Author's Note: Here's chapter one. I hope you all like it. It starts off after the Fellowship left Moria and is now down at Mirrormere, or Kheled-zaram. I do not own anything that has to do with Lord of the Rings. However, I am proud to own the Mountain Elves and anything that relates to them. Please read and review and let me know what you think. Happy reading! ~Mystic Pebs~
Chapter 1
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Headed by Aragorn, the Company went down the rough and faded road from the Gates. For a while, they walked in silence, pondering about the incidents of Moria. They walked in a line, the order as follows: Aragorn in the front who looked around on which roads to take, he was followed by Frodo, then Gimli with Merry and Pippin, Legolas and Sam, and then Boromir. All that could be heard was their footsteps on the ground and the merry singing of tree birds far away. At last, they reached a bend that led them to a grassy area.
Upon reaching it, Gimli exclaimed, "There! That is Durin's Stone! I cannot past on without having to peek at the wonder of the dale."
"Very well," said Aragorn, "you may but hurry on, for the Orcs might gather here by sunset. I, among all of you, would not wish to linger when they do."
"Come with me, Frodo. You should see the wonders of Kheled-zaram," said the dwarf excitedly, already walking away from the road. Frodo and Sam followed him. They walked after him though weary and tired. Frodo searched for Gimli, for he was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is he? I thought he will show us the dale," said Frodo to Sam. Sam shrugged.
"I do not know, sir. But shall we call out to him? He was quite excited to go to this place. Maybe he did not notice that he had gone so far before us," said Sam.
"Master Gimli!" called out Sam. But before he could call more, Frodo stopped him.
"Look at that? Are those the wonders in which Gimli has mentioned?" said Frodo, eyeing something in front of him. It was different scenery from everything about it. It had tall trees but different trees that normally grew around it. Frodo and Sam walked into it and found themselves in a different place. The surroundings were unlike the ones they were just in. Most importantly, there were no dale of any sort; just thick trees could be seen from miles and miles away. Frodo looked around him. He was confused as to where they were.
"I do not think that this is what Master Gimli intended us to show," muttered Sam behind Frodo. He was also surveying the land with wonder and uncertainty.
"As I," said Frodo.
Meanwhile, back to Mirrormere, Gimli was searching for Frodo. He must witness this marvel. He should be here by now. It does not take many strides from the road to here, he thought.
"Frodo!" called out Gimli. "Come and see this!" But there was no answer. He began to search for Frodo at the nearby greensward. He yet called out for him but there was no answer. He decided to go back to the road to Aragorn.
"Have you seen it? Shall we go now? Where are Frodo and Sam?" asked Aragorn as he saw the upset look on the dwarf's face.
"He has left me at the dale. I thought he would be here with all of you. I reckoned he did not wish to see it. But what creature would not want to see where Durin himself had looked upon the kingdom that he founded later? It makes my heart sadden when he did not follow me," said the dwarf miserably.
"Do you mean he is not with you? Then where is he? And Sam?" asked Boromir, looking about him. He decided to follow the trail of Gimli that led to the dale.
"Wait, Boromir, I must go with you," said Aragorn, walking up to him. "Who knows what danger these hobbits might be. Legolas, try to look beyond the trees. Let me know what you see and hear. Stay here with Merry and Pippin. Gimli, lead the way to the Mirrormere."
The dwarf looked excited as Aragorn had said these words and beckoned the two men to follow him to the sward and to the Mirrormere. They searched for the two hobbits there for a while when Legolas came up to them, behind were Merry and Pippin.
"What's wrong?" asked Aragorn.
"I heard some rustling nearby and some distant rumble. I am guessing it's the orcs coming down. We must go now before it's too late," reported Legolas.
"We cannot go without Frodo and Sam," said Merry. "They are the reason why we are here."
"He is right. Let's all search for them."
And so the Company searched to and fro for Frodo and Sam. They were not at all successful when Pippin came upon something a patch of different landscape, so different from its surroundings.
"Look!" he cried to the others. "I reckoned this is where they might be. I would have gone in there too out of curiosity if I was them."
"You are perhaps right, Pippin. Come, let us see if our companions are there," said Aragorn, carefully leading the way to the entrance of the landscape. They came upon the same environment of thick trees and flat grounds. Aragorn surveyed the ground to see where the hobbits might have gone. Indeed, he noticed two pairs of hobbit-prints not a long way from where they were standing.
"It seems that they were standing here, perhaps looking around the strange surroundings. Indeed, I have never seen this place before. It is as if we took a wrong turn on a road and ended up in a foreign land," said Aragorn, standing up.
"It is a strange place, I have never seen any forest that is even close to this," said Legolas.
"They went this way. Come, let's follow these trails."
They followed Aragorn straight ahead on a path of fallen leaves and soft earth. They walked on as what seemed like forever when Legolas stopped them and pointing to the east.
"There, I hear something over there," he said. He cupped his hand on his forehead as he looked on to the direction he was pointing. "I see two hobbits, one of them sitting under a tree and the other standing close to him. It seems one of them is hurt, for he is clutching his chest. As to who it is, I cannot see their faces. Come, swiftly, for we might not be too late."
Legolas ran down the path he has pointed and swiftly disappeared in front of the others. When the rest of them got to the spot where Sam and Frodo were, they halted and saw Sam lying under a huge tree, one of the biggest trees in the forest, and Frodo frantically trying to mend him. Aragorn bent down to examine Sam.
"What happened?" asked Merry to Frodo.
"We were looking for Gimli when we came upon some sort of portal that led us here, in this strange place. We began to look around when some sort of creatures, whether it was orcs or not I could not tell, attacked us. We tried to fight with all our might, but they were too strong for us. Then that's when Sam took a nasty blow on the chest. I did not know what to do, as I am not experienced with mending wounds, and I did not have the courage enough to leave Sam here because he would not do that to me if I was in his place," explained Frodo. He turned to Aragorn, who was still surveying Sam with care. "What is it? What's wrong with him?"
Aragorn had gently pushed the side of the wound and just as he did, Sam gave out a loud shout of pain. He looked up to Frodo and said, "This is a strange wound to me but none the same, I must still mend it. Let's search for a plant called amisdead, it is similar to Kingfoil but is a bit stronger. I do not know if they grow here, but we must have faith."
The Company scattered looking for the plant the Aragorn had just mentioned. Little did they know that the only hands that can mend such a wound that Sam possessed was one of the unknown resident of the Lost Mountains, whose forest they were now treading.