TROLL CAVE AND THE ESTRANGE GAZE
Right at the hairline on the right side of her head was married with a decent size gash that was red and purple, but despite taking a blow from a startled Troll, Jeanne was just fine. The Dwarves seemed rather proud of her too, saying that 'She's built like a Dwarf. She will be fine.' Bilbo was a little more than a bit concern of course and did everything in his power and knowledge to make sure the small cut wouldn't get infected.
Thorin gave Jeanne a long and studied gaze. That bizarre strength to pierce stone with a blunt end of a wooden staff, the capability to think of a plan despite being hunted down by Trolls was also very strange. For now, he decided to brush it off. He walked up to Gandalf. "Where did you go to, if I may ask?"
"To look ahead." He spoke without much clarification.
"What brought you back?"
Gandalf eyed him. "Making sure the fire doesn't go out, which it almost did." He gave a skeptical look at Thorin that burned. The young Dwarf prince said nothing though and looked as just when Jeanne walked over to them.
She gave a small and cheerful laugh. "Oh don't be like that." She smiled. "We are all fine, nothing but small bruises."
Thorin was a little less than pleased by her carefree attitude. "Next time tell us when you think about wandering off on your own." He scolded Jeanne who shamefully looked away like a child being yelled at. Even she could admit that she wasn't thinking right during that situation. "You could have been killed."
Gandalf turned his head to hide the fact that he was smiling. If he recalls, Thorin said that he wasn't going to be responsible for her fate, yet, he was concerned for her well being. "Still, she is in one piece." He ruffled her scarlet hair, looking like wildfire in his eyes.
Jeanne sighed and ran her fingers through her hair before hiding it under her hood. "If anything..." She looked at the stone Trolls. "They must have come down from the Ettenmoors, do you think?"
Thorin frowned. "Since when do Mountain Trolls venture this far south?"
"Not for an age." Gandalf shook his head. His eyes fell grimly upon Jeanne as if he was staring at someone he was unfamiliar with. "Not since a darker power ruled these lands."
Jeanne's eyes slowly cast up and met his mysterious gaze. A fire burned behind her cornflower blue eyes. Her fingers stiffened and her muscles clenched, ever responding to those words that made her whole body burn for a reason.
Gandalf played his estrange gaze off and looking around the area. "They could not have moved in daylight."
Thorin looked around. "There must be a cave nearby."
Finding the cave wasn't hard. They just had to follow the overwhelming amount of flies and the repulsive smell of rot and mud that sank into their skin and clothes. The cave was dark and filled with worthless relics along with luxurious treasures such as gold and swords.
"Oh, what's that stench?" Nori complained while they ventured deep into the cave to explore.
"It's a Troll-hoard," Gandalf stated the stone fact and lead the way with Jeanne, Thorin and the rest of the company behind him. "Be careful with what you touch."
Jeanne heard the Dwarves hacking and dry-heaving behind her. She felt like she was going to throw up herself because the smell was so revolting. Like rotten food and bodily fluids. She covered her nose and mouth with her sleeve and counted to ten in her head to take a breath through her mouth.
The Dwarves seemed to have forgotten all about the smell once their eyes laid upon the shiny gleam of gold coins laying on the ground.
"Seems a shame just to leave it lying around," Bofur said. "Anyone could take it."
"Agreed," Gloin said while opening a full chest of gold. "Nori. Get a shovel."
Thorin looked through the old swords that were in a barrel covered in dust and cobwebs. His eyes caught two and he picked one up and looked at the craftsmanship on it. "These swords were not made by any Troll." He put his torch down and held up another well-crafted sword and handed the other to Gandalf.
"Nor were they made by any smith among Men." Gandalf cracked open the sword a bit and saw the perfectly edged silver. The realization finally struck. "These were forged in Gondolin. By the High Elves of the First Age." As soon as he said that, Thorin was about to put the blade back. "You could not wish for a finer blade." He said more firmly.
Thorin stopped and yanked the blade open and could finally see the sharp edge of the sword that was perfectly crafted with a great deal of care. Even he had to admit that they were beautiful. "Jeanne..." He spoke in a small voice so she wouldn't hear. "She needs a blade, does she not? She is practically defenseless."
Gandalf didn't even bother to hide the fact that Thorin said her name for the first time. "She is more then meets the eye." His words carried a deep and hidden meaning as they both looked at the lady as she watched the Dwarves bury their treasure. "She will prove it to you...one day."
The Dwarves looked up to Jeanne and grinned ear to ear. "Don't worry, Miss Jeanne. We'll make sure to give you 12% of it."
"You're generosity is very comforting to know of." She smiled.
Thorin began to head out of the cave after looking through it. "Let's get out of this foul place. Come on, let's go."
Jeanne was about to head out when her foot landed on something hard, not like a rock or anything like that, but small. She frowned and kneeled down in front of the ground.
Gandalf stopped beside her. "What on earth are you doing, Jeanne?"
Jeanne moved some of the dirt away and saw a small blade that laid hidden at her feet. She smiled at it when a thought came to mind.
Jeanne climbed out of the cave and saw Bilbo standing beside it. "Bilbo. Would you be a dear and come here?" She called out.
"Hmm?" Bilbo walked over to her.
"I found this for you." She handed the small blade over to him that looked to be the right size for the small Hobbit.
Bilbo took the gift from her hands and frowned while looking at it. "Jeanne..I...I can't take this."
"The blade is of Elvish make," Gandalf spoke for Jeanne while coming out of the cave. "Which means it will glow blue when Orcs or Goblins are nearby."
"I...I have never used a sword in my life."
"And I hope you never have to," Gandalf said.
"Jeanne..have you ever used a sword?" Bilbo asked her, just hoping that he wasn't alone but noticed a very small change in her eyes when he said that. It was the same change her own voice made when they were talking about the Wizards.
"Well...not much in this life." She said with a sly grin and could understand where Bilbo was coming from. It really must be hard to accept. Jeanne patted him on the shoulder. "A sword is...a complicated thing. You either choose to kill someone to save your life or use it to kill someone to protect the others around you. But it is up to you if you wish to use it at all to kill. Kill your enemies...or spare them. Take no shame in your choice. "
Bilbo could feel his heart swell with her words and it felt like she was speaking in a way...like she had her own experience. So...has she killed someone before? Has she used a blade for that manner?
Jeanne smiled at Bilbo's curious eyes when Thorin's howling voice belted out to all his party. "Somethings coming!" She felt her blood run cold and looked up as all the Dwarves started to arm themselves when something burst forth from the woods. Rabbits pulling a slay with Radagast the Brown upon it, shouting in a distressed voice.
"Thieves! Fire! Murder!" He cried out and came sliding to a halt before a startled Jeanne who hid behind Gandalf.
Gandalf sighed to himself. "Radagast." All the Dwarves finally put away their weapons. "It's Radagast the Brown." He pulled Jeanne with him and walked up to the wild looking Wizard who looked as if he saw a ghost. "Well... What on earth are you doing here?" He asked dryly.
Radagast grabbed Jeanne by her arm and lifted her sleeve up to look at her skin before he rambled on one breath. "I was looking for you and Jeanne." He scanned over her arms as Jeanne got more and more creeped out by his wild gaze. "Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong."
"And you have to scan over our dear Jeanne?" Gandalf pulled Jeanne's hand free."What?"
Radagast opened his mouth and stopped as all the thoughts in his head slipped away. "Oh." He kept acting like he was going to talk but his mind was as lost as he was. "Just give me a minute." He grumbled. "I had a thought and not I've lost it. It was right there on the tip of my tongue."
Jeanne gave the man a skeptical look. "Well...you came in yelling about thieves, fire, and murder, so..."
"Fire...?" Radagast's voice slowly dropped to a sinister and dark tone when he looked upon Jeanne's hair, as red as fire. "Fire... That's right."
Gandalf took Radagast and Jeanne aside so they could talk in private.
"The Greenwood is sick, Gandalf," Radagast spoke with deep severity in his voice as Gandalf silently smoked on his pipe. "A darkness has fallen over it. Nothing grows anymore. At least, nothing good. The air is foul with decay. But worse are the webs."
Jeanne furrowed her brows. "Webs? What do you mean?"
"Spiders, Jeanne. Giant ones. Some kind of spawn of Ungoliant, or I am not a Wizard. I followed their trail. They came from Dol Guldur." His eyes fell upon Jeanne as she flinched, pulling her sleeves further down her arms to hide any trace of skin.
Gandalf slowly turned around. "Dol Guldur? But the old fortress is abandoned."
Radagast shook his head and spoke grimly. "No, Gandalf. 'Tis not. A dark power dwells in there. Such as I have never felt before. It is the shadow of an ancient horror. One that can summon the spirits...of the dead. I saw it, Gandalf...from out of the darkness with eyes burning from ember...to fire. A Necromancer has come."
It was like all the strength in her body faded away slowly and left her numb inside, unable to feel anything else...but fear. Jeanne felt like she had to take a step back when her body grew cold and weak. She braced her body against a tree and turned around, listening to Radagast's tale of the old fortress where a living shadow now dwells in, but as she stood there she felt as if the woods were enclosing in on her, that very shadow reaching out through the darkness to grab her.
"Now a Necromancer...are you sure?" He said with a voice gravely serious, taking a glance to Jeanne.
Radagast narrowed his eyes and pulled something out from his brown robes. A sword covered in a cloth. Gandalf studied it with his old eyes and took it from his hands, unraveling it and opening it up when a faint chuckle crept out of Jeanne's lips as Gandalf and Radagast slowly looked over to her. The old wizards felt this odd fear dwelling in their chest at how deep her chuckle was and questioned if it was really Jeanne that was sitting over there from behind the tree.
"Jeanne?" Gandalf called out to her with a wary voice.
"Of course..." Jeanne spoke through her cracking voice like she was on the verge of tears. "Of course... It is true...if I am still in this world...then so is 'it'." She sat on the ground in defeat as these black, ashen veins began to appear on her skin and moved up to her arms and onto her face. Her eyes opened up which was once a cornflower blue but now burned like embers. A bright and evil glint that was too old and powerful for them to belong to Jeanne...and you know what? They weren't her eyes. She blinked once and the veins disappeared and her eyes turned back to normal.
A distant growling sound caught their attention and all heads looked up at the sound that resembled a wolf. It didn't sound far at all either.
"Was that a wolf?" Bilbo asked, his voice gradually growing concerned. "Are there wolves out there?"
Bofur's voice shook. "Wolves. No, that is not a wolf."
A large wolf-like creature snuck up on the party from above the cliff and jumped down at them. The Dwarves scattered like flies before the beast was struck down by Thorin. It wasn't over yet before another one came from the other side.
"Kili! Get your bow!" Thorin screamed.
Kili took a quick shot and pierced the beast in the side and caused it to topple down the cliff, finally being put down by the heavy axe Dwalin used on it.
Radagast hurried over to the party as Gandalf kept a frightened and frozen Jeanne behind him.
Thorin yanked his sword free from the beast's flesh. "Warg scouts." He growled. "Which means an Orc Pack isn't far behind."
"Who did you tell about your quest beyond your kin?" Gandalf demanded.
"No one," Thorin stated.
"Who did you tell?" Gandalf raised his voice more firmly.
"No one, I swear. What in Durin's name is going on?"
"You're being hunted." Jeanne's frail and shaking voice spoke up from behind Gandalf. "We have to get out of here." She could feel her body slip away from reality and had trouble even coming to terms with what Radagast had just told them.
"We can't. We have no ponies." Ori informed them after coming back empty-handed. "They bolted."
Her heart was going to bust. She felt in the depths of her body that had grown cold to the sound of the enclosing Wargs. Fear. That was all she felt and her mind has totally gone blank. The world dissolved of all color and the sounds around her became void and hollow. Her stomach twisted and she wanted nothing more than the world to swallow her whole, but she was never allowed such luxuries. She wanted to belt out a scream until her voice went raw. She wanted to cry until all the tears dried up, but fear, fear held everything in place and made the world around her feel surreal. Was this really her world?
"I'll draw them off," Radagast said confidently.
"These are Gundabad Wargs. They will outrun you." Gandalf felt Jeanne's hands tremble.
"These are Rhosgobel rabbits." Radagast noticed the hollow look in Jeanne's eyes. He pulled her hood off and ruffled her hair until the life returned. "I'd like to see them try."
Very slightly, a smile returned to her lips.
Author's Note:
You know shit gets real when the title of the story is spoken. I dropped a hell of a lot of hints in the chapter as well so pay attention to what Jeanne says. Her identity and purpose will be revealed at the end of the story, so be on the lookout. I have to say, I'm starting to get excited.
P.S. I'm going to be out off town next week on vacation (a well-desrved one too) so you'll probably see the next chapter near the end of the week.