Once again, thank you to all who reviewed; it's great to hear your comments, not many changes to this chapter but there are a few subtle ones,
Enjoy
Xandrandra xx
Nightmares
They stopped to rest for the night at the foot of the mountain. The hobbits slept as two of the group watched the dark of night the rest nearby to be woken up so the two could rest. Boromir and Legolas watched, the elf not needing much sleep would stay for most shifts, taking for himself only an hour or so of rest. She lay on her right side watching their shadows, the fire behind her with the hobbit's clustered around it, Aragorn lay near to her feet facing away from the fire as she did, Gimli's snoring could be heard from the other side of the fire, she slowly let sleep wash over her.
'I do not believe Elrond was wise to let her travel with us.' Said Boromir quietly toying with his sword,
'She has coped well so far. Why do you think this?' asked the blue eyed elf,
'We know nothing about her…'
'Neither does she.' The elf observed,
'How can we be sure?'
'Gandalf and Elrond trust her; you should have faith in their judgment.'
'And what when we must fight? We cannot protect her along with Frodo; at least the hobbit has some skills with a weapon…'
'We have not seen if she can fight yet Boromir, she carries with her a bow, quiver and knife, she may know how to fight.'
'that may be true, she learnt much in a short amount of time earlier today, perhaps she does have some skills, if we come under attack.'
'Have faith in Gandalf, and in Lord Elrond, she may truly be a gift to our quest. Rest my friend; your eyes are useless in this light. I will wake Aragorn.' Said the elf standing,
'Be careful elf.' Said the man, walking to the other side of the fire to near where Gimli slept, his snoring ceased,
Legolas knelt by the girl's feet to lay a hand on Aragorn's shoulder to wake him, he rose with a shake of his head rubbing his eyes, nodding at the young elf he rose, stretched and took a seat where the elf had sat before, trying to raise his alertness. The elf began to stand when his ankle was gently kicked by the girl, he turned to look at her, standing fully, she now lay on her back, the blanket that covered her wrinkled as she moved, her eyes were open, he raised an eyebrow at her but received no response, he moved to crouch beside her. Her breathing was short and ragged, she moved slightly, it was the reason she had kicked out, her lips were moving in informing words, her eyes were open, her grey eyes staring up into the night sky,
'Aragorn.' The elf called softly,
'What is it Legolas?' he asked,
The elf gestured to the girl; the man walked over and knelt next to the elf, looking over the female before touching her hand and receiving no response. He looked to his friend,
'Do not fear, she is dreaming. I thought that your kindred also slept this way.'
'We do, I did not know that she was an elf, she seems very un-elf like, I had thought her to be of your kindred,'
'I do not know, but if she is it is not unheard of for people to sleep with their eye's open as the elves do.' Laying a hand on the elf's shoulder the man rose, 'one day we will find out.' He said walking and sitting back down to watch,
The elf watched her, her breathing was uneven, she did not seem to be sleeping well, her head and body had begun to move more, his eyes narrowed as she began this, she moved away from him with a start, a hand flying to her throat, then lowering to rest on her heart as she blinked and her eyes focused on his face, her own features relaxing in recognition
'Do not kneel so close elf, you gave me a start.' She sat up and turned to face him, 'why do you kneel close? What has happened?' she looked around, locating all of the fellowship,
'No, I am sorry to have woken you. You had your eyes open, I thought you were awake, but you were dreaming.' The young elf explained, moving away,
'Dreaming.' She nodded, standing and shaking her limbs to loosen them, 'do elves dream?' she asked, picking up and sheathing her knife,
'Sometimes.' The elf answered, following her over to where Aragorn now sat,
'Would you mind if I joined you?' she asked, standing over him,
'You should rest, it is a long climb, and we will not get much rest.'
'I am no longer tired, and I could not sleep now.'
'Sit, though there is not much to see in the darkness,' said Aragorn as the elf and the girl sat beside him, 'may I ask, have you remembered your name?'
'No, though once I do I will tell you all. Why do you ask?' she asked him,
'We do not know what to call you.' Said the man truthfully,
'Téanar.' She answered,
'Téanar?' asked Aragorn, taken back by her quick answer,
'Before I left I asked Elrond for a suitable name, that is what he gave me.' She explained, 'do you hear that?' she asked, turning her head to look at the two males,
'Hear what?'
'That. Either someone is hungry or there is something out there that's growling.' She noticed a strange look from the elf and man, 'I have remembered some things, my speech seems to be effected as I remember more… though none of it of any use or sense.' She explained quickly,
There was a howl, and eyes began to glow in the dark, slowly growing brighter as the animals grew closer, she mentally scolded herself for leaving her bow and arrows with her blanket, she drew her knife and held it in her left hand, tucking it up so the blade ran along the inside of her forearm, she could see Aragorn had draw his sword for it shone in the darkness, the sound of an arrow being drawn back on a bow signalled Legolas was ready for the attack. There was noise behind them, stirring within the camp,
'Gandalf!' called Aragorn, his eyes never leaving the approaching wolves,
'We are surrounded.' She told them, edging away from the man and elf and back towards the camp, she could see out of the corners of her eyes that the wolves were focused on the sleeping hobbits, 'they want Frodo.' She hissed,
There was a pained howl as one leapt into the air only to receive an arrow to the throat from the elf's bow. Seeing one of their own fall the rest attacked, she turned and ran towards the fire, near to the now shocked, awake and frozen hobbits, as one came flying towards them she turned her back to it, knelt and drove her left arm back and up, she felt the blade pierce the wolf's flesh and she knew from the way it fell onto her arm with a scream that she had killed. Feeling the dull pain flow down her arm from having the dead beast crash on it she pulled her arm out and switched her knife to her right hand, locking away the tip, pull the knife out and move before the attacker falls, within the depths of her confused and reeling mind. She remembered charging at an oncoming wolf and thrusting her blade deep into its body and twisting the handle as she pulled it out and moved onto the next. Aragorn's sword flashed as wolf upon wolf died with it's blood upon the blade, Legolas's bow was singing as it's arrows sailed through the air, never missing it's target, the battle cries of the dwarf could be heard though their owner's whereabouts unknown, the hobbit's had their own weapons drawn and were ready to protect themselves, though a cry from Aragorn telling them to stay back kept them from advancing on the wolves. A wolf ran through the camp and towards the back of the man Boromir, a knife bit down onto the back of it's neck as he turned to face the girl who nodded curtly before moving to swipe at a wolf that was too close to nearing the hobbit's, moving back to be nearer to where Gandalf now stood holding a branch aloft within one hand, she fended off yet another wolf but her knife could not find a sheath for itself within the fur of the snarling beast, falling backwards onto her back, she brought her foot up to it's belly and threw it over her head onto the blade of Aragorn, the next beast to attack her flew sideways as an elven arrow plunged into it's neck. Gandalf shook the branch and commanded in an elven language, she covered her eyes as a blaze sprang from tree to tree, the howls and eyes that remained fleeing as a single arrow burning with the spell found a home within the heart of the pack's leader. She waited until she saw weapons being lowed, then allowed her body to relax and sprawl onto the grass, her knife still within her grasp. She sighed and closed her eyes allowing her spine to sink into the grass, she heard unhidden footfalls beside her, they came to a stop, and she opened her eyes to look up into the darkness that was the dwarf's own,
'Are you alright miss?' he asked,
'Yes. I am fine.' She sat up and looked around at the fellowship, 'I did not expect to know how to fight.'
'You fought heartily none the less, girl!' said Boromir,
'I have done it before. I believe, to some extent at least.' She said accepting his hand as she rose, 'it is strange, the movements seemed instinctual.'
'Dawn is nearly here. Let us get what sleep we can before we make for the pass.' Said Gandalf after conferring with Aragorn quietly.
The hobbit's huddled together nervously until sleep claimed them, Boromir lay down and within minutes his chest was rhythmically rising and falling. Gandalf sat with his back against a rock, his head on his chest and face hidden by his hat, Gimli once again slept away from the group, his axe forever in his hand. Aragorn and Legolas sat watch, she stood quietly looking around, she paced from side to side then in widening circles before going to Aragorn's side and crouching so she could see his face. He looked taken aback by her sudden appearance,
'I am sorry to have startled you. But I believe there should be bodies.' She told him, her voice a whisper,
'There are no bodies?' she shook her head, 'these were no ordinary wolves, we will leave this place with the first light.' He told those who were awake.
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Did you like? Hope you did not so many changes in this one, onto the next eh?
Xandrandra xx