1: The Hunt
The Northeastern Foothills of the Misty Mountains, circa 1150 Third Age
Doldo stalked noiselessly forward, completely silent and invisible, arrow on the string, bow bent. The antlers moved gently as the buck browsed, and as Doldo inched forward, the rest of the buck came into view. He stilled himself, brought his arrow-point into focus on the ribs just behind the shoulder, and then spared a quick glance to his left.
Young Sindo was not in place yet, but he was close. Doldo watched him stepping, gently, gently, and then Sindo likewise halted, focusing, finishing his aim.
A quick glance to the right showed Noldo already in position. Doldo breathed in slowly, and let out a single sound, a chirp like a small bird. The buck's head came up with a snort, and he tensed, ready to spring.
Doldo loosed his arrow, followed by Sindo, and Noldo loosed his last. The buck dropped in mid-leap, and landed dead. Sindo's arrow had pierced his throat, Doldo and Noldo's arrows were lodged in his heart. The three tall hobbits, father and two sons, exchanged glances and went forward, proud and satisfied, to inspect the buck.
Doldo was pleased with the day's hunt. "Noldo, fetch the ponies, " he said. "Sindo, help me dress him." They got to work.
Noldo ran back through the woods, elated with the day. The autumn was golden, the leaves turned but not yet fallen, the air crisp despite last night's rain, and the hunt had been good. This buck would keep the family in meat for a week. He leaped with joy as he ran.
He was still running as he entered the glade where they had left the four ponies, and they snorted mildly in surprise, but they were used to Noldo's exuberance. He untethered them, strung them together, leapt onto his own pony, and led them cantering back towards the dead buck.
The pack pony bringing up the rear was strangely restless, and steadily the other three ponies caught his fear. It wasn't long before Noldo could smell what they smelled. Burning. He wrinkled his nose and worried. Another goblin-raid? Trolls? Or had a dragon come down from the grey mountains again? He urged the ponies faster, suddenly worried about his brother and father, still on foot, gutting the buck, probably unaware of any danger. And then another fear struck him. Mother, alone at home. His heart came into his mouth.
He arrived and slithered to a halt, and quickly told his father what he had smelled. Doldo looked grim, and young Sindo looked very scared. Quickly, they heaved the bloody buck onto the pack pony, lashed him in place, mounted and headed home.
"By the wind, the burning is coming from the east, not the south, " Doldo said when they were halfway home. "I want to get to the lookout, and see where the fires are burning." They swung east, down the foothills, towards a promontory that gave a good view of the Langwell River where it joined the Anduin. The smell grew stronger and stronger, and with it, Noldo could smell burning flesh. His stomach turned.
The eastern edge of the forest was burning. There was a mild prevailing wind out of the forest and down the hill, but the fire at the edge of the forest had created an updraft there, a new wind rushing up the hillside from the river; and the edge of the wood was now a firestorm. Despite the rain that had fallen yesterday, the day had been crisp and dry; if the prevailing wind changed, the forest would not last long.
Suddenly, still within the woods, they saw it. "Stop!" Doldo shouted, and their ponies slithered to a halt. Doldo turned to young Sindo and shouted, "Turn your head!" But too late. Sindo's face showed his shock already. "Go back! Take the buck and go home! Find Mother!" Doldo shouted. Sindo obeyed, still shocked at first, but then fleeing, sobbing, recklessly lashing his pony for more speed. The pack pony labored to keep up.
Noldo and Doldo pressed their frightened ponies forward, sick with dread but hoping to find survivors. At the edge of the burned and blackened glade, Noldo halted again. Through the roiling smoke that now drifted, swirling, and now eddied eastward, he saw what he had feared. Fair, tall and graceful those bodies had been, noble and proud, but they were blackened now, and uneven eddies in the wind brought the stench of their burning to fill his nostrils. Sobbing and retching, he looked sickly this way and that, hoping to find survivors, but the bodies were all black and still. Doldo, tight-lipped with anger, counted about thirty dead. Noldo met Doldo's eyes, from across the smoke and stench, and in silent rage and sickened sorrow, they wept together.
"What do we do?" sobbed Noldo.
"We find Mother, " said Doldo grimly. Still silently weeping, he turned to face the dead elves. "You deserve mourning and burial, but we cannot give it to you. Not now. We must go and find the living. I am sorry to leave you thus. Rest in peace, if elves can find peace in death." He turned his pony homeward, but then he saw movement, and stopped and turned. Noldo followed his gaze.
A wild-eyed blond figure dropped down out of a tree, and fled. It was only a little smaller than the hobbits, and slender. There was no time to argue with it. Doldo urged his pony forward, and as he caught up with the small elf, jumped off his pony and all but tackled it. The elf collapsed shrieking and scratching. Noldo pulled up beside his father, who simply handed the slender elf, back-first, to him. Noldo clamped an arm around the tiny waist as it kicked and fought. "Ride home!" Doldo shouted, running to catch his pony. But Doldo's pony bolted in terror.
Noldo gave chase with the still shrieking elf clamped in his arm. "Hush!" he shouted, and to his astonishment, the elf did, now going almost limp in his arms. He took the reins in that hand, caught his father's pony, and fighting the tangle of reins and elf, turned back. Doldo was now shaking, glancing fearfully down toward the river, angry at his son for his disobedience but suddenly realizing that the lad had, in all likelihood, saved his life. Noldo heard what Doldo had been hearing, and his blood ran cold. There was an approaching tumult on the edge of the forest. Whoever they were, they were coming back.
Doldo wordlessly swung aboard his pony, and they fled homeward. Now they were racing the marauders for Sindo, Mother, and their home.
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On the Edge of the Forest
Doldo and Noldo pulled their ponies to a halt at the edge of the woods. Down by the river, the whole valley was burning. Black smoke billowed skyward from uncounted homes and barns. The noises of terror and chaos now assaulted their ears. Much closer to the edge of the forest, perhaps a thousand feet away, was the hole Doldo had shoveled into the high hillside, and the shed and barn he had built with his sons' help. Doldo scanned frantically for his wife and son. His pounding heart almost stopped. Numerous dark, large, misshapen figures roamed through his shed and barn, burning his little gardens, and breaking down the door and windows of his hobbit-hole. Thick new plumes of black smoke poured from the shed and the barn.
He drew his hunting knife and gathered his reins, his face twitching with rage, and urged his terrified and snorting pony forward. The pony refused. Doldo spun the reins and lashed him savagely, and he reared, gagging and swerving as Doldo wrenched at his mouth and hammered at him with his heels.
Feeling as frightened as his father's pony, Noldo tried to gather his own courage, thinking of Mother and Sindo. Choking back his tears, and wondering what to do with the almost-forgotten elf still in his arms, he drew his own knife and gathered his reins. The elf's eyes grew wide, and Noldo wondered again what to do with it, but he couldn't ask his maddened father.
"Dad! Stop! STOP!"
Sindo galloped out to meet them from within the woods. "Mother is with me! She's with me!!"
Doldo spun the pony ruthlessly. "Where??" he roared, fury now mingling with wonder and relief.
Sindo turned, and they galloped back into the forest several hundred feet. There they found four ponies, and Mother sitting elegant, tall, and calm on one of them, bravely smiling and brushing away tears. Doldo raced up to her, half spooking her pony, and reached a shaking hand towards her.
"Mallie!! Mallie, are you all right?"
"Yes, Doldo, I'm fine, " she said, settling her pony and laughing nervously. "You didn't expect me to invite them to tea, did you? I could see that the valley was burning." And she burst into tears, but gathered herself immediately, and smiled bravely again. Reaching, they held hands for a brief second, and Doldo drank from her glistening eyes.
He had Mallie and both his boys. Let the homestead burn.
Doldo snapped out orders. "Let's get going. Up the trail toward the mountain pass." The family, loosely herding the pack ponies, urged their ponies up the slope. Smoke plumes began blowing past them, stinging their eyes. The ponies, only too glad to be leaving the fire and smoke behind, began breaking into a brisk trot. The hobbits did not hold them back.
Doldo considered the three pack ponies, one still carrying the buck, but the other two packed heavily, blankets covering their loads. The implication sank in, and he turned to his wife. "You packed, when you saw the valley burning," he praised her, his heart swelling with love and pride.
She nodded. "Food for several weeks, I hope. One blanket apiece, and water bottles, and our winter cloaks. I assume we're crossing the mountains. I couldn't fit the books of family trees, " she said sadly.
He shrugged. "What we can't remember, we won't need, " he said. And then he smiled, for a single split second completely overwhelmed, by her brave smile, by her resourcefulness and strength, by relief at finding her alive and well. "Mallie, Mallie, my lovely Mallorn blossom, you are a queen among hobbits."
He turned to his sons. "Noldo, you lead us up the mountain pass, " he ordered. "Take the pack pony with the buck. Mallie, you follow Noldo, and lead the other two ponies. Sindo, you and I will bring up the rear."
Mallie suddenly focused on Noldo, observed for the first time what he carried, and then said simply, "Give me the child."
Noldo obeyed, weaving toward his Mother still at a quick trot; passing the elf to his Mother after whispering "You'll be all right" and brushing its hair with a quick kiss, and then trotting forward to catch his pack pony. The tall child gazed wide-eyed at Mallie, and then nestled in her arms.
"Mallie, if you're carrying the elf-child, then Sindo can lead the two ponies. I'll bring up the rear. We'll give the ponies a rest when I say so. Let's ride!"
Noldo glanced back at Sindo, and saw that he now had the string of two pack ponies. Comforted by his father's stern tone, and needing no further urging as the smoke penetrated the forest, Noldo set both his heels to his pony's ribs, and in moments the whole family was strung out at a flat gallop, churning up the mountain towards the pass.
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The Fairy Wife