Another chapter because Christmas is nearly here.
Thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing!
Chapter 20
Year 3013
It was a night with no stars when Harry jolted awake. He looked around him, hair standing on the back of his neck.
His wards had just been triggered. While he did not set a sounding alarm like he usually would, he had worked one to wake him should something approach the camp he had set up.
Instincts had his fingers curled around the handle of his staff and the other held his dagger. His sword lay with his pack next to him.
He had taken to sleeping with both as he traversed through the borderlands of Modor. He was currently in the mountains of Udun, North of Cair Andros. He had travelled North to avoid Minas Morgal and the dark tower there.
Harry was trying to use the height to get a better sense of the landscape. He had seen the Ring Wraiths beginning to circle the lands, they knew he was here but thankfully it seemed his spells had kept him well hidden.
He had to keep moving and never stayed in one camp for long, keeping to moving through the night to ensure that he would not be found by any dark creatures.
He had made a promise to Boromir after all, that he would be no longer than 3 months. On the eve of the full moon he would have to be at the farmhouse or Boromir swore he'd be marching through the lands with Gondor's men behind him. That was something Harry didn't want to happen.
A shadow loomed over a rock to his right and Harry brought his dagger higher, crouching down low. He eyed his sword behind him.
"Show yourself," Harry breathed out, his eyes scanning his surrounds.
A shadow moved to his right and Harry spun around quickly, sword raised.
"Looksies what I founds," the figure whispered out, the almost hiss to the words making Harry shudder. "Wassa' precious doing here?"
The shadow moved closer, emerging from the darkness with long, gangling limbs, bones jutting out from the stretched skin. A wraith of a figure, skeletal and with skin so pale and sickly, pulled tight over bone and the little muscle left.
The figure was far too alike the one he had left behind at Kings Cross, so sad and pitiful that it died beneath the seat of a white platform. Never to move on and never to be seen again.
"Gollum," Harry grit his teeth.
He knew this creature. After all, it was one of Bilbo's favourite stories to tell, of riddles and tricks in the depths of the Goblin King's caves.
"You know my name, man," Gollum said, eyes wide in the moonlight.
"Yes, I know you," Harry replied, not loosening his hold on the hilt.
"That is no good, no good," Gollum muttered to himself as he slunk over a rock nearby, perching himself atop it. His back was to Harry, who stood still.
Gandalf had told him of the fate of Gollum, from a mysterious ring that had driven him mad. A ring, which Harry knew now rested in the bottom of a trunk in Frodo Baggins living room.
"I mean you no harm, I will be on my way," Harry said, breaking Gollum from his muttering.
It was well off morning, but Harry had learnt the area well enough to move on to another area.
"No, must stay, stay with Gollum. Stay with us. Precious. You like precious."
Harry wasn't expecting it when Gollum turned and lunged at him, but his instincts reacted fast. He raised his dagger, cutting the soft skin of Gollum's arm.
Gollum screamed, pulling back as his arm bled dark red. "You hurts us!"
Harry raised his dagger again.
"I do not want to hurt you, but leave now, Gollum. Leave and you shall see no harm befall you."
Gollum screeched again, climbing atop the rock.
"Sneak! Sneak!" Gollum called out, making Harry sigh.
This was one tough conversation when Gollum seemed to not respond to anything he said.
It was only the shiver that ran down his back that alerted Harry to what Gollum was doing.
"You bastard!" Harry yelled, lunging at Gollum who skittered away, his smile stretched over his too large head.
The two beasts emerged from the shadows, matted fur coated in grime and the smell they carried with them was laced with death and decay. Their teeth glowed in the moonlight, long canines dripping drool.
Luck seemed to be on Harry's side as they did not have riders. This was just a pack of large, hungry wargs.
Harry turned and lurched into a roll, picking up his sword and quickly drawing it from its sheath. He held his staff in one hand and his sword in the other.
The beasts grumbled and growled out, approaching in a stalk.
"Come on," Harry muttered to himself. "Break ranks."
He stood, watching them approach, his eyes following each step they took.
Finally, one to the left took the lead, rushing head first to Harry. He ducked and stepped out of the way of the gnashing teeth and large body that would have knocked the air from his lungs.
The move seemed to spurn on the other one to attack and so, it began. A dance with two wargs.
Harry had learnt a lot over the years since he had come to this world, but one thing that he'd learnt that was invaluable was how to fight, and how to fight well.
He knew if he had these skills as a teen, Voldemort would have been beheaded and stabbed to death long ago.
It seemed his mind had wandered, distracting him. Harry yelled out as one of the great beasts who had been circling attacked, their teeth sinking into his shoulder and making him drop his sword.
Using his staff he twisted, feeling the meat of his shoulder pull away with the teeth as he blasted the warg in the face, burning the fur as the stench of cooking meat began to permeate the air.
The beast turned quickly, brushing its face along the side of its pack mate, setting ablaze the fur coat. It seemed the blood, fat, and gruel of their kills that coated their fur was enough of an accelerant to start a rather quick spreading fire.
As they yelled and danced around, trying to extinguish the flames, Harry was quick to pick up his fallen sword.
A heavy swing beheaded the beasts before they could escape. The fire would erase any trace of his being here.
Harry could feel the bulbous eyes watching from the darkness.
"Curse you, Gollum," Harry muttered under his breath. He sent a silent stinging hex to the creature, hearing Gollum yelp and scuttle away.
At least now Harry could be left alone. He would have to hide himself from Gollum and the creatures of the area better.
Harry pressed a hand to his shoulder, feeling the stickiness.
He had to leave this place, now.