As the various clocks began to chime for nine o’clock, the guests began to move to the drawing room. Sir Elrond appeared in a magnificent Turkish smoking jacket. He motioned to the servants to clear away the days flowers on the table, to another to refill the humidor with cigarettes. Then he escorted in a magnificent looking woman in a long flowing white satin dress.
Doctor Gandalf appeared next to me. He straightened his moustaches, and indicated the woman with the end of his cane. “You have no doubt noticed the Lady Arwen Undomiel. What you might call a devastating beauty, is she not? And, I fear, there will be devastation enough before this affair is over. She has a definite air of Luthien Tinuviel about her, do you not think?”.
I vaguely remembered the songs of Luthien and Beren, but could not see the connection. He then indicated the tall ranger, who was opposite her. His white waistcoat and shirt made him look wilder and more tanned if that were possible. On his left hand he wore a ring with a large green stone. “Ah! Frodo! Notice, please, his ring. An elf-stone if I do not mistake. He is clever, that one.”
“Is he your Beren, Gandalf? They hardly seem matched to me. She is a society beauty and the heir to millions, and he is only one of these wild northern rangers. I think her father would have a thing or two to say about that. You are getting a bit fanciful, in your old age.”
“Maybe, my dear Frodo, maybe.” he replied, gently. “Time alone will tell. And now, to business I think”. He tapped lightly on the table to get everyone’s attention, and then he addressed the company.
“Thank you all for coming here this evening. I felt it was appropriate to address all of you, elves, dwarves, Men of Gondor, Men of the Northlands, and, yes, even Halflings who have concerns about the nature of Isildur’s Bane.”
“We have all heard the conflicting reports of the death of Isildur, and there are a number of points I would bring to your particular attention. Isildur gained the Ring of Power from Sauron. However, the terms under which he gained that ring include some unusual codicils to the effect that he may not use the ring except in the performance of the will of Sauron. If Sauron is dead, then he is surely free to use it as he wishes. Any yet, Isildur, the great warrior, and now possessor of the Ruling Ring is defeated by a greatly inferior foe. Strange, is it not?”
“Just a moment” said Legolas, the elf. “Are you saying that the ring is still somehow under the control of Sauron, even though he is dead?”
“No, I am saying that the ring is somehow under the control of Sauron, because he is alive!” A frisson of shock ran around the room. “Sauron perished in the battle, yet left no corpse. The one who styles himself the Necromancer in Mirkwood is ageless, yet there is no history of his youth. Each of these facts is a paradox, yet put them together, and you have the solution. The Necromancer and Sauron are one and the same. And the bane of Isildur is here in this room. Frodo, if you please…”
I stood up, and took the chain off my neck. There was a gasp from the company, as the ring glinted.in the light. Then, suddenly, the lights all went out. I felt the thin chain torn roughly from my grasp. There were footsteps, the sound of a door opening and closing, and then the lights returned.
“Gandalf!” I cried “The ring has been taken!”. Sir Elrond immediately took command of the situation. He ordered us to all stay in the room, dashed out, and shouted for the servants to secure the gates. But, even as he spoke, I fancied I could hear the gallop of a great Rohan horse from the stables.
“Fortunately, I had anticipated this.” said Gandalf, and he produced another ring on a chain from a pocket in his waistcoat. “I would be remiss in my duty as an Istari if I left a ring of power in the possession of an unconscious halfling for two weeks. I had suspected that there were members of our company who might wish to use the ring for their own purposes. I.took the precaution of substituting a copy for the ring white Frodo was unconscious. Our thief has a worthless piece of yellow metal. Here is your true ring back, Frodo”. He winked. “Take better care of it this time, eh?”
“But, who took the ring?” said Sir Elrond “We are all still here!”. I looked about - Boromir, Gimli, Sir Elrond, Lady Arwen, Legolas, Strider, there we were, all of us. “Could someone have thrown the ring from the window to a waiting accomplice?”
“No, that did not happen, I think” said Gandalf. He steepled his hands and stared at his fingertips. “A ring bearer will not give up his prize to a confederate, no matter how trusted. So, now we have a crime, but no criminal. This, I did not anticipate”. Gandalf paced the room, then cried out “Oh, but it is so obvious! I must be getting as old as Frodo thinks I am. I can easily show you how it was done, with the help of Faramir here”. he touched Boromir on the shoulder with his cane.
Faramir recovered quickly, but too late. He paused, and then started speaking slowly and carefully. “Alright, I will tell you everything, as you seem to know it all anyway. My brother wished to take the ring back to Minas Tirith. He was ambitious. He wanted to be a great general in the eyes of my father. I would not help him take the ring. He said he did not need my help. but if I cared for the good name of our family, then I could take his place when the deed was done, and no-one would ever need know. Now, all is lost”. he hung his head.
“Nothing important has been lost” said Sir Elrond, smiling and taking Faramir by the shoulder. “Thanks to Gandalf here, we still have the ring. We know you would not take it - not if you found it by the roadside. If the present company agrees, I think we can just forget this ever happened.”
For anyone who is too lazy to slog through all the pages–shame on you! I did it slowly, a page or two a night, over 3 weeks, but every page has something wonderful–you just can’t skip any of them. There are some brilliant entries here…I have saved my favorites to add into an ever-growing collection–hope nobody minds! I’m working on a couple of my own, but they are slow in the making.:smack: