Days they paddled on the river, long days that passed slowly. Aragorn's boat held himself, Frodo, and Sam while Boromir's held himself, Pippin, and Merry and Legolas' held himself, Gimli, and Erytheia. She sat between the elf and dwarf, who had become quite an odd pair; not quite friends but yet they would willingly fight to defend the other should it need be, and so they got along. It was a quiet going, not much was spoke between boats nor in boats, and after the safety of Lothlórien they felt very exposed on the river.
It was noticed by Legolas that Erytheia often gazed at the sky, in fact her eyes hardly left it. What he did not know was that her thoughts often strayed to him, and of how she could feel his legs against her back – his touch nearly burning her.
He stared at her back, tracing the dark wings painted on her skin with his eyes. What he wouldn't give to run his fingers along them, to feel her warm skin, to see if his touch effected her. It was thoughts like those that made him startle and look away, cursing his mind for straying to those things.
It after a few days that both elf and skin changer felt something in the trees next to them, they both turned to see no more than leaves and bark. She looked over her shoulder and saw in his eyes that he felt it to, she also saw the worry that mirrored her own. The cawing of a disturbed bird startled not only them but the rest of the fellowship; for it had been silent on the river, nothing but the sound of paddles. And the feeling only grew in the two when their way was halted by a waterfall.
"We'll cross the lake at nightfall, hide the boats and continue on foot." Aragorn said once they'd all gotten out and were resting as they ate. "We'll cross Mordor from the north."
Gimli did not approve of the way Aragorn would take them into Mordor and did good to scare Pippin with his tales of terror he'd heard about the danger. Pippin scooted closer to where Erytheia stood as he kept eating; he comforted himself with a thought – so long as she was near no trouble could find them, for she was a dragon and could easily destroy anything – it was the naiveté of a hobbit, but it comforted him.
But she was not listening to Gimli, instead she was watching Legolas as he scoured the woods around them. She knew the earth, she could feel something trampling it as it came near. But he knew the trees, and in that moment he could feel more than she could. And so she watched him and waited for a look to cross his face that would tell her what he felt. She saw it before he turned and stepped closer to Aragorn.
"We should leave now," Legolas told him, his voice showing his worry.
"No," Aragorn said a moment after having already given leaving a thought. "Orcs patrol the eastern shore, we must wait for the cover of darkness."
Legolas cast another look at the trees in front of them. "It is not the eastern shore that worries me," he told Aragorn. "A shadow and a threat has been growing in my mind. Something draws near, I can feel it."
Aragorn met Erytheia's eye and saw her agreement and he sighed, for there was no way for them to go where they would not come across a foe – if they left now the patrol would find them, and if they stayed there until night whatever threat the elf felt would find them.
"Where's Frodo?"
They all looked to Merry and then around them not finding the hobbit, Aragorn found an answer in Boromir's shield – with him nowhere in sight.
"Stay here and look after the others," Aragorn ordered when he made for the tree line, knowing Erytheia would have followed after him. He wanted her with the others, with Legolas where he knew they were needed the most.
She watched him go not wishing for him to, for if Legolas' words were true then something was coming closer and she had a strange feelings it was the fellowship they were after. Legolas moved and stood at her side, their shoulders touching lightly though it did not warm them. It was some time later she and Legolas heard the sounds of growls, and she realized then they had been hunted.
"Do not leave the bank," Erytheia told Pippin, Merry, and Sam before following Legolas with her sword in hand and Gimli at her back.
They reached the sound of snarling orcs and Aragorn's grunts as he fought them off, and they ran in the midst with their weapons ready.
"Aragorn go," Legolas yelled, shooting two orcs so he could escape.
At some point she and Legolas were back to back, she cutting down the orcs before her and he shooting down the orcs before him. There was a momentary pause when the horn of Gondor sounded loud and strong, and then they continued fighting. Erytheia, done with using her sword pushed Legolas aside and shifted skins before setting the orcs in front of her ablaze. Legolas and Gimli stood at her sides killing the few orcs that raised their weapons against her while she continued burning the orcs around them. And within only minutes they had killed all the ones near.
She shook herself free of her scales and stood looking at the elf and the dwarf who were smiling at her; fighting proved a much easier feat with a dragon at hand. "You have dirt on your forehead," she said softly as she looked at Legolas, it was the first time she had seen anything mar his beauty.
He reached a hand up to brush it off but missed. "Here," she said doing it for him. Many times she had done the very same thing to Aragorn, she had even dressed his wounds, and it had meant nothing. The moment her eyes met Legolas' her hand still, leaving still a smudge of dirt, and she was left staring at him surprised by the heat in his eyes.
He took her hand in his and held it to his chest, his gaze flicking to her lips and then back to her eyes – she noticed, and heat spread through her as they continued to stare at one another.
"Perhaps Aragorn is need of our aid," Gimli said impatiently, breaking them apart. "Or maybe Boromir."
Legolas released her hand and looked at her a last time, seeing her flushed cheeks, before following after Gimli with her at his back. She released a breath trying to calm herself before stepping forward and into the woods.
All of that was forgotten when they found Boromir laying with three arrows in his chest, and Aragorn kneeling beside him. She could feel his sadness, and his pain, and it saddened her to see her closest friend mourning. Aragorn stood and turned to them and a thought crossed her mind.
"Where are Merry and Pippin?" she asked gently, seeing the defeat grow in his eyes and she knew – they had been taken. It was then she realized what Gandalf had meant, her path was not Frodo for his was to be one he made alone, hers was instead with the three before her and the two hobbits that still needed them.
They gave Boromir a hero's burial over the waterfall, it was the only one they could give them. Aragorn knew too that they were not meant to go after Frodo and Sam, their path now was to save Merry and Pippin.
"I could go after them. I could get Merry and Pippin and kill all of the orcs that took them. Sauroman wouldn't know what I was," Erytheia said, feeling as though she had let down both Pippin and Merry by not protecting them, as Pippin had blindly trusted her to.
"Gandalf spoke to me of you before he fell," Aragorn told her. "Saruman must not know you, for the moment he does you will be in danger."
"I don't understand," Erytheia said, her brows knitted. Legolas, who stood at her back, did not either nor did he like that she may be in danger should she change skins. "Saruman is a wizard, it would not be impossible to kill him."
Aragorn shook his head, remembering Gandalf's words as he warned him to protect her. "It is not Saruman you should fear. Sauron would use you as a weapon, I will not let that happen. You will not change skin until I tell you, and until then we can go after them on foot," Aragorn told her gently, knowing she had grown fond of the two hobbits, and kissed her forehead before turning from her. "Leave all that can be spared behind. We travel light." he told the three as he gathered his knife. He turned to them with determination in his eyes. "Lets hunt some orc."
So that was the end of the first movie, next chapter will be the start of the second. As always thank you so much for reading, and please leave a review to tell me what you thought.
