“Thendryt? I wanted to talk to you,” Lilleduil said, watching as Raolor walked away. Thendryt turned his face towards her slightly, but still kept his eyes upon the Hammer.
“Outside,” he said.
“Yes,” Lilleduil agreed. “Some place more quiet, please?” Mornfaron was not Tinnugost, the huge blue-black saber cat was much more even-tempered (which was why he was the friend she’d chosen to accompany her), but she could tell that even he was upset by the animosity that had flowed so freely here in the Homely House.
Thendryt gestured for her to lead the way, and she did so, out of the Homely House, over the bridge and up onto the wooded hill across the road. She sat. The willingness to get into a vulnerable position relaxed the cat immediately and he flopped down beside her. Thendryt leaned on a nearby tree, eyeing Mornfaron with some interest. He understood the significance, she suspected, as she never called her friends into the Valley. But it had been Tinnugost at her back in the Coldfells, for she had thought it very likely that she would have to fight her way in or out, despite Elrohir’s letter. Thendryt knew Tinnu, and knew she had come prepared to fight then. This was different.
A warning, not a threat.
“I need you to talk to me, Thendryt. What happened between yourself and Yrill of Vanimar?” she asked, feeling oddly weary. The time was past when she preferred to avoid conflict among her kind, she was much more socially practiced and astute these days, but it still wore on her deeply.
“Who?” the Man asked blandly.
“And why do I think the tale goes further back than that?”
“You're going to have to more specific, Lill.”
Lilleduil snorted inwardly. Why? How many have you been pitching stones at? “The hunter you allegedly threw a rock at and injured her arm.” She clarified further. “The Arrow.”
“Aaaah. That one.” Thendryt looked at her, his expression grave. “What do you want to know?”
“Your side of the story. You don't go doing things to Elves without cause.”
Her sword-brother seemed to find this gratifying, nonetheless he hesitated for a moment. “How far back?”
“I'd like the whole story, if I'm going to be defending you against the entire Hammer Order and the Arrows beside.”
The Man snorted.
“I suspect this goes back a bit. Perhaps to the Hithaeglir?” Thendryt looked at her for a moment. “Yrill apparently told Raolor what happened.” For some reason, that brought a smile to the Man‘s face. Lilleduil felt a tickle of irritation. “He was going to apprehend you! Faorie and I made him promise he would take no action unless she was there. Say, ‘Thank you, Lill.’”
“Apprehend? Don't fool yourself,” Thendryt scoffed. Then he sighed. “I suppose there’s no alliance to defend any more.”
For a moment, he looked bleak, the reminder of the Warband’s demise flitting across his face. To take his mind off of that, Lilleduil snorted. “I don't know which of you would have triumphed. I just know that it is a battle I don't think Rivendell needs.”
“Clearly one it seeks.”
She gave Thendryt an impatient, interrogative look. He glowered back at her. Much better.
“Fine,” he said. “As you’ve guessed, it started in the mountains. Did you know I was being followed?”
Lilleduil was genuinely startled. “No! By whom? Dolthafaer?”
The Man shrugged. “Don't know when it started, but by the time we made it up there I noticed her. The tall one, don't know her name. Most likely by his orders, though that happened before I stabbed him…”
She grimaced, trying to put names to forms, figure out who he meant. “Everyone is tall to me.” Then what he had said sunk in. “You stabbed…Dolthafaer?”
Thendryt seemed lost in thought for a moment before coming back to himself and looking down at her. “Ah, that might need an explanation…”
“Yes. It might.”
“You remember the blizzard?”
Lilleduil nodded. “We were all at Hrimbarg.”
“I lost my stalker in the storm. Managed to sneak away, after a few hours of trying.” It was Thendryt’s turn to nod, in satisfaction. And indeed, it was a notable feat.
“Did your watcher ever offer you harm?”
Caught up in reminiscence, Thendryt ignored her question. “In the blizzard I happened upon a figure. The figure shouted something, I couldn't make out the words. I tried to retreat back into the storm to lose him, but didn't manage to.”
“Did you think this person was your watcher? Or someone else?”
Thendryt shrugged. “Who knows how many Elves I had on me?”
“There is that.” Lilleduil rubbed her forehead.
“So, I couldn't retreat back into the storm. Didn't work, so I had to go forward. I thought dashing by would confuse whoever it was long enough for me to vanish into the storm behind them.”
“Did you have weapons drawn?”
Thendryt gave her a disbelieving look that plainly said, Idiot! Aloud, he said, “I had my spear in hand, hard to tuck that away.”
Lilleduil nodded, slightly chagrined.
“I figured it might be an elf, and I might have an arrow pointed at me. So I decided to dash sideways first, to find out. Sure enough, as soon as I dashed, an arrow flew right past.”
“But you weren't running at the person.”
“Nah, I just hurled myself sideways. After I heard the arrow though, that's another matter.”
“Could they have been confused? Thinking you were an orc?”
Thendryt smiled unpleasantly. “I could have seen an orc as well.” Lilleduil chuckled softly, it was certainly the truth. That had been a bad blizzard.
“There is that. So-what did you do then?”
“But long story short, we ended up wrestling and I stabbed the Elf in the shoulder with his own arrow. After taking that same arrow to the chest.”
Lilleduil frowned. Seeing her expression, Thendryt quickly added, “Chest plate worked, though.”
“You never showed me, and I was designated healer.” Nor Elisbeth, nor Khalis nor Faorie…why did you not come to one of us? “Did you lose much blood?”
“I managed,” Thendryt said gruffly.
“I want to see it.” That got her a hard look. “I believe you, but if this comes to some sort of judgement before Lord Elrond, you'll probably be asked about it. Best get used to the idea now.”
Thendryt slowly dragged his chainmail to the side, near the throat. Lilleduil got up and approached to look. The scar wasn’t very large, but it was placed just below the great veins in the throat. She began to curse in Rohirric. Something scatological, agricultural and very rude. Thendryt seemed amused.
“I have worse scars.”
“This one though...could have been very bad, if it were just a bit higher.”
Lilleduil touched it gently with a finger, then nodded and stepped back.
“You ought to look at Dolthafaer's shoulder.”
“I may do that.”
“My arrow buried itself a bit deeper.” There was great satisfaction in his voice. Lilleduil looked at him in disbelief.
“Are you actually saying the other fellow looks worse?”
Thendryt ignored this. “Decided not to kill the Elf though.”
“And what about his face? All those injuries he swore an ambushing goblin did.”
The Man chuckled.
“I'm too large for a goblin.”
“You had this rather heated exchange and just stopped at first blows?”
“Once I recognized him I settled for punching him in the face. You can blame me for that one. And I'll stand by it.”
Lilleduil sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “So there is bad blood between you. How does Yrill come into it?”
Thendryt hesitated.
Lilleduil narrowed her eyes meaningfully at the Man, who sighed and said, “Fine. You remember where we first met?”
“Delossad? Yes. I've left it alone since.” Thendryt nodded approvingly.
“I was staying there, overheard this noise.”
“Were you still being followed?”
The Man shrugged. “Who knows. Most likely, unless the Arrow liked being stabbed by a Mortal.”
“It sounds as if Lord Dolthafaer has some explaining to do.” Lilleduil frowned at the idea of that interview. “But what happened in Delossad?”
“It was the middle of the night, I had no way of knowing who or what had entered the ruins.”
“Where you asleep?”
“No, I was... occupied.”
Which was an opening to a whole host of questions that Lilleduil would have liked to ask. What exactly is Delossad to you? What do you do there? Why can we not know about it? Did Elisbeth or Khalis know? Does Lord Elrond? And if not, would they still trust you if they did?
Lilleduil did not ask. And Thendryt’s look said the choice was a wise one. He gave her other answers.
“Decided to hunt whatever it was. There was no light, so I had to sneak up on it…whatever it was. I was unsuccessful. It was too dark, I had to retreat back to the second level.”
Lilleduil listened while she tried to recollect Delossad’s layout. She’d only been there the once…
“That's when I heard voices.”
.
“Were they obviously elven voices?”
“I know Elvish when I hear it, lived here long enough for that. Three Elves came into the ruins.”
Lilleduil nodded. “Do you know what were they there for?”
“Apparently the thing I was hunting in the dark was an Elf as well, for as soon as he heard the voices he started screaming in Elvish. I must have scared him beyond belief, moving around in the dark.”
“So the first intruder was an Elf, then the others came in...looking for him?”
“You'll have to ask them.”
“Why was the first elf there? Did you ever find out?”
Thendryt didn‘t answer directly, continuing on with his account instead. “First thing I did when I realized they were elves, was telling them to leave. They suddenly became quiet, so I repeated myself. I drew my bow, to try and get them to retreat out of the ruin. I had no arrows on me, but one can try…”
“You had no arrows, just a bow?” It was her turn to give Thendryt the Idiot! look. He rolled his shoulders a little. “Could you see them?”
“It was pitch black, I could barely see in front of me.”
“Could they see you?”
“No, only hear me. The other Elf knew I was in there, but not where.”
“Do you know who they were? And did they know you?”
“After I had drawn the bow, I heard them call out my name. That's when I recognized the voice of our dear Lord of Arrows.”
Lilleduil sighed, and rubbed her head again. There was a headache coming on, she was sure of it. What a convoluted mess…
“I couldn’t be sure if they had tracked me or not, but I wasn't going to take a chance,” the
Man was continuing. “They moved up to the second level. I tried to divert their attention by throwing stones and making noises in other areas, and dashed towards the stairs. I didn't make it.”
Lilleduil froze at that, and frowned. “Did they fire on you?”
“Nah. Had to draw my sword against Dolthafaer though. But I suppose I got away lightly. Walked out with a broken nose, but that's about it.”
In the interest of being thorough, she walked over and examined Thendryt's nose closely for a moment. “I can't see any difference.” The Man glared down at her.
“This was months ago, and it's not that crooked.”
Lilleduil found herself grinning. “Says you.”
Thendryt snorted. “Got treatment at Glân Vraig.”
More seriously, she asked, “Did you strike Dolthafaer with hand or blade? What happened between you two?”
“I was… not entirely well when this happened. And I wasn't going to wait for an arrow to fly into me this time.''
“You were wounded?' The Man hesitated a moment before answering in a cold voice, “You could say that.”
“You should have come to me.” Thendryt ignored that.
“Well, I expressed my desire to leave-”
“-with your sword in your hand…”
“Well, I wasn’t doing it on my knees!” Thendryt growled. Lilleduil found herself chuckling at his truculence.
“Of course. He hit you. Did you hit him?”
“No, I took the hit.” He stared at her for a moment, obviously not wanting the subject of his nose brought up once more, so he asked, “Yrill, was it?”
“Yes. Where does she come into this?”
“She hunted me down, per her Lord's request, and fired an arrow at me. Went into a tree close by.” Lilleduil was startled by the first statement. Surely Dolthafaer would not, none of them would… then relaxed when she realized Thendryt had said he’d not been hurt.
“There was a threatening note attached to the arrow. I could have thrown my spear, and had it been Dolthafaer I very well might have, but I settled for a small stone at my feet.”
“How big?”
“Fit in my hand. Half my palm? Maybe less.”
“And how far away was she? Because they made it sound like you hurled a brick.”
“A small stone, thrown up a ravine. I'm amazed I even hit her.”
“Well she has apparently expressed her displeasure to half the Hammers. And then conveniently got herself off to Enedwaith.” Lilleduil didn’t know Yrill that well, but it seemed a bit out of character. It had always seemed to her that the huntress was more than capable of fighting her own battles. She sighed deeply.
“So that's why I was getting an unusual amount of death threats today!” Thendryt did not seem perturbed. Because apparently you get a usual amount of them as a matter of course…
Despite her doubts, her voice was firm, confident in her own ears. “I'm thinking we all need to discuss this matter. And nothing can be done until Yrill comes back.”
“Lill.” The Man looked at her, his expression stern. “I don't need you to fight my battles.”
Lilleduil rose to the challenge and scowled right back at him. “You do have friends, Thendryt Morson.”
“I've told you the facts. But I no longer have the Warband protecting me. Precious few, in this Vale.”
“You have me,” Lilleduil said stoutly. “And Faorie. And the others, most likely, if we can find them. We are still sword-sisters and brothers.”
“If the Elves of Vanimar wants anything of me,” Thendryt said and his voice grew cold again, “I’m more than willing to help.”
She walked over and smacked Thendryt on the arm. “Stop that! Do you want to be able to live in this Valley? The rest of us have grievance too.”
“You know I do my talking with a sword, or spear. I can handle looking over my shoulder every now and then.”
“Well by all means, let the Hammers dog pile you and kill you!” Lilleduil growled. Thendryt chuckled low, amused at her irritation.
“Now, now…he soothed in a totally infuriating way. "If they want to dance, I'm sure they will let me know. What I don't need is any of you getting arrows in the back. Or in my case, chest.”
“Yes, wouldn't that just be awful, if one of us immortal types took an arrow for you?” Lillduil glared at him. Thendryt folded his arms. “How about we all just talk this out instead. I'm angry at the fact that they invited us to help them, then set a watch on you.”
“I've been dealing with this since I arrived, Lill. This is nothing new. Still here, aren't I?”
Light suddenly dawned. Lilleduil gave her sword-brother a hard look. “I begin to think you actually enjoy it! Being the bone of contention.”
To her immense satisfaction, Thendryt seemed taken a bit off balance. “Well, yes, but that's not what I'm trying to say…”
Lilleduil glared. “You do enjoy it?”
“Part of it, naturally,” Thendryt temporized, looking uncomfortable for just a moment, before a remembered pleasure came over his face once more. “After all, who else can say they punched the Arrow Lord in a blizzard?” He winked at Lilleduil.
“ARRRRRGH!” Lilleduil threw up her hands. Mornfaron, who had been almost asleep, jumped to his feet, startled. She quickly laid a soothing hand on his neck and sought to master herself. With what she thought was great self-control, she said, “Look, try not to go any place alone until we can get this sorted out, all right? Any place too isolated, that is. And I give you fair warning, Thendryt Morson. Vanimar's watch is nothing compared to what I can summon up!”
“If you think the Elves with priority issues will scare me away, you don't need to worry.”
Obviously no progress was being made here at all… Lilleduil sighed. “I need a drink after all this. I'll buy if you want to join me.”
Thendryt shook his head. “I need to go and see to Bovad. They can do much to me, but if they even touch Bovad...I'm going to kill my first Elf.''
Giving him an affronted look, Lilleduil declared, “They wouldn't! Ladrochan wouldn't let anyone harm a horse in his care.”
“No offense, but I don't trust many Elves. Old habit.”
“I am offended. Elves understand that animals and their masters are separate entities. No one will hurt Bovad-the very idea is ridiculous! Now I really need a drink. Good evening, Thendryt.”
Was that actually contrition she saw on his face? Lilleduil’s irritation evaporated. Spurred by impulse, rather daringly, she gave the Man a hug “Watch your back.”
To her surprise, Thendryt actually returned it, holding her for a moment. He whispered in her ear, “I can handle it,” before he let her go.
Lilleduil stroked Mornfaron’s neck in the way that signaled they were going.
“We shall see,” she said.
