The Last Wood Elf

Chapter 3 - Nightmares

 

 

As the company approached the city of the Woodsmen, Legolas looked on in amazement. Above him, as far as his eyes could see, were houses built within the tops of the trees. They looked just like huts one might see in a man village, but they were up high, far from the ground. Wooden houses, with doors and windows, thatched roofs and even chimneys. It seemed like the trees popped from the ground beneath and as they grew, they raised the huts along with them. The houses were connected to the others with a series of wooden plank rope bridges, truly a city in the trees. Something else caught the elfling’s attention. Between the ground and the bottom of the houses, the trees were stripped of their branches. There was no seeable way up.

 

“How do they get up there, Uncle?” Legolas asked, stretching his neck as he looked above.

 

One of the Woodsmen heard Legolas. Kular smiled wide and glanced down at the elfling. “Why, we spread our wings and fly like the eagles.” The look Legolas gave him was priceless as the boys mouth dropped and his eyes widened. Kular laughed, unable to play along with his own joke. “No, I am only jesting, little one, but I’ll show you how we do it.” Kular looked up into the tree, touched his forefinger to his thumb and put them in his mouth. Then he blew and gave a loud but short whistle. Instantly, a rope ladder unraveled as it fell over the edge of the hut, stopping just before it touched the ground.

 

Legolas giggled. “That is very smart.”

 

*  * *

 

The Woodsmen got Elhadron and Legolas settled in their own small hut after quickly cleaning out and furnishing the abandoned house. The women of the village brought some children’s clothes and gave them to Legolas. They also gave Elhadron a few things from the men’s wardrobe. A hearty meal of stew and bread was served up for the visitors, who ate their fill. When they were satisfied, Elhadron took a very sleepy Legolas to their hut and laid him down on the hay stuffed mattress. He slipped tiny boots from the elfling’s feet and covered him with a fur throw. “Sleep now, Little Leaf. We are safe here, with these men. Nothing can harm you now.”

 

Legolas nuzzled his cheek against the fur and sighed deeply as he drifted off into elvish dreams.

 

Meanwhile, Elhadron met with the men and discussed plans for their future. One of the huts was arranged as a dining hall with long wooden tables and benches. It could easily be turned into a meeting hall for such occasions. Then there were times such as now, when it was used as a gathering place where the men sat and talked, while their wives were home, taking care of the children, and tucking them into their beds for the night.

 

Elhadron entered the doorway and found the men he’d met earlier sitting on barrels around a metal fire pit, the embers of a log glowing and giving off heat. Folvar looked up and motioned for Elhadron to join them. The elf walked over and Torlek gave him the barrel he had been sitting on. Elhadron tried to refuse, but Torlek would not hear of it. He laughed with the same deep voice that all of these burly men seemed to have. “I don’t mind sitting on the floor. Besides, that’s where my wife tells me I belong anyways.” He stuck his tongue out in a comical way, made panting sounds and barked.

 

Folvar reached down and ruffled Torlek’s hair. “Be a good boy now, and don’t harass our company.” Hafdan and Kular laughed heartily.

 

Elhadron smiled and laughed while observing the men as they chaffed one another. Folvar seemed to be in command, although if you asked him, he would say that the Woodsmen had no chieftain, but rather they acted as a whole. He was the tallest among them, but not by much. What made him stand out above the others was his shoulder length reddish blonde hair. None of the other Woodsmen or their wives had hair that color. He was a man of about thirty years, very muscular and fit with a strong demeanor. He was the first to speak most of the time and the others often agreed with what he had to say. Elhadron had to laugh to himself. Like it or not, Folvar was a leader.

 

Torlek was the oldest of the group, probably in his mid-forties, Elhadron guessed. He had long sandy brown hair that he kept tied back with a piece of leather. His beard was the same shade of brown, but with a touch of grey mixed in. He was quiet most of the time, but always ready to respond whenever called upon. He had visible scars on his arms and one very prominent scar upon his right cheek, which ran from his temple to the corner of his mouth. The skin around his right eye looked as if it had been burned, smooth and shiny. It was slightly disfigured, but it still seemed useful.

 

Kular and Hafdan were brothers, each with blond hair that hung down to the top of their shoulders. They looked very much alike even though Hafdan was eight years Kular’s senior. Kular was the youngest, just reaching twenty. He kept the humor of the group, always telling a joke or sharing stories of his older brother’s mishaps. Hafdan often answered Kular with a punch in the arm, but it would not stop his younger brother’s jaw from flapping. Both had blue eyes and were rather handsome men. Neither was married, though Hafdan was courting a young woman in the village. A wedding would soon be arranged. Kular, however, was more of a free spirit. He always had a buzz of maidens gathered around him in social settings. He seemed to enjoy the attention and usually chose one lucky girl to take for a stroll with by the end of the evening.

 

“What about you, Elhadron,” Folvar asked, “Have you any family?”

 

“My parents and my brother sailed many, many years earlier,” answered the elf, “And I never married. My work as chief counselor was very time consuming.”

 

Folvar continued, “I myself am married, but we have no children. Torlek, as you heard has a wife and two grown daughters--.”

 

“Which he keeps a very close eye on,” Kular added.

 

“Especially from the likes of you, ye rascal,” Torlek answered.

 

Folvar laughed and then went on, “Kular, as you might have guessed, is spouseless.”

 

Kular interrupted, “Unattached, unwed, and uncoupled.”

 

Hafdan, his older brother broke in nex,. “Unrestrained is more like it.”

 

“You are just jealous, Brother, that I should be free while you are tied down to one companion,” Kular answered.

 

“And she is more than enough woman to keep me satisfied, you young cad,” Hafdan protested.

 

The men all laughed and Folvar pulled a wooden pipe from a hidden pocket beneath his fur vest. The other men followed suit and brought out their own smoking pieces. Torlek reached for a pouch lying on the ground next to him. He opened it and took a pinch of pipe weed, stuffing in into the carefully carved barrel. He passed the pouch around and the men all filled their pipes, lighting them and puffing away. Folvar looked over to Elhadron. “Do you smoke, my friend?”

 

“Not since my youth,” he answered.

 

Torlek reached into his grey fur vest and pulled out an extra pipe and a pouch, “No better time to start again, if you care to.”

 

The elf took the offering. He stuffed the pipe, lit it and then puffed. Instantly he started coughing as the smoke made his lungs burn. The men chuckled at the sight of an elf unable to manage a smoke. Torlek patted him on the back and Elhadron glanced up at him. “Thanks,” he said between gasping breaths.

 

“I guess there is something to be said about Woodsmen and wood elves. We can hold our smoke as well as they can hold their liquor,” Torlek chaffed, “Now, that there Dorwinion wine is some of the finest poison I have ever tasted, but after just one glass of the stuff, damned if I can remember my own name. But the elves … why, they drink it as if it is water, and can walk a straight line afterwards.”

 

Elhadron laughed, “We have had long years to become immune to its bite.”

 

After a while, and feeling comfortable in each other’s company, Folvar thought it was best to discuss their plans. “So Elhadron, where is it that you’d be taking the lad and yourself once you are free of the forest?”

 

The elf hung his head, trying to think but realized that he hadn’t had time to come up with a destination. “Honestly, I do not know. My only concern is for the elfling, and following his father’s wishes will come along once it is safe to travel.”

 

“You are welcome to stay here as long as you see fit, Elhadron,” Folvar offered. The room became silent, only the crackling fire making sound, and the men glanced at each other as if they all pondered the same questions. Then Folvar spoke again when he saw that no one else would. “The boy calls you uncle, but you said your brother sailed long ago.”

 

“Oh yes,” Elhadron answered right away, “Well, I was very close to his father, and I was there the day Legolas was born. The child’s mother perished when he was only two, and I promised to always be there to help, since the boy’s father was called away from time to time. He was a warrior, you see and when he went off to fight, Legolas was left in my care. Now we only have each other, it seems.”

 

The door of the hall opened and a girl walked in, a bit of panic in her voice. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but the elf child calls for his father. I think he is having a bad dream.”

 

Elhadron handed his pipe to Hafdan, who was sitting next to him and ran from the hall, following the girl back to his hut. The door was open and he went in, finding a woman cradling Legolas as he whimpered against her breast. She was rocking him in her arms and singing softly, but the child was clearly upset. Elhadron rushed to her side and she handed Legolas to his caretaker.

 

“Shush now, Little Leaf. I am here. I am here now.”

 

Legolas buried his face in Elhadron’s shoulder, “Where were you, Elhadron?” He was very upset at his foster uncle.

 

“I wasn’t far. I was speaking with the men who found us. You see, it did not take me long to get to you,” he said soothingly.

 

The woman, who had been holding Legolas patted him on the head, smiled and left the hut, taking the young girl with her. Elhadron figured she must be the woman’s daughter and was sent to fetch him. When they were alone and Legolas had calmed, he pulled the boy from his shoulder and sat him on his lap where he could see his face. “Do you want to tell me about your dream?”

 

“No,” Legolas insisted, “I don’t want to think about it again.”

 

“It is fine. We won’t speak of it any more, if that will make you feel better.” Elhadron lowered Legolas back to the mattress and stood. The elfling sprang up, clutching to the counselor’s leg.

 

“You are not leaving are you?” The child’s voice was full of fear. He did not want to be left alone again.

 

“I am going nowhere. Actually, I am quite tired, and I think I will go to sleep now.” He tucked the sheets around Legolas, making a cocoon around his small body. Then he stripped off his belt, boots and jerkin, and crawled into his own bed. Elhadron closed his eyes and tried to fall into reverie, when he felt a tug on his arm. He looked to the side to see Legolas standing in an oversized shirt that someone had given to him for nightclothes.

 

“Can I sleep with you, Uncle?” Legolas asked.

 

Elhadron smiled and lifted up the sheet. Legolas climbed in and snuggled up to him. One hand went to his mouth so he could suck on his thumb while the other hand went to Elhadron’s long, wheat colored hair. Tiny fingers twirled the elf’s blond locks, as Legolas fell back to sleep.

 

* * *

 

The next day, Legolas rose early and happy as if he had no bad dreams at all. They dressed and went to the same building where the men gathered the night before. The tables were full of villagers who had come for breakfast. Servants spooned piping hot porridge into their bowls and everyone ate heartily. Elhadron and Legolas took a seat at an empty table and were served immediately.

 

Legolas stared into his bowl then looked up at Elhadron, who had already started eating his breakfast. The elfling scrunched his face. “What is it?”

 

“It is called porridge. Try it, Legolas. It is very tasty, especially if you put this on it.” As he spoke, he drizzled honey from a small crock sitting on the table onto the steaming oats.

 

Legolas still stared into the bowl with his nose upturned. “I do not think elves eat this.”

 

“Of course they do. Now eat up,” Elhadron insisted.

 

Legolas stuck his wooden spoon into the dish and released it, noticing how the spoon stayed right where he put it. As he played with his food, Kular joined them at the table, the younger of the two brothers. He watched Legolas a moment and smiled.

 

“You know, when I was your age, I wouldn’t eat the stuff either, but my mother told me if I wanted to grow tall and strong like my brother, then I had better eat it.” Kular stuck his arm out to the side, curling it at the elbow and made a fist. Legolas watched as his bicep rose beneath his skin.

 

“Wow,” Legolas said with amazement.

 

“You think that is something, watch this,” Kular added. He turned around and called to his brother, “Aye, Hafdan, toss me one of those there walnuts.”

 

His brother reached into a bowl and produced the nut, throwing it underhand across to the next table where Kular sat. He relaxed his arm and put the walnut where the bicep had just been. Then he closed his arm, holding the nut within. He made another fist and squeezed all of his muscles, his face turning red as he grunted. Then there was a crack and he stopped. When he opened his arm, the walnut was split open. He grabbed it with his hand before it fell, and put in on the table next to Legolas. “See there, that is what happens when you eat your porridge.”

 

Not wasting another moment, Legolas grabbed the spoon and started slurping down his food. Elhadron chuckled quietly and Kular smiled, both satisfied that the boy was eating. “Did your father teach you that trick?” the elf asked.

 

“Na, it was my ma that showed me. She had arms like a warhorse’s leg. I didn’t dare cross her, though. She’d do the same thing only with my head instead of the walnut,” Kular teased.

 

Legolas giggled and kept eating until his bowl was empty. Then he looked at Kular. “I will be strong when I grow up too. And when I am, I will kill all the monsters so they can’t hurt me anymore.” Feeling like he said too much, Legolas sunk down on his bench and nuzzled into Elhadron’s side. Kular nodded, seeing that the elf should take the time to talk with Legolas and left.

 

Elhadron whispered into the boy’s ear, “Legolas, did you dream about them last night? Is that why you were crying?” With his face still buried, the elfling nodded. “It is alright now. There are no monsters here. The Woodsmen will help me keep you safe.”

 

Legolas looked up at Elhadron. “But they took ada and he was the strongest of all the elves.”

 

Curious, Elhadron asked, “What did you see, Legolas?”

 

The boy twiddled his fingers, looking down at his lap before he answered, “Ada stuck some of them with his sword, but then they surrounded him. They pushed him and he fell. He lost his sword and then . . . and then the monsters . . . they . . . they--,” Legolas’ lip quivered as he tried to tell his story, but he could not finish, tears streaking his face.

 

Elhadron gathered him in his arms. He had no idea that Legolas saw anything that night. He had tried to shield him from the sight of the attack. The counselor had seen almost the same thing as Legolas did, but he had turned and had run for the secret tunnel. Ah, that must have been it. As he went to the tunnel, Legolas was clinging to his neck and watched it all play out over Elhadron’s shoulder. He should never have let that happen. He should have shielded the boy’s eyes, but in the confusion, all the elf had thought of was escape. “I’m so sorry Legolas. You should not have had to witness that. And that is what you dreamt about?”

 

“Yes, only the monsters come after us next, and they grab my legs and try to pull me away from you. They smell like dead things and they have large claws . . . and they grab me and my legs bleed,” he cried.

 

Elhadron kissed the top of the child’s platinum head. “You know they cannot get you here. The orcs cannot climb the Woodmen’s trees. Besides, there are guards out looking for them. and they will stop them before they could ever get close to us. We must trust these men now.”

 

“But you talk of leaving, and I’m afraid to go into the forest again. More spiders and more wolves are hiding in the bushes and they will get me,” Legolas said worriedly.

 

“Then we will not leave this village. We do not have to do anything we do not want to do. And I feel safe here. I’ll tell you what, Little Leaf, perhaps we will stay a while. Would you like that?”

 

With tears still pooling in his blue eyes, Legolas nodded. “Yes, I want to stay here.”

 

“Then fear no more. We will stay a while,” Elhadron assured him.

 

Later in the day, Elhadron spoke with Folvar, accepting the chieftain’s offer of temporary residence in the village. How long they would stay was uncertain, but he agreed that this was the safest solution for the time being. Actually, it was quite a gift for Legolas to be able to live in the tree village for a while. He would get to experience something that most of his kin had not, living amongst the trees and off the land. The Mirkwood elves had dwelled under the hills for a millennia it seemed. It would be good for Legolas to get back to the roots of the wild wood elves, from when the land was still known as the Great Greenwood, before evil came. Elhadron would see to it that Legolas knew and understood the importance of his heritage. Here was as good a place as any to raise the young elfling. Eventually, they would be on their way, but for now, this just seemed like home.