Sorry I didn't update yesterday! I was busy watching Buffy and then my mom's friend came over and we went to dinner and I didn't get a chance to finish writing up this chapter. To make it up to ya' this one's about 3k longer than the last and I think it's pretty good. There's some Max humor and Max goes slightly rabid raccoon-ish trying to deal with the sexist beliefs of the time or book or whatever. Remember, REVIEW! Thanks so much to the TWO that have, but more would be great *winkwinknudgenudge*.
Happy reading!
3rd Person POV
Only one of the people in the council area was not affected by the little girl's mind altering… spell, or whatever it was. However, as she transmitted the command to everyone but the other children, he'd had a chance to look into her mind for himself. What he saw shocked him. Pain and suffering. Running and fighting. But he saw no intention to hurt anyone… except these odd people… Erasers? Flyboys? M-Geeks? Gozan? He'd never heard of any of them, and none were present here, that was for sure. There was one more thing, tucked in the corner of her mind. It was surrounded by a weak barrier, as if the girl unconsciously kept it hidden at all times. All he caught sight of was a feather.
For now, thought Gandalf, he'd play along. He let himself adopt a confused expression along with everyone else before shaking it off as the others did. The children seemed to be fooled by his charade.
This would be interesting.
Max POV
We listened from our seats on the floor as people talked, the ring was brought up, people argued, an axe shattered, people talked, and then suddenly everyone was on their feet yelling what I think were supposed to be dirty words at each other. Finally, I couldn't take it. I stood up.
"Hey, quiet!" I yelled. No response. "SHUT UP!" This time everyone fell silent. "Well, now that I have your attention… you're all supposed to be super wise, adult, leaders, am I right? So start acting like that! Honestly. Let's come up with a solution in a nice, democratic way. Like, who's most qualified? Who isn't part of this rivalry thing you people have going on?"
"Who are you to tell us what to do, girl?" said a guy, glaring at me. Boromir.
"Apparently, the most mature person here," I said coolly. "And the only one who doesn't want to slit the throats of all the other species' right now. Maybe. For now."
We had an epic stare off, which I won, and everyone started to shuffle back to their seats.
"There, that wasn't so hard, was it?" I crossed my arms and sat down. There was a moment of silence, and then Frodo stood up.
"I will take it," he said quietly.
"Speak up," said Gimli gruffly.
"I will take it," Frodo repeated, more loudly now. Ok, so perfecto so far.
"Then you have my sword," said Aragorn.
"And my bow," and blablabla. After Gimli pledged his support, The Flock stood up.
"Well, we're kinda weaponless, but we're in," I said. This was met with a sort of confused consent, and I knew it was Angel working her charms. Boromir jumped in as well. Then the other hobbits. Yippee.
What happened next was the whole fellowship thing. Then we stayed in Rivendell for a couple more days, and were off. The first night was… interesting. Spending the night in the woods with twelve other guys, only three of which I actually really knew was kind of weird. Luckily the trees were tall and thick so after a wholesome meal of bread, cheese, and some sort of bird (while we inhaled the rest of the chow, the Flock and I only pecked at the bird. Haha, get it? Pecked? At the bird? Heh… nevermind) we were looking forward to a good night's rest roosting in a tree. First there were chores, of course. Unpack. Get more firewood. The pile we'd collected earlier could run out a few hours before dawn.
"Nudge, Iggy, Fang and Angel, you guys look for some good branches to sleep in," I ordered. "Gazzy, Total and I will go get some more wood."
The Flock nodded, splitting into their groups. The tree branches were high, and I didn't plan on revealing our wings, but if you shimmied up the trunk a few feet then jumped you could catch the lowest branch, and they were pretty thick from there.
"I believe we have enough wood," Legolas observed.
"In my experience, you can never be too careful," I told him as Gazzy, Total and I disappeared into the darkness.
Me and Gazzy gathered an armful each of wood, while Total sniffed around, calling out whenever he found a decent log. Before long we were back at the camp. I looked up and saw Fang, Nudge, Iggy, and Angel dangling their legs from tree branches ten to fifteen feet up.
"I really don't think you should be up there," Merry was calling up. "You could fall!"
"They'll be fine," I said, dropping my wood in the pile. "We've had worse sleeping arrangements."
I received many a doubtful look, but ignored them.
"Dibs on first watch!" Iggy yelled.
"What? Why?" Nudge snorted.
"I hate waking up," Iggy shrugged.
"It may not be the best idea to have a blind boy taking watch," Boromir sniffed. Man, I didn't like that guy.
"He can handle it," I said.
"Boromir is right," Aragorn said.
"Perhaps someone with different… abilities would be more suitable to the job," Gandalf suggested.
"Hey Ig, where's the nearest predator?" I asked impatiently. Then I glared at the doubters and hissed: "Check this out."
"I think most are scared away by the fire… there's a raccoon maybe thirty yards away, if that counts… and a bobcat or a lynx or something, but it's pretty far from camp," Iggy said after a few seconds.
"Iggy is the best watchdog there is," I assured the Fellowship.
"Hey!" Total stood on his hind legs and attempted to cross his 'arms'. Everyone not in the Flock stared.
"Oh, right. There's something I forgot to mention," I sighed. "The dog talks. It's annoying as h e double toothpick but you get used to it."
"Hey!" Total growled again. "Don't call me 'the dog'. I have a name, you know!"
"It's ok, Total," Angel smiled from up above. "I love you." Total stuck out his tongue and smiled a gesture of what I've learned to be affection, and jumped up in the air, right into Angel's arms, twelve feet up.
"Oh yeah, and he can jump really high," I added. "Weird, huh?"
My explanation was met with silence.
"Well, g'night, then?" I said. "Iggy, you get down here. It's not like a good view is going to make your job any easier."
As Iggy slid down the trunk I climbed it, my fingers finding small holds in the thick bark. Fang motioned to a branch to my right.
"That one'll hold you and Total," he said.
"Right. Thanks," So, doggy is dumped on me. Excellent. I jumped to the branch, catching Total as he followed me. I glanced around, seeing the rest of my Flock falling asleep, and shut my eyes.
I had the last watch, so I was up first. Obviously. As the sun peeked up over the horizon, I stood up.
"Okay, everybody. Wake up and smell the nonexistent coffee!" I yelled up to the trees. "Fang! Move a limb, please." If anyone saw him suddenly appear out of thin air, there would be lots to explain.
"I'll make breakfast," I volunteered as I was suddenly surrounded by tired looking people. Instantly, five of them looked very awake.
"Um, can you do my hair Max?" Nudge jumped in front of me with a guilty smile.
"There is this cool recipe I've been dying to try out. Maybe you can cook tomorrow," Iggy invented.
"I need your help coming by some materials for my next… creation," Gazzy grinned mischievously.
"Celeste's halo fell off again. Can you help me stick it back on?" Angel showed me her bear.
"Are you sure you're Max? You sound just like Max II," Fang said.
"Ow! I have a thorn in my paw! Guess you'll have to help me get it out," Total wagged his tail and faked a limp.
"Why do you care about the quality of the food," I scoffed at the dog. "You'll eat anything!"
"Not toxic waste," Iggy snorted.
"Why, you - !"
The only changes in routine were: A) I realized Gandalf was 'in charge' and Aragorn was 'second in command', so I backed down slightly and only bossed the Flock around. Oh, and contributed my ideas in very animated ways. B) As a whole we decided to leave the cooking to Iggy. C) After the third or so night of us sleeping in trees without falling, the objections ceased. D) I failed to control my pissed-off-ness at the men for frequently making sexist comments and may have possibly asked Gazzy to fart in everyone's sleeping bags (excluding the Flock, of course) as an alternative to punching them in the face. Hey, it's almost as bad if not worse. E) Everyone began to get used to the whole talking dog thing.
-x-
I was freezing my butt off and my legs were beginning to feel like jelly. Snow seeped through my boots and melted, leaving my feet wet and cold. I'd already given my windbreaker to Nudge, who had Total in her jacket and was complaining loudly about how cold his paws were, in an attempt to make her motor mouth stall for a minute or two. I had the Gasman perched on my shoulders, which normally wouldn't be an issue because he's really light and I'm really strong, but that with my million pound backpack trekking in deep snow on the rugged mountain landscape for hours proved to be slightly difficult. Fang was having the same problem, albeit he still had his windbreaker and was carrying Angel.
While the rest of us were cold and miserable, trekking in mostly silence (except Nudge, of course), Iggy was walking with a bounce in his step, pointing every little detail out. Iggy, though blind, has developed the ability to see things when the background is all white. It's pretty cool.
"Hey, check out that beast rock formation," he grinned, pointing at a large boulder.
"Mhmm," I said absently. "That's neat."
"Wow, that's a cool waterfall," he reached out a hand to let some mist settle on his skin.
"Awesome," Fang sighed.
"Hey, look at that - !" Iggy began, but Nudge cut him off.
"Iggy! My ears are bleeding!" she said.
"Hey, that's my line!" Iggy retorted.
"How 'bout you both are quiet?" Gazzy suggested.
"Shut up!" Iggy and Nudge said in unison.
There were no trees in the mountains, or no tall ones, anyways, so we slept in little caves instead. Caves are another living arrangement us mutant bird kids are oddly fond of. A small fire burned in the middle of our current cave. Iggy had first watch. Again. Still, I couldn't fall asleep.
"Wanna go for a fly?" I whispered to Fang. He opened his eyes and I could tell he hadn't been asleep, either.
"Sure," he stood up, creeping towards the entrance.
"We're going out," I muttered in Iggy's ear. "Don't let anyone freak out if we're still gone during the changing of the watch."
Iggy nodded and Fang and I stole out into the white night. Snowflakes fell lazily from the sky as I leaped off the nearest convenient cliff, unfurling my wings. It felt good to fly. Now that we were surrounded by people oblivious to our abilities, I didn't get to do so much. My wings had begun to become cramped.
"This is great," Fang mumbled. I smiled and nodded my agreement. We circled the area a few times until the freezing breeze and snow got the better of us. We trooped back into the cave, wings folded against our backs with happy looks on our faces.
"Have fun?" Boromir glared at me from in front of the fire. I forgot it was his turn to watch. "You're up next, girl. I hope you're not too tired after your little walk. We would not want ourselves to be guarded by an idle child, would we? If you ask me, a group of children should not be entrusted to such a tremendous task as this quest."
"Well, no one asked you, did they?" I sneered. "So be a good little boy and make sure we don't wake up chained to the wall in a dungeon somewhere, and I'll do the same."
"Why you impertinent little - ," he broke off. "A girl does not speak to her better in that way!"
"Better?!" I almost shrieked. The Flock, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, and Frodo were all instantly awake. "You are not my better. That would imply that I respond to different levels of command, and I sure as hell don't. I'm the leader. Oh, and if Fang, or Iggy, our Pippin mouthed off to you, I bet you wouldn't be half as ticked, you sexist pig!"
At this point, Iggy and Gazzy had burst out laughing and even Fang was grinning. Angel was frowning and Nudge looked defiant.
"Max looks pretty pissed," Total observed. "This is not going to end well."
"What is going on?" Gandalf boomed.
"This disrespectful child - !" Boromir began, but Nudge cut him off.
"Boromir said something sexist, and we don't take sexist crap from anyone, right, Max?" Nudge said.
"That's right, sweetie," I said through gritted teeth. Then I turned and sat down where I had been sleeping, trying not to explode more than I already had. "Wake me up for my watch."
With that, I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to fall asleep.