folk of the Shire have started a new land on the Westmarch. Perhaps soon, folk will move out into new lands, East and West. Maybe they will find the Entwives. Maybe they will even find your own wife, Fimbrethil."

The old ent looked with sudden joy at the young hobbit maiden. "Hooom! Perhaps you are right. Hooo. I have been hasty, perhaps. How did you come to know the lovely name of Fembrethil?"

Ellie told him them of how she had copied the stories of the hobbits and of how the sad song of the Ents and the Entwives was recorded in the tales of the War of the Ring. The other hobbits had awakened quietly, and rather uncustomarily, did not leap up ready for their breakfast, but lay still, looking and listening to Ellie and Treebeard. The old ent was really quite touched and pleased that the hobbits had recorded these things, and had not forgotten the Ents and the search for their Entwives.

"Perhaps now you should go look for them!" said Maddie, impulsively.

"Hooom. No. It is enough to learn that you have not forgotten and that the peoples are spreading. If the Entwives still live, they will be found one day, and so time will tell. It is enough. Hooom. If one day you carry word to them, that we are here, they will find us. If we leave to find them, we may miss them and they miss us. And we have our duties here. There are not enough of us to tend the forest and search the wide lands, too. We cannot afford to be hasty. Hooom. It is enough. Now, what say you to something to drink?"

Turry and Furry enthusiastically agreed to this, and no one in the camp could refuse the hospitality of the old ent. His hands were spread with twig-like fingers over the great earthen jars, and each of them had a taste of the luminescent ent draught. Turry and Furry drank deeply, and even asked for more!

They were off again soon enough, with Legolas taking them along a forest path, trodden previously only by the ents and himself. Though the others rode, the light-footed elf had no trouble leading them up the woodland trail at the fastest pace they could maintain. The trail was sometimes ragged, and the wagon hard to pull. After the first check, Aradhel and Cairduin hitched their horses to the wagon. This made Bill mighty glad, I can tell you, for now he only had to carry Cairdur on his broad back.

They made fair time, though Gimli had already calculated that Legolas was falling further into his debt, since it very much looked as if the extra day the elf had promised might be lost. The dwarf called back to Aradhel again.

"Ranger! How far have we come since lunch?"

"We have come one league and half a league, as the crow flies," answered the ranger surely.

"Then as the crow flies, we have at least sixty leagues before us to reach the ford of the Limlight. The day Legolas promised is a difference of eight or nine leagues, am I right?"

"That depends on the road," Aradhel observed.

"Nonsense," said the hale old dwarf. "Billing is by the mile. Differences in terrain even out in diversified business ventures. Now, where was I? Oh yes, call it nine leagues if you make good time..."

"That depends on the road," said Cairduin. "And what you meet upon it."

"I'm talking about mileage in this debt appraisal," said the dwarf cheerfully. "Additional costs will be figured on his account separately. Now, where was I? Oh yes, making good time! Which we are not. I believe Legolas has already lost us at least half a league today. At the present rate, Legolas shall owe me half a day, in addition to enduring the glories of Aglarond."

The wood elf laughed, "And how shall I pay you Master Dwarf? In minutes or in hours? Not even Elves can give you Time."

"We shall see about that, Master Elf," and this was as much as the dwarf would say; though he said it often enough on the journey as he continually recalculated what he called the debt of the elf when they bantered back and forth.

As amusing as this was to Elediriel, she did not lose sight of the forest around her. Slowly, her anxiousness about the ancient woods gave way to a growing appreciation for its strange beauties. Though it was winter, and the forest was thick and old and grey, many of the trees still had their brown leaves. Ellie, and the other hobbits, felt as if the forest was the most quiet wood they had ever known. Whenever they stopped, and the horses weren't walking and the wagon wasn't creaking, there was no sound to be heard. The rangers gave no sign that they were disturbed in any way.

Gimli's anxiety did not pass. The dwarf was nervously loud, and kept up a steady chatter with the hobbits, with the rangers, and with Legolas through the day and late into the night until he was too tired to stay awake. He did not want to lie awake feeling the gaze of the watching trees. As for Legolas, the elf enthusiastically pointed out various plants large and small, trees and bushes and growths of odd kinds that were uniquely beautiful, though they would have surely gone unnoticed if the party had not had such a guide. Even Gimli took an interest, and asked many questions of the elf.

The days passed easily, though the path was no less difficult. The trail went up a ridge that gently ascended until it was high enough for the evergreens to grow. Here, the forest was less close, and the trees were even more immense. Ellie's neck grew tired from looking up as they rolled along. Though the climb was not steep, their going was somewhat slower, which delighted Gimli no end.

As they made camp, Gimli asked again of Aradhel, "Ranger, how far have we come?"

"Thirty leagues, by the crow. Half of the distance," said the ranger.

"Half the distance in half a day's more time!" exclaimed the dwarf. "Why, this elf will soon owe me an entire day!"

"But if we had not come here, then you would have missed this!" Legolas pointed west.

From the top of the ridge, among the giant evergreens, above the ancient hardwood trees, they could now see across a great valley of uncharted streams and ancient forest, to the distant peaks of the Misty Mountains, where the setting sun shone a golden red against the blue winter ice. The high clouds were a fiery golden orange against the deepening clear blue of a sky on the edge of night. The winter forest below them seemed to change hue as if in a strange harmony with the changing light. A single brilliant star of piercing blue shone through the fading sunlight long before any other. The party was soon casting still shadows from its solitary radiance, for they all stood as if rooted like the trees behind them. They were the only breathing things that watched with the trees, as day gave way to glorious night across the silent expanse of Fangorn Forest.

"You see," said Legolas at last. "The forest watches all things. You are only one thing among them, Master Dwarf. Without the trees so close about you, what do you think of the forest now?"

The dwarf could find no words, but looked long over the forest under the gathering stars as something of the understanding of the elves kindled in his ready heart.




Chapter X

DOL GOLDUR

Soon after the rising of the sun, the hobbits, the dwarf, the elf, and the rangers were once again on their way through the forest. The dwarf no longer chattered nervously, but rode along in the wagon looking upon the woods with a new appreciation.

In fact, the trail was soon leading them down again into the forest and the going seemed much easier in the days of their travel through the trees of Fangorn Forest. Cairduin the Ranger remarked that they were fast making up the time lost in the first half of their woodland shortcut.

"And what of it?" asked the dwarf. "I view the matter differently now. The elf owes me nothing."

"A dwarf who has forsaken his accounts!" cried the elf. "The world is changing indeed!"

"Nay!" cried the happy dwarf. "The accounts must still be balanced! It is I who owe you Master Elf, and I only hope that the new sights of Aglarond will sufficiently repay you!"

"Is that how it is?" laughed the elf. "Then I shall collect payment in your glittering caverns as soon as can be arranged! I shall not have it said that any dwarf escaped a debt to Legolas son of Thranduil!"

"In fact," said the dwarf with a sidelong look at the wood elf. "So great is my indebtedness, Elf, that I must give you as many heartbeats in the Hall of Remembrance as days you have given me in these woods, ere you are paid in full!"

This cheerful banter was the stuff of the conversations between the elf and the dwarf, as they made ever better and better time on the downward slopes to the Limlight at the forest edge. As they arrived at the shallow fording, Aradhel said to Gimli, "Well, Master Dwarf! Master Elf has saved us the day he promised. What say you to that?"

"That is well. But now that I no longer dread the wood behind us, I have little love of the road ahead," replied the old dwarf.

"Mirkwood is Mirkwood no longer, but is now called Greenwood the Great, as it was of old," said Legolas.

"And the dark fortress of Dol Goldur lies in scattered ruins. There is naught to fear," said Aradhel.

"Did I speak of fear?" asked the dwarf. "My eyes have seen the Black Gates of the Morannon and the iron fortress of Baradur that were cast down in the fall of the Dark Lord. I do not fear these lesser ruins. Yet, nothing good has ever come from that place, only evil. Even fallen and abandoned, I shall have no love of the sight, save for leaving it behind."

Elediriel felt a sudden chill, but said nothing, thinking the others would only say she felt the cold breeze under the winter sky. Indeed, the kindly weather had begun to turn more seasonably cold, and they all, except perhaps Legolas, seemed to feel it as the sun turned a watery yellow above the gathering clouds. Beyond the sheltering trees, the winds blew freely and they felt its keen edge.

They pulled their warmer cloaks from the wagon and rode for the fords of the Anduin at the northern Undeep of the great water. The Undeeps, as they were called, were broad shallow expanses of the mighty river where a crossing could be made even by wagon in times of less rain or when water was bound in snow and ice. Many centuries ago, the Wainriders had come that way, and it was here that the hosts assembled at Dol Goldur intended to cross the Anduin, had the War of the Ring gone differently.

The rangers led them across the broad waters to an old road leading to the northeast, made long years ago by the servants of Sauron, or the Necromancer as he was known in the days of his secret rebuilding. Their camp that night was cold and the hobbits shivered around the fire with the old dwarf and wore almost every stitch of clothing they had.

The grey edge of the forest drew closer as the leagues dropped behind them. All too soon, they had left the open fields behind and made camp under the boughs and limbs of Greenwood the Great.

"Mirkwood, still, I say," said the dwarf. So close were they now to the evil ruins of Dol Goldur, that not even Legolas disagreed with him. The woods indeed had grown less wholesome as the path lead deeper into the forest, as if the forest here had still not recovered from the darkness that had long brooded nearby. The trees strove against one another grasping for precious light. Scrub and brush leaned in upon the hard-packed road, but nothing grew upon the road itself, as if some lingering poison applied in ages past still prevented even the life of weeds and briers. Cairduin dourly thought it the work of Sauron ere his demise.

Legolas sniffed at the dust of the road and declared Cairduin's guess correct. "The dust is unwholesome, perhaps it has even been brought from Mordor. Time is not so precious that I will ever take this path again."

"Then we will start all the earlier tomorrow, pick up the pace, and camp all the later," said Aradhel. "The next day, too, and the days after that, the better to leave this road and the ruins behind us, as Master Dwarf also wishes. It were perhaps better we had taken the longer way. Even so, we still have far to go before our steps turn back to Rivendell."

***

The next morning came early indeed. Before the grey dawn the hobbits were rousted from where they lay near the fire. Turry and Furry tried to follow the example of the rangers, and made no complaints. Ellie figured that no one cared to hear her grumble and gripe, and she was thankful of the hot breakfast that young Cairdur brought her. Maddie, however, was never one to be shy of giving others the full benefit of her thoughts and feelings.

"What a horrid, horrid place!" she muttered. "Why did we have to come this way? We should have gone first to the Beornings, then to the dwarves, then the elves and the Rohirrim last!"

"That would have been a hard road indeed, Mistress Madrigal," said Cairdur. "Weather such as this would be harder to bear in the wastes of Eregion. Better to travel through inhabited lands at the end of our journey, as spring awakens the land, rather than save the loneliest leg for the end. This way, we have wood for the fire and can look forward to the rest of the trip. Cheer up! The worst is soon behind us!"

"I will be cheerful when I can have a hot bath and wash my hair!" the pretty hobbit grumbled. Ellie agreed, but said nothing, warming her hands around her mug and eating her breakfast while it was hot.

True to Aradhel's word their pace was indeed faster that day. The sun had risen high in the sky, though they could not see it, when the woods suddenly thinned out and stopped altogether, revealing a great field surrounding a tall hill. That hill was crowned with a cruel ragged jumble of dark stones. It was all that remained of Dol Goldur, whose evil name still brought disquiet to even the boldest heart. The fortress had been a residence for the Necromancer as his power grew, before he revealed himself to be Sauron, the Dark Lord. But the stronghold held nothing now unless the broken stones themselves remembered the terror of the Ringwraith that once commanded in Sauron's name or held memories of the horror of the prisoners in the dungeons that lay below.

Not even dour Cairduin would look upon it long, and though the hobbits had been growing hungry before they left the wood, none of them wanted to stop or had any appetite for food within sight of the ghastly ruins. But even as they cast their gaze aside, Legolas saw something in the corner of his keen eye.

"There is someone there," the elf said. "An old man wearing a blue cloak. He walks with a staff."

The rangers looked hard, and Aradhel thought he could see him just leaving the ruins of the gate.

"You are right," confirmed Legolas. "He has seen us, and is coming this way."

"Then let us make camp and wait for him," said Aradhel. "Perhaps he will be hungry, and seeks to purchase luncheon with tales of what he has seen."

"What tales would a picker of dry bones have for us, I wonder," said Cairduin.

With surprising speed, the old man crossed the great field and by the time the fire was made and lunch had been prepared, he was upon them. His cloak could only be called blue by charity, for it was ragged and faded to a dirty grey. He wore no hat or hood upon his head, and his long tangled white hair and beard were blown by the wind all about his heedless head. His brows were dark and bristling, his nose was long and sharp. His lips were thin and chapped, hard to make out in the tangle of his mustache and beard. His cheeks were raw and red and his eyes deep, haggard, and confused.

"Hail, old father!" cried Aradhel. "Will you not come warm yourself by our fire and break bread with us? This is a cold and a lonely place, and we would be glad of the company!"

Gimli muttered in his beard. The other rangers and Legolas said nothing. The hobbits looked on with growing anxiety, and wondered if they had not encountered a madman. Elediriel felt chills again when the old man's wild gaze chanced across her. The old man's deep dark eyes seemed to her to have a hidden cunning under his confusion. She quickly lowered her own eyes.

"I say, old father," said Aradhel, stepping forward when the old man had drawn closer, "come share our meal and our fire."

"Eeee?" the old man said with a question in his voice, stepping back a pace from the tall ranger. There were more words, or gibberish, that Ellie could not make out.

"Food, water, fire," said Aradhel, speaking slowly and calmly. He then walked deliberately to the fire, squatting down and taking up the pot, and motioning as if to eat. He motioned for the wild man to draw nearer. The old man slowly did so, and trembling, settled down by the fire and let the ranger ladle him a bowl of steaming stew. He ate this and motioned for more before even the reassured hobbits were finished with their first bowls! Soon enough, they were all eating quietly, letting the rangers try different tongues to see if the old man would communicate. Legolas then tried an ancient elven tongue that Ellie had not heard in Rivendell, and the old man looked up at that. A halting conversation began between the elf and the wild old man.

"What is he saying?" asked Gimli. The dwarf was interested despite his apprehensions.

"It is hard for me to say. This is an old tongue, never spoken by my own people, and it is not well known to me. My father knows it better. I have asked him to come with us."

"What! We do not know who he is! Where he is from! What was he doing over there in... over there?" the old dwarf demanded, pointing vaguely at the evil ruins.

"I would like to know that, too," said Cairduin. "And how he came to speak such a tongue."

Legolas haltingly asked the old man. As the old man stammered out a reply, the elf's bright eyes grew wide with wonder.

"He says he was looking for a sign of his friends, his friends who came with him from across the Sea," said the astonished elf.

"What, he claims to be an elf?" cried the dwarf. "He looks like no elf my eyes have seen!"

"No! He claims to be a wizard," replied Legolas.

***

Ellie made a place for the old man on the wagon and chose to ride with Maddie on the back of Cider. She was warmer that way, and really did not relish the thought of riding so close to Pallando, the name he gave them to call him. Gimli soon overcame his own distrust, for the old fellow seemed bewildered and fearful, startling with every bump of the wagon or call of a bird.

They rode along this way for several days, until they came to the Eastern Bight of Greenwood, a great sweeping arc of the plains that seemed on the map to take a great bite out of the wood. The rangers guided them ever north and east, planning to reach the River Running where Greenwood drew near to its western banks.

In this time, Turry and Furry made good use of their Tookish bows. So, their suppers each night were all the better for fresh game, since the provisions of the wagon were beginning to run low, and the dried and salted meats and fruits and nuts and cram grew tiresome after a time.

"Imagine nothing but a light pack of travel food to last day after day," said Gimli, "running your feet off chasing hobbits held hostage by goblins! You would be glad enough of it, if you could stay awake to eat it when you stopped!"

Turry laughed, "And our grandmothers are glad that you did run on such fare!"

Furry laughed with him, "But we have heard you had somewhat more than that!"

"That we did," admitted Legolas. "Lembas, the waybread of Lothlorien. I doubt that Master Gimli could have run so far or so fast on salted meat and dried apples."

"Ah! You are no doubt right about that, Master Legolas!" agreed the dwarf. "But I have never tasted such fair fare in all my years since. Waybread you call it, but I would give all our provisions for a taste of it today!"

"Then you may have somewhat of it, and better still, when we reach my father's kingdom, for many of the elves of Lothlorien reside in Greenwood now, and they have brought their arts with them."

Pallando listened intently. He had begun to lose his fearfulness, and had also begun to learn somewhat of the Common Tongue they all spoke together.

"Elves...gone...Loth...Lothlorien?" he asked.

"Yes," answered Legolas, who had taken onto himself the task of teaching the old man. "When the Lady of the Wood passed over the Seas, many of them came to live with their kindred in Greenwood."

"Umm," said the old man, thoughtfully.

***

There were more days of travel after they reached the River Running. In that time, Pallando learned much, and was soon speaking as if he had spoken the common language all along. If he was not a wizard, then he certainly seemed to have a wizard's intelligence.

Elediriel was somewhat frustrated, for though she asked no questions, and indeed had spoken very little with the old man, he rarely spoke of himself, and all questions the others asked were somehow turned to other subjects. Only the ranger Cairduin seemed to share Ellie's reserve. The others soon accepted Pallando, whose quick wit and flattering tongue made them laugh and think him a fine fellow, even if a little cracked.

"He reminds me of Gandalf, somewhat," said Gimli. "How I miss him! Like and yet unlike. What has happened to cloud his wits, I cannot say, but he seems to be recovering. Even so, it is good to travel with a wizard again, such as he is."

The days of travel were left behind them and it was at last time to stop for a while in the halls of Thranduil, the father of Legolas. They were greeted on the trail by green-clad wood elves who were standing watch for them, and who somehow were alert to their coming. These silvan elves were happy to see Legolas and they led the party swiftly to the waiting king. The hobbits looked with great wonder at the sights that were so familiar to them from the stories of Bilbo and his great adventure. The forest river was just as they imagined it, as was the narrow bridge that led to the caverns that was the dwelling and strong place of Thranduil. Even though Ellie was expecting it, she let out a frightened squeal when the great gates magically slammed shut behind her.

Thranduil, King of the Elves of Greenwood, stood to greet them as they were ushered in before his rustic throne. He looked much the same as Legolas, save for his eyes, which seemed deeper and wiser perhaps, and his countenance, which was both graver and merrier somehow. Also, unlike Legolas, he wore a crown woven of the stuff of the forest in winter. A necklace of dazzling jewels graced his warrior's frame and his brow was adorned with a jewel of green.

After he graciously accepted the Proclamation heralding the Birth of Eldarion, Ellie saw that he was also more reserved in his judgment than Legolas, and did not let the self-professed wizard change the subject of his skilled questions.

"Tell me of yourself Pallando. I would know of what you have been doing in all these long years," said the elven king.

"The tale is one that would be as hard to hear as to tell, for it is as long as the age and as bitter as winter. How warm and cheerful your cavern is! I indeed am glad of your hospitality and to warm my old bones away from the cold without," said the old man.

"I have heard tales both long and hard and would gladly hear yours, Pallando the Blue. Was there not another wizard of Blue, as there were of Grey, and Brown, and White?" asked Thranduil.

"Yes! Yes there was, oh learned king. I remember now as your words recall them to my mind. I have been long seeking word of them. What news is there in the land of their doings?" asked Pallando.

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? Long ago the Five Wizards passed from Middle-earth, or so I thought until today. The Dark Lord is dead, or so diminished that he shall never take form again. The work of the wizards is done, as I understood it. Gandalf the White, once the Grey, has sailed the Sea to the West, which ever calls to my son and to my kindred. Radagast the Brown, after lingering some years, himself has taken ship to the West. Saruman the Traitor, has met the fate of the Dark Lord he served. I have heard little report of the Blue Wizards, who passed East and South and never returned. Words that did come to my ears were not good. What say you to that?" asked Thranduil, more sternly.

"That all is better than once I had hoped and in some ways as bad as I had feared," said the old man. "Your ears have heard aright it seems, at least in part. Saruman, you called him. He was the White and also fell into service to Sauron? That is bad. Would that Alatar had met his fate!"

"Speak more plainly, then, and tell me in whole what I have heard in part," Thranduil commanded.

Elediriel wondered that the elven king would dare to speak so to a wizard, but her quick hobbit eyes saw the elven guards that stood around the throne room in the shadows. She noticed then that their bows were strung. She looked at Legolas, and saw that he looked somewhat ashamed that he had not sought this information himself more persistently.

"Forgive me, King Thranduil," said the old man. "I am not what I once was. I too, seek the Straight Sea to the West, where I hope to find healing and forgiveness. Even now, with the kindness of your son and these others, I have found some healing and health, and my memories return. They are grim and dark, but I will tell you now as much as I can remember. May you find profit in it, O King, for my tale does not bode well for the peace of Middle-earth..."