Authors Note - Thanks again to everyone who has been reviewing, I love reading all your comments.
After the last few fastpaced action packed chapters I thought I would try something a bit slower and easier. Hope that you all enjoy.
Chapter 14 - The Path To The Forest
She did not remember clambering up the stone steps and out into the blinding sunlight, nor Gimlis tight grip on the sleeve of her grime encrusted tunic. She could only replay Gandalfs last sentence to them before he fell over and over, blocking out the reality around her so that she could remain in that moment, with him alive, them with hope for just a little longer.
"Fly you fools," he said again and she choked out another sob as she fell to her knees on the hard rocky terrain that now surrounded them on the mountainside.
The group did not speak, most were too busy weeping and the others remained silent although the grief was clearly strewn across their faces.
Gimli sat down beside her, the tears running down his face to pool in his beard. She lay one of her hands in his and gave it a squeeze, the Dwarf was most likely feeling this pain more than all of them, he had just discovered his kin were dead and now one of his companions. But Gandalf was more than that, he was not just a companion to them, he was their leader, their friend, a father figure to some and he had been apart of her life for many years. It just did not seem right that he could be ripped from them just like that.
The tears still streamed down her face to fall from her chin and blemish the dry surface of the rock beneath her, there did not seem to be an end to them, how could there be? How could they ever stop grieving for such a man?
Looking up she spotted Pippin lying on the floor crying uncontrollably, Merry sheltered over him holding tightly, keeping his composure a little better than his friend.
Boromir stood behind Sam who had sat down on the rock his knees bent up beneath his chin, his cloak pulled tightly around him how one might swaddle a baby. The man of Gondor rested his hand upon the Hobbits shoulder showing his support and sympathies even though he had his own pain to bear.
"Legolas get them up," She heard Aragorn call from behind her which made her turn towards him. It seemed a strange thing to say when they were all so distraught, uncaring to their plight as though he felt nothing for the fallen. His eyes caught hers however and she could see instantly that they were holding back a barrage of emotion behind them, this brave front was just for show, to keep them going when they might chose to wallow in grief.
Legolas did not move however he stood staring at nothing, the ghost of a memory flickering across his delicate dirt covered features.
"Give them a moment for pitys sake!" Boromir replied standing up for those who were too grief stricken to act, tears brimming in his own eyes.
"By nightfall these hillsides will be swarming with Orcs, we must reach the woods of Lothlorien, there they will be free to grieve in safety," Aragorn explained wiping clean and then sheathing his blade.
There was wisdom in his words although her heart told her she was not ready to stand, still she had to push on for the sake of Gandalf, so that his great sacrifice had not been in vain. She staggered slightly as she stood, her head felt like it was swimming not surprising with the battering her body had taken over the past few days. She steadied herself before extending her hand out to Gimli who was still sat down, he looked up at her with his red raw eyes and gave her a small smile before taking it and hoisting himself up.
"Come on Sam," Boromir quietly said to the Hobbit, pulling him to his feet. Legolas readied Pippin and Merry, steering them over to the rest of the forming group.
"Frodo? Frodo!" Aragorn called out suddenly, she had not even realised that the Hobbit was not with the rest of them and for a moment she felt a wave of sickness spread through her before she spotted the lonely figure of the Hobbit standing over near one of the ridges of the hillside, looking over the forests and lands that lay below. He turned slowly towards them at the mention of his name as a single tear rolled silently down his pale cheek. Gandalf had promised Frodo to see him safely to the destruction of the ring, now that he was gone it made the dangerous road before them seem real, it would get no easier from here.
Sam was the first to reach him putting his arm around his shoulders, they did not speak. They did not need to.
They moved off solemnly once more, Aragorn in front taking over the position of leader. There was one time that she thought Boromir might have argued with him about this but he remained silent. After all this was no time for squabbles and Aragorn was the only one who seemed to have been able to keep his emotions fully intact.
Pippin slipped on a piece of loose rock and stumbled for a few steps colliding with the back of her, it caught her off guard and she grabbed hold of Legolas in front of her to steady herself.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Pippin pleaded with her fresh tears snaking their way down his cheeks.
"That is alright Pippin do not fret, no harm was done," she said confused to why he had overreacted to an simple accident. He did not stop however he continued to apologise.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's all my fault, if I hadn't touched the bucket then none of this would have happened and he would still be here," he stammered more tears squeezing from his closed eyes as he sobbed. That was when it dawned on her and the weight of the words seemed to punch her in the gut.
Motioning to Legolas to carry on with Merry she turned and walked back towards him crouching down to his height, both her hands resting on his shoulders.
"Do not feel guilt for what has happened, you may have alerted them prematurely, but they would have come for us either way. You are not responsible for Gandalfs death he made the sacrifice willingly, there is no one at fault in this, it was a hopeless situation an we certainly do not blame you, so do not blame yourself," She said to him kindly and slowly so that her words would sink in and hopefully take effect.
He finally opened his eyes to look at her, they were still tinged with sadness but he nodded in acceptance of what she had said.
"Okay," he said in barely a whisper, taking in a deep breath to try and pull himself together.
"Okay," She repeated standing back up to full height, the muscles screaming at her in protest. "We had better hurry, we would be wise to reach the borders of Lothlorien by nightfall," she said to him trying to take his mind off of the pain with some normal chatter.
"What is Lothlorien like?" he asked falling into pace with her as they hurried to catch up with Legolas and Merry at the back of the group.
She hesitated a moment, she had never been asked such a thing and she had never given it much thought, she had grown up between Lothlorien and Rivendell and she considered both of them home.
"Well," she started with a smile. "It is known by a great many as the Golden Wood, due to the colour of the leaves. When the sun shines through the canopy it almost looks as though the boughs are aflame. It is ruled over by the Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn and may they continue to do so for many years," she explained recalling happy memories of walks through the fiery leaves that scattered the floor.
"Do you know the Lady and Lord," Pippin enquired his voice returning to it's usual cheery tone.
"Yes, in fact.." She started but stopped midsentence when Aragorn raised his hand up to signal them all to halt and be quiet. She moved away from Pippin slowly following Legolas to the front of the group to find out what was wrong. She was not sure how much more she could take, it was one thing after another their luck had truly run out. Although she wondered if they ever had any to begin with, being cursed with this burden. Her hand was constantly hovering above her hilt it seemed waiting for the next foe to appear.
"We saw something in the tree line," Boromir said pointing down towards a crop of trees that were situated to the East of them.
"A bear no doubt," Gimli surmised , "There are many of them in the mountain areas," he said matter-of-factly.
"Perhaps that is what we saw," Boromir said to Aragorn hopefully, a bear was almost harmless compared to what they had been facing.
Aragorn however clearly did not agree "Perhaps" was all he said , the doubt heavy in his voice. "Just stay vigilant at keeping watch everyone, even if you think what you see is nothing let one of us know," he instructed to the four Hobbits who looked afraid and hopelessly tired. They nodded in response their eyes scanning over the forest edges below.
Whilst Legolas and Gimli went back to bring up the rear and Boromir walked alongside the Hobbits reassuring them as well as notifying them of things to look out for , she remained at the front with Aragorn. It was the closest they had been since it had happened and she was not sure how to strike up a conversation with him, something she had never been afraid to do in the past. She could tell him anything and she knew that he would be sympathetic and understanding, but now just some idle chatter seemed like the hardest thing. Deciding it was probably best not to drag up raw emotions when everyone had finally seemed to control them she steered the conversation towards the task at hand.
"Do you believe that we will get to Lothlorien before nightfall?" She asked him.
"If we keep at our current pace and with no interferences, then we should," he replied still scanning the tree line that lay on their right.
"What was it you think you saw?" She questioned as his attention was clearly still on it.
"It was small, skulking through the shadows of the trees, not the movements of a bear," he explained although he kept his voice low so that he would not alarm the others further.
"Are you alright?" He asked her after a slight pause and change of subject.
"I am fine, a few bruises and scrapes, my muscles ache all over but I am fine," Arwen said.
"That's not what I meant," he replied, his blue eyes even more piercing now that his face was covered in grime.
"I know what you meant," she said with a sad smile. " I just cannot talk about it yet," he voice choked and she had to blink a few times to stop the prickly sensation that appeared before the tears.
"I am sorry," he quickly replied, taking her hand in his and giving it a firm squeeze.
The rocky ground was quickly changing underfoot into earth, it levelled out into a large meadow signalling that they had finally left the mountain and all its horrors behind them. Still she knew that for the rest of her life, however long that might be, she could never look at the Misty Mountains again without her heart begininning to beat a little faster.
They still walked hand in hand when she spotted a river in front of them, its blue clear waters looked so pure and inviting after the dank and dark of Moria. In the mines depths she had lost all hope that she would ever see anything beautiful again.
Releasing her hand Aragorn went ahead, splashing into the water and wading across to gauge the depth. The water did not come higher than his boots so the Hobbits should have no problem getting across.
As she neared the waters edge her mind flashed to the watcher lunging at them from beneath the inky pool and she let out a small gasp. The vision was so vivid it was almost as if she were back there once again. But she was safe for now, she had to keep reminding herself of that. They had been running for so long that it seemed strange to walk especially when her mind kept wandering to what Aragorn and Boromir had seen in the tree line.
A pool of water had accumulated behind a large boulder on the shore, still, away from the slow but steady current. Looking into it she saw the first glance of her reflection since she had left Rivendell. She could not recognise the face staring back at her. She was considered to be the most beautiful of things in Middleearth, a title which she disputed on many occassions, but there would be no arguing with her , if they could see her now. Her long lushicious brown locks were no more, they had been replaced with a dishelved mess. The hair around her temples was matted with dried blood and her face was no better. It must have been covered by atleast three layers of dirt and witihin it were a number of cuts and scrapes. The cut on her forehead was the angriest, raised around the edges where it had begun to swell.
She dipped her sleeve into the river so as not to disturb the surface of the pool and then began wiping at her face, scrubbing hard to reveal the person that lay underneath. The water was freezing as one might expect for a river that was sourced high in the mountains but it was soothing to her injuries.
Legolas who was crouched down by the riversedge filling up his waterskin looked up at her.
"Feeling better?" He asked whilst splashing some of the cold water onto his own face and then giving it a quick wipe.
"Much better," she replied although her voice betrayed her, after all how could cleaning herself up be any treatment to make her feel better.
Sam pulled a piece of rag from his pack and dipped it into the water, he began rubbing it all over his face but when he removed it he seemed to have just smeared the dirt around rather than removing it.
"Here," Arwen called to him, outstretching her hand towards the cloth he held. He came over to her sheepishly slightly mortified that he could not even get the smallest task done correctly. Placing the cloth in her hand he stood before her, dripping from his first attempt. She was already crouched by the poolside so she was the perfect height to see his face clearly, it was just as dirty as her own had been, as everyones was now that she seemed to notice it. So she set to work as a mother might clean up her messy child. Maybe this would be the closest she would ever get to that experience, with every danger that threatened them the chances of both her and Aragorn both returning home safely to marry and start a family seemed to creep further and further away from her. But that was the negative thinking overcoming her once more, she would not let it take a grip of her.
He winced as she rubbed over a deep cut on his left cheek the water getting in the wound and stinging.
"I am sorry," she said quickly, halting the cloth an inch above his skin.
"No, it's fine," he mummured his eyes closed. She was surprised how much the dirt had permeated his skin, his pores still black after the surface layer had been removed but it was probably the same for her, only a hot bath would be able to leech it out of them now.
"All done," she told him when she had removed all she could and then dunked the cloth back into the river to try and clean it.
"Thank you," he said before looking towards the others.
Aragorn had reached the far side and stopped to wait for the others to catch up. Boromir was already leading Frodo across, the man being able to balance himself better than the hobbit who wobbled across in front of him. The water was thigh level on the hobbit which meant that he had soaked his trousers but now the sun was shining it should not take so long for them to dry once he was out
Legolas supervised Merry and Pippin although he kept turning round to look at Gimli who plodded along behind him, making more of a splash than anyone else. He seemed to kick his legs out of the water with each step, nearly covering the back of legolas's cloak everytime.
"Okay Sam, just us left, after you," she motioned for him to take the same path across that the others had. As soon as she stepped into the waters she immediately discovered that her boots had a leak. The cold water flooded in through a gap in the sole which she had probably ripped somewhere on the jagged rocks of the mine.
The water was not unwelcome however, it soothed the blisters that she had procurred on their travels like a balm, making the sore ache in the arch of her foot diminish slightly. The level came up to mid calf which made it slightly harder to see the slippery stones underneath.
Infront of her Sam walked slowly but surefooted.
"Are you alright Sam?" She called ahead to him over the noise of the water.
"Yes, it's just I can't swim," he replied over his shoulder.
She did not have the heart to laugh at the fact that should he fall he would not need to swim only stand back up.
"Okay then, take all the time you need," She said kindly, trying to alleviate the pressure he felt.
She was glad when he reached the otherside, his mind clearly being put at ease he gathered once more with Frodo who was still looking as upset as he had before.
Aragorn held out his hand to her once more and she took it gladly, shaking her boot once she was on solid ground to try and get rid of any of the excess water.
"Whats wrong?" He asked her, concern furrowing his brow as he glanced down at her sodden boot.
"Oh nothing much, just my boot seems to have sprung a leak," she answered smiling "Another thing to add to our list of misfortunes," she laughed but her eyes remained sad. She figured that he would not find it funny, but the corners of his mouth too lifted and he let out a small chuckle. He leant down and planted a kiss on her newly cleaned forehead just above the angry cut before leading her to join the group once more. The company continued on towards the dense treeline, Lothlorien was not far now which was good as the sun had begun to descend in the sky behind them.