Celeborn's Nine - Riders of the Night

Author's note: the demons in the battle were more along the line of Asian evil spirits...only a little more solid. And I want to add this just so you see why Glorfindel behaves the way he does...I see him as looking like Don Johnson AKA Sonny Crockett, Miami Vice...only with longer hair.
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Khamul looked at the conjurer and waited for something to happen. And something had better happen soon. Standing in the sacred circle with the incense burner releasing strange and dark aromas to the air, the conjurer called upon an ancient dark god that no man of any wisdom even dared to admit existed. Weaving the spell, promising living flesh, the conjurer released the ancient god, the ancient dark god of death and chaos, the sucker of flesh, the demon that could never die. It would have its meal.
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Celeborn and Glorfindel sensed it, Tiger felt it, and the other elves heard its evil whisper. Death was coming for them.

"We have to go now!" Celeborn snapped and grabbed his saddle off the ground. His horse was already quivering with fear. Even the birds in the trees overhead were fleeing.

Tiger, becoming more and more fearful by the moment, would have fled if Master had not told her to stay. BUt it was her love of him that kept her in place. When he mounted up and offered her his hand, she shook her head. Tiger had to run. With a flick of her tail, she leaped down the bank off the trail and fled into the forest. The riders, trusting her, spurred their frightened animals after her.

No one dared looked back as a sound so repulsive it tortured their ears became clearer and clearer. It was a devouring sound like hogs at a trough or someone slurping overly ripe fruit. And there was no doubt it would eventually over take them. Discipline kept the elves looking forward, fear kept Gimli's eyes on the precarious trail in front of them, while Aragorn and his retainers stayed close to the twins.

Tiger's trail suddenly came to an embankment overlooking a swift running river. She never hesitated as she leaped, her body stretching out to its full length. The terrified horses made their own leaps. Men and elves while leaving the saddles of their falling mounts held on to the reins as best as possible, only Gimli became seperated. He hit the water on his backside with a resounding splash. He struggled to the surface and saw that Legolas was still with their horse, which was rapidly being swept downstream. Aragorn had lost his horse but was clinging to the mane of a retainer's mount. A splash of yellow told him where Tiger was.

Gimli knew he was being swept along by the current, but he also felt the pull of the river on his body dragging him under. He thought about releasing his axe, but as wet as he was, he knew he was still going to drown. So this was how it was going to end. Gulping for air, refusing to just quietly drown, he struggled to stay at the surface but it was too much for him. He began to sink.

The water was cold and yellowish but remarkably clear. He held his breath, although it probably would have been better to just blow out all his air and suck in the liquid. Funny, it was actually quite peaceful under water. Then he saw some shapes coming towards like big fish. They were Glory Findel's dolphins. They circled him, nudged him and the next thing he knew, their hands were pulling him to the surface. They were dolphin maidens coming to carry Gimli off, and such lovely maidens at that.

When his head broke the surface, he gasped for air and held on to one of the dolphins. It two companions stayed close. Dragging him along, they carried him across the current to the other side. Gimli could see Glorfindel climbing on his horse as it dragged him out of the water. Down a ways Aragorn was also setting foot on dry land. Suddenly a hand grabbed his shoulder, and Gimli looked around at Elladan who had managed to stay with his horse. The elf pulled him towards the animal and then held on as the horse lunged forward. It was a tricky move, but Elladan got his foot in the stirrup and was on his horse the moment in made the bank. Hanging on to the dwarf, the elf carefully lowered him to the ground.

Gimli found himself sitting on his butt at the edge of the river staring at three dark shapes in the water. He would have liked to have thanked them, but Legolas showed up and yelled they needed to keep going. No time for polite good-byes and thank-yous. Gimli crawled up behind the dwarf and they were off again.

Celeborn reined in sharply upon seeing Tiger in human form standing in the water talking to it. She was speaking a language he was unfamilar with, but he was certain she was not casting a spell. She was speaking to something that lived in the water. Haldir rode up and jerked his horse's reins.

"Tiger, what are you doing?" he demanded anxiously.

Tiger dropped on her hands and knees in the water and continued her chant, at least that was what it sounded like. The horses snorted in fear and reared as the water began to churn violently. A great fish, an enormous fish, the god of the river himself answered Tiger's plea for help. One had to be a god to stop a god. Celeborn stared in amazement as the largest whiskered fish he had seen broke the surface and continued down stream.

Tiger looked up at Haldir and reached for his hand. He pulled her up on the back of his horse and they all started up stream together.
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Khamul was not surprised the conjurer's attack on the elves and men failed. You just didn't turn loose a mindless gulping thing to go after intelligent beings. But it was interesting the way the dark god returned and sucked the meat off the conjurer's bones and then crunched the bones themselves. Since Khamul had not officially linked himself to the conjurer's spell, he was free to watch, Fascinating, although it scared the shit out of the orcs who looked to him as their leader.

"A fish," Khamul said to the orc following him. "The most terrible god of all time defeated by a fish."

"It was a very large fish," the orc replied.

"It was still a fish," the Nazgul growled irritably. "I am hoping something stops these adventurers before they get here."

"Would you like me to take some troops out?" the orc asked hopefully.

The orc could not see Khamul's malevolent smile and would not have understood it even if he had been able to. "Dunz," he began patiently. "Did you not recognize any of those men or elves?"

"I recognized the king of Gondor," the orc replied confidently.

"Well that's good, but come. I want to show you something." They entered a dark room lit by torches. In what was an obscene duplication of Galadriel's mirror, Khamul poured a cup of wine into a large bowl and waited. Faces appeared. "That is Lord Celeborn. Once lord of Lothlorien, now he lives with his grandsons at Rivendell. Celeborn hunts orcs for fun. Keeps him on his toes while he waits for his grandsons to age and die. That's them. They hunt orc just for spite. Still young looking, so I'm not going to look for spontaneous heart attacks anytime soon." Another face appeared. "Ah, Glorfindel, the balrog slayer. I think you can figure out your chances against him. Legolas and Gimli, can't believe you forgot them. They were like ticks around Aragorn. And those six are Galadhrim. Remember them? BUt I do not know who the female is."

"She was the one who called up the big fish," Dunz said with a snapping smile.

"Yes, but who is she? Where did they get her?" Silently snapping his finger, the armor on his gloves making a real snap impossible, he said, "That is what you can do. Capture the female for me."

"With pleasure," the orc said and turned away.

"Oh, Dunz, one more thing."

"Yes?"

"The elf she's with..."

"Yes?"

"Lothlorien's champion orc killer. May have to get her away from him."
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With all their clothes and boots soaked, and the danger of saddle chafing very real, particularly for the men and dwarf, Celeborn decided to let some fires be made to dry their clothes and to give the horses a chance to get their wits about them. They were at the edge of the jungle forest, and he could see the beginings of the mountain range that protected Khamul's keep. From now on they would be climbing upwards into the mountains of the sky gods.

Haldir, wrapped in his damp cloak only for the sake of human and dwarf modesty, stood bare footed on the sloping bank of the gravel bottomed river. He was looking at the distant mountains when Tiger slipped under the cloak with him. Her skin was cool, and for once she seemed content to just let him warm her up. No, he was wrong. When she closed her teeth around one damp nipple, he knew she was up to no good. But instead of stopping her, he let her go on. And when her hands found his erection, he lowered his head on hers and waited. Being quiet was hard enough, but standing there while she pleasured him was next to pure torture. Thankfully no one stopped by for a chat. conversation would have been next to impossible.