Sorry about the long wait. I had a ton of stuff to do, and I apologize. I was also waiting for reviews that I didn't get… is my fic doing something bad or something? Because I'll fix it if possible…
And much thanks to: Dan Crazed, shadow929, erowyne (oh, that's sad. Give your friend a hug from me and I'll cross my fingers that there's a cure for cancer soon:) My aunt had a type of cancer, but she got the tumour removed before it could cause too much harm. I really hope that there's a cure for all diseases, and now I wish Víra's spells were REAL! Thanks for your review!), Socks Are Yummy, Orchid's Rain, Jedi X-man Serena Kenobi, Da Evil BEAN, Lintered, daiquiri, ArwenEvenstar83, White Blossom of Gondor, Sorceress of the Cat, Maid of Imladris & glorwen. I just wish that I'd got a few more…it's been a hard few weeks, and I was hoping… oh, never mind.
Disclaimer: Ah, yes. Another one. InuYasha is MINE! –glares and hugs InuYasha– –People: back away slowly– :) I love it when people think I'm weird… Oh, okay. I admit it. InuYasha does not belong to me and has no relation to this fic whatsoever. LOTR also belongs to someone else and I own only Yousu (who half of you don't know, but she's a character in my other fic) and, of course, Víra.
To Be A Girl In Middle-Earth
Chapter 28: What the hell…? Oh, man…FEELINGS ARE ANNOYING!
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That evening, I struggled against the effects of the numbing drink. It did help that the stupid leader had forgotten to give me my latest dose and the previous one was wearing off.
I was dumped on the ground just in time to hear Merry say, "I think we might have made a mistake leaving the Shire, Pippin."
"Oh, don't be stupid!" I snapped. A kick to my side silenced me and I breathed deeply, trying not to show the pain that I felt.
Hang on… pain? I grinned. The drug must really be wearing off!
I used as much of my energy as I could to try to shift one of my arms – even that would have been a huge accomplishment. The two Hobbits watched in silence. Finally, I was able to move my legs and I hugged my knees slowly to my chest, easing out the cramps in my back that had built up over the last few days.
"She's moving," Pippin whispered. I smiled slowly.
"Lady Víra!" Merry hissed. "Do you think that you could –?"
"Quiet!" one of the Uruk-hai spat at us, throwing a sharp stone that thudded into the ground beside my head. I drew in a sharp breath as dirt was thrown up into my face andeyes.
"Víra?" Merry asked.
"Wow, Merry, I never thought I'd see the day when you didn't call me 'lady'," I murmured under my breath.
"Merry! She talked properly!" Pippin said gleefully. Another rock was thrown in our direction.
"Quiet!" his friend hissed. "Víra, we need to get away…please?"
Not questioning the sudden change in my title I rolled over the rough ground so my left shoulder was facing them. The two Halflings just looked confused.
"My dagger," I hissed. "In my sleeve. You can reach it if you try hard enough."
Both the Hobbits looked embarrassed.
Oh, what now? I thought in exasperation.
"Lady Víra, we cannot… it would be…" Pippin fumbled for the right words.
"You don't want to reach into my sleeve because I'm a girl and it wouldn't be right to do that?" I suggested, rolling my eyes. My companions nodded in unison.
Oh Hell. The people of Middle-Earth are so old-fashioned.
Shrugging my shoulders I loosened the small blade from its sheath and it sliced through my shirt, sliding to the ground. Pippin's bound hands snaked forward and grasped the hilt, pulling it towards him.
"Don't use it yet!" I whispered. "Wait until we can escape without trouble, okay? Don't lose it!"
Merry was looking confused. "But why did you not tell us you had these sooner?" he asked.
"I wasn't exactly able to give them to you then, was I?"
"Oh."
Now… how to escape? If the Hobbits were right about how long we'd been captives, Éomer and his lot would be coming in to unknowingly rescue us very soon.
I hoped we didn't get mistaken for Orcs or whatever. Unlikely, but still.
The sound of the Uruk-hai's and Orc's axes thudding into wood sent shards of pain through my head. Loud groaning hummed from Fangorn Forest and my shoulders slumped.
Oh, great, I thought. It's that feeling-pain-of-the-trees Elf thing again. Just what I need at a time like this…
I tried to ignore my growing headache and concentrate on getting us out of here.
"What's making that noise?" Pippin asked.
"It's the trees," Merry and I answered him at the same time.
"What?" Pippin asked, disbelievingly.
"Trees!" I said a bit louder, just in case he hadn't heard us the first time. Another stone flew past my ear.
"You remember the Old Forest on the borders of Buckland?" Merry began, his voice lowered. "Folk used to say there was something in the water that made the trees grow tall…and come alive!"
"Alive?" the second Halfling questioned again.
"Yes, Pippin. Alive," I muttered.
"Trees that could whisper," Merry continued. "Talk to each other…even move!"
"Great story, Merry, and in Middle-Earth it's probably true, now can we work out a plan to get out of here –?"
"What about them?" one of the Orcs with our group spoke up suddenly, its tiny red eyes squinting hungrily at us. As the two Hobbits turned to look I made myself freeze and half-close my eyes so I still looked drugged.
"They're fresh," the creature continued.
"They are not for eating!" the Uruk-hai leader shouted.
Yeah, don't you remember what happened to the other guy who wanted to eat us? I wanted to ask, but restrained myself. We were grabbed and dragged back behind the leader.
I smiled to myself as an Orc was shoved back from wanting to eat 'just our legs'. When would these creatures ever learn?
"Or girl?" another hissed. My eyes widened slightly. "Master wouldn't want girl."
Oh, great. They're back to their stupid-speaking stage.
"Our Master wants the girl," the leader growled. "She is a tool for his use."
Okay, I did not like the sound of that. Too many bad images.
"The prisoners go to Saruman – alive, unspoiled."
"Why alive? Do they give good sport?"
"They have something," the leader growled. "An Elvish weapon. The master wants it for the war. And the girl…she is a weapon."
My heart stopped beating and my breath caught in my throat. Well, yes, I could use my darkness as a weapon, but… I could heal, too… right? And do all sorts of other things if I tried, like turning invisible…
A weapon…
Oh, shut up stupid voice in my head.
"They think we have the Ring!" Pippin whispered to Merry.
"Shh! As soon as they find out we don't, we're dead!" his friend hissed back.
"To true," I muttered.
"Just a mouthful," the hiss came from behind us and everyone spun to face the red-eyed Orc who had snuck up from behind. "A bit of the flank…"
In the blink of an eye, the Uruk-hai's leader stepped forward and swung his sword/flat-bit-of-metal/thing. The Orc's head bounced off the Hobbits and came to rest in front of my face. My stomach churned and I bit my tongue to stop from crying out in disgust. As soon as the attention of the Orcs and Uruk-hai had turned away from us I wriggled away from the severed head and looked at the Hobbits.
"Ready?" I asked. "You've got the dagger?"
"Yes, my lady. Pippin… let's go!" Merry said.
The three of us began to wriggle our way through the dirt and tufts of grass. Moving was painful after being still for so long, but we managed to get away from the ring of our captors.
Yes! I thought. Maybe we'll –
I was flattened to the ground by a large weight on my back. I heard 'oof' from Merry and Pippin's gasp.
"Go on, call for help." The Orc that'd wanted to gnaw on our legs had followed us away from the others. "Squeal! No one's gonna save you now!"
"Wanna bet?" I screamed in its face. I aimed my hands at the creature and let loose my dark power. Lightning exploded from my fingers just as the first weapon from Éomer's Riders thudded into its back. When I looked again, both the Orc and the weapon had been reduced to ash.
I stared at my hands. Pippin and Merry stared at me.
"Well, I guess I've got my powers back now," I said, putting a cheerful tone into my voice.
"H-How did you…?"
"Shut up now, and keep moving," I ordered as the neighing of Rohan's horses and the pounding of hooves filled my ears. "We don't want to get knocked about by horses, or shot with arrows… or crushed," I added as a heavily-built Uruk-hai hit the dust a few feet away.
Together, we began to move again but we'd only managed a short distance before a horse galloped up to us. An Orc's body fell in front of it and it reared up, flailing its sharp hooves through the air. I glanced at where they was going to strike and gasped as I saw Pippin's form beneath, his mouth open to scream.
"Pippin!" I screamed. "Move!"
I cringed as the horse hit the dust and looked to see Pippin rolling away towards us.
"Hurry!" I cried, and we crawled with all our might.
Wait up… I thought, stopping and turning to Pippin. "My dagger! If we're free we can run!"
The Halfling nodded quickly and Merry grabbed it off his friend's belt where it'd been tied. Merry found a sharp weapon at his side and we used both blades to cut the ropes that bound us. That done I snatched up my dagger and raced after the Hobbits, who dodged under a horse, which stopped me in my tracks and separated me from them.
"Go!" I called when they stopped to look back. "Into the trees! Hide!"
The horse was turned to face me and I saw that its rider was in the heat of battle. He would not recognize me for a friend, and instead slay me where I stood. Muttering under my breath I ducked under the swing of the warrior's spear and dashed away, the horse galloping after me.
"Oh this is fantastic," I panted wryly. "How can that guy mistake me for an Orc? I suppose I do smell bad," I continued, dodging around a few random Uruk-hai and sprinting for the trees. "But, get real – do I look like some big ugly beast who can't speak correctly to you?"
I can't believe I'm talking to myself… I thought, amused. "Oh, what am I thinking? Why am I running? I've got power… Nurtan (hide me)!" I shouted. Behind me, the horse snorted in fear as I vanished from it and its rider's vision.
Well, I guess that's over… I thought as I made my way to the cover of the trees of Fangorn Forest. The Hobbit's were going to be fine, after they got to Treebeard, so there was really nothing to worry about.
As I looked back out into the battle I had an idea.
"First, I'll help the Rohan people out…"
That occupied me for a while, zapping any evil dudes that came close and saving anyone with my power who was in danger. But the sun was beginning to rise, and the battle was beginning to bore me. As much as I liked helping out, I didn't want to see them burning things. Nor did I want to smell the Orcs as they burned.
I crept away into the shadows of the trees to find a place to heal my cuts and scratches.
Now all I had to do…was wait.
-----
I tried to judge the passing of the time, but with nothing to do it was hard sitting in the shadows on the edge of Fangorn forest and waiting for the three of them to arrive. The Riders of Rohan had left, and I'd made myself visible again, but I was bored.
I started stomping around in circles and accidentally kicked a tree root with my foot. There was a groan from above my head and I backed away hastily.
"I'm sorry, Tree of Fangorn," I said quickly. "I did not mean for you to be harmed."
There was an annoyed swish of leaves followed by a forgiving silence. I smiled uncertainly up at the canopy and walked out into the sunlight. I saw the burning pile of carcasses and felt sick. After a quick look around to see if Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli were in sight I turned away, sighing in defeat and retreated into the shade.
I found a small boulder and sat on it. Now that the drink had worn off the dark lightning had sprung back into life, building up quickly and causing me to create a smouldering patch of earth every so often to discharge the power. I thought it over and came to the conclusion that this was what would happen if I ever didn't use my powers for a while. And if I did let it build up for a long while… I shuddered. Well, since I didn't fell like exploding I wasn't going to let that happen.
When the next round of power built up I started to get annoyed. Twenty minutes later I was stomping in and out of the trees, muttering rude things about males and how they're always late.
My building anger, along with the next discharge of darkness, caused me to race out into the open and let a huge, black, crackling ring surge out from me like a ripple over the surface of water.
A weapon… you are a tool for my uses… the sudden, cold voice froze and burned my mind with each word.
I created you…
You will now become a part of ME!
I screamed as more pain hit me in giant waves; I was unaware that I had fallen to my knees, weakly clutching the ground for support.
BECOME MY POWER!
I screamed as each word cut through my mind. "Stop!" I shouted as loud as I could. "Lar (stop)!"
You are a weapon… to be used for my purpose…you will serve me no matter if your whole will is set against me…remember this lesson, this pain…
My thoughts came back to earth and I stood, shaking.
…for next time, I will have you whether you like it or not…
I was panting hard and my whole head was confused. All traces of the dark voice faded and I was left with a feeling of emptiness, as if I'd lost something. But I knew I hadn't.
Damn you, Sauron, I thought, clenching my fists. Now is not the time I need you to try to force me over to the dark side by driving me mad with pain! And I wouldn't miss your voice blasting through my head, either.
Walking back into the shadows of the trees, I sat again on the rock. All trace of the build-up of darkness was gone, and that's what worried me. And that voice… Sauron's voice… when he spoke through my mind I wasn't aware of anything but the pain he inflicted. I was like a puppet.
But this puppet isn't going to dance for anybody, I thought, determined as ever. I won't be controlled be anybody.
An image of Legolas flashed through my mind. I frowned. Now why would the Elf pop up in my head at a random time like this?
It doesn't matter, I thought shaking my head to clear it. Suddenly I was really tired. Sliding of the boulder and onto the ground, I curled up in the leaves that had scattered there and dozed off.
-----
A man's and an Elf's cry of anguish startled me from my sleep. As I sat up, roots twisted away from my sides and a curtain of leaves was swept from my body. The cool air tingled over my hands and face.
What the…? I thought, confused.
I looked up at the canopy and stood. Stepping forward, I smiled and touched my hand gently to the bark of the tree I was beneath.
"Thank you," I whispered. There was an embarrassed swish of leaves. "Just be nice to my friends when they come in here, okay?"
Strange, I thought and I headed towards the edge of the forest. I was talking to a tree…
"…The tracks lead away from the battle… intoFangorn Forest," I heard Aragorn say quietly.
"What madness drove them in there?" Gimli asked.
"Um…" I began, stepping out from behind a tree. "Not me, I hope."
They all looked at me in amazement.
"You should see the looks on your faces!" I said, laughing.
"Lass…" Gimli trailed off, lost for words. I looked past him to Aragorn who released the hilt of his sword which he had grabbed in panic and smiled at me.
"The Hobbits?" Gimli asked. I smiled at him and pointed into the shadows of the trees.
"They went in there ages ago before I did, but I know they're safe," I told him. The Dwarf nodded.
"You are an amazement, Víra," the Ranger noted. "Not a scratch to be seen on you."
Well, that could be because I used my healing, but whatever, I thought.
"Nice to see you again too, Ara –" I cut off abruptly as Legolas stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me in a hug. I froze in shock, my body warming at his touch.
This was…unexpected.
Instinctively, my head tilted against his chest and I closed my eyes. My heart was thumping so hard I was sure that the whole of Fangorn could hear it.
"I am glad you are safe, melda," he whispered, drawing me to him. I looked up, startled.
What was this feeling I had when I looked at him? What was happening to me?
Was it…?
No. I've never felt that way before in my life. It just couldn't be!
I will not fall for Legolas! I will not, I thought angrily. I realized I was beating my hands against his chest, the dark lightning crackling over his shirt, and forced my arms to my sides. Looking up, I opened my mouth to apologize, and stopped when he smiled at me.
Oh crap.
I was in love with Legolas.
I pulled back roughly from his embrace and clamped my hands together in front of me, looking at my feet.
"I think we'd best get going…to find the Hobbits," I muttered quietly. Gimli and Aragorn agreed immediately, too quickly for my liking. I squinted at them suspiciously as they entered the trees followed by Legolas who stopped to look back at me.
"You go ahead," I told him, feeling my cheeks redden as I remembered his touch. "I've got to do something."
The Elf nodded and vanished into the shadows. I smiled and turned into the wind that had begun to blow. I smiled at the feeling inside my chest. Was this how Arwen felt when she thought of Aragorn? Or Aragorn of Arwen? I put my hand to my back to check my blades were secure and realized with a pang that Legolas still had my weapons.
I cursed myself as I raced into Fangorn Forest, with the branches moving out of my way of their own will. Stupid feelings! They were going to get in the way of everything!
I caught up to Legolas quickly – it turned out he'd been waiting for me anyway – and demanded my weapons from him. He silently handed my bow to me and helped to fasten my sheathed blades and quiver to my back.
"Thanks," I said to him. "Oh! One last thing…"
"Yes…" Legolas said. I grinned and reached up to his head to pull out a golden strand of silky hair.
"And you want this for…?" the Elf asked, rubbing his head.
"You'll see," I said, amazed that he hadn't complained. "Let's catch up to the others first, okay?"
A few minutes of running and we'd caught up to Gimli and Aragorn, who wouldn't meet my eyes.
"What is everyone being so weird about?" I demanded.
"It is of no importance, Víra," Aragorn told me.
"Whatever you say…" I was still suspicious though. "Oh, Aragorn, I need a strand of your hair."
"My… hair?" the Ranger asked, confused.
"Yes your hair. Are you deaf or something?" I said impatiently. Shrugging, Aragorn plucked a long strand from his head and handed it to me.
"Gimli…?" I began, but the Dwarf already held his strand out in his gloved palm. I thanked him and smiled. Reaching up to my own head I plucked out a smooth brown strand and held the four up to the light.
"Okay, now stand in front of me," I ordered. Bemused, the three of them did as I said. I gave the end of each of their strands to them to hold, first ordering Gimli to remove his glove.
"Right, I need you to think of a really strong memory," I told them as I tied my own strand at the ends of theirs, joining them all together, "A memory that makes you who you are. Legolas, I'm sure you have plenty since you've lived so long…" the three of them nodded, the Elf smiling at my comment.
"Aragorn? Gimli? Legolas? You're all thinking of your memory? Good," I said, feeling like a teacher. "I nelde herani váreni," I breathed, beginning to weave my hair through Legolas's strand, "nauta as súlenya," my hair wrapped around Aragorn's strand, "tenna sercenya etelehta te," I said as I knotted the strand around Gimli's wire-like hair.
"Thanks, I think I can do the rest by myself now," I said to them. I tugged the strands free from their fingers and sat on a nearby tree root that hadn't been there before I'd wanted a seat.
"I nelde herani váreni, nauta as súlenya, tenna sercenya etelehta te," I spoke over and over, weaving the strands of hair together linking memory with strand with power. Legolas, Aragorn and Gimli watched me work as I murmured the words, letting my breath cloud over the weaving.
The three I possess I protect…
I wish I'd grabbed some of Merry's and Pippin's hair while I had the chance.
Bound by my breath…
That's why I was breathing all over the hair, obviously. If it wasn't necessary, I wouldn't be doing it – I felt stupid.
Until my blood release them…
I wouldn't be releasing them just yet, but to do so, I'd have to cut myself and touch the strands to the blood, or…erm…die.
Let's hope that that never happened.
"There," I said, tying the last knot and standing up. My creation was an extremely thin brown bracelet, made of hair. Gross, but necessary.
"What will that do, lass?" Gimli asked, curious. "It is something to do with us, no doubt, but what?"
"I'll show you," I told him as I tied the bracelet around my wrist. I slipped one of my daggers from its sheath as I walked up to him and pointed it towards his nose. He took a step back, realized I wasn't going to attack him or anything and looked up at me.
"Touch your fingertip to the blade," I told him. Hesitantly, the Dwarf did so, cutting himself lightly before drawing back and looking at his finger.
"Not a mark! Well done lass, that is a powerful healing spell!" Gimli marvelled.
"It is not a spell of healing," Legolas said quietly. Before I could stop him, he stepped up to me and grabbed my hand, showing the other two my own fingertip. They watched as a cut formed then healed immediately before our eyes.
"This has been done before," Aragorn said, shaking his head. "Víra, you did this at Moria for the pony Bill. Reflecting the harm others receive back onto yourself."
"It heals," I grumbled. "Besides, if I'd done it sooner, I might've been able to save…" I stopped talking.
"Víra," Legolas said, pulling my hand towards him and making the rest of me follow until my face was inches from his. "I want you to take this spell off us. Now. What if one of us takes damage that is too great for you to bear?"
"Legolas is correct. You would go mad if something like that was to happen," Aragorn looked sternly at me. "If I'd known that this was what you were planning, I would've never have allowed it."
"Who says you had to allow anything!" I shouted. "I was only trying to keep you guys from being hurt! Can't I do that, at least! Being no use for anything really bugs me all the time – the only things I'm good at are using my knives, and using my power! But power doesn't count because it's evil! The darkness that's threatening this world is the same darkness that created me! Don't you understand!"
The Ranger, the Dwarf and the Elf all stared, shocked at my outburst.
"No. I don't think you would understand," I continued quietly. "I've been drugged, treated like a dirty rag, hauled, thrown, kicked, hit and knocked unconscious. Just before you came, Sauron nearly drove me mad with pain. He's trying to make me his creation again, and before that happened I had almost no control over my power from the drug's after-affects and had to blast the grass out there or I'd explode. And I wanted to protect you all if ever I did loose control. I just wanted to help…"
I trailed off because I knew I was babbling, and was disgusted to find tears running down my cheeks. Glancing up at my companion's shocked expressions I threw the bracelet I'd made at their feet and ran into the trees.
-----
I didn't run very far, but it took them a while to find me – the Fangorn trees kept hampering their progress until I found out what they were all doing and asked the trees to stop. I had no idea why the trees were being so nice to me, but I had plenty of time to find that out later. I looked up as Legolas entered the clearing I was sitting in and stood a few steps away from me.
"Víra?" he asked quietly. I shifted slightly on the tree root I was sitting on and made enough room for him to squeeze onto it beside me. My breath caught in my throat as he sat down beside me and I tried to unnoticeably edge away from him. Why did he do this to me?
"Forgive me," the Elf continued, not noticing my reaction to his presence. "Forgive us. We did not know what had happened to you and were only thinking of the harm you would receive if we ever went into battle. Think about it."
"I already have," I said, sniffing. "And I was stupid to get cranky at the three of you for only misunderstanding."
"But it was us who misunderstood," Legolas said. "We apologize; this was not meant to happen."
He held out his hand, holding the woven strands out to me. I took it and looped it through my belt.
"That bracelet only works when it's being worn anyway," I told him. "And I need to weave in the other members of our broken Fellowship before it's finished."
"As long as you are not harmed," Legolas said. We stood up to find the other two and go after the Hobbits. "And Víra?"
"Yes?" I asked the Elf as we began to walk.
"You are not useless, you make us happy," the Elf looked at me. "You smile and joke to make us laugh. Happiness is something that is needed in these troubled times."
"I'm glad someone thinks that all my efforts aren't a waste," I said dryly. The Elf smiled, and I knew that his words were true. I did make people smile.
Oh, great. Three things I'm useful for now, and tons of stuff I'm not. Oh well, the list was growing.
The smile on Legolas's face morphed into a frown and my hopes started to slip.
"What's wrong?" I asked fearfully as Aragorn and Gimli approached us.
"Your eyes," The Elf said, puzzled. "I could have sworn by the Valar that they have darkened once again."
Using my dagger as a mirror I stared at my reflection.
"Fantastic," I said with no hint of emotion in my voice. "They look all muddy-yellow."
I really did not have a good feeling about this.
Okay, so I'm not dead, although I may as well be. Sorry about the wait, but I hope I made up for it. Please review! I'm still a bit disappointed with the amount I got for last chapter, but you get that. I'll get over it. Just, please, PLEASE review:) There, I threw in a smile for good measure. A mini-character for anyone who reviews! Please!
Until next chappie! (which I hope won't take as long as this one)
Namárie!
Lady ElfDragon
