Chapter 8: A Little family History
"Father!" Drogo burst through the front door with Aubrey right behind him. They were both out of breath and in desperate need on water.
"Drogo calm down."
"There are orcs in the shire."
"What?"
"It's true, Frodo. They were at leaf bed. I think they're after me," Aubrey showed the look of worry on her face.
Both of them turned toward her, "Why?"
"I got a feeling. I can't explain it; it was like reading their minds. They're after me . . . and they'll do anything to get me. I have something they want." Drogo's face went to worry and looked toward his father.
"Gandalf was right," Frodo said.
***
Gandalf walked through the piles and mountains of books, hoping to find the information he seeks. So much time had already passed, and he had feared that maybe too much time. "Ah here it is," he grabbed a book with a white cover and sat down by a small desk in a dimly lit corner. He waved his hand over the cover and gold lettering appeared on the cover. 'Lost Pieces of Power and Their Holders' Gandalf opened the book and flipped page after page until he reached a section that caught his eye. He kept his eyes glued on the pages until he found a picture of the next page, "It can't be."
***
Aubrey laid on the bed in her room, looking at the ceiling hoping beyond all hopes that this was not happening to her. It was all a bad dream. 'But is it all a bad? Is that what I really want? For all this to be a dream?' She looked at some flowers that Drogo had picked for her that were next to her bed and looked at herself in the mirror. 'I'm Aubrey Cander. I can't change that. I can't change the things that life throws at me; I have to take them as they come. I can't change where I am now. I can't change what I am now. And I can't leave Drogo and the others. They are my friends and family now.'
She looked in the reflection of herself in the eyes, "What I said to Kate was true. What is done is done. I know that at one time I was human. But now I'm a hobbitlass. I know that at one time I had my own family, but now I have a new family. And that's how it's going to stay. I've made my decision. This is where I'm going to stay. I'm sorry mother, forgive me. I have chosen to be now and forever a hobbitlass in the Shire."
Suddenly the amulet started to glow and Aubrey felt like she was being washed over with warm water. The light faded and she looked at it in her palm, "Something's strange about this amulet that you didn't tell me about mother. But I will find out what it is." Aubrey looked past the amulet and looked closely at her hand. Her hand had a major burn mark, "My burn's back. Why after so long? Why now?" She touched the mark with her other hand, and it slowly started to shrink into nothing.
She was about to place the amulet in her pocket, but almost dropped it when the pain in her head started again. She slowly tried to concentrate, and finally overcame the pain. It wasn't trying to hurt her; it was trying to warn her of danger. She placed the amulet around her neck, and tucked it under the top of her dress. Something was nagging at her from the back of her skull, something that wasn't going away . . . the warning.
Then out from the den Aubrey heard furniture being turned over and the glass being broken. "No, they couldn't have," she jumped from the bed and hurried to the door of the room. As soon as she opened the door an orc stood in her way she backed away a little with the surprise and odor of the orc's presence.
"Going somewhere?" he grabbed her wrist and dragged her out to the den where both Drogo and Frodo stood behind two other orcs. They both were confused and frightened, but at the same time she could see the anger that radiated from their facial expression. As soon as Drogo saw her, his face also took the look of worry. She winked at him and tried to give at least a small smile to tell him that she wasn't hurt. She didn't think that the message got a across as Drogo's worry kept growing on his face. The orc holding her threw her down to the floor and held a jagged knife to her back. Aubrey gave out a loud gasp as she felt the sharp point held to her back.
"Aubrey!" Drogo stepped forward and then was hit in the stomach by one of the orcs standing by.
Aubrey watched as he sank to the floor, "Drogo!" She looked up at the orc that hit him, "Don't you dare hurt him again!" The orc above her took her by the hair and held a knife at her throat. Aubrey tried to pry his arm away from around her, but he was just too strong. She stayed on her knees, struggling against both the strong smell and the strong muscle that held the knife in place.
He turned to the other two hobbits, "Now, I'll ask you all. Where is the jewel?"
"We have told you," said Frodo as he helped up Drogo from the ground, "We have no jewels here. Please leave the young lass alone."
The orc holding Aubrey was growing impatient and held the blade even closer to Aubrey's throat, "Tell me or the girl dies!" Aubrey let a small noise of fear escape her lips. She was scared of death, but even more scared about what the orcs might do to Drogo and Frodo after they kill her. Will they torture them for fun and kill them in a slow painful death in the end. She couldn't allow that as she tried to struggle with in the orc's grasp.
"Please don't," Drogo pleaded as he struggled to regain his balance, "She knows nothing. Don't hurt her."
Aubrey stopped struggling to watch Drogo try to stand up straight. She felt her heart break . . . why were they doing this to them? If they want her just take her, but don't punish Drogo. She wanted to run to his side, to hold him and just be reassured that everything was all right, as he did only the night before.
She closed her eyes, "Why can't everything be alright?"
"You have something we want. Give it to us and we will let you live in your new form and let you live here. But we want the jewel now!"
"You didn't give me this form . . . It wasn't up to you that I am a hobbit."
"You're no hobbit. You're a human girl, placed in a world that is unfamiliar to you and scares you in the night. One who doesn't know what is going on . . . a girl with a price on her neck, but doesn't know why," he picks up her right hand, "The mark should be back since we are clos- Where is the mark? Where is the burn?"
"The burn is no longer there," a deep voice came from the busted doorway, "She has chosen her destiny, which means that you will never get the Jewel of Sorion."
"So the wizard returns."
"Gandalf!" Drogo smiled.
"Let the girl go," Gandalf stared at the orc down from the doorway.
"Not until we get what we came for," he signed the other two orcs to attack, but Gandalf hit them both with spells causing them to fly back into the wall. He entered the hole and started to step toward the one holding Aubrey.
"One more step wizard and I will slit her throat."
Gandalf stopped and thought for a moment. A smirk appeared on his face and proceeded forward, like the threat meant nothing to him. The orc took the blade and held it tight on one side of Aubrey's neck and quickly ran it across.
"Aubrey!" Drogo desperately tried to escape his father's grasp, "No!" Frodo held his son around the waist desperately as he saw Aubrey's body hit his floor. He too couldn't stand the sight, but had to hold on to his son, or he might lose both of them. He couldn't lose all three of them. His wife, the young lass and his son. He had to keep his grip on him.
Aubrey fell to the floor in a heap, motionless. The orc looked down at her and smiled at his handy work. He then looked up at the wizard who was now looming over him. Gandalf cast a spell that threw him out the door and across the shire until he was out of sight. Gandalf looked out the door as the other orcs raced away after their defeated leader.
"Let me go!" Drogo finally pried himself from his father's grasp and hurried to Aubrey's side. Frodo collapsed to the ground next to the fireplace, unable to believe that she was gone. The young, lively young girl that had so much insight and imagination, how can she have left as she had arrived? With no warning . . . with no thought to how it had happened.
Drogo held her in his arms to look at the damage. But as he turned her over there was no wound. She opened her eyes and Drogo saw they were glowing with the light of her amulet. The light soon faded and he looked into her eyes. He took her face in his hands, "Aubrey, you're alive." Frodo looked up from his position by the fireplace and took his face from his hands. He looked over at his son to see that he was right. She had indeed survived the blade.
She looked at Drogo and saw the tears in his eyes. She jumped into his arms, "I was so scared they were going to hurt you, Drogo."
"Aubrey, I'm more worried about you. And with one move . . ." he tightened his grip on her, "I thought I lost you." He held tightly to her, clutching her hair in his hand and burying his face in her wild, uncombed hair. She held on to him tightly and placed her head on his chest.
He put his chin on the top of her head and looked over at Gandalf, "What is this all about, Gandalf? Why didn't you try to save her?"
"I didn't need to Drogo. The amulet around her neck saved her." He sat down in one of the small chairs next to them, "Aubrey, you know whom you are don't you?"
Aubrey looked up from Drogo and stared at Gandalf, "I'm Aubrey Cander. And with everything that is going on around me, that is the only thing that I know is for sure."
"Do you know your history?"
"What history?"
"You are the last living relative in all of Middle Earth of Sorion Cander, the only elf known to last have the most powerful jewel in existence. And I now believe that you have it."
"Me? An elf?"
"You're not just a hobbit . . . or a human . . . you're elf royalty." Aubrey stood up with awe and confusion. First she was human for the most of her life, then she came here and she's a hobbit . . . and now she's elf royalty?
"I don't understand Gandalf."
"I'm not very clear on this either, Gandalf," said Frodo, speaking up from the side of the room finally standing up once more, "I knew of Sorion, but I never knew . . . I would have never thought that Aubrey . . ."
"Let me start from the beginning . . .
"Thousands of centuries ago, even before the ring was forged, there was another priceless object of power. Guarded by the elves named Cander. They ruled over Rivendell and most of Middle Earth. But only one heir was to take the throne of power. A young elf named Sorion, the sole guardian of the jewel of power. But this is not where the tale begins.
"It begins here, in the Shire. There was a hobbit family, with one daughter. She was the kind that wanted adventure and excitement. So, she left to find her adventure in the surrounding forests. For months she lived by her wits, dodging wolves and goblins, keeping up her search for adventure. Never knowing that her search was coming to an end.
"One day, while at the creek taking a drink, she saw a reflection of someone behind her. She turned and saw young elf. He introduced himself as Sorion Cander of Rivendell. She felt safe with the young elf and introduced herself as Hanna Shielding of the Shire."
Aubrey thought to herself, 'That's my mother's maiden name.'
Gandalf continued, "After a few weeks they became close friends . . . and eventually to something more then that. She never knew who he really was; she never knew that he was the sole heir to the throne of power. She didn't care. As far as she was concerned she was in love with the only one she could love.
"One night when he came to see her, he brought a present. The one thing that was almost as precious to him as she was. An amulet, with a blue jewel surrounded by gold roots. He promised that he would be with her for all eternity. He gave up his immortality to be with her. He then took the hobbit lass to his home in Rivendell. Only then did Hanna realize who he really was.
"As soon as his parents set eyes on her, they disapproved of her. She wasn't elf and wasn't good enough for the keeper of the jewel of power. He argued that it didn't matter what she was, he loved her for her. But his parents wouldn't hear any of it. That night he ran from his home with Hanna by his side. They ran deep into the forest where he found a pool of magic qualities. They both gathered their courage and jumped into the pool, never to be heard from again."
"That is very romantic, but I think that the time line is really off."
"Why do you say that?"
"The hobbit lass . . . it is the same name as my mother's maiden name."
"But that can't be . . . it happened thousands, upon thousands of years ago," said Drogo.
"Not unless when they were transported to your world, they also transported through time. None of the less, you are the last descendent of Sorion Cander. And if he is your father, he should still be alive."
"Not necessarily," said Aubrey, "He died of a disease before I was two; my mother raised me all my life. And now she has the same disease and may die as well."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Sorion Cander was the last of his line. But now you are here to carry out his work."
"Whoa, slow down. Finish out his work? What would that be?"
"To guard the jewel and take back the throne of Rivendell."
"But what about the Elrond? And the elves, haven't they all gone to the Undying Lands?"
"Most of the elves have, yes. But the others need you, Aubrey. Elrond only took control because there were no more heirs to the Cander name. You, Aubrey, are the true and only heir to the throne. Possibly to all of Middle Earth."
"It still doesn't make sense . . . everyone, including my parents, were human. But when I came here I turned into a hobbit."
"When the orcs had you, did they do anything to you?" Aubrey shut her eyes; she didn't want to remember her time in the orcs grip. The constant screaming coming from outside her cell. The fire pit that she has dwelled on for almost every night, wishing that she had found a way some how to stop all of it from happening. "I know it is hard, but you have to remember."
"Before they were going to throw me into the pit," Aubrey said with great difficulty, "they had all the human girls place their hands on a kind of hot plate."
"You mean like a big sheet of metal?"
"Yeah, and after I put my hand on the plate I felt different."
"No wonder, the orcs got them from the wreckage washed away from Suraman's tower," Gandalf started to pace about the room, "They must have also found something to transport them from Middle Earth to your world, Aubrey."
"So you're telling me that I'm a hobbit because of magic?"
"No, not at all. Those 'hot plates' as you called them are plates that are designed to show your true form."
"My true form?"
"Let me explain it this way: If you were born here, in Middle Earth, the plate transformed you into that creature. In your case you would have been a hobbit . . . well, mostly, anyway."
"That explains why Mandy was an elf before she died and not a human like when I first met her. So, when my parents came to Earth, they were turned human to live with in that world. Am I right?"
"Correct."
"Now things are making sense," she took her amulet into her hand, "At least most things."
"You have a great responsibility, lass. As long as you protect the jewel, the spirit of your parents will be with you, protecting you through the power of the jewel."
Aubrey felt new warmth radiate from with in. Aubrey stood motionless, looking into the deep color of the blue jewel surrounded by the roots. "How can I be all this?"
"No one knows how these things come to be, but you are the one to take the place of power. For the sake of Middle Earth."