A Safe Haven
Summery: The Company finds solace in Lothlorien.
Rating: PG
Legolas still carried Myra in his arms as the remainder
of the Company trudged wearily through the woods. She slept without making
a sound, only light breaths escaping her. Upon her face was dirt from Moria
with jagged paths of dried tears running through it, in some places turning
it into mud. Aragorn led in front of Legolas, clearing a path through fallen
trees for those who would proceed him. Behind the Elf were the hobbits
who walked with heads hanging, but no tears falling. Boromir and Gimli
walked side by side behind them, keeping watch in the dense forest.
"Let us rest here," said Aragorn, stopping at
a clearing. The hobbits sat sadly onto the grass with Boromir beside them
and Legolas laying Myra on the ground across from them. Gimli sat high
above them upon a log, but Aragorn stood on it and gazed thoughtfully into
the shadows of the trees.
"Shall we wake her? Or shall we allow her more
sleep?" asked Frodo of Myra. Legolas knelt down beside her and looked onto
the careworn face of the hobbit. His heart sank at the sadness now etched
into Frodo's features.
"I think we all need more rest. It may not heal
wide wounds, but it will service the travel weary soul," answered Legolas
after a moment. Frodo agreed and closed his eyes, head resting upon the
log for some support, Gimli sitting above him. As Aragorn kept a strict
watch, the others rested and ate cold jerky handed out by Sam. Pippin sat
singing what sounded to be a lament of Bilbo's, only the words slightly
changed for Gandalf.
"Quiet!" said Aragorn. He jumped from off the
log, rocking Gimli, and clasped a firm hand over the mouth of the hobbit.
He looked about him in concern. "Stay down low, all of you."
Legolas and Boromir did not heed this warning,
but stood as Aragorn did. Legolas readied his bow as the two men drew their
swords. The hobbits as well drew their knives, but stayed low to the ground.
Frodo looked to Myra; she lay asleep alone in a dark patch of grass. The
Elf who had been so concerned with her now seemed to have forgotten that
he was leaving her so vulnerable. Frodo crawled over to her, Sam reaching
out to stop him, but only catching air.
Frodo carefully shook her to wakefulness. She
opened her deep eyes to look upon the hobbit and smiled. The smile was
soon faded over by a shadow. Frodo and Myra looked over to see an Elf,
bow ready and arrow poised to the head of poor Frodo. The hobbit let out
a small cry that, of any present, could only be heard by Legolas. He turned
fast and raised his bow to the Elf who stood ready to shoot Frodo.
"Back away from the halfling!" cried Legolas in
Elvish. The mysterious Elf did not lower his bow, but his eyes were now
fixed upon Legolas. With the distraction, Frodo slowly began to move away.
The movement was well noticed by the Elf; he pulled back the bow and readied
to shoot the hobbit. Legolas in turn pulled back and aimed.
"Master Frodo!" hollered Sam. He sprang up from
the ground and ran fast to his master's side. He looped his arms under
Frodo's and began to drag him off. The Elf was about to release his bow
and send his arrow flying directly into the curly haired head of Frodo
when Myra shot up and kicked the feet out from underneath the Elf. She
held him tightly by the wrists, face down on the ground until Boromir arrived
and tied him tightly with roped from Sam.
In seconds, however, they were surrounded by twenty
or more Elves, arrows ready for sail. The newly arrived Elves backed the
group into a cowering bunch, weapons drawn. Aragorn, however, stood unmoved
before the Elves. Boromir took his arm and began to drag him into the huddle,
but Aragorn turned and shook his head. Boromir released the arm of Aragorn,
praying for the safety of the Company. Legolas spoke in whispered Elvish
to a strong Elf who seemed to know him.
Frodo prided himself on knowing some of the Elvish
tongue, but this speaking was new to him. The only words he understood
was the name of the mysterious Elf, Haldir, and Legolas one by one introducing
the Company members. The eyes of Haldir widened when hearing the name of
Myra; this was not lost on her, for she strode forth and bowed low. To
the amazement of the Company, Myra said a rather long sentence in this
new Elvish to Haldir, it was a greeting of sorts.
"Come forth, all. You most of them, Frodo," said
Haldir. "My name is Haldir. I bid you welcome to Lothlorien."
The Elves were pleased with eight of the members
of the Company, but seemed rather displeased with Gimli. They had been
set in a high tree with (at the request of the hobbits) railings about
the edges of the landings where they would stay. Haldir had explained that
it was too far to go to reach the Lord and Lady of the woods and that they
would not want to be caught in the woods at night. Though the woods had
a magical air, evil could still loom in many hidden places.
All nine shared one flat and were squeezed into
it; the hobbits farthest from any edges, for they seem to have an irrational
fear of falling off the edges. They sat about together eating along the
left side of the floor. There was no laughter, although the woods had brightened
their spirits it could not dwindle the sadness they all felt deep down.
None spoke that night of Gandalf, the grief would not allow them such a
luxury.
"Have any of you ever been into these woods before?"
asked Sam genuinely interested. Only two said that they had: Aragorn and
Myra. Sam piped up again, "Tell us about it. We heard of Aragorn's before
at the Council of Elrond. When did you go, Myra? What did you see?"
"Many questions for such a small being. To answer;
I came in a time many years ago, before these woods were known as Lothlorien.
There were no elves at the time, but none the less it was still just as
beautiful. You have not been here, Legolas? I was sure you would be curious
enough to come," said Myra.
"I have traveled to many places, but even more
places are there that I have not seen. This is the first I have stepped
a foot in the woods of Lothlorien. There are many other places I have yet
to explore: Minas Tirith, the Shire, and, thankfully, Mordor. I suppose
though at least two of those I will see before this journey is to end,"
answered Legolas.
"If we decide to go to Minas Tirith, that is,"
said Pippin. "You're more than welcome to come to the Shire, though. Hobbits
don't tend to like Big People, but we'll just tell them that you're a hobbit-friend.
Kinda like an elf-friend, I guess."
"And ofcourse you are more than welcome to Minas
Tirith, as are the rest of you," said Boromir from a branch above their
heads. He looked about as far as he could see, but the darkness hindered
his efforts. No Elves of Lothlorien were nearby or, if they were, could
not be seen. Boromir climbed down to sit beside Myra. She shivered slightly
as a wind blew through and rumbled the boughs of the tree. Boromir retrieved
from beside him one of the blankets given to them by the Elves and wrapped
it about her shoulders.
"Thank you," she said barely above a whisper.
So quiet was her voice that it threatened to be carried off by the wind
and not to be heard by Boromir. The companions began to settle down for
the night, deciding not to leave a guard awake. They lay in a circle about
the great tree that rose through the floor. Each fell asleep in their own
time; Myra being the last.
The night had been mostly silent, but when the
Company arose along with the sun it was found that Frodo had seen something
moving below them on the tree in the night. He could not say what it was,
but told that its eyes glowed eerily and that it did not use the rope to
climb, but was able to do so with its hands and feet. The Company was bewildered
by this.
"What could it have been, do you suppose?" asked
Merry to Aragorn. He stroked the stubble growing on his chin in thought.
He stood and paced about, taking as much as the area that the flat would
allow. He seemingly thought for ages whilst the others watched on. With
moments, perhaps hours, passed by he stopped and stood silently.
"Gollum, that vial creature," said Aragorn mostly
to himself. Frodo heard it all too well from a few feet from Aragorn. He
stood almost immediately at the name.
"How could he have gotten into such a place as
this? Surely Lothlorien is too pure to allow the touch of such a horrid
thing," said Frodo with distaste.
"No place, I suppose, is too pure for him to scour.
Though I wish Lothlorien was," replied Aragorn. From below a call came
and moments later a blonde head popped up from the hole in the floor. It
was Haldir with a pleased smile on his face.
"Slept well, I pray," he said. His smile soon
faded when he saw the worry about the Company, "You know of the creature?"
"I saw him," said Frodo. Haldir climbed the rest
of the way up and sat upon a chair at the far end of the flat. Frodo told
him what he had seen and how quickly the creature had vanished when it
realized Frodo had seen it.
"But what is it?" asked Haldir, "None of my men
could identify what it was or what it wanted."
"It is named Gollum, a vile, disgusting creature,"
said Frodo. His face bunched up in disgust at just speaking the mere name
of Gollum.
"We do not know what it wants," said Myra quickly.
They were not to speak to any outside of the Company or the Council about
the Ring. Pippin was about to open his mouth to say something about the
Ring, but the hand of Legolas quickly clamed over it with elven reflex
before the hobbit could make a sound.
"I shall see to your breakfast," said Haldir.
He stood and made his way to the rope latter, giving each member of the
Company a suspicious look. Boromir watched the Elf climb down and made
certain he was gone.
"That creature was after the Ring, was he not?"
asked Boromir. Aragorn nodded and went to check over Frodo for the Ring.
"It is still there," said Frodo. He produced the
Ring from inside his shirt so that all may see. Myra quickly pushed the
Ring back under Frodo's shirt into its hiding spot.
"Do not bring it out, not with such a being on
the loose," she advised. "Even in such a wondrous place, we are still in
grave danger."
Moments later Haldir, accompanied by three male
Elves, produce for the Company their breakfast and told how they were to
travel through the woods to Lorien to meet with the Lord and Lady. Legolas
and Sam seemed to be the only of their group to be excited by this; the
rest were still in mourning for Gandalf.
"Cheer to you all, Gandalf was a fun loving wizard
who would not want us to be so filled with sorrow. If we had fireworks
I would expect he'd want us to fire them off in his honor," said Sam after
they had finished eating. Frodo had known Gandalf for as long as he could
remember, and had to admit what Sam had spoken was true.
"The little one is right. I miss Gandalf more
than I can bare, but he would want me, and the rest of us, to be happier
in such a fair place as this," spoke Myra. Haldir and the other three Elves
stood idly by during this converse, not wanting to interrupt. Soon the
Company fell silent in thought and decided then to speak.
"If you are ready, my new friends, we shall be
on our way to Lorien," Haldir said from the outskirts of the Company. They
arose from their makeshift table to stand waiting for more instructions.
"The dwarf is to be blindfolded," Haldir said to one of the male Elves
beside him. He stepped forward with a silken cloth, preparing to tie it
round the head of Gimli.
The dwarf jumped back and drew out his ax, causing
a chain reaction of weapons being fitted with arrows and swords being unsheathed.
As they had when they first came across one another, the Company and the
Lothlorien Elves stood ready to fight. The only ones present who had not
released weapons were Myra, Aragorn, and Haldir.
"Foolishness, really," said Haldir, "It is the
law of Lothlorien. We cannot allow this dwarf to pass unblinded."
"Than we shall all go blinded if it is to be,
even Legolas," retorted Aragorn. Legolas placed down his bow and was ready
to argue.
"I am a kinsman here, why should I go forth blind?"
asked Legolas. While he spoke, the rest of those in the tree took their
cue from Legolas and placed down their weapons; though still kept them
in arms.
"You are a member of the Company and we shall
all travel the same. You have the higher advantage of at least being able
to hear more acutely then the rest of your companions, myself included,"
said Myra before Aragorn could speak. Legolas knew she was right, but did
not want to submit.
"I will not go blinded," he plainly stated.
"Then you shall not go forth any further with
the Company," replied Aragorn. The Ranger bent down so the Elves could
tie one of the scarves about his eyes. "Who will follow my lead?"
"We all will, but we shall not until we are safely
upon the ground," said Boromir. So, they climbed down the latter and unto
the soft soil. Once all were present they were blindfolded the same as
Aragon; Legolas deciding to do so as well, still wanting to journey with
the Company. They were lead forth by Haldir through the woods not seeing
any of the scenery that passed by. Noises were all they could marvel at,
and marvel they did.
Birds of all kinds sounded in echoes as the group
walked, frogs croaked, and crickets chirped. The Men were the only of those
blinded that walked half clumsily. The hobbits were more balanced on the
rocky ground then the rest of their companions. Though none were embarrassed,
for they knew none of the others could see them. Legolas could hear the
soft stumbles of Gimli and Boromir, and some occasions that of Aragorn
tripping over a fallen branch.
They came finally to a hold and were unblinded
one by one. The marveled at the great city before them; Lorien. It towered
over their heads. It was made of may houses built high in the trees and
many silver elven made latters leading up to the homes of the Elves. They
were so taken aback it took a few moments to catch their breaths; especially
that of Sam, who after all this time was still in awe of the Elves. The
walked to the gate of Lorien. They had finally found a safe place to stay.
TBC
Next Chapter: Mourning in Lorien
A/N: This chapter seems short, but it actually took me
a really long time to write it. I hope you've enjoyed it. Please R&R!