Notice: sorry this one's so late. I really truly appreciate all of
the reviews I've gotten. I had no idea it would be taken this well. So I
plan on finishing this piece up real soon. I feel I owe you all that much
at least.
Chapter fifteen
"So, Mordor knows she's here…" Drili mused quietly. The Fellowship surrounded her, be-garbed in pajamas and sleepy expressions.
"Of course they do. She was with them before she came here. They'd have to have known where she transferred to." Boar grumbled, his eyes vibrant through the lack of sleep.
"Yes, but they're trying to get her back. More is waking up than I had expected this soon in the game. I might've known he wouldn't come get her himself."
"Who wouldn't" Frodo asked "Sauron?"
"Yes. Even in the old times he never carried out his own dirty work. Always got someone else to do it for him, someone weak, but incredibly gifted. People like Saruman."
"Yea, who's this Saruman anyway?"
"He's a student at Mordor is my guess. He used to be the head of the Wizards. A great and powerful man who was unfortunately too weak to resist Mordor's call and promises of power."
"Well, what do we do now?" Strider asked.
"I don't know."
Drili's answer unnerved the group. If she didn't know what the answer was, they were in trouble. The hobbit's furrowed their brows and began hurriedly whispering amongst each other. Strider and Arwen whispered between themselves as well, while Boar turned to Drili, quietly murmuring. Lee sat darkly against a tree, watching the clearing through narrowed eyes.
It was Gimli's voice that broke through the silence.
"So, Mordor knowing about Lis is bad, right?"
Everyone nodded their heads, annoyed.
"Well, then the answer's simple."
All heads looked at him, their eyes wide with slight surprise and expectancy.
"Well, Gimli, what's the answer?" Drili asked quietly.
"Easy. Get rid of her."
A shock of silence split through the group. No one moved, or even breathed.
"Get, get rid of her…?" Boar managed to mumble out quietly. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I mean get rid of her. The trouble is that she's here, posing a threat to the world if Sauron gets her back, right? So, if we take her out of the equation, the problem's solved."
"Problem's solved? You can't just talk about her like she's an object to be made or unmade Gimli." Lee muttered quietly. Even in the midnight, inky-blackness of the grove, everyone could see his glorious blue eyes glimmering dangerously like beacons.
"I don't see why this is such a big issue," the stalky boy mumbled, "She's just a ring."
"How...dare...you..." Lee rumbled.
The entire grove stopped, no crickets played softly in the bushes, even the slight breezes ceased, and all the universe seemed to, for once, listen to the Elf.
"She is not a ring, Gimli, she's a human being. Just like the rest of us. And if you kill her, yes kill her, it'll be her blood on your hands. Do you really want that? An innocent life sacrificed for our cowardice? Strider, do you really want to take the easy way out, and let Lis die? Do any of you? In the old days we were warriors, heroes, leaders of our kinds. Now what has time reduced us to? Insolent children who would rather run from our foes than defeat them by them strength of our sinews and hearts?"
"It's easy for you to talk, Lee. You stand to lose far less than the rest of us if she dies. Would you sacrifice the good of the many for the comfort of your bed?" Gimli challenged, standing up. Lee just stared at him for a moment, and he could feel everyone's eyes harden ever so slightly against him. Gimli was right. Why was he risking everything for her? Why did he fell that she was worth people he'd never met before, faces he'd never seen? His heart churned inside of him. What was he supposed to do? His face sank as the realization of confusion hit him and he sank to his knees, a sudden run of large hot tears steaming down his pale cheeks.
"Lee, she's only a girl," Arwen tried, her voice far less confidant than her words.
"No, she's not!" he exploded, his tear-streaked, pained face glimmering in the moonlight. She jumped to his feet, staggering backwards a bit, his footing not the best when tempered with loss.
"She's not just a girl! She's the only girl I've ever loved! Why cant you just let me
be happy? Just for once in my life?" his sobs calmed into the muted purring of whimpers.
Everyone's faces went waxen. Love? They'd never expected for that, at least not so soon. But then again, they couldn't deny the looks they gave each other, they way their faces lit up when the other one was mentioned. But Love? Was that worth the fate of the world?
The answer was simple.
No.
"Lee, we just cant." Drili answered.
"So, you're going to kill her?" he moaned through clentched teeth.
Drili paused for a moment, then nodded slowly.
"Then I'm not staying around for this." He spat out. "I quit the fellowship."
With that, his lithe form sped out of the grove, leaving a silent swaying of willow branches in his wake. Arwen started crying.
"Are you sure killing Lis is the answer?" Strider asked, his arms encircling the girl.
"What other choices do we have?" Gimli said. The hobbits just stared at the grass quietly, their faces ashen. Boar didn't look like he was breathing.
"This is the way it is meant to be." Drili pronounced the sentence slowly and deliberately, and Frodo could've sworn she seemed like a judge perched precariously in her tree root.
"Meant to be?" he sputtered, suddenly finding the Fellowship to leave a bad taste in his mouth.
"Yes, Frodo. The only way to stop the ring is to destroy it. That is the way it was done in the old time. The ring bearer brought the ring to fires of mount doom, where the ring was made, where it was to be unmade,"
"Wait!" Frodo screamed, jumping to his feet. "Are you telling me that I have to kill Lis?"
"No. Baggins did not finish his mission. The hobbit Sam did."
Sam's face went ashen. "I have to do it?"
"That is the course of the ring's path, I fear."
"Bullshit." Frodo spat out. "I don't want any part of this. Lee is right. It's wrong to sacrifice her for, what? For mankind? We're screwing ourselves up nicely without Sauron's help. And I won't do it. I love Lis too, just as much as the rest of you do. If I burn for it, fine, but I'm not gonna let her down when she needs us the most."
Sam stood beside his friend, his face resolute.
"Frodo speaks for all of the hobbits. We're not going to kill her."
Merry and Pippin nodded, jumping to their feet as well. Strider sighed.
"What other options do we have? It's only a matter of time before Sauron's able to reclaim her. Whether or not she destroys the world or not in momentarily immaterial. What of her fate with him?"
"Are you saying she's better off dead?"
"If she were to go with him, she would be."
Frodo wavered for the briefest of moments. The unintentional ring-bearer had never once believed that such a decision would hang on his head. But now that he was here, he found an unused strength in him that urged him to stand apart from his only friends.
"No, Strider. I won't do it."
"Neither will we."
The hobbits all left the grove then too, the clearing becoming an eerily quiet place, the moonlight washing the remaining members in cold, unfriendly light.
"We have to kill her." Drili spoke quietly. Her face, sightless and pale, seemed to genuinely feel the impact of her words, and the ultimate loss of their meaning. Strider, Gimli and Boar nodded solemnly, for Drili's word was law.
The grove was empty soon after, the trees left vacant to the roaming gaze of the ever-changing moon. A breeze swept through the willows, making their branches sigh with longing and sadness.
And in her room in Avalon, Lis slept quietly, unaware that her days in Rivendell were numbered.
Chapter fifteen
"So, Mordor knows she's here…" Drili mused quietly. The Fellowship surrounded her, be-garbed in pajamas and sleepy expressions.
"Of course they do. She was with them before she came here. They'd have to have known where she transferred to." Boar grumbled, his eyes vibrant through the lack of sleep.
"Yes, but they're trying to get her back. More is waking up than I had expected this soon in the game. I might've known he wouldn't come get her himself."
"Who wouldn't" Frodo asked "Sauron?"
"Yes. Even in the old times he never carried out his own dirty work. Always got someone else to do it for him, someone weak, but incredibly gifted. People like Saruman."
"Yea, who's this Saruman anyway?"
"He's a student at Mordor is my guess. He used to be the head of the Wizards. A great and powerful man who was unfortunately too weak to resist Mordor's call and promises of power."
"Well, what do we do now?" Strider asked.
"I don't know."
Drili's answer unnerved the group. If she didn't know what the answer was, they were in trouble. The hobbit's furrowed their brows and began hurriedly whispering amongst each other. Strider and Arwen whispered between themselves as well, while Boar turned to Drili, quietly murmuring. Lee sat darkly against a tree, watching the clearing through narrowed eyes.
It was Gimli's voice that broke through the silence.
"So, Mordor knowing about Lis is bad, right?"
Everyone nodded their heads, annoyed.
"Well, then the answer's simple."
All heads looked at him, their eyes wide with slight surprise and expectancy.
"Well, Gimli, what's the answer?" Drili asked quietly.
"Easy. Get rid of her."
A shock of silence split through the group. No one moved, or even breathed.
"Get, get rid of her…?" Boar managed to mumble out quietly. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I mean get rid of her. The trouble is that she's here, posing a threat to the world if Sauron gets her back, right? So, if we take her out of the equation, the problem's solved."
"Problem's solved? You can't just talk about her like she's an object to be made or unmade Gimli." Lee muttered quietly. Even in the midnight, inky-blackness of the grove, everyone could see his glorious blue eyes glimmering dangerously like beacons.
"I don't see why this is such a big issue," the stalky boy mumbled, "She's just a ring."
"How...dare...you..." Lee rumbled.
The entire grove stopped, no crickets played softly in the bushes, even the slight breezes ceased, and all the universe seemed to, for once, listen to the Elf.
"She is not a ring, Gimli, she's a human being. Just like the rest of us. And if you kill her, yes kill her, it'll be her blood on your hands. Do you really want that? An innocent life sacrificed for our cowardice? Strider, do you really want to take the easy way out, and let Lis die? Do any of you? In the old days we were warriors, heroes, leaders of our kinds. Now what has time reduced us to? Insolent children who would rather run from our foes than defeat them by them strength of our sinews and hearts?"
"It's easy for you to talk, Lee. You stand to lose far less than the rest of us if she dies. Would you sacrifice the good of the many for the comfort of your bed?" Gimli challenged, standing up. Lee just stared at him for a moment, and he could feel everyone's eyes harden ever so slightly against him. Gimli was right. Why was he risking everything for her? Why did he fell that she was worth people he'd never met before, faces he'd never seen? His heart churned inside of him. What was he supposed to do? His face sank as the realization of confusion hit him and he sank to his knees, a sudden run of large hot tears steaming down his pale cheeks.
"Lee, she's only a girl," Arwen tried, her voice far less confidant than her words.
"No, she's not!" he exploded, his tear-streaked, pained face glimmering in the moonlight. She jumped to his feet, staggering backwards a bit, his footing not the best when tempered with loss.
"She's not just a girl! She's the only girl I've ever loved! Why cant you just let me
be happy? Just for once in my life?" his sobs calmed into the muted purring of whimpers.
Everyone's faces went waxen. Love? They'd never expected for that, at least not so soon. But then again, they couldn't deny the looks they gave each other, they way their faces lit up when the other one was mentioned. But Love? Was that worth the fate of the world?
The answer was simple.
No.
"Lee, we just cant." Drili answered.
"So, you're going to kill her?" he moaned through clentched teeth.
Drili paused for a moment, then nodded slowly.
"Then I'm not staying around for this." He spat out. "I quit the fellowship."
With that, his lithe form sped out of the grove, leaving a silent swaying of willow branches in his wake. Arwen started crying.
"Are you sure killing Lis is the answer?" Strider asked, his arms encircling the girl.
"What other choices do we have?" Gimli said. The hobbits just stared at the grass quietly, their faces ashen. Boar didn't look like he was breathing.
"This is the way it is meant to be." Drili pronounced the sentence slowly and deliberately, and Frodo could've sworn she seemed like a judge perched precariously in her tree root.
"Meant to be?" he sputtered, suddenly finding the Fellowship to leave a bad taste in his mouth.
"Yes, Frodo. The only way to stop the ring is to destroy it. That is the way it was done in the old time. The ring bearer brought the ring to fires of mount doom, where the ring was made, where it was to be unmade,"
"Wait!" Frodo screamed, jumping to his feet. "Are you telling me that I have to kill Lis?"
"No. Baggins did not finish his mission. The hobbit Sam did."
Sam's face went ashen. "I have to do it?"
"That is the course of the ring's path, I fear."
"Bullshit." Frodo spat out. "I don't want any part of this. Lee is right. It's wrong to sacrifice her for, what? For mankind? We're screwing ourselves up nicely without Sauron's help. And I won't do it. I love Lis too, just as much as the rest of you do. If I burn for it, fine, but I'm not gonna let her down when she needs us the most."
Sam stood beside his friend, his face resolute.
"Frodo speaks for all of the hobbits. We're not going to kill her."
Merry and Pippin nodded, jumping to their feet as well. Strider sighed.
"What other options do we have? It's only a matter of time before Sauron's able to reclaim her. Whether or not she destroys the world or not in momentarily immaterial. What of her fate with him?"
"Are you saying she's better off dead?"
"If she were to go with him, she would be."
Frodo wavered for the briefest of moments. The unintentional ring-bearer had never once believed that such a decision would hang on his head. But now that he was here, he found an unused strength in him that urged him to stand apart from his only friends.
"No, Strider. I won't do it."
"Neither will we."
The hobbits all left the grove then too, the clearing becoming an eerily quiet place, the moonlight washing the remaining members in cold, unfriendly light.
"We have to kill her." Drili spoke quietly. Her face, sightless and pale, seemed to genuinely feel the impact of her words, and the ultimate loss of their meaning. Strider, Gimli and Boar nodded solemnly, for Drili's word was law.
The grove was empty soon after, the trees left vacant to the roaming gaze of the ever-changing moon. A breeze swept through the willows, making their branches sigh with longing and sadness.
And in her room in Avalon, Lis slept quietly, unaware that her days in Rivendell were numbered.