“I should put on my armour soon, in case we are summoned," announced Parnard.
I knew he would want to give the best possible impression to Captain Brethenel. No longer was he an obscure Wood-Elf of limited means but a member of a good House among us Noldor, and he must dress accordingly. It was to this end that Estarfin fashioned him a new set of armour.
"How am I to strap it on myself? Even Estarfin needs help, is that not so?"
Estarfin rose to his feet and stretched. “Yes, it is much simpler with assistance," he said, and wandering over to the table, helped himself to a piece of cheese.
I thought back over the past few months. Estarfin did not wear a full suit of armour often; I had not much practice aiding him yet. My own armour was not so complicated that I required help. But I had helped many others in the past, at Amon Ereb and in Eregion, when our forces prepared for battle. There was one thing I could do now, however. I took up a wine bottle and refilled my glass, then offered it to the others.
Estarfin shook his head. “My glass is already full.” He took another piece of bread, then sat back down and rested his boots on the table.
“Very prudent of you, Estarfin. More for me,” said Parnard with a laugh, and held out his glass.
Parnard loved wine, and was likely drinking to mellow his excited temper, but I hoped he did not drink over much. Perhaps he noticed my hesitation, as he said, "Soon I will stir myself and drag out the metal suit,” but as if in defiance of this prophecy, lolled back on the couch and put his feet on the armrest instead, smiling as I poured wine into his waiting glass.
“Is Swan-Hoof groomed and ready, should the captain want to see her?" I asked. It was an unlikely request, but one could never be quite sure.
Parnard laughed. "Is Captain Brethenel checking my horse’s teeth?”
Estarfin shrugged. “Captains always check the unexpected. I know my father did.”
“Then I will check on Swan-Hoof, after I put on my armour,” said the Wood-Elf as he adjusted the cushions behind him and settled back on the couch. “Now all we must do is wait. This is a pleasant change, is it not? "
“It is far better than travelling through that forest,that is certain,” I answered.
“But when we leave, we must go back through the forest. What do you think is out there?” said Parnard.
“It is hard to say what lurks in the darkness between the trees,” Estarfin said with a noncommittal shrug of his shoulders.
I set down the grapes I had just picked up and looked down at my hands. Were they trembling slightly? “There is something still out there that slew two trained and armed Elves.”
“Some savage bear, peradventure…?” Parnard suggested.
It was not what I remembered. When I looked into my memory of that darkness it was not a bear looking back at me, nor any common animal. I shivered. Then I felt Estarfin’s eyes upon me. “It is only a memory,” I said to him in Quenya.
He nodded, but still watched.
“There are giant Cave Bears …so they say, in caves in parts of the Hithaeglir,” Parnard said.
“Is it unusual to find bodies on the paths of Mirkwood?” Estarfin asked.
Coughing on wine, Parnard spluttered out, “Unusual! Oh, yes! It will be the talk in town for days and days!”
I regained my composure. I was, after all, a Nolde. “The guard, Cemmon, said he had sent out the two Elves because he feared for the Men.”
“Yet it was the Men whom he should have feared,” Estarfin sighed and shrugged.
“The King is going to close the road,” observed Parnard, munching cheese off his eating knife. “Not for the first time! He does this only in times of great peril.”
“It is well that we arrived before it was closed, then,” said Estarfin.
Parnard stopped eating long enough to say, “Did you ever think that - whatever it was, we frightened it away?”
“Afeared of the charge of the Noldor and a Wood-Elf, eh? There are some old evils that remember the fell bite of Noldor steel. Perhaps you are right cousin?”
Parnard said only in reply, “I shall go prepare myself. The messenger will soon be here."
Estarfin turned to face me, “Why seek a monster when it is clear we found the guilty red-handed?”
“I am not so sure we did,” I answered. I did not like questioning him, but neither would I say ‘yes’ when an answer was ‘no’. “I know Men are not to be trusted.”
Estarfin nodded, saying, ”They did not even claim innocence.”
“Indeed not, but it seems to me those two would have been incapable of bringing down two trained Elven guards.”
“Do not underestimate the treachery of their kind,” Estarfin countered, a slight frown on his face.
“Estarfin, you questioned them in Quenya, which even few Elves now understand. It is no surprise they answered not,” I said.
Half-listening, Parnard interjected, “The Wood contains many dark secrets.”
“And I do not underestimate their treachery, but neither do I overestimate their ability to overcome Elven guards. If you recall both were dazed, perhaps from the overturning of the cart, perhaps from being struck. The only words came from one just before I slew him, and those words were ‘Arrows were useless against it”.”
“The gate-guard said they were traders, did he not?” said Parnard, dragging the black silk bag that held his armour out from the corner where he had laid it.
“Yes, traders in honey for mead brewing.”
Estarfin shrugged, uninterested in whatever the Men were.
“My thoughts are still that I would be amazed at Men overcoming the guards,” I restated.
“A knife in the back will fell even a seasoned warrior,” said Estarfin.
And I thought back at those two bodies we found. The ner had almost been ripped apart, not stabbed in the back.
Estarfin, as usual, was wholly confident of his convictions, but his hatred of Men tended to blind him from considering other possibilities. Men may be of small account, but I wanted the truth.
“Estarfin, would it not seem more likely something attacked the Men, and the Elves, followed orders and tried to defend them? They died for doing so, while the Men stood back from the fray.”
On the edge of my vision I saw Parnard fishing around in the black bag and pulling out a piece of armour. “It is a…vambrace!” he cried out, as joyfully as if he had unwrapped a present.
“The Men were cowards, as is their wont,” I said to Estarfin, but he was distracted, shaking his head at Parnard, who was by now buckling on the vambrace.
“The breastplate goes on first, because the other pieces attach to it. Here,” Estarfin said, untying the vambrace. He pulled the breastplate out of the bag and began tying the straps. Then he continued with our conversation. “I have no doubt of their guilt.”
Parnard looked mystified, but held out his arms obediently. “I did not think it was all connected together, but I suppose it must be so.”
“But I do have doubts. It makes no sense,” I replied to Estarfin. “Can you not see past the Men to the possibility of something, someone else being involved?”
Without any hesitation, Estarfin said “What sense are you looking for?” He gave a little tug to the breastplate to check the fit, then held out one of the pauldrons to Parnard, showing him the loop and buckle on the inside. Then he buckled on the shoulder armour.
I began to feel oddly warm, as if I were standing too near a fire. I wanted to watch him closely, making note of how he fitted on the armour, but I also wanted my reservations answered. “Why were the elves dead? I cannot think those two men had the ability to overcome them. Cower, hide in fear, yes. I can see them doing that while their would-be defenders were slain. It does not make sense to me for them to be the killers.”
“So it goes round that way, with the points out! I never would have guessed," laughed Parnard.
“The rerebrace and couter hang from the pauldron, and the vambrace must be attached to the couter," Estarfin said as he tied the pieces together. “Murderers or cowards, it is no great loss.”
“But there is a difference,” I protested to Estarfin. “If they are not the murderers then there is another still running loose and the true killer escapes.”
Estarfin finished fitting the upper half of the armour, then began strapping the leg armour on. “You think there was another Man with them that we missed?”
“What! Another one running around in the woods, lost, perhaps?” said Parnard.
“I had not actually thought of a third Man. But now you mention it…three men would have stood a better chance against two elves. Slightly better?" I was weighing up the notion.
“Perhaps we should ask the Captain for leave to hunt this villain then?” Estarfin suggested.
Parnard breathed on his vambrace to fog it, then buffed it against his head. “It looks brand-new. Is it bad to have brand-new-looking armour? Should it look, uh, battle-tested?”
“Noldor steel does not tarnish, and rarely is damaged,” Estarfin explained. “Armour and weapons should be kept clean whenever possible, though," and he gestured at his own chainmail, sparkling like new despite being forged an age ago.
“Then I shall not throw dirt on it. A striking figure we all cut; they will be dazzled!” The Wood-Elf smoothed down his hair before thanking Estarfin, then proceeded to strut around like a peacock.
Estarfin smiled, then turned, as we all did, as there was a knock on the door.
“That must be the messenger,” said Parnard, rushing away to open the door. I could hear a few words being exchanged. “I shall go at once! One moment, please.”
His face tense and pale, Parnard said, "The Captain wishes to speak with me alone!"
“It may be that he will speak with us afterwards,” I said, in an effort to reassure my nerve-wracked ‘cousin.'
“Your sword, Parnard,” Estarfin reminded him.
“Oh, where is it!" cried Parnard, as he dashed from room to room in search.
We all searched the rooms, as the messenger coughed and began tapping his foot at the door. But Parnard found it at last, and as he departed made several backward glances at us.
“Be brave,” I said.
Estarfin relaxed back on a couch, smiling reassuringly.
His face growing somber if not sober, Parnard snapped in irritation to the messenger, “Go on, do not keep me waiting!” as he left.
And we both relaxed a little. I moved to sit next to Estarfin again, and poured more wine for us both.
“We have done what we set out to do, “ Estarfin said.
“Indeed. He looks the part. We have encouraged him to grow in confidence, and will give good witness to his character when called to so do.”
“Yet you do not seem at ease?”
Now that he had asked, and Parnard was gone, I would speak more of what was on my mind. “I have been ill at ease since the incident on the road. I have been struggling with my response to what happened, and how I slew that man so easily. I had no hesitation, as you saw. It is not my nature to act so. Oh, I can easily slay brigands or any who threaten us, but I do not kill men just because they are Men.”
I halted, looking him in the eyes. I did not want to disappoint him.
“You know I trust you, meldanya. I know you see clearly, often more so than I, but in this matter I feel I have failed. My hand was on Sarphir, I did the deed, then I was stricken with remorse and not truly myself for many hours. We were still in the forest, we were in danger. I needed to not waver in my concentration.”
Estarfin looked as if he was trying to understand me. It was hard, no doubt, when I did not understand myself. “Do not let it trouble you,” he said. “If there is a beast out there, perhaps our blades were swift mercy? The Men seemed unable to stand, and we could not carry them. Once we left, any beasts would likely have returned and claimed them?”
“A swift death is a mercy,” I replied, knowing that while it was so, it could also be a convenient excuse. I kicked off my shoes, curling my legs up to lean against him. “Your suggestion that there could have been three makes it easier. I hope that, if all goes well, we are given permission to hunt for the one who fled. But understand, I ask of you, I am still not as ready to take life as you are.”
“We Noldor do not leave a job half finished,” he replied, “And I make no demands that you take any life.”
“I know. You never have. But I will do my part in any confrontation or attack.”
“You always do.” He put down his glass and gently stroked my hair.
“Estarfin, Brasseniel must know Parnard has been here for many hours, yet she has not sent word, nor come to speak with him,” I said, finally voicing the concern that bothered me most of all.
“I know it,” he said.
“Doubt assails my heart. I have a bad feeling about the outcome of Parnard’s meeting.”
