We stopped for camp on the rolling hills beyond the end of elvish lands. The journey so far had been walking, upon walking, upon walking. As soon as we had decided to stop, the hobbits set upon cooking; sausage, and potatoes on a pan atop a fire.
The broad little hobbit with near-blonde hair had tied off the pack pony, Bill. The others found places to sit and rest, laying down their heavier articles.
"We must hold this course, west of the Misty Mountains," Gandalf explained, "for 40 days. If our luck holds, the Gap of Rohan will still be open to us. From there, our road turns east to Mordor."
"Good, very good." Boromir praised the hobbits he was sparing with, the two red-headed fellow; Pip and his companion Merry.
"Move your feet." Aragorn coached, smoking his pipe on the sidelines.
The hobbits shared praise amongst themselves before Boromir interrupted, continuing to spar.
"If anyone was to ask my opinion, which I note, they're not, I'd say we're taking the long way 'round." Gimli proceeded with his deep voiced dwarvish rant. "Gandalf, we could pass through the Mines of Moria. My cousin Balin would give us a royal welcome."
"Gandalf has never been keen upon taking the opinions of others, Master Dwarf." I informed the dwarf.
Gandalf maintained his skeptical expression, glancing over me to look as the dwarf as he answered. "No, Gimli, I would not take the road through Moria unless I had no other choice."
I listened to the wizard refuse the idea, a trickle of my memory at the mention of such an ancient and familiar place. Also the memory of bad things within those dwarvis halls.
Suddenly the elf ascended onto a perch high on a stone, watching the sky.
Gandalf followed his gaze, removing his pipe from his lips.
I watched the elf curiously, waiting for a sign of danger, expecting him to tense if he was something out of the ordinary.
I heard the hobbits shouting in the background as Boromir disarmed one, hitting too hard for their small statures. It erupted in a pile up of the hobbits on the man.
"For the Shire!"
"Hold him down, Merry!"
Aragorn laughed at the ordeal, "Gentleman, that's enough!" He attempted.
The hobbits answered in turn, toppling the Ranger from his feet.
"What is that?" Sam asked, following the wizard's gaze to the horizon.
"Nothing. Just a wisp of cloud." Gimli brushed off.
"It's moving fast," Boromir noted, standing. "Against the wind."
I looked beyond the elf, finally, seeing what appeared similar to birds flocking directly towards us at a pace that birds themselves were incapable of.
"Crebain from Dunland." The elf shouted.
"Hide!" Aragorn commanded. "Cover! Take Cover!"
The camp scrambled, putting out fires and hiding packs while they scurried for cover.
I jumped off of my rock perch as I rushed for the larger cliffs.
The elf came up besided me, placing a hand on my ribs, he pushed me into one of the large boulders on his way to duck under plant-life.
I saw his hair flash past the leaves just before I was surrounded by blackness, tumbling into the stone.
"Spies of Saruman." I heard Gandalf, once they had passed.
I felt a hand land on the rock in front of where I was hiding. Latching onto the elvish fingers as Legolas pulled me from the rock, I had vanished into. None of the others seemed to notice as they focused on the Wizard.
"The passage south is being watched." The Grey continued. "We must take the Pass of Caradhras." He decided, looking towards the mountain.
It was then that I removed my hand from the elf's out of frustration, Damning the wizard for his decision.
The Pass of Caradhra was high in the mountains. A cold barren wasteland of noting but frost and cliff. Taking such a passage was harmful to us all. Those such as hobbits not ever having dealt with the temperatures too cold for life to survive for any period of time.
"Bek!" I heard from behind me.
Turning, I found myself face to face with the elf. "Yes?"
"I wanted to apologize. It was harsh of me to shove you into that stone. I simply meant to ensure Saruman did not sense your presence."
I nodded, looking off to the left of him. "There's nothing to apologize for. You did as you thought right. There was no wrong done by your actions."
He nodded. "I would still extend my sincerity to you, My Lady."
I looked at his face then, seeing the diplomacy in his end of this conversation. "You are forgiven, Elf-Lord." I responded in his native tongue. "Perhaps we should be kinder to each other on this journey."
His face showed how unsure he really was at my offer, yet his eyes showed amusement. "There is yet more journey to be had, My Lady. I would not want you to get bored so easily."
A smile tugged at my lips as he held my gaze.
Behind him, I saw the Ring-Bearer slip and slide downhill in the snow. He rolled head over feet as Aragorn chased after him.
Catching him, the Ranger helped the hobbit to his feet.
Automatically, Frodo groped for the Ring, finding it absent from his neck. Looking up, he saw Boromir holding his trinket by the chain as he gazed upon it with a hungry look.
"Boromir." Aragorn called to his kinsman.
"It is a strange fate, that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing." He seemed to be mumbling without thought, the black speech taunting him whilst I listened. "Such a little thing."
"Boromir!" Aragorn interrupted his ramblings. "Give the ring to Frodo."
All of the fellowship seemed to have tensed, watching what was happening.
Slowly, the man removed his eyes from the ring and approached to hand it back to the Ring-Bearer. "As you wish."
Watching the man wearily, the hobbit removed the jewelry from his grasp, once again taking possession.
"I care not." Boromir spat, attempting to forget his brush with the evil entity. Exchanging a look with Aragorn, he laughed ruffling the hobbit's black hair as he proceeded to walk back up the mountain.
As the company turned from the altercation, the elf caught my attention, nodding towards my hand, where I held my sword halfway from its sheath within my grip.
I hadn't even noticed how fiercely I had taken the altercation.
Resheathing my sword, it made a sound with the force I shoved the hilt against the setting. Boromir glanced in my direction, a look crossing his face as he established my threat.
The mountain simply got harsher as we continued. At one point the men were carrying the hobbits to keep them above snow level.
Our progress was all but stopped by the frost.
Legolas scouted ahead, remaining above the snow by his lithe, lightweight elven form. "There is a fell voice on the air!" He shouted back to us as we marched along a large cliff.
"It's Saruman." Gandalf shouted.
The ice and snow above our ledge began to crack and slip.
"He's trying to bring down the mountain!" Aragorn shouted over the wind and ice, holding tight to the hobbits in his grasp.
Gandalf turned from him, beginning a chant in Sindarin. He was making an attempt to negate Saruman's magic.
Lightning shot out of a cloud, striking the peak of the mountain we were on, bringing down snow and ice upon our heads.
Tucking into my cloak, I ducked from the snow. Before I could crouch down in an attempt to stabilize myself, I was struck by one of the chunks of frost, sending me sliding down the ice towards the edge of the cliff.
"Rebekah!" I heard shouted through the downpour.
Reaching out, I dug my nails into the snow, feeling my fingers gain strength as my nails got longer and sharper to drive into the snow, saving me from death.
Fingers wrapping around my hand as I finally began to slow, pulling me closer and away from the edge.
We were all buried in the snow. Drenched further as more of the snow conformed to our bodily shapes and melted with our body heat.
Pushing through the cold, dark layers, each of us one by one rose to air.
The snowflakes melted into my hair only to refreeze as the wind passed us.
"We must get off the mountain!" Boromir shouted. "Make for the Gap of Rohan and take the West Road to my city!"
"The Gap of Rohan takes us too close to Isengard!" Aragorn argued.
The dwarf shouted behind them. "If we cannot pass over a mountain, let us go under it. Let us go through the Mines of Moria."
Gandalf took on the same skeptical look he had had before. Memories flooded forward from deep places. "Let the Ring-Bearer decide."
I looked from the Wizard to the hobbit as I realized how much this meant for Gandalf to put the decision into another's hands.
"We cannot stay here!" Boromir yelled. "This will be the death of the hobbits."
"Frodo?" Gandalf asked again.
Frodo took a breath of frozen air. "We will go through the mines." He stated, looking only at the Wizard.
"So be it." Gandalf accepted.
