Lost Wanderers (Halbrand / Rings of Powers)

15 - What Lies in the Shadows

Her brothers left the room when some noises distracted them.
Someone was arguing behind the door.
"What are you doing? She should be in a cell".
Luthien recognized Galadriel's voice and spotted her in the corridor, her beauty striking her.
"My sister almost died" Griff hissed.
"Your sister is gone. She's a pawn of Sauron now. And you ruined our plan for her?".
Luthien held her breath, ignoring how Isildur tried to distract her from that unpleasant discussion.
"She was thrown from the walls. We saved her just in time and we needed your medicine" Griff said raising his tone.
"We were so close to trap him and you preferred saving her, instead of saving the whole Middle Earth!".
"Enough, Elf" he barked "You might be the Commander, but I'm not going to lose my sister again".
"I need to speak to her. So she's alive for a reason".
"No. You leave her alone. She's still weak and confused".
"She didn't know she was travelling with Sauron? Then I can open her eyes once and for all".
"You're warned. If you overstep, you won't have our support anymore".
Luthien was so rigid that when Isildur shook her shoulder to distract her, she felt like a building falling to rubbles.
"You need to leave, to be far away from here" he said with urgency "If you marry me, you can go to Numenor and my family will protect you".
Her mind rejected that plan.
"What about you all?" she asked in a choked voice.
"We have to fight. We can't let our enemies steal our home".
Her brothers stepped back in.
"You don't know what you're fighting" she looked at the three of them with anguish, recalling her worst nightmares, seeing her brothers and friends dead in a war "Not even an alliance with Numenor and all the elves can give us any advantage. But maybe I can".
"Lou, what do we need to do to persuade you that you're not her?" Griff snarled.
"But I mean something to him. If he kept me with him for all this time without hurting me" she said sternly "Maybe I can be a spy for you, I can help prevent this war from destroying us all. If you send me to Numenor, he will kill you all and then destroy also Numenor. If you let me negotiate with him, manipulate his next moves, maybe I can be our only hope".
"If he finds out that you know, that you're spying for us..." her brother's voice trailed off "We can't let you do that. We love you too much. We already thought that we lost you".
She shook her head "We will lose everything if we put our feelings before what's the right thing to save our people. I'd rather be the first one to fall than seeing you all dead, knowing that I could have done something to prevent it".
"Cursed the day that those ships brought the enemy in our home. No offence, Numenorean".
Isildur just shrugged.
"Or blessed it" she corrected "If something that we can't understand brought me close to the enemy. If something happens here, don't fight it. I should be leaving this place to keep the enemies away, but I have no idea what's their next plan".
"We haven't been followed. The elves are guarding this land. We rely on their skills".
Luthien saw reflected on their faces how she felt. Endlessly helpless.

She demanded to be left alone with her thoughts.
How could she deal with that nightmare?
What could she do?
She didn't expect anyone to come to save her. Save her from what? Her being reunited with her own brothers?
If Halbrand was Sauron, why would he risk to save her?
Haeva was right. She was useless.
She was right to push her off the wall.
Trying to escape the emotions that were choking her, she paced on the balcony, dealing with the fear of the emptiness beyond the railing. The flight from the fortress wall had been really awful, but she just fell into a worse nightmare.
Never she had felt that lonely, so small and insignificant in a world where great forces acted.

Night fell and she searched the dark sky for some comfort, but no lights shone up there. No hope.
She heard her name whispered in the dark, then a shadow jumped on her.
She almost screamed but she recognised the grinning face hidden under a cloak.
"Calandir?".
"Hello, my Lady" he pulled her closer "Hold yourself to me".
His arms wrapped around her and she couldn't tell if he jumped or what happened, but suddenly she wasn't on the balcony anymore but on the grass of the garden below.
"Let's go" he encouraged her, grabbing her hand and guiding her out of there.
A mayhem started around them as they ran and ran, until she spotted a horse waiting for them.
And in front of them stood Halbrand.
Calandir pushed her towards him and let her go, turning to face the chasers.
Halbrand helped her jump on the horse and climbed behind her, make the animal gallop.
They kept racing and she heard the sound of horses chasing them.
Halbrand zigzagged through the trees of a wood.
She closed her eyes, fearing that by mistake they would crash against a tree or the horse would strumble and throw them to the ground.
But none of that happened and when she opened her eyes they were in a glade and she didn't hear noises chasing them anymore.