Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own any of the character, places, names, or anything associated with the works of J.R.R Tolkien or the Lord of the Rings (books or movie, whatever). My characters are Anita, Leila, and Arlandria and that is all.
Chapter 37: Roads Untraveled
For two days Anita rode hard, running parallel to the mountains as she headed south. She had to ensure that she was too far away to have been followed by any of the trained trackers on Rivendell's guard. On the third morning after her daring escape into the night from her home, she finally stopped her horse for a much needed rest and to check her maps. Elrond was the only person outside the Fellowship who knew the path they had chosen to take, which left Ani at a considerable disadvantage in her position, since now she was stuck attempting to guess where the group had gone.
Allowing Adobe to free graze as she found comfortable seating leaning against a tree, the girl took out her book of hand made maps she had slaved on before she started out on her little adventure. Thumbing through the pages of the book and looking at the different sections that would have made up one huge map had they been pieced together properly, the dark haired elleth tried to deduce which path was the most likely candidate to sneak a magical item to its destruction as she munched on a roll she had stolen from the kitchen of her home.
Naturally they would want to stay away from heavily populated areas, which ruled out Mirkwood and Lorien by Anita's reckoning. But on the other hand they would need to be close enough to civilizations should they need to restock their provisions. The most logical choice based on what she could see would lead the group through the Gap of Rohan, therefore avoiding any major settlements; human or otherwise. Wrinkling her nose, she turned to gaze at the mountain range that effectively split Middle Earth in two from north to south, and which was already heavily covered in snow from cap to tundra line. The fellowship already had an almost three week head start, if they had made it through the Gap it was on luck alone, and it was surely blocked up with snow by now.
Anita only had to think of snow to groan. Desert raised in a region that rarely saw freezing temperatures, even in the dead of winter, Ani wasn't ashamed to admit that she had no cold weather resistance…even as an elf. The idea of trudging through the snow was her own personal idea of what hell would be. And even as she stared at the mountains she could see storm clouds starting to form, indicating another layer of fresh powder was about to be dropped, making her trek that much more difficult.
With a sigh the girl realized it couldn't be helped, she was going to have to face the horror of the cold frozen reality that was winter. She also realized that if the Fellowship had already made it past the Gap of Rohan, she wasn't going to be able to catch up to them, even though they needed to take rests and stop for sleep far more frequently than she needed to. It was the one real blessing that came with her heritage; Anita hadn't needed to stop for sleep or food in the three days she had been galloping away from her home. So with the possibility to catch up effectively scrapped as an option, that meant Anita was going to have to try and overtake them and get ahead somehow. Considering that she was on horseback and less burdened by the need to sleep, her travel time was half of what it would take the group of nine to get anywhere, maybe even less than half.
All she had to do was get over the stupid mountains first.
Thumbing through the maps again, Anita's attention turned to how she could get herself over the mountains with the least amount of resistance. There were many well-traveled paths that passed between the mountains that were easily accessible to her, it was just a matter of which one would suit her needs best. She needed to make it through the pass quick, and be in a position to easily travel along main roads and rivers. After scrutinizing each path she had mapped through the Misty Mountains, Ani finally settled on the Pass of Caradhras. It was low lying, so very little snow, and it was cut through a narrowed section of mountain, meaning it would take her far less time to cross. The bonus to this path was that once she was on the eastern side of the mountain it would be short trip southward along the spine of the mountain range to Lorien.
Anita didn't know very much about Lothlorein except what she had gleaned from conversations she had overheard from other people. But she knew it was Elven territory, and that they were friendly enough to her grandfather, by her standard that was good enough. If all went well she would hightail it there and rest for a few days within some well protected borders before setting out again to track her man down.
The sun had worked its way further up into the sky and the elf knew she had already lingered too long. Her horse was elven , but that didn't mean Ani wanted to push the limits of what the animal was capable of. She was trapped between her convictions to find Legolas before it was too late, and her fear for Adobe's wellbeing. But as a lone woman, elf or not, it wasn't smart to linger in unfamiliar territory out in the open for too long. It was going to be a long hard ride to base of the mountains, and if she had any hope of reaching her destination before sunset, she had to get going now. Having finally decided to start on her way without stopping again until after nightfall Anita took a long drink from her water sack before packing up her meager belongings.
With Adobe fed, watered, and rested; Anita set her gelding on a grueling pace south and eastward towards her destination. By her own calculations it would take until nightfall for her to reach the foothills of the mountain range and probably a whole other day before she was south enough to begin looking for the Pass through the mountains, even with her horse carrying her at a full canter. Travelling during the day had proven easy enough, the landscape consisted of lazily rolling hills of grass, with the occasional rocky outcrop breaking up the serenity. But it was those randomly placed rocks and boulder that made travelling at night too dangerous the closer they got to the mountains, especially since the moon was in its waning phase, offering less and less light to see by each night. While Anita didn't need as much light to see by to maneuver around the obstacles, Adobe wasn't as blessed in his eyesight. And that last thing Ani wanted was for her horse to trip and break a leg because she had been foolish enough to ride at night with the moon barely more than a Cheshire cat's grin in the sky.
Stopping for the duration of the nights tested the limits of Anita's patience, she as too anxious to sleep and barley closed her eyes for an hour a night. It was just enough to sustain her level of constant alertness, while the rest of the time was spent staring at the horizon waiting and willing the sun to rise. It was just as the sun was setting on the fifth day after she had left Rivendell that Anita saw the obvious gap between mountains that couldn't be mistaken for anything other than the Pass of Caradhras. Having spent the day before travelling along the mountains baseline with her neck craned looking for this passageway, to finally set eyes on it was a more than welcome sight. It would be foolish to try and cross the mountain at night, there would be orcs and goblins crawling all over the mountain way looking for wayward travelers, so once again Ani was stuck waiting out the night. Pulling any necessary supplies such as any remaining food from the saddle bags, Anita dismounted her horse for the final time.
Wrapping her arms around Adobe's neck, she gave the horse a gentle hug. The terrain going over the mountain range would be rocky and unsteady even for and elf, and could be deadly for a horse. Ani wasn't going to risk the life of this loyal animal for her own selfish gain, not when she could just as easily traverse the unsteady ground by herself. Adobe knew the way back to Rivendell, Anita knew that her horse would be safe travelling back.
"Thank you," She whispered, her cheek pressed into the taunt muscle of Adobe's neck. " Let them know I'm safe." She slung her full pack over her shoulder and firmly slapped her horse of the rump to encourage him onward. With only the one prompt, the painted gelding made its way back down the slope to even land before turned north back to its home stable. Ani turned and looked up at the monolithic barrier in front of her as the sun sank below the western horizon at her back, casting long shadows over the world around her. She would have to start out at the crack of dawn and push hard if she expected to make any real progress over the mountain tomorrow, until then she was stuck waiting out the sunrise….again. Spying a nearby tree, Ani climbed to the highest bough that would hold her weight before settling in for the night. Thusfar she had been extraordinarily lucky not to cross paths with anyone else, not travelers or merchants who would be suspicious of a woman travelling alone, nor orcs who would gladly have taken advantage of the situation. But just because her luck had held strong to this point didn't mean she wanted to chance it by getting comfortable in her surroundings. High up in her tree, Anita allowed herself to succumb to a few hours of sleep, which were fitful at best.
She woke up well before dawn, and her brown eyes remained trained on the peaks, waiting for any signs of graying light that heralded the return of the sun. As she waited for the opportunity to start climbing the mountain side, she filled up on a generous breakfast of apples and dried meat, knowing full well that once she was in goblin territory she wouldn't be stopping, not for anything. On top of the constant threat of what was living on the mountain, there was the fact that this particular pass had a bad reputation for rapidly changing weather. If Anita wanted to make it through this in one piece, she was going to have to tear over this mountain like a bat out of hell.
When the sky began to fade from indigo to pink, Ani knew the time had come. Sliding back out of the tree and steadying her feet on solid ground, the dark haired girl began her journey over the mountain without hesitation. It would take all the natural abilities of her people to survive this, since she would need to be fast like a rabbit and have the stamina and agility of ten men. The elf began her climb, undeterred by the steep rocky slope underfoot, and set a harsh persistent pace for herself. Unsteady rocks slipped when she would step on them , causing her to falter but offering her the luxury to fall and catch her breath before she continued on.
"Just like Mt. Lemmon, just like Mt. Lemmon, " she chanted to herself as she pushed her body to keep climbing, despite the extreme change in terrain. The fast pace paid off for her despite the hell it was raging on her body; within a five hour span, before the sun and even peaked its way fully over the mountain top, Anita had traded in the steep rocky side of the mountain for snow. While the snow slowed her pace some, it didn't damped her determination even in slightest. Her lungs tingled with the frosty air that filled them and her muscled smoldered with the strain of moving like she was, but she didn't care. She could do this. Anita was going to get over this mountain. The further she made it, the higher her spirit soared, fueled on by the fact that she was doing this, which only spurred her on. When she felt the ground slightly level, she knew she had reached the crest of the gap, just a few miles and it would be all downhill from there….literally speaking. Ani practically ran across the flattened land, as much as the snow covered earth would allow. The sun was bright overhead, reflecting across the surface of the snow, magnifying the light and blurring the terrain so much that Anita might as well have been running across clouds for how much she could distinguish.
Reaching the edge of the crested gap, Middle Earth spread out before her like floor puzzle, Anita may as well have been on the top of the world. As much as she wanted to stop and enjoy the sight, admire the beauty of the world she now called home, commit it to memory for later art creations; time was against her. The first eight hours of her day had been dedicated to hauling herself up this mountain, which had eaten up most of her daylight hours. There would be perhaps five good hours of sunlight left for Anita, and she would need every second to get down the mountain and far enough away from the rocky ledges to ensure no danger from goblins. Unfortunately for Ani who was well versed in hiking and climbing, both from her life in Tucson and time on the guard, she knew that going down the mountain side wasn't necessarily any easier than going up. Much to her annoyance, this was one of those cases where it was just as hard if not worse.
The snow was easy to slip on, hiding soggy ground and ice underneath its serene white blanket, forcing the elleth to slow her pace and feel out the best path instead of trusting whatever was hidden beneath the snow. To make matters worse, the cold was finally starting to catch up with her, the ice biting into her hand every time she had to catch herself before falling fully into the windswept banks. When snow finally gave way to rocky terrain, her troubles certainly didn't end. The unstable and slippery rocks which had made her climb so difficult, made her descent downright perilous. Ani's pace slowed to a snails crawl as she tried to judge with her eyes which rocks would hold her weight, and which ones were out to kill her. Every second spent trying to determine a rock's reliability was precious time the sun used to sink. The only thought that encouraged her was the knowledge that she was almost done, that she had conquered the Pass of Caradhras. It was a race against time though before Anita could claim her victory, and the sun was resolved to beat her. The shadows grew longer as the girl slid and crawled down the face of the cliff.
Suddenly the light faded, leaving Anita paralyzed in a world of shadows. Glancing up, she wasn't too surprised to see that she had lost to race against the sun, and it had sunk behind the peak she had only just climbed. "Shit." She mumbled to herself and any listening rocks as she turned her gaze to the landscape below her. There was probably about 1,200 feet she needed to descend before the edges smoothed out and she could turn south to Lorien. At least an hours' worth of work still ahead of her, but with no time left to spend. The option was before her now; either drop haphazardly down the side of the mountain without fear of injury or drawing unnecessary attention to herself, or she could continue her slow descent and still risk getting caught by scouting goblins.
Anita rolled her eyes and sighed, obviously it was too late in this crazy crusade of hers to start being cautious now. Pushing herself upright off the slope, she charged down the mountain, slipping and sliding and tripping over rocks; the elf barely managed to keep herself upright. She successfully made it about halfway down before the rocks got the better of her and she went crashing to the earth, her forward momentum propelling her forward into a roll which carried her the rest of the way down the slope. She grunted when she rolled to a stop, glad that no one was around to watch that very un-elflike display but knowing there would be bumps and bruises to remind her of her stupidity. Ani allowed herself only a minute to rest, laying in the dirt, as she took inventory of everything that hurt so she could treat any wounds later.
Pushing up to her feet, she refused to take another moment to savor the victory of having just made it over a mountain in a day, she was still very much in danger. If she had any luck left, she would have to use it to make it to Lorien before nightfall, and so far it wasn't looking good. Large boulders peppered the foothills on this side of the mountains, creating a maze that she had to pick her way through blindly, hoping she had headed in the right direction. The darkness continued to deepen as the sun hastened to hide below the horizon, making the need to escape this vista all the more urgent.
When she saw the trees in the distance, Anita let out an audible moan of relief. She was going to make it. A surge of renewed energy encouraged her on, and her feet picked up the pace with her destination in sight until she was running, zigzagging through the boulders. She was so focused on the tree line in the distance that her awareness of her surroundings faded to background noise, and it wasn't until she spun around a blind end and ran fully into another object that she realized the extent of that mistake. Gripping the thing she had collided with solidly, Anita righted herself before she saw what it was that had blocked her path.
It was then that Ani realized she was gripping the arm of a goblin soldier.
Roads Untraveled- Linkin Park