Belladonna Took
by Belladonna Took
Chapter 19 For Fengel
Bella and Gandalf left Minas Tirith the day that the response came.
Hildi decided he wanted to stay with Turin and his family. It was a
difficult goodbye for Bella as she had come to love and respect Raina.
It was with a very heavy heart that Bella left Gondor for Rohan. Hildi
told Bella that he would meet her there in a few days but he would
probably stay in Rohan rather then return to the Shire with her.
The night before they reached Edoras Bella had another dream, this time
she saw how Fengel had gotten the gash across his forehead. Grim had
hit him across the head with the butt of his sword, in an attempt to
knock him down the stairs. It was Théya that had witnessed him
attempting to knock her youngest son to his death. It was when she
confronted him that he pushed her down the steps instead.
It was not know that Grim had had his own vision of the future and it
included him being expelled from Rohan by the newly crowned King Fengel.
Bella woke with a scream as she had seen Théya again fall past
her on the stairs and could do nothing to stop her from falling.
When they reached the hall of Meduseld Bella and Gandalf were greeted by Folcred and Fastred.
"So you have heard about our mother's death? Have you come to watch the
trial of Fengel? I can't believe that Father actually believes that
Fengel pushed her. We know that it is not true, but we have no way to
prove it. Father is going to expel Fengel from Rohan. You have to help
him." Red cried as he hugged Bella tight.
"I have come to help Fengel if I can, Red. Where is your father and where is Fengel?" Bella asked patting Red's back soothingly.
Red pointed to the door into the hall and Fastred led the way in.
Folcwine was sitting dejectedly on the throne and Grim was sitting at
his feet on the step in front of him. They both looked up as Gandalf,
Bella and the twins entered the hall. With a few great strides Folcwine
had crossed the hall, dropped to his knees and grabbed ahold of Bella
and began to sob.
"Why did she have to go? Why did Fengel have to be such a spoiled,
inconsiderate child? I should have diciplined him more, he was allowed
too much say. Grim said that he was mad at her for not letting him play
with a sword and he pushed her."
"NO! He did not push his mother Folcwine. I, like your son, have had
several visions while I slept. In those dreams, I saw what actually
happened if you will allow me to tell you what I saw, all will make
sense." Bella interrupted.
"No, I don't want to hear it. Grim told me that you would be coming to
protect him and here you are. It is Fengel's fault that his mother is
dead and for that he will be sent from Rohan and banned from ever
crossing her borders, on penalty of death," Folcwine said with a voice
that sounded nothing like his own.
"Fine, your highness, then allow me to remove your youngest child from
Rohan for you. I will take Fengel back to the Shire with me where he
will be safe until such a time as you have realized the mistake that
you have made. I will care for him as if he were my own fry. He will be
safe until you call for him, and call for him you will, I can guarntee
that, sire." Bella said with such anger in her voice that Folcwine
backed away from her.
"Then take the murderer and traitor away, I have no more use for him
and I will never call for him. He murdered his own mother and is no
longer any child of mine."
With that the king left the room with Grim in tow.
"Please bring me a quill, some ink and parchment. I will leave your
father my account of what occurred for when he is ready to read it.
Then fetch me your brother and all of his clothing. We will be leaving
Rohan in the morning before the king can have is say. We will travel to
the Shire and if I am correct we will travel north first to visit a
couple of Gandalf's friends before we go to Rivendell to visit Elrond
and Arwen. Then we will head for my home. I will leave you a map to the
Shire in case you two or your father ever need to find Fengel."
Bella wrote her whole dream down, including Grim's vision, and sealed
it, then drew up a map to the Great Smial. By the time she was done Red
had gotten Fengel and brought him to Bella. She was shocked to see he
was in torn, bloodstained, and extremely dirty clothes. He looked like
he hadn't eaten in days and his wound had not been cared for.
"Father wouldn't let us clean him up at all. He has been like this for
two weeks now. The jailor thankfully put some salve on his cut so it
wouldn't get infected."
"Please fetch me some hot water for him to bathe in, some clean clothes and clean bandages for his head."
It took Bella two hours to clean Fengel up. He was cut and bruised all
over his little body and had only been given water and bread crusts for
the two weeks that he had been in the cell. The twins brought his clean
clothing and bandages along with a huge basket of food for them to take
with them in the morning and some food for the evening.
Fengel ate as if he had never tasted food before. Within 20 minutes of
finishing his supper he was curled up next to Bella on her bed sleeping.
The next morning just before dawn Bella, Fengel and Gandalf slipped out
of Edoras without being detected. They headed north and it was after an
hour or so that Gandalf let then know that they were heading to the
Golden Woods to visit his old friends the Lord and Lady of the realm of
Lothlorien. Their names were Galadriel and Celeborn.
Chapter 20 Galadriel and Celeborn
“Why are we heading north, Bella? If we keep heading north then we will
have to travel through the Golden Woods. There is an elf witch that
rules the wood and I was told that any man that passes through the
woods will lead a cursed life, if he is ever seen again.” Fengel said
with a fearful quaver in his voice.
“You have nothing to fear from the woods, Fengel, my love. We are
traveling with Gandalf and he is a friend with the Lord and Lady of the
Golden Woods. So, take heart, love, I will keep you safe just as I
promised.” Bella said soothingly. “Then we shall go further north and
east to the valley of Rivendell where you will meet Lord Elrond and his
children, before we head for my home in the Shire. I think that you
will like the Shire and most of its inhabitants.”
They rode for the rest of that day in silence as they had for many
previous ones. As they reached the edge of the river Bella noticed that
the trees had changed. No longer were they surrounded by green and
brown but varying shades of gold. She felt a peacefulness that she
hadn’t since she was in Rivendell. As they looked across the river she
saw several elves waiting for them to cross. As they had reached a
slightly shallow part of the river they decided to wade across with the
horses. Bella, being partially raised in Brandy Hall, had learned at a
very young age how to swim so the water didn’t frighten her.
When they reached the opposite shore Gandalf was greeted by the tallest
of the elves. They spoke for a short while in an elvish tongue that
Bella didn’t recognize. It was not the same as what she had heard and
learned in Rivendell.
She was startled out of her thoughts by Gandalf, “Bella, Fengel this is
Haldir. He is the captain of the guard here at the border of Lorien.”
With that the tall blonde elf bowed slightly to both of them and Bella
was startled by Haldir’s physical beauty. Only the elves that she had
seen crossing to the havens had come close to the beauty of the elves
of Lorien but they were dark of hair and light eyed instead of fair of
both hair and eye.
“If you will follow me, I will take you to the lord and lady, they are
awaiting your arrival.” Haldir spoke in a very melodious voice.
As they followed him through the forest Bella lost her sense of
direction. She felt like they were going in circles only to find out
they had been. It is, she later found out, the way that the elves of
Lorien to make sure that once people enter Lorien they have no way of
leading others into the realm uninvited. The reached the gate into
Lorien just before dusk had settled and all of Lorien appeared to be
glittering. When they had reached the throne room of the lord and lady
Bella was again stunned at the beauty of these elves. More beautiful
was their manner. Both Bella and Fengel were greeted with heartwarming
smiles from both Galadriel and Celeborn. Bella felt like she had had
warm water run through her body as she suddenly felt very warm and
sleepy. They dined with the two royal elves and also Haldir. When the
meal was finished Haldir showed them to the flet that would be theirs
for the duration of their stay.
Bella had felt like she had just fallen asleep when she had the odd
sensation that she was being watched. She opened her eyes to see
Galadriel standing right next to her. She motioned for Bella to follow
her and they walked for a while in silence.
“I have asked you to join me in my nighttime stroll because I wish to
show you something. I would like for you to look into my mirror, for
you are a rarity for mortals. You possess the gift of foresight. Not
many of your kind possess this gift. So, I will share my secret with
you as most of what you will see will not be a surprise to you.”
As they reached a small glen, Bella noticed a basin situated in the
center of the glen. Galadriel walked over to a small pitcher and filled
it from the spring that seemed to come out of a tree. She poured the
water into the basin and motioned for Bella to climb up on a small
pedestal and she peered into the basin. At first it looked just like a
basin but then she saw stars and then people. Although she didn’t
recognize any person she knew it was the Shire. She saw a small
hobbit-fry that looked like a cross between her and Bungo, and then she
saw him grown up standing beside a grave marker. She saw another fry
with dark hair and startling blue eyes, much like Bella’s own, crying
beside two markers. She saw the first hobbit holding the smaller one’s
hand and then three others reading a book. But when she got a good look
at the writing it was her own handwriting. She saw the first hobbit in
a beautiful hobbit hole with the smaller one standing beside him
waving. Then all went black again.
“All of this will come to pass as long as you stick to the road that
has been laid before you. This all NEEDS to come to pass. It is
necessary for all living creatures in Middle Earth to continue to
exist.” Galadriel said in a fairly ominous tone.
