Celeborn's Nine - Riders of the Night

Author's note: Enyo told this to Himeros in their story "beware the love of a god. It can prove fatal." Tiger certain loves Haldir, but Prometheus says Haldir will release her rather than let her die.

Hey: I've also added a line or two extra in what has already been written. ..........................................................................................................................

The weather started to clear and with it the anticipation grew as the elves and men prepared for their journey into the mountains to find the balrog. Glorfindel in particular seemed more thoughtful than usual, but then none of the others knew the prophecise that he knew. And Haldir who still believed there had been some treacherous intentions on his part, gave him wary glances as they readied their gear and debated the value of bringing horse of leaving them behind.

Tiger, who watched everything with keen eyes, was starting to pace as the moment of departure came near.

"Anxious to be away?" Haldir asked as he wrapped his forearms with thick leather strips to protect them from bow string, sword and fire.

"Today is it?" she asked quickly, her eyes fixing on the leather that wrapped his arms.

"Yes," he said and grinned at the eager look on her beautiful face. "I want you to be careful," he said and finished the leather wrap. "This is a creature of fire and you can't jump on him."

"What can Tiger do?" she asked with bright eyes.

"Watch me....I'll let you know what you can do."

"You do not want me to hide, do you?"

"No, but I want you to be very careful. A balrog is not like anything you have ever fought."

"Glory-findel has fought one," she stated thoughtfully.

"Yes, and it killed him."

Tiger's eyes got so large they looked more white than color. "It did? It killed him?"

"Yes."

Before Haldir could stop her, Tiger marched over to Glorfindel who was wrapping his arms and asked, "The balrog killed you?"

"A balrog caused it," he answered, amused at her nievete. She suddenly touched him on the shoulder. "I'm very real. Don't you remember?" he teased.

She looked up at him, and he swore for a moment that it was the eyes of Prometheus' Tiger looking back at him. "Tiger remembers," she said and lowered them. Neither one noticed Haldir's slight frown.

"You'd better go finish helping Hal-dear get ready then," Glorfindel said with a smile. Sanity was nice. As he finished wrapping his arms, Asplil came by with a young Saka girl following. He was telling her what to do with his things in the event he didn't return. Glorfindel hadn't noticed when the boy had gotten over his infatuation with Tiger, but sometime before his sister died, he had started sleeping with this girl and now Tomy was making her stay behind, which probably meant she was pregnant. An uncomfortable feeling came over the elflord as he realized the Sakas and Melanippus ran a greater risk against the balrog than he or the elves, and yet they were accepting the danger without question. It's easy to be brave when you are immortal, but to be brave when you're not was incredible.

Celeborn agreed to the horses as far as the mountains where they would proceed on foot. One of the Saka women had to stay with them, but that didn't bother anyone as long as they had all the remaining blood dipped arrows.

The mountains before them were great jagged giants covered in ice and snow, and if they hadn't harbored a monster, they would have been beautiful to look upon.

"How should we approach this?" Celeborn asked curiously.

"Well, according to all my Hellenes visitors, all we have to do is find a cave, enter it and the balrog will come to us."

"That simple?"

"According to the gods."

"I would not have thought that," Celeborn said, almost amused by the simplicity of it.

"Zeus wants it dead, but none of his heroes want the job."

"I can't imagine why," Celeborn replied and gazed upwards. There was a lot of mountain in front of them. "This will be no trouble for us, but it might be too much for our allies."

"Agreed," Glorfindel said and gazed back at Melanippus who was not looking too pleased at the prospect of putting his hooves on that much ice and rock. "Melanippus," he said, "I think you should stay here."

"And have others think me a coward?" the centaur asked indignantly.

"No one thinks you a coward," Glorfindel replied, "but if you slip and break a leg, we will have to kill you and that won't be any fun." He smiled so the centaur knew he was joking.

Melanippus looked back up at the mountain and said, "Perhaps you are right. I will stay here with the girl."

"We still might need your help," Rumil said and slapped the centaur's equine shoulder. "keep your eyes open for a big monster chasing us."

"I can do that," Melanippus said with a smile. "Just make sure the monster doesn't catch you."

"Be assured we will do our best to not let that happen," Orophin said as Celeborn started their climb.

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Celeborn took the lead, but he insisted on Tiger prowling just ahead of them. She would be able to tell if any of the ice trails were treacherous to the Sakas. If they were she was to come back and tell them. She had to do it twice, and with the going slow because of the constant threat of avalanche and a rising of the wind, they had to spend the night on a gravel slope in the open. And for once Tiger stayed in her skin and let anyone who could find a place to snuggle against her do so.

Haldir, wrapped in his cloak, did not sleep but kept watch with Glorfindel all night. He was too nervous to sleep and didn't trust their surroundings. At one point he checked on everyone and couldn't help but smile. All the Sakas had found their own piece of Tiger to stay warm except for Scopias, who was curled next to one of his women, who had as much of herself pressed against Tiger's neck as she could get, her face in the orange gold fur. Haldir crouched beside Tiger, who blinked at him, and stroked her head.

Glorfindel whistled at him and motioned for him to follow him up the mountain. Unhindered by the snow they climbed about two hundred feet before finding a rocky platform to stop and survey the mountain and forest below them on.

The moon was full overhead but there was no way it could irradicate the light of a million free stars. And with only the slightest breeze to ruffle their cloaks and hair, it was not an unpleasant night. Glorfindel grinned when he spied the faint light of a fire far down the mountain side at the edge of the forest. Melanippus and the Saka girl were keeping warm.

Haldir crouched down and intertwined his fingers together. He was remembering what he had seen earlier, the little conversation between Tiger and Glorfindel. "What did Tiger remember?" he asked curiously but with a touch of ice in his voice.

Glorfindel looked down at the young elf and considered lying to him, but if he did, he knew Haldir well enough to know that he would make Tiger miserable until he found out the truth. "I've been with her," he answered without apology. Haldir dropped his head for a moment and then raised it, his eyes looking far on the horizon.

"She willingly let you seduce her?" Haldir asked, a deathly stillness in his voice.

"No. Himeros arranged it. Apparently that's his forte."

"Why did he do that?"

"Because I wanted it, because if I didn't satisfy that part of me, some bad things were going to happen that Prometheus did not want to happen."

Haldir lowered his head again, his hair hiding his face from Glorfindel's gaze. "Prometheus wanted you to sleep with her?"

"No. Prometheus didn't want me to let you die." Haldir looked up, a question on his face. Glorfindel tried to smile, but his face felt hard and stiff, so he didn't. "Do you want the whole story as I know it, or just the abbreviated version?" Haldir shrugged, so Glorfindel told him the abbreviated version, leaving out the part where he seriously contemplated the other elf's death. Haldir had listened without interrupting, his eyes never leaving the horizon that was little more than a black strip against the blaze of the sky.

Finally his wide shoulders heaved and he said, "You should have let her kill me way back then. Think about all the....sadness...that could have been avoided."

"If it's an consolation, I'm over it now." And Glorfindel left it at that.

Haldir, dropping his head again, said, "One of these days he's going to come and get her."

"Why don't you let him have her now?"

"I've considered it, but I just can't say it. I keep hoping to find a way out this problem, a way to keep her."

"Isn't a cub one of Prometheus's promises?"

"Yes.

"Don't let her have one."

"Easier said then done. I don't know how she got pregnant the first time. It's not like we haven't been...intimate."

"You mean I know and you don't?"

Haldir frowned. "What do you know?"

"Tiger trapped herself when she seduced and then tried to eat you. Blood and seed.....makes the grass grow."

"I thought maybe Agaznamanahn...what he did to me and then to her...had something to do with it."

Glorfindel remembered what it had felt like just having that daeva brush against him and could only imagine what he had done to Haldir. The truely immortal, the ones who did not have to fear death even in battle, were the cruelest of all. "No," he answered thoughtfully. "Prometheus thought he could protect her by making blood a prerequisite. What man wants to slash his breast open and give a jinn tiger a drink of blood?"

"But he promised her I would," Haldir answered and stood up. To the east he could see a faint thread of pink on the horizon. Eos was opening the gates of the sun. His skin felt tight just thinking about either he or Tiger drawing blood. It would hurt, he was certain of that. And he could deny it to her; thwart Prometheus' plans.
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Celeborn awoke everyone the moment there was enough light to see. Tiger, free of her bedmates, went looking for Haldir and Glorfindel and found them as they were coming back down the mountain. She shape shifted and stood knee deep in the snow as Master and Glorfindel walked on top of it. It always amazed her that they could do that

"I take it everyone is up now," Glorfindel said and smiled.

"Finally," she grumped.

"it's the fur coat," the elflord teased and stopped as Haldir threw an arm around Tiger's neck and turned her to go down the side with them.

"This is not fair," Tiger growled as she slipped but was held up by Haldir.

"Lots of things aren't fair," he told her. "But do you hear me complain?'

"Yes," she answered, "you complain all the time."

"I told you that," Glorfindel teased the other elf. "And telling her to never lie to you will get you more truths you don't want to know."

"All right then. Tiger, who is the better lover, Glorfindel or me?"

Tiger stopped, a look of shock and surprise on her face. "Ah, hesitation," Glorfindel laughed. "Now no matter what she says, we know she had to stop and think about it."

"No, Master," she told the suddenly frowning Haldir. "You are much better than Glorfindel. Much better."

"It's all right, Tiger," Glorfindel continued, the laugh actually loosening something in side of him. Something that needed coming out. "He knows."

"You hesitated," Haldir reminded her. "A hesitation means you must think about it."

"No Master, I just...." she stopped and frowned. They were upsetting her.

Haldir drew her into his body and held her until he felt her relax and accept his comfort. "It's all right," he assured her. "I was just teasing." He didn't want to go into the cavern of the balrog with any cross words or trouble between them.
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The cavern of the balrog was at first not noticeable under the ice daggers that dripped from its mouth, but there was no mistaking who it belonged to; the smell of sulphur and other noxious gases drifted out in a steady stream. Glorfindel watched and listened and could have sworm the cavern was actually alive and breathing.

Elrohir and Elladan, less intimidated by caves than all the others, readied their bows and eased inside. One of the Sakas, a burning torch in hand, followed them. Celeborn and Glorfindel, swords at ready, followed.

Something in the cave caught the light from the torch set a glow about them. Elrohir looked around and motioned for the others to come up on the right side of him. In the strange light, he looked the grimmest and darkest of the elves. Tomy, her bow at ready, stopped beside him and searched his eyes. He looked away and moved swiftly and gracefully behind his brother who was moving along the wall deeper into the cave. Half the Sakas followed them, the other half followed Celeborn and Glorfindel. Tiger stayed with Haldir and his brothers, who were looking for a way up, where they could shoot down when the time came to fight.

"We don't want to get up there and be trapped," Orophin said anxiously, the smells and hissing sounds around them disturbing him. Elves did not belong in caves, and for once he missed Gimli.

Continuing deeper into the cave, they saw signs of orcs and trolls, but there were none present, a blessing in itself. Shadows moved along the walls up high, but they didn't try to come down, so except for noting where they were, the elves left them alone.

Glorfindel 'felt' the balrog before he saw or heard it. Once you have encountered one, you never forget it. Even Celeborn sensed its presence like a dark emotion across his heart. He looked at Glorfindel, who inclined his head. Taking note where his grandsons were, Celeborn caught Elladan's attention and gave the hand signal that the balrog has been sensed. He then looked around for Haldir and spotted him on an upper level path with his brothers and Tiger. They were crouching on the ledge and staring deep into the glowing core of the cave.

A rumbling started deep in the cave towards that hellish glow, a sound that had Tiger cowering beside her Master. All three brothers stroked her body, a nervous jesture that was as calming to them as to her. On the other side of the cave The twins and their Sakas were creeping closer, all of their bows at ready.

"Just a suggestion," Glorfindel said over Celeborn's shoulder," I think it will be easier to fight him outside it possible."

Celeborn vigrously nodded his head. "Whatever you think," he said.

The balrog made its presence known about then, its huge black body glowing from an internal fire. A mane of liquid blaze ran over its back as something like wings sprouted like ebony shadows from its shoulders. It roared, a blast furnace of noise shaking the walls of the caverns.

"I believe it sees us now." Glorfindel observed.


to be continued.........argh!!!!!! actually a new chapter just devoted to the battle might be better.