Chapter Text
The roads of old were not really there anymore, as there was no one left to keep them in good repair, but enough remained for Maglor to make his way north towards what had once been Ost-in-Edhil. He had never been inside the city while it still stood. There had been good reason to not to, it would only have caused problems for his nephew if he had been discovered, but he had passed by it a few times long ago. He remembered the sounds of hammers in the various forges as they had carried far and wide when the wind was right.
And that was why he was going there now. He needed a forge, and though the city had been laid to waste by Sauron long ago, he hoped to find at least one forge intact enough to be of use to him. It was a slim hope, but if he did not find it, then he would have to turn to other places, places he did not wish to go.
Suddenly a dog sprang from the bushes to his right and stormed at him, stopping just short of barreling into him, dropping a piece of wood on the ground. There wasn’t much to see of its light coat, most of it covered in mud and grime, from having run through the underbrush and jumping into any puddle it could find.
“Really?” Maglor asked the animal as he stopped. “This is hardly the time or place for a game.”
The dog sat down and whined pitifully.
With a sigh Maglor picked the branch up. “Alright, alright.” He threw the branch in the direction he was going. The dog was off in a heartbeat, eagerly picking up its toy and bringing it back. At least one of them was having fun, but Maglor was still contemplating whether it had been a good idea to let the dog come with him or not.
Their going was slow, and not because of the dog, but Maglor had injured his knee during a little adventure that in the end had led him here and it hadn’t healed right so he was now walking with a pronounced limp and the help of a staff. It was no matter to him, he could still fight if he had to and the limp made him more look like a Man and less than an elf, as did some other things that had happened to him in the past.
By his best estimation it would take him another four days to reach the ruined city, if he was in luck, he would be able to get a forge working in a week or two and be on his way back east a few days after that. He didn’t have a specific place in mind, though. Maybe he would head south instead of east. He had heard quite a few stories of the lands south of Far Harad since he had been there last. They might be worth visiting again.
“Come on.” He called to the dog as the sun started to set. “Time for a break.”
Normally he would have just walked through the night, but ever since he lost the use of his left eye he preferred not to. The range of his sight was halved, and that made traveling in the dark perilous, especially in an area as the wilds of lost Eregion, where no one lived but wild animals and wilder men.
He started a small fire to make himself some tea along with his dinner of hard cheese and sausage. It was a risk, but a small one. He was still a good enough fighter to deal with most of the dangerous things that roamed the area.
The dog came over and he fed it some of the sausage. It had been half-starved when it had decided to follow Maglor out of Minas Tirith. The city used to have another name the last time Maglor had visited, but he hadn’t cared enough to ask why they had changed it. By now the dog had put on some weight, but it still never turned down food when offered.
It was then that Maglor heard something in the woods. He sat perfectly still for a moment before relaxing. Nothing too dangerous, or dangerous at all, it he wasn’t mistaken.
“You can come out.” Maglor called gently into the night. “I won’t harm you.”
For a long moment nothing happened and then two elven children, girls, stepped out from behind the trees. The older couldn’t be more than forty, the young maybe not even ten. They looked hungry and rather worse for the wear. They had to have been alone for a while then.
Maglor put some of his rations on a stone on their side of the fire and returned to his. “You look like you need it more than me.”
The younger wanted to dash forward and grab the food, but the older held her back and then stepped forward herself, picking up the food and not letting him out of her sight. She gave the younger girl the bigger portion and they both wolfed it down within in moment.
Maglor smiled a little. “Want some more?”
Before they could answer, the dog came over to them and started to sniff at both children. The younger one started to smile and pat the dog while the older eyed the animal as suspiciously as Maglor. A smart one, that girl. No wonder they had survived whatever had happened to them.
“You’re an elf.” The older one finally said.
Maglor inclined his head. “I am, though I know I don’t look much like one anymore.” He ran his fingers over his eyepatch and scars covering the left side of his face absentminded.
“Do you know how to fight?” The girl wanted to know.
“I do.” Maglor replied.
“Can you make the monsters go away?” The younger girl piqued up. “They made Ada and Nana dead, and the others too.”
Maglor perked up. He hadn’t encountered any signs of orcs on his way north, and they weren’t exactly subtle. “Where are the monsters?” He asked. Of course he would kill them, orcs were orcs.
The little girl shrugged and the older scowled, but not at him. “We were going west, Nana said we were going to sail on a ship to a new home, but then the monsters came, Ada hid me and Niralen’s Nana hid her too and then they ran away and didn’t come back. So we looked for them and they were dead.”
Maglor smiled at the rush of words coming from the older girl, though he was surprised that they weren’t siblings, they look enough alike to be, so maybe cousins. “And you have been making your west since then?”
Both girls nodded.
“But we can’t find the coast. Is it hidden?” The younger, Niralen, asked.
“No, it’s not hidden, it’s just a long way from here.” Maglor replied.
“Can you take us there?” The older one wanted to know. “We promise we’ll be good.”
Maglor chuckled. “I know you will be. But it’s already late in the year, getting to Mithlond will be very difficult.” And he needed to find that forge and get rid of the artefact he carried.
“We don’t want to stay here.” Niralen stated quietly.
“No, of course not.” Maglor sighed. “There is something I need to do first, but then I can take you to Imladris to the north. You can stay there until spring and then go to Mithlond. They’ll take good care of you, don’t worry.”
“Has it something to do with the bad sword?” The older girl asked.
Maglor was surprised she had noticed it. He had wrapped the damned thing in several layers of leather and cloth and sung ward over it to contain it’s influence. It still seeped out some, and made him nauseous on his not so good days, but a girl that young shouldn’t have been able to notice it. “Yes, I need to melt it down, but human forges don’t burn hot enough. I hope to find one in the ruins of Ost-in-Edhil that will do the trick. Very impressive that you saw the truth of it, little one.”
“I’m Antdilthen.” The girl announced. “What’s your name?”
What to reply to that? His names wouldn’t mean anything to them, but having any ties to him, no matter how tangible by make trouble for them later, therefore he decided on the nickname his brothers had used for him before the Darkening. “Kano, my name is Kano.”