The Family Line Part 113 – The Girl in Red

Part 113 – The Girl in Red

The morning in Bree was a misty gray one. Heavy fog fell upon the village and not could be seen further than only a few a few yards. They wet air hung heavy on all in the village as it felt as if a great sinister cloud fell upon the whole land of Bree as even the farmers in the lands surrounding Bree, Combe, Staddle, Archet, and Thornley’s farm, felt the oppression that would not be lifted.

“Can you do something about this fog?” Sergee asked Theomin.

“I have not power over the weather of the world. I can only harness small portions of it,” answered back Theomin.

They were walking through the western reaches of Bree, coming back as they watched the workers at Thornley’s Farm. On the northward road that lead to the North Downs, there sat the worksite rich with cottages and a windmill. Thornley wanted it to be the largest farm in Bree-lands. After Gerald and his vengeance pulled all the resources to find Theomin, he and his people were out of money, and out of resources. The quick will of Magla aided in the reinstatement of the resources for the villages within the lands of Bree, which allowed Thornley to continue the construction of his grand farm.

As thanks, Thronely offered a gift. A modest one of clothing to be offered to Magla. They saw the tattered cloth which he bore and thought it was not for a person of high importance to wear such a torn and warn garb. So Theomin and Sergee went to retrieve it from Thornley’s wife who had stitched it together the night Magla brought the news of his ability to continue the building of his farm.

“If you can harness the wind and lightning, surely you can blow away this fog,” Sergee tried to tell Theomin.

“The weather of this world has a mind of its own. I cannot tell it to do something. It will continue to be foggy until the fog is ready to clear on its own.”

They stayed silent while they took their horses back to Bree with the package securely set in Bragga’s saddle bag. “What of this girl in the prison?” Sergee asked. “Have you spoken to her?”

“I have,” Theomin said.

“And what of her? She was with Gerald. Do you believe he will come back for her?” Sergee asked.

“I do not think so,” answered Theomin. “He sacrificed her to get away. I believe that as far as he knows, she is dead.”

“What is her name?”

“I know not,” answered Theomin as he thought back at the site of her. Her haunting presence gave him chills for he feared her and all she seemed to know.

“What has she said,” Sergee insisted.

“Very little. She was mainly silent during our meeting.” He tried to say nothing of Eleswith and what the girl in red knew. He was unsure if Eleswith wanted anyone to know about her baby yet.

“Then perhaps we need to go back to her,” Sergee said. “See if she knows if Gerald will return and what happened to Teryndir. I have not found any trace of him anywhere on the grounds of Bree. I have seen parts of those Bree guards strewn about Bree. Rather ominous I deem but it is a task I need to take.”

“Then how about you continue that task,” Theomin suggested. “Take some guards with you and scour the outer regions of Bree-land.”

“Yes,” Sergee agreed. “That would be best. But what about the girl in red?”

“I will try and speak with her again,” Theomin said.

They returned to Bree and wandered up the road through the town and up to the Prancing Pony where Magla was speaking with the inn keeper Barlemin Butterbur.

“Magla,” Sergee said. “I have a package for you from Mr. and Mrs. Thornley.”

“Ah,” Magla said as he had just finished talking business with Barlemin. “Let’s see what we have.” Magla took the package and unwrapped the thin rope with leather wrapping about it. He opened the wrapping and there inside was a nicely stitched outfit. A shirt, with designs of golden thread upon a field of a tan vest that was over a shirt, white and made of cotton.

“I need to thank the nice Thornleys for this gift,” Magla said.

“I believe they wanted to thank you,” Sergee said. “It was for what you did for them that prompted them to give this gift to you.”

“They said it was stitched the night you left from their farm,” Thoemin said. “I believe that if you place it on and go thank them yourself, they will be eternally grateful.”

“I shall,” Magla said. He left undoubtfully to try on the Thornley outfit.

“What will you do?” Sergee asked Theomin. “I’m off to continue the search for Teryndir, or what’s left of him.”

“I want to try and speak with that girl in red at the prison,” Theomin said, some dread was in his voice.

Sergee nodded. “Then good luck. You look as though she haunts you.” He placed his hand on Theomin’s shoulder. “Truthfully, she haunts me too. I much rather search for Teryndir than to try and engage with such an odd being. But if you feel you need a companion, may I suggest Estonethiel. She knows things that I cannot possibly understand. I think with her blindness; she has become even more powerful. Before I depart, I’ll send her to the prison for you.”

“Thank you,” Thoemin said as Sergee departed.

Theomin stood there before the desk of Butterbur. His heart raced as he thought of the haunting figure of the girl in red. “Was it her that created the ominous fog of Bree?” he thought to himself. Not even he had that kind of power. “How did she know about Eleswith’s baby? Or did she not know and she made a guess.” He had to find out. He needed to see if she was that powerful.

As he left the inn, Magla emerged from the back rooms. A proud man stood before Theomin. The outfit fit perfectly and was stitched with expert hands. It looked as though the Lady Thornley put much care and thought into the outfit. It was indeed that golden stitching on a vest that sat over a white long sleeve shirt. Pants were included, black they were, a belt strapped on the front. For once, he looked less like a warrior and more of a man of the people.

“It looks perfect,” Theomin said.

“You’ll be surprised that I say I like it too. I forgot what normally stitched cloth felt like. Now I can speak with the people of Bree and not look like I belong in Beggar’s Alley.” They had a slight chuckle over that. Theomin then became quiet. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” Theomin said. “I am off to speak with the girl in red. She has a ill feel to her, as if she steals away all your confidence. It is as if she is a specter of long ago that haunts this place. I do not feel well around her.”

“You need a companion,” Magla suggested.

“Sergee is sending Estonethiel to the prison.”

“A wise choice,” Magla said. “I’m heading to the farm to pay my thanks. I’m then off to speak with the ranger, Saeredan to see what else I can do here.”

Magla left and again Theomin felt a fear in the pit of his stomach. He left the inn and walked the way down to the prison. Each step felt like a lifetime as he walked down the way past the boar fountain and down toward the prison. Fear was gripping him, almost urging him not to approach the girl but he had to. He needed to know if they faced a threat from Gerald and if she knew what happened to Teryndir. He needed to instill confidence in himself but how he could do that he knew not. It was not until he saw Estonethiel waiting outside the prison that his confidence began to build again.

“Are you sure you would like to speak with this elf?” Estonethiel said.

Theomin almost took that as an invitation to cower and walk away. But he knew he needed to speak with the elf and he looked at Estonethiel, “Yes, I need to.” As they entered the prison he said to Estonethiel, “Can you hold back a little distance? I must ask her about something that has been plaguing my mind.”

Estonethiel smiled, “Of course.”

They entered and inside the prison was a cold feeling. It felt as if fear and oppression were wrapped into one solid emotion and it was set to all the inhabitance of the prison. Even the prisoners looked as though they were cowering in fear and huddled to the corner of their cells.

“I feel cold anger coming from that girl. Not since we entered into the Fields of Fornost have I felt such chill in the air,” Estonethiel said.

“Thank you for the confidence builder,” Theomin said sarcastically.

“Just be careful,” she said. She walked back into the small room at the center of the prison where the guard post was.

Theomin continued toward the cell where the girl in red was housed. He looked inside her cell and sure enough, she was in the exact same place she was the day previous. He looked at her as she stared far off into nothingness. The plate that was given to her was still full of food, which had not been eaten. It was just left there to rot on the floor. The closer Theomin got, the colder and more oppressive the air felt.

He had to ask the question that was burning in his mind about Eleswith but could not think of how to ask it. Finally, he came to the words, “What did you know about the girl I was with?” She said nothing. “How did you know she had to tell me something?” The girl still said nothing. “Then I believe you just made a guess and did not know she needed to tell me anything. You just made that up to make me fear you and whatever power you think you possess.”

Slowly the girl raised her hooded head and she looked into Theomin’s eyes. Deep sadness were in them as she finally spoke, “She bares a child. I know that to be true.”

The mystery of the girl became deeper as what she was saying about Eleswith was true. He shook his head with utter disbelief. “How could you know such a thing?” he had to ask. “Who are you?” She stayed silent. “Please tell me.” She continued to stay silent and on the third minute of silence, he felt fear that he was standing there too long. He had to leave. He turned and she then spoke.

“I was not always like this,” she said with a whisper. Soft it was but strange, like a child speaking to him. Theomin turned around and there she stood, at the bars of the prison cell and looked deep into Theomin’s eyes. She looked at her hands and then slowly removed her black gloves. “It has been so long since I have looked upon these hands I almost forget the scars they represent.” The gloves were removed and she showed the hands that bore terrible scars on them. “A little girl I was when these scars were given to me. I was a just a curious little girl who came from Edhellond, by the sea. Just a little elf girl who wanted know about the sea and everything about it. I was called Glanfinel by my parents but soon was named something else by the men who lived nearby. Lily they called me and it stayed that way for a long time. I loved all manners of the sea, living and nonliving. The water, the fish, crystal flashes of the sun on the water, the soft sand of the shore. When my kin gathered on the shore of Brandlith to look up at the stars, I combed the sand for all things from the ocean. That was when I found some type of driftwood that had come in on the tide. Not too many times have I seen such driftwood, so this was a special thing. I came to it, not thinking of anything but it being a curiosity. That was when such a spark came from that driftwood that it sent me into the air. Not much I knew from that, but afterward I seemed to possess strange abilities. Abilities that my mother and father deemed dangerous for anyone to know. So, they hid me, kept me away from all light and spoke not of me. We left the sea, we left Edhellond and never returned.”

She sat down and waved her hand at the stony ground of the cell, “After that night, I could do thinks that were beyond the realm of understanding. I could create such beautiful things,” she said as from the thin space between the rock of the cell floor a stem came up and budded into a beautiful white flower. “I could create life from seemingly nothing,” and then she stopped and pushed her hands away from the flower, “or utterly destroy things,” the flower that had once been beautiful and white had turned ashen gray and wilted. Soon, not was left of it but a pile of ash that had blown away into nothing. “It was because of that that my parents wanted to hide me. They knew of the power that had risen in the east, and they knew that such evils could use me to their will had I ever been discovered. We fled to Eregion but when we arrived we found not but a realm utterly destroyed all dead buildings of the elves laid in ruin. We fled, then, to the refuge of Imladres where we stayed in the care of Elrond Halfelven. There, we stayed for a long while as the forces began to build all around us. We heard of an army from the north forming and fears of doom coming. My parents, who always knew their day would come to defend their home, left me behind in Imladres to fight against the evils that were spreading from the north. What they did not know was that I snuck out to find them and at the battle of Fornost, there my family was slain at the hands of a girl warrior, Amarthiel. Such vengeance was in me and I tried my best to kill her but I was struck down by one of her lieutenants and later found myself in a castle far in the north. I began, over the long years I was there, to understand them and feel for their cause. They began to use me and during that dark time, Mordirith came to power. He used me to cause destruction to the lands of the north, burning the realms around the city of Carn Dum. The one elf witch who once imprisoned me, used me once more to help her retake her place at high seat in Carn Dum. She then named me Serthheb, gave me gloves so I could never see my hands again. She gave me runes to harness my powers and then she used me to the destruction of all who opposed her. She needed to overthrow Mordirith and she used me to aid her. Happily, I did as she bid me and I soon found myself taking lives of warriors who opposed the rise of Amarthiel. But, as with many things, she was struck down by the very person who she tried to usurp. I knew that my time in that realm was ended.

I could not return to Imladres knowing what destruction I caused to the free people of the north. I needed to stay with the evil men of the north because I knew that I was, in fact, evil. I then met a man who was very charismatic. He was not of the Black Numenorians of the northern lands but of Bree-land, a realm I only came to know as the lands of the enemy. He called himself Kronog, but he was not of the orcs. He was a man. His right name I never knew. Only as Kronog I knew him. He taught men of the north to fear outsiders and to embrace the power of the orcs and its like beings. I stood by and watched and knew he was reaching these men and changed their thoughts. Black shapes, like Carguls, started to appear in the lands, which Kronog was always enamored by. Such evil beings he almost wished he was one of them. He never had the chance to become one as they would never change him into a servant of Sauron, because that was what they were, servants of Sauron. So, he continued on and looked for you and it was not until that night that I saw you here in Bree that I remembered where I saw you before. It was that night a long time ago when you came with that girl into the ruins to the east of Bree. I saw you use that staff of yours to stave off the goblins, but did not want to strike down man. Shocked I was by that but also confused. I only knew men to fight other men. An unruly bunch I was taught you were. But now I see that one is so brave not to try and kill one.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?” Theomin had to ask.

“You are the only one to ask. And when I found that I could tell my story, I could not help myself.” A tear began to drop from her eye, “I am an evil being, I am a monster. I killed and I think I liked it. I watched as villages burned, as people succumbed to my wrath and I felt the power in that and I liked it. I rose from being a little girl who had everything to a girl who had nothing. All was taken away from me. The light, the sea, the sounds of birds and the feel of a touch from another. Then I was able to experience all that again and when Amarthiel took pity upon me, she took me under her to live again, but it was because of Amarthiel that I was able to live that free life again. For centuries, I killed for them and I liked it. But throughout that time that I felt the gifts of light and the feel of others, I was never able to tell my story. Amarthiel did not care. Kronog did not care. None who took me in cared for me. Now I ask you: Why did you want to know who I am?”

Theomin thought for a good long while as the girl in red, Lily, waited for an answer. “I suppose I needed to know who you are. I need to know you because I would not be as afraid of you as I was. Coming to you, looking upon you, being in your presence,” he paused for a moment, “I fear you. But knowing you, knowing your story and where you come from, afraid as I still am of you, I am not as afraid.”

“Why are you not afraid of me anymore? I am dangerous and I have killed and have not stopped myself from killing. I think I enjoyed it.”

“You think you enjoyed it,” Theomin said. “I keep hearing that. I do not think you enjoyed it and I think it is not who you are. You can kill and you can obliterate with just a movement of your hand, but there is another side to you. There is a side to you that can also build and heal. You have the ability to create. I deem the feeling of creating and healing is more precious to you than taking.” He paused for a good long while. It seemed the girl in red was taking in all of what Theomin had said. He then remembered why he was there as her story enthralled him. “But I am not just here to hear your story. I need to know something.”

Lily walked back and sat on the bed provided for her. For once, the feel to the room was no longer threatening but a more calm. “What would you like to ask me?”

“My brother, Teryndir, was taken by that great drake that flew into Bree. I need to know what happened to my brother.”

“If you want to know about your brother, know that he was eaten or crushed by that drake,” she said. “It takes at its own whim and eats what it wants. It cares not for men.”

“No trace was found in or near this village,” he said. “What, then, happed to him.”

Lily thought for a while then said, “The only other place he could have been taken to is Annuminus,” she looked down, “along with Kronog. He is an evil man who cares not for anyone,” she paused, “not even me. If he is taken there, you cannot expect he will return. You will never see your brother again.”