The Daughter of the Moon Volume I

Chapter 7 : Start

The trip to Imladris had been in preparation for several days.

Elenwë was training harder and harder, trying to forget his anxiety about leaving.

Aragorn, accompanied by Elladan and Elrohir, was criss-crossing the region to explore and clear the terrain. And other messengers from Rivendell did the same.

In no area had the messengers found any sign or news of the Riders or others.

servants of the enemy. Even the Eagles of the Misty Mountains could not provide them with any fresh news.

Three of the black horses were immediately found drowned in the flooded ford.

Researchers had discovered the bodies of five others on the rocks of the rapids below the ford, as well as a long, tattered black coat.

There was no other trace of the Black Riders, and nowhere was their presence felt.

It seemed as if they had completely disappeared from the North.

The learner, Elrond said:

-The time has come, he said. If the Ring is to go, it must be soon. But those who will go with it must not expect their mission to be aided by war or force. They must pass into the domain of the Enemy, far from all help. Do you still stand by your word, Frodo, that you will be the

wearer of the Ring?

-Yes," said Frodo. I will go with the company.

-Well, I can do little more to help you, even with my advice," said Elrond. I can hardly foresee your road, and I don't know how you will be able to do your work.

The Shadow has now slipped to the foot of the Mountains. You will meet many enemies, some overt and some in disguise, and you may also find friends along the way when you least expect them. I will send the messengers I can imagine to those I know in the wide world, but the lands have now become so perilous that some may well go astray or not arrive faster than you.

Departure was imminent. Indeed, it was announced for the next day.

The Company of the Ring gathered in the courtyard near the city gate.

Lord Elrond joined them to say goodbye. He had an encouraging word for each of the members, but when he arrived in front of his daughter, he took her in his arms.

He said to her:

-Calo anor na ven, Iellamin (May the sun shine on your road, my daughter.)

He turned and looked at the whole company with a moved look on his face.

-No galu govad gen. (May luck accompany you) Lend gilsila lumenni. (Have a safe journey)

The ten companions left the city.

Elenwë took a last look at his home and whispered:

-Namarié... (Goodbye...)

They turned away and the journey began.

At Bruinen's ford, they left the road and, turning south, they took narrow paths through the folded land.

They wanted to keep this course west of the mountains for many kilometres and many days.

In the beginning it seemed to the Hobbits that, even walking and stumbling to the limits of fatigue, they would not be able to keep up with the Hobbits.

were just crawling around like snails, never getting anywhere. Every day the site looked exactly the same as the day before.

Yet the mountains were approaching regularly. To the south of Rivendell, they rose higher and higher, and were sagging towards the west. At the foot of the main mountain range, the landscape was becoming wider and wider, with deserted hills and deep valleys full of turbulent water.

At the end of a long and stumbling night walk, the travellers reached a low croup, crowned with old holly trees, whose grey green trunks seemed to be made of the very rock of the hills.

In the distance to the south, Frodo could see the indecisive shapes of high mountains that now seemed to stand in the way of the Company's route.

To the left of this high range stood three peaks, the highest and nearest of which was planted like a tooth crowned with snow, its great bare escarpment, facing north, was still largely in shadow, but where it was reached by the oblique rays of the sun, it blazed red.

Gandalf, standing beside Frodo, looked at the landscape.

-We did well," he said. We reached the borders of the country that Men call Houssaye, many Elves lived there, in happier times, when its name was Eregion. The land and the weather will be milder from now on, but perhaps all the more dangerous.

-Dangerous or not, a real sunrise is a welcome sight, says Frodo, throwing his bonnet back to let the morning light flood his face.

Next to him, Elenwë and the other three hobbits did the same, closing their eyes.

It had been almost two weeks since they had left and Elenwë had finally been accepted by all the members of the Community except Boromir, who despised her and didn't even speak to her.

Elenwë hoped that he would eventually change his mind.

She was happy to travel with Aragorn and Mithrandir, whom she had known for many years.

Moreover, as the miles went by, she talked a lot with Legolas and discovered that he was a cheerful character and above all that he was quite attentive.

-We are heading for the valley of the Dark Gullies," Gandalf continued. If we climb the pass known as the Rubicorn Gate, under the other side of Caradhras, we will go down the Stairway of the Dark Gullies into the deep valley of the Dwarves.

There lies the Lake of Mirror, and there, the River Cours d'Argent. flows out of

its icy springs.

-Dark is the water of Kheled-zâram, known as Gimli, and cold the springs of nâla. My heart trembles at the thought of seeing them soon.

-May you derive joy from this sight, my good dwarf! says Gandalf. But whatever you do, at least we cannot stay in this valley. We have to go down the Silver River into the secret woods and then to the Great River, and then...

He stopped.

-Yes, and then what? Merry asked.

-The purpose of the journey in the end, said Gandalf. You can't see too far ahead. Let's be happy that the first stage has happily passed. I think we'll rest here, not only for the day, but also tonight. The air in Houssaye is clean. A country has to go through a lot of pain before it completely forgets the Elves when they once lived there.

-This is very true," says Legolas.

But those of this land were a different race from us Wood Elves, and the trees and the grass no longer remember them.

But I can hear the stones weeping for them: Deeply they dug us out, beautifully they worked us, highly they set us up, but they're gone. They left long ago to look for the Havens.

His gaze seemed a little sad and Elenwë was astonished to see this spark of life in the blue eyes of the wood elf.