Daughter of The Darkness

Chapter 39

(Elfreda's dream)

Elfreda found herself walking through dark ancient ruins. Looking at her hands she found it was not here body but another's. It was older than hers and covered in a grey robe. In their hands was a staff and sword. On her head was a grey pointed hat and at the end of her face as a long grey beard. Somehow her mind had been linked to Gandalf's.

"Gandalf?" she whispered.

"Hello dear Elfreda," the familiar rough voice replied. Elfreda could do nothing but smile in her head- at least she thought it was hers.

"Where are we? What am I doing here?" she asked. Gandalf turned giving Elfreda a full view of where he was standing. "Oh," was all she could mutter, she mind gone blank as the fear took over. Gandalf was stood in Dol Guldor. The very essence of the castle was evil and ruin.

"Gandalf, leave this place- now before something happens"

Suddenly from above, a small being landed on top of Gandalf in an attack. Quickly Gandalf stood bracing his staff in front of him. The small person tried to slice Gandalf with a knife but the wizard was too fast from him and he dodged every blow. Gandalf swept his staff under the attacker's feet causing him to fall onto his back. Yet the small person stood once again grunting like a pig and jumped on Gandalf, both of them falling to the ground again.

"Let me help you," instructed Elfreda and Gandalf let her take control of his body. She smacked the snivelling creature on the head with the back of Gandalf's hand and stood. The thing was running at him once again so Elfreda grabbed it by the shoulders as it jumped again and threw it. The person skidded across the floor and fell off the side of the castle.

"Run" Elfreda yelled.

The passages of Dul Guldor were like a labyrinth. Gandalf ran through each passage trying to find an escape. He took a left then a right then another left. In his mind, Elfreda was getting awfully confused as she tried to remember which way he had ran. At last they came to a four way turn with halls running in four directions. The small creature was following them; his shadows were cast upon the walls along with the echoing grunts that it made.

Running through another passage, Gandalf caught himself on a sharp object sticking out of the wall. As he slowed to recover, he caught a glimpse of their attacker and turned and ran in the opposite direction.

"Watch out from behind!" Elfreda called but she was too late. The beast jumped on Gandalf from the behind and they stumbled as they fought in the narrow corridor. There was a struggle and Elfreda felt sick. It ended up with the creature lying on the floor in defeat. It was the perfect chance to see his face.

"Thrain," Elfreda breathed. In a split second, Gandalf placed his hand upon Thrain's forehead and whispered a spell in a language Elfreda did not understand. As the spell came to an end, Thrain stopped jerking and grunting and slowly calmed down and his hands that where once grappling the air lowered to the ground.

"Thrain, son of Thὸr, my old friend," Gandalf whispered. Thrain sat up slowly as if waking up out of a long and troubled sleep.

A lump grew in Elfreda's throat that was so big she thought she might choke on it. Thrain was alive. Thrain was alive in a living hell and his mind was so fried that even the prince of Erebor did not know who he was. Thrain was her friend.

"He went missing at the Battle of Moria. Thorin searched for years after and found no trace of his father. He never fully recovered at the loss of his parent and his friend," told Gandalf. Elfreda's eyes burned as she fought back the tears that welled up in her eyes.

"I never knew. Oh, oh Thorin " she croaked. Gandalf sighed as he tried to comfort her as best he could without physical contact.

Both Elfreda and Gandalf where silent as Thrian retold the battle as he walked through the small corridors of Dol Guldor. All of a sudden, the prince of Erebor stopped and whispered "the Defiler, Azog, the Defiler had come. He came at me with a mace and beat me to the ground. He drew a dagger and laughed. He saw my ring, Gandalf, he took it,"

"The last of the seven rings," said Gandalf and Elfreda gasped as the wizard held up the dwarf's hand to reveal a hand with only half an index finger.

"You have to get him and yourself out of there," Elfreda said. But Thrian refused, his reply scared and feeble, "There is no way out, they will stop you! The serpents will stop you." As he spoke, the branches of dead plants which were clinging to the walls seemed to come to life and wriggled and squirmed about. Gandalf hesitated.

"It is an illusion, Gandalf," calmed Elfreda. Her words allowed Gandalf to cast a counter spell which made the plants still again.

"Has Elfreda kept them safe, the map and key?" Thrain asked.

Gandalf nodded "She gave them to me. Then I gave them to Thorin, you'd be proud of him; he has taken up the quest to reclaim Erebor and retrieve the Arkenstone." But Thrain shook his head and waved his hands in front of him.

"No." he said "No Thorin must not go near that mountain. No one must enter that mountain,"

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The dwarves, Bilbo and Bard took turns to care for Elfreda who was lying on the bargeman's dining table jerking and twitching as if she was in a trance. Her clothes where drenched in sweat and her knuckles were white due to her hands clamping to the edge of the table like a limpet. Elfreda's face was damp from the waterfall of tears that had flowed down her porcelain face. They all felt so helpless as they could do nothing but watch her suffer.

Bard had sent his children, Sigrid, Bain and Tilda out of the house to fetch some fresh water; he could not stand to see them watch the horrors of what was happening to the character of their favourite bedtime stories. He wondered what had gone wrong. What had he done to make her like this?

Elfreda sat up, gasping for air and breathing rapidly. She reached for the mug of water and drank heavily. She did not care that fifteen people were staring at her as she sat crossed legged on the table, covered in sweat and her head pounding from her dream.

"What do you need?" asked Bard "Water? Medicine?"

"Food and clean clothes please," whispered Elfreda hoarsely. Bard went into the kitchen and raided the cupboards. Elfreda turned to the company and pulled a weak smile "sorry about that!"

The dwarves could not keep their mouths closed any longer. The quiet was vanquished by masses of questions. But it was Thorin who hushed them. He approached her and looked concerned.

"Are you alright? What happened?" he questioned. Elfreda shook her head.

"You would not believe me if I told you," she replied. Her stomach growled and she rubbed it with pale shaking hands "I need air and time to think." Just then, Bard returned with a plate of bread and cheese and set it in front of her. Elfreda attacked the meal with ravenous hunger.

The front door opened and Bard's children entered. They were very nervous as they set down their buckets of water. Bard walked up and hugged all three of his children at once. Using the handkerchief Bilbo had given her, Elfreda swung her legs over the table and faced them, drying her face with the soft cotton.

An hour later, Elfreda had bathed in the fresh water which Sigrid had brought back. Sigrid had also given her a beautiful dress to wear as a replacement for the dirty clothes that where now hanging out to dry in the evening breeze. She slipped on the grey, black and yellow fabric and fastened the silver belt around her waist. At last, she stepped out of the bathroom and walked towards the front door.

The main room was silent as everyone stared at her as she floated towards the door.

"Just popping out," was all she said smiling and closed the door, slipping deep into the early evening darkness.

Happy Halloween!!!
From
Parallelamy 👻🎃