The Jewel of Mirkwood

Chapter 14

Erestor shook his head in shock as he listened to his friend’s tale of the stranger in the alehouse. It was almost planned that the stranger would be at the alehouse at the exact time Glorfindel was, and would recognise him amongst the crowd. Not that Glorfindel was a common elf, his looks alone made him stand out among many a crowd. Yet it was still confusing that the stranger had handed Glorfindel the parchment with no questions of identity. All of this was becoming extremely intriguing to Erestor, like a mystery story told by the fortuneteller back in Imaldris. Glorfindel sighed; it had taken longer than he had first thought to get back to the palace, having avoided taking the main road less they run into any of the supposed spies Thranduil had sent after them.

“And have you looked at the parchment he gave you?” Erestor shifted on his horse as thnd snd suddenly whipped around them, leaving the trees moaning under the pressure. Glorfindel glanced cautiously around him. They were drawing nearer to the palace yet the dark feeling which clouded his mind was not abating only increasing. Reining his horse to a stop Glorfindel reached into his coat and removed the parchment before handing it to his friend for inspection. It was probably best that they discuss this outside the palace walls what with Thranduil being so pedantic.

”I do not know the seal which binds the string, I did not want to break it until you had looked at it.” Erestor stopped by Glorfindel’s side and held the parchment up towards the moon light for inspection. Not that there was a lot of light, the dense canopy of the forest above them only allowed the minimum of light through to ground level. Erestor gasped as he ran his finger over the green waxy seal instantly recognising it from among the many documents he’d processed during his time as Elrond’s advisor.

“It is the seal of Lord Celeborn of Lothlorien, yet it looks to have been sealed for a long time, the string is decaying a little and is barely holding the scroll.” Glorfindel couldn’t help but look a little shocked at Erestor’s immediate identification of the seal.

“Lord Celeborn? How does the matter of Legolas concern the Lord of Lothlorien?” Erestor could only manage a gentle shrug of his shoulders as he gently lifted the seal and unrolled the parchment. Glorfindel leaned further across his horse intent on seeing what the parchment contained. Erestor squinted in the limited light to enable him to read the faded elvish script.

“It is a document of elven philosophy, it must have been taken from the libraries of Lorien for I have not seen anything so old among Lord Elrond’s catalogues.” Glorfindel could only watch as his friend’s eyes scanned quickly down the page of scripture occasionally pausing for some length of them before continuing.

“And what does it say?” Glorfindel rolled his eyes as Erestor came to the end of scanning the document only to return to the start o and and to again start scanning it.

“Oh I am sorry Glorfindel but I have never read such a scripture as this and it is exceedingly strange, there seems to be a page missing from behind it.” Glorfindel sighed as he watched Erestor checked for any pages stuck together with no success. “It is a story or a fable as the old used to call them. It tells the story of a great elvan warrior sent to war. This war he partakes in seems to destroy all of the elvan races or the unions between them anyhow. The races become enemies and consequently gradually begin diminishing as they die without each others support in continued battles…” Erestor paused and furrowed his brow in frustration as he tried to make out the faded words. “I am sorry I can not read that part, I will have to examine it under better light. I will pick it up from here.” Glorfindel nodded understandingly as Erestor pointed to a line half way down the scripture having skipped a good few paragraphs that he could not read. “I do not understand how it has come about but the script tells of an elf born among the elder that has the power to unite the broken bonds between races so that eventually all the elves can travel to the west in peace and friendship. I do not know if it refers to the warrior or another elf I am not sure, I would have to do some research, that and the fact the last page of the story is missing.” Glorfindel sighed and sat back straight on his horse as he watched Erestor carefully roll the delicate parchment back up again.

“So these philosophy scrolls? What are they used for Erestor?” Glorfindel gently urged his horse forward again having tucked the parchment back into his cloak for safekeeping.

“They are said to have been a gift from the valar. They form the foundations of many of our laws and some have even been known to foretell the future or fate of certain elves.” Paperwork such as this was never Glorfindel’s forte and so the warrior merely nodded at his friend, still unsure by what it all meant. How anyone could come by such a parchment and then tear it from it’s book was unthinkable but for it to come bearing Celeborn’s seal was even more confronting. “Only the elder know of these sorts of scrolls now but I am avidly learning of them from Lord Elrond, although he has never mentioned this particular fable, which considering what it foretells is a worrying concept.”

“Aye, worrying indeed if you consider that already our realms are divided by race after the last alliance and that this particular scroll could have predicted it had it been in left in its proper book.” Erestor nodded deep in thought his worry slowly growing over the parchment and it’s importance. How any grubby ranger could have gotten his hands upon it was beyond him but the time frame he’d held it for was more worrying still.

”Yes I agree, yet it still does not explain why it has been delivered to you and what if anything it has to do with that damned confounded prince Legolas.” The moment Erestor said Legolas’ name Glorfindel felt a shiver run down his spine like a drop of mountain snow had melted down the length of his back. The feeling he had been pushing aside all night came back to him in startling reality and he spurred his horse to aint int for the last few meters to the palace gates a feeling of dread engulfing his body and making him shake. Something was wrong and the scene that greeted them in the courtyard of the palace definitely pointed to something dramathatthat had happened.

TBC..............

A/N Chapter updated just for Mawgy. Thanks for the review, *blushes profusely* I appologise for keeping you from your assignment. I too have a 50% assignment due next Friday and have not started. *G*. Also I'm doing PR & Media at uni, so its not quite creative writing but I'll get there eventually. I'm so glad you are enjoying this little story, be assured there are more twists and turns to come as you've just witnessed in this chapter. Thanks Mawgy, you're what makes writing worth the effort. *smiles sweetly*