Hehe… sorry to shoot you down, but you were going to find that only the hobbits (and someone else) was reincarnated. Aragorn was not one of them. ^^; Sorry, sorry.
~Hoshiko
The High Pass
As the group came closer to the High Pass the green grass turned to white snow, and the air became colder and thinner. In three days it became constantly harder for the group to breath, and soon the hobbits were lagging behind.
'Come along, young hobbits.' Teredon said, and ushered them forward. When they stopped the third night, they dug out a spot for a fire in the snow, and lit it. Soon the warmth of the fire melted their hands, and Brom offered to be the one to cook dinner. While he was crisping bacon, Teredon turned to Brendalin.
'Brendalin, the hobbits are not able to keep up with the rest of the group any longer. I suggest we rest tomorrow, too, for even I can feel the effects of the mountain.' He said, and Brendalin took this into thought.
'That would seem like a good idea, if we weren't so pressed with time.' He said, but when he looked at the hobbits he nodded. 'I believe a solution would be to travel in the morning and rest in the afternoon. We have yet to come to the High Pass, if memory serves an old man correctly.' He said, and Teredon nodded.
'A wise choice. I just hope we do not encounter a blizzard or any thing of the sort.' He said, and Brendalin nodded. The bacon soon browned, and everyone was ready for supper. They ate as well as they could, but when Param and Terry had finished, a rather loud noise filled the camp, sending all eyes to them. Their stomachs were still growling, and they refused to silence themselves even with food.
'Excuse me…' Param said; face twisting in a rather strange position. Froin smiled, and offered him her plate. He looked up at her, then down at the plate and she nodded.
'I'm not hungry any longer, you can have it.' she said, and Param's face lit up despite the cold.
'Really?' he asked, and she laughed, low and deep.
'Yes, of course. Take it.' she said, and he did so. Teredon did the same with Terry, and soon the two hobbits were happily chatting, plates clean. They were asleep not long after, though, warm under their blankets near the fire. Every one else ate and fell asleep, except Dweller and Relnik who offered to keep watch. They sat on their blankets; ready for any sort of attack and after a while Dweller coughed from the cold. Relnik stood and went to add wood to the fire, making it larger.
'Stupid elf… walking on snow…' she muttered, and he turned his head.
'I heard that.'
'I know.' She said and he shrugged.
'I do not know what you are complaining about: you don't go half as deep as the others.' He said, and she nodded.
'Right. I've never noticed before.' She said sourly and he laughed.
'You do need to lighten up.'
'Yes, so you've told me many a time before.' She said, and he shook his head. They kept watch the rest of the night, and in the morning they woke everyone for breakfast. While Sam was cooking again, Pippin looked up at Brendalin who was muttering to himself, maps spread over his knee.
'When will we hit the Pass?' he asked, and Brendalin looked up.
'We should come to it by the end of today, but we will rest for the afternoon. It is getting too difficult to climb at once.' He said, and looked up to the east of them. The pass loomed over them, looking silently down.
They ate and cleaned up the camp, covering evidence of their residence there. They started to ascend the mountain again, and soon they came upon the thing they had been dreading. A snow storm, not only a snowstorm, but a blizzard. It began with a few snowflakes in a light blanket.
'Snow…' Teredon said, and looked up at the sky. 'The Pass will be more difficult to go through with this.' He said, and Ondril looked down at the white on his sleeve. Hopefully it would stay as light as it was. Unfortunately, it did, quickly. It fell harder; flakes getting so large Ondril could only fit one flake in his palm at a time. The wind started to blow harder, and whipped their cloaks about them, while they tried to have them cling to themselves.
The others helped along the hobbits, and while the taller ones tried to keep track of all of them, at one point they couldn't find Param.
'Param?' Terry called through the snow, and Dweller turned quickly, looking down the hill. She could see the small form of a small hobbit dragging very far behind. She started back through the snow, and when she found him, she picked him up. Snow was in his hair, and his lips were an unhealthy blue. He shivered, and hardly seemed to realize he was moving.
'Come along, Paragrim, you need to keep up.' She said, and put him in her under her cloak. He didn't stop shivering, but he regained color in his face. She trudged back up to the group, and they continued. Eventually, though, all the hobbits were carried by Dweller and Teredon, unable to walk through the snow on their own.
The storm only became worse as they continued on their way, and Brendalin had to give up on his promise; he couldn't stop now. They stayed on their course until they came upon a small opening in the wall of the Pass. A cave, shelter from the storm. They hurried in gratefully, the hobbits being set down carefully.
'Rest now, little ones, we will make a fire and a camp.' Teredon said, and they nodded numbly. The big-people did so, and at once the hobbits fell asleep next to the fire. As Froin watched them sleep, she looked up at Brendalin and spoke what was on everyone's mind.
'Should we turn back, Brendalin? The weather is only bound to get worse, there must be an easier way.' She said, but Brendalin shook his head.
'No. There is too much danger to the west. We are safer with bad weather than with foes on either side. It should pass with in the next twenty four hours.' He said, and the others nodded. 'We shall reside here until it passes.' He said, and the others fell asleep, Dweller cooking some food for them. They all fell asleep except Gandalf, and when the snow did not stop the next day, they stayed again. The hobbits became better, and the two younger ones were chatting happily, when Teredon turned to Brendalin.
'Brendalin, we have been here for two days, and it has yet to stop. I have been over this pass many times, and never has it taken this long for a snow storm to blow over. There are some other devilries at work here.' He said, and Brendalin looked up from his maps. He looked out into the storm, then back to Teredon.
'There very well might be. I have been fearing it, but I have hoped it not so.' He said, and the others looked at him, Brom nudging Terry and Param to get them to stop talking. 'Long ago, during the War of the Ring, there was an Istari by the name of Saruman the White. He was corrupted by the use of a Palantir, and became evil. His servant, Wormtongue eventually killed him, but his sole was not killed, and it was allowed to mingle in this earth. I am afraid it has taken a new body, exact in likeness and form, and is plotting against this Fellowship as he had done so many years before.' Brendalin explained, and Brom shook his head.
"'How do you know this?' he asked, and Brendalin nodded gravely.
"'I did not bring it up at the council, but I have told Relnohen of my suspicions. In this day and Age there is still a race of Istari's, five of us who were sent here by the Valar. We have been working, mostly in secret, to keep the peace of this world. There is a Wizard, who goes by the name of Lonel, who is the head of my order. He was the White, but I fear he has turned against us again. He is Saruman, in form and sole, and in my blindness I have just grasped on the fact that they are the same. Before the Council I went to him, to tell him of the delema.
"'When I first came to him he acted just as he had for centuries, but slowly he started to show his true colors. We were discussing the stone, it's power, and who carried it. I told him it was a Hobbit, though I said no names, and he asked when you left. I told him I did not know, and he jumped up, angered.
"'You do know!' he cried as he slammed the table with his fist. 'I am not an ignoramus! I know perfectly well what you have been up to, Mithrandir! You cannot hide anything from me.' I was taken back when he called me Mithrandir, for that is a very old name I had not heard in very long time, and I stood, too.
"'You have been tracking my movements?' I asked, trying not to let on that I knew of that name.
"'For a very long time, fool.' He said, and I shook my head.
"'Saruman, you are the fool. You think that yet again you might be able to control the Ring when your last attempt ended in such failure?' he gave me a very cold stare, and pointed his staff at me.
"'So, Gandalf, you have found out. Yes, I am Saruman, and I have come back to make you pay! I will win this time, and you are not about to stop me.' He said quietly, malace in his voice. I took my staff, and when he attacked me I blocked it, making for the door. He allowed me to go, and I could hear him screaming as I hurried out the door.
"'Fine! Go! You cannot stop me this time, no one can stop me!' he cried insanely, and started laughing. His cruel laughter still rings in my head.' Brendalin said, and they all stared at him. When they dared to move, Ondril shook his head.
'So you are Gandalf.' He said, voice shaking. 'I knew it when I saw you on my doorstep.' He said, and Brendalin nodded.
'Yes, I am sorry, Ondril, but I could not risk unfriendly ears. You were right, though, I am Gandalf. As I have said, I was sent to look over Middle-Earth again after the War of the Ring.' He said, and Ondril nodded, though Teredon looked at him with disbelief.
'You are the Gandalf of the old stories?' he asked, and Brendalin nodded. 'Then why are you not still called Gandalf?' he asked, and Brendalin nodded again.
'The Common Tongue has changed over the years, Teredon. The name Gandalf has changed to Brendalin, and Saruman to Lonel, and many other meanings to different words.' Brendalin said, and Teredon nodded.
'Oh… That does make sense, but why did you not tell us of this before?' he asked, and Brendalin looked out the door of the cave.
'It was not supposed to be revealed until the time called for it, and now it does.' He said, and everyone fell silent.
The storm lasted the next two days, and Dweller finally spoke her mind.
'Brendalin, we have been here for four days. We must keep going on our journey, we must go, or it will be too late.' She said, and he nodded.
'You are right, I am afraid. We will leave tomorrow, and we mustn't stop until we are over the Pass. We have only half of it to go, we cannot stop now. The mountain cannot defeat us as it did before, Lonel must not be allowed to win.' He said, and everyone nodded, dreading the next day.