Chapter 14; The Breaking of the Fellowship

I awoke early that morning to a warm sunny day and I laughed as I found it ironic that such cheery weather would greet us on a day where nine people's lives were at stake, ten including my own. I knew I had to meet with Aragorn; today I would tell the fellowship that I was not native to Middle Earth and that I knew "the Future" as it was. They deserved to know and I felt I deserved to tell them. I walked to the water to wash my face; I dried myself on my sleeve before I was ready to meet Aragorn. When I had found Aragorn I told him everything and as I spoke to him I felt as if I was removing a weight from my shoulders. I explained to him my feelings and thoughts and asked if I was right in thinking those things. He nodded and said,

"You are right, Gandalf would have probably agreed as well, but I must warn you, they may not understand as I do and some may come to fear you; however, if this is what you feel is right then I not hinder you." Not long after, I sat by the fire to eat breakfast along side the rest of the fellowship.

Once we had eaten and everyone was satisfied, Aragorn called us all together. "The day has come at last," he said, "The day of choice which we have long delayed. What shall now become of our company that has traveled so far in fellowship? Shall we go west with Boromir and go to the wars of Gondor; or turn east to the Fear and Shadow; or shall we break our fellowship and go this way and that as we choose? What ever we must do we must be done soon. We cannot long halt here. The enemy is 'now on the eastern shore, and I fear that they may' be on this side of the water." There was a long silence and I looked at Legolas, his eyes moved in shock between Aragorn and myself as if he knew not what to believe. "Well Frodo," he said at last, "I fear that the burden is laid upon you. You are the bearer appointed by the council. Your own way alone you can choose. In this matter I cannot advise you. I am not Gandalf, and though I have tried to bear his part, I do not know what design or hope he had for this hour, if indeed he had any. Most likely it seems that if he were here now the choice would still wait on you. Such is your fate." One by one every head in the fellowship turned to look at Frodo. He was quiet and looked to the floor; I became nervous for some reason, perhaps it was the fact that my life could be in the hands of this small hobbit. Frodo answered slowly,

"I cannot choose; this burden is heavy and I need time. Please, give me an hour longer and I will speak."

Aragorn looked at him with a kindly pity. "Very well, Frodo son of Drogo." He said, "you shall have an hour, and you shall be alone. We will stay here a while. But do not stray far from call." Frodo sat for a moment with his head bowed and Sam, who was watching him with great concern, shook his head. Frodo was about to leave when I stood quickly and said,

"Please wait." Frodo halted and the faces of those of the fellowship came to look at mine. A chill ran down my spine as I stammered, "Um, before you go I have to tell you something Frodo." I looked to each one of the fellowship who stared back at me intently except for Legolas, Aragorn, and surprisingly Boromir who seemed annoyed with the fact that I wanted to say something. "Well, we have traveled a long way together, we've seen so many things and I know that I have become close to all of you." At this Boromir looked up at me with an exasperated manner. I sighed and said, "I have been perfectly candid with all of you, but I have been dishonest about one thing. Well, not dishonest, there is something I have not told you. Elrond, Gandalf, and Aragorn have known of this from the day we left Rivendell; I am not from Middle Earth but an entirely different world. And because of this…I know what is to be." At this Merry and Pippin looked at each other cautiously, Boromir gazed at me in amazement, and Frodo looked up at me as if confused.

"What?" Gimli asked, "How is this? Be you from Angmar or some other place of witchery?"

"No, I am not from Middle Earth," I answered. "I did not live in this world. I am from a parallel one named Earth. And it is through no magic that I know what is to be, I simply know it. That is how I knew about the pass through the Caradhras. I knew we should avoid it, because it would only slow our pace." There was a moment of silence that seemed to last an entire age before Gimli said huffily,

"If that be true then you knew that we would have to come through Moria to reach here."

"And if that be true," Boromir continued, "then you knew of Gandalf's death." I looked upon him slowly and as his stare bore through me as our eyes met. "Am I right?" he asked. I looked down at the ground and answered,

"Yes, I did." they were all silent at this. To hear them speak of Gandalf's death as if the fault was mine broke my heart. I finished quietly, "that is all. Now you all know, I am glad of it. I am going down to the shore now." With that I walked away from the rest of the fellowship. As I walked I heard Aragorn call after me,

"Laura! Laura!" I didn't stop as he called, they were right, I knew what was going to happen and it was my fault that I did nothing. "Laura Stop!" I finally came to the river and fell on my knees in the rough sand. I didn't cry, I had no tears to cry; I stared at the river instead and let it cry for me. I felt his hand on my shoulder as Aragorn said, "Laura, why did you run from us? You told the truth…are you ashamed?" I did not answer him back because he said what did not want to hear; I wanted him to tell me that everything would be all right and work itself out and that Gandalf's fall wasn't of my doing. "I warned you that this might happen." He added.

"It's not like I stood there and watched Gandalf fall! Did I just wave the handkerchief and say, 'Hey, have a nice fall?'" I shrugged his hand off my shoulder and began to walk up shore from him. I heard his voice say to me as I walked away,

"Why do you run?" I stopped walking. "Why do you run away?" I did not answer him as he called out again, "I speak what you do not wish to hear and you feel as if running is the solution? Do you run from all your confrontations Laura?" at this I turned and walked angrily back toward him.

"Do I run from all my problems? Did I run from the Wargs, Aragorn? Did I run in Moria or from Gandalf when he fell? Did I?" I shouted. Aragorn looked at me as if he was disappointed; he answered quietly,

"Not all problems are fought with swords Laura, I would think that you would be able to realize that." I stamped my foot and said,

"Did you not hear what Boromir said to me? You knew how much pain I was in after Gandalf died and he spoke as if I MURDERED him! Did you hear what Boromir-" I stopped quickly. We were down the river, the fellowship got together and Frodo wandered off…by himself. "OH MY GOD BOROMIR! Boromir and Frodo! I've got to stop them!" I exclaimed quickly and I ran away from the shore back towards the woods. Aragorn grabbed my arm as I ran off and asked,

"Wait! Where are you going?" I looked back at him quickly and yanked my arm out of his hand,

"Get Legolas and Gimli, we are going to be attacked!" I yelled as I ran into the woods. I ran as hard as I could and called loudly for Frodo; as I climbed a steep slope I heard a voice cry out,

"I ask only for the strength to defend my people!" I stopped and looked around for the source of the voice. It was Boromir and Frodo but where were they? "If you would but lend me the ring…" I looked to my left where the voice came from and ran that way. I had to save Frodo from Boromir and Boromir from himself; perhaps if I found Boromir and stayed with him I could save his life. As I ran I heard Boromir's voice shout, "What chance do you think you have? They will find you. They will take the ring. And you will beg for death before the end! You fool! It is not yours, save by some unhappy chance!" I finally stopped at the top of a slope between two trees. The forest floor sloped downward there and below I saw Boromir and Frodo. Boromir was advancing dangerously towards Frodo and becoming angry. This was it; I charged down the hill towards Boromir as he shouted, "It could have been mine! It should be mine give it to me! Give it to me!"

"No!" Frodo shouted and at that moment I connected squarely with Boromir sending the both of us to the ground. As I stood I yelled,

"Run Frodo! Go to the top of the hill! Run now!" Frodo scrambled on the leafy floor and stumbled up the hill and I looked back to Boromir. He was on all fours breathing heavily. I looked down on him and shouted, "What did you think you're doing? The ring must go to Mordor! There is no other way!" Suddenly Boromir looked up at me with eyes of rage and stood. He intimidated me; he was a large angry man, with weapons. He walked slowly towards me with a glint in his eye that I had not seen before.

"Yes, why should I go after the ring," he asked menacingly. "Why should I when I have something else so close?" I backed away from him as he walked toward me until I could go no further; a tree stopped me and before I could move Boromir was before me, placing his hands on my shoulders tightly as he stared into my eyes. "You can see into the future can you? If you can surely you know that I would do this and you came here in full knowledge of that." I looked at him and shook my head as I began to say,

"Boromir, it doesn't work like that." But he interrupted, shouting,

"Then you know what will happen to Gondor! Where the attacks will be and how my kingdom shall fare!" He gripped my shoulders tightly, "the ring is of great power but knowing the enemies thoughts and actions before they take place is a powerful weapon also."

"Let go of me Boromir." I said strongly but he continued,

"Tell me! How will Gondor fare in this war? Will it endure? Tell me!" He shouted angrily. His voice seemed to crack at the volume he used and I was becoming afraid.

"I said let go of me!" With that I shoved him away from me and tried to move away but as I moved Boromir's strong hands grasped my arms painfully.

"They will find you if I do not take you! Either you will be in my hands or theirs! Tell me! Tell me how the war will fare and the fate of the ring! TELL ME!"

"No!" I shouted loudly as I struggled, but he was too strong for me too loosen his grasp by mere pulling. So I kicked the inside of his shin, knocking him down on his knee, then kicked the bottom of his chin strongly. His head flew back and his grip lessened; I pulled my arms out of his hands, reached for my sword and in a flash had its point against Boromir's throat. Boromir looked at me apprehensively as I glared down at him and spat, "No." Suddenly the glint in Boromir's eye was gone and he looked at me fearfully from the tip of my blade.

"Laura?" he asked and my face softened. I began to lower my blade as tears came to Boromir's eyes. "I am sorry." He said as he wept, "I have done this horrible thing to you and I have scared of the little one! I have failed!" he wept as I lowered my sword.

"Boromir," I said gently, "it's alright, you were not yourself. But listen-" I stopped, I had heard something crunch and clang in the distance. Whatever it was it made a loud clamor that could not easily be ignore. I looked to the top of the hill and saw dark, burly forms moving about. I looked at them fearfully and whispered, "Oh no." I quickly looked to Boromir and yelled at him, "Get up! The enemy is here! You must fight and fail us no longer! I must go!" At this Boromir stood and drew his sword. He looked now like a warrior and suddenly I had a great respect for him; this was the son of Gondor whom I knew, a son of kings and brother of men. This warrior was what Gondor gave to the fellowship and with that great gift; he had saved many of our lives. I would not see this man fall to some lowly sword of Mordor in a grubby forest far from home. "Boromir, take care! I must away!" I cried as I ran. Boromir shouted back,

"Fight hard daughter of men!" As I ran, I realized that this man was not an enemy, he was a friend that succumb to the lure of the ring. As I ran up the hill I heard the scraping of metal armor and the blood curdling roars of the Uruk-Hai in the distance. They were here and I was everything less than prepared for them. Soon the growls and the pounding of feet became nearer and I heard a harsh voice cry out,

"Find the Halfling! Find the wench!" When I came to the top of the hill I found it was swarming with Uruk-Hai. Aragorn was fighting them off as he may, but he was alone. With in those few moments, whatever courage or adrenaline drove me to the top of the hill had disappeared and I was only left with fear. The Uruk-Hai were the size of tall men, but they were not men: they were beasts. When I came into the sunlight, some of the Orc heads turned to look at me then charged at seeing new prey. I stood frozen unable to move out of sheer fear. The Uruk-Hai were nothing like the Orcs in Moria as I thought they would be; they were like men…evil, terrifying, and unbelievably strong men who wanted to capture me.

"Laura!" I heard Aragorn cry as the Uruk-Hai approached; being waken from my fear I began to run from the horde of Uruks. I ran down the hill with all the speed my legs could give me; small whimpers came from my lips as I ran until a raised root caught my foot and I was sent tumbling recklessly down the hill. As I tumbled I could hear the merciless horde behind me tearing down the hillside. My tumbling gave me a small lead on the Uruks, and as I struggled to my feet I was in a dizzy state of terror as I tried to run, which produced nothing but a zigzagging swagger from my legs. A few moments later, a black arrow whizzed past my thigh and I screamed with terror. Suddenly, a charging Boromir came into my view and I screamed at him at the top of my lungs,

"BOROMIR! HELP!" I stretched my arms out to him and he caught me as I was still in my state of horror. Suddenly, he looked up from me, threw me from the path behind a bush, and began to battle the Uruks. From the brush I watched as Boromir battled these monsters, and a tiny voice in the back of my mind began to wonder. With each moment that I watched Boromir fight, the tiny voice became louder and louder, 'Why did I run? Why can't I face them?' My limbs felt heavy as I moved my body. 'I fought Wargs and hundreds of Orcs in Moria…it is not so hard! You can get up in fight!' Suddenly from behind me came an armored arm clamped my throat; the crudely formed armor chaffed my neck as it dragged me away from Boromir. I wiggled and fought against the arm with all I could until I instinctively reached for the sword at my hip and blindly stabbed it behind me. I felt the blade sink into flesh as a loud roar burst in my ears; the arm let me go and I scrambled quickly to my feet. Behind me was a huge Uruk with blood pouring from its shoulder. I made that wound; the Uruk growled at me as it began to stand but before it reached its feet I swung my sword hard and decapitated the beast. I watched as the head rolled in the dead leaves and the body thumped to the ground like a fallen wall. I stared at the corpse hardly believing that I defeated it. I looked behind me and saw Boromir stab his sword into an oncoming enemy before dislodging it and taking off another enemy's head just as I had. Within moments, my fear had vanished and I was running up the hill once more. As I climbed up, Uruks were hurrying downward; I blocked blow after blow with my blade and smoothly evaded conflict before reaching the top of the hill.

I heard the singing of arrows and numerous thuds of Uruk-Hai bodies falling dead on the hard soil. When I came to the top of the hill I saw Legolas and Gimli on the hilltop as the numbers of Uruks were taken down one by one. With that I began to charge and fight individual Uruks; they struck harder and more precise than any Orc I had battled but I caught onto their movements and could slay them easily. Uruks then fell beneath my sword and my confidence was saved. I looked at Legolas, whose bow sang as he shouted,

"Aragorn go!" For some reason I paused and watched him as he delivered one fatal arrow after another; he was so powerfully graceful as he killed; yet he killed with such honor as he became death to the warriors around him. Suddenly, I felt a warm blade come to rest tightly on my neck and I froze,

"Drop the sword." Said a guttural voice from behind me and I did as I was told. Rough hands grabbed my shoulders and turned me around to face who ever it was who caught me. It was an Uruk-Hai that one of Legolas' arrows had failed to kill; I saw briefly the arrow that protruded from his back, as the Uruk-Hai grabbed me and hoisted me over his shoulder.

"Legolas!" I screamed madly, and immediately the warrior threw me to the ground to shut me up. I landed on the rough armor of some fallen Uruk-Hai and I cried out in pain; something in the armor stabbed my back and I felt it pierce my skin. The warrior who held me held his dagger above me posing to stab me. I looked at him in fear as I cried out, "Legolas! Help!" And as the Orc brought the knife down white arrow pierced his neck and he fell on top of me, dead. I pushed him off me slowly, because the pain in my back was still searing, and took the dagger from his hand. Suddenly three great blows of a horn rang through the forest. "Boromir!" I cried out, as I grabbed my sword from the ground in front of me. I stood and suddenly Legolas at my side,

"Are you alright? Hurry, Boromir calls to us!" He tried to put my hand over his shoulder so that he may help me walk but I refused his help.

"I am fine! Come on!" With that I ran down the hill with Legolas by my side. The Uruk-Hai were moving too at the sound of the horn and though we killed many, there were still many more. With each step my back screamed but I continued; I was not finished here yet. We found Gimli still fighting as we joined: Legolas, pulling out his long knives, and I, using both the Uruk dagger and my sword. We all fought together until the last Uruk-Hai fell dead and I fell to the floor in exhaustion. Gimli too leaned against a tree but Legolas seemed to remain lively; he walked from place to place looking for arrows that could be saved from the mounds of dead flesh. I lay my sword on the ground beside me and listened intently; I no longer heard the sounds of battle or the harsh cries of the Orcs. The air was still. "It's quiet." I said breathlessly.

"And thank Valar it is so!" Gimli said with a laugh. "I admit that my hands had itched for such a battle, but now that it is done I am glad." It was quiet and thoughts came to my mind; the fight is done, but what of Boromir? What of Merry, Pippin, Sam, and Frodo? At that moment, an ominous feeling of dread crossed my entire body as I thought of Boromir and three words ran in circles around my now frantic mind: alive or dead.

"We must go!" I said and stood up quickly but the pain in my back caused me to wince.

"Laura." Gimli said in a worried voice. "Are you alright?"

"My back." I said, "Something pierced it, but I don't know what, though it is not serious." Then Legolas' came to my shoulders and looked at my back. I felt soft pressure around the wound and the cold feel of old blood touching my skin.

"It is not deep," Legolas said, "it looks as if the tip of an arrow pierced it, not a whole arrowhead simply the tip. A very strange wound indeed." I thought about it and remembered that when the Uruk-Hai threw me to the ground, I landed on another warrior who died from one of Legolas' arrows. Perhaps when I landed, I landed on the arrowhead that protruded from the Uruk-Hai's chest. I felt Legolas rest his entire hand over my wound as he asked me softly, "Can you walk?"

"Of course I can, I am not crippled by some small wound! Come! We must find Aragorn, Boromir and the hobbits; they could be in danger!" I answered quickly.

"Alright, then let us go." Legolas said as we ran together through the corpses of Saruman.

Chapter 13 Review Replies

Hello!  First thing I would like to say is thank youto everyone who answered my question about replying to the reviews!  I love hearing what you all have to say!  Second of all I would like to invite anyone who would like to send me their e-mail and Join my mailling list!  for next month's newsletter i'm going to have a teaser of the next part of the With Shores Beneath Their Feet series! The next part will be called, The Heart Of Sunset.  I hope to hear from you!

NightWoman: Yeah, finally he's not being a butthead anymore! I think I'm even happy about that!

Ms. Unknown: yeah, definitely, you see…the thing that bugged me the most in the last one is how fast it happened…you know what I mean right? So this one…I'm going to take "it" nice and slow. If you know what I mean…

TriGemini: Yeah, Legolas is a little disturbing when it comes to that kind of stuff anyways! But remember…he already knows her little secret…

Sapphire2988: Yeah, I have definitely changed the story a LOT. You just wait and see.

--: No, actually she doesn't. Seriously…

Llenya the Fair: Yeah! You know what, thanks! I really love hearing that kind of feed back!