A few days later, we were off. Boromir and I had sent a rider with a letter to our father, telling him we would not be home for a while. Lord Elrond supplied us with all of the food , clothing and weapons we needed. I had my bow restrung, and filled my quiver with many arrows. We were allowed only one pack animal for the whole group, so I had to leave Haered behind. We took Sam's pony, Bill, with us. There was a feast the night before in our honor. When we set out, there were ten in our group. Aragorn, Boromir and I represented the race of men; Legolas represented the elves; Gimli, son of Gloin, from the Lonely Mountains represented the dwarves; Gandalf the Grey came to guide us and Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin represented the halfings, or hobbits as they called themselves. In the days before, Legolas and I had befriended each other, and I spent a lot of time with him. It was nothing romantic, the way we acted was more like the way I acted towards Boromir or my other brother, Faramir. The hobbits and I also spent a lot of time together. They were such funny and amusing creatures. They told me all about the Shire, their ways and customs, and their life stories. Because of my new found friendships, Boromir spent a lot of time alone. Slowly, he began to talk to Aragorn, and they soon became friends. By the time we departed, it seemed as if they were friends ther whole lives.
We had decided to go south and try to pass through Eregion. The journey there was light-hearted and we all faired well. Aragorn said that there were spies fo rboth Saruman and Sauron watching, so we must keep a low profile. We stopped for a while and camped on a big flat plain of rocks. Sam cooked some food, Boromir taught Merry and Pippin to swordfight, and Gandalf and Frodo talked for a while as Gandalf smaoked his pipe. Gimli sat and rested, he looked half asleep. Legolas, who never seemed tired, was jumping about the rocks, back and forth. I tried my best to keep up with him, but I couldn't.
"Slow down! Please!" I yelled up to him. He looked down on me from his post.
"Sorry! Come up here, it's nice. You can see Caradhras from here," he said as he pointed off into the distance. He then reached his hand down to help me up. I grabbed it and climbed up the side of the rock. I dusted myself off and gazed to where he had pointed. There stood a huge peak, with clouds shrouding the top. It was covered in snow and that made it look pure white, except for spaces where the rock from underneath jutted out. "Are we going to cross that?" I asked, looking at him, then looking back at the mountain.
"Maybe. If anything goes wrong here, we either go over that or go through the Gap of Rohan. Oh, and we could go through the city of Moria. Those are our only other choices," he said as he sat down.
I joined him and I asked, "why can't we go through the Gap of Rohan? It's densely covered and it isn't as scary as that." I shivered as I looked back over at the mountain. I could see a storm brewing in the clouds above it.
"Gandalf said no. He has his reasons," he answered.
"Is it a matter of our safety, or is it something personal for him?" I wondered aloud.
"I'm pretty sure it's because of it's closeness to Isengard. We can't risk getting captured by Saruman." He flipped his hair over his shoulder and laid down with his knees up and his feet on the ground.
"But aren't the Riders of the Mark our allies? Surely they'll help us." It all seemed logical in my mind. Boromir and I had just visited there and they had welcomed us.
" Well, it was said that agents of Sauron were seen getting horses from Rohan, whether it was through gifts or from theft. I'd rather not take the chance of going through Rohan and discovering they have taken up with Sauron. You understand what I am saying?" He sat up and gazed toward our campsite. Then he turned and over my head. "Look, behind you!" he exclaimed. I turned and looked. I squinted to see, and could vaguely make out, what looked like a dark cloud moving swiftly in our direction. I looked a little harder and could see it was a flock of birds coming towards us.
"Boromir!" I called, "look! Over there!" I pointed in their direction.
"Oh, it's just a wisp of cloud," Gimli called up.
"But it's traveling against the wind," Boromir said.
"It's not, Master Gimli. It's crows. A huge flock of them," Legolas called back.
Gandalf rose and yelled, "take cover!!" Legolas and I jumped down from the rock and hid under a bush. Sam extinguished the fire, and ran in next to me. Boromir grabbed Merry and Aragorn grabbed Pippin and ran to the bush nearest them. They ushered Gimli in. Gandalf and Frodo ran for cover away from where my eyes could see. Just then, the birds swooped over head. They circled a couple of times and flew off the same way they came.
"We must leave. Now. It is not safe this way," Gandalf stated as he came out of hiding.
"Why, Mister Gandalf? They left, they surely didn't see us," Sam said.
"Oh no, Master Gamgee, they did. They are already back to Isengard. We must make for Caradhras, tonight."