Scarred Fate

CHAPTER 54: The Trial

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CHAPTER NOTES

And here the final part...

SCRIPTS:

'Thoughts'; ~visions~; **mind speech**; -l-Letters-l-

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Almost an hour later Brandon was called to stand in front of king Thranduil and lord Elrond, who sat next to the king as guest of honour.

The throne room was filled with soldiers who were guarding the accused, with the lords of Imladris and Greenwood, king Thranduil's advisors and Thalion's unit, who would act as witnesses. With a sinking feeling Erestor realized that indeed all of the assembled people either had been directly involved in this nightmare or were required to guard the accused. In this rather vast circle it was Brandon who would speak first as only he could describe how he came to be Erestor's foster-father.

When Erestor noticed Thranduil's intention he almost groaned. It seemed they were intent on picking his whole life to pieces. And when his uncle stood in front of his king, Erestor leaned back disgustedly in his chair, suddenly understanding that this was nothing more than a show trial, probably suggested by Thranduil's oh so clever advisors. Every question, every answer carefully measured. This trial was only held to redeem the king of *Mirkwood's* reputation, and secretly show him, Erestor, up without raising the suspicion of doing so.

He wondered if Thranduil was seeing the concealed smugness in his advisors' faces and then, if he himself really saw it or only imagining it.

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"He is my sister's son. Lalaith." Brandon smiled slightly in remembrance of the little blond elleth. "I admit that her pregnancy came as kind of a shock to my family and that I was furious: she was not wed and did not reveal her lover's name. Knowing his identity now I guess she thought we would not have believed her and maybe she was right."

Straightening in his chair, Brandon looked directly at Erestor, a deep-rooting sorrow seemingly surfacing in his blue eyes. "The pregnancy and Elethael's birth weakened her considerably and I decided that I had to take her to our king's halls so she could receive an adequate medical treatment."

Directing his gaze to his liege he proceeded after taking a deep breath. "On our way down the river we were attacked by giant spiders and although we managed to escape we lost our boats with everything in it and found ourselves wandering more or less without orientation on the western side of the Forest River where we more or less stumbled upon the Enchanted River and with the spiders in our back we followed it upstream towards the Elf-path. I took the baby because Lalaith was growing weaker and then … then she just couldn't go on any longer. And I told her to wait and hide and that I would go west to the outpost there where Magron was stationed – I guessed that it must have been within a day's travel – and I left her my sword to defend herself.

But when we returned we only found little Elethael, weak and almost lifeless. I had Magron search for Lalaith and returned to the outpost with her son. Two days later they brought back her lifeless body and told me that she had drowned, probably while trying to get water for herself and her baby."

Elrond narrowed his eyes, somehow doubting Thranduil's advisor. But he was too far away to look into those treacherous eyes and see the lies there. Well … there had been no other witnesses and they would never be able to prove if he had had part in her death and there were crimes enough for which one could blame him.

"I brought Elethael home and raised him. Although I admit that I was not a good father to the boy: I was more often in your halls, my liege, than seeing to Elethael's needs."

"My name is Erestor!" The words were grinded out as if the darkling found it hard not to shout them.

"Your mother named you Elethael, and that's what I will call you. Your name is the only thing she left you, child. Do not treat that with contempt!"

"Silence! Lord Erestor, you will talk when asked to."

"But I …" seeing Thalion's raised eyebrows, Erestor grew silent and looked down at his lap, still fuming. "… my apologies, my liege. It shall not happen again."

"Good, then please continue, lord Brandon. But you shall refer to the chief advisor of Imladris with his chosen name, *lord* Erestor."

Brandon's smile froze on his face but he bowed to his king. "As I said: most of the time Magron and Fiondil looked after lord Erestor. And Fiondil was the one to discover his gift. The first vision he had … he was five years old and he foresaw an accident that three weeks later happened."

Erestor felt all eyes resting on him and unconsciously he ducked down, uncomfortable with those details of his childhood. He still remembered sobbing in Fiondil's arms after that first time, listening to the promise that he was safe but those visions had never left him.

"I told my sons to keep an eye on their cousin and tell me about his visions." He paused to wet his lips.

"I am no saint and I do not want to belittle what I have done. But when I realized the benefit his visions provided our family with, could maybe, if nurtured correctly, provide Greenwood with, I told Fiondil to encourage them. And he did. I never asked how he would do it, however, and I was not there to witness it.

I used his ability to gain a position at your court, my liege, and I used my position to help our people, advising you. But I did not want to hurt anyone."

"This is … this is outrageous!" Erestor shouted, standing up from his place, pointing with his finger at his uncle, his hand shivering with fury and hate.

"Erestor, sit down!" Elrond ordered, but his chief advisor did not obey.

"You dare to say you did not want for anyone to get hurt? You ordered them to drug me!"

"Lord Erestor, we shall hear you, but do not interrupt lord Brandon's testimony!" Thranduil said with a raised eyebrow.

"They filled me up with alcohol, hallucinogens and psychedelic drugs and when I refused to tell them about my dreams any longer you forced me into marrying your blasted son!"

"ERESTOR!" Elrond stood, his voice leaving no room for disobedience.

"I was 41, Brandon! 41!"

Elrond closed his eyes for a moment to compose himself before turning to Thranduil, anger marring his beautiful face.

"I won't listen to your advisor telling any more lies." He told him in a hushed voice.

Thranduil pursed his lips, leaning back slightly. "I wanted to give Brandon the chance to confess, lord Elrond …"

"I understand that. But you also have to understand that my chief advisor cannot just listen to his uncle spinning a web of deceit and belittling the cruelties he has put him through. And I won't let that happen either. With his lies Brandon lost the right to speak and I will leave immediately with Erestor if this outrageousness continues!"

Thranduil looked into Elrond's grey serious eyes. "Forgive me, lord Elrond. You are right of course. After all it is Greenwood that has to vindicate itself in front of Imladris."

Slowly Elrond's hard expression softened somewhat, but his voice was still clipped when he answered the king.

"No. It is Brandon who has to vindicate himself in front of his king and the victims of his scheming. This is not about the relationship between our realms."

Thranduil graced his noble guest with a small smile before he turned towards his advisor, his voice now easily filling the whole room. "As you seem unable to tell the truth, lord Erestor shall continue from here on."

Erestor bowed his head, looking down at his fists. 'truthful, self-confident, polite.'

He looked at his uncle and his throat contracted in fury and hate. 'truthful, self-confident, polite!'

Still his voice shook from suppressed anger when he began to speak.

"With all due respect, my lord: I do not see how the retelling of my childhood could contribute any useful information." Ignoring the suppressed groans of his brothers and his lord's critically raised eyebrow, he hurried to continue.

"Almost twenty Imladrian soldiers along with my lords Elrond, Glorfindel, the lords Elladan and Elrohír and prince Legolas, one of your most trusted captains, namely captain Thalion, and two dozens of your soldiers and furthermore the lord of the great eagles Gwaihir, his brother Landroval and two others of their kin can testify that Brandon contacted the Hillmen of Angmar to attack the royal family of Imladris along with the Hidden Valley itself and that he abducted me. I see *no* reason why I should publically lay my childhood bare!"

"I object, my liege, in respect to my participation or knowledge of these events." Brandon calmly spoke up.

"This was only Fiondil's planning and doing. Even the soldiers standing before you here were not aware of my youngest son's exact plans. Had I or they known that a fellow elf would be harmed in the endeavour they would not have done it. Yes, we wanted lord Erestor back, we wanted that influence again, and it was easily justified to abduct Elethael, seeing that he was so unhappy in Imladris that he had started fading! Fiondil said that it would be better for lord Erestor if he was with his husband again and he said that as long as lord Elrond was not in Imladris, protecting its inhabitants with Vilya, the abduction would be easy to accomplish and without anyone coming to harm."

Erestor was speechless as he looked in disbelief first at Brandon and then at Thranduil, seeing that the king wavered. His mind screamed at him to stop that nightmare and he could not keep his tears from spilling over, not because of grief, but because of the storm of emotions raging in him.

"I will never forgive myself, for I did not see what was so clearly before my eyes. Fiondil loved Elethael passionately, madly, he was obsessed with his cousin. All he wanted was to have him in his arms for all eternity … I think that he did all this so that his brother, my eldest son Magron would die so that he could bond to Elethael instead … I was so blind. I will take the blame for that on my shoulder; please spare my family for they are innocent in this. But we truly did not know the extent of this madness." The blonde begged convincingly.

Swallowing convulsively, Erestor observed the other accused who had helped in the kidnapping, and he knew they would support Brandon in this testimony. Brandon protected them!

His gaze wandered to the other witnesses he had enumerated earlier, knowing that none of them were able to confound those claims and only Elrond and Thalion met his pleading gaze. He saw how his lord held his blond lover back, Glorfindel obviously being close to attacking the traitorous advisor. But they couldn't stop the lies and if he didn't stand his ground now, then Brandon would maybe only face some kind of eternal house arrest. He wanted him gone from Middle Earth, wanted to be able to forget him!

Swallowing the lump of emotions, Erestor started to speak up hastily, interrupting his uncle. "I will testify!"

Immediately Erestor stiffened as he felt all attention focusing on him and his heartbeat and breathing sped up and for some moments Erestor thought he would not be able to speak. Erestor looked down to the hands in his lap that had tensed up, clasping around the delicate fabric of his robes, the knuckles white from the tension. He did so not want to do this.

Faintly he knew that he would be unable to calm down any time near and almost unconsciously he straightened and started breathing shallowly with his stomach only, his chest widened and rigid with the retained breath. He would have to speak slowly to cover up the frequent respites he needed but he knew that this would at least hide his fast breathing.

If only they would not look at him, or at least not look at him like vultures eying a dying animal.

"Yes, lord Brandon took me in but I know from Mithrandir that he kept me a secret from the beginning, he told my father that I didn't exist so he could keep me, a half Maia."

"That is not true, Erestor. He came asking about my sister, never revealing they had been lovers. Why should I have even let him look at you, when you were still so small and fragile? And even if I had known who he was, he didn't deserve you: he impregnated my sister and left! He left her alone and if not for him, she would still live!"

"I came back for her!"

"When she had already died, too weakened by her pregnancy!"

"Still you had no right to keep my son away from me!"

"Brandon! Mithrandir!" Thranduil called angrily. Why was this happening to him? "Anyone who finds himself unable to keep silent while another testifies will leave this hall! *Now*, proceed if you will, lord Erestor!"

Erestor warily watched his father for a moment, wondering if the old wizard only cared for his mother's sake or for his sake. He never realised that his words came more easily now, that his breathing came less agitated after witnessing his father lose his temper for his sake. Maybe it was only the short respite from all that intent stares.

"As my uncle already said: My cousins raised me but they kept me inside for most of the time. When I started to have visions they daily asked me about any dreams that I might have had but I dreamt only once or twice a week and only about happenings of the near future. Therefore they started to experiment with hallucinogens and later with alcohol and psychedelic drugs for practical reasons until they modulated the doses so that I had almost daily visions with a rather high clarity."

He did not want to look at the elves staring at him, so he kept his gaze trained at his now folded hands. They pitied him, all respect for Elrond's chief advisor fled. What he had worked for lied shattered on the ground.

He could not tell them the details, make them pity him even more, and they had no right to know either. 'Truthful, self-confident and polite' he repeated the words in his head like a mantra. It seemed he would only manage to stay truthful.

"I started fading as I could not stand seeing the horrid pictures but they kept me alive by telling me I was needed and that it served some greater good." He smiled mirthlessly at his own naïveté before he continued.

"But some day I accidentally got an overdose and I dreamt with an unprecedented clarity. I saw Imladris fall, lord Elrond die; I … saw my own death.

I refused to ever tell them about my visions again, hoping this would make them stop. Instead I was forced to marry my cousin Magron, Brandon's eldest son. I was 41 then. Bonded to him and under the influence of drugs I would not have been able to close my mind and he could have seen my visions.

I managed to escape before the bond was forged. And I happened upon Thalion who brought me to Imladris."

There, it was done, his story told. Relief washed over him, but it was short-lived.

"Lord Erestor, who exactly forced you into that marriage?" Thranduil asked.

"My uncle ... Brandon did."

"And how?" the king inquired further.

He should have expected that question, Erestor thought, trying to hide the memories that it raised. He should have known that they would not be satisfied, that they would dig up his most painful secrets. And he had worked so hard to bury them in the first place.

Meanwhile Brandon nervously fidgeted on his chair, knowing what was to come, knowing that this would greatly influence his liege's view of him. His movements did not remain undetected and more than one ellon and especially Gandalf casted murderous glimpses in his direction.

But Erestor stayed silent, either caught in memories or unwilling to reveal what had happened so long ago.

Finally Elrond tried to inquire further but all he got was a quiet and short "He threatened to torture a friend."

"And where is this elf so that we may question him?"

"She, my liege. But neither is Glánil still alive, nor was she an elleth. She was a wolf. Brandon threatened to amputate her legs one by one and make me watch." A shocked wave of murmurs and gasps went through the room as every gaze was directed at Brandon in outrage.

"I never harmed that animal!"

"Because I relented before you could!"

Forcing himself to calm, Erestor turned again to where his lord and the king of Greenwood sat. "I managed to flee before the bond with Magron was completed with the help of a knife Fiondil brought me. My Glánil helped me survive in the woods until I happened upon Thalion and his unit.

They brought me to Imladris."

With a stern expression Thranduil addressed his captain. "Why wasn't I informed, Thalion?"

"When we came upon Erestor he was frantic. He only told us enough to lead to the assumption that he had been abused by his family. He refused to tell more and pleaded with us to help him escape.

Forgive me for acting on my own authority but I deemed it best for a boy who was frightened enough by his pursuers to cross spider territory without so much as a water flask."

Erestor shook his head in slight disgust. The Mirkwood elves *were* using this trial as a means to redeem king Thranduil's reputation. But he schooled his features the moment that the king turned to him again, obviously satisfied with his captain's explanation that left him without guilt. No, Thranduil surely had had no means to know that Brandon was a snake in the grass; the king of Mirkwood had everything under control. Thalion had been an exception, and had only gone against his liege's ruling because of compassion and pity. Pity.

"Lord Erestor?"

Was that all there was?

He looked to his brothers and smiled slightly. Suddenly he didn't care. Let them know, let those foxes think whatever they wanted, he knew his brothers, knew they loved him.

Slowly he started to tell of his visions and his plans to convict his uncle. He spoke of how he had erred in the time and how he had then adapted his scheming. In every detail he retold the happenings on the High Pass, supported by the reports of the ruling family of Imladris and Tauron.

Erestor kept his silence however when it came to the events that had occurred the day he was freed, not wanting to reveal them in front of king Thranduil's court. It was mostly Legolas who recounted the details of this night and no word was breathed of the sexual assault that the advisor had suffered, and for that, Erestor was thankful.

He was only vaguely listening as some guards and healers recounted the attack on Erestor and he only forced himself to pay attention when he heard that the apparent poison had merely been water from the Enchanted River, that the assassin had only tried to keep him from testifying. At this point, Brandon had given up his attempts of denying his participation.

In the end it was decided that the sentence would be announced the following day after Thranduil had consulted privately with Elrond on the exact verdict.

Erestor knew they would ask his opinion also. He felt numb inside.

Emotionally and physically drained he was glad when he felt Thalion take his arm to lead him from the room. Part of him wished he had died at Fiondil's hands so that this part of his life would never have come into the open, the other part of him already felt dead; or at least not yet ready to live. But it would, he reminded himself, in time.

"Come, Erestor. It is over."

"Yes it is. Thank you." He added after a moment.

"Why?"

Thalion gently smiled at his brother as he steered him past the large wooden doors leading from Thranduil's throne room, unobtrusively indicating Gandalf to stay away; Erestor always seemed to be somewhat tense around the wizard and the Imladrian elves. With him being exhausted from the trial, Thalion was willing to keep Erestor away from them for a while, at least until he was properly rested.

"Just ... just because I feel that way. Could you tell Elrond that I don't want to ... I don't want them to ask me for my opinion regarding the verdict. And I don't want to hear it. I would like to be excused tomorrow."

"Why don't you ask him, yourself?" Thalion knew that the peredhel and Glorfindel were concerned for the advisor. They had asked him daily how the darkling was doing, if he felt ready to speak with them; but the captain had always denied the balrog slayer and the lord of Imladris, and most often Gandalf, too, with feeble excuses.

"You realise that you are hiding?"

"I'm not hiding, I am merely tired."

He could not go over to where Glorfindel held Elrond's hand in his, speaking with the twins and Gandalf, who had joined them a moment ago. Elrohír and Elladan knew his secret, he could not face them now, not ever.

He saw their heads turning towards him and looked away quickly into his brother's searching gaze again. Only a moment longer and they would have beckoned him over, of that he was sure.

"I shall retire now, if you will excuse me."

Shaking the captain off with a quick movement, Erestor turned and headed down the hallway to his chambers. Thalion followed his brother with his thoughtful gaze before he approached the peredhil family with measured steps.

"Captain Thalion." Glorfindel politely smiled at the Silvan captain for a short moment in welcome before he turned serious again. "How is he?" he asked, nodding in the direction Erestor had vanished.

"Tired." Thalion answered honestly. "He begged me to make his excuses for tomorrow and he would prefer not to know the sentence either." Pausing for a moment, Thalion cocked his head in thought. He knew that they had wanted to befriend Erestor at some point and he knew that his brother had refused them.

But he could not always be there for Erestor and they seemed honourable in their intentions. Even though he was indulging the darkling for now in his wish for privacy that would not always be possible, and if these elves still wanted to get close to Erestor, they had his goodwill.

Besides, Erestor really should work on the relationship with his father.

"He is exhausted and wants to rest. But truth be told: I think he only wants to avoid you. Why, I do not know. But he seems extremely uncomfortable in your presence."

Neither the Silvan nor the two Imladrian lords saw the knowing look and smirk shared by the twins.

"He is probably embarrassed at the situation he was found in, and he never liked being the centre of attention. It will become better, once we are back in Imladris." Gandalf voiced.

** Oh, if they knew! **Elladan grinned at his brother, who regarded him with an amused look of his own.

"I wouldn't be so certain" Thalion cautioned. "But I advise you to be persistent and honest with him."

** Just wait 'til we tell our matchmaker of a sister. Poor Erestor! **

** I'm sure she'll be persistent, I'm not so sure if she's going to be honest, though…**

** Erestor won't know what hit him! **

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CHAPTER END NOTES

ellon ~ male elf

elleth ~ female elf

I know it's quite an open ending, but the next story, Gates of Dawn, will take the story line up right where Scarred Fate ended.

 

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ATTENTION: You'll find the Sequel not in the Slash - Male/Male category, but under Third Age > Threesomes/Moresomes > Gates Of Dawn

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