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Chapter Two- The Company
The ringing of blades echoed through the hot valley. In a training arena, within the walls of Mordor, a small girl sparred with a pair of orcs far larger than herself. Around the arena other orcs were gathered, jeering them on. The girl ducked under the legs of one of the orcs, slicing across the back of his knee. He fell to the ground with a cry. She quickly wrapped her small arms around his neck, blade to his throat. Her eyes went to a platform where a cloaked man stood. At his nod she drew her blade across the throat of her opponent, his body falling to the ground with a thud.
Aica sat cross-legged in the centre of the bed in the room she'd be locked in. There was no escape. The windows were too small for even her lean body to slip through and the door was locked and guarded. Meals were delivered under armed guard. Even if she had the opportunity to escape she wasn't sure she wanted to. Returning to Mordor would mean certain torture and death. And she had nowhere else to run to. If Sauron discovered her whereabouts he'd surely have her hunted down. And so she made no move to escape.
Two days after her failed assassination, in the middle of the night, Aica was brought back to Lord Elrond's study. Gandalf stood behind him as he sat at his desk. Aica's guards stepped out, giving the three some privacy.
'Please, sit.' Elrond gestured to the seat opposite. Aica hesitated for a moment, before sitting. 'How are you?' He continued.
Aica raised an eyebrow. 'How do you think? I've been ripped away from everything I've ever known, and locked up by the one I was ordered to kill.'
Elrond sighed. 'I suppose I can understand that.' He glanced over at Gandalf. 'Nonetheless, we have a proposition for you.
'What kind of proposition?' Aica asked, leaning back and folding her arms over her chest.
'One that benefits both you and us.' Gandalf replied. Aica said nothing, waiting for him to continue. 'We have gathered a company, a Fellowship if you like, to journey East into the very heart of Mordor, and destroy the One Ring. We'd like you to accompany them.'
'Are. You. Insane?' Aica spoke slowly. Elf and wizard exchanged a look. 'You want to take his most powerful weapon right into his hands. And you want me to help? They won't make it past the Black Gate, let alone across the Plains of Gorgoroth to Mount Doom. Not only that they'll be hunted at every step.'
'It does seem like an impossible task it is true.' Elrond agreed. 'But we have no other choice. Sauron's reach grows every day, as you well know. If we do not act his power will continue to grow until he rules the world. And.' He continued, before Aica could interrupt. 'We believe with your help the company will succeed. The nine have been unhorsed, which gives us a window to act.'
Aica glanced between Elrond and Gandalf. 'Say I help you. Say I help stop him. What do I get out of this proposition?'
'Your freedom.' Elrond answered. 'And an opportunity to find out who you are.'
Aica rose from her seat and paced towards the window, Elrond and Gandalf's eyes following her. After a moments pause she spoke. 'You'd do that for me?' Her voice was barely above a whisper. 'After everything I've done, everyone I've killed, all the pain I've inflicted, you'd really offer me a chance to make up for it? A second chance to live the life I never got to live?'
'Yes.' Gandalf replied. 'You knew no other way. None of what you have done until you set foot here was your choice.'
Aica sighed, gazing Eastward, towards were Mordor lay beyond the mountains, far in the distance. 'Then you have a deal. But I have a condition of my own.'
'Which is?' Elrond questioned.
'That no one outside of this room is told who I really am or what my past is. I want them to judge me on my actions from now on, not what I have done in the past.
'Very well.' Gandalf agreed, as Elrond nodded. 'Unless you say otherwise your past shall never be spoken of.'
Aica turned from the window and crossed the study, offering a hand to first Elrond, and then Gandalf. 'Come to the Hall of Fire at midmorning.' Gandalf instructed. 'We shall introduce you to the rest of the Fellowship.'
Just before midmorning a guard returned Aica's weapons to her and escorted her down to the Hall of Fire. Just inside the doorway she paused, observing the company gathered around Elrond. The diversity of the group surprised her. She'd expected elves, and perhaps men, but certainly not dwarves or, what she assumed were, halflings.
Elrond was telling the company what little he could about the new member of their company, without giving too much away. 'You expect us to travel with a maiden?' Boromir complained.
'She is...' Elrond was interrupted by one of Aica's knives thudding into the table next to Boromir's hand.
Everyone spun around as Aica strode forward to retrieve her knife. 'Next time I won't miss.' She snarled, wrenching it from the wood and sliding it back into its sheath. She caught Elrond's eye and shrugged her shoulders slightly, taking a step backwards. 'You didn't say I had to be nice to them.'
The rest of the Fellowship regarded Aica curiously. They'd never seen anyone like her before. Her eyes were darker than most elves, and her black hair was tied back into a single braid that just brushed her collar. And her attitude rubbed them the wrong way slightly.
Elrond sighed and introduced Aica to the rest of the Fellowship who eyed each of them with suspicion. Boromir was still muttering to himself about travelling with a woman, even an elf, but Aica wisely chose to ignore him. As the Fellowship dispersed Elrond turned to Aica. 'I wish for you to spend some time with each of them.' He held up a hand when Aica opened her mouth to argue with him. 'Please, do not argue with me. You need to find their strengths and weaknesses and they need to trust you.'
Aica scoffed. 'I doubt very much they'll trust me. I certainly don't trust them.'
'Who do you trust?' Elrond asked her cautiously.
'No one, I never have.' Aica replied honestly.
'Well maybe now's the time to start. This journey will not be easy, for any of you. Distrust will only make it more difficult.'
Out of all the company Aica found the halflings, or hobbits as she came to discover they were called, the easiest to talk to. Sequestered in their corner of the land had left them free of outside influences and prejudice. Their lack of trouble from the outside world was refreshing, though Aica found their questions, especially those of Merry and Pippin, to be intrusive, and so she left many unanswered. Frodo and Sam were less intrusive than their kinsmen, Frodo in particular was quite closed off, though Aica suspected that was due to the burden he carried.
Aica found Gimli to be interesting to talk to. At first he barely said two words to her, but when he realised she did not carry the same distaste for dwarves as most of her people he began to talk to her a little more. Aica was happy to listen, she'd encountered very few dwarves in her time and was interested to learn more about them.
Aragorn was a little bit of an enigma Aica found. In some ways he acted as he appeared; a wilderness hardened ranger, and in others he acted like nobility. Aragorn had mistrusted Aica from the moment he met her. There was something in her eyes that worried him. He wasn't sure what it was, but she was clearly no stranger to danger or battle. When Aica learnt who he was descended from she was surprised that the line had endured, but she was pleased. With him on their side they stood an even greater chance of completing their quest.
Legolas was almost as inquisitive as the hobbits in his questioning of her. He'd never met any elf like her and when she only told him she was from the East he was confused, he knew of no elven lands in the East and he told her as such. Aica only said she was a wanderer. Her half-answers concerned him. Most elves he knew were never as closed off as she was. But her combat proficiency pleased him. The hobbits were no fighters so an extra blade was a welcome addition.
Aica's interactions with Boromir were barely better than their first meeting. The man was dead set against her accompanying them and made that perfectly clear to her. She had a blade to his throat more than once to prove her point, and that only seemed to frustrate him more. He wasn't used to people getting one over him.
Aica took to avoiding most of the Fellowship, particularly Boromir. Legolas tried to engage her in conversation multiple times, but Aica always managed to slip away before he got very far. She would exchange a stern greeting with Gimli and Aragorn each day. Frodo and Sam would give her wide smiles each time they saw her, in return she would nod her head in a civil greeting. Merry and Pippin were constantly trying to get Aica to smile and laugh, something which she had never done in her entire life. She spent most of her time away from the main compound of Rivendell, among the trees. All the time she was thinking, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each of those she would be travelling with. The Hobbits were unskilled fighters, but their small stature and large hearts would be beneficial to them. Aragorn was a skilled swordsman and protective of those around him, however sometimes he was a little overprotective. Legolas was an excellent archer and had skill with blades, yet Aica could tell that he was not used to travelling with such a mix of companions. Gimli was ferocious in battle and deadly, but he was headstrong. Boromir was skilled in fighting but his prejudices played against him in many ways. She just hoped that their differences would not hinder their quest.