Part 8

Caranithilwen' is a monstrosity I just made up/ stole from another story. This chapter contains what some might call sacrilege. The Sue is out, run for your lives!

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They were sitting round a campfire. There was actually a *campfire*.

Ginny rubbed her hands and tried not to toast them on the meagre flames. It had taken three hours to light, and no, Gandalf couldn't use his magic, because that would be a waste, and only Sam had thought of bringing a tinderbox, but he was grumpy because he couldn't find his rope again.

Bill the pony grazed in a corner, while the Fellowship sat in a ring ate some of their meagre rations. Ginny, famished, devoured the last of her KitKat she had brought, while Pippin and Merry groped for some of the chocolate crumbs. They'd certainly developed a taste for it.

So here they were in Hollin, or Eregion, tired, hungry and depressed. What would Susie say? Thought Ginny, and couldn't help feeling a little smug. It had taken over a fortnight, but now they were finally here. Ginny was lucky. Thank god she had the bicycle and didn't have to walk. She had to wait for everyone to catch up now and then, but she loved watching the expression on their faces as they struggled. Sometimes she let one of the Hobbits ride on the back, for which they were very grateful, but she had to strap her violin case there always. The rest of her stuff she'd made a sort of wire basket for like on old-fashioned bikes, so they wouldn't fall off.

The fire spluttered, and Boromir tossed another branch on. Ginny's eyes narrowed. The woodpile was diminishing greatly in size. No, no one had thought of needing fuel for a fire, so it was up to Ginny and Sam and Merry and Pippin to find some wood. Only Aragorn (or Strider as he preferred to be called) helped in any way. No, you couldn't ask the Prince of Mirkwood get it, or a Lord of Gondor. Ask the Ringbearer to get it, and you got a wallop on the ear from the high and mighty maia-istar-wizard, who'd forbidden them from lighting any kind of fire for days. Thank god she had her blanket. The nights were cold, so cold. All she remembered was the icy wind. She had to huddle with a hobbit. Needless to say, she had not been sleeping well. Her face was pale, and she had shadows under her eyes. But even without the constant snoring, she probably couldn't sleep anyway. Sleeplessness came naturally to her. How she wished she had her lovely blue cotton-polyester-blend blue snugly duvet.

The men had tried to be considerate, and arranged her her own private places at night for her convenience and privacy, but she'd felt vulnerable and depressed by herself, away from the camp circle.

"Day is coming," said Gandalf. That meant they had stayed up all night. But how could you tell? It seemed all like one long day. Ginny had not washed or changed her clothes throughout (and had to clean her teeth with her finger). Her hair was matted and filthy so she decided away with the brush and tied it up into a ponytail. She knew she smelled. But she didn't care. The others were undoubtedly worse.

The horizon was a line of red fire. Ginny yawned.

Eregion was, without a doubt, easily the most boring place she had ever been to. It was impossible to imagine it as the former abode of Elves, especially Celebrimbor. It was just so . . . dull. And depressing. It seemed like a land empty of life.

Aragorn came down from the dell he had been standing in for over an hour (he had a tendency to do that a lot).

"What is the matter Strider?" cried one of the hobbits, "What are you looking for? Do you miss the east wind?"

"No indeed," he answered, "But I miss something. I have been in the country of Hollin in many seasons. No folk dwell here now, but many other creatures live here at all times, especially birds. Yet now all things are silent. There is no sound for miles, and your voices make the ground echo. I do not understand it."

Ah, this is where the crows arrive, thought Ginny to herself.

"Then we must be careful," said Gandalf. "If you bring a Ranger with you, it is well to pay attention to him, especially if that Ranger is Aragorn. We must stop talking now, rest quietly, and set the watch."

Trust Gandalf to stop all their fun.

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In the house of Elrond, Erestor was having a trying day. The guest room arranged for the dwarves were a mess, and guess to had to have it all cleaned up. That's right. He was definitely not in a good mood.

"Over there, those sheets must be removed." He pointed to a maid, who obeyed. Then he remembered that this was the room prepared for the strange but annoying girl Not From This World. She had left some of the things that she couldn't take along on the dressing table. They were mainly bits of junk, bus tickets, pieces of paper, and a very thick heavy book with soft, bright coloured covers. He picked it up with scorn.

Erestor couldn't read English, but if he could, he would have known that the letters on the front spelt 'Maths Is Fun!!!' However, he did identify the cartoon boy with mathematic symbols flying around his head.

It would amaze many people to know that even thousand of years ago, representations of numbers or amounts would still look the same as today. Such mind-boggling coincidences meant that elves could recognise the numbers one to ten; and mathematic symbols weren't that different from their own.

Erestor flipped through the bright inked pages dismissively, then he stopped at a chapter, headed: Algebra and the Uses of FOIL

His eyes widened.

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Ginny slept, soundly, for once. Sam was keeping watch, and Aragorn was accompanying him. She was warm, and her sleep was dreamless.

And then she woke up, to the sound of panic. The fire had been doused very quickly, the smoke spirals still twirled. Everyone seemed worried; Aragorn and Gandalf were discussing something with some distress.

". . . crebain out of Fangorn and Dunland. . ." she caught the words.

Oh. Was that all?

"We are being watched." He concluded.

"Well duh," said Ginny as sarcastically as she could, "Why don't we just go across Caradhras then?"

Gandalf stared at her for a moment. Then he said,

"Now there's an idea."

Ginny groaned and went back to sleep. The image of a palantir appeared briefly in her dozing, and an eyeball on fire gave a cameo.

*

Pippin had been most annoyed when they had told him that there were no more warm meals and that they were moving again by night, Ginny no less. For the rest of they day they hid in crevices and under sheltered skeleton bushes, and Ginny doodled in her notebooks, as spells of dark birds passed overhead in intervals. When the moon came out, they rose to leave, only to find another dark cloud covering the light briefly.

"It may be nothing." Said Gandalf, "only a wisp of thin cloud."

"It was moving fast then."

"And against the wind." Said Ginny, sighing. Let them get on with their storyline. She couldn't be bothered to put in the effort of changing anything anymore. She couldn't estimate how much weight she'd lost. Thighs trimmed, tighter paler cheeks, and no need for a bra anymore (though she never had anything to put in it in the first place), and she could play xylophone on her ribcage; this was quite the adventure.

On they walked, Ginny riding at snails pace on her bicycle, her violin strapped onto the back and her bag resting on the front. Gandalf led the way, talking to no one except Strider, and sometimes Frodo. In the rear was Legolas. Ginny doubted if ninety percent of them knew where they were actually going.

Before them stood the colossal mountain that had shadowed their way for days on end. Ah. It began to get bitterly cold, and Ginny's fingers were too numb to hold onto her handlebars, so she wrapped some woollen cloth around them to warm them up.

They camped once at the base of the mountain, and then headed for the snowy slopes. At the base of the mountain were the heavily wooded slopes, rugged and steep. Ginny struggled to ride. The path Gandalf chose was bumpy and coarse, and it was hard work. She was out of breath very quickly, and the air was clear, but sharp and cold, like vaporised oven cleaner.

And then it started snowing. At first, gently, and then heavier, until it was no more snow than white pumice.

When Ginny found out that she could no longer ride her bike up the icy slopes, she was mortified. The wheels kept slipping, and her vision was seriously impaired with all that snow flying about. Her glasses were freezing over, and she decided to put them away and do without. At least she could see better, even if everything looked like a painting out of Monet.

"You look much nicer without them," Sam assured her.

Gripping her thick cloak/blanket around her neck, she pushed the bike up the slopes. She was rather afraid the metal would rust, and then what would she do? She couldn't carry the bloody thing, with everything else she had. Boromir had advised them to carry a faggot of wood each for a fire, and she wished they would light one. To feel that toasty warmth now would be bliss.

"I wonder if this is a contrivance of the Enemy," started Boromir.

"You mean Saruman?" said Ginny without thinking. The tall man stared at her.

"Nay, you are mistaken. I was speaking of the Dark Lord."

"But the snow is being caused by Saruman."

Boromir gave a sharp swift laugh. The others joined in briefly and unenthusiastically.

"Saruman is none of our concern, yet. We have only one common enemy. And that is Sauron."

"And his arm has grown long indeed if he can draw snow down from the north to trouble us here three hundred leagues away." Laughed Gimli.

Gandalf did not laugh.

"His arm has grown long." He said.

Ginny sighed and slumped down on the dusty earth floor and resolutely refused to get up. Almost instantly, the wind died.

"I'm *tired*." She whined, "I haven't eaten in ages."

Pippin instantly seized the opportunity to sit down with her. He knew what it was like to lag behind and have to try and keep up. Merry sighed, and joined his friend in the sit-in. Eventually everyone had to relent to a rest. Pippin cheered immediately, but Ginny could see that he had grown thinner too. She mentally resolved to carry him on her Raleigh whenever she could.

After all, it's hard when you're a *very* small hobbit.

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Standing in the small backyard lawn of number 67, Adenell road, Susie muttered to herself. It was a good thing it was dark, or the neighbours may have been wondering why the girl next door was out in the middle of the night in a powder blue bridesmaid dress with crinoline (though in the dark - who could tell?), a scabbard at her waist, a quiver on her back and a wooden bow in her hand.

Closer inspection would reveal that her face was heavily powdered with iridescent opalescent glitter stuffs and her hair was adorned with so many jewels and clips it brought to mind the words: Wig and Hullabaloo. At her neck glistened something so tacky Celebrimbor might have invented it. It claimed to be a diamond necklace, but those with sense, and perhaps taste, would have instantly known otherwise. She had stuck something skin coloured and gelatinous to her ears to try and make them look pointy, and failing miserably. Silver shaded contact lenses were stuck on her eyeballs to try and make them sparkle more, and that shade of lipstick was not doing her any favours.

She was also practising her voice, singing something that Enya would probably vomit with rage at.

And she also had a checklist.

"Full moon . . ." she muttered, looking up at the sky," . . . check."

She glanced at her watch, which flashed 23:57, "Midnight . . . check; Carriage dress, check; Chain mail bikini . . . check. Magical Elven Blessed Sword . . . check. Magical Elven Blessed Bow . . . check. Arrows . . . check. Magical Elven Blessed Pendant with Diamond . . . check. Changes of underwear . . . check. Hairbrush . . . check. Magical mirror . . . check. Magical familiar/animal/pet." She nudged the wrapped bundle on the ground with her foot,

"Everything's here."

"Good." Said a voice belonging to LaRose, "Now drink it, and concentrate on Middle Earth and getting there to exactly where the Fellowship are, and also dragging back the other girl to her rightful world. And remember, save some! This will be your course back when you finish your trip. The drink will take you to Middle Earth easily, but something must be exchanged. Be absolutely careful what goes through your thoughts, you don't want to think about pink elephants, lest one fall in your backyard, or even crush Gandalf as it falls on top of him. You must only concentrate on getting there, and getting the other girl back. No one else."

"Ginny, I know. I concentrate on her coming back here, and me taking her place and no one else. Can we go now?"

"Wait! It must strike midnight first!"

"Why not now?"

"Because of Drama. There is no point appearing magically *anywhere* unless you do it at the correct time. No person in his or her right mind would appear at eleven twenty seven at a waning moon. You need *light*, you need a full moon. And everything must happen at midnight."

"Must be an hour for busy things."

"Hm." Said LaRose cuttingly "I leave you now." And then she was gone. She could at least leave a puff of smoke, Susie thought.

Shaking, she took the small glowing bottle gently in her fingers, breathing heavily. So this was it. All those archery and elvish lessons had paid off. She was going to claim her Destiny at long last.

She closed her eyes and thought immediately of him, the blond Elf that she knew to be the son of Thranduil and her destined lover. The bottle was held to her lips and she gulped half of the violet liquid.

A wave of icy blast hit her in the throat, as if she'd swallowed volcanic ice cubes. Thoughts and images rushed through her head like a bullet through water: She concentrated on Middle Earth and images of the Fellowship, placing herself among them; but then the images came back -- she saw her love, the blond Elf that was Legolas.

But no.

She strayed too long on him. She saw him in front of her right now.

And then she saw snow.

The earth moved.

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Snow came suddenly tumbling down in the Fellowship in a massive heap as they walked, smothering and crushing them to the ground. Ginny screamed, but it was muffled with the sheer weight of ice. The breath was squeezed out of her. For a moment, the ten travellers lay submerged in a load of snow.

Then out of the pile, Legolas' head appeared first. He shook free his mane of unspoilt hair and clambered up to safety. More heads emerged, Aragorn, Gandalf, Boromir, and they assisted in the searching of the hobbits, and Ginny.

Ginny couldn't breathe - she was numb with cold. She couldn't open her eyes because the snow around her face made her blink. But there was the sound of scrambling, and then a warm hand touched her shoulder. Then grabbed it and pulled her through the thick layer of blanketing flurry.

"Bloody Crap!" She screamed as she reached the surface. She never quite got the hang of proper swearing.

"Save your breath," said the gruff voice of Gimli, "We've yet to find Frodo."

Sam was hauled out, gasping for air. He ducked down and then a moment later, his master appeared, in the same state. Relief rolled off Gandalf in waves. The hobbit was dazed to be alive, his hair was sopping wet, and he struggled with his shirt's top button, undoing it to let himself breathe.

Ginny's eyes were drawn to his neck: there was nothing there. And then Boromir bent down in the snow and picked up something.

The One Ring to Rule Them All.

It was amazing how she had never noticed it before -- at the Council, it had long been put away before she'd even arrived, but it appealed to her like nothing she'd ever known. It was chocolate, it was money, it was CDs -- it was everything she'd ever wanted . . . it was Power, dangling so innocently on one thin chain. She herself was *lusting* for it.

And she could tell she wasn't the only one.

Aragorn was swallowing hard when he told Boromir to return the object - his eyes never left it. Ginny was silent throughout, but she couldn't stop thinking about it afterwards.

As they camped that night, letting themselves rest and dry out a bit at least, she asked Legolas about it.

"Do not think it says nothing to me." He replied, "It calls to all of us, more to some than others, but no one is safe from its seduction. I have been valiant against it, but it eats away at you when you least suspect. I would give my life for this quest; I have put too much into it to let it fail now by my own weaknesses. I have pledged my bow and I will not fail, and even if I do, then it shall not be in vain, and no one should suffer because of my deeds. The quest will continue, even if I should die in the process."

"Sounds to me like you're planning to be a martyr."

"What is that?"

"Well, it's like you're sacrificing yourself for the good of mankind, elfkind even. It's very noble and all, but very, very stupid. Know what I mean?"

"I . . . think so."

"It doesn't matter anyway. You'll survive the quest and go to Valinor, despite what you think Galadriel is saying to you." And then Ginny went to relieve herself, answer the call of nature if you like. Oh, you know what I mean. Very inconvenient because of the lack of bushes, obviously.

"What did she-?" called Legolas.

And then:

There was a 'thud' sound, as if something had just fallen through the air.

"Ow."

"Susie?!" Ginny shrieked, running out from behind the clump of mossy rocks.

"Bitchface?!" Susie rubbed her arms, "Shit is it cold!" Ginny chose to ignore the first comment. The two girls stood up out of the rocks.

"What is going on there?" cried Strider, and then he saw Susie in her powder blue carriage gown and her array of weapons hanging off her person.

"Who - what are you?!"

Susie smiled.

"I'm Susie, but *you* can call me Caranithilwendiriel!" her voice rang bells. Wedding bells.

The Fellowship were coming forward, even Gandalf.

"Gin, how did you bring her here?" his voice was stern. Come to think of it, his voice was always stern. It was any sterner, you could have used him as a screwdriver.

"I didn't-" Susie stepped forward elegantly.

"No, I brought myself. I've come to claim my Destiny, and I shall lead you all to Freedom and Salvation!" She raised her magnificent sword in the frozen air and stuck a magnificent pose. Light glinted off her shining hair, reflecting from the blade.

There was silence. If there were crickets, they would have chirped.

"You?" said Sam, "You're nothing but a girl!" Susie ruffled her dress.

"Be it so, O short one, but I could beat all of you in battle - together!!" She pointed to Aragorn and Boromir. They would have replied, if their mouths hadn't frozen open.

"Susie!" Ginny tried again, "How on earth did you get here? The portal disappeared!"

Susie wrinkled her nose at Ginny.

"What is that smell?!"

"Er, me, probably. I haven't changed my socks in a week." Her cheeks flushed bright pink.

"Dude! There's a thing called deodorant you know!"

"Well I couldn't take it along with all the other things I'm carrying."

"What, are we on Everest or something?"

She looked around the scene, and then stared scrutinising at Aragorn and Boromir.

"Gees, have you ever heard of a thing called a razor? You don't wanna end up like Gandy-man, do you?" Gandalf humphed loudly.

And then Gimli ran forward.

"Don't mean to alarm you all, and you two young ladies there, but has anyone seen Legolas? He's disappeared! His bow is still here!"

It was lying on a boulder. Its owner was nowhere to be seen.

All eyes were on Susie.

"Damn!" She yelped, her hands flying to her mouth, dropping the glass vial that she was holding.

Several seconds later heralded the sound of tinkling glass as it broke into pieces. The bottle's contents lay condensing on rocks and snow.

Susie looked down tearfully.

"Double damn!"

***

How do you like this chapter? I'm not quite sure of it. If there's anything you think I should change about it, tell me.

Oh, and thank you: Merrylyn, Lady Moon3, Gen Eveningstar, Daisy, Sharkey, sugaricing, arwentheelf02, Hiro-tyre, Linda13, Zero's Concubine, ElsahirErestar, diane, Blablover5, Yugure for supporting me while writing this, reviews make it all worthwhile; and anyone else I may have missed who read this and didn't review you know who you are.