Forward

I spent a great deal of time trying to distance myself from fanfiction.

That is to say, I tried hard to keep my fun from my job separate. The problem with doing that is this: my job and my fun officially collided. Consequences of a Huntress began in the old years of 2013 when I found my first Aragorn/OC fanfic. For years, the only LOTR fanfiction fix I could get with OCs involved starred the classic girl-falls-into-ME trope and falls for the handsome Legolas Greenleaf. Usually these fanfics were placed in movie-verse and took very little from the books if the authors bothered to read them in the first place. Don't take this as an indictment against such wish fulfillment fanfiction. I wrote one too. It was called "Eyes of a Wolf". It sucked. The thing doesn't even exist anymore unless one manages to find the MST some fanfiction readers made about it. I think Google hid it because I can't find it anymore. This saddens me as I like to read through it, find the trivial things they complained about and attempt to do those same things again only with better prose. There's nothing like mean-spirited commentary over a fan fiction to help remove the evils of writer's block! ;)

Anyway, I found the first gem with the human woman falling into ME's movie-verse, but this time the romantic interest was Aragorn. At first, I thought that pairing would turn me off, because I loved Aragorn and Arwen, but I decided to give it a go. Aragorn was always my favorite character and I had preferred him over Legolas. It felt wrong to pair him with anyone else before then. That discomfort gave way to desire and I wanted more and found a small handful in a sea of Legolas/OC pairings. Because of the lack, and because I did want something a little more than the traditional movie-verse ninth walker fantasy, I wrote my own.

Consequences of a Huntress was born out of the idea that my character fell from her own personal fantasy world into Arda. The first iteration of this idea was clunky. The chapters were waaaaay too long. The prose was eye-stingingly bad. Brianna was just as annoying there as she was in Eyes of a Wolf when she was Galadriel's second daughter and in love with Legolas (or some teenage angsty drama bullshit I came up with). My now husband read the first version and asked me the most important question: "Why on Earth would Aragorn love her?"

It was a good question and one I found myself answering with "he wouldn't".

Back to the drawing board.

A year later (I think), I wrote the prologue after watching (and reading) Outlander. The idea of stones being a portal to another world stirred an idea in me and caused me to begin writing it in fanfiction form. With the Prologue followed Chapters One and Two. Then I posted them and began my monthly update journey only recently broken in 2019 after I found out I was pregnant with my first child and dealt with the various issues a pregnancy causes.

You lot have NaNoWriMo and DawnScarlet19610 to thank for this massive update. NaNoWriMo - for making me look at this story with the eyes of an author ready to tear apart her first draft for flaws (this thing is certainly first draft material) and DawnScarlet19610 for leaving a critical review and bringing up several issues with the story. Nothing helps an author/writer more than knowing where we've lost a reader. As a rule, fanfiction is generally where I separate my "fun" from my "professional", but since COAH grew into this tome I've taken to practicing novel editing and formatting with it. I've also turned it into a prewriting exercise regarding my world, it's characters and the mythos and history. Editing this thing alone was good practice for me until I can complete an original novel, do the same thing, and have the editor look over for additional changes.

It's been a long journey and I'm hoping to end it strong and leave something enjoyable behind for everyone to read before I become a ghost on this site. I don't know for sure if I'll ever write sequels for this story (the ending leaves things open for great sequel fodder), but if I do I hope to finish said sequels at a faster pace than I have this... thing.

NOTES: I'm aware in the book, Tolkien describes Aragorn's eyes as grey. The movie, of course, has Aragorn's eyes as blue (as is half the cast). While I follow much of what the book says in this story, I'm so used to thinking of Aragorn with blue eyes that it stuck. So, for the purposes of my mind, his eyes are blue.

WARNING: This is not a traditional "girl-falls-into-ME" or Aragorn/OC fanfic. I've inserted a great deal of my own original prose in here. If you're wanting something that only follows the main protagonists and no other characters, you will likely not enjoy this story. If you want to stick around and experience it, feel free. Anyone is welcome!

Also: If you are easily triggered by graphic violence and sexual content then I would highly encourage you not to read this story.

DISCLAIMER: All quotations, unless otherwise mentioned, are from the following:

Tolkien, J.R.R.. The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.

Tolkien, J.R.R.. The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of The Lord of the Rings. HMH Books. Kindle Edition.

Tolkien, J.R.R.. The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of the Lord of the Rings . HMH Books. Kindle Edition.


Prologue

Stonehenge, England, September 17th, 2015 - Dusk

Twilight blanketed across the English countryside before they reached the stones. The sky still held the orange fire of the recently set sun casting long shadow-fingers from the horizon. The shadows stretched into the east and met shadows cast by trees, stones and houses. On the eastern horizon, they finished their weave and latched together in a tight, gray blanket. Where dark sky ascended, stars crested in vast cosmic clusters illuminating the night with their cold silver glow. Brianna Davis looked now to that eastern horizon, lips curled into a concentrated frown at the patterns held in the night sky. Slowly, her wrist rose to her chin, the forefinger of her other hand to meet it, and tapped the top sheen of glass that briefly shimmered with a golden light before dying a moment later back to its original obsidian hue.

"Matt, the stars to the east. Do they match the constellation patterns found from earlier?" She asked softly.

In the rolling hills of England that housed the great stone circle, Stonehenge, one could never be too careful with their vocal volume. One never knew how far a normal audio could travel on those hills and tonight was too important to be lax in caution.

"Looks like it," Matt replied, his proper British accent buzzing through the earpiece set in Brianna's ears.

"You and Karen get into position. We need to see what they're doing and stop it if possible," Brianna ordered.

"Aye, aye, boss!" Chirped a woman with thick Scottish brogue.

Brianna rolled her eyes as Matt seconded the sentiment and signed off. She wasn't their boss. They didn't work for her nor did she work with them. This mission was different. Her aunt needed a particular expertise Brianna had available to her. It had made finding the patterns of the leftover rituals easier. Now they only needed to find and exterminate the murderers. She would have killed them earlier were it not for the Lady Huntress' insistence on knowing exactly what sort of ritual their enemies were performing.

She shook her head and looked to the stones, frowning. The air was deceptively still. Earlier, Brianna attempted to use it to feel for their enemies, but found close proximity to the stone distorted the feel of the element. Attempt to utilize the land and water were met with similar results. Whatever it was their enemies were doing distorted the land to the point where she could only dip into enith gilthaes in order to find them.

Her eyes narrowed at the thought.

Something's off, but what? She wondered.

Later.

Brianna moved up the hill through the rolling grass and occasional protruding rocks. In all her years as an archeologist, Brianna never ventured near Stonehenge or any stone circle littering the British Isles. A strange sense of unease continued to charge through her body like prickling static and made the hairs on the back of her neck rise. Was it the stones she reacted to with their age and magic - magic born of both good and evil - or was it the particular ritual their enemies were prepared to conduct?

She checked the rune of invisibility on her wrist. The ink from her sharpie - a personal favorite way to apply runes - remained steady. After checking again, Brianna crested the hill.

The ritual had begun.

The Morrighan, from what she could see, was present. Nine hooded figures circled the stones chanting their fell language. The air was charged with sorcery's taint making Brianna's skin crawl. The Morrighan stood before the middle arch. She's taken the form of a ghastly crone. Her arms were raised in the air and her hands clutched a slender knife with a newborn baby poised directly underneath it. Before Brianna could so much as move, the knife jabbed down directly into the babe's heart.

The soft cries of the baby died into the waxing night. An anguished sob burst from one of the bodies tied to the ground.

Brianna, shocked by the blatant evil of the act, leaned against the stone she chose to hide behind before she stumbled to the ground. Bile rose and she pressed her hand to her mouth and breathed through her nose - swallowing back the urge to heave her lunch onto the soft green grass. Once the urge to vomit subsided, Brianna closed her eyes and rested her head against the rough stone for a moment before she resumed her vigil.

Fuck!

It wasn't as if she hadn't expected to see the heinous act - she saw the bodies left behind by previous rituals - but the casual brutality of the act brought back too many memories - ones she preferred to keep hidden. In quick succession, before she or the others could think to act, the hearts of the other two sacrifices - adult women - tied to the ground were pierced. The woman who'd cried out at the death of the baby - whom Brianna assumed to be the mother - died screaming hatred at them through choking sobs.

The chanting intensified. Brianna picked out the voices of women only. The Morrighan used the knife to cut out the hearts of each sacrifice and place them in their own individual silver bowl. Three robed figures stepped forward, breaking the circle but not the chant, knelt down and scooped up one bowl in each hand. They approached the middle arch. Brianna listened in stunned silence as they chanted in their fell language and painted dark symbols on the grey stone. Her eyes followed their movements and settled on the symbols they painted. Runes in bastardized elvish, cuneiform, and ancient norse were painted with blood drenched fingers six feet apart from each other on the large center stone of the monolith. At the drawing of the final rune The Morrighan spread her arms wide as two companions stepped into the line.

More fell words rang through the air and the ground trembled with the power of whatever creature she called upon leaked into the world from Sheol.

Then there was silence.

Her breath caught in her throat.

The world changed, teal eyes squinted at the center monolith in an attempt to see what it was The Morrighan had brought forth. Nothing revealed itself to her elven and she weighed the prospect of delving into the enith gilthaes to see the truth of the matter. No, she decided, there would be time enough to divine the effects of this particular spell once her task was done. She tapped the screen of her watch twice.

Attack.

With a flick of her wrists, one of the small - weapons-shaped - charms on her OLYMPUS issued bracelet materialized in the palms of her hands. Long daggers about twelve inches long and gleamed the soft glow of metal forged specially with steel and silver. The glow came from the magic of the fae smiths who worked in tandem with the dwarves who initially forged the steel. All OLYMPUS-issued weapons were made with varying measurements of the combination of steel and silver. Steel for the dark fae and silver for the undead and the shape-changers.

Weapons in hand, Brianna stepped out from behind her stone and drew water to the runes inked on her right arm hiding her. Brianna thrust one knife into the back of one of the cloaked sorceresses. As she gasped - a youthful voice, Brianna noted - Brianna removed the knife and whirled on the woman's closest companion burying the blade into her throat. She jerked the knife from the knife free and met the angry red eyes of The Morrighan.

A smile curled across her lips and the rhythm of battle strummed through her blood. They circled each other. Black clouds of oozing magic pooled in the old woman's hands. Brianna touched enith gilthaes and breathed in the surface of the light, wonderful feeling of the magic. That magic fed into the elven blades causing the silver metal to glow blue. The Morrighan barred her rotting yellow teeth and a deep cackle erupted from her throat.

Brianna moved a second before a glob of black oozing magic was launched towards her. She moved again to avoid another and another and another. The dance continued for several minutes before Brianna pivoted on her foot and narrowly avoided another stream of fell magic. The, summoning a will she didn't know she had, Brianna slammed her foot to the ground and forced the earth under The Morrighan to crumble. Her opponent stumbled. Brianna moved. The silver-blue blades flashed and buried themselves into The Morrighan's chest - one in a lung and the other in the cavity where her heart should have been.

She didn't stop there. The enith gilthaes poured through her and into the wounds. The Morrighan coughed and grabbed Brianna's shoulder with a clawed hand. Too engrossed in keeping herself from plunging too far into the power, Brianna didn't notice the Raiphahim angle her body. She didn't even notice the sting of her nails digging into her shoulder or the ooz of magic that followed.

As the red eyes of The Morrighan dimmed, a satisfied look crossed her decrepit face. Just as Brianna began to pull away from the enith gilthaes, the dying Raiphahim leaned toward her.

"For the memory of my brother and the return of the true king of elves!" She rasped.

Before Brianna could react, The Morrighan pushed her away and through the stones. Instead of meeting the ground on the other side, Brianna found herself suspended in space. Darkness surrounded and choked her. She struggled and cried out. Nothing answered.

Then a distant sound, like the wind rushing through trees, met her ears. Brianna wanted to move her head in the direction of the noise, but her body still refused to cooperate. A curious thing happened. Her ears popped and a loud rushing met her ears. Startled lips parted and her eyes widened only to abruptly close later as she burst into bright daylight.

Air cradled her in its gentle hand and held her suspended. Then the wind picked up, her body buckled inward, and air left her lungs.

She fell.

Briefly.

"Oof!"

It took her a moment to realize that she'd landed on a person before her world became night.

*FOOTNOTES* Needless to say, for returning readers, I've re-written this chapter completely and am much happier with it.