The Shadow Hunter

- Third Age, Year 241 - Glorfindel hummed cheerfully as he made his way through the green trees of Imladris. His golden hair glimmered, reflecting the spring sunlight which radiated the valley as he rode his horse across a clearing. The day was well and beautiful, and Glorfindel was rather impatient to reach the home of his friend Elrond the peredhil. After such long years venturing among the people of Middle Earth he had finally decided to visit the Elf once more, hoping to share some of his knowledge about the outer world. His journey was by far safe and sound, and he hoped it would still be until he reached the gates of Rivendell. He didn't want to unsheathe his sword after so much peace he had enjoyed ever since Sauron had fallen. Slowly he passed the denser part of the forest and closed in to Bruinen, the river flowing deep in the valley, and stopped to let his horse drink from its clear waters. As he waited he looked around and enjoyed the tranquility of the valley, undisturbed under Elrond's protection. He hummed again as he brushed his horse's mane to ease his boredom. His horse suddenly stopped its drinking and looked up to the direction they had travelled earlier. Glorfindel was surprised of his horse's behaviour and followed its gaze as well. His horse became restless after a few moments and Glorfindel wondered what had happened to the steed. His keen ears suddenly caught screeches belonging not to beasts nor animals. Orcs?, Glorfindel thought as he took his bow from his horse's saddle and notched an arrow onto its bowstring. Judging from their sound Glorfindel assumed their numbers were not many, and he drew his bow once he saw figures running from the distance. Now my hopes of finding peace here is in vain. "Help!" suddenly a woman's voice came from among the black figures. Glorfindel shuddered at her voice and lowered his bow. He suspected if the voice he had heard was only his pure imagination, but he realised his suspicions were wrong when he caught the sight of a woman riding a black horse. She was carrying a bundle within her hands and her face were marred with grazes. Behind her were the Orcs Glorfindel had heard just then, running wildly with drawn black bows in their hands. Without further thought Glorfindel released his arrow to an Orc which almost outran the woman. His arrow flew past the woman's ear and hit the Orc's skull accurately, killing it in an instant. Glorfindel had hoped that the evil creatures would stop chasing the woman once they saw him, but he was wrong, and the Orcs continued to run over the corpse of their comrade. Glorfindel frowned at his enemies' stubbornness and fired another arrow to an Orc wielding a sword. "Come, this way!" Glorfindel shouted to the woman. There was a slight flash of hope appearing on her face when she heard the Elf's voice and a relieved smile crooked from her lips, but they all vanished when the horse she was riding fell to its knees and threw her to the solid earth. Glorfindel immediately ran to the woman to protect her from the chasers, but he stopped when an arrow whizzed past his ear. Another arrow flew over his shoulder. Glorfindel couldn't continue his steps and decided to take care of the enemies first. The woman, to his relief, rose to her feet and ran towards him as she clutched the bundle in her arms. "Hurry!" Glorfindel urged her when he saw that she was finally getting closer. The woman continued to limp desperately towards him and Glorfindel extended his hand to reach her. However, before the woman could take his hand, a cruel black arrow impaled her right shoulder. The woman stopped and looked at Glorfindel in horror as blood flowed from the hole in her shoulder. She fell to her knees, but her arms still protected her bundle, caressing it gently as if it was a fragile thing. Glorfindel gritted his teeth in anger and released more arrows to the impending enemies and their numbers dwindle in the fury of his attacks. The strength he used to muster returned to his veins and he took down what was left of the Orcs swiftly, like a hurricane striking frail buildings to their destruction. The last Orc screeched loudly as an arrow impaled its chest as it fell to the ground. Glorfindel didn't spend a second to congratulate his victory and rushed to the fallen woman. He knelt beside the woman and rested her in his arms. Blood was flowing profusely from her wound and her breathing was heavy and slowing each second she passed. "Stay with me, My Lady," Glorfindel pleaded to her, despite knowing that she had little time left. The woman looked to his eyes and, to his surprise, smiled weakly at him. "It is too late, My Lord. My wound is too grief and I will shortly leave this world," she coughed with her dying voice, but there was no fear in her face nor her voice. Glorfindel looked at her in pity and disappointment to himself, for he could have saved the woman if he was keener and faster. "Please do not give in My Lady. You can still be saved by Lord Elrond," Glorfindel tried to assure her. The woman only smiled in response and then looked at the bundle she had been protecting from the Orcs. Slowly she unveiled the cloth enclosing the bundle, revealing an infant elleth sleeping soundly and unharmed. Glorfindel gaped at what the woman was showing and was more surprised when she gave the baby to him. "Please, protect her," she said as she handed the beautiful child. Glorfindel took her hesitantly and then looked back at the dying woman. "Who are you? What happened?" Glorfindel tried to ask her, but he saw that her eyes were losing their light and her soul fading. "It is not… not important now," the woman whispered, not having strength left to talk aloud. "Varilerin… Please take care of her, My Lord." A single drop of tear flowed from her dark brown eyes as she gazed far to the sky. Her soul had finally escaped the despair she had been enduring for the child now in Glorfindel's arms. Glorfindel grimaced sadly and closed the woman's eyes with his bloodied hand. "May peace find you in the Halls of Mandos," Glorfindel chanted in Elvish. The child in his arms wriggled and woke from her dreams. Glorfindel looked at her beautiful eyes, silver like a jewel unlike her dark raven hair. She didn't cry nor move as her eyes shifted to the soulless body beside her. Glorfindel brushed her head gently as he hushed her before she could cry. "Don't worry child," he whispered. "You're safe now." ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ After long years of travelling Glorfindel returned to the village Rivendell with a child in his arms and a corpse at the back of his horse; and Elrond couldn't decide which one surprised him more. He arrived in haste, as if he was being chased by an evil spirit of Morgoth. "What has happened?" Elrond questioned the Elf hastily once he had unmounted his horse. Elrond frowned when he saw his friend's poor bloodied appearance, and desperately wondered what had happened in his journey. "A pack of Orcs chased this child and her mother," Glorfindel explained with short breaths. He paused as he regained his calmness and looked at the corpse of the child's mother sadly, her face cold and soulless. "She sacrificed herself for her daughter. Now, she has nowhere to go." Celebrian, Elrond's beloved wife arrived just then, having heard of Glorfindel's surprising arrival. Her eyes were quickly directed to the infant carried by Glorfindel and she looked at him questioningly. "Glorfindel found this child when he was travelling here. Now she has no home nor family. Will you take care of her for now?" Elrond said when he saw his love's arrival. His sons were spying from the balcony above, their eyes watchful and curious of what had just happened, for it had been long years since they last saw Glorfindel. Celebrian smiled as she nodded, and took the elleth carefully from Glorfindel's arms, preventing her from awaking. She studied the child's appearance and found her raven hair odd and interesting. "She's just as old as Arwen, poor her," Celebrian said when she saw that the child was no longer than a year old, still frail and innocent of the dangers of the world. "And she's malnourished, but luckily she is unharmed." "Yes, such a fate indeed," Elrond said. "Please take care of her." "I will, My Lord," Celebrian said as she excused herself from Elrond and Glorfindel's presence. Elrond then instructed the nearby Elves to move the mother's body to one of the empty chambers and with Glorfindel he investigated to which race the woman belonged to. "She's an elf, I suppose," Elrond observed when he saw her pointed ears, but her face was not of their kind. Her cheekbones were strong and her face stern, her eyes as white as the moon and her hair as dark as the night sky, just like her child. "She's a peredhil," Glorfindel realised. "Of Noldor ancestry." "It is strange for a mere peredhil to be chased by a pack of Orcs. Our borders have been peaceful for a long time and a few of those evil creatures were bold enough to enter the valley, and yet she's chased by a whole pack?" Elrond asked Glorfindel. "And I believe the Orcs are, judging by their weaponry, not from those dwelling around the river. They must have chased her from afar," Glorfindel added. "She didn't say no more of the reason she was "Then the child holds an importance to her. I am afraid an importance more than we can imagine," Elrond deduced. His eyes then caught a small brooch clasping the woman's cloak together, of significant shape not strange to his eyes. He unclasped the brooch and observed it carefully. It was made of silver he supposed, but what intrigued him was not its material. It was shaped as a six-pointed star, an ornament only possibly found among the people of the Numenor. "I believe we know where she came from," Elrond told Glorfindel. "The Dunedain." "The Dunedain you say?" Glorfindel asked in surprise. "Their land is far from here and yet the woman managed to come here battered in wounds! I cannot imagine what pain she endured for this child," Glorfindel said in horror. "Such a poor fate!" Elrond remained silent as he tried to imagine the dangers this woman had made through in order to ensure the safety of her child. Such an honorable woman, he thought, and his heart couldn't help respecting the woman's valiant courage. "A poor fate indeed," he muttered. "We must bury her properly, for this woman is more valiant than even the bravest warriors," Glorfindel suggested. Elrond agreed and he arranged for the elves to bury her near a tree in the forest, where they hoped her body would remain undisturbed and in peace. Once they prayed for her soul in the Halls of Mandos, they went to the nursery, where Arwen and the infant lay. Celebrian was singing to both infants in their cradles gently with her beautiful voice, only stopping when Elrond and Glorfindel arrived in the room. "The woman is of the Dunedain," Elrond informed her. "And a peredhil." "She's a Dunedain you say?" Celebrian asked in surprise. Elrond nodded to reconfirm his point and looked at Varilerin, who was once more sleeping peacefully in her blanket. Her face was peaceful as if she had not experienced any event in that day and Elrond pitied her, for he knew that she would grow without having her true mother or father by her side. As he thought about this, his keen eyes caught a glimmer from her neck, and he stepped closer to her cradle. Carefully, Elrond shoved some folds of her blanket to investigate what produced the glimmer, and he found a small pendant dangling on her neck. Elrond narrowed his eyes and took the pendant carefully, observing its carvings and craftsmanship. It was of Elven craft, with a single elongated white gem that was embedded between swirling vines, and a pair of wings above it enclosing the gem. It was a rather unusual craft for a Noldor Elf. "Her father is an elf," Elrond said so suddenly that Celebrian and Glorfindel turned at him with gaped eyes. Elrond showed the brooch to Celebrian, who in turn studied the jewellery keenly. "Though it is possible that her father is a peredhil, or a human with special ties with the Northern Elves." Celebrian acknowledged Elrond's deduction, for jewelries were often used to propose to someone in Elven tradition, and not rare did these jewelries were given to a couple's children. Celebrian then put the jewel back to Varilerin's neck, and then turned to Elrond and Glorfindel with a sigh. "We need to ask your mother, Celebrian, for I fear that this child is more important than one can imagine," Elrond told her. "She is more knowledgeable than many and I believe she might know the answer." "But what will be of the child until that answer has come, My Lord? I am afraid that the answer will never come," Celebrian said hopelessly. "The only choice for her…. Is that she stays here, raised as an Elf of Rivendell, as one of our kin, until the time comes when she learns of her heritage," Elrond said without any hesitance. "I believe that's for the best then," Celebrian said as she looked at the two infants. A smile appeared on her fair face. "Furthermore, I believe that Arwen would be delighted to have a friend of her age. They will both grow into beautiful maidens," she added. "They will, I am sure," Glorfindel remarked, his eyes not leaving the baby's innocent face. Something about her somehow really intrigued him unlike anything in the world, and it caused him to take a pity on her poor fate. As he thought about this, a realization came to his mind, and he smiled at the brilliant idea he had just thought. "Elrond, if you allow, may I take this child as my own?" Glorfindel asked to the two. Elrond and Celebrian looked at him in surprise and doubtfully, for Glorfindel had never taken care of a child before. Glorfindel only smiled as a response to their suspecting looks. "I have always wanted a child of my own." Elrond and Celebrian looked at each other doubtfully, but then Celebrian smiled and assured Elrond that everything would be fine, just by looking at him. She then picked up Varilerin from her cradle and handed her to Glorfindel. "I am sure that you'll be a good guardian for her. After all, you are the one who saved her." Glorfindel smiled and received the infant gently. Varilerin instantly opened her eyes and looked at him with her silver eyes. She touched his fair face with her frail hands and though she was not smiling, he could see joy decorating her face. Something about her was different from other infants he had seen, and it made him happy and sad at the same time. "Don't worry, little one," he whispered. "From now on, I'll protect you."