Shadows on the Horizon.....

[Maverick 40]

Celdurin was playing, as the precocious boy often did, in front of Doron’s noble Tower. He did so after taking his youth lessons with the Master of the Tower Rhys’ Feivra but this day somehow seemed different to the boy.

He had spent his first years in Everska, where his free spirited and loving parents had run a small vinyard. But, as with anything, chance and opportunity brought them here just five years ago in the hopes of establishing a fine orchard from which to live off. He was bright lad who had excelled in his studies. Yet, here he was standing before the tower confused by what was going on around him.

His parents who would normally join him each afternoon to play, were not present, all of the artists who sold their wares before Evran’s Jest were no where to be found, nor the Bards whom sung great hymns for no other reason than as if to exclaim the beauty of the ordinary day…..

Where were they, he thought and began to look around. It was then that he began to see that which would soon change his world irrevocably. He at first heard the pounding sound of hammer on anvil. It beat like a drum coming from the blacksmith. The same blacksmith who remained silent most days. Just then men rushed past, copper skinned men wearing excellent green and brown studded leather armor, carrying bows whose wood seemed to shimmer in the sun. They were the Rangers of Everska, the very ones that his family had taken the trek with here to Doron.

People began moving quickly for their homes, shouts rang amongst the crowd but he was too confused and enthralled to hear exactly what they said. He did not panic but instead seemed quite curious. He slowly began to wonder through the crowds. It was there before the bridge overlooking the river that he saw him. Celdurin did not know his name, he heard others call him Selkerdrim, and the few times Celdurin had seen, this elf always seemed to have a stern look about him.

This elf was tall, and had a wiry build with a sharp face hidden partially beneath a dark hood. He had a bow which looked much like the Everkan, but his face was pale as the moon against the dark hood he wore. The elf spoke in a stern tone, giving commands to others and pointing about the village. It was then that this elf turned to look directly upon Celdurin and his voice silenced. The elf simply stared at Celdurin for but a brief moment, it would make the greatest impression upon Celdurin’s young life.

The elf’s crystal blue eyes had a saddened look about them, as if witnessing a great tragedy before him. Then as Celdurin began to notice this, the elf smiled to him. The Moon Elf’s eyes did not change, on the contrary, they still looked pained but his smile still rang upon his normally stoic face. Celdurin was both confused and comforted by this.

Then his parents came and grabbed him, "Where have you been?”, they implored him. “We looked for you before the tower?”, they continued frantically but the boy continued staring at the Selkerdrim and offered no reply. By this time one of the Selkerdrim’s companions patted him on the shoulder and he moved off still issuing orders to the armed elves whom followed him. Celdurin did not understand what was happening around him, but he knew something was coming that would change his life forever……..

[Maverick 40]

Celdurin walked out onto the cobblestone path and witnessed all that was screamed in the night. It was now the early hours, just before dawn, and in the distance vapor continued to rise behind Evran’s Jest. Vapor was all that remained of the blaze that struck the Southern Sword Teeth in the night. Now, as he stood before the Councilors Hall bare-chested, his parents behind him, he would see Doron’s reaction to all that transpired.

Two factions, dozens of elves upon each side, stood facing each other, like two great title waves crashing together upon the steps of the great hall. On one side standing in front was his instructor, the Master of the Tower, Councilor Rhys Fievra. He was a handsome elf whom held his chin high and like a strong oak, did not falter before the winds arrayed against him. These winds blew like a storm from the woman whom stood across from his Master.

Celdurin was too young to adorn women, but at that moment, he thought she must have been the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She stood before her people like the statue of some great war Goddess. Her skin golden flecked, her blonde hair falling down upon her dark armor, she stood there with one hand pointing to the sky, and the other in direction of the smoldering wood. Her eyes would never leave the councilor and her words echoed like as if blown from a great gjallarhorn.

For the first time in Celdurin’s young life, he began to feel afraid……

// to be continued……….

[Maverick 40]

It was another night without a moment of reverie, Celdurin’s parents were fighting again and the dawn had come without peace. Since the attack by the Black Orcs, his parents had been at odds, his mother’s wanting to go with those leaving for the north, and his father not wishing to abandon all they had yet again. Celdurin sat on the steps of Evran’s, his arms wrapped around his tucked knees, and staring at the insects on the ground. He wanted this all to end, why was this happening to them he wondered?

Then he saw the doors of the Councilor’s Chambers swing open in the distance, and others begining to flock toward the great hall. He followed slowly, more intent upon kicking the rock before him. It had been days they were locked in there, debating how to return the still missing Lady Silias. Now it seemed they had made a decision. Celdurin stood to the back of the crowd, and could barely see in-between all those gathered.

His master and the Lady in Dark Armor stood beside each other on the top step, but there was also a new woman standing between them, one step below. Her skin seemed the color of lovely cream. Celdurin liked cream, and he liked this woman. She wore an incessant smile about her face that seemed forever genuine and that it could never be false. Celdurin was good at telling when people were lying, other children, and even adults, but he knew this woman was a good woman in his heart. Despite her presence, the crowd still grew restless.

Shouts began to ring out.

“Where are the Orcs!?!” “What of the Councilor!?!” they yelled.

He watched as the woman tried to quell their angst, but the people did not relent. They were afraid, he knew, so was he, and he did not know what would stop it from eating at the heart of him. More so, he wanted his parents to stop fighting and be happy again! Then he felt it, a huge gust of wind and the sounds of great wood cracking!

He rushed forward to hide behind the first adult he could find, before he turned around. There it stood, the most magnificent thing he had ever seen, a giant tree 20 feet tall, sprung forth from before the bridge over the river.

But this was no ordinary tree, it had a face, a nose and mouth. Its giant roots stood as two legs, with one giant branch hanging at it’s side, and the other helping to hold aloft a man upon it’s shoulder.

Still looking from behind the woman he hid, he strained to see in the dawn’s light. It was the Selkerdrim, standing tall upon the giant Treant’s shoulder, pulling his hood back to reveal an onyx circlet which shown in the light.

He then addressed the crowd,

“My kin, I am Laisren Ua Tiernan, Selkerdrim of Doron’s Mathora and proud citizen of this fine village. I see you gathered here now, before your council and demanding answers to your questions. You ask where are the Orcs? What has happened to our Councilor? But these things can not be answered by words!” he shouted, looking amongst the crowd.

“I tell you now, by the dawns light, that you are the answer!!” He paused, pointing at the horizon of the crowd. “It will be only by your strength that the Orcs will be kept at bay, and only through your love that our Councilor may find Salvation!”

He then leaped from the giant tree, landing deftly upon his feet, but he did portray what seemed like an unexpected grimace from the impact, Celdurin could see. Before others might bear witness, the elf stood straight and walked briskly forward to stand before the crowd, who was now fascinated by what was going on before them.

“Those who stand behind me I have fought with, I have bled with, and I shall die with!”, he shouts while maintaining his gaze on the crowd and stretching one arm behind him to point at a half dozen armed Elven warriors.

Celdurin had not seen them before and it seemed as if they materialized before the tree, just as the Selkerdrim had pointed. One warrior‘s face was covered by a dark cowl. He would have gone unnoticed if not for his unnaturally strong looking physique and pair of razor sharp elven long blades he was sharpening against each other. Then there were two what seemed like brothers, both bowman, whom wore identical half moon shaped tattoos. They seemed almost to shy away from the crowd accept for their intent focus on the Selkerdrim.

Then Celdurin saw perhaps the most dangerous of them all, a woman in a pink dress. Her face shrouded by a white mask, she seemed not to be paying attention to the crowd, instead juggling daggers in the air wistfully. Until she saw Celdurin and smiled while still juggling, Celdurin quickly hid behind the woman again. Finally, when he looked back he saw another another in full plate armor, she was leaning against the large tree, her arms folded over her chest and a bow strapped to her back. She seemed almost un-bemused by the whole ordeal.

Finally as the Selkerdrim spoke again, Celdurin turned his attention back to the Captain.

“I look out amongst you my kin and I see fear! Why!?! Why are you afraid?!? Because the enemy arrayed before us has taken your lands before, because they have taken you Councilor now!?!?” he shouts.

“I have been Captain for too long, that I do not know what you know! That I do not feel what you feel, but this will be no longer! I am Captain no longer, from this day forth I am only to be your brother!!” As he states this with his chin in the air looking amongst the crowd, he tears a pendant from his chest and throws it on the ground.

He looks back up, “But if I am to learn from you brothers and sisters, then you must learn from me! Our people have for too long had our lands taken from us, and we have been forced to wander this cold world without peace for centuries now!

“The God of our enemies, has sworn that the Orc will overcome all the lands with his minions. He hath even challenged Corellon himself, after conspiring to murder him. Corellon, who is father to us all and gave us life while fighting this menace. Is this how we, his children, should look before the menace of Grumish now?”

Celdurin is transfixed on the Captain, and his command of the people, when he see’s a half blooded man wearing a beautifully tailored hat standing in the crowd. The handsome half-elf was playing a small, silent flute, smiling all the while he plays. When he saw Celdurin , he gave the boy a sly wink. Celdurin suddenly smiled, it happened so quickly that he took him by surprise, he had not smiled in days it seemed. The Selkerdrim began moving through the crowd, toward the steps of the hall.

“But there are so many of them!!!” someone shouted and the Captain swung around to face the man exactly where he stood.

“Aye, there are more than many, cousin,” he agrees. Then continues, “But, look around you! What do you see? It was your hands that built this Grand Hall, your backs that labored to produce these fine Orchards, our hard earned gold that produced that great Tower!” Laisren points to what seemed like the sky, but alas was only the top of the great Tower of Doron.

“When I came here, I saw elves dancing, and singing all the while all this was being built,” he states turning his gaze back to the man. “Tell me, would you go back to sledging your hammers upon the cold hard ground of the north so readily after all you have built here? And it tis not just structures, but the kinship, the love of one’s brother and sister………”

He walks over to one giant of an elf, one who stood smiling with a jagged tooth smile, a terrifying two handed blade stuck in the ground before him. The Captain walks over to this man, putting a hand on his shoulder, “We are a family and like all families we have our differences, but also like all families we come together in times of need!” the captain nodded to the large elf who took a drag of a cigar and puffed it out.

At this moment, Celdurin felt two sets of hands begin to pull him from the woman’s waist. It was his parents and they looked down to him while he negligently was pulled before them, still looking up at the captain. The crowd began to look around as the captain began to climb the steps of the hall and then turning.

“I was there that night our Councilor was taken, I battled a horde of these monsters and I watched as she was taken,” he looked down, emotion beginning to betray him.

Then he stood firm and looked out once more, “BUT I WILL BE STANDING HERE WHEN SHE RETURNS!!!” he shouted in all his defiance and might. “I ASK YOU NOW MY KIN, MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, WHO WILL STAND HERE WITH ME!?!? WHO SHALL WORK TO SAVE HIS FAMILY, TO DEFEND HIS PEOPLE, AND HIS HOME!?!”

“I WILL CALL THIS ONE BROTHER, THIS ONE SISTER, AND I WILL BE THERE WITH YOU TILL THE END!! FOR IF WE ARE BROTHER AND SISTER, THEN SILIAS IS MOTHER TO US ALL!” his voice on the verge of breaking......

“LOOK TO EACH OTHER, UNITE AS ONE CHORD, AND EVEN THE SHARPEST BLADE SHALL NOT CUT YOU DOWN!! HAVE FAITH IN YOURSELVES, IN YOUR KIN, AND IN YOUR LEADERS,” he turned to view the woman of white, bowing before her.

“Will you bring our mother home my Lady Auriel?” he asks her empathically and with a loving nod she affirms his question. The Captain now turns and begins walking back down the path patting all those he passes on the shoulder, “Come then my brothers and sisters!! We must prepare to receive our sworn enemy, and welcome back our mother!!!” A wind blew from behind Celdrurin and there, where the tree once stood, was a mere elf. Wearing leopard leather and grinning from under this hood, as if the prospect of battle excited him.

“Follow me, for there is much work to be done!!” the captain exclaimed while walking past Celdurin and his parents briskly. Celdurin watched the man pass, just as his parents hands release from his shoulder. He turns to see tears in this mother’s eyes, as she shakes her head pleadingly toward his father. His father taking her hands, squeezing them, he kisses her forehead and gives a simple nod before walking off in the crowd following the Captain. Celdurin’s mother collapses upon the boy, as he simply stood there, watching his father go. And so, Celdurin would learn his next lesson in life, that of courage……….

[Maverick 40]

It had been three days since the Councilor had been taken by the Orcs and a tentative peace was held only by the will of Councilor Rhys Feirva. Celdurin was gathering water within buckets for the men working on the outer defenses, just as he had the past couple of days. He dipped the buckets down into the stream, they would near carry the small boy off in the current each time. But he pulled with all his might in his back, tugging them back out. Tying them together with a rope, he slung the rope over his shoulders and began his staggered walk up the dirt path where the canoes were shipped.

Most of the women were there, washing the sullen clothes of the men and when Celdurin would walk by they would all teasingly scruff up his hair while he was defenseless to stop them. This irritated the boy to no extent, “STOP IT!” he would shout, but it was to no avail for the women just laughed all the harder, including his mother.

He began to kick the dirt, balancing on one leg, out of frustration when the first word went up. “THE COUNCILOR, THE COUNCILOR IS RETURNING,” a scout running the opposite side of the river yelled as he ran toward the village. Celdurin at first did not know what this meant, but he saw everyone else drop their things and run for the entrance path to the Village. He soon followed suit, dropping the buckets to slosh water over the dry ground, he ran as fast as his little legs would carry him.

He ran up the dirt path, over the bridge to the river, and before the Inn. The other grown ups ran by him at first, but when the crowd began to form he crashed into the mob like a small wave upon giant cliffs, squeezing his way through the cracks when he came to see her………

She was being carried by a stretcher up the path while he stood in front of a crowd being ushered to either side to make way. All time seemed to slow for him as he witnessed this event. Everything he touched, everything he saw seemed to be recorded with a strange sense of clarity. He watched intently as this woman, this woman whom was mother to them all, made her way home. He remembered the urgent look on the men’s faces as they carried her, the gasps of the women as she passed, and the sense of awe he felt made him feel melted into this moment in time.

Then she passed, he did not know why but he reached out, as he would for a loved one being torn from him and he felt someone grasp his hand. It was Silias who had reached out to take a hold of his hand. He was shocked but moved immediately with her and the men as if being carried by the current of the river, but this time he would not fight it. He stared up from the bloodied hand to the woman’s terrible scarred face. Celdurin did not flinch, but instead stared at the woman as if she were some great mystery.

Things had happened to Celdurin that he had never thought to imagine before these days, but this moment now would become the greatest of his life, one that he would never forget throughout the centuries. The woman, in spite of all of her terrible afflictions at the hands of the Orcs, looked back to the boy and squeezed his hand. He knew then exactly what she wanted him to do, she did not have to say a word, she wanted him to be strong.

Just then, they were at the doors to the inn and one of the Rangers grabbed the boy and lifted him from the stretcher, breaking the weak grasp of the Councilor. She was quickly carried inside to receive healing, leaving Celdurin standing there in the doorway, the crowd gathering around. He was finally brought back to his reality when his Master Rhys Feivra whom walked behind this procession solemnly walked past patting the boy gently upon the head, then turning and closing the doors.

As the doors were drawn to a close, the crowd began to disperse, with mixed reactions they walked about. Some were jubilant, others somber but none were left untouched by what they just witnessed. His mother came running forth and wrapped him in a warm embrace nearly knocking him over. She grabbed his face, tears in her eyes, then looking down at his now bloodied hands beginning to try and wipe them clean. “Astryia,” a voice Celdurin recognized as surely as his own, spoke from behind his mother.

His mother whipped around to view his father standing there, sweat and dirt covered the man from working in the forest. “Galawyn!”, his mother shouted, jumping into the surprised man arms. He wrapped her in an embrace with one arm, and pulled Celdurin within his embrace with his other. “It’s over Astryia,” he said with a tone whispered from a man exhausted from days of work without reverie. “It’s done”, were the last words Celdurin heard as he embraced his father and mother with all his might, tears falling uncontrollably down his face. Tears not born out of sadness, but rather from that the joy which can only be brought forth from an unconditional love………….


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Days would pass, and rumors of an uneasy truce which left the Orcs on the doorstep of Doron began to surface but the people were happy once more. Their mother had been returned to them and their spirit had been lifted. Now she was going to give the village an address. The bards line the street before the Councilors Hall and the artists paint the scene upon their canvass. A great crowd gathered, this time in all their splendor. The women wore beautiful gowns and the men their finest robes.

His parents stood behind him once again, but he did not need to turn around to see their faces, for he knew they were happy. They did not fight, nor argue since the Councilors return. They kissed and walked together as they watched Celdurin play much as they once had. Celdurin was truly happy once more.

The doors swung open and the Priestess walked forth onto the steps. Her shining saphire armor and cape mystified the crowd and all gaped at her presence. At her sides were two women. One, an elf dressed in simple blue cloth, wearing a magicians hat, and the other, a raven haired human, whom wore what seemed like a peasant’s robe. They both paled in comparison to the majesty of the Councilor but just then another appeared. He was a Half-elf and by the leather armor he wore, Celdurin could tell he was a ranger, even before a beautiful white snow leopard shyly peaked out from the shadows of the doorway to follow in his wake.

The Councilor walked upright but with a cane and when she faltered the Ranger was quickly at her side offering her support. She looked at him with thankful eyes, he turned and his face began to blush, quickly looking down to his feet. She gave him a thankful pat on the cheek and then moved forth another step to stand alone once more. His master, he could see, was standing behind them all, his look stoic as always. However, this endeavor seemed to leave the Councilor looking stretched and thin, as if he had aged somehow within the course of these events.

Just then Celdurin began to wonder about that other elf, the one whom had made the speech those days ago. At first he could not find the man, but then he saw him standing next to a woman under the shade of an oak tree. Celdurin ran out to some paces before where the man stood gazing at the woman next to him. He wore a black jerkin and hood, the same woman who wore the golden armor those days ago was but now wearing a simple robe.

“Selkerdrim!” Celdurin shouted to the man who turned to view the boy. The man’s face did not smile, nor did it look menacing, but something seemed different about him since Celdurin first took notice those days ago. The man’s eyes were no longer sad, he could tell. The woman reacted to the boy’s inquiry by wrapping her arm round the man’s, giving him a slight squeeze. Celdurin could see the woman’s right hand was missing three fingers from it, which she quickly hid when she witnessed the boy’s wonder.

When Celdurin turned back to the Selkerdrim, he gave the boy a slight approving nod, which just as the boy was about to gaze back in question, the Coucilor finally spoke. “Doron, my citizens, my loved ones, my people…….”, she began briefly turning Celdurin’s gaze, but when he went to look back behind him once more, the Selkerdrim and the woman were gone. “You have been brave, and I applaud your courage, do not fear my children for we shall strive to return to strength, as the Almighty Corellon wills us such!!”, Celdurin turned to see his parents embracing while listening to the words of this great woman.

Celdurin stood there alone on the path, looking up before him, but not feeling alone. He looked in front of him to see his parents, his community, and to the Mother of them all. He knew then the last lesson he would need for life, that of faith………

[Maverick 40]

// I am sorry for the belatedness of the last post, RL what can I say. I hope that you all enjoyed reading the maturation of Celdurin as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you wish to to hear more of his endeavors......well, simply PM me

This all began with the hopes of allowing all to view the world of an elf living in the lands of Baldur's IC. Don't be afraid to roll up an elf for fear of all the negative things you hear, it can be quite fun