Past 60 reviews and now every chapter has at least one review! You guys are great! Angry Birds and Tolkien are a horrible combination when you're trying to study for midterms! Sorry about the long wait, school came first.
Chapter 28 Fire
It wasn't long before they reached the ork fire. They dismounted to look for Pippin and Merry when Annwn got a whiff of the stench.
"They had to burn them! Burning orcs are by far the worst orcs." She said sounding pissed off to everyone.
"It is strong isn't it?" Aragorn agreed with her. Annwn was about to say something when she got another blast of stench and at this point she couldn't stop it. Her mouth had started to water, she knew what was coming. She ran off a little ways to throw up by herself. Sadly all she did was retch since there was nothing in her stomach. This meant that the situation was prolonged and made her wounds burn with the extra motion of her muscles. And her bruised ribs were like a knife in her side.
When she was done she half walked/half limped up wind with her elf cloak covering her nose and mouth. The other was clutching her side. It helped...a little.
"Are you alright?" asked Legolas, he was worried about her, maybe it was a lingering effect of the poison and the blood. However it didn't make sense, the medicine from Lothlorian should have cured that.
"That always makes me puke" she thrust her chin in the direction of the orc pile "...burning hair too." What she didn't say was that it also brought back memories that hurt. Boromir looked at her sad eyes and knew that he was right, her scar was defiantly from fire.
"One of their wee belts" Gimli held out the charred remains of a hobbit's belt. One of the belts that came with the knives that Galadriel had given Merry and Pippin. Aragron gave a cry of defeat and anger, Boromir walked off cursing himself in his language while Legolas said what Annwn could only assume was an elf saying to the departed dead. And Gimli...well he just stood there looking totally defeated and depressed.
Annwn waited for Aragorn to figure out that the Hobbits were not in the heap of burning corpses and that they had gone into Fengorn Forest. She took the opportunity to sit and be still for a moment. Only seconds later he had found their trail in the sandy dirt.
"Fengorn, what madness possessed them to go in there?" Gimli asked in horror.
"If you were a pair of weapon-less hobbits being chased by a pissed off orc would you go in? And remember this is just another forest to them."
"True enough lass. But still."
"As much as my heart tells me to go in after them now, my head is telling me that we need to wait until morning. When the sun is up and the forest is not so ominous." Aragorn told their group. Annwn couldn't help herself and when he looked her way she mouthed the words. 'Thank you.' He looked surprised. She was being polite, though given her current state he was not surprised to find that she was grateful for a rest. And lately for whatever reason they had been on relatively good terms, for which he was grateful. It was tiring to always be at odds with her.
And so their group set up camp at the edge of the forest under the hanging braches. Aragorn lit a fire and Annwn actually had a few nibbles of food, her first in too long. More than that, she was able to keep it down; the wind was kind enough to be blowing the smoke and the smell from both fires away from her.
Annwn went over to their horses and took off their tack for the night. Her ribs were telling her that she souldn't but she did anyways. She put each saddle and bridle by the person who rode it. Boromir had the calm chestnut. She reminded herself to ask Éomer about Boromir's riding if they met again, which she did hope would happen.
When she sat at the fire she hauled Arion's saddle in front of her and huffed at it and shoved it at Gimli who was sitting beside her.
"Look at this! And they call themselves Horse Lords. They should be ashamed of themselves." She sounded incensed
"What's wrong with it lass?" Gimli asked honestly
"What's wrong with it! It's filthy! It doesn't look like it's been cleaned in months! They're Vikings with horses instead of ships, that's all they are!" Annwn was aware of the fact that she was very worked up but she was really set off by dirty tack; when it came to her horses' tack she was slightly OCD.
"It's a war saddle, it's supposed to be like that. They last longer when they're coated in oil like that one. The oil tends to attract dirt but the leather won't crack and get dry now. It is normal." Boromir told her, he sounded like he was trying to calm her down. It didn't work.
"A dirty saddle lasts longer, my ass!" Annwn proceeded to dig through her pack, wishing she had a few Tylenol and some saddle soap, she pulled out the cloth Elrond had given her cut a piece off it and used it to wipe as much dirt as she could off her saddle and bridle. Then she scraped the dried grass of the bit, another thing that pissed her off. When she was done she lay back using her pack as a pillow and went to sleep still rather moody.
Though not before they all heard the horses neigh and all but Annwn worried about their safety. Annwn only watched the leaves above her head. They seemed to be reaching for the warmth of their fire, just as Tolkien wrote. It was strange to be living one of her favourite parts of the story. She figured it was wishful thinking but she hoped she would see the Shire before she woke up from whatever the hell this was. Was that too much to ask, this was her hallucination after all.
Then as they tried to fall asleep Boromir, who was on watch, gave a small shout.
"Who's there?" roused their group. They looked up at the figure dressed in white a ways away on the tree line. They thought it was Sauman. Annwn knew better and smiled and gave a slight nod to the old man dressed in white and wearing a hat. The men a called for him to warm himself at their fire but when he came no closer they started to think of him as sinister and wanted him to leave. Eventually to everyone's relief, but Annwn's he vanished. She always felt better when Gandalf was around and until now she hadn't noticed how much she missed him still, even considering that she knew she would see him tomorrow. Greif was a strange mistress.
In the morning Annwn was awoken by Aragorn who softly shook her shoulder. She sent a string of curses his way for waking her up. She was sore and she was sleepy. 'Why did they have to leave right now? Oh right, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were in mortal danger and they were the only ones who could save them, right.' A sarcastic voice in her head told her.
"Should we go find the horses first? With their uneasiness last night?" Boromir asked
"No I do not believe that was nervousness. It sounded more like they were welcoming a friend that they had not seen for some time."
"I'm with Blondie." Annwn stated as she tried to stretch her stiffness out and failed for the pain. "And besides it'll be easier in there to move without them." She pointed at Fengorn.
"Agreed." Aragorn said as he kicked sand over their dead fire and covered their saddles with the undergrowth and dead branches.
"Yeah, Aragorn I thing if someone finds that we were here, it'll be because the fire over there" she pointed at the orcs "peaked their interest not four saddles and the pitiful little fire you had going." She pointed out bluntly.
"True but we can't be too careful."
"True dat!" she answered, god what was happening to her, she never talked like that. Oh well the guys didn't seem to think it was strange coming from her and they continued collecting their things and erasing the signs that they had ever been there.
When they were all together they stood as a group at the entrance to the forest. Watching it; not really wanting to go in. They all knew the stories told about this place. But Annwn simply said.
"Come on." Annwn lead the way knowing that there was great happiness to be found in this forest, no matter how scary it was. She wanted to see Gandalf 2.0 badly.
She tenderly stroked one of the first trees she passed, she loved trees, and strangely, they reminded her of home. She had felt the trees in Lothlorien, they were old and proud and strong, how she knew this she wasn't really sure, but she…felt it. The trees of Fengorn were still old, older actually, but they were wild and angry. She could feel their anger for axes and fire. But there was a little bit that went soft when she touched the bark. Deep inside. A part of the tree that seemed to know that there was someone who loved trees regardless of their age or their beauty or lack thereof. Someone who loved them because they had been there from before, long before.
"What stories would you tell? Ones of Elves and Ents in the early ages, before Men." She asked the tree. The others watched her, each having their own opinion as to why she was behaving the way she was.
'What was the Lass doing? Talking to a tree! Ha! Trees didn't know any better. She had seemed so sensible, for the most part, before she got hit with the orc arrows, maybe it was affecting her. Still...talking to trees, she could have picked something a little less...preposterous.' but whatever Gimli thought he said nothing.
'So she feels it too, the elf part of her must be strong. What stories would they tell indeed? He longed to know as she did, of what came before. Trees weather many storms and have long memories. Longer than men or even elves.' Though Legolas kept his thoughts to himself knowing that she did not want anyone else to know of her heritage, though he did not know why she was hiding it.
'I know Lady Annwn likes trees, she said as much while she was laying in my arms dying. She said to leave her with the trees. These may look like trees but I know better. They have an ill air around them, like they are trying to suffocate us by making the air thin. The sooner we find Merry and Pippin the better.' Boromir was too proud to admit that he was uneasy so he stayed silent.
'She is certainly more aware of her surroundings than all other women and most men I have encountered.' There was something so familiar yet completely foreign about her, he would see flashes of it but it was always gone before he could put his finger on it. He had the nagging feeling like it was something that he should know, like it was right under his nose. Eager to forget his frustration over an elusive fact Aragorn spoke up.
"We should move on, the sooner we start the sooner we find our friends."
They started off again in an unspoken agreement. They followed Aragorn who was following the tracks. They were moving steadily through the forest until.
"Aragorn. There is something out there." Legolas said quietly
"What is it, what do you hear?"
"The white wizard approaches."
"We must be swift, do not let him speak or he'll put us under his spell." Annwn drew her sword and had no intention of using it.
When they turned there was the blinding white light and the wizard blocked their attack with ease. Annwn hadn't even raised her sword. When the guys resigned to the fact they weren't going to defeat the wizard she put her sword away.
"You search for two young hobbits. They passed this way the day before yesterday. They met someone they didn't expect to meet. Does this comfort you?"
"Who are you, show yourself!" Aragorn demanded. The light slowly faded. Annwn was smiling while the guys looked on in astonishment. Then she went up and hugged him.
"Gandalf, it's good to see you again." He hugged her back but when she backed up he said
"Gandalf? That's what they used to call me. Gandalf the grey. I am Gandalf the white." Annwn nodded and smiling said
"Gandalf 2.0."
"How? You fell." Said Aragorn, he wanted to believe that this was Gandalf, so much so that it hurt. But how could it be.
"Yes, through fire, and water I fought the balrog or morgoth. From the highest peak to the deepest dungeons of the earth. Until I smote his ruin on the mountain side." He went on to tell them about his rebirth but Annwn had to watch the reactions of the men. How happy they looked, to find that one they thought was lost was not and that Merry and Pippin were safe, as could be expected considering they were teamed with Ents against Isengaurd. But looking at her companions faces, Annwn was the happiest she had been in a long time.
Review thanks to
PatonxJulia (you're so close to figuring the title challenge out! Dog Days is the same thing as The Nagging Dark, hint hint. Check out chapters titles 16 and 19 they might help),
Kyonkichi9 (Kraft Dinner oh how I love thee. And I love him too),
Tetraforce x 8 (thanks for letting me know your opinion.),
Lira-leigh54 (glad you liked it) and to
wilted blade (you will find out, little bits at a time)
Story Alert thanks to
wilted blade,
OnlyHalfEvil333,
.is. (this is so true!) and to
Draygen
Story favourite thanks to Draygen
If you know who Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are you get cookies! They're kinda like Fred and George in Happy Potter, except they both die and they aren't nearly as cool.
I got the cutest little USB stick last weekend. It's C-3PO. He won against Nerd Hello Kitty and R2D2. Mostly cause he's shiny!
