6.  The Novices' Trip

(October)

Legolas leaned against the trunk of the tree in which he sat, inhaling the scent of its drying leaves and singing along under his breath with its sleepy autumn song.   He hoped that Miriwen would be along soon because, if she were not, he would be late for evening meal and Thranduil was unlikely to accept waiting for Miri as a good excuse.  The healers who were training her kept her very late sometimes, if someone with an interesting injury appeared in the infirmary at the last minute.

Finally he heard her talking to someone as she approached along the path, and he dropped to the ground to greet her.  She was walking with Falad which, given that they trained together, was not surprising, but which irritated Legolas nonetheless.  He and Falad nodded brusque greetings to one another and then Legolas turned pointedly to Miriwen.  "May I talk to you, Miriwen?" he asked, trying to signal to Falad that he was unwelcome.

"Of course," she said.  "I will see you tomorrow, Falad."  Legolas enjoyed Falad's obvious unhappiness at the dismissal, but he was less pleased by the smile that Miriwen gave him.  He supposed it was unreasonable to expect her to scowl at this Elf whom she had known since babyhood, but he would have liked it nonetheless.  A dejected Falad strode off toward home, while he and Miri lingered at the point in the path where their ways home would diverge.  He drew her aside under the sheltering boughs of a weeping willow.

"I wanted to tell you that I will not be able to go to the autumn dancing with you tomorrow evening," Legolas said with real regret.

"Why not?" she asked, obviously equally disappointed.  "Surely your adar does not need you for the whole evening."

"No, it is not Adar," he answered.  "You remember that I told you that all the novices were going on a week-long field exercise together.  I just found out today that I am in the defensive group which leaves a day early.  We are going in the morning."

"That is too bad!" she exclaimed, her face crinkling unhappily.

"I know," he said.  "I am sorry, but these exercises are very important. We do them only twice a year, and the older novices say that they are one of the most enjoyable parts of the training."

She made a visible effort to control her disappointment.  "Of course," she said, "I know you need to do this, and I hope they go well."  She patted his arm.  "And I hope you do enjoy them.  It is just that I will miss you."  He could see from the look on her face that she still regretted his going, which he found simultaneously satisfying and painful.  "I must be on my way home," she finally said.  "Naneth will be waiting evening meal for me." 

"I will think of you while I am gone," he told her.  He gave her a quick kiss, and then they parted and went on their separate ways.

Legolas had gone only a short distance before Eilian slid up next to him.  "Do you ever kiss her when I am not around?" he asked with an offensive grin.

"Do you ever get tired of spying on us?" Legolas shot back with a scowl.

Eilian laughed but then advised with some seriousness, "If you do not want to be watched, do not kiss her by a public path, even if you are making up after a quarrel."

Legolas frowned.  "What do you mean? We did not quarrel."

Eilian shrugged.  "I thought you both looked upset," he said, "so naturally I assumed that you had misbehaved and were making it up with her."  He raised his eyebrows at his little brother.  "Perhaps I misunderstood?"

Legolas knew that Eilian was inviting him to confide, and he was tempted to do so.  Eilian spent time with many maidens and never seemed to be as confused about them as Legolas often was over just Miriwen.  "She is unhappy that I am going to miss the autumn dances because I am going on the novice exercises," he finally said.

Eilian nodded.  "Hard as it is to fathom," he said, "she likes you and wishes for your presence."  He seemed to be on the verge of saying more, but instead he caught a twig up off the ground and began to peel the bark away as they walked along.

"You are dying to give me advice," Legolas said resignedly. "Why do you not just do it?"

Eilian laughed.  "Very well," he said and tossed the twig away.  "Would you rather go on the novice exercises or stay home with Miriwen?"

"Go on the exercises, of course," Legolas immediately answered.  "They are very important. I cannot stay home even though I do like being with Miriwen."

"Suppose that your going on the exercises meant that she went to the autumn dancing tomorrow night with someone else?" Eilian pursued.  "Would you wish to stay home then?"

Legolas hesitated. "No," he said slowly.  "It would pain me, but I still would not stay home."

Eilian nodded.  "That is what I thought," he said.  "You are making a choice, Legolas, and all choices have consequences."

"But it is not really a choice," Legolas protested.  "I am a warrior, like you and Ithilden.  That is how Adar expects us to serve the Realm."

Eilian immediately stopped walking and turned Legolas to face him with both his hands on his little brother's shoulders.  "Is that not what you want?" he asked, obviously concerned.  "I had assumed that it was, but if you do not want to be a warrior, I will support you in trying to convince Adar that you should be allowed to do something different, and I think Ithilden would as well."

"No," Legolas protested.  "I have always wanted to be a warrior.  It is the only thing I have ever wanted to be.  I just had not thought about having to leave someone I cared about behind."

"I know," Eilian said comfortingly, "but when we make some choices, we always close off others.  Then all we can decide is how to act within the choices we have made."  He sounded grim and Legolas glanced at him curiously.

"Are you making choices?" he asked.

"I believe I am at the 'deciding how to act' stage," Eilian responded with an effort at his customary light manner.  He smiled at Legolas. "We had better hurry, though, if we do not want Adar to lecture us both about 'how to act' punctually."  And they resumed their walk homeward at a quickened pace.

***

The following morning, nine novices gathered at the training grounds to hold a strategy meeting before being joined by the two masters who would accompany them on this first day of the autumn exercises.   The buzz of excitement animating the little group died when Tynd, the senior novice in command, stood up and called them to order.

"Most of you know what our task it," he said, "but for Legolas's and Annael's sake, we will go over it again now.  The rest of us can use the reminder anyway." He looked around at the other novices, making sure he had their complete attention. Legolas watched him admiringly.  Tynd would join Ithilden's warriors in the spring and, to Legolas's eyes, he was clearly ready.

"We are the defenders," Tynd began.  "Our task today is to select and fortify a site that we will hold against the attackers, who will be setting out tomorrow.  Riolith, Nálas, and I have already picked out a site, one that we are familiar with from previous trips."  Riolith was only a year younger than Tynd and was acting as his lieutenant in this exercise.  Nálas was a year younger yet, but Legolas knew that when Eilian had been teaching them strategy, he had thought that Nálas showed real potential as a tactician.   They were fortunate that Nálas had landed in their group.

"Our basic objective," Tynd went on, "is to hold the position for four days or to 'kill' two-thirds of the attackers.  In the meantime, their objective is to overrun our position.  We will go over basic defensive moves tonight, after we have our area secured. The one thing we should remember today is to leave as slight a trail as possible. The longer it takes them to find us, the shorter the time we have to do battle with them.  Leaving no trail may be harder than usual, given all the gear we will be carrying."  He looked at Legolas and Annael.  "Any questions?" he asked.   They shook their heads.  "Good," he said and glanced toward the masters' hut from which Penntalion and Thelion were just emerging.

Legolas liked both Penntalion and Thelion and was glad that they had been assigned to the defensive group, while Maldor and Lómilad (and, just as satisfyingly, Galelas) would be coming with the attackers. Tynd gave the two masters a graceful salute as they approached the group, and the other novices came to their feet.

"Are you ready?" asked Penntalion.

"Yes," grinned Tynd, excitement suddenly making him look younger.

"Then, go ahead," Penntalion said, with an answering grin.

"Get your gear and let us go," Tynd told his group.  Legolas gathered his bow and his pack, from which hung the leather armor and metal helmet he would wear during the exercise. The whole affair was bulky and awkward, but none of them wanted to wear the armor, much less the helmet, any sooner than they had to.  "Riolith, you act as rear guard," Tynd ordered.  The rest of them and the two masters fell into line behind Tynd who led them southeast, and, with the silence with which only Elves can move, they all disappeared into the forest.

They hiked through the woods for most of the day, stopping only to rest occasionally and eat an abbreviated mid-day meal.  At Tynd's orders, they occasionally took to the trees, hoping to leave a more difficult trail for their opponents to follow, but their bulky gear made it harder to move through the treetops for any sustained period of time. Late in the afternoon, however, Tynd called a halt and waved Riolith and Nálas toward him. They conferred briefly and then Tynd struck out in a slightly different direction. Before long, they had reached what was evidently the site that the three leaders had chosen for them to defend.

The area was a small rise along the edge of the forest river.  The river would protect their back and provide them with water, while the elevation on which they stood would extend both their sight and the distance their arrows would travel, even with blunted tips that had been wrapped in bulky rags.  There were no trees close by, which made it a far less pleasant camp site but also meant that the Elves attacking them would have to advance on the ground and not through branches.  And finally, around the spot were scattered large rocks that would provide them with shelter from incoming arrows.  Even to Legolas's relatively inexperienced eye, the site looked eminently defensible.

"Nice choice, Tynd," Penntalion approved.  Tynd was trying to look serious, but Legolas saw the smile that escaped at the archery master's words.

Legolas worked with the others to help set up camp. They would have a fire tonight, but Tynd admonished them to enjoy it while they could because once the attackers began to search for them, they would not be able to risk smoke giving them away. When they had finished eating and clearing up afterwards, Tynd again called them to order.

"I want to remind you of basic defensive tactics," he said. "First rule: Keep a wide focus so that you can dodge incoming arrows.  Second rule: Keep moving so that they cannot hone in on you.  We can use these rocks for cover, but when you duck behind them, remember to come up in a different spot than you were in before.  We are going to try to take out Calorfil, their commander, first and hope that leaves them in confusion.  After that, we can aim at their best archers.  Who would that be, Riolith?"

Riolith considered.  "Amóng, I think," he said, "and Fómbor."

Tynd nodded.  "I will be using a streamer arrow to show you where I want you to target," he said, "once I manage to locate those three.  Other than that, aim for targets of opportunity, mainly those whose attention is elsewhere so that they cannot dodge your arrow." He paused and then turned to Nálas.  "Is there anything I have missed?" he asked.

Nálas shook his head, "Only that we should protect you," he said, "because we do not want to be the ones left in confusion."

Tynd looked a little self-conscious but nodded. Then he turned to Penntalion and Thelion, who had been quietly watching.  "Do you have things you want to say?" he asked.

The novices all turned to look at the two masters. This was the first time that Tynd had consulted them since the group had left the training fields.  Legolas had never before been on a training trip in which the masters watched silently from one side while a novice gave orders.  He had found it a little disconcerting at first, but he had faith in the competence of Tynd, Rioleth, and Nálas and, as they had made the trip today, he had realized that the fact that the novices had to act on their own made him feel more responsible too.  No one was going to step in and save them from a foolish decision, so they all had to make sure that no foolish decisions were made.

Penntalion rose to his feet.  "We will, of course, set watches for tonight," he told them, "and you need to take them seriously.   The Home Guard patrols this whole area regularly, but, as you know, you should never take your safety in the woods for granted." They all nodded.  This was a warning they had all heard regularly from the time they were small.  "Once the exercise begins," Penntalion went on, "some of the masters will be keeping watch, and anyone 'killed' in the exercise will help. At that point, you do not need to set watches at night.  Thelion and I will camp with you tonight, but starting tomorrow, we will set up a separate campsite nearby for us and those novices who are out of the exercise.  The novices who are out will not only help keep watch but also cook for both sides.  Is that clear to everyone?"

They all nodded again.  "Good," said Penntalion.  "Let us set the watches and get some sleep then."

The next day passed slowly.  Penntalion and Thelion moved off to set up their own camp, although once they had finished, they took up an unobtrusive position nearby that allowed them to keep the novices in sight and occasionally made circuits of the area to check for any unexpected danger from spiders or even less desirable company. Legolas knew that the other group of novices could not possibly reach them before late afternoon, even if they managed to follow a trail straight to the camp.  But he was keyed up and was glad that he and the others could keep busy in the morning checking their equipment and making a further supply of blunted arrows with rag-wrapped tips. By the time the rudimentary mid-day meal was served, they were as ready as they were ever going to be to defend their site.  Legolas sat next to Annael, eating bits of lembas and drinking water.  He was not very hungry, although he knew that that was because he was excited about the coming mock battle. He listened as the older novices talked.

"I heard that Ithilden met with warriors from Esgaroth," Rioleth was saying.

Another novice named Sarar, whom Legolas barely knew, snorted in derision.  "I do not see why.  Surely these Men would only hinder our efforts.  I doubt if they are strong warriors."

Legolas glanced up in surprise.  He had heard Thranduil and Ithilden discussing the meeting with the Esgaroth fighters, and he knew that his father and brother both respected them as warriors, although the king was not particularly interested in any kind of personal relationship with Men.  "The Esgaroth Men are our allies," he said, speaking before he had thought about whether he wanted to challenge an older novice, "and they have shown themselves to be valiant warriors when they need to be."

Sarar snorted.  "I cannot believe that we would get anything out of an alliance with them," he said.  "The benefit would surely be all to them."

Legolas chose not to argue his point and the subject dropped, but he found himself thinking about the world beyond the Woodland Realm and hoping, as he often did, that he would some day be able to see some of it.

By late afternoon, Tynd had them all sitting out of sight behind rocks while he and Rioleth lay on their stomachs at the site's highest point, keeping watch.  Legolas could feel his tension rising as he crouched next to Nálas, who was twirling an arrow in his fingers.  On his other side, Annael looked relaxed, but Legolas could hear him periodically cracking his knuckles and knew that he was not.  By the time the early autumn darkness fell, however, there had been no sign of their attackers.  For the sake of safety, the rules of the exercise called for all action to cease at nightfall, so the novice masters rejoined them and they were all able to relax their vigilance a little and have their evening meal in relative comfort.  Legolas supposed he should be glad because the coming of night meant that they had technically held their position for a day, so they needed to do so for only three more to win the exercise, but he was edgy enough that he would have liked to see some action.

In the morning, Legolas assumed that they would renew their waiting game, but Tynd had other ideas.  "I want to send out scouts to see if they are coming," he said.  "Annael and Pember, you go."  He began to explain to them where he wanted them to search, and Legolas experienced a momentary twinge of jealousy that his friend had been chosen to be the scout, but he pushed the feeling firmly aside for he knew that Annael really was uncommonly good at woodcraft.

Legolas sat down to wait with the others for what seemed like an interminable length of time.  Then, all at once, both Annael and Pember were racing across the open area to the campsite.  "They are coming," Pember announced. "They are perhaps a half hour behind us."

"Good," Tynd said, with a huge breath of relief, and Legolas knew that he too had been feeling the tension of waiting.  "Everybody into your protective gear," Tynd ordered, and they began to don the leather armor and metal helmets with face guards.  They set their own swords aside and replaced them with training swords from the stockpile they had brought with them.  They filled their quivers with the specially made arrows and then took up their places behind the sheltering rocks.

As Pember had predicted, the other group of novices drew into sight within half an hour.  They halted out of arrow range and were clearly studying the rise upon which the defending group lay hidden.  Finally they ventured forward, moving in zigzags and keeping low to present smaller targets.  Tynd had told them all to hold their shots until he gave them leave to fire, and he waited until the oncoming group was well within arrow range before he called, "Now!"

Legolas rose from behind his rock, took aim, and fired at an oncoming novice, who saw the arrow coming and managed to leap aside. He reminded himself of Tynd's admonition to shoot at those whose attention was elsewhere and began to practice some of the tactics that he had been taught by the novice masters or heard his brothers talk about.  The attackers stayed at some distance, though, and kept moving so that his own little band of archers had trouble picking many of them off.

Suddenly, an arrow trailing a long ribbon flew from his camp toward the attackers and landed near an Elf whom Legolas realized must be Calorfil, the senior novice who was captaining the other side. As he had been taught, he nocked an arrow and waited for Tynd's command.  "Aim!" Tynd shouted, and they all rose as one with their arrows aimed at Calorfil. "Fire!"  Arrows flew through the air, thick enough that Calorfil, caught in the open area, had no chance to dodge or seek shelter.  Legolas's group cheered as it was obvious that they had taken out the other group's captain.  The attackers hastily withdrew to a band of trees that were beyond arrow range, evidently needing to reconsider their battle plans.  Calorfil, on the other hand, trotted off to one side where the masters' camp lay.  Legolas could only imagine how disappointed he must be.

The battle ranged on and off for the rest of the day, as the attackers tried to work their way around the defenders' flanks, but very few actual arrows were exchanged.  Then, as the light was fading, the attackers made one more foray toward them.  They worked their way toward the defenders' camp and then one of them rose and sent a streamer arrow toward Tynd.  He immediately dodged and sought shelter but for a breathtaking moment, it looked as if he was not going to be able to get out of the way of all of the arrows. Then, at the last possible second, Annael leapt and stopped the arrow that had been meant for their captain. Almost immediately, Lómilad, who had arrived in the area with the attackers, called a halt to the maneuvers because of the onset of darkness, and the defenders had held their position for another day.

Legolas gaped at Annael.  "You are 'dead'," he said in shock.

Annael shrugged.  "My adar says that is important to protect your captain. You know that."

Tynd approached, looking a little awkward.  "Thank you, Annael," he said. "I have never had anyone 'die' for me before."

Annael laughed.  "Now I get to cook, which will be a punishment for the rest of you," he said.

Legolas watched his friend gather his gear and depart for the masters' camp.  The thought crossed his mind fleetingly that he was glad that Annael's father served under Eilian.  He suspected from things he had heard at home that Eilian did not always protect himself as carefully as he should.

The next morning saw the attackers once again zigzagging across the approach to the defenders' campsite, using what scarce cover they could find.  Legolas waited, crouched behind the rock, for the attackers to get within his arrow range and when he judged that they had just done so, he rose and shot, but the novice he aimed at saw the arrow coming and dodged.  He ducked down again and nocked an arrow.  Suddenly, an arrow with a long ribbon tied to it landed on the ground near him.  He stared at it, unable to fathom what it was doing there.

"Move, Legolas," urged Tynd.  "Now!"

He hunched over and ran to the next rock just in time to avoid a shower of arrows that landed next to the streamer arrow.  He nocked an arrow, rose, fired, and ducked down again.  Trying to keep his wits about him and remember what he had been taught, he nocked and rose at the other edge of the rock.  He ducked and nocked again, but this time when he rose, he was struck by an arrow in the right shoulder as he was aiming to his left.  He immediately released his draw and dropped to the ground to wait until there was a break in the battle, and he could withdraw to the masters' camp with the other 'dead' novices.  He rubbed his shoulder; even padded, the arrow had hit with enough impact to bruise him through the leather armor.  He was disgusted with himself.  He must have somehow revealed his position because whoever had shot him had evidently known exactly where he was going to rise from behind the rock.

Legolas waited for what seemed like a long time before the attackers withdrew, probably to regroup. He got to his feet, gathered his belongings, and headed for the masters' camp, where he found Annael waiting for him with a huge grin.  "They targeted you," he crowed.  "I knew they would once they had faced you as an archer."  Legolas blinked at him and the meaning of the streamer arrow slowly dawned on him.  Annael was right; the attackers had targeted him because of his archery skills.

Penntalion was now approaching and had heard what Annael said.  He too was smiling.  "You see there is a price to pay for being good," he said.  "Come and sit with me for a few minutes.  I want to talk to you about your performance."  Legolas hastily dumped his gear next to Annael's and went to join the archery master.

"Do you know what you did to expose your position?" Penntalion asked.  Legolas shook his head.  "When you came up from behind the rock," Penntalion told him, "you had your bow held vertically, so that the top of the bow showed before you had risen and signaled the attackers exactly where you would be.  You need to hold the bow horizontally and turn it as you rise."

Legolas was embarrassed that he had made so obvious a mistake.  "I will remember that the next time," he vowed.

Penntalion smiled at him. "I imagine that you will," he said.  "Other than that, you did very well, even when they shot the streamer arrow at you.  You did what you were supposed to do in that situation, although I suspect your reaction may have been inadvertent."  He raised one eyebrow at Legolas, who blushed, for in truth, he did not know what he had done.  "If you are targeted like that," Penntalion told him, "wait until you see the enemy arrows all converging toward you and then move when it is too late for them to retarget.  You need to think about that maneuver because, given your skill as an archer, this will not be the last time you are targeted for special attention."  Penntalion's praise gave Legolas another rush of satisfaction.  He wished he were still in the battle, but he had done well. There would be other novice exercises, and the next time, he vowed, he would do even better.

Penntalion evidently had something more to say.  "You need to anticipate being an enemy target for reasons other than your skills, Legolas."   Legolas looked at him questioningly.  "Your position as the king's son may sometimes lead the enemy to see killing or capturing you as particularly desirable."  He regarded Legolas seriously.  "You will sometimes need to take the same kind of care that a captain takes, even when you are not yet a captain.  Do you understand?"

Legolas nodded reluctantly.  Here was one more in a series of consequences that flowed from who he was and which he could not control but only respond to more or less capably.  "I will remember that," he said soberly. 

Penntalion nodded.  "Good," he said. "Now I think that you are probably needed to help cook the mid-day meal." And he sent Legolas on his way to join the other 'dead' novices in the chores that had fallen their way.  As he worked throughout the day, cooking, fashioning arrows, and occasionally making a circuit around the whole site to make sure it was secure, he took the opportunity to count how many novices were 'dead' from each side.  There were four novices from his own defending team of nine and five from the attacking teach of ten.  He thought the defending team was probably winning the game.

When night came, Lómilad set up the watches, allotting two novices and a master to each.  To Legolas's dismay, he was matched with Maldor, the difficult unarmed combat master, and an older novice named Fómbor, who had been one of the attackers' best archers and, like Legolas, had been targeted with a streamer arrow.  They had the second watch, and Legolas was very glad that Fómbor seemed to be better than he was at engaging Maldor in relatively innocuous conversation between the circuits they made of the camp.

"It is time to check again," Maldor said, shortly before their watch would end.  "You two take that half and I will take this."  They moved off into the darkness to check half of the camp perimeter.

Legolas and Fómbor had reached the extreme southern end of the site when suddenly, the hair on the back of Legolas' neck stood up and he stopped.  He could not have said what exactly made him feel that danger was present, but he did.  Fómbor apparently felt something too, for he also stopped and peered into the woods that approached closely at that point.  Fingering his nocked arrow, Legolas peered off into the trees but could see nothing in the darkness. The trees themselves seemed to stir uneasily, intensifying his concern.  With the loud beating of his own heart in his ears, he waited with Fómbor for something to move, but nothing did.  Fómbor hesitated for only a minute before sounding a series of bird noises.  Then they waited.  After perhaps five minutes, Legolas heard very faint sounds of someone approaching from his left, and his ears told him that it was Maldor, coming in response to their signal.  Neither of them needed to tell the unarmed combat master what the matter was, for Maldor had his own bow half drawn and was looking in the same direction that they were.

"What is it?" he asked in a voice so low that Legolas had to strain to hear it.

"I do not know," Fómbor responded in a similar tone.  "Whatever it is has not moved since Legolas and I first noticed it."

They stood for a moment of indecision, during which Legolas assumed that Maldor was debating whether they should go and investigate further, but suddenly, the feeling of menace began to fade, as if whatever was in the shadows was withdrawing.  "Shall we follow?" he asked Maldor.

Looking shocked, Maldor replied, "Absolutely not. Go and wake Lómilad and send him here," he ordered. "Go through the camp, not around it."

Legolas hastened to obey, rousing the novice master and whispering a quick explanation.  He rather thought that Maldor had not intended him to return with Lómilad, but he did anyway, for he was deeply curious about whatever it was he had sensed.  He stood next to Fómbor, slightly behind the two masters, listening as Maldor told Lómilad what had happened.  "I do not know what it was," Maldor finished, "but the trees did not seem to recognize it as a normal danger.  It could not have been a spider, for instance. The trees would have known."

Lómilad did not hesitate in choosing a course of action. With nineteen novices in his care, he was taking no chances.  "Rouse the masters' camp," he told Maldor. "Legolas, you wake the defending group.  Fómbor, you wake the attackers. We will leave for home in half an hour. Eilian can take care of finding our visitor.  I want these novices out of here."

Legolas hurried to obey his instructions and then to gather his own gear.  In less than the time that Lómilad had allotted, they were on their way.  He managed to whisper an account of what had happened to Annael and then spent the rest of the journey thinking about what had turned out to be an exciting and thought-provoking exercise.  It was only as they neared home that it occurred to him that he had not thought about Miriwen once during this trip.  He felt a little guilty about that, but then decided that under the circumstances, no warrior would have had thoughts about anything other than the task at hand.  And anyway, he did not need to tell her that she had not been in his thoughts.  She would be there now.