Disclaimer: I don't own any familiar characters, and or anything pertaining to the world of the Hobbit. All, but my ocs, are owned by J.R.R Tolkien
When the Raven Cries
Chapter One
Nightmares
Fallon couldn't recall the last time she had gotten a full night's rest. Perhaps it was long ago when she still lived in the comforts of her childhood home. When she dreamt of daring adventures and far off lands. Though that time in her life felt worlds away, most nights now were filled with darkness and voids that she would forget when she woke. Tonight, had been different, Fallon had drifted back into her bunk after a particularly hard night of training. She gingerly slipped off her pack when she felt the unfamiliar haze of sleep blanket her. Without the thought of changing out of her sweat stained tunic Fallon slipped into her small cot. Siren soft voices called out to her. Her lids became heavier with every passing second. Daring her body to relax and let her mind wander. Closing her eyes, she was met with the sweet embrace of sleep.
Fallon dreamt of lily-white flowers dotting a sea of evergreen surrounding the fading farmhouse that sat atop a hill. Tall grass, parted only a singular old dirt road, swaying against the warm summer breeze kicking in from the south. In the air songs of her grandma's wind chimes sang, accompanied by the aching of the wooden porch under the weight of the rustic red rocking chair her little sister, Alice, occupied flipping through the yellowing pages of a picture book that once belonged to their mother as a child.
Fallon forgot her worries, her sleeplessness, sighing contentedly at the picturesque scene before her. It was one that familiar, yet she hadn't thought of in a long time. She rested against the old willow tree watching the boughs dance to the songs of the steel chimes. Adjusting her eyes as peaks of sun dodged and weaved in between the curtains of the bright green leaves. Gus, her grandpa's old basset hound, huffed at her movements snuggling into the side of her grass stained denim overalls. Her mother would laugh at the sight of her dirt covered clothes; Fallon never left her grandparent's house unscathed.
Fallon mindlessly ran her tiny hands over Gun's short copper fur, warm from hours of bathing in the bright summer sun. Closing her eyes, memories of blissful summer days of her childhood, just like this one, slipped by her. She relaxed into the familiar bed of grass feeling Mother Earth, her world, breath underneath her replaying those happy days in her mind like a video.
"Fallon, it's time to go!" Called a voice from her serenity.
Balancing her weight on her forearms, Fallon narrowed her eyes looking out into the intricate ballet the fields of green performed for her under the spotlight of the sun.
"Fallon!" The voice called again, this time with a little more force.
Fallon's heart leapt out of her chest; she was on her feet in seconds. Fallon knew that voice, it was the same voice that had sung her to sleep so many nights. It was the voice that comforted her when her cat, Strawberry, ran away when she was six. It was the voice she hadn't heard in eleven years. It was the voice of her mother.
Taking a step forward, Fallon's entire body was violently jerked into the air. Colors of green, yellow, and blue rushed past her, melting into a living painting. The air raced around her until Fallon's feet met the ground. Her body lurched forward, she staggered trying to find her balance. Fallon looked back from where she had come from. Trying to put a face to what she brought her here, to no avail. Musical laughter filled the air around her, Fallon's eyes fell on the two figures before her.
Fallon found herself at the front of her grandparent's farm house overlooking miles of growing crops and a stretch of a country road. The long dirt driveway snaked up the hill disappearing around the side of the house. Fallon's heart beat painfully in her chest when she found the source of the laughter. Her mother, Sarah, sat on the hood of their old black Jeep speaking animatedly with her mother, Fallon's grandma. Her mother's ebony curls were caught in a messy clip at the nape of her neck, baby curls bouncing at the sides of her tear-drop face as her musical laughter filled the air. Fallon's grandma clapped her hands together at something witty Sarah said. It was a memory that was familiar but didn't feel like her own.
Something felt off.
An earth-shattering clap of thunder broke from the sky. Fallon snapped her head in the direction of the noise, only to find endless crystal skies. Fallon's brow furrowed as she dragged her eyes back to her family. They were still deep in conversation as if they had heard nothing. She was about to question their odd behavior when from the corner of her eyes she saw a shadow dart from the tree line. The shadow was formless but grew into a tall figure, though she couldn't make out eyes she knew it was watching her. Only her. When Fallon turned to look in the figure's direction, her neck stiffened making her movements limited.
At the edges of her mind a million different voices began to whisper. Fallon hissed covering her hands over her ears. A fire ignited in her brain, burning in her skull.
"Fallon, Alice come on!" Sarah's voice sliced through the voices now screaming in Fallon's head, silencing them.
Fallon dropped her hands carefully ready to defend her ears again.
"Mama, I'm right here." Fallon's childish voice called to her mother.
Sarah didn't move as she spoke to her mother. As if she had never heard Fallon at all. A small body pushed passed Fallon. Honey blonde curls bounced from high pigtails as Alice jumped into Sarah's open arms.
"Mama!" Alice yelled with glee.
Sarah spun her youngest daughter into the air, pressing her cheek into Alice's. Sarah's bright baby blue eyes, the eyes of the La Dread women, looked at Fallon now. A smile bloomed across her thin ruby lips.
"There's my little bird." Sarah laughed, waving Fallon over into her arms.
Fallon's body moved on its own accord wrapping her tiny arms around her mother's waist. Pressing her face into Sarah's side, taking a moment to smell the familiar rosy scent. Fallon felt tears beginning to burn in her eyes, though what for she wasn't sure.
Fallon watched helplessly as the scene played out before her. Like a play she had seen a thousand times over. Alice, with bright wide eyes, would bound into their grandma's arms. Waving as she climbed into her car seat waiting for their mother to buckle her in. Sarah pushed Fallon forward into the arms of her grandma.
Her grandma's boney hands ran through the thick waves of Fallon's hair coming to cup her chin, making Fallon look up at her. The same blue eyes of her mother looked down at her, only this time they held years of life in them. Her wrinkled skin shows the years of happiness she had lived, the deep set lines moving in tandem as the corners of her lips pulled into a smile. Though as she smiled a dark shadow cast over her eyes.
"Take care of your mother." Venom dripped from her grandma's voice as she shook Fallon's chin tightly.
Fallon's eyes widened as she stumbled out of her grandma's grip. Fallon's grandma blinked a few times and the shadow disappeared. She began to wave mechanically at them.
"Fallon, come on, Daddy's got dinner at home." Sarah called out the driver's window.
Fallon spun on her heels taking in the sight of her mother behind the wheel. A hot wave of panic crashed into her.
"No!" Said a voice that sounded much older, more mature, and didn't match her ten-year-old body.
Fallon blinked, bringing a hand to her throat.
Was that me?
It was as if she was living an echoing memory, she wasn't in control. Her chest tightened as panic rose. A voice screamed in her mind for her not to get in the car. Her mother was unphased by Fallon's protest, arm hanging out the side of the window staring blankly at Fallon. She repeated her line, as if from a script waiting for Fallon to speak her predetermined dialogue. An invisible icy serpent wrapped around Fallon's body crushing the air out of her lungs whispering in her ear to move. Her body listened to it's command, jolting forward, moving against her will. Her tears were falling freely now, loud sobs escaping her dry throat. Her fingers grasped for her grandma's forearm desperately but to no avail. Her feet led her to the car, seating herself comfortably in the backseat. Sarah and Alice called to the elderly woman one last time, ignoring Fallon's screams and pleads.
The fading yellow farmhouse slowly became smaller as their car sped down the bumpy gravel driveway. The tall grass fields melted into golden stocks. Fallon's sobs were covered by blaring of the radio, an old melody, wordless and daunting. Beside her, Alice's small leg swung happily from her obnoxious pink car seat. The roundness of her cheeks and the tips of her fingers covered in bright cheese dust as she flipped through their mother's old book. Orange fingerprints staining the yellowing pages with the greasy, disgusting dust. Without a moment of hesitation Fallon's hand shot out trying to save the book from her sister's grimy grasp.
"Stop it you'll ruin mama's book!" Spat Fallon's childish voice again.
Fallon blinked as the words poured from her lips. Her face contorted as she wondered where those words had come from. Alice did not blink, instead her big blue eyes began to well up with tears. Her bottom lip trembled as a scream slipped from her lips. Alice's hand shot out grasping at the golden spine book. In her greedy grasp, her tiny fist became full of Fallon's mousy hair. A spike of pain throbbed at Fallon's scalp. Fallon let out a scream swatting at her younger sister.
"You brat, you ruin everything!" Fallon hated the feeling of those words as they fell from her mouth.
Alice froze, loosening her grip on Fallon. Her face burned the color of fire, her childish features twisted with hurt. Her hands retreated back to her body, wrapping around themselves. Alice's screams now became violent, craning her neck to the cloth ceiling letting Fallon and their mother alert to her dismay.
"Fallon called me a brat." Cried Alice, though her sentence was barely understandable between her snotty cries.
Fallon rolled her eyes, tucking the book safely away into her sides, ignoring the whaling of her sister.
"Fallon, apologize to your sister." The pale eyes of their mother found Fallon's as she glared into the rearview mirror.
"She-" The words died on her lips.
She felt the force of her soul snap out of her role, feeling the haze lifted from her zombie like state. She was no longer a memory. Her mother continued on with her lecture as if Fallon had finished her sentence. Fallon tried pushing forward, only to find her back stuck to her seat. She growled in frustration, hitting her head against the seat.
"I don't understand why you two girls just can't get along." Sarah muttered under her breath.
Fallon took a second to memorize her mother's face. How youthful her warm olive skin looked in the summer sun. How her short choppy locks flew around her face. Pressing against the invisible force, Fallon reached out to touch her mother. Only her fingertips grazed a small part of her soft hair. Fallon had longed to feel the inviting warmth of her mother's embrace again. To tell her that she was sorry for being a brat, for never fully appreciating everything she did for them. Everything she gave up.
"I love you." Fallon whispered to her mother, though her declaration fell on mute ears.
She felt the pulling speed of the road beneath them, her mother's eyes still set on them.
"Keep your eyes on the road." Fallon cried, the tension in her muscles dissipated. Her muscles were on fire as she became fully in control of her body once again.
Emerging from the tall stocks appeared the daunting red stop sign, Fallon swallowed the bile that burned at the back of her throat. Her mother won't stop, she never stopped. Fallon's hand reached out to hold Alice, gripping at her upper arm. Though Alice didn't seem to feel her sister's touch, as she kept whaling.
"I'm sorry, Ali." Fallon leaned over burying her nose into the top of Alice's hair, pressing a loving kiss into the blonde locks. It would not stay blonde for long. Her hands curled painfully into themselves, fingernails breaking the skin of her palms. Small pools of blood forming on her skin. The familiar scarlet truck barreled from the connected country road. The truck rammed into their tiny jeep at an unfathomable speed. The cacophony of screaming and crashing became an endless cycle, Fallon couldn't remember where her screams began and her mother and sisters' ended. Fallon was violently pushed into her car door. Her temple connected with the window, leaving behind a bloody spider crack. The seat belt burned into her body, feeling the weightlessness of their car as it flipped into the air.
Once...
Fallon
Twice…
Fallon
Three times…
Her head free fell for a second, snapping down with the beat of the car as it connected with the ground. She reached into the air hoping to catch Alice's hand, knowing it would end soon. But when her hand grasped at the air her entire body was sucked through the floor of the car. Like a spirit she passed through the bottom of the car with ease. Her feet shakily met the ground as their Jeep in front of her continued to flip into the near ditch, and then on into the stocks of corn. The metal ached as it met the ground with a soul shaking thud.
Fallon screamed, about to run toward the now stopped car, when she found her feet cemented to the ground. She stared at them willing them to move, but still, nothing happened. Another clap of thunder erupted from the sky.
Fallon knew he was there.
He was always there.
From the corner of her eye the dark figure appeared again. Fallon's spine straightened, feeling an icy air wrap around her. The figure came into full view, floating toward her with an unnatural grace. The edges of the figure were misty, not fully solid. Disappearing with a slight breeze, only to reform back into the figure. Terrified eyes look up the shadowy person to find a metal mask staring down at her. Two empty, smoky voids where eyes should be.
"Fallon..." The voice silenced the noise of the world.
Fallon's blood ran cold, her spin straightened in attention.
"No, please…" Fallon's voice strained.
Her hands began to tremble uncontrollably. She pressed the heels of her hands into her ears. Flashes of buzzing fluorescent lights overhead, hauntingly faint radio playing in dimly lit halls, the squeaking of nurse's shoes as they rushed to save another life. Rivers of tears rolled down the curves of her cheeks.
Fallon squeezed her eyes closed.
"Go away."
When she opened her eyes again, she found the piercing cold metal mask appeared inches from her face. It was so close that Fallon could make out the minute details of the beautiful mask. The tiny cracks of black that played at the edges of the shadowy face.
"Fallon," The voice whispered.
The voice was distinctly male and sounded decaying. The weariness of thousand lifetimes engraved in the voice.
Fallon also knew this voice. Though unlike her mother's voice, this didn't bring thoughts of comfort and safety. This one brought the discomfort of her sins, a past she wished not to remember, it reminded her of her obedience.
The figure circled Fallon. The ever-fading edges of the figure brushing Fallon's calves and ankles, wrapping around her pale skin like serpents. A hand darted out from the folds of darkness, the edge of a sharp metallic talon hovered over Ann's face. Silver claws decorated the ends of the hand drawn across the fullness of her cheek. The cool metal leaving a frightful chill it it's path. The hand fell from her face capturing her right hand. The figure flipped over the hand bringing Fallon's palm to the masked face, studying her skin. Dropping the hand without a care, the creature floated around the scene of the crash with an inhuman speed.
Fallon dropped to her knee, pressing a fist over her heart Fallon bowed her head.
"Lord Sauron." Fallon greeted.
Looking up through strains of dark hair Fallon watched as her Lord appeared once again in front of her from a cloud of obsidian smoke.
"The time has come, Fallon. It will awake soon. Remember your duty to me, remember our deal." Lord Sauron's hoarse voice whispered.
Fallon furrowed her brow at her master's words.
A life for a life. The words burned into her skull.
Lord looked between Fallon and the now burning car. Her master withdrew his hand, raising it into the sky, snapping her fingers. From her ever moving figure dark mist separated with unpleasant cracking noise. The mist fell from her master swirling into a cloud of the cracked concrete. Fallon slowly got to her feet, her eyes never leaving the mist. The boney hands of her master moved over the cloud, clearing away the mist with a simple flick of her wrist. Through the mist appeared a girl. She looked to be in her late teens, long blonde hair swapped around her shoulders as she curled into a ball. Fallon's heart stopped at the sight; her hand reached out to the girl. Fallon knew this face though age had grown the girl into a beautiful young woman. This was the older face of her little sister, the sister she had given her life for. Alice looked peaceful as she slept.
"Ali," Fallon's voice strained at the sight of her baby sister.
Fallon fell to her knees, slowly reaching out to touch the soft skin of Alice's arm. Alice mumbled squeezing her eyes shut as she curled further into herself. Tears now fell freely down Fallon's cheeks. Her master bent down the hand that had once touched her, now creasing Alice's face.
"Don't touch her." Fallon gritted through her teeth. Tucking to place herself between Alice and her master
The Lord ignored her, tucking a golden piece of hair behind her sister's ear.
"You begged for your sister's life, and I gave it to you." A metal talon tapped her sister's cheek lightly before standing up to its full height.
"Your life for your sister's. You have a sacred duty to me, Fallon."
Flashes of a dark hospital chapel rang clear in Fallon's eyes. The distant cries and pleads of her younger self sang in her mind. Those pleads would be answered by Lord Sauron. All Fallon had to do was go with Sauron, to devote the rest of her human life to his service and Alice would live.
A life for a life.
Like a bird of prey one of the talons shot out from the darkness of the figure slicing at Fallon's left palm. Digging a long red scar into the center of her palm. Rich red blood poured like rivers from the opened wound. Fallon only blinked as the figure freed her hand. She stared down at her bleeding hand, with her fingertips she smeared the blood painting the skin of her palms. In the light of the South Carolina sun her blood glowed with flecks of gold. Fallon looked up at Lord Sauron questioningly.
"Something I cannot see is coming. Something that will be a key to our victory. Your duty to me will be tested."
With wide eyes Fallon started up at the mask figure. Bowing her head in respect Fallon spoke.
"My Lord, I would never betray you. I made an oath to you." Fallon answered honestly.
She owed the life of her sister to Lord Sauron. Fallon would never risk that.
Sauron backed away from Fallon, and began to walk toward the corn field, she stopped, and looked over his shoulder to the sleeping form of Alice.
"Ten years is a waste of a life. Do not make me take it away."
With a snap of his metal fingers Alice was gone again. Fallon bowed her head.
"Yes, master."
Guess who's back! With so much free time on my hands for the foreseeable future, I have decided to jump back into writing! So here we are folks. Hope you enjoy it, and I'll try to update every week. Stay safe y'all.