113: Gathering Storm

The room remained quiet, everyone waiting for Súlimondil’s explanation. The ellon stood there, looking less belligerent and more worried, licking his lips, his gaze darting about, as if looking for an ally. Ingwion sat there in stony silence, glaring at him; the others were less hostile in their expressions. Ingwë raised an eyebrow.

"I do not have all day, Súlimondil," he said quietly, taking another sip of his wine, looking relaxed, as if he indeed had all the time in the world.

Súlimondil sighed. "I didn’t know what he had done until afterwards, I swear, Ingwë," he said.

"Who let him into the house then?" Ingwë asked.

"As far as I know, he never came to the house himself," Súlimondil said with a shrug. "I was away at the time, haggling with a leatherworker over a belt I wished made. When I returned, one of the servants only said that four ellyn came with two crates that they claimed I wished placed in the cellar."

"And what was in the crates, I wonder?" Arafinwë asked rhetorically, giving them a grim smile.

Súlimondil turned to the Noldo with a frown. "It’s obvious what, or rather who, was in those crates. I found them, by the way, sitting near the door leading to the tunnel. They were empty, of course."

"What about the four ellyn?" Valandur asked. "Did the servants not wonder when they did not return from the cellar? I cannot imagine your housekeeper leaving them unattended."

"I questioned everyone who was in the house at the time, but it appears that my.... um... well, my youngest son has learned a new game involving candles. He was happily setting the front parlor on fire, or trying to." He gave them an apologetic look and even Ingwion had to smile, knowing Súlimondil’s youngest son was only three or four.

"And you had no idea what my brother was about?" Ingwë asked after a moment.

Súlimondil shook his head. "Not until the search was instituted. Then I realized what must have happened. Yet, I could not tell anyone or I would be implicated." He gave them a sour look. "Everyone knows of my friendship with Ingoldo. No one would believe that I had no hand in the queen’s kidnapping."

"How did Ingoldo learn about the tunnel?" Ingwë asked.

Súlimondil reddened and would not look at anyone. Ingwë gave him a shrewd look and nodded. "I see," was all he said and then put his goblet down and stood. The others rose as well. "Do you know where my wife and daughter were taken?"

Súlimondil frowned. "I’ve been thinking about that. I am assuming the ellith were subdued in some manner, rendered unconscious to make it easier for them to be moved, yet even taking turns carrying them, they would be a burden and there is always the danger of them being spotted by someone, so they would not wish to go too far. The tunnel leads out to the woods on the rise overlooking the road to Ilmarin, as you know. There is one estate about two miles from there belonging to Lady Ancalimë."

Ingwë frowned. "The name sounds familiar, but...."

"She is a friend of Tinwetariel’s," Valandur offered. "I believe she acts as a lady-in-waiting for Elindis on occasion, but she is not a regular member of the queen’s household."

Ingwë nodded. "Yes, now I remember. So, Ancalimë. Do you think my sister-in-law knows anything about this?" he asked, looking sad.

Intarion sighed. "I hope not," he muttered, not looking at anyone, shame written all over him.

Ingwë cast him a sympathetic look. "I rather think she has merely gone along without actively participating. I will not bother asking her. I suspect that Ingoldo has been using her as well for his own purposes. I wonder, though, assuming Súlimondil is correct in his guess, how Ingoldo convinced Lady Ancalimë to abet him."

"I don’t think she did, Sire," Súlimondil said. "I think Ingoldo has merely taken advantage of the fact that her estate is relatively nearby. In fact, I understand Ancalimë is visiting friends in Tirion. She left just before Ingoldo shut the city."

"Are you sure that is where she went, though?" Valandur asked. "It could have been a ruse."

"No," Arafinwë said. "I remember seeing the lady arrive in Tirion. It was just before I left for Valmar. She is friends with one of Anairë’s ladies-in-waiting. I distinctly remember being introduced to her. She is not very tall and her hair is a reddish-gold rather than a true gold and she has eyes that are green with flecks of gold in them."

"Yes, that’s Ancalimë," Súlimondil said with a nod.

"Then, it seems Ingoldo has taken advantage of the lady’s absence from her estate," Ingwë said.

"How do we know that is where Ammë and Indil were taken, though?" Ingwion asked. "Are there other places in the area where they could have been taken?"

"Perhaps, but there’s only one way to find out," Ingwë said. "Súlimondil, you will understand why I wish to keep you in custody for a little while longer. Sorontor will see that you are housed in accordance with your status and make sure that you have everything that you need. Your family will be free to visit with you as often and for as long as they wish. I will decide on your culpability when I’ve returned."

Súlimondil did not look too happy about it but offered no protest, merely giving Ingwë his obeisance. "As you wish, Sire," he said and when Sorontor opened the door he went meekly enough with the guards. Ingwë dismissed his chamberlain with orders to summon a troop of guards to attend him and to bring their horses. "For I do not mean to confront my brother without sufficient arms."

Ingwion looked surprised at that, but both Valandur and Arafinwë nodded. "We don’t know how many he has guarding the ellith," Valandur commented. "We cannot assume that it was only the four who brought them to the estate."

"If they are even there," Ingwion said darkly.

"Oh, they’re there, yonya," Ingwë said with a slight smile. "Do you think I do not know where your ammë is at all times? As soon as Súlimondil mentioned Lady Ancalimë’s estate, I felt your ammë’s fëa leap for joy that I now knew where she and Indil were. Until then she could not actually tell me anything other than they were both well and unharmed."

Ingwion stared at his atar for a long moment. "You always knew?" he asked accusingly.

Ingwë frowned slightly. "I always knew your ammë was well, just as she knew I was alive. It is our marriage bond that allows us this knowledge, but words are not actually spoken, only feelings come across the bond."

"Have you ever tried to communicate through ósanwë?" Valandur asked.

"On occasion," Ingwë acknowledged, "but it takes a great deal of effort and I was not in any condition to attempt it, nor does Elindis care to employ it when our marriage bond tells us all we need to know of one another."

Both Valandur and Arafinwë nodded. "So it is with me and Eärwen," Arafinwë said. "I think it is because we are incarnate, it makes it that more difficult to do."

"And that’s why you were convinced that Elindis and Indil were also being held in Formenos," Valandur said. "You knew through your bond that they were captive somewhere and, based on what you overheard the guards saying, you assumed they were in Formenos and not elsewhere."

"Indeed," Ingwë said with a nod. He put an arm around Ingwion. "So you see, yonya, until Súlimondil confirmed for me where Ingoldo took your ammë and Indil, I did not actually know their location."

"I wonder how Elindis knows where they are being held, though?" Valandur asked. "You didn’t know you were in Formenos."

"I had never been inside the fortress," Ingwë said, "and my view outside the window slit was too limited. I had my suspicions but no real proof. Elindis, on the other hand, has been to Ancalimë’s estate a number of times as I now recall and would recognize the landscape around it, even if confined to a single set of rooms."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Ingwion demanded impatiently. "Enough talk. Let us go and rescue them."

"Patience, Ingwion," Ingwë said, giving his son a quick embrace. "Even if we leave this very moment, it will still take us nearly an hour of hard riding to reach the estate. Your brother and Ingoldo are walking, so it will take them even longer, for they must travel through pathless woods. We have plenty of time to reach Lady Ancalimë’s estate before they do."

Ingwion sighed. "I just don’t like the idea of Ingil alone with Ingoldo."

"He’s not entirely alone with him," Valandur pointed out. "Tamurilon and Sérener are with him."

"Why he only took one guard is beyond me, though," Ingwion said, shaking his head. "I didn’t think Ingil was that foolish."

"We’ll have to ask him when we catch up with him," Ingwë replied. "Now, come. Let us freshen up and then be on our way."

Even as he was speaking, though, there was a low rumbling in the air. They looked at one another in surprise and then Ingwion went to the embrasure that looked north and peered out.

"I don’t see..." he started to say and then flinched when lightning flashed across the northern sky. Several seconds went by before they heard the rumbling of thunder.

"It’s another storm," Intarion exclaimed.

"It’s further into the mountains, though," Ingwë said, having joined Ingwion at the embrasure. The others also joined them, each trying to see out. "I suspect, though, that we will get wet, for we must travel in that direction."

"It looks bad," Valandur said as several bolts lit the sky to incandescence. "I pity anyone caught out in it."

Ingwion looked worriedly at his atar. "I hope he’s all right," he whispered and Ingwë gave his son a hug, knowing of whom he spoke.

"As do I, yonya. As do I."

****

"I don’t think this was such a good idea, Ingil," Tamurilon whispered as he and Ingalaurë emerged from the tunnel with Ingoldo and Sérener coming behind them.

Ingalaurë gave him a puzzled look. "You don’t think I should be rescuing Ammë and Indil?"

"I didn’t say that," the other said in exasperation. "I just think we should have brought more people with us. We don’t know how many are guarding the ellith."

"Exactly," Ingalaurë said. "Uncle refuses to say, but I have the feeling that if we approached the estate with a troop of men, someone is bound to get hurt and I don’t want to risk it. My uncle is our key to getting inside."

Tamurilon’s expression was still doubtful but he kept his silence. Sérener and Ingoldo came out of the tunnel’s entrance, hidden behind a screen of boulders that Ingalaurë suspected had been artfully placed for that purpose. "Which way?" he asked Ingoldo.

Ingoldo took a moment to get his bearings and then jerked his chin forward, for his hands were tied behind him. "That way. Ancalimë’s estate is about two miles as the eagle flies, but our path is more convoluted for it follows the folds of the mountains and it’s more a deer track than anything."

"Sérener, take the lead." He handed the guard his lantern. "Tam, you take Ingoldo." Tamurilon nodded, handing his own lantern to Ingalaurë, then taking hold of Ingoldo’s elbow.

"It would be easier if my hands were free, Nephew," Ingoldo said with a grimace as they moved around the boulders. "The path is tricky in parts."

"I don’t trust you, Uncle," Ingalaurë said. "I’m sure Tam and I will be able to help you over the tricky parts. Now, Sérener, have you found the path?"

"Here," the guard said, waving his lantern so they could see him. "And Lord Ingoldo is correct. It’s more a deer track than anything."

"Keep your eyes open, then," Ingalaurë ordered as they followed Sérener. "It may disappear at some point and then reappear elsewhere. How they managed to get Ammë and Indil through this is beyond me." He gestured at the woods, dark and hoary with age, the path barely discernable and covered in places with underbrush that they were forced to push through.

"They were unconscious only for a time," Ingoldo said with a smirk, "just long enough to spirit them out of the city, but once they reached these woods, my men would have brought them around and made them walk."

Ingalaurë turned his head and cast a grimace at his uncle, but said nothing, then shifted his attention forward again. Ingoldo continued to smirk. The path, as Ingoldo had warned, wound its way along the side of the mountain, following its folds, dipping here and climbing there. Sérener did not seem to have difficulty finding the path. He grinned when Tamurilon commented on it when they stopped for a moment to catch their breaths after a particularly arduous climb.

"I remember the Great Migration," he said simply. "This is nothing."

Ingoldo snorted in derision but the two younger ellyn looked upon the guard with respect and no little awe. Ingalaurë mused to himself how often he forgot that even someone like Sérener, whom he knew only as one of his atar’s guards, was ever so much older than he and had had experiences he never would. It was a sobering thought and he recalled how his atar always treated people with grave respect, especially those who were of the older generations that remembered Cuiviénen, even those who, like Sérener, held no great position within Vanyarin society. He had done the same, but he realized with chagrin that he had done so in imitation of his atar and not out of any true knowledge of why he was doing so. He resolved to be more conscious of his actions in the future. Meanwhile...

"I’m glad you are with us, then, Sérener," he said sincerely. "I confess I have little knowledge of such things."

Sérener smiled broadly. "Your education is sadly lacking, Highness. Perhaps when things are less unsettled we can arrange a trip into the mountains, you and your brother, and I will teach you what I know."

Ingalaurë smiled. "I would like that. Shall we go on?"

The others nodded and they continued along the path that now meandered its way down into a gully that eventually flattened out into a true valley. But that is where the path came to an end altogether. Ingalaurë looked around in dismay. "So which way now?"

"Ancalimë’s lands begin just over that small rise over there," Ingoldo stated, nodding towards his left where they saw the land swell gently upward. "I think the house itself is some distance yet."

"Well, we won’t get there by standing here," Ingalaurë retorted with a sigh. "Let’s get on, then."

He started heading towards the hills with Tamurilon pulling Ingoldo along, but then they noticed Sérener was not with them. Ingalaurë turned around to see the guard staring intently to the north. "What is it?" he called, but almost as if in answer, a flash of lightning crossed the skies and thunder cracked above them, causing them all to flinch instinctively. Then, clouds, thick and dark came barreling down from the north, swallowing the sky as they approached. They all stood there, rooted to the spot in awe at the speed with which the clouds were advancing. Another bolt of lightning flashed and the thunder that followed was almost on top of them. Rain began to fall, the wind lashing at them, making it difficult for them to stand.

"Come on," Ingalaurë urged them, shouting above the sound of the storm. "We can’t stay here and I don’t trust the shelter of the trees with that lightning." With that, he turned and began making his way westward and the others followed. Sérener ran forward and took point and the others stayed close together, for the rain was falling in sheets, making it difficult to see.

Climbing up the rise was made difficult with the storm and it seemed to take them forever. The grass was slippery and everywhere was mud. Ingoldo, without use of his hands, stumbled, and it was only Tamurilon’s quick action that prevented him from sliding back down the hill. Eventually, though, they made it to the top of the rise and with the lightning strikes they could make out in the middle distance Lady Ancalimë’s manor house sitting in the midst of a plain surrounded by gardens and orchards. Ingalaurë imagined it must be quite beautiful, but at the moment, it looked ugly and desolate, for the storm had apparently gotten there first and they could see one or two trees down.

Without speaking, they made their way carefully down the other side of the rise with both Ingalaurë and Tamurilon helping Ingoldo, who complained all the way down, demanding to be let free to maneuver on his own, but Ingalaurë ignored him. Once they reached the valley they headed for the house, still a good mile or so away by Sérener’s guess. Ingalaurë huddled in his cloak as they slogged on, hoping that his uncle had not lied to him, that his ammë and Indil were indeed there and not elsewhere. If they were not there, he was not sure what he would do next, but he did know that Ingoldo would regret having deceived him. Of that, he was in no doubt.

The rain continued to pour down, the lightning continued to brighten the sky to incandescence and thunder rumbled across the landscape as they struggled toward the mansion, unaware that Ingwë and his group were already racing along the road towards the same estate. And, if any of them had been able to do so, they would have seen the cloaked figure of the Lord of Mandos standing upon the parapet of the manor’s tower single tower, untouched by the rain, watching and waiting for them all to arrive.

****

Ósanwë: Interchange of thought, i.e. telepathy.