Tolkien Fan Fiction
| 9 |
| Chapter Nine |
| Lothíriel bowed to all those present and stood to address them. ‘It seems that even though this again is not my story to tell, it falls to me to tell it. Hadán shared this with me in Aldburg but, Assa, please interrupt me anytime as this is also your story. Firstly, I have to take you back a many centuries ago to a raid on The Wold, one of the first of many more to come. One of the captives, one with very unusual characteristics, had been sent to Sennebar for inspection. The Easterling slaver had a feeling this one might fetch a very high price. No one ever knew her name, that was irrelevant. The woman looked like a man and had both male and female attributes but unlike any that had gone before, it seemed that this man-woman had born a child and could do so again. Pallando so desperately wanted his own, not to love, of course, but to be able to contain his spirit if his body was destroyed, as Alatar had done with his daughter. Only Pallando’s loathing of women was too pronounced. Siring a child with one was an impossibility he could not overcome. But with this man-woman he could overcome his distaste, and so it was done. The mother suffered the same fate as Alatar’s wife of course and died in childbirth, but his line perpetuated through his son and his breeding programme. All sons of his line were recognised by the prefix Pall in their names: Pallakir, Pallidan, Pallumon and so on. All female babies, in the beginning at least, were starved to death, their mothers forced to only give their milk to the male babies until this proved too costly in terms of the women choosing to kill themselves rather than endure this cycle of rape and murder. It was put to Pallando by one of his subordinates that they could enrich themselves by selling the girls to slavers, and so the slave market of Sennebar came into being and their riches grew as it became the main centre of the slave trade to the south and the east. And to find more ‘man-women’, raids on The Wold became more common. Thus we come to Hadán’s story and twin sisters, Fréolith, Hadán’s mother and Éolith, her sister. Fréolith was everything Hadán said she was. I knew her. She was brave, kind, loving, generous, fiercely intelligent, funny… very determined. Strangely for twins, as in my experience it rarely happens, her sister was by all accounts exactly the same in both personality and looks. It was as though they had been one person split into two. Hadán was born… different. A son yes, but also a daughter. His father had seemed to accept his son at first but as the child grew older and it became apparent that his male attributes were… weak and underdeveloped, he found it increasingly difficult to come to terms with his son’s difference. He began to drink heavily, he rowed with his wife, he was unproductive in his work. He finally snapped, and when his wife was visiting relatives in another village, he took the boy over the Anduin to a place he knew he would find some Easterling traders and he sold him to them. Only he had been followed. Éolith had seen him take her nephew and she attacked her sister’s husband as he was nearing the Easterlings’ camp when she realised his intentions. She was brave but she was no match for her brother-in-law. He was able to render her unconscious easily. And this left him with a choice, to kill her or sell her too. He chose the latter and so Éolith arrived in Sennebar with a very special boy portrayed as his ‘mother’. She was selected for the breeding grounds in the hope she could produce another. She was raped continually by Pallidar, one of Pallando’s favourite ‘sons’ as he called those of his line. He was also the father of Pallakir, who was already about five years old. Assa’s mother was in the breeding grounds at the same time and she was one of the most highly prized of all the breeders. She was a noble Black Númenórean, one of the few in Umbar of mostly pure blood. She was also subject to Pallidar’s domination and his daughter, Pallassa to give her her birth name, was born to her on the same day as Éolith gave birth to his twins…. I suspect that there is something unique in Hadán’s family as both twins were born with the same male and female characteristics. One with more pronounced male organs, fully functioning; the other functioning more as a female but still with weaker male attributes. The former was called Palladan and the latter Palliron. There are those of you here who already know the outline of Assa’s escape from Sennebar when she was almost twelve. There were certain details I left out and I am not sure I have the strength to tell you all that happened to Éolith....’ She paused wondering how she could continue. ‘Let me first take you forward many years to just before Hadán joined Tuor’s ship. It was the end of 3010, immediately after Pallakir’s failure to take me to Sennebar. Pallando became determined to infiltrate Ka’moruk’s operation for which he needed one of his best operatives. He needed a native Gondorian or Rohirrim, one who could be convincing, who was attractive and versatile. Palladan was his very best talent, that he genuinely preferred men was a great asset, as it was thought that Ka’moruk did also. And like his cousin, Hadán, he was a true blond, blue-eyed Rohirrim. The real Hadán had not survived the brutality of the training. He had been too kind and he did not have the blood of a Maia in his veins. So it was Palladan who adopted his cousin Hadán’s Rohirric background and identity. The man in the House of Healing is Palladan, Assa’s half-brother. Palladan is, as I am, a descendant of a Maia, and like me, that blood runs strongly in him. This is why we are so connected, and this is also why when he thrust his sword into Pallando’s body, destroying it, Pallando’s spirit was able to flow into him. It was for this purpose he was born. I believe Mithrandir this is what you saw through the Palantir. Alatar made sure you did. He saw it from the Palantir Ottakar was holding. I know this because he had been residing within me since I released him from the stone. It is how I was able to speak with the Valar, through him.’ Éomer had paled somewhat at this part of her explanation, remembering all the intimate moments they had had together since they were in the caverns of Rodhannor. ‘Why did Hadán or Palladan, whatever he is called, not simply tell us all of this earlier?’ Gallend asked in exasperation the question many were thinking. Lothíriel looked up at him in profound sadness. ‘Firstly, because Maglor had instructed him not to. Maglor felt it best if Hadán could still appear to be loyal to Pallando and insisted Hadán continued the deceit. He did not do so willingly, and he had signalled to me that he was maintaining cover. But in truth, the full story is much more complex, Gallend. Hadán was put in an impossible position and was balancing many competing concerns. You see, Alfrind was not some unknown Astari to our Hadán, as I will continue to call him. Alfrind was Hadán’s twin, Palliron.’ Assa gave a look of such revulsion Gallend was concerned she might attack Lothíriel for just saying this name. ‘Alfrind threatened to kill their aunt and cousins in The Wold, or at least to have them killed if Hadán had betrayed him and he didn’t return to Elbrond when he initially made contact with Hadán at the town Fair Day in Eastfold, when Hadán was Cissy. It’s why Hadán left me so readily. Hadán had always known which village his mother had come from, but he had had no intention of leaving me to go to Handlend Vale until I had left Rohan. Had Alfrind tried to kill me I have no doubt Hadán would have killed him then and risked the Astari’s revenge on his innocent family, but both he and Maglor thought it was best to see what the Astari were planning for me and at the same time do what he could to protect his relatives. I had Maglor guarding me after all, and they had no one. Maglor had agreed to this once Hadán had been able to warn him. It’s why Legolas and Gimli were sent to Handlend Vale.’ Gallend was pacing impatiently. ‘I examined Alfrind’s body myself. Alfrind was a woman. She cannot possibly have been Palliron,’ he exclaimed. He did not like making mistakes. Lothíriel was mindful to be sensitive. ‘I mentioned that Palliron was more prominently female.’ She sighed. ‘I have been present at many births, Gallend. No one talks about it openly but such cases of confusion between male and female at birth are more common than you realise, and it is hard for such people to know themselves even what they are. They are all forced to choose one sex at birth. Fréolith was incredibly astute in giving her child two names and wanting to let the child choose when ready. When I say more male or more female, it is extremely complex. However, it is often down to how they pee, if I am to be brutally frank, but that is not an indication of whether they themselves feel more male or female or whether they prefer men or women. It seems in Sennebar at least, if you peed like a man, they referred to you as a woman-man, and vice versa. Palliron was a man-woman and in Sennebar being female was a serious impediment. I would guess that Palliron would do everything possible to be more male than anyone, be more loyal than anyone, which is why he betrayed his own mother and brother when Assa made her escape. Éolith paid an unimaginable price to protect her other child, Palladan, our Hadán, whom she realised must have helped Assa and was in danger of execution. When you examined the body, you did not probably understand the scarring still visible through his/her pubic hair. It’s possible that ‘her’ non-functioning male organs were removed as punishment, or even as a reward because Palliron really did feel female and had proved useful enough to the Grand Master that she had been given permission to choose. We do know that ‘she’ was promised a huge reward and freedom from the Astari if she had succeeded in her task. We will never know, but her male organs were removed.’ ‘You sound as if you feel sorry for him.’ Assa finally spoke out. ‘You do not know what he was like. Palladan was always kind and loving, Palliron was an evil shit from birth. I hope they cut his bits off and forced him to eat them. He would have deserved nothing less. He was filth.’ She closed her eyes in intense pain at the memory of those times. Lothíriel wanted to extend her hand to touch Assa in sympathy but knew that it would not be appreciated. ‘I don’t know how you survived, Assa, nor even how you could face ever going back, never mind what you were able to achieve while you were there,’ she said in awe. ‘Can you tell us? I know some of your story but not enough and I think it is important for all here to understand.’ ‘No,’ she answered bluntly. ‘And no, Lady Galadriel, I do not want you in my head again. I only let you in the first time because you told me you had found a way to save Palladan,’ she added aggressively, much to everyone’s surprise, especially Galadriel’s. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Gallend smirked despite himself. Tuor’s eyes twinkled. He cleared his throat. ‘Perhaps I can help,’ he said smoothing over the disquiet. ‘Without Assa, we could not have achieved any of this. She is Ottakar’s cousin,’ he said dramatically, even Lothíriel looked surprised. She had not known this. ‘I found out myself only recently. Her mother was Ottakar’s father’s sister, who had been thought lost in the desert on a journey to Far Harad’s main city where she had been due to be married off. It is through his mother Ottakar is descended from the Princes of Harondor and was thus persecuted by Pallando and targeted by him for execution, not his father as many have thought. Assa’s mother taught her daughter her heritage and when Assa made her way from Sennebar to Umbar, she took to following those of the princely family she knew to be her relatives. It never occurred to her to introduce herself, and to be fair, who would have believed her. But Ottakar, being Ottakar, noticed this twelve year old girl following him around and became intrigued by her. He was only a boy himself. He gave her food and clothes and isolated as he was, he told me that she became his only friend. As Assa began to trust him more, he began to suspect she was no ordinary orphan. We all knew her in Umbar, this unusual vagabond girl thief and there were times we did try to catch her, just to find out who she was, but none of us could.’ He looked at her proudly. ‘The Astari didn’t pay her nearly enough attention, she was a girl and therefore irrelevant to them. That was a huge mistake on their part. She was in and out of their affairs for years. I realise only now that she was hoping her half-brother would show himself eventually and she could rescue him as he had her.’ Assa looked over to him in appreciation that he had finally understood her. ‘About a year after she arrived in Umbar, she overheard that Ottakar and his family were to be taken and killed by the Astari. She ran to warn him, but they had already left on their pleasure boat. She returned to the Astari’s safe house where she had heard this news and, as the most talented thief of her generation, she stole what she knew to be the most important artefact held at the house – the master codes of the Astari. She also knew that the person most feared and disliked by the Astari in Umbar, especially by Pallakir, was me. She came to me on my ship and told me I had to rescue Ottakar, and in exchange, she would give me all the proof I needed to show that Pallakir was an Astari and owed his allegiance to the Grand Master. And this she did. That is how I met Ottakar for the first time when he was released to me in exchange for the book of codes. Another exceptional child, who had been forced to grow up far too early, but one who, like Assa, hated the Astari with a vengeance that was even greater than my own. Over the years I learned three important things about Assa: that she had an understanding of the Astari that far exceeded anything we had ourselves and none had appreciated; that she is devoted to those she trusts; and that no one can control her,’ he emphasised trying not to glance at Gallend. ‘Assa prefers to work alone, but our trust in her grew with every interaction and we shared many of our plans with her. When Palladan joined us as Hadán, she must have recognised him as soon as she saw him. Now I understand why she was so insistent we could trust him even though she never told us why, nor how she knew him. So Maglor and I gave him the chance to become close to us, but only on her promise that she would not warn him nor have any contact with him at all. Assa keeps her promises fanatically. When Hadán was to be forced by Alfrind/ Palliron to act as bait to draw Lothíriel to the Brown Lands, he warned us, at huge risk to himself and his family. Alfrind was working in a cell of four, one of whom was embedded as a servant in Fréolith’s house, the others all watching the village. Once Hadán was confident that his aunt was every bit as brave and intelligent as she seemed, he entrusted her with the truth, and it was she who found a way to get the message to us. Hadán himself was being watched constantly, as Alfrind had insisted on sleeping with Hadán as soon as they arrived in the village, causing something of a scandal!’ Éomer looked questioningly at Lothíriel who ignored him archly. He was quick enough to understand this had been Hadán’s warning to her. He smiled to himself, the little actress! Tuor continued, ‘Of course, we informed Aragorn, who asked Legolas and Gimli to ensure the family’s safety and also for the Elves to set watch on the Brown Lands.’ Tuor bowed to Galadriel and Elrond with thanks. ‘We were able to deduce that the plan was to lure Lothíriel to Cissy’s wedding and t hen most likely to try to take her in a raid, not to kill her, but to take her to Sennebar. We originally assumed that she would be taken overland via the east to the Fortress. We now know we were wrong. From the start Assa had her doubts as to whether we had made the correct assessment of the enemy’s plan, so she decided to investigate, typically on her own, which is when she was caught in Umbar to be sent back to Sennebar. Gallend had just handed over to Maglor the Astari prisoner who had been negotiating with his father to assassinate Éomer if he did not deal harshly with Dunland. The prisoner told him that the Astari had finally understood the danger that a particular female was posing to them and had sent a cell to Umbar specifically to capture her for questioning. Maglor realised it could only be Assa and this could threaten our entire operation. He left Lothíriel under the protection of Legolas and Gimli and rode for Pelargir to alert me. Around the same time one of my men had got wind of the same intelligence and I set off for Umbar immediately with Imrahil, who happened to be with me when I received the news. He had the faster ship ready in dock, so we went together, barely having time to leave a note for Elphir to send to Aragorn, not realising that Maglor was already almost at Pelargir. Maglor caught up with us in Umbar. We had been too late to prevent her being taken in Umbar, but thanks to the greater speed of Imrahil’s ship, we were able to catch up with the ship taking her to Sennebar before it entered the estuary and rescue her. It was then that Assa told Maglor of a secret way into the Fortress, a way untouched by the enchantments. She would not explain how she knew, but Maglor already suspected that she had herself been born there. Her past was always something Assa guarded ferociously. I have a question, Assa. Why did you not want us to know?’ he asked her as gently as he could. Assa stared ahead of her, almost vacantly. She had barely been listening to Tuor’s explanation, once Hadán’s role had been told. ‘Assa?’ Gallend prompted kindly. She looked at him defensively. ‘Why would I want anyone to know I had any of that evil bastard’s blood in my veins. He murdered my mother in front of me, my own father. He would have killed me too,’ she growled at them. ‘Had any of you known we were both of Pallando’s line, would you have chosen to let us live? Would you have trusted us as much? The Astari were born to hunt down and eliminate those of Alatar’s line; we grew up believing you were intent on doing the same to us. You didn’t need to know. It was safer for me and Palladan that no one knew.’ ‘We did not even know the true nature of Pallando’s heirs, but I can understand why you felt how you did,’ Tuor said, moved by her reply. ‘Our trust in Assa led Maglor to risk entering the Fortress with her to retrieve what was rightfully his: namely Alataturë. Imrahil and I were very much against it, but I am glad they ignored us as the information they were able to gather changed everything. Maglor saw a way we could defeat Pallando and break the enchantments around the Fortress. Assa insisted she would be able to fool the quartermaster to send half of Sennebar’s supplies to the Brown Lands. She had found out from talking to her captors that one of the Astari from Pelargir she had often spied upon was now in that position. She knew his weaknesses and his system of filing as well as obeying orders without questioning what he was reading. She was also sure that only she would be able to persuade the women in the breeding grounds to board the second ship. And so, once we had agreed a plan she went back in and waited for our signal of the flight of the great eagles. It was a risk but one worth taking. Besides, I’ve never known anyone, except Maglor, who can hide themselves as well as Assa. It must be some innate gift she inherited from her Maia ancestry,’ he said admiringly. ‘Even so,’ Gallend interrupted, ‘to stay undetected for almost three months with no food and fresh water in the Fortress and a hundred increasingly desperate Astari is remarkable! How did you survive?’ Assa looked a little confused as though it should be obvious how she survived, and it was not relevant to the story. ‘I ate the slugs and water lettuce in the freshwater cave under the Fortress. I had more food and water than anyone. And the Watchman couldn’t get me as there is no entrance to the sea and it didn’t know I was there, no one did. It’s where I went when I escaped, but to get to the hole leading from there to the underground passageway to the mainland I needed ropes, only the storeroom was too well guarded, so I had to go back and ask Palladan for help.’ She began to become distressed. Lothíriel knew what might be coming next. She had seen the memory of this etched on Hadán’s mind when they had connected in her house in Aldburg. She hoped Assa would not go into detail. ‘He got caught following me to where you could get to the cave before I could show him exactly where. They didn’t know he was helping me, just that he shouldn’t have been where he was. I knew I had to leave without him. I was becoming too much of a risk for him and his mother. So I left him and they flayed his mother alive in front of him and everyone in the breeding grounds as her punishment for helping me. Her own child, Palliron, betrayed her. That was Sennebar, that’s what it was like.’ She did not pause in respect of the many appalled faces observing her in horror. ‘When the Grand Master’s staff was broken, some of the Astari turned on him, but he ran to the water and summoned the Watchman who had already been feasting on those women who had fallen into the water. But most of them hated him. It was not difficult to persuade many that when the time came, they could help in his destruction. He didn’t suffer enough.’ She turned on Gallend, ‘You asked me how I survived? That was easy. How Palladan survived the years after I left, I will never know but he is strong. He fought Pallando from the moment his spirit entered him. It was easier for him to do this if he was near me, there is a connection between us he seems to draw strength from, but even we had to sleep. He made me tie him up so Pallando couldn’t overwhelm him while he slept and force him to kill me. You must have heard him struggling,’ she addressed Gallend. ‘It was…’ Her face twisted as she tried to find the right word, but her mind just could not describe the emotion she had felt at the time watching her beloved brother in pain, ‘… loud.’ Gallend looked awkward. Éomer and Lothíriel both knew exactly what he had thought. ‘Well,’ Gallend said by way of distraction, ‘we still have the Condir and those Astari still in the field to flush out. Tuor, Elphir and I have some ideas on that…’ |