June 3023 T.A. - Fornost, Northern Downs
Eldarion rose from his sofa and a smile started to form on his face. The old man wore dirt-covered grey robes, a blue hat, and silver scarf tucked around his neck. His bushy eyebrows stuck out beyond the brim of his hat and the eyes underneath it now looked kindly on him. Eldarion knew they could be set aflame if the man grew wroth. The Prince-Regent rushed forward and greeted the old man heartily because he was none other than Gandalf the Grey. After greeting his old mentor he turned his gaze downward at the child. He quickly had to change his assessment as before him stood not a child but a hobbit from the Shire. Eldarion had seen them only briefly on his tour throughout the kingdom of Arnor years ago but there were quite distinct differences between the children of Man and hobbits. Hobbits had pointy ears, like the elves did, and no mannish child would have quite so much hair on his feet a hobbit would have. Nor did hobbits wear any kind of shoe, the bottom of their feet hard like boiled leather. Though they looked no older than a boy of 10 and their behaviour sometimes could be attributed to Man thinking they were a child, in their eyes you could glimpse that they were older than they looked. A remarkable race they were and their origin was a mystery to Elves, Men and Dwarves alike. Then again elves have always been way too much interested in themselves rather than in others, same with Men and Durin's Folk. Though it could be said they were possibly most related to Man. Eldarion greeted the hobbit introduced as Frodo Baggins and beckoned both him and Gandalf to come in when he was disturbed by clamour from behind the wizard. “And what about us!” a high-pitched voice squealed as three more hobbits rushed past. Gandalf's eyes shot up to the sky and he let out a great sigh as if he had suffered a great deal from their company, but a smile remained on his face. “May I introduce Master Samwise Gamgee, Master Meriadoc Brandybuck” Gandalf paused and pointed at the youngest looking of them all. “and lest we forget the noisy one, Master Peregrin Took.” Eldarion eyed the pack of them and they suddenly stood there shy and abruptly silent. “I welcome all of you.” the Prince-Regent exclaimed. “Please sit.” Eldarion returned to his seat, his wife Elenien next to him. Gandalf greeted her and took the seat opposite Eldarion. The hobbits, smaller of stature, were given cushions to sit on, forming a semi-circle facing the Prince-Regent.
There they sat for a while exchanging pleasantries, mostly between Gandalf and the Dúnedain couple, while the hobbits sat in silence gawking at the splendour of the Prince's chambers. When they had caught up on the most recent events Eldarion openend the real conversation. “I must confess I am most curious as to the reason of your visit. I doubt it is solely to check on your old ward and his wife?” he asked smiling. Gandalf's smile disappeared and he looked weary and old and a dark shadow of fear fell over Eldarion's old master. Eldarion's brow furrowed. He had seen Gandalf display various emotions but fear had never been one of them and it unnerved the young Dúnadan to a great degree. The wizard seemed to hesitate, perhaps unsure on how to begin. Finally he sighed and openend his mouth. “I have succeeded in my search. The weapon of the Enemy has been found.” The words hit Eldarion like a Orc's warhammer would've done. Had he not sat down he would've needed to. He stared wide-eyed at the wizard. “You mean Isildur's Bane has been found?” Gandalf nodded. Eldarion swallowed heavily, lowering his gaze in contemplation. Isildur's Bane, his inner voice whispered. He broke his reverie and turned his gaze on Gandalf once more. A multitude of questions flooded his mind. How, when, where. Eldarion calmed himself and decided it best to start his questioning with one question at a time. Starting with possibly the most important of them all. “Is it somewhere safe?” he whispered as if the servants of Sauron were hiding under the carpet. “As safe as can be, for no place shall remain safe while the Ring resides there.” Gandalf replied. “In fact” he continued “it is currently right here, in this very room. Frodo show it to the Prince will you?” He lit his pipe, the embers illuminating his weathered face. Eldarion's face drained of blood and he nervously licked his lips while Frodo rummaged through his pockets. The hobbit stepped forward and openend his hand. In it lay a simple golden ring, the light from the candles reflecting in it. Eldarion hunched over to get a better look at it. Strange he thought, he would've expected something more menacing or at least impressive but before him he only saw the golden band. He looked at Gandalf a bit puzzled. “Not what you expected?” the wizard asked suddenly chuckling. Eldarion nodded. “It's like nothing any of us expected, but I assure you, this is the One Ring.” Eldarion's face retained its skeptic look and Gandalf turned to Frodo and asked him to toss the ring in the hearth. Frodo reluctantly did so and Eldarion grew even more confused. After a short while Gandalf requested the ring to be taken out again and be placed on the small table standing between them. “Look again”. Eldarion hunched even further forward and stared at the Ring. It seemed untouched by the fire, still only a simple golden band. He noticed no warmth emanated from the ring and thought it very strange. He narrowed his eyes, trying to descry something he couldn't see. He was about to ask Gandalf if this was a trick when he saw something changing. It appeared slowly and looked like a vague thin red line. As it became clearer and clearer he was able to descry them as markings. Eldarion recognized them as Tengwar letters, the alphabet of the Elves, yet it was written in a tongue he could not make sense of. It was definitely not Sindarin, the most common of Elven tongues and also not Quenya, the language of the High Elves of Valinor. Nor was it written in any of the tongues of Men that he knew of. The flowing text now burned bright like a hot flame and the Prince turned his questioning gaze towards the wizard. "You have seen the Elven letters but correctly assessed that the words are not Elvish.” Gandalf said guessing the young man's thoughts. “It is in fact the Black Speech of Mordor. In Westron it says: One ring to rule them all, One ring to find them, One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.” The room seemed to have darkened, the light from the hearth seemingly diminished while the wizard spoke and all fell silent, overcome by some unnatural dread. The hobbits looked frightened and Eldarion couldn't blame them, he had been pretty shaken himself, gripping tight to Elenien's hand. He looked at her fair face and the fear in his heart was replaced with joy. She too was afraid but showed it not. One can only be brave when one knows fear, Gandalf had once said to him when he had been but a boy. Eldarion looked upon the Ring and felt his feeling of dread increase once again. If the appearance of the letters or Gandalf's words had not already convinced him then this did. This 'ring' was clearly something evil and no small amount of it. Eldarion came to the same conclusion the wizard had already given him. “This is the One Ring.” he whispered. Gandalf only nodded as a response, sucking at his pipe.
“How did you find it after it has been lost for centuries?” Gandalf blew out a couple of blue rings of smoke before answering. “I did not find it, a certain Master Bilbo Baggins did, many many years ago and before him someone else found it on the bottom of Anduin the Great.” Eldarion was enthralled by Gandalf's story as he told about the search for Gollum, his capture and the lengthy conversation they had had. After Gollum revealed that a cerain Bilbo Baggins had stolen his birthday present, the wizard had made haste towards the Shire remembering the hobbit had acquired a magical ring during the Quest of Erebor. The pieces of the puzzle had started to fall into place at Bag End with the hobbit still retaining to his magical ring. Nothing noteworthy could be said about the hobbit's ring, it certainly didn't look like anyhting special. Still, Gandalf continued his research for looks can be deceiving. Then Gandalf spoke of his journey to Gondor to look at Isildur's last accounts, perhaps revealing something about the Ring's features. Indeed it had done. Among the many scrolls a small forgotten paper had lain, possibly hastily written down as an account on the Ring's appearance. It stated: 'a small golden band, simple and with no ornaments. A writing could be discerned on the band when touched by flame, but faded completely when cold. Fire seemed not to damage it and only the fiercest burning furnaces could warm it.' It had been the final piece to the puzzle.
“After reading the account of Isildur I made my way back to the Shire as fast as I could and tested the ring the same way I did now. And here we are now.” Gandalf concluded, noticed his pipe was empty and started cleaning it. The scraping was the only sound while everyone let the wizard's words sink in. Eldarion had one more question though. “That does not explain why you have come here with this mighty artifact and why you are accompanied by such a strange company?” Gandalf tucked his pipe away into his robe and turned his eyes on his former ward. “We are on our way to Rivendell, to take council with Elrond and this was the safest road by far. Furthermore” Gandalf added, “we needed beds and a good night's rest before we journey through the rugged landscape of the Lone-lands. As for the hobbits, Frodo is the current owner, as is such, of the Ring and rather than letting him go alone his friends decided to join him on his quest to Rivendell.” Gandalf smiled for he forsaw this was a fortunate thing although he did not know in what way yet but it gladdened his heart nonetheless. “Finally, my friend, I have come to ask you to join me on this quest for this will shape the fate of all of Middle-Earth. We'll need the blood of Elendil in this endeavor.” Eldarion's heart jumped for joy. This was his way out, away from the politics of the North, away from the boring council meetings and back into the wild doing something that mattered. Yet his sense of duty commanded him remain here and this much he told Gandalf. “My father entrusted me with ruling the North while he is gone.” Gandalf came closer to the Dúnadan to speak words meant only for his ears. “I understand your reluctance but I urge you to reconsider. The North is safe, it is in the South that our doom lies. Furthermore, Aragorn knows of my errand and its importance. He would go with me if he wasn't already fighting Sauron. In your heart you know this is something that needs to be done.” The Prince let these words sink in, he was both excited and frightened at the prospect of leaving Fornost and following Gandalf once more. Was this his destiny? To guide the Ring to whatever end? He supposed so. “Very well, I shall join you.” Gandalf smiled and gripped his shoulder.“Very good my boy, yes very good.” Gandalf said rising from his chair and beckoned the hobbits to do the same.
“It is time for us to retire and I would not want to rob you of your last night with your wife, for tomorrow we shall begin our journey East.” |