Chapter 14:
All of the Fellowship had noticed that Zefron was much quieter than usual and nearly never sleeping at all, always taking watch whenever he could and always looking around with a nervous aura. Sometimes Legolas would fake sleep to listen to the young elf talk to his horse… that which he did very often.
"It will not be safe for us to go near the Lady of the Light Templa. She knows or will know soon." whispered Zefron to his horse while stroking her neck and large, black wings. Suddenly a violent wind blew throughout all of Middle Earth, nearly knocking Zefron over. Templa seemed to sense something within the wind and started to go crazy, jumping up and down and running all around the camp.
"What is happening?!" yelled Aragorn getting up, the rest of the Fellowship also waking up and looking around in wonder. Zefron looked in the direction of which was the origin of the strong wind and seemed to know what was going on. Quickly grabbing his staff, he ran over to the edge of the cliff with his staff at his left side and his right hand stretched out against the wind.
"What is he doing?" asked/yelled Frodo to Legolas who was beside him looking at Zefron as he was being consumed in a greenish mist.
"I do not know." was the reply Frodo got from Legolas. The green mist floated above Zefron for a few seconds before floating in the direction of Mordor, which was where the source of the wind was. Boromir looked at Zefron in confusion, then suddenly realized what was happening… Zefron was telling Sauron where the one ring was!
Suddenly Zefron dropped his staff on the ground beside him and whispered something barely audible too even Legolas' keen ears. "Alive…"
"NO!" yelled Boromir lunging at the tall elf, Zefron turned around just in time to see Boromir before he tackled him to the ground.
"What are you doing!" yelled Zefron trying to twist out from under Boromir to reach his staff before Boromir did something he would regret greatly. Unfortunately for him though, Boromir saw this and threw the staff farther away from Zefron' reach. And for some dense reason the rest of the Fellowship just stood there, watching the two of them fight on the ground.
"You must die now you traitor." said Boromir as the wind died down. Zefron stopped struggling and looked Boromir straight in the eye… well for Zefron yes, for Boromir he was looking at Zefron' robe.
"I am no traitor." Said Zefron coldly before shoving Boromir off of him and walking over and picking up his staff.
"We should start heading for the woods of Lothlórien now," said Aragorn helping Boromir up from the ground. Everyone nodded and started to pack up their things. Zefron walked over and started to saddle up Templa when Legolas walked over.
"If you were not telling Sauron of the ring, then what were you doing?" he asked. Zefron looked up at him, as he was only a few inches taller than he was.
"My business is my own," replied Zefron coldly looking the older elf in the eye… well for him yes, for Legolas no. "If I do not wish for you to know about it than I have the right not to tell you." Legolas looked at Zefron strangely as he hopped upon his horse and started to ride ahead of the others. Legolas was about to follow then when he noticed something on the ground.
"What might this be…?" said Legolas walking over and picking up a brooch in the ground that must have fallen off of Zefron's person when Boromir attacked him. It was silver and shaped like a dragon.
"Legolas! Are you coming?" called Aragorn walking over to his elven friend.
"What do you make of this?" asked Legolas holding out the brooch. Aragorn took it and started to study it.
"This is a pendent of the dragon keepers," said Aragorn in shock. "But this does not make sense, Zefra was the one who was the dragon keeper."
"It is a memoir of my sister, is that a problem Aragorn?" asked Zefron walking up behind the two. "Give it back." Aragorn handed it over with great reluctance. The young elf took it and walked back to his horse and put it in his saddlebag. That's when Aragorn noticed that that bag was once Arwen's.
"Where did you get that?" asked Aragorn walking fast to catch up with Zefron and Templa. Zefron pretended not to hear as he went to get onto his horse. Aragorn jogged over and grabbed his arm, pulling him down. "Where did you get it?"
"Arwen gave it to me of course," replied Zefron trying to get out of Aragorn's grasp but failing.
"When?" demanded Aragorn furious that his love would even consider the young elf as anything.
"When we were leaving." Replied Zefron letting go of the reigns of his horse.
"Let me see your face," said Aragorn suddenly.
"No," replied Zefron. Legolas had been sneaking up on Zefron from behind and with great speed he grabbed Zefron's hood and yanked it off. Although to bad for him that Zefron had heard him and was ready for that and he created a smoky shield around him within seconds, but not before Boromir got a good look at his face. When the smoke disappeared, Zefron was gone and so was his horse.
"Why were you so intent on seeing his face Aragorn?" asked Frodo one of the quietest of the hobbits in the Fellowship so far.
"I needed to see who he really was, but I couldn't tell." Replied Aragorn. Boromir stayed quiet, wondering if he could blackmail Zefron into getting him anything he wanted for the safety of his face… although there was nothing to really tell about it seeing as he was just as he described.
At the boarder of Lothlórien:They had met up with Zefron after an hour of walking and about an hour after that they finally made it to the woods of Lothlórien. Aragorn still kept his eye on Zefron but when they actually got into the woods he took his attention off of him.
"An uir her lin elle" (Ever is they sight a joy) said Zefron sarcastically as he got off of his horse and took his bow out and knotted it, just incase. Gimli was telling the hobbits something and it looked as though Frodo was seeing things by the way Zefron judged it.
"What are you doing here? You are bringing great deceit into these lands." Said Galadriel's voice inside Zefron's head.
"What do you know?" asked Zefron in his head knowing she would hear it.
"Everything, little elf." Replied Galadriel almost laughing. Zefron's eyes opened up wide in horror.
"This is one dwarf she won't ensnare so easily," Zefron heard Gimli say, "I have the eyes of a hawk and the ears of a fox… oh." He finished when an arrow pointed in his face; all around them elves stepped out of the forest and pointed their arrows at them. Legolas and Zefron drew their arrows but put them away when they saw how outnumbered they were.
"The dwarf breaths so loud we could have shot him in the dark," stated one elf walking into the clearing. Zefron recognized him as the leader Haldir. Aragorn managed to get him to agree to get them an audience with Galadriel. Zefron cursed under his breath. Haldir turned his attention to him.
"You are to see her last and alone," he said. Zefron looked at him curiously and nodded. Haldir lead then along a path to the city in the center of Lothlórien.
"Where am I to go while the rest are meeting her?" asked Zefron as they stopped at the bottom of a large tree.
"You are to go with Naurrîn," replied Haldir. "She will tell you."
"I see, but who is Naurrîn?" asked Zefron. The rest of the Fellowship nodded in agreement.
"I am she," a she-elf nearly whispered walking over to them silently, her mid back long brown hair with caramel streaks in it flowing behind her. Haldir smiled and motioned her to come over to them, which she obeyed instantly, as she looked over the nine with her hazel/aqua colour eyes flashing.
"Naurrîn, please she Zefron to his room. I must take the others to see Lady Galadriel." Said Haldir, Naurrîn nodded and waited for him to take the others up the tree.
"Please come with me Prince Zefron," said Naurrîn walking down the path, Zefron grabbed Templa's reins from a nearby elf and jogged over to catch up with her.
"Please, just call me Zefron. I do not like my title so much." Said Zefron reaching into his saddlebag and pulling out the brooch, looking at it with sadness.
"We are here," said Naurrîn stopping in front of a tree with a small stable beside it.
"Thank you my friend," said Zefron walking over to the stable and untacking Templa while Naurrîn watched him.
"Is it true?" asked Naurrîn, Zefron looked up at her in wonder. "About what Lady Galadriel has told me?"
"I will tell you that when you tell me why she told you," replied Zefron taking off his horse's saddle and setting it on the side of the stall and walking over to Naurrîn holding his bow and the saddlebag.
"I keep secrets. She is like a mother to me. You see I was raised here when my family was killed by a group of orcs when I was really young." Replied Naurrîn.
"I was taken from my home when I was sixteen, my sister Zefra and I that is and we were taken to Mordor to be trained to be a kind of Wraith because of our gift of magic." Zefron started as he and Naurrîn walked up the stairs to his room.
A few hours later:
Zefron walked into a room that had a large staircase and no guards around.
"Zefron, it is good to meet you finally," said Galadriel as she walked down the stairs. Zefron bowed deeply holding his staff to his side, it was a symbol in his kingdom for wizards to do so in front of royalty. "Please Zefron come with me. There is someone I know whom you would like to see." Zefron looked up in surprise as a cloaked figure walked into the room. The figure took off its hood and Zefron gasped then went over and embraced him.