A few moments later, the figure above Savina grabbed her by the arm and shook her roughly.
She snapped awake and blinked up at the being above her. Her eyes traveled from the deep, black hood that hid the creature's face, to the dagger clenched in one gloved fist; she sat up and opened her mouth to scream.
The hooded figure pushed her back down on the bed, roughly, so that her scream was cut into more of a groan. Then the figure clamped one of its gloved hands over her mouth, "make a sound and I will kill you," it hissed in a voice that could be human or Orc, male or female, young or old.
Savina trembled, her eyes darting around for some route of escape, but nothing was going to help her.
"I was sent by…" the figure trailed off, "my superior. My master wants you to have something." There was silence for a moment, the figure stood motionless, as if studying her intently, then it spoke in it's hissing voice again, "I am going to remove my hand, but if you scream, I will kill you. My master told me not to harm you, but if you scream, I will kill you anyway and tell master that it was an accident. Is that clear?"
Savina nodded and sat up as the hooded figure took its hand away from her mouth.
"My master wants you to have," the creature paused and reached into its cloak, then pulled out a scroll tied with a black ribbon, "this."
"What-" she started to ask as she took it.
"My master said only for me to deliver it," the creature said shrewdly.
Savina untied the ribbon and opened the scroll; it was large and yellowish, as if it were very old. When she looked up again, the hooded figure was gone.
She dropped the map and leaped off the bed, to the closed door. She pulled it open and was about to dash into the hall when she ran smack into someone standing in the hall. The force of running into them sent her crashing to her knees. She screamed and threw her arms up over her head.
"Savina!"
Savina dropped her arms a little and looked up to see Aragorn standing over her, looking confused. "Did you see anyone?"
"What?"
She struggled to her feet, pushing away his hand as he attempted to help her up, "there was someone in my room with a dagger! Did you see anyone?" Savina tried to push past him to look go down the hall.
Aragorn grabbed her by the shoulders, "Savina, tell me what happened." He steered her into her room and sat her on her bed, moved the clothes from the chair near the door, and took a seat. He leaned toward her and stared at her.
Savina was silent for a moment, looking at him; he was actually sort of handsome when he was dirt free. Suddenly a dreadful sensation crept into her stomach, what if Aragorn was the one who'd just been in her room? Why had he wanted to come with her when she left the tavern anyway? She told him what happened, watching his face to see if it revealed his guilt, but she saw nothing but concern and puzzlement.
When she was done, he stood up, "where is the scroll?"
Savina picked it up from where it had fallen on the floor beside her bed, "here it is." She handed it to him.
He took it
and unrolled it, staring down at it. Suddenly he sucked his breath in sharply,
"this is…"
Curious, Savina went to stand next to him and look at the scroll over his shoulder. From what she could see, it was a map of Middle-Earth, "what is it? It's just a map…"
Aragorn shook his head and pointed to the large region in the bottom right corner.
Savina leaned closer, trying to read the writing, which was faint and written in a sort of elvish, "what does that say?"
"I…I can't read it," Aragorn frowned, "it's a form of elvish I've never seen before."
"Let me see," Savina leaned even closer and could just make out MoonElf words, "this is written in MoonElf…it says…" she frowned, leaning closer.
"Mordor," Aragorn said suddenly.
"Yes," Savina looked up at him, "why would this be given to me?"
Aragorn studied the map, looking tired and weary, "this is not a normal map." He pointed again to the bottom right corner, "never before has a map said anything more about Mordor except for Mount Doom and The Dark Tower. This…"
Savina looked down at the map again, within Mordor she could see numerous labels; she leaned closer and read one, "The Pure River," she traced it with her finger and read on, "safe drinking water."
"This map is…" he trailed off and stood up, letting it fall to the floor, "Savina, did you ever wonder about what me and my companions are doing?"
"Yes," she admitted, picked up the map and taking a seat in the chair.
Aragorn proceeded to tell her about a ring of power that had been forged by a dark lord, Sauron. The ring was evil and destroyed the goodness in whoever owned it. Long ago, in a great war, the dark lord had been destroyed, but now he was back and all he needed to take over Middle-Earth was his ring. The ring came to a young Hobbit named Frodo, who became the ring bearer. Frodo, along with three other Hobbits and a human, had taken the ring to Rivendale where they were joined by an elf, a dwarf, a wizard, and another human. They became the Fellowship of the Ring and began their journey to Mount Doom; the only place the ring could be destroyed. They fought many battles along the way, two of the Hobbits were taken to Mordor; the wizard was killed by a Belrog in the depths of the Dwarven Mines of Moria, and one of the humans was killed by the commander of a new breed that had emerged from Mordor; a half-goblin, half-orc crossbreed. The two Hobbits had set out on their own while the human, dwarf, and elf set out for Mordor to rescue the kidnapped Hobbits.
Savina looked at him in amazement, "a human, a dwarf, and an elf?"
"Yes, I guess you will have guess by now that I am that human, Gimli is the dwarf, and Legolas is the elf."
Looking down at the map, Savina was silent for a moment, "this map…is exactly what you need."
Aragorn shook his head, "I cannot read your map; it is yours, I wouldn't take it if I could read it."
Savina looked up at him suddenly, "take me with you."
"What?"
"Take me with you!"
"Savina, I couldn't do that…"
"Why not?" Savina asked indignantly.
He looked at her gently, "we have to fight for our lives everyday; I don't want you to-"
"Die?"
He looked at her silently.
She sighed, "look, Aragorn, I know you think I'm just a stupid little girl…and I am, but I'm a stupid little girl who want to look for her father. Unless he's around the corner here in Dubbin, I'm never going to find him."
Aragorn walked to window and looked out.
"Please, I won't be any trouble…you can have the map," she stood up and went to the window, looking up at him, "let me go with you to Mordor."
He looked down at her gravely, "I don't think you're a stupid girl…you remind me of a princess from Rivendale," he looked out the window again, and said very softly, "Arwen…" Then he looked at her again, "Legolas will be well enough in a few days. I cannot stop you from coming with us, but…it would be a pleasure to have you."
"Thank you, Aragorn," she breathed, then her smile faded, "oh no."
"What?"
"My mother will never let me go."