Chapter 14

'Come. Sauron's forces move quickly and they will be here before nightfall.'

Gandalf walked off in the direction of the boats. With a quick glance at each other, they all followed. Aragorn, who was still in shock of Gandalf's return, jogged to catch up to him. Piper wanted to hear what he was going to say so she kept close to him.

'You fell...', Aragorn muttered. 'In Khazad-Dum... Oh, we missed you so much. We have been so many places. You would have loved...'

Suddenly he silenced, remembering that Gandalf knew nothing of Piper and her sister's powers. But he was in for another surprise.

'I knew about the sister's powers long before you did Aragorn', he said pushing aside a tree branch. 'As soon as they joined us, I knew they had what I could never have. I also knew they were on our side.'

'Then why did you not trust them?'

Gandalf sighed.

'I have known people from our side to turn evil in a heartbeat. And you need not worry, Piper.'

He stopped and looked at her, a smile on his face.

'You made the right decision in letting the balrog take Gandalf the Grey. You were also right in letting the orc take the life of Boromir son of Denethor. Boromir is now in the halls of his forefathers and that is better than the pain he endured here.'

Piper looked up, a hope in her eyes.

'It also puts us in a position we need for one of our fellowship members.

He glanced at Aragorn.

'So Aragorn can become king', she said aloud.

'I cannot become king when my sword is in shatters back there in the clearing.'

'Well, it's not in the clearing any more, but it's still in pieces.'

Paige walked up to them, carrying a blanket that clanged like metal. She had obviously put the shatters in there for safe transport.

'I think I can fix it once we get to the boats.'

Aragorn nodded and they continued their walk down to the boats. When they reached them, the sun was beginning to set and their fire was nearly dead. Sam was able to get it burning again with a bit of dried grass and a few prods with a stick. While he was doing this, Paige gave Aragorn the blanket with the sword shatters and told him to set them together in the correct position. When he was done, everyone gathered around Paige, who was kneeling over the sword.

'Time for my Whitelighter powers to be a little useful', she muttered

She placed her hands just over the sword and began to chant.

'All that is gold does not glitter,

The strength of this man shall not wither.

Renew the sword that was once broken,

Let it now be Aragorn's token.'

As she said the spell, the palms of her hands began to glow with a pale blue light. When she had finished reciting the spell, the sword began to glow with the same light. The pieces moved together and as the broken edges met, they shone brighter still. The glowing blade met the hilt and then there was a bright flash of light. When everyone opened their eyes, they saw the sword was one piece, once again.

Aragorn stepped forward cautiously and picked the sword up. The sword was lighter then it had been before. He also felt strength flowing from the sword into him so he decided to test the sword. He brought the sword down on a tree branch the size of an arm and the blade sliced through it like a knife slices through warm butter.

'The Sword of the King has been re-forged', said Gandalf. 'For a second time I might add.'

Aragorn grinned.

'Now we must decide our next move', said Gandalf becoming serious. 'The chronological order Piper once knew has been thrown into chaos. Things will not go in the order she remembers, as she already knows by my sudden appearance. Aragorn, you are right. A creature we all know of is following you. Bilbo knows him too. It will not be long before he strikes and try's to take the Ring. We need to destroy it before the sun sets or all hope is lost.'

Suddenly, the three sisters sucked in a sharp breath and seized up. Everyone looked at them. Each sister was glowing in a different colour; Piper glowed with red, Phoebe yellow and Paige blue. In a moment, the glow disappeared.

'What the hell was that?' asked Piper

Paige threw up her hands in submission and a bird that had been flying overhead froze in mid-air. Paige glanced up at the bird and then looked at her sisters.

'Did I do that, and if I did, how?'

'I have a bad feeling about this...' muttered Phoebe.

'What?'

'Piper', Phoebe ordered. 'Call Frodo's blanket to you.'

'Have you hit your head or something? Paige is the one with that power, not me.'

'Yeah', said Paige. 'She has the freezing and blowing up powers.'

'Blowing up?' interrupted Aragorn. 'I thought it was just setting things on fire.

'Piper, just do it', said Phoebe.

Piper rolled her eyes and muttered something no one else heard. She drew back her sleeves and threw out her arms.

'Blanket.'

Frodo's blanket disappeared in a swirl of red orb lights, and reappeared in Piper's arms. Paige's eyes grew as round as saucers and Gandalf gave a loud exclamation.

'OK', said Phoebe getting up. 'We'll be back. Paige, orb us to Boromir's Clearing.'

Paige grabbed their hands and they disappeared. Aragorn glanced at Gandalf who was laughing and throwing wood on to the fire.

Gandalf: I have a feeling this is only the beginning of many surprises for today.

As soon as they became solid once more, they all noticed the orcs and Boromir's dead bodies. They tried to ignore them.

'We got a serious problem here', Piper exclaimed.

'No kidding', muttered Paige.

'Both of you need to learn how to control your freezing and blowing up powers. I don't want you guys blowing up an innocent squirrel. I'll...'

'Piper, we don't have time to master every power', said Paige. 'The main powers we should know how to control are freezing and orbing. We'll have to improvise the rest.

They practiced for about five minutes on orbing until they all had it mastered. Freezing took a little longer because it took more concentration and some of the sticks were accidentally blown up instead of frozen. They noticed when it came to orbing, Paige still orbed with blue colour orbs but Piper orbed with red and Phoebe orbed with yellow. Piper was able to master her telekinesis by summoning the sticks she was throwing for Phoebe and Paige back to her. Eventually, they orbed back to the fellowship to decide what to do.

'Well', said Sam when the Charmed Ones had returned. 'Mr. Frodo has to go to Mount Doom, no mistake, but he's not going anywhere without his Sam. You'll have to tie me up in a sack to stop me, you will.'

'Then get your sack comfy before we put you in it', said Aragorn. 'You're not coming with us.'

'Aragorn, we need to go to Gondor', said Gandalf. 'You cannot go to Mount Doom.'

'My sisters and I need to go', said Piper before Gandalf could said they couldn't go. 'We may need the power of three to protect Frodo before the end. Plus Sauron will be on the watch.'

'OK, that settles it', said Aragorn stubbornly. 'I'm going with you.'

'No', Piper said forcefully. 'We'll need you to distract him and his forces. Who better to lead an attack then the lost king of Gondor, King Elessar?'

'Hear, hear', muttered Thalion.

'All right', said Gandalf. 'Frodo and the sisters will go to Mount Doom. But on the way there we need to be left in Gondor to have Aragorn reclaim the throne and lead the attack. With luck, little of our blood will be spilt.'

'Piper and Paige can head to Mount Doom with Frodo', Phoebe suggested. 'I'll catch up a few seconds after that.'

Aragorn stood up.

'Piper, can I talk to you for a few minutes?'

Piper stood up and followed him into the forest. He led her out earshot of the others then rounded on her.

'I lost Gandalf in Moria and I was lucky he returned. I lost Boromir and that was hard on me. But the last thing I need is to hear that you and your sisters were killed on Mount Doom and the ring is in the hands of the Dark Lord. Please let me come with you and protect you all. I vowed I would protect Frodo by my life or death and I don't want to break that vow.'

'Well, you're going to break that vow because you're not coming with us. We can protect ourselves. If we need to we'll orb out and try again later.'

Aragorn stomped his foot in frustration.

'You don't understand Piper. I need to know your OK. I need to know that if you die, at least I did everything in my power to protect you.'

Aragorn took a deep breath and said the last thing Piper ever expected him to say to her.

'I love you.'