The Black Lady of Mordor Chapter 3
*same as always, this will be departing from the main plot and I would love reviews Oh and just to let you know I am going off of what you find out in the LotR movies, so if my knowledge of the series seems to be lacking or have issues, id love to know them but also understand I don't own the books so I don't know how it went down there.*
Aragorn and Boromir sat around the fire keeping first watch. It was late and the moon shone brightly in the sky which glittered with stars. Boromir glanced around at the sleeping members of the fellowship his eyes landing on Leanien. He observed how she slept curled up into a tight ball her arms up and covering her neck.
"She is too proud for her own good, even in sleep she has her guard up." Boromir commented to Aragorn who was smoking.
"She has oddness about her yes. I noticed she sleeps guarded as well. I asked her about it as we traveled to Rivendell. Her answer was that even when orcs are under your command they aren't to be trusted." Boromir shook his head at this and said.
"I forget she comes from Mordor. How she managed to survive for so long is beyond me…"
"Her elven qualities have been sapped from her. All her magic is constantly spent protecting her soul against the evil that she lives with." Legolas said walking over to stand in the fire light. "When Sauron is defeated she will be as any other elf."
~~O~~
The next morning we all set out into the mountains, it was a boring day much of it spent with trying to get the pony up the steep inclines. Though when midday came we all stopped atop a pleasant little mountain that had large boulders all round with several gangly shrubs. My arm had been hurting but I didn't let any of them know that. It would have been pointless and only convince them that they had even more control over me. I checked it pulling the bandage down a bit to look at it. The wound had scabbed over and was starting to heal a little but it would be a week or two before it was completely healed. I was lucky it hadn't hit bone. I had to admit the group had fallen together well, everyone was still getting to know each other, but they all shared a trust. A trust I was excluded from, but that is beside the point. They had all come to care for one another so quickly; it was something I had never seen before. It made me hate them all the more. How could they find trust in each other so quickly? I didn't even trust the wraiths and I had lived with them my whole life. The only person I trust is my father, but that wouldn't help; he wasn't here and couldn't be here until he got the ring. I was alone.
Legolas walked over to me and spoke in his all too polite elven way.
"Would you like me to show you how to handle your blade?" I sighed to myself he had said he would show me when Boromir taught the hobbits how to fight. In fact they were already getting started on that. So I stood up and said.
"Fine, show me the flamboyant fighting style of the elves." I drew the feather light sword and Legolas did the same. He had short swords but they were the same general shape so he showed me how the slashes were primarily done with the wrist and not the arm movements. It was tiresome and he kept stopping me whenever I began to move my arm too much.
"No it's not a forceful movement like that; you will throw your sword with that movement." He said stopping me and standing beside me he grabbed my hand that I held the sword with and pulled it through to motions twisting my wrist so the sword made the swirling slice that Legolas was teaching me.
These lessons continued though we finished up as Boromir was starting to show Merry and Pippin how to use a sword. My wrists were sore from the lesson. I was unused to such subtle movements for fighting. It wasn't as if the movements were that hard, it was using my wrists instead of my arms for fighting that gave me trouble. I had it down the muscle memory and now I had to learn it a different way. I sat down on a rock near where Boromir was showing the hobbits how to fight, and though Aragorn, Frodo, and Sam were sitting around the same area, I made a point of not sitting with them. I knew where my loyalties were and I didn't want to encourage any sort of friendship with them, it would only complicate things when I had to kill them. Though despite the clarity of my actions Frodo came over and sat with me and said.
"Just because you don't want to be here doesn't mean you can't be friendly. They are all trying to show you kindness and friendship even though you are serving Sauron. Maybe try and show them a little in return. Because when we destroy the ring, you won't have anyone if you keep this up."
"There is a big if in your plan ring bearer. You will probably fail in destroying the ring, and when that happens, everyone that stands against Sauron will be destroyed."
"No, your right there will be a losing side to this war, I am just saying it doesn't hurt to have some connections to people outside of Mordor if we destroy the ring." It was then that Sam came over and sat with us handing Frodo a plate of food, the conversation died then, which was fine by me because I was about to get up and walk off to a different spot when the mood of the group changed, Legolas said something that I didn't catch but Aragorn yelled for everyone to hide. It was then that I saw the flock of birds heading towards us. I stood slowly; if it was the "enemy" then I had no reason to hide.
"Leanien! Hide!" Aragorn yelled at me, but I didn't move, no point, the birds were almost to where we were when someone grabbed me and pulled me down into hiding. I struggled though it futile, Boromir had hold of me and he held me still under some bushes in a tight bear hug. I stopped struggling it was clear I wasn't going anywhere until the birds were gone.
I had to admit it was extremely awkward to be in his arms. Mainly because when I stopped struggling he relaxed some and pulled me closer, he now had me to his chest and was looking out at the birds flying by. I felt oddly comfortable with him holding me that close, which did nothing to help as I only blushed. When the birds were finally gone people started getting out of their hiding spots. I had to wait for Boromir to let me go, which he reluctantly did. Once free of his arms I scrambled out from the bushes and put a good distance between me and him. I turned away from him to hide my blush and began to pat the dust from my cloths, and shook out my hair.
~~O~~
Boromir watched Leanien retreat from the hiding spot as soon and his hold on her loosened enough for her to get free. He knew she was uncomfortable around him, he only assumed that it was due to her life in Mordor. Being surrounded by evil all the time wouldn't be conducive for any sort of social skills. He got out from under the bush and herd Gandalf speaking and looking at a snowy mountain. Their path was now changed because of Sarumon watching the rout that they originally planned to take.
They began their march up the snow covered mountain towards the pass, Leanien avoided Boromir and walked by Gimli who grumbled about the weather and how it would be better to go through Moria. The further up the mountain they went the deeper the snow got, and as they progressed Leanien looked to be getting paler, she was hugging herself and Boromir was almost certain she was shivering. He didn't understand it, Legolas was perfectly fine with the cold. It was an elven trait.
When they stopped for a short rest and a quick meal Boromir approached Legolas and said
"I thought elves weren't affected by the cold." He nodded towards Leanien as he said this, Leanien was huddled up close to the fire with the hobbits. Legolas looked at her for a moment then said.
"The evil is sapping her of her magic, it could be affecting her other elven qualities like resistance to the cold."
~~O~~
I sat there shivering, how the hell Legolas wasn't freezing his ears off right now was beyond me. The elf had the same sort of gear I did, which meant no warm cloak to fend off this ungodly cold. I had never been this cold before in my life, Mordor was always relatively warm for it had the volcano. I could tell the hobbits weren't comfortable either but they were without shoes. I suppose that was a hobbit thing there. The cloaks they wore were good enough at fending off this cold and I slightly envied their short stature now, they weren't buffeted with as much wind because of it.
I looked around the group no one seemed all too worried about this rout. Though I felt as if we would all freeze to death, but that might have just been because my hands looked blue with cold. I held them close to the fire and let the sting of heat fend off the cold.
"Careful you will burn your hands." Pippin said to me he looked rather concerned and kept glancing between my face and my hands. I sighed and pulled them away from that blessed heat some. "Where is your cloak Leanien? You should be wearing it." The hobbit said, I tried to not yell at him. I HAD a cloak and it was treated in the same manner as my armor and my weapons. All of them destroyed and thrown away like trash.
"I had one, but the elves took it from me in Rivendell and never gave me a new one when they decided what I needed for this trip." I tried for a normal tone but as I spoke the words they just dripped with hatred for the elves and this journey. I did succeed in silencing the hobbit with a simple 'oh'.
I shoved my hands back close to the fire scowling, I glanced up to see Aragorn give a confused look my way. Then something warm and fluffy was wrapped around me. I looked behind me to see Boromir give a kind smile and sit down next to me. He had put his fur cloak around me. I yanked the warmth of the cloak off and threw it at him.
"I don't need your cloak!" I yelled at him. He snatching it out of the snow and said in a calm tone.
"Your freezing cold, you need to get warmed up before we continue. I am offering you my cloak."
"Who said I wanted your help! I don't need anything you have to offer! I am fine!" It had become awekwardly silent as the fellowship watched.
"And you're going to freeze to death if you continue on like this! Now stop refusing help when you need it!" Boromir said losing his temper with me. I glared at him and yelled back.
"I am your enemy! You don't give orcs food when they are hungry you just kill them!"
"I don't care if you are an enemy or not! Right now you are part of this fellowship so stop trying to be strong all on your own and accept some help!" I was shocked and it must have showed on my face cause Boromir put the cloak back on me. I grumbled and glanced around at the group, even old Gandalf looked surprised and pleased by what happened. I didn't continue the argument and just glared into the fire.
When Gandalf got the group moving again I threw Boromir's cloak at him with a hateful glare. He just took it with a smug smirk, the bastard. By the time we were fighting through waist deep trenches of snow with more snow falling down on us I hated that cloak. Every time we had stopped Boromir made me wear the damned thing. And now as we struggled through the deep snow he had me walking with the thing on. He was carrying Merry and Pippin because they would have been under the top of the snow.
Over the roar of the wind and snow I heard Gandalf shouting into the wind arms raised. Moments later lightning struck the mountain above us causing and avalanche. We were all buried in snow, and that damned cloak was now too heavy for me to get out from under the new layer. I struggled with the snow and could not get out. I was cold and it was dark, snow melted against my face and breathing was hard. My arms were trapped within the cloak and I was struggling for nothing. Were they all stuck? Was this really how I was going to die? Suffocating under a pile of snow surrounded by enemies? I was about to give up when a hand came down through the snow and grabbing me I was pulled to the top. It was Legolas who pulled me up and now helped me to get my arms free so I could pull myself the rest of the way out. He was somehow standing on top of the fresh snow.
He was about to walk away to help get Gimli the rest of the way out of the snow when I grabbed his boot. He stopped and looked back down at me.
"Thank you." I said softly my teeth chattering. He simply nodded and walked off. This didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the fellowship but they changed gears quickly to talk about which way they had to go.