Eloped by hennethgalad

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Chapter 1

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   Hareth lay awake, staring at the ceiling, listening. She had heard the guards call, something was amiss, it sounded like an intruder had been seen. But the guards called in vain, searched for a time, and returned to their rounds.
   Hareth could not return to sleep. Her thoughts lingered on Galdor, for today was his nineteenth birthday. She had sent him a book about ship building. It came from the far havens of the elves, with weird elvish names. She did not think he would use it to build ships, or even read it, it was a jest, between the two of them. She had glanced at the pages, but even the pictures were dull, and full of woodwork joints. She did not enjoy reading, she wanted to be the one the stories were about, not in the crowd, at the back, listening in.
   And there was so much reading expected of her ! Her grandmother had never even learned to read, her mother struggled, but she, Hareth of the Haladin, was expected to become as learned as an elf, without the immortality in which to do it ! She laughed aloud, and thought of Galdor and the neglected pile of books in his room. Galdor did not care for learning either, he liked to be outdoors, climbing the mountains, sailing the lake, or galloping over the rolling hills of Dor-lomin.

   His sparkling eyes floated before her mind, she thought of the summer they had spent at Lake Mithrim, for the betrothal of Haldir and Glóredhel. She remembered her first sight of him, tall like his beautiful father, but less elvish than old Hador, less airy and remote. They had laughed together at some pomposity of Haldir, who was so full of himself after catching the beautiful Glóredhel that he had become unbearable. But Galdor had grinned at her, his sparkling eyes shining, and offered to teach her to sail.
   And on the lake, in his element, how he shone, how he laughed with exhilaration while the sail of the little boat had lain almost flat on the water, and he, gripping her waist with one arm, and steering with the other, had leaned almost right out of the boat, holding it in balance, skimming across the shining lake faster than a rising bird.

   He did not kissed her until the last day, until they stood under the porch in the grey rain, and he took her by the shoulders, looked steadily into her eyes and said
   'One day I will come for you. Will you come away with me ? Will you come here, to Dor-lomin, to dwell beside me in the House of Hador ?' But she stayed silent, feeling that he must be able to hear her heart, and see the love in her eyes. And he nodded, and stooped forwards and gently kissed her. But a spark flashed between them, and her body moved and she pressed against him, and their lips opened and their love made them forget all else as they clung together, until a cough from his mother made them spring guiltily apart.

 

   

 

   She had had one letter from him, in the midwinter, apologising for kissing her, and saying that there had been a fearful row at home. He had been told to write at once, apologising, and he had refused, and been confined to his rooms. He had paced, the caged animal, in blind fury; he could not apologise for he was not sorry. At last, after a month, and many long conversations with Irïme, the sister of King Fingolfin, he had realised that his actions had not been polite. He had not, he confessed, declared his intention to her parents, nor even her. He had been uncivil.
   But he still loved her.

 

 

 

   The letter had kept her wakeful for months. She lost her taste for food and frolic, she had kept to her room, staring without seeing, or reading his words over and over, all her being frozen in me of their time together, and their kiss. The long leagues and the high mountains that stood between them crushed her spirit.

   But as spring unfolded, her appetite returned and she had begun to dance again, and to find the flirtation of others amusing once more. But none of them were tall like Galdor, none had his pale golden hair or his pale blue eyes, and none had that faint elvish gleam that came from those who had eaten their food, drunk their mead, and sung with their voices.

   There was a scratching at the window, her heart gripped in her chest, then began to beat like a runner. She reached for the dagger beneath her pillow and opened her mouth to call for help, when Galdor's face appeared. He was red-faced from the climb, but grinning delightedly at her. She shook the knife at him, then threw back the covers and waved him to one side while she opened the window. He clung, laughing quietly, to the carvings over the window, then slid one long leg over the sill, and suddenly her room was invaded by the enormity of Galdor, son of Hador Lórindol, king of Dor-lomin.
She stepped back, her heart beating faster than ever.

   But Galdor knew of the hunt, and the taming of animals, and he too stepped back, and half-sat on the wide window sill. When she was steadier, he spoke softly.
   'I have crossed the Ered Wethrin, and northern Beleriand, and forded the Malduin. I have passed unseen over the elf-road and across into Brethil. I have evaded the scouts, eluded the guards, and scaled the walls of the House of Haleth. I have come for you, my beautiful Hareth, will you come with me ?'
   Hareth blinked at him 'What does "eluded" mean ?'
   'What ?'
   'You said "I have eluded the guards". I hope you didn’t hurt anyone, I know those guards, some of them are old friends.'
   Galdor laughed 'My speech ! I spent weeks practicing that speech, I said it just right, and instead of falling into my arms you’re asking questions like that ! You must read more, my darling girl, for the meaning of the word 'eluded' has eluded you.'
   'So it’s just another word for sneaking ?' she said bluntly, and Galdor stopped with a frown. He turned away and looked out of the window and bowed his head. The life seemed to sag out of him, he looked smaller, ordinary, an embarassed man who wished himself elsewhere. Pity moved her, she put an arm around his shoulders 'You were still playing at being Fingon, weren’t you ? But I am not Maedhros, and this is not Thangorodrim.'
   He put his arms round her and pulled her to him 'It might as well be. That mountain pass is not for the faint hearted ! But you are as agile as a goat, and will have no trouble as I did. There is a place... Well, you will see. But, I say, Hareth, have you any wine, I am parched !'
   'Of course ! Forgive me, it should have been my first thought. My manners are as bad as yours, we cannot wed, we would bear monsters !' he looked at her with an appalled face, but she laughed and kissed him 'We must wed, my darling boy, for who else could endure us ? Happiness would elude them...'

   He gripped her and they fell on the bed, kissing in a frenzy, he ran his hands over her thin nightgown then stopped himself with a kind of yelping croak. He sat up and buried his head in his hands 'I promised Aunt Lalwen that I would wait. I must bring you to Eithel Barad, and when we are wed, only then. But she says, Aunt Lalwen, I mean, says that if I wait, she will arrange that we wed at once, at the same time as my sister marries your brother. That way, the fact that we’re so young will be overlooked, as everyone will be going "aaaahhhh" and stuff, if you see what I mean ?'
   Hareth sat up beside him and pulled her nightgown straight. The whole thing seemed suddenly serious.
   'Do you mean it ? Are you really intending to marry me ?'
He turned to her in astonishment 'Do not play coy now ! I know you feel as I do, I can see it in your eyes, because every time I turn they are upon me ! I can feel your pulse quicken when we touch, and I can feel your body move when we kiss. But I... I have endured sleepless nights for so long that I was dragged before Írimë in tears.
   It matters not. You need not love me as I love you, you need only love me enough to wed me.'
   'You know that I love you ! Did you not receive my letter ?'
He patted his breast 'I carry it here, in my inner pouch, next to my heart. Oh how I missed you !'

 

   Sneaking out was easier. She found the lieutenant of the guard eating a pie in a quiet corner and whispered their plan to him. He laughed silently, save for a soft snort, then reached into the pouch at his waist and gave her a small silver box 'I hope you never have need of this. May you find your hearth warm every night.'
Hareth opened the box, inside were flint and tinder, and a small pile of dried moss. She looked up at him with a choked throat and tears in her eyes. 'I'll... We shall return, to visit, you know we will !'
   Galdor bowed and nudged her and she turned to him with a frown. He nodded at the lieutenant and she started 'By the stars, I forgot to thank you ! But what a hopeful omen, to meet you, and to be given such a gift. I feel sure we shall be happy.'
   'So do I, my lady, you seem to have been made for each other. I wish you joy !'

   

   And the lieutenant had conducted a sudden inspection, and the guards, jumping to attention, were distracted, and the two young lovers stole away into the night.

 

   Hareth had use of the lieutenant's gift on the third day. They had been crossing the Malduin at the ford of red rocks, which had turned out to be a rather dull rusty colour, to Hareth's eyes, when Galdor had fallen. He had taken their knapsacks across, and come back to 'help' her, though she had merely waited to see him safe across before setting out. But he was nineteen, he was eloping with a princess, and he showed off, trying to cross elven-fashion, dancing from rock to rock until he slipped on the dark green weeds and fell with wide eyes into the roiling waters.
   Hareth shrieked, then remembered her lessons and thought of rope, but everything was on the other side of the river and Galdor was struggling to keep his head above the fury of the water, icy from the nearby mountains.
   She darted, unthinkingly elf-like, across the rough red rocks as though it were a rug at home, unpinned her long cloak and threw the end into the water. It hit his eye, he cried out, and sank, and she waited breathless through seconds turned to hours until she felt weight on the cloak, and gripped it firmly and dragged her beloved to the safety of a rock.

   His flint was gone, her letter to him ruined, but as he said, now that he had her, what need of a letter... 'Still, it was your letter that persuaded Aunt Lalwen.' he said 'She just took me for a lusty youth, as indeed I am !' he said proudly, and sat up straight for a moment, then drew the cloak around his shoulders and shivered and huddled over the fire. 'But I think she likes you herself, no, I mean, I think she approves of you, you know ?'
   Hareth looked up from the soup she was making. 'Does she ? That is... That warms my heart ! But I cannot believe that you showed a private letter, an intimate letter ! to the sister of the High King !'
   'I know, I'm truly sorry. It was unforgivable. But I was in despair, my darling girl, I did not know what to say ! She would not take my word, no, that’s not it. I think she did not trust my judgment. But she does trust yours, which is odd, if you trust me. But then, perhaps you know me better ?' he said hopefully.
   Hareth laughed 'How can I know you better than your "aunt" who has known you all your life ? Not only that, your aunt the elf, old and wise, who knows more about mortals than we do ourselves ! No, I just see a different side of you. And I trust you.'
   Galdor swallowed, his eyes, and his cheeks reddened. 'This is serious, isn’t it ? We really are going to wed ? You really do trust me ? And... And love me ?'
   Hareth laughed 'Stop, or I shall weep ! And put your clothes on, you are cold, you will be ill, and have a red nose on our wedding day !'

 

 

   The climb was steep, the path unmarked, save for shapes in the rock, carven to look natural but a clear sign to elven eyes, and those they had trained. But at the top, on a narrow shelf no wider than a house, the path had ended. The only way to leave was over the edge, or straight up the cliff.

   But Galdor smiled seriously at her 'Are you ready ?'
   'Ready for what ?'
   'We must climb a little.'
   'I cannot climb up that !' She gestured to the cliff towering silently above them in the still mountain air. They were above the eagles, she had left her heart, her stomach, and her nerves at the many corners that seemed to overhang the valley far below. She turned, Beleriand was there, a hundred shades of green, and speckled brown with village and town. It was late afternoon, the turn of the path had brought them into shade, while below them the sunlight brightened the colours and glinted on the threads of river and stream. But Galdor was waiting in silence.

   'Climb ?' she said finally.
   'Oh, not all the way !
   Oh... Well, it’s a surprise you see, there’s a pass, a crack in the rock, two fathoms up, but you cannot see it from here. Some elf must have climbed, long ago, though I'm sure one of them could go straight up that cliff ! But come, I shall show you.'
   He scrambled up the rock, and suddenly, as though into thin air, he was gone. Hareth stepped back and looked up, but could see no sign of him, until his head appeared, grinning down at her, as he lowered a rope. 'Tie it to your knapsack, I'll pull it up while you climb.'
   The climb was nothing, she had been trained in the woods by her brother, and in the castle by her friend the lieutenant, who had said 'Always best to know the way out of any place you find yourself in.'
   The rock face of the cliff was cracked, and a thin shelf opened into a slanting split. Galdor beckoned her forwards and gestured in silence. She peered into the blackness and thought of torches. But Galdor held one proudly aloft 'It was a secret, you see, and there’s more inside ! Half the fun... no, an added seasoning to this adventure is the secret way itself, cutting through the very eye of the mountain.'
   'Ugh ! No, that sounds awful !'
   'What ? Needles have an eye, you are not troubled by that.'
   'Oh well... needles... but needles are made, whereas mountains...'
   'If it comes to that, the elves say the Valar, and the Enemy, shaped the mountains between them.'
   'Yes. I wonder who put the crack here ?'

   They walked, stooping, for a few moments, until the path widened into a passable tunnel sloping upwards across the mountain, deeper into its eye. After a time Galdor stopped and rummaged in his knapsack. He took out another torch and handed it to Hareth, and then pulled out his silver flask, with his name engraved on it in elvish. She smiled to see it, it had been a gift from the High King, to mark his coming of age, and he was immensely proud of it.
   'Drink this, my darling girl.'
   'What is amiss, my darling boy ?'
   'Naught ! A wonder awaits, but we have had a hard climb, I would not have mere tiredness dull your awe.'
   'Lead on then, my brave boy, and I shall follow you even into the eye of the mountain !'
But Galdor stooped and kissed her, and the effort to restrain himself tore him up inside. He turned away gasping, and gripped her shoulder as one struck. 'Sorry... I'm sorry Hareth, I just... I'm just exploding with love, no, with desire for you.'
   Hareth laid her hand on his. 'We are young, you are not yet twenty. It is natural that we are impatient. I too burn for you, but I think you must keep your promise to Írimë. Come, show me your wonder, it will be our time very soon.'

   Galdor paused at a turn in the tunnel 'You go first.' he whispered, but his words sounded strange in the still darkness, the echo spoke of a great space ahead. Hareth swallowed, the whole place was weird and elvish. She thought elves were wonderful, of course, but also rather frightening and weird. How people, or what looked like people, could have been walking around before the sun had ever risen, when there were only stars, not even the moon ! It was too weird. But Galdor had grown up with them, indeed, for a few years there had even been an elf in Brethil, teaching them to read their language. But still, it was a weird place. She sucked in air, then stepped forwards, her torch held high.

   The mountain seemed hollow, the rock merely folded over a great gaping gulf of air, and water. She stood on the brink and held her torch out over the black lake. The rock face stabbed down through the clear water to bottomless depths. The light grew behind her, then grew and grew. She turned, there were elven lanterns along the tunnel wall, elegant silver lanterns in the black desert of rock; just like elves, she thought.
   But when she turned back she gasped, for the water gleamed in the elf light, and the vast cliff, half in, half out of the dark lake, hung over them in the enormous silence around them, undisturbed but for the hiss of the torches and the gentle purr of the elf lanterns. Galdor was beside her, his hair shining like the lanterns, his eyes gleaming like the water.

   Hareth almost squirmed with desire. How could she bear to be with him, so close, for so long, and not... Each time they kissed, it was harder to stop. Each time, it was he who pulled away, who held himself back. She knew that she could not. She had thought of nothing but his hands, his mouth, his body...
   It seemed as though they were still in the first moment, still in her chamber, still kissing, frozen together in a note like a horn, a steady note, that did not waver, but kept them together, gripping each other’s hands, sitting close, pressed together by the fire, and then waking, wrapped in separate cloaks, but curled together.
   She could not speak, she felt her words would become solid, and shift the shape of the air, or the very folds of the mountains. The elvish air, she thought, I am in an elvish place, under their spell...

   She looked into Galdor's eyes, dark with desire, and reached up to stroke his cheek. 'You look so... And you are so sweet, you have behaved wonderfully. I shall tell your Aunt.'
   'She is not my aunt.' he said hoarsely 'Come, let us... Let us leave this place, for here I feel your enchantment more intensely than I thought I could endure. But I can endure it ! Let us go !'
   'Oh Galdor ! That is the first time you seem even to have questioned the elves ! You may be mortal after all !'
   His posture changed, his eyes brightened to blue as the pupils narrowed 'What do you mean, the first time ! My whole family, my whole being, is torn between the elves and the mortals, and the elves are our allies, and our friends.'
   'And lovers.'
   'WHAT ? Do you tell me you have a lover ? One of them ?'
   'My darling boy... Such jealousy ! Of course I do not ! You know that you were the first to kiss me !'
   Galdor shook his head 'It is a good thing you are coming to Dor-lomin, the men of Brethil are clearly blind.'
   Hareth laughed and stroked his cheek, but he turned his head and kissed her fingers, then seized her torch, threw both to the floor and drew her into his arms.

   Hareth knew that here, in this strange elvish hall, they would not draw apart. Galdor laid his cloak down, and they lay together, kissing, and pausing to look long into each other’s eyes, until finally Hareth said 'After all, she is not really your aunt...'