A/N: Hope you guys liked the last chapter. I'd really, really appreciate some feedback just to know where you guys would like this to go, because, at this point, I don't know any more. :) Thank you if you've stuck with this story, and if you made it this far; it means a lot. Also, I've done some editing, so if you notice changes don't be alarmed. :)
Anyway, thanks to Jayjay0815 for all the help and support, as well as Guest for the review, and ChinaxJapan101, Rose Nieman-Black-Targeryen, Tar-Ancalimae, grace-adalyn, jocahill, justcallmek, selenastarsparrow1230, Crazygirl18243, and bubblettrocks for following/favoriting. You guys keep this story going!
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't, and never have, owned The Hobbit, or anything Middle-earth related.
Chapter Eleven
Out of the Woods
The colors of the rising sun went unnoticed under the blanket of leaves that covered the sky of Mirkwood. The group of six Elves stood around the remains of the fire from the previous night, scrambling to pack their minimal provisions. Ash had stumbled back to camp at some point in the early morning, and seemed to be sorely regretting her decision to try to keep watch the whole night. Once all the supplies had been packed (and Kiron had been woken for the fourth time), they continued on the path which would (hopefully) lead them out of Mirkwood.
The group soon discovered that Legolas knew the forest much better than any of them, and, although the revelation of the true route out of the woods led to many grateful and joyous shouts, it also lead to many "I told you so"'s. As it turned out, they were only a short way from the forest gate, which significantly raised the overall spirit of the group. The young elves still weren't particularly keen on sharing the intention of their escapade with the Prince, although they suspected he knew a bit more than he let on.
"So is anyone going to approach the topic of the frozen river?" Aneare asked warily.
"You just did," Ash pointed out. She was met with only a glare. "But since you've brought it up, do you think that since it's the Enchanted River that it just... does that? I mean, for all we know, that could be normal. It is supposed to be enchanted."
Legolas raised an eyebrow. "A river freezing suddenly is, by no means, normal, even if it's allegedly 'enchanted.'"
"'Allegedly?' I'm fairly certain that Ash and I can confirm beyond doubt that that river is enchanted," Silan said, glancing at Ash, who huffed.
"More like cursed."
The conversation carried on as such for a few minutes, continuing but never actually getting anywhere. Legolas smiled to himself. He had already pieced together, by the young elves' unsubtle whispering and plotting, that they had happened upon a wizard, and was left to assume that it hadn't ended well. He suspected that the frozen river had been a result of said encounter, though he had no way to prove it.
Legolas interrupted the group's fascinating conversation (which, by that point, involved theoretically misused magic and stereotypically gullible guards) to try to understand more about the situation which they had landed themselves in. If they had truly angered a Wizard, the consequences would most likely be more noticeable than a frozen river in their path. Since that didn't seem to be the case, he could only assume that they had gotten the attention of a wizard, or were of some use to one, which was in general a very bad thing.
"And where do you plan to go once you've gotten out of the woods?"
The five elves immediately ceased their talking, each waiting for someone else to answer.
Kiron gave a sarcastic grin and turned to look at him. "Mordor."
Legolas raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. There were several stifled laughs from the group. "In that case, you still have a very long way to go, seeing as you're going the wrong way."
Kiron's face resembled that of a cornered Warg. "... We're not really going to Mordor..."
Legolas shook his head. "I suspected as much. So, then, where are you going?" He didn't expect an honest answer at that point, but did find the young elves reactions to questioning quite amusing.
Aneare was the first to speak. "We're going to... a certain... Undisclosed location."
"And does said undisclosed location have anything to do with your meeting a wizard?"
The group exchanged panicked glances. "Um... how... I mean... What do you mean?" Ash tried. Aneare hit her arm.
"I can honestly say that, though it would be quite fascinating, I've never met a Wizard," Aneare tried.
The rest gave vehement nods, though they weren't altogether convincing.
"And you know that this is our first time in Mirkwood. Where would we have come across a wizard? None dwell near enough to the kingdom for us to meet... Unless you know something we don't?" Silan asked, more nervously than he would have liked.
Legolas shook his head. "Is there no way to get you to admit the obvious?"
Koran shrugged. "I don't know... We can be pretty stubborn." The group, once again, nodded in unison.
"I'm beginning to suspect that you don't know where you're going, yourselves," Legolas said with a raised eyebrow.
Silan shrugged. "Well, be that as it may, we'll have it figured out fairly quickly, seeing as we should be at the Forest Gate by nightfall.."
"Freedom!" Kiron cried with a dramatic gesture. The others only laughed, although seemed to be relieved that they at least knew how to get out of the forest.
Koran nodded. "I'm not sure I could take another night in this place."
Ash slowed her pace a bit to walk beside Silan, out of earshot by Legolas. "Legolas has a point, though... Where exactly do we go once we get out of the forest?"
Silan shook his head. "None of us thought we'd make it this far."
"And our only plan, really, was to stumble upon Mithrandir, and so far that hasn't worked out particularly well," Ash pointed out, whispering so as to not confirm Legolas's suspicions.
Silan gave a wry smile. "Maybe, in this case, the unexpected really is unexpected."
Ash gave a mock scandalized face. "Don't say things like that!"
Silan laughed and retaliate with a playful shove, which Ash gladly returned. "But really, what are we going to do?" She asked, considerably more seriously this time.
She was met with only a weary sigh and helpless shrug. "We honestly have no clue what we're getting into. Even if the prophecy is talking about the Sword of Fire, and that's assuming it even exists, for all we know it could be in the depths of Mordor by now."
Ash raised an eyebrow. "That's an exaggeration... Anyway, if it's real, it can't have gotten that far."
Kiron, who had fallen behind to join their conversation, looked on confusedly. "If what's real?"
Ash brushed off the inquiry, but Silan explained the topic of the conversation quickly.
Kiron looked thoughtful. "Well, going by all the legends, my guess is that it's somewhere in the Misty Mountains."
Ash rolled her eyes. "Not a single one of the legends even mentions the Misty Mountains. Why in the world would it be there?"
Kiron scrunched up his face in thought, hazel eyes quizzical. "Are you sure? Because I could've sworn... Oh, maybe not... But isn't there some other mountain, or something around Mirkwood? Anything?"
Ash and Silan laughed at his antics, but didn't respond.
"Actually..." Silan started cautiously, "There is another mountain range north of Mirkwood. Maybe... I don't know, but it's mentioned a couple of times in the old stories."
Ash straightened up. "Wait, really? I thought that was just Kiron being Kiron."
Kiron gave an exasperated look. "At least I knew that it was there."
"And neither of you ever bothered to learn the name," Silan chimed in.
"Which is...?" Kiron asked, waving a hand for Silan to continue.
"The Gr-"
"Grey Mountains!" Aneare interrupted gleefully. Silan threw his hands in the air and gave an exaggerated sigh.
"I can't win!"
Ash smirked. "No rest for the wicked."
"That's hilarious, coming from you," Silan shot back.
"I do pride myself on my sense of humor," Ash retorted sarcastically.
Silan shook his head and laughed. "Honestly, it's a bit hypocritical coming from any of us."
"Not a bad thing," Koran, who had by that point joined the rest of the group, pointed out.
The others laughed. They continued down the worn stone path, keeping their eyes ahead, but still noticing the slight changes in the scenery. The thick canopy of trees was beginning to thin out, and the little sunlight that filtered through was treated as salvation. Legolas looked back at the young elves with their faces toward the sun and gave a slight smile. They had handled the stifling darkness of Mirkwood fairly well, considering that t it was their first time facing it, but the sense of relief is always stronger than the sense of fear. He was sure that the Elves' reactions, upon reaching the Forest Gate, would be nothing short of entertaining.
. . .
As expected, the sun had sunken low in the sky by the time the forest gate came in view. The group had actually been able to see some of the colors of the sunset through the leaves above their heads, and were more pleased with seeing their first sunset in quite a while than they would have thought. They group's pace increased significantly with the exit in sight, and once the path ended and grass once again muffled their footsteps, the young elves sprawled on the ground, one by one.
Legolas gave a small laugh and shook his head. "Should I take this to mean that we're setting up camp here for the night?"
He was met with expectant glances and vehement nods.
Soon enough, there was a small fire burning just beyond the forest gate, and six Elves sat around it, watching the smoke spiral into the night, floating even over the tallest trees of Mirkwood.
"So which direction do you wish to head tomorrow?" Legolas asked, hoping that they would be more forthcoming with information after putting the forest behind them. He had no such luck.
"Umm... In a North-ish... direction...?" Kiron stated, although it sounded like more of a question of how much he was allowed to reveal.
"Along the Grear River, then?"
The group gave several cautious nods.
"And you're aware that going north along the river will eventually bring you to the Grey Mountains?" Legolas asked, trying to gauge the reaction of the group.
"Judging by the silence, I'd say that you are," he concluded. He was left to wonder what exactly it was that they wanted in the Grey Mountains, but didn't expect to get any more information that night.
After a couple moments of quiet, filled in with the crackling of the fire and occasional rustling of something within the forest, Silan spoke. "We... Should probably try to sleep. Being out of Mirkwood will allow for a much faster pace than before, but being tired will not."
There were several nods of assent. "I'll take first watch," Koran volunteered.
They others nodded, already attempting to get comfortable in their bed rolls.
. . .
Koran was about halfway through his watch when he heard something. He had absolutely no idea what it was that he'd heard, but knew that it didn't fit in with the regular sounds that came from the edge of the forest. He debated waking up the others, but if it turned out to be a single stray spider, he knew he'd never hear the end of it. He made sure that his sword was at his side, and with a small sigh and a cautious step forward, he went to investigate.
. . .
The group woke up to yelling. Considering the tone, it wasn't altogether alarming, save for the fact that the voice yelling was most likely Koran's, and the rest of their group was around the fire. So, either Koran had finally cracked and began yelling at inanimate objects, or someone had stumbled upon their group.
They grabbed whatever weapons they could find (after waking up Kiron, who could sleep through an Orc raid if he wanted to), and ran to the edge of the forest, where Koran had been on watch. They stumbled over, groggy-eyed, holding random weapons which had been left lying about, and dragging Kiron.
Koran, who had been hoping to alert the group of the newest complication, was not pleased with the state of his rescue squad.
The group was met with a flustered-looking Koran, and a Wizard.
Silan coughed. "Well... This is... Unexpected..."
Ash hit him. "That's my line," she whispered, trying her best to look incredibly offended, although not exactly succeeding.
Mithrandir gave Silan and Ash a quick glance, then seemed to find that they were not worth his time. Legolas looked to the group, genuinely surprised (and a bit startled) that they had managed to earn and keep the attention of a Wizard, and they they could, seemingly, mouth off at him without invoking his anger. He wanted to inquire as to what exactly they had done to bring this about, however knew that if this Wizard didn't want him to know, no amount of questions would receive a straight answer.
Koran continued to glare, but had been silenced by his brother.
"So... Mithrandir, what-"
The Wizard stopped him. "Please, call me Gandalf."
"Alright, Gandalf," Kiron tried again, "But what exactly-"
Kiron was stopped again. Gandalf's eyes gleamed in the moonlight, and he looked at the group with an eagerness that was almost enough to scare them.
"I hear that you are in want of a sword..."
A/N: Thanks for reading! I've finally got the rest of the journey and final battle (sort of) mapped out, so at least I know where this is going. That's not to say updates will be more regular, though. :( Right now, this is still sort of hard to write, but I'm determined to finish it, and I'm incredibly grateful to anyone who's put up with me thus far. :)
Until the very end,
CarverEdlundtheLast
