A/N; This is again not mine, except parts where Aluula is prominently featured. This is the third chapter only, I know the last one was chapter one and two, but I wanted to get another chapter up. Many thanks to Kira for her review, and for all of you who aren't reviewing, if you're reading please give me a review, even if it's only a line or two. Again, English translations of Elvish are in«».
Chapter 3:The Mountain
"Well if that isn't a plague and a nuisance!" Pippin said. He had just been told that we were to have no fire and were moving again by nightfall, and was none to happy about it. "All because of a pack of crows! I had looked forward to a real good meal tonight: something hot."
"Well you may go on looking forward," said Gandalf. "There may be many unexpected feasts ahead for you. For myself I should like a pipe to smoke in comfort, and warmer feet. However, we are certain of one thing at any rate: it will get warmer as we get south."
"Too warm, I shouldn't wonder," Sam said to Frodo, in a voice that he probably thought was too quiet to hear. He, however, hadn't reckoned with the remarkable hearing of elves. "But I'm beginning to think it's time we got a sight of that Fiery Mountain, and saw the end of the road, so to speak. I thought at first that this here Redhorn, or whatever its name is, might be it, till Gimli spoke his piece. A fair jaw-cracker dwarf-language must be!" I stifled my giggle just barely, and by the gleam in Legolas' eye, he had heard the humorous conversation as well. Caradhras bore no similarity to Orodruin but for the fact that they were both mountains.
The late afternoon Sun westered slowly, and we waited through the long time in hiding. Crebain would pass over from time to time, but finally, as the Sun grew red in the sky, they flew southwards and did not return. At dusk we finally set out, and turned slightly eastwards, heading towards Caradhras. As the sky darkened the white stars came forth, lighting our way. I sang a star song under my breath welcoming them.
Aragorn led us along the ancient road that had once led from Hollin to the pass. The full Moon rose, lighting our path with a pale light. The stones on either side of the path laid in ruin, though I knew that once they had been worked by hands more skilled than any could imagine. We walked on through the night, as we had done so many times before. The hour before dawn broke, and I felt a shadow pass overhead. Judging by the whispers, Frodo, Gandalf, and Aragorn had felt it as well, and did not know what it was. I shivered, not from the cold, but from fear. I knew what it was, but they didn't need to. Not yet, at least.
The remainder of the night passed uneventful, and the Sun rose as bright as ever to banish shadows from the mind. The weather, however, had taken a turn for the worse, and I could feel the chill return to the air. We marched on for two more nights, climbing steadily upwards as we wound our way between foothills. The came at us now from the north-east, and the days seemed dark. On the third morning we stood with Caradhras directly in front of us, a stony peak tipped with ice. Gandalf sniffed the air, then turned to Aragorn. Neither noticed me coming up behind them.
"Winter deepens behind us," Gandalf said quietly to Aragorn. "The heights away north are whiter than they were; snow is lying far down their shoulders. Tonight we shall be on our way high up towards the Redhorn Gate. We may well be seen by watchers on that narrow path, and waylaid by some evil; but the weather may prove a more deadly enemy than any. What do you think of your course now, Aragorn?"
I could not make heads nor tails of their conversation, but it was obvious that they were continuing some discussion that they had begun earlier. Neither of them noticed Frodo come up.
"I think no good of our course from beginning to end, as you know well, Gandalf," Aragorn answered. "And perils known and unknown will grow as we go on. But we must go on; and it is no good delaying the passage of the mountains. Further south there are no passes, till one comes to the Gap of Rohan. I do not trust that way since your news of Saruman. Who knows which side now the marshals of the Horse-lords serve?"
"Who knows indeed!" said Gandalf. I shifted uncomfortably. "But there is another way, and not by the pass of Caradhras: the dark and secret way that we have spoken of."
"But let us not speak of it again! Not yet. Say nothing to the others, I beg, not until it is plain that there is no other way."
"We must decide before we go further," Gandalf replied.
"Then let us weigh the matter in our minds, while the others rest and sleep," Aragorn said. They broke apart, leaving me to think about their words. Of a sudden I understood the meaning of what they had been saying, and where the other path was. I began to shiver from fear.
"What is it?" Legolas asked, coming up behind me.
"Gandalf would have us walk through the shadow," I replied, my voice shaking.
"What?" he asked.
"Ro umuva kel a'Moria," I said, checking that those nearby were only those who would not understand my words. «He would go to Moria»
"Why would he wish for that?" he asked.
"He feels that it is safer than our current route," I replied. Legolas shook his head, but said nothing more. We rejoined the others and found ourselves a place to rest for the day.
Late that afternoon Legolas and I sat together, eating our breakfast and looking at Caradhras. The mountain's sides had become dark and grey cloud wreathed its point. Gandalf and Aragorn separated themselves from the Company and went to stand a fair distance away. They spoke together for a while, obviously continuing their debate. They came to a decision and returned to the group.
"From signs that we have seen lately," Gandalf said to us, "I fear that the Redhorn Gate maybe watched; and also I have doubts of the weather that is coming up behind. We must go with all the speed that we can. Even so it will take us more than two marches before we reach the top of the pass. Dark will come early this evening. We mist leave as soon as you can get ready."
"I will add a word of advice, if I may," Boromir said. "I was born under the shadow of the White Mountains and know something of journeys in the high places. We shall meet bitter cold, if no worse, before we come down on the other side. It will not help us to keep so secret that we are frozen to death. When we leave here, where there are still a few trees and bushes, each of us should carry a faggot of wood, as large as he can bear."
"And Bill could take a bit more, couldn't you lad?" Sam said to the pony, who looked at him mournfully.
"Very well," Gandalf said. "But we must not use the wood-not unless it is a choice between fire and death."
"A choice 'twixt fire and death would be no choice at all," I murmured to Legolas. He nodded in acknowledgement and we followed the others out of our hiding place and back onto the path leading to the pass.
We made good time at first, our travel hardened bodies falling easily into the stride we had become used to. Soon, however, the path became steep, and was far more difficult for us to traverse. It began to disappear in places and was occasionally blocked by great fallen stones. The night grew dark with the coming of heavy clouds and a bitter wind began to blow. By midnight we had reached the knees of the great mountain and were flanked on one side by a sheer cliff and a deep ravine on the other. Halting for a moment to allow the hobbits a short rest, we stood about in the darkness. My sharp eyes caught a faint flutter of light, and tracking it with my eyes, I realised that it was snow.
The snow fell slowly and gently at first, settling on our clothing in clumps, but was soon falling quickly, limiting even the sharpest of visions. As we continued on our way, the fall continued to increase until it became almost impossible to see those more than five or ten paces ahead.
"I don't like this at all," said Sam, his voice drifting back on the silent air. "Snow's all right on a fine morning, but I like to be in bed when it's falling. I wish this lot would go off to Hobbiton! Folk might welcome it there." Heedless of his words, the snow continued to fall, settling on our heads and shoulders and reaching up to our ankles when we stepped. Gandalf halted all of a sudden.
"This is what I feared," he said, turning. "What do you say now, Aragorn?"
"That I feared it too," the Man replied, "but less than other things. I knew the risk of snow, though it seldom falls heavily so far south, save high up in the mountains. But we are not high yet; we are still far down, where the paths are usually open all the winter."
"I wonder if this is a contrivance of the enemy," Boromir said, his brow wrinkled. "They say in my land that he can govern the storms in the Mountains of Shadow that stand upon the borders of Mordor. He has strange powers and many allies."
"His arm has grown long indeed if he can draw snow down from the North to trouble us here three hundred leagues away," said Gimli, partly to the Man, partly to the rest of us.
"His arm has grown long," Gandalf replied.
"The snow had almost halted as we spoke, and we took advantage of the lull by forging ahead. We had travelled little more than a furlong before the snow returned, and with it a fierce wind, turning the night into a blizzard. Eerie noises floated in on the wind, causing the entire group to stop as we all heard them at the same time. Stones began to fall from the slopes above, crashing down very near the path.
"We cannot go further tonight," Boromir cried above the howling wind. "Let those call it the wind who will; there are fell voices on the air; and these stones are aimed at us."
"I do call it the wind," Aragorn called back. "But that does not make what you say untrue. There are many evil and unfriendly things in the world that have little love for those that go on two legs, and yet are not in league with Sauron, but have purposes of their own. Some have been in this world longer than he."
"Caradhras was called the Cruel, and had an ill name long years ago, when rumour of Sauron had not been heard in these lands," said Gimli.
"It matters little who is the enemy, if we cannot beat off his attack," Gandalf said to the dwarf.
"But what can we do?" Pippin asked, his voice miserable. He was huddling in a group with the other hobbits, shivering.
"Either stop where we are, or go back," Gandalf told him. "It is no good going on. Only a little higher, if I remember rightly, this path leaves the cliff and runs unto a wide shallow trough at the bottom of a long hard slope. We should have no shelter there from snow, or stones-or anything else."
"And it is no good going back while the storm holds," said Aragorn. "We have passed no place on the way up that offered more shelter than this cliff-wall we are under now." We huddled together in the scant protection of the cliff, hoping that it would keep off the worst of the wind and stones. Even so, the wind cut around the mountain, coming at us from every direction and bringing more snow.
Bill the pony had been put in front of the hobbits to keep the worst from them, but soon they were being slowly buried. If they had been alone they would never have survived. Boromir plucked Frodo from his cocoon of snow and shook him awake as gently as possible.
"This will be the death of the halflings, Gandalf," he told the wizard. "It is useless to here until the snow goes over our heads. We must do something to save ourselves."
"Give them this," Gandalf said, handing him a leathern flask he pulled from his pack. "Just a mouthful each-for all of us. It is very precious. It is miruvor, the cordial of Imladris. Elrond himself gave it to me at our parting. Pass it round!" We did so, each taking a careful sip before passing it on. When it came to is, both Legolas and I took half-sips, knowing that the others needed it more. We found renewed vigour for a while as the liquor ran through our veins.
"What do you say to fire?" Boromir asked suddenly. "The choice seems near now between fire and death, Gandalf. Doubtless we shall be hidden from all unfriendly eyes when the snow has covered us, but that will not help us."
"You may make a fire, if you can," Gandalf said. "If there are any watchers that can endure this storm, then they can see us, fire or no." We all pulled out the wood and kindling that we had brought, but it proved to be past any of our abilities to strike a flame that would hold or even catch. Gandalf finally took a hand; picking up a piece of wood, he held it aloft and spoke the command naur an edraith amen. He thrust the end of his staff into the wood and at once blue and green fire sprang out, setting the wood aflame.
"If there are any to see, then I at least am revealed to them," he told us. "I have written Gandalf is here in signs that all can read from Rivendell to the mouths of the Anduin." Only Legolas and I paid him any heed, the others cared no more for watchers. We were all happy to see the light of the fire as we crowded round to warm our hands. The fire lit our faces and hearts, but the wood was burning fast and the snow was yet falling.
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A/N; Wow, is it just me, or was that chapter longer than the others? Meh....I dunno....but it was fun!!! Hope you enjoy!!!