Everything was blurry; Elsa could barely lift her head. The world seemed to be bouncing up and down. A sudden and sharp pain tore through her mouth. Feeling around with her tongue she located the source of the pain, two of her teeth had just fallen out. Spitting them out in disgust Elsa tried to take in her surroundings.
It was late at night and she seemed to be being carried by an orc. Elsa choked on the foul creature's stench, "he smells like fear and anger and...Wait how can I possibly know this?"
Elsa could feel the very blood pumping through the orc's veins; she could sense every emotion, thought and movement all around her. The darkness began to clear and soon it no longer looked like night. All around her was bright as day.
"Keep moving!" the orc at the front of the line growled. Elsa noticed that Merry and Pippin were also being carried along with her.
"I'll have to wait for the right moment to get away..." The Queen thought. "Or I guess that now's a good time too."
The head orc suddenly felt the night get even darker and the air become much colder. He wondered how that was possible when they were getting so close to Isenguard. Suddenly realization dawned on him, "The Ice Witch! She's awake, kill her! Kill her! Kill her!" he howled.
Dark spikes of ice shot out of the ground impaling the orc who was carrying her and a few of the other orcs. Elsa hit the ground and felt her body shrink, she tried to crawl under what seemed to be a big rock before passing out once more...
"Come along Gimli!" Legolas shouted as the group of five ran through the frigid mountains. Gimli could barely squeak a response. It had been five days now that they had been chasing the orc troop and they had yet to see their targets. Mavis was being carried by V, days without any food had left the vampire weak and unconscious. V on the other hand was focused and determined to recover Elsa at any cost.
The mountain air didn't agree with him, he liked darker and deeper places. V had felt at home back in the mines, up here he felt to exposed, too... vulnerable. In the distance the warrior noticed a pile of bodies on the ground surrounded by dark ice cycles'.
The next moment the warrior disappeared much to the annoyance of Aragorn. A moment later V was back in his arms was a small violet bat. Very gently V placed a small black stone on the bat's chest and said a word in a strange language. The stone glowed deep red for a moment and then dissolved. The bat shuddered and slowly the bat transformed back into the wounded snow queen.
"I have looked into the enemy and the enemy into me." Elsa whispered. "And he will stop at nothing to destroy us..."
"What do you mean?" V asked, concerned. But all Elsa could manage was a single squeak before losing consciousness once again. V shook his head, 'looking into the enemy' didn't sound like it was anything good. "Quickly, they will not be much farther ahead, we must recover the hobbits!" V said as hesprinted forward carrying both Mavis and Elsa.
Gimli shook his head, "How does he manage to do that? Is he a demon or something." Aragon chuckled, "I would not be surprised Gimli, I would not be surprised..."
Night had fallen and the battalion of orcs had had enough. First their commander had forced them into combat with demons, Goddesses, and vampires. Then he just had to go and die leaving them under Urokia's leadership. And now to top it all off, they had run out of food. At least dead food that is...
"Get a fire going!" Urokia growled. Lowly orcs scampered about in a panic to please the new leader and began to hack and slash at the nearby forest. At the first sound of axe against tree Merry could sense an old and ancient presence, and it was angry.
"Pippin? Are you okay?" Merry whispered, careful not to draw any attention to himself.
Pippin rolled over and groaned, "I think we made a mistake leaving the Shire, Merry." Merry managed a small smile, "Yeah, I believe we may." All though out the forest the same ancient groaning noise grew louder. "It's the trees!" Merry whispered, "Don't you remember the old tales Pippin? About the ancient trees, trees that could whisper, trees that could talk to each other, even move..."
The Hobbits talk of trees was suddenly silenced by the growling of a disgruntled orc, "I'm starving, we ain't had nothing to eat for five stinkin days!" There was a mutter of agreement through the orc ranks, "Yeah!" one particularly ugly orc said, "Why can't we have some meat?" he complained, then spying the hobbits on the ground added, "What about them? They're fresssssh."
"They are not for eating!" Urokia said, "They are for The White Wizard! And now that you lot lost the Ice Goddess, he'll still probably have our heads." The orcs shifted nervously as they remembered why they had been sent out in the first place. Suddenly one of the Uruk Hai dragged Merry and Pippin back from the orcs, who were advancing with a renewed hunger.
"What about their legs?" another orc asked, "They don't need those." Urokia growled angrily and with a swift fluid motion removed the orcs head from his shoulders. "Looks like meats back on the menu boys!" someone cried as the entire battalion began to rip their former comrade apart.
Suddenly without warning an arrow appeared between Urokia's eyes, the Uruk Hai fell forward into the ravenous pile of orcs and was soon being consumed. All around the orcs arrows flew, some found their targets others slammed harmlessly into the ground. A cold great darkness consumed the battalion, and out of the shadows a dark and terrifying figure swooped into the group. The orcs didn't know what was happening; those that did soon lost their head.
Limbs began to fly everywhere; blood soaked the ground and before Merry and Pippin knew what had happened V was kneeling down and untying them. He was soon joined by an out of breath Aragon, Legolas, Gimli, Mavis, and a still unconscious Elsa. "Thank the gods we found you." Aragon said, embracing the hobbits who happily returned the hug.
Legolas, with his queen hearing detected the sound of hooves a ways off, "There are riders coming!" he whispered urgently. Before the words were even out of his mouth horsemen sprung from the gloom circling the Fellowship in a tight circle and lowered their spears directly toward Aragon and rests heads. An important looking man rode forward and began to speak, "What business does a Man, a Dwarf, an Elf, some Demons, and a Witch have on the border of Rohan? Give me your names." He ordered.
"Give me your name horse master and I shall give you mine." Gimli said surprisingly friendly. However the man apparently took Gimli's statement as sarcasm and drew his sword, leveling it at the dwarf's neck. "I would cut off your head dwarf if it stood higher off the ground."
Without warning Legolas notched an arrow and pointed it at the man's face, "You would be dead before your stroke fell." Aragon quickly put his hand on the elf's bow, calming him and turned to the warrior, "I am Aragon, son of Arathorn. We are friends of Rohan and its king."
The warrior shook his head sadly, "Rohan's king no longer recognizes friend from foe. I am his son, and even I am not welcome." He said as he sheathed his sword, the horse men withdrew their spears. "The king's mind has been poisoned by the White Wizard. We are all that is left loyal to him. If you travel northeast of here you will arrive at my father's home. But be wary, he will not be very hospitable."
Aragon nodded in thanks as the horsemen rode off into the darkness. The groaning of the trees suddenly became much louder, much closer. Without warning, one of the trees stepped out from the forest. Surprised, the Fellowship drew their weapons, until the tree began to speak, very very slowly.
"I...am...Treebeard" the tree said in a deep and ancient voice. "And ...I ...have ...come ...to ... bring... to... your... friend. Follow... me." V looked over at Aragon bewildered; Aragon shrugged and motioned to the group to follow the ancient tree. As the followed the tree, the forest became darker and darker, until Mavis noticed a bright light up ahead.
As the party neared the light, they were able to make out the outline of a humanoid figure. "G-Gandalf?" Someone said softly. It was Elsa. "Elsa!" Mavis cried, crushing the queen in a tight hug. "You're awake!"
Elsa smiled, it was nice to finally be awake, and in Mavis's arms once again. Gandalf chuckled, he was very different from the last time that Elsa had seen him. Now he was clad in an all-white robe, a snow white beard, and was holding a sleek white shiny staff.
"You're alive..."Aragon said dumbfounded.
"Yes," Gandalf agreed, "I fell with the Balrog, until he broke his back on the canyon floor." He explained, "It was there, as I lay dying that I discovered a pure white crystal and after I touched it...I saw things that you would never believe. I saw a worlds unlike any other. One was a land covered in ice and snow. Another was a hellish world, filled with fire and shadow."
V and Elsa shifted uneasily; Gandalf continued "I have been sent back, until my purpose is complete. And our purpose lies within the house of the King of Rohan..."
Authors Note:
Yeah, I'm back. Yay! I apologize for the very long wait but, hey what can I say. School is in full swing now, but I'm going to be making time to write again. I'm sorry that this chapter is shorter than the last few but I promise that there will be another chapter this Friday. If any of you are interested in reading a non fanfic written by me you could go check me out on . Thank you all so much for sticking around. Finally just as a warning, there are going to be some major deaths in the next few chapters, so let me know who you think will die or who you want to die.
Cheers!
V