Yeah, yeah, I know. This update has taken ages to put up. I just could not get the motivation to get it done! I'm still not happy with it, but at least I have something for you now. Thanks for everyone who has reviewed, it's because of those that I slugged through this chapter. I hope you enjoy it :)

3 Lorikeet

CHAPTER THREE

That night, I went to bed with a black eye. I had mouthed off at Mom and got backhanded. As I grew older, I was really beginning to understand what Tala meant when she often said "fuck my life" and mumbled it to myself as I climbed into bed.

There was an icepack wrapped in a dish towel and a small piece of chocolate on my pillow. Emma had left it for me, dipping into her chocolate stash to help me feel better. I knew where she kept the stash but I never stole from her. She was hiding it from Mom, not me. With the icepack pressed against my face, I tried to get comfortable enough to fall asleep.

Movement nearby made me snap my eyes open, I was back at the Prancing Pony. Aragorn was getting the hobbits up. It was still dark but the hint of dawn was just visible in the sky.

I tapped on the window with my beak, wanting to go outside and hunt while they got themselves together. Merry was the one who noticed me and opened the window. It felt good to get out and stretch my wings.

As I glided over the gate, I could see the entire thing on the ground from where the Nazgûl had crashed through it. There was a small group of people gathered there, it looked like they were removing the gatekeeper's body.

But I focused on hunting once I reached the forest. Either another bird or small animal, it didn't matter which I found first. In the end, it was a pigeon that fell victim to my talons. I snatched it out of midair, coming down on top of it.

I settled on a high tree branch to eat in peace while keeping an eye out for the Nazgûl. I don't think they were around though, I hadn't seen them while up in the air. By the time I got back, the hobbits and Aragorn had acquired Bill the pony. He was the sad, weedy little thing with an ill-kept coat and clearly underweight. But he had a kind eye and waited patiently while he was loaded up.

When I landed on top of Bill, Aragorn came over.

'Any sign of them out there?' He asked me quietly as he fastened another sack to Bill's harness. I knew what he meant, the Nazgûl.

I shook my head, there had been no sign of them at all. It didn't mean they weren't out there though. When it was time to head off, Aragorn asked me to fly above them as I would most likely see them before they did from the air. I was happy to do it. I hoped it would convince Aragorn fully that I wasn't a spy for the enemy.

So I circled above them, high enough to both keep a eye out enemies and to avoid hearing the hobbits almost constant complaining about how hungry they were. Pippin quietened down after I dropped a dead, bleeding squirrel on him.

On the third day, I had been keeping an eye on a scrawny-looking crow that seemed to be following us. Crows were not overly common out in the forest, preferring to stay near towns and roads where food was plentiful and easily come by. And those ones were bigger with glossy black feathers.

This one was smaller than usual but the one thing that really made me suspicious was the fact it never made a sound. Crows were noisy, this one was silent. It kept getting closer to the group and I don't think Aragorn had noticed it yet.

So, I lined it up and dived. I loved the speed peregrines got when they dived, there was nothing else quite like the feeling of speeding through the air in a freefall. When I hit the bird, it did squawk. I dropped the carcass in front of Aragorn and landed on a nearby branch, feeling rather proud of myself.

Aragorn nudged the dead bird with his boot, flipping the limp form onto its back. He gazed at it for a moment before looking up at me.

'It was following us?' he asked, I nodded. 'These birds usually work in flocks, I have not heard of one working alone. Good catch.'

To say I was ecstatic was an understatement. I received so little praise at home so to be told I did a good job made me extremely happy. Only just did I manage to prevent a little happy dance on my perch. I'm sure that would have looked a sight.

Unfortunately, Aragorn took us through the marshes with those Neekerbreeker things. I remember reading something about them in the book, but they weren't in the movie. The Neekerbreekers chirped non-stop but I still found the midges more annoying, they bothered me enough to keep me fastidiously preening my feathers clean of the horrible little bugs. When we camped, I went to the highest perch possible to avoid the worst of them. My companions weren't so fortunate and they also had to deal with mud.

We spent a couple of days navigating the marshes, it wasn't overly fun. With Aragorn leading us, we avoided other people. There weren't even that many animals out here either.

But finally, we left the marshes and the land began to turn more hilly. Aragorn pointed out Weathertop, I looked at it with a great deal of foreboding, I knew what was coming. But I could not interfere, I had learned long ago that interfering with the main parts of a story was a BIG no no.

I knew that if I somehow stopped Frodo from being stabbed, then he would be hurt in some other way, maybe even killed as the story-universe tried to rebalance itself. Unfortunately, I had to let it play out as it normally would.

The approach to Weathertop was rather boring though, the most exciting thing to happen was coming across a stream and I had a bath. If you have ever seen a bird take a bath, they look rather ridiculous. The hobbits found me rather amusing, but I didn't care, it was Heaven.

Aragorn actually allowed us to camp that night.

'Do you have to eat that here?' Merry complained as I pulled apart a squirrel not far from where he was eating. I puffed my feathers slightly before pointedly ripping off a particularly large piece of squirrel, glaring at him as I swallowed.

Yeah, like watching you shovel food into your trap isn't cringeworthy.

He seemed to get my message as he didn't say anymore. But he mumbled something under his breath, I caught the words "falcon" and "attitude". Aragorn appeared to have heard him though for the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

Finally, about 6 days out from Bree, we reached Weathertop. I flew in high, wide circles above it, trying to spot any Nazgûl. There were none around right now but they would arrive tonight.

Even though it was dark, I went with Aragorn, perched on his shoulder. I didn't want to be with the hobbits when they lit the fire and drew the Nazgûl to them. He was searching for them, but they seemed to be everywhere and it was hard to locate them exactly.

'This is going very badly, very quickly.' Aragorn muttered to me.

No shit, Sherlock, I've known this was coming ever since you pointed out that stupid hill.

But I couldn't voice this out aloud, I would have to settle for mentally ranting to myself. Both of us froze when the shrill cry of Nazgûl cut through the air, Aragorn said something that sounded like an Elvish swear word. Do elves actually have swear words?

Shaking my head to clear it of those rather useless thoughts, Aragorn was rushing back to Weathertop. When he spotted the remains of the hobbits' fire, which had not been fully stamped out, he grumbled to himself but used it to light a torch.

He rushed up the broken stairs, the noise of a fight getting louder and louder. I cringed when I heard the unmistakable scream that meant Frodo had just been stabbed. As he rushed into battle with the torch in one hand and sword in the other, I flitted up to perch on Merry's shoulder and dived into his hood to hide.

Once the Nazgûl had been driven away, I peeped out of my hiding spot to see everyone was crowded around Frodo. My first thought was that the movie really didn't do Frodo's injury justice. He looked like Hell, the poor guy. It almost looked like he was fitting.

Aragorn picked him up and carried him, the hobbits scrambling after him. I felt sorry for them, they were very worried about their friend. I stayed perched on Merry's shoulder, watching the scene unfold before me.

Once the sun began to rise some tense hours later, Aragorn set Frodo down and pulled some leaves from a pouch attached to his belt. He then looked at me.

'Uh…darn, I really need to give you a name.' he said before holding up the leaves. 'These are leaves of the Athelas plant, it may help Frodo but I need more. Can you try and find some for me?'

I looked at the leaves, they looked like any other leaf, but they had a rather distinct smell I was sure I could remember. With a nod, I unfurled my wings and soared upwards. While searching, I grabbed a mouse which had been facing the wrong way as I glided through the trees.

After a good deal of searching and finding probably every kind of damn leaf in the woods, I finally found the plant I was looking for. The lovely scent erasing any doubt it was the right one.

As I wasn't sure how much Aragorn needed, nor if we could get more of it later on, I carried as much as I could in my beak and talons back to camp. Aragorn had water boiling by the time I landed beside the fire and placed the leaves in a pile.

'Now, I am impressed.' Aragorn praised as he threw some of the leaves into the boiling water. 'Athelas is not common around here anymore.'

Oh? You sent me on a wild goose chase then? Next time, go find your own damn leaves.'

While Aragorn tended to Frodo, I perched up above them, keeping watch while preening my feathers. Sam was making the others some breakfast but I could see he was distracted, his eyes flicking to Frodo every few seconds.

What can I say about the journey to Rivendell? Frodo grew weaker with each passing day as Aragorn kept the group moving. It was stressful but I still preferred it over my real life, which sucked more than usual.

Mom had a boyfriend now. Emma and I both hated him. His name was Brian and he was a very creepy man. Once Mom bought him home, he never left! And there was a funny smell coming from the basement, it made Emma and I sick. We didn't know what it was, the door was locked and Brian threatened to kill us if we went down there. On the fifth night after he arrived, Emma started to sleep in my bed with me. She told me Brian had been coming into her room at night. My room had a lock on the door, hers didn't. Just as I was settling down to sleep though, I discovered that Emma had hidden a large knife under the pillows. I gaped at my sister, what the Hell?

'If he comes after you I'll gut him like the fucking pig that he is.' Emma hissed, wrapping an arm around me and making me lay back down. 'Go to sleep, Stell.'

I had laid down, trying not to cry, but Emma knew and held me tighter. Life sucks and then you die, right?

That next morning, I helped Emma move her bed into my room. I didn't mind sharing a bed, but we decided to share a room for safety.

It was winter now, Mom didn't even notice that Emma was wearing a new winter jacket and boots. Last year, Emma's old jacket and boots barely fit her so I had been saving money whenever I could so we could get her some new clothes, I didn't want her to freeze.

She gave me her old clothes, they were a little big, but at least they would last me a few years. Emma cried when I gave her the money, she didn't know I'd been saving it and to thank me, she bought me a small teddy bear with the change.

I was so depressed about my home life that it was affecting me in my dream world too. I was quiet and kept to myself, flying above the group. Aragorn noticed and even asked me about it. But I couldn't explain and he had his hands full with a dying hobbit.

Each day merged into the next, my mind was elsewhere. The other day, at school, I had been called to the office where a nice lady asked me funny questions. I didn't know why she was talking to me. It was hard to speak to her though. In real life, I was very small for my age, had a speech impediment and was very shy around people I wasn't very comfortable with. I still struggled to speak to my own mother! Emma was the only one that knew I could be a real chatterbox.

Emma had someone come and see her at school too, she didn't know what was going on either. She told me he was very nice but asked her weird questions about Mom and even about me.

The monotony of Middle Earth was broken one evening when the sound of hooves behind us broke through the cold air. Aragorn rushed us off the path, well, he rushed the hobbits as I was perched on his shoulder. We hid in thick undergrowth, watching the road. I knew who was coming, sort of. It was either Arwen or Glorfindel. I hoped it was Glorfindel, I like Arwen and all, but Asfaloth is not her horse. Either way, I finally get to see an elf!

A stunning grey horse came into view, the rider was Glorfindel. It had to be. He was pretty, but definitely male. Aragorn was delighted to see him and launched himself out of our hiding spot to greet the elf.

Glorfindel reined Asfaloth to a halt before Aragorn even moved, how the heck did he know we were there? He had dismounted by the time Aragorn reached him and the two greeted eachother in Elvish.

Hello? Subtitles!

Elves were freakishly tall, that's the first thing I noticed. Of course it was, being a shortass myself. I could see his pointed ears and he carried a sword that I swear would be as tall as me in my human form.

Glorfindel looked at me and asked Aragorn a question in Elvish.

'We had a slight disagreement over the ownership of a rabbit.' Aragorn replied in Westron. 'She has been with me since.' Aragorn looked at me. 'This is Glorfindel. Glorfindel, this is…bird?'

I cuffed him with my wing.

'Look, when I come up with a name you actually like I will call you by it all you want.' Aragorn snorted.

'She understands you?'

'Yes, and she has proven herself loyal so far.' Aragorn told him as the hobbits and Bill came closer. Frodo smiled weakly as he was introduced to Glorfindel.

Glorfindel explained he had set out from Rivendell nine days ago to search for our group. To be honest, I wasn't overly interested in the conversation, I wanted to say hello to Asfaloth. When I hopped off Aragorn's shoulder and landed on Glorfindel's, the elf was a little surprised but didn't object.

Asfaloth was awesome. He was a huge horse and sniffed me curiously.

Whoa there, buddy. That nose is a lethal weapon when you're my size.

But apart from whuffing my feathers out of place, he didn't hurt me. While the others were talking though, Frodo almost passed out. Sam was having to hold him up.

'Frodo needs to rest!' Sam growled angrily.

'We need to get him to Rivendell.' Glorfindel replied. 'Frodo, you can ride my horse. He will outpace the enemies horses easily, all you need to do is sit tight. Asfaloth will not let you fall.'

Frodo argued about leaving his friends behind if they were attacked and was adamant about not getting on the horse. For a sick person, he was pretty darn stubborn. It wasn't until Glorfindel pointed out that the enemy would follow him if Asfaloth bore him away did Frodo finally agree to be placed in the saddle.

Glorfindel lead the way, I was now perched on Bill, it was too dark for me to fly. The hobbits struggled to keep up with Glorfindel, I was tired but at least I was on a pony and managed to sleep for a bit. It wasn't until first light that we were allowed to stop for a rest. The poor hobbits dropped to the ground and feel asleep almost instantly.

I was wide awake and went hunting, Glorfindel was on watch when I got back, a dead squirrel in my talons. He was silent as he watched me tear apart my breakfast. Glorfindel didn't let the others rest for long, waking them shortly before noon.

We travelled all day, Glorfindel keeping up a quick pace while I circled overhead keeping an eye out. It was hard though, the trees were thick and I could barely see the group below me, let alone Nazgûl in the distance.

By nightfall, Glorfindel and Aragorn had no choice but to allow the hobbits to rest, they were asleep on their feet. As soon as the sun rose, we set out again. I took my position above them up in the air. The area was clear until late afternoon when I spotted what looked like shadows on the ground. After investigating, I saw that they weren't shadows, it was four of the Nazgûl.

I almost did a back flip as I turned my body in the air to speed back to the others. It was go time, people, now I had to decide if I would follow Frodo or stay with the group. I swooped down under the canopy and screeched, landing on Aragorn's shoulder.

I'm not sure if it was the fact that my feathers were standing on end or I looked freaked out, but Aragorn knew what was wrong. The Nazgûl were here!

Glorfindel lead the hobbits down a steep slope, I was still on Aragorn's shoulder, he was bringing up the rear. We could hear horse hooves now and they were moving fast. The hobbits couldn't run very fast, Asfaloth hadn't even needed to break into a trot. Bill did though, his legs were far shorter than those of the Elvish horse.

Our little group froze as the screech of the Nazgûl sounded behind us. Behind us, up on the hill we had just stumbled down, was a Nazgûl. It was the first time I had really had a proper look at one. They were similar to how the movie portrayed them, but the movie didn't make you feel the dread and fear that radiated off them like a furnace.

'Fly!' Glorfindel called out to Frodo. 'Fly! The enemy is upon us!'

Uh, excuse me? I am the only one here that can "fly".

Frodo, the big idiot, didn't ride forward. He was staring at the Nazgûl, a faraway expression on his face. When Glorfindel ordered Asfaloth forward, I had made my decision and launched myself off my perch after the horse as he bolted forward.

Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap.

It was the only thing going through my head as I flew above Frodo and Asfaloth. There had been four Nazgûl on the hill, more of them came out of nowhere, sort of like when you piss off a nest of hornets.

There were only seven after Frodo but Asfaloth was super fast, the black horses struggled to keep up. I couldn't see the remaining two Nazgûl, this seemed to be taking after the book events and I was struggling to remember what happens exactly.

I could see the Ford now by my heart sank at the sight off the missing Nazgûl racing to cut Asfaloth off. The horse seemed to notice them too and dug deeper into the ground, putting on a tremendous burst of speed.

Frodo had his eyes shut, clinging tightly to Asfaloth's mane. I watched from above as the Elvish horse cut right in front of the Nazgûl. Seriously, the gap was so narrow I was sure even I would have trouble squeezing through.

Asfaloth splashed across the Ford, leaped nimbly up the bank on the opposite side and scrambled up the rocky incline. They were across but not out of danger yet. At the top of the incline, Asfaloth turned to face the riders. He neighed fiercely and struck the ground with his front hooves.

I landed on a nearby tree branch as the Nazgûl entered the water. Stupid things, their horses were basically screaming at them that entering the water was a bad idea but they didn't listen. As expected, once the nine of them reached the middle of the Ford, the water rose with frightening speed.

There was a loud rushing noise that sent the black horses mad, the Nazgûl had no control over their spooked mounts as the wall of water came crashing down on them. I could see the horses on the wave, not as clear as in the movie, but they were there.

I felt bad for the horses as they were washed downstream, they weren't evil, just forced into a life of slavery to evil creatures. They would drown, the Nazgûl would unfortunately escape that fate.

My attention was drawn away from the raging water by a thump, Frodo had fallen to the ground. I fluttered down and landed by his head, he was still breathing but was unconscious. Asfaloth nudged him with his nose.

I doubt that will work, Asfaloth. All we can do now is wait.

There you go, guys. I think this is the longest chapter yet. Hopefully, the next one won't take as long to write up. Please let me know what you think :)