Savina turned and glanced at the horizon, it was nearly dark.
Legolas seemed to read her thoughts, "we are almost to the river."
"Aragorn?" Savina bit her lip, "is the forest near the river?"
Aragorn didn't turn around, "not really, there is a flat field and sand between the forest and river."
"Good," Savina didn't like the look of the woods or the feeling they gave her, she could just image what would come out of it at night. Suddenly shiny something on the ground caught her eye, and she bent down and picked it up.
It was a small silver dragon that looked like it had fallen off of someone's necklace.
Savina pulled out five of her silver hairs and began braiding them together, making a makeshift cord to put the dragon on. She strung the dragon onto the chain of hair and tied it around her neck, tucking it down the front of her tunic.
Legolas walked next to her, "Savina, I wanted to apologize, I don't think you're a little girl-"
"It's ok," she cut in, "I should apologize, I overreacted." She paused, "I'm sorry."
He shook his head, "you don't need to apologize," he hesitated, "I know it isn't exactly you talking."
She looked at him sharply, "what do you mean?"
He looked pointedly at her vest, "that isn't a normal map. We aren't on a normal journey. You aren't yourself…none of us are."
Savina felt a lump in her throat, she wondered how she could have been so angry with him and hated him so much. He was right, she wasn't herself at all. She watched him out of the corner of her eye; fascinated at the way his hair shined and blew back in the light breeze. The way he walked, he barely seemed to touch the ground. He was a beautiful, beautiful creature. So humble but somehow so untouchable. He was so brave and strong, and yet she knew of his loneliness, and that he was nothing but a lonely, frightened man who knew he was going to die. He was so intriguing.
She wondered for a moment if she was in love with him, but dismissed it immediately, she wasn't going to fall in love with the prince of Mirkwood. She wasn't in love, she was fascinated and intrigued, and that wasn't the same as love. The only man she'd ever really loved was her father, and she still loved him so much it hurt.
Suddenly a howling noise filled the air and the sound of feet running along the path behind them.
A pack of wolves appeared, but not just any wolves, the largest and scariest wolves Savina had ever seen. There were six of them and they were large with scraggly black fur and red eyes, their mouths hung open to reveal two-inch long fangs. As they drew closer, Legolas made a disgusted noise, drew his bow, and muttered, "zombie wolves."
Savina could see them clearly now, they were quite dead, with patches of fur falling out and a horrid stench. Unsure what to do, she drew her sword and waited.
Aragorn drew his sword slowly, almost lazily, and faced the zombie wolves.
Gimli covered his mouth and gagged, then held his axe ready.
By the time the wolves were near them, Legolas had already shot three of them in the head and they were left, twitching, on the path. Aragorn decapitated one of them with one great sweep of his sword and Gimli split the head of another open. The last one jumped toward Savina.
She froze, the stench making her dizzy, and sliced feebly at the wolf, only succeeding in cutting off its ear. It sank its teeth into the very bottom of her tunic and began pulling at her. Gagging, she hacked at its head until Aragorn cut its head off with one broad slice.
Savina stumbled away from the corpse in horror, still gagging, "will they stay dead?"
Aragorn wiped the black blood off of his sword onto the grass, "they should, most of them die when you behead them or shoot them in the head."
Legolas was staring at her, "it didn't bite you, did it?"
Savina glanced down at the torn bottom of her tunic, "no, it just grabbed onto my shirt and pulled at it."
Gimli grunted, "that wasn't just any old pack of zombie wolves, they were looking for something. Otherwise that wolf would have gone straight for your throat."
Savina shifted uncomfortably, "what would they want?"
Aragorn sheathed his sword, "undoubtedly they were after the map."
"It could have killed me and still taken the map."
Aragorn gazed at her mildly for a moment, "then maybe it was after you." He squinted at the horizon, "we are about twenty minutes from the river."
"The Great River?" Savina asked, she'd always wanted to see it, though not under such circumstances.
"No," Aragorn began walking, with Savina, Legolas, and Gimli falling into step behind him, "it's more of a creek that swells during the rainy season, but it's large enough to call a river."
Twenty minutes later they emerged from the rapidly darkening forest path to a broad field.
Savina breathed a sigh of relief and looked over her shoulder into the woods, tempted to stick her tongue out at them.
They crossed the field and came to a thin strip of fine white sand along the edge of the river, Aragorn stopped and glanced around, "we'll sleep here." He put his pack on the ground, pulled out a blanket, and stretched it out on the ground.
Savina copied him, pulling out her wool blanket and setting it on the ground. She noticed that her black cloak was now in her bag and thanked her mother silently, she would have forgotten it. She took it out and slung it over her shoulders, it was getting kind of chilly.
Aragorn started a fire, then lay down and shut his eyes.
Legolas had laid out his blanket, but was pacing back and forth, looking into the woods and back at Aragorn, "aren't we going to keep watch?"
"No," Aragorn yawned, "they aren't going to bother us tonight."
Savina lay down on her blanket and covered herself with her cloak, hoping Aragorn was right. She watched Legolas pace for a moment and listened to Gimli, who was already asleep, snore and grunt in his sleep.
Aragorn spoke without opening his eyes, "Legolas, you are as tired as the rest of us, go to sleep."
Legolas lay down on his blanket and was silent, but Savina knew he was wide-awake, listening.
Savina felt groggy and tired, her eyelids felt like they weighed ten pounds each. She started to think about her father, but in a few moments she was asleep.