85 Years Ago
Mirwen looked down uncertainly at the carefully wrapped relic…a bow of exceptional craftsmanship, blue fire dancing along it’s curve even through the silk that seemed to almost imprison it in the still air of the library. She ran a hand through her short brown hair and looked back at the desk impatiently where Deluros still leafed through the parchments she had brought with her. Outside, her friends and fellow students were enjoying the spring of Imladris while she had been waiting hours to give her report and was growing impatient. “Has your study of the relic brought you any wisdom not included in this report, my Lord Deluros?”
The scholar glanced up, letting the papers fall to the desk as he picked up his notebook. “I fear I have made little headway with the relic itself as it seems highly resistant to study. I have had four different assistants request not to handle the weapon, saying that they felt a malignant presence within it that they each claimed was giving them horrible dreams and strange visions. The situation is…most remarkable.”
He consulted the notebook, continuing to speak in a superior drone to the younger scholar. “By the markings, such as the distinctive silver swans adorning each side of the riser, and the bluish emanations along the limbs, this is undoubtedly the relic that was reported to Imladris by a scout named Calen. She and her entire party were apparently slain some….400 years ago, while investigating reports of increased dragon infestation in Hithaeglir. In her report she stated that she suspected that the relic was a remnant of the First Age, and indeed I have discovered records describing 12 bows of this nature that were used in the War of Wrath, having been crafted for a contingent of Edain archers who were called Hîn -o i rost, Children of the Rain. They all apparently perished in the war but it seems at least one of their bows survived…though something happened to it in the years following the war that I do not understand.”
Mirwen nodded. “Indeed I have studied Calen’s report extensively. She named the relic Lomenehtar, Duskslayer in the old tongue but said it had a true name she refused to commit to the report for some reason. She claimed it had great powers, including some ability to communicate and provide visions of the future. I admit I found her report quite suspicious at first, but it is very interesting that your assistants have claimed the relic disturbed their dreams. In Calen’s notes she indicates several in her company asked that she leave the bow behind, and complained that the relic filled their nights with disturbing visions of dragonfire. That they all apparently perished atop the horde of the Wyrm Draigoch is therefore either ironic, or frightening. It may be a wise precaution to tell your former assistants to heed these dreams they have complained of, if at all possible.”
Deluros slammed his notebook down. “We are SCHOLARS! I will not stoop to the realm of superstition and fear of prophecies. Even if the relic can communicate in dreams, which is not unheard of, I will not concede that it can foretell one’s doom. This Calen was obviously disturbed in the mind after her long travels and lost her analytic composure. Sadly, there is very little we can learn by studying the relic directly, since if we are to give any credence to these so-called visions, all of these scholars agree that the relic rejects us. To try that point I have had three of the finest archers in the service of Imladris attempt to use the relic. Not a single of these worthies managed to marry a shaft to the target using the relic, they did not even come close and in fact one is still recovering from having shot himself through the foot with an arrow he was preparing to fire.”
Mirwen attempted not to laugh, and almost succeeded. Deluros scowled at her as the woman composed herself and continued. “If these bows were indeed wielded by Edain archers, should this not come to the attention of the Lord Elrond? Not only does he take special interest in all relics of the War of Wrath, but his father was a chieftain amongst the Edain. Surely he could learn much of the history of this relic with his arts.”
The senior scholar shook his head. “I have discussed the matter with my Lord Elrond having come to that conclusion as well, but after I described the visions reported by my assistants he…well…he refused to have anything to do with the relic.”
“Why?” Mirwen was truly shocked by such a response. “What could these visions have shown that would so effect the Lord Elrond?”
Deluros sighed, looking down at his notebook again. “They each showed clearly that the relic would have nothing to do with anyone, be they scholar or archer, save for the young huntress who discovered it within the caves of the wyrm Draigoch and brought it here for study and storage. That fact both troubled and angered our Lord and he withdrew from the matter after detailing his will.”
“And that huntress is? Why would their identity be of such importance?” Mirwen was growing more and more annoyed by how absurdly complicated this matter was becoming.
“The huntress is named Xanderian.” Deluros saw clearly the name was as unknown to the woman as it had been to him a week ago. “According to records she did her service to Imladris honorably and since then she has been serving the free peoples, but also consorting with questionable personages. However what is of matter is her parentage. She is a daughter of Anerial…”
Mirwen stared in horror. “Anerial….Anerial, the Kinslayer of Thangúlhad? I…I see. Has she inherited her father’s madness?”
The scholar shrugged and his response shocked Mirwen even more. “Who knows…but the Lord Elrond has instructed me to summon her, which I have done, and given me instructions. She awaits our pleasure in the hallway.”
After a few minutes, a dark haired young elleth was brought into the library. As she entered she looked around the ornate arches wistfully, as if filled with bittersweet memories. Soon she stood before the two scholars, and the relic laid upon the desk.
Xanderian smiled as she saw the bow. “Heartbreaker!!! Praise Elbereth! I knew you were here but not so close at hand.”
“Heartbreaker?” Deluros raised an eyebrow in disdain. “What are you talking about, child?”
Xanderian blushed and looked down. “The…the bow, my lord…when first I returned to Imladris bearing it, I showed the weapon to my siblings. My younger brother…Xanir, he wrote a song and named the bow Heartbreaker. He is…foolish…my lord, do not trouble yourself with such matters.”
“A song?” Mirwen interrupted, amused despite herself by this poor, disgraced child. “Sing it for us…”
“Very well, but may I then have my bow. I wish to be away before the next dawn and I have trained hard to bear her”. Xanderian cleared her throat, still blushing, and sang the snippet of a tune in a quavering but not unpleasant voice. “Xanderian casts her eye but not her heart. Nay, no heartbreaker is she, she leaves that for her bow. She bats her eyes and leaves broken hearts, but always retrieves the shafts. She always retrieves the shafts.”
As she finished, Mirwen smiled. “Your young brother has wit…so the relic is now called Heartbreaker? Not a very dignified name, but I suppose it would serve. However…”
Deluros cut her off. “The bow appears cursed, unusable…but the Lord Elrond has bid me to tell you that can you strike the lantern within the Spire of Meeting from the terrace outside this very house with a shaft fired from this bow, you may take the relic with you.”
Mirwen paled. “That is unfair. Such a shot few of the finest could make, and you said…”
Deluros ignored the interruption and passed the silk wrapped bow to Xanderian who gripped the riser tightly, letting the silk drift to the floor as they led her out onto the broad terrace of the Last Homely House. Both Mirwen and Deluros would later tell the Lord Elrond they were quite certain they heard a soft, lilting hum as the girl took the bow in her hand, and their minds were filled with images of sunlit fields and victorious pennants flapping in a seaside breeze, bearing a white tree and a pair of swans. They could not explain it.
Soon standing upon the stairs leading to the House of Elrond, Xanderian nocked a single arrow, peering through the dense trees, barely able to make out the distant glow of the swaying lantern. She looked back at the scholars. “If I strike the lantern, Heartbreaker and I may go?”
Deluros smirked. “Do you doubt the word of the Lord Elrond Half-Elven?”
Xanderian did not blink, her voice as hard as Trollshaws slate. “Yes.”
The scholars looked shocked and horrified, but Mirwen found her voice first, her sympathy for the young orphan destroyed. “If our Lord has said you may have the….bow…if you complete this task then it shall be done immediately, you ungrateful, obstreperous child…if you can manage it. Perhaps as it is said, the apple falls not far from the treacherous tree.”
The raven haired girl nodded and whispered “Perhaps not…” and then let fly, the arrow whizzing like lightning through trees and over pathways and past strolling townspeople, singing a soft song of ancient sunsets and new sunrises as Deluros and Mirwen stared after it, holding their breathes despite knowing it was impossible.
As the heavy lantern plummeted to the floor of the spire, shattering, Xanderian slipped Heartbreaker across her back. “Farewell…” she said over her shoulder to the stunned scholars as she walked briskly towards the stables, whispering gently to her new bow.
By the time anyone realized they should have asked her where she was bound for, she was already safely across the Bruinen, Heartbreaker humming all the while.
