Secret in Ancient Stone by Kathryn Ramage

"I've feared as much for some time," said Elspar. "My sight is far, but when I looked for Dadenmiel, I did not find him. In my dreams of late, I have glimpsed him in the city of Minas Anor. I saw him found, entombed... and yet he walked still. I saw you too, though I did not understand who you were or what part you played in the things I saw. I feared then, but it grieves me to learn that his death came so soon after we parted." He looked into Frodo's eyes with sudden urgency. "I pray you will tell me all you know, Little One. I should like to hear what became of my Dadenmiel after I left him, and how he came to such a terrible end."

"Yes, of course. And I hope you'll do the same." Frodo saw that he had made a lot of guesses about the murdered Elf, and some of them were obviously wrong. "Will you tell me what really happened that night? You do remember, don't you?"

"I remember. I have dwelt much upon those days since I was last in Minas Anor. Dadenmiel has often been in my thoughts in these long years."

"He was alive when you saw him last?" asked Frodo. "You left the city without him?"

Elspar nodded. "Dadenmiel meant to stay in Minas Anor awhile longer."

"Was that the same night after King Ciryaher dismissed your petition to send an army of Men to Dol Goldur, and sent you away, but you went back to the citadel one last time for a secret meeting?"

"Yes..." the Elf looked intrigued. "You know of the errand that brought us to Minas Anor? You know what followed?"

"I've seen a part that night, in my dreams." Frodo told Elspar all he'd seen, from his first glimpse of the ghost in the street to his final dream after Aragorn had tried to send the restless spirit to find peace. He repeated all he'd read in the historical accounts of the Elves' meetings with Ciryaher, but was careful to leave out his previous conjectures; he didn't want to repeat his mistake and guess too much.

Elspar looked even more interested as Frodo described his dreams. "It seems we have seen much the same things, Little One! I didn't know that periannath were capable of olori--the dreams of true sight." He began to consider the tiny creature standing before him with greater curiosity.

"Was what I saw true then?" Frodo asked, growing eager in spite of his resolve. "Was it Lord Aiglemerth who invited you to return that night?"

"It was," Elspar confirmed. "You know what we would ask of Gondor in the way of aid in confronting the Dark Lord. I saw at once that the King's Steward would be the greatest hindrance to our purpose. He resented our presence and considered us bringers of ill news. He did not wish his King's thoughts to stray to the north. We upset his plans to make war in the south. I knew that he advised the King to refuse the aid we requested, but I also knew that his son Aigande had the King's favor and took our part. The King might be swayed to either course. At last, he decided against us. It was a foolish choice, one which many thousands have had cause to regret, those in Gondor not least of all."

"Did you say those words: 'On your head be it, and the heads of your line hereafter'?" asked Frodo.

"I was angry at their folly and lack of heed for the future. My words were meant for Aiglemerth, but he would have it that I cursed his King, and Ciryaher would hear no more. He bade me go from his sight. I left the hall of the king, and also left the house of Aiglemerth. I would not stay as a guest under false welcome after such words had passed between us, and took lodging at an Inn within the city for that night. I meant to depart at daybreak. It was there I received a message from Aiglemerth, requesting that I return to the citadel one last time, at an hour when all were asleep. I was to come by a secret way. Lord Aiglemerth gave me most explicit instructions on the means to open the door and the path to take, but I knew the way well long before his birth, for I had been called to visit other kings of Gondor in earlier days through this same way. I was wary at what business Aiglemerth would have with me, but go, I did."

"And you met Dadenmiel on your way?" Frodo asked, thinking of how his dreams had begun with the cloaked figure of the Elf coming up the street. This point had always puzzled him; he'd wondered where the Elf was coming from.

"He had remained at the house of Aiglemerth and so learned of our meeting, and kept watch for me to pass. He feared for my safety and meant to accompany me. He too had put on his armor, which he hadn't worn since we'd come to Minas Anor, in anticipation of a trap. He would fight at my side." As Elspar recalled the loyalty and bravery of his beloved friend, that wry, amused, affectionate, smile Frodo had seen in his dreams appeared. "I refused his company. If there were danger ahead, I would face it alone." His eyes flickered to Frodo. "But you say he followed me?"

"Yes, I think so," the hobbit answered. "Didn't you know?"

"My mind's eye was not upon him ere I left him at the door to the secret way. I looked to what lay ahead--to Lord Aiglemerth, who awaited me within the king's hall."

"What did Aiglemerth want?"

"He said he had invited me, not to speak with the King again, but on 'a matter most confidential' that would benefit both he and I if I would agree to do as he asked. I knew at once what he wanted. In spite of our great disagreement and the hard words spoken between us when we last met, he thought we had common cause in the matter of Dadenmiel and Aigande. He thought I would aid him in seeing them parted from each other. He wanted me to ensure that Dadenmiel went with me when I left the city, and that his son Aigande did not."

For a moment, Frodo was utterly confused, then he realized he had misunderstood a crucial part of the circumstances that had led to Dadenmiel's death, a part that Elspar assumed he already knew. He'd been very close when he'd guessed that Aigande had been attracted by the Elves' more open way of loving and had befriended them during their stay in his father's house. But there was more: Dadenmiel had stayed on in Aiglemerth's house that last night, had chosen to stay on in the city after Elspar had been asked to leave. Aiglemerth had wanted the two of them separated... And Dadenmiel's ghost had first appeared at Aigande's death. "Dadenmiel and Aigande--they'd fallen in love?"

Elspar nodded. "They spent much time in each other's company during the weeks we abided in Minas Anor, in the house of Aiglemerth. They found themselves in great sympathy, and love grew from it. It was only to be expected. Such is the way of youth, and they were both very young."

"But I thought Dadenmiel loved you," said Frodo. "The Lady Arwen told me that Elves only give their hearts once. Isn't that so?"

"It is so," Elspar replied. "My heart was given to Dadenmiel from the moment I returned to Imladris and saw him, but his love for me was that of a pupil for an esteemed master, no more. It pained me that he wished to stay with Aigande rather than accompany me, but I would not give him pain by parting him from his beloved. We must sometimes release those whom we love from the bonds of our love for their own sake, even at cost to ourselves."

"Yes," Frodo breathed softly in agreement; he was trying to do the same thing for Sam, and knew exactly what Elspar must have felt.

"Lord Aiglemerth could not understand why I refused to betray Dadenmiel. He thought I meant to spite him for our disagreement, or else to sow a seed of discord between his son and the King that would bear fruit in my favor. He wanted his son for the King."

"He knew about that?"

"Oh, yes. Aiglemerth had long encouraged the King's affection for his son, in hopes that he might increase his own influence over Ciryaher through Aigande, until he saw that Aigande's counsel was different from his own. He blamed Dadenmiel for that, and feared Ciryaher might be guided by their advice rather than his. He said Dadenmiel had 'cast a spell' upon Aigande." That wry smile returned. "I am often puzzled by Men's ideas of what powers the Eldar possess. 'Magic,' they call it, but they use the same word for the works of the Dark Lord and his minions, and seem to think there is little difference between one and the other. No, no 'spell' was cast. Dadenmiel had given his heart to Aigande, and his love was repaid in full."

"What happened then, when you refused?" Frodo asked.

"Aiglemerth was filled with wrath. He spoke as I have told you, made such accusations against both Dadenmiel and myself that I could not bear to hear. Our words of that afternoon were nothing to our quarrel that night. At the end, he said he would be rid of at least one meddlesome Elf that night. He summoned a guard to escort me away--out of the citadel, and out of the city."

"You didn't go back through the secret tunnel?"

"No, I was taken through the open passageway and the great gates."

"And you never saw Dadenmiel again?"

"Neither living nor dead," said Elspar, and Frodo heard the sorrowful throb in his voice. "It is that which grieves me most. I did not bid my Dadenmiel farewell. I did not guess how Aiglemerth intended to 'rid' himself of the other 'meddlesome Elf.' If what you say is true, Little One, then I would have done better to do as Aiglemerth asked and kept Dadenmiel with me. He would not have died. I thought he was at the house of Aiglemerth when I left Minas Anor, and that he remained in the city of Men with Aigande despite Aiglemerth's wrath, or else they both left the city to follow me in my path."

"Where did you go?" Frodo looked over the Elf's withered face. "Where have you been since then?"

Elspar's answer shocked, but did not surprise him: "In the dungeons of Dol Goldur. When I fled Minas Anor, I returned to the Greenwood to learn what I could of the darkness that dwelt there before I went to King Thranduil with my news. As I drew close to the hill and the black tower upon it, I was set upon and made captive. And there I remained imprisoned, my body in torment. I might have gone mad, as others imprisoned had done, but my mind was free so long as I could see beyond the walls of my cell. After many long years, the tower was besieged by the istari and the Dark Lord driven out. Those of us imprisoned were at last set free. I sought the succor of the Elves of the Wood and have been in their care since then. It is only since the Enemy's final destruction that I have returned to my lord Elrond's house, but my hurts are too grievous to endure here much longer. I shall seek my peace in the West when my lord goes." He smiled gently at Frodo. "But I am glad that you bring me the true tale of my Dadenmiel's fate. If I did not see him in the West, I would have wondered always what became of him, and found no answer."

"I still don't know all the truth of it," Frodo admitted. "But I'm closer now to understanding what happened to him, because of what you've told me. Perhaps this as close as we'll ever be to knowing the whole story. At least, I can give you this." He had brought the brooch with him in his waistcoat pocket; he brought it out now and offered it to Elspar. "I think Dadenmiel wanted me to give it to you. It was yours originally, wasn't it?" He hoped he'd gotten that much right.

"Yes, it was given me by Thranduil of the Greenwood as a token when I acted as messenger between him and my lord Elrond. I gave it to Dadenmiel on the day we parted, to remember me." As Elspar took the brooch in his hand, he stared down at it and his gaze grew unfocused, as if he were looking at something very far away. "Thank you, Little One, for returning it home."
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