Author Notes: Here's the next chapter. I hope I got Tolkien's character right.
Italics are either a memory or a song.
Disclaimer: I have taken text directly for The Fellowship book. I own zero except for Raven.
Chapter 8: Decisions
Tears ran freely down Raven's cheeks as she rode. What was she to do now? Even if she went back to Rivendell, she could hardly spend the rest of her life there and say she was content. On top of that, what would her family say? They all knew her supposed destiny and now probably wouldn't want to know her at all.
Raven was jerked out of her self pity by a cry that broke through the other nightly sounds. This, however, was no piteous cry for help, it was the cry of a creature that would not call for help even if it needed it; an orc. More cries joined it and then Raven had a horrible revelation - she was being hunted. Spider began to get jittery, "Oh god…"
Raven didn't even need to kick Spider into a gallop, the horse did it all by herself. The screeches grew louder and louder, until they drowned out the sound of the hooves. How many of these orcs were there? Then it happened; in the blink of an eye, Raven had been tackled off Spider. Lashing out, she elbowed the vile creature in the face, stunning it. Whether the next act was her improving aim, or merely instinct, she cut the orc's throat. Spider had skidded around, changing her course to pick up her charge. Not needing to be told twice, Raven leapt up and jumped onto Spider. The infuriated orcs did not give up and gave chase. Orcs, however, are not known for their endurance and, after a short pursuit, they began to fall back. In a last ditch effort, the remaining orcs released a volley of arrows. Most went wide from the horse and rider, but one found its mark.
Spider increased her pace as she heard a pained outcry from her rider. She did not stop, even when she felt Raven's grip on her mane slip. She only stopped when no screeches could be heard, and the eastern sky had begun to glow with the first rays of morning. The pair had finally come to a halt in a small copse of trees, which Spider had deemed to be a good place of hiding. As soon as Spider had stopped, Raven's boots released their grip, the only thing that had been keeping her on the horse, and she fell to the ground. Now that Spider could see, she saw that an orc arrow had imbedded itself in Raven's leg. The arrow was obviously poisoned as, during the course of the flight from their enemies, Raven's breathing had grown shallower and her face was pale; covered in a sheen of sweat.
Raven felt only pain and the sensation of detachedness. Ever since the arrow had struck, she had been floating in and out of consciousness, either from blood loss or poison. As she fell to the ground, Raven gave in; slipping into what she thought to be a sleep she would not wake up from.
In must be noted, however, that children of the Watchers are not so easily foiled and, although none of their kin are able to aid them, the Eye with which they are given at birth will do all in its power to make sure its namesake survives. And so it was that the Raven's Eye began its song. It sang of fire, sun and moon and the song carried over countries of men, elves and all other manner of races to reach the ears of the intended. The Eye gave its song to the wind, to fly over hill and plain; lake and brook; over barrow-downs and through the branches of ancient willow trees…
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Raven stirred to the soft song of a kind soul. The only indication of her injury was a dull throb where the arrow had entered her leg. Not wanting to open her eyes, Raven listened to the song that had raised her heart.
Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
None has ever caught him yet, for Tom, he is the master:
His songs are stronger songs, and his feet are faster.
The song gave Raven courage; courage to re-welcome the world. Opening her eyes, she found herself in the copse in which she had fallen. Grazing serenely, next to an old pony Raven did not recognise, was Spider. Smiling and skipping about merrily was a strange fellow, dressed exactly like the song had described. He had rosy cheeks and a brown beard and, dappled in the afternoon sun, gave Raven the impression of one of the kindly creatures you hear about as a child.
On seeing Raven looking at him, fully awake, the man came over, "Hey! Come merry dol! Derry dol! My hearty!"
"Err…morning to you too. I'm Raven, and you are..?"
"Tom Bombadil at your service, Lady Watcher." He accompanied this with a low bow.
Tom Bombadil? Raven had never heard of him. Or had she? As her brain began to organise itself, a memory surfaced. It was one of her and Emma outside the cinema, just having seen the Fellowship of the Ring for the first time. Emma had clearly enjoyed it to the nth degree, but just as clearly enjoyed picking it apart.
"Oh my god! That was so cool! We have to go and see it again."
"No we don't! I hardly saw it the first time with you whispering in my ear throughout it. I can't sit through it again."
"But it was so different. I really wish they hadn't put Boromir's death in it, though. No, wait, I suppose it did fit."
"Gawd, make up your mind Em."
"There is one thing, I wish they'd put Tom in, and the Old Forest, that was my favourite part of the book."
"Who and the what?"
"Tom. Tom Bombadil. He's this guy that helps the Hobbits get to Bree. He lives in the Old Forest. I love all of the songs he sings and Goldberry."
"Riiiggghhhtt…"
If he was anything like Emma had said, he couldn't be all bad; he certainly didn't feel it. After all, who else could have healed Raven but he? "Well, it's nice to meet you, but I should really get going."
"Where to Lady? To the Fellowship? To fair Imladris? Or perhaps, your heart wishes to return to the home that it has only ever known; the only one it can remember?"
"To Rivendell, I can never go home."
"Or perhaps you know that you should not."
"I don't know what to do, Tom. I'm not made for this. I can't go forward or back. I'm not what the Watchers want me to be." Did she just tell him that?
"You have always been of indecision, have you not Lady Watcher? You have always been the cautious one."
"No offence Tom, but you don't know me."
"I know that when you were younger in classes, you would fear to touch chemicals or the flame used for experiments. I know that if you saw a strange insect near you, you would look it up in a book to check if it was poisonous, worried that it had bitten you. I know that you fear heights."
Said like that, it really did sound cowardly. Casting her eyes away, Raven asked softly, "How?"
"I am a friend of the Watchers; I can see them when they stray into my domain and as such, I know your mother. You should not be ashamed child, for when you were younger still you had courage. All children do, although some loose their courage earlier than others and some not at all. You just need to retrieve that which you lost."
"How am I supposed to do that? I'm not like the people from here, I can't do this alone."
"Then go home, and find your courage. I'm sure it is in the town you left it. Find solace in those you know."
Raven, who had only been partially paying attention, whirled around, "What did you say?"
But Tom just smiled his twinkling smile; it was the last thing Raven saw before she was taken in a swirl of colour and sound.
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She landed with a thud against a very hard tree. Raven only had just enough time to make it to the bushes before she threw up. "I must be getting used to this," muttered Raven, "I'm not unconscious." At the time, it never crossed Raven's mind why the Eye had not grown warm.
Raven staggered to her feet, using the tree for support, and looked around. If the tree had not been there, Raven would have fallen over again. She was back in the park, the sound of traffic not too far away. She was wearing the same clothes as she had been before the nightmare started and coming towards her, free of all the wackiness that Raven had experienced in the past few weeks, was none other than Emma.
"Hey! I'm glad I caught you. I almost forgot to give you this. I know I could have brought it round later, but you know me, I would have forgotten." Smiling, Emma produced a small document, "It's great! Really, I've checked all of the grammar and spelling and it's fine, great opening too."
"Thanks." Still in a daze, Raven took the document off of Emma. It was the beginning of a script she had been working on, plus the analysis. Due to the fact that she was slow at typing, Raven always hand wrote her work and Emma proof read it; she said it was good practice.
"Are you alright?"
"What? Yeah, um, I'm not feeling up to going out tonight if you don't mind Em. I um… I have to go."
"Whoa," Emma grabbed her arm, knowing something was up, "If we're not going out – great! So you're coming round mine instead."
"What? Emma no!" Raven's protests went unheeded as she was dragged off by her best friend.
By the time they got to Emma's house, Raven had calmed down a bit. "Hey Mum! I'm home! I've brought Rach back and we're not going out anymore." Unfortunately for Emma, her mum was close at hand to catch her before she made it to the haven of her bedroom.
"Hold on. First of all, what did you get?"
"Oh, err…I got 90 per cent, isn't that great!" Emma's mum continued to glare, "80? 70? Oh alright! I got 65, happy?"
"No. You're very lucky you decided to stay in tonight because you wouldn't have gone out anyway. Happy Birthday by the way, Rachel."
Birthday? Oh right, back at home again, "Thanks Jane."
"I presume you're staying for dinner?" The previous persona of Jane Richards had dissipated and was replaced by a kindly woman who was all smiles.
"'Course she is Mum, when doesn't she? C'mon Rach." Emma pulled her friend into her room.
The pair settled down on Emma's bed. "So. What's wrong?"
"It's nothing."
"Nothing? I leave you for three minutes and you completely zone out on me!"
"Emma, could you just leave it? I just felt a bit light-headed." It was true, for the most part.
Emma still didn't believe her, but she gave up all the same. The pair spent the rest of the time chatting and mucking about until Jane called up the stairs, "Dinner will be ready in ten minutes guys!"
"We should phone the others; tell them clubbing of the menu."
"Don't bother, I texted them earlier. Before we go down, I've got your present."
"Emma! I told you not to get me one. Why doesn't anyone believe me when I say I don't want presents?"
"Because we all now deep down that you do, and we have you welfare to think about." Emma began digging around in her draws until she found what she was looking for, "If it's any consolation, I didn't get you a card."
Raven tore open the packaging to reveal a charm bracelet, "You got it fixed!"
"Yeah, wasn't easy neither."
The charm bracelet was one of a pair. When they had been in primary school, they had gone on a school trip to the Natural History Museum. In the souvenir shop, neither of them had had enough money (children had only been allowed to bring £1) to get a decent souvenir. Emma had come up with a brainwave at that point, and had insisted they both buy a tiny – and they really were tiny, only 3cm long – dinosaur. The significance being that Rachel had been terrified that the exhibits would fall down on her and come alive. When they had got home, Emma had taken both of the dinosaurs to her parents and had returned three days later with a silver bracelet for each of them. All the way along the bracelet were little clasps upon which things could be glued; the dinosaur occupied one of these spaces. Over the years, the pair collected tiny trinkets and super glued them on, until Rachel's had broken a few months ago.
"You've added something." It was a small heart shaped locket. Inside was a miniature sticker taken in a photo booth of Rachel and Emma, while in the other side was writing in – oh it would have been, "Elvish? Are you ever gonna give it a rest?"
"It says friends forever, in a round-a-bout way."
Even though Raven displayed outward gratitude and affection, her insides were yet again squirming with guilt, but before she had a chance to dwell, Jane called back up the stairs, "Are you lot deaf? Dinner's on the table!"
The pair made their way downstairs. As she passed Emma's wardrobe, Raven made sure to avert her eyes; the film poster of the Fellowship gave her the creeps.
As the three of them sat down – Emma's Dad worked late and Chris was in London – Rachel noticed that Ryan, Emma's younger brother by six years, was missing, "I'll go get him shall I?" It was a common known fact that Ryan rarely responded to calls, even if they related to food, he was in a world of his own.
Knocking on his door, Raven called, "Ryan! Get your arse out here, it's Rav- it's Rachel!" Being an honouree member of the family, Raven was allowed to insult him.
Giving up, Raven pushed open his door. "Does the word 'food' even penetrate your mind Ryan?" She stopped. He was sitting down, on the floor, watching Frodo. Right now, Raven agreed with Chris more than ever – the two younger members of the Richards household really needed to quit it with the Lord of the Rings obsessing. Averting her eyes, Raven focused on Ryan and literally picked him up.
"Oi! I'm watching!"
"You'll get over it. Scoot downstairs, you never know, the pasta might be shaped like characters from Lord of the Rings." Glaring, Ryan still didn't move.
"You'll never get it."
"What is there to get? Some people go risk their lives to destroy the embodiment of evil."
"I wish I was there."
"No you don't, trust me."
"I do! It would be so cool, meeting elves, going on a Quest-"
"-Getting hunted, killed…"
Ryan shrugged, "Your point?" He then hopped downstairs.
"I'll turn the T.V off shall I?"
Raven made sure not to look at the characters, but she couldn't block out the sound. As she made to turn it off, Frodo spoke, "I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened."
Then Gandalf spoke, "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
Raven paused, no longer listening to the characters. Tom was right; children do have courage, even if it be foolhardy. As Frodo and Gandalf's words sunk in, Raven slipped the bracelet onto her wrist, mind made up. She dashed downstairs, "I'm sorry, Dad just called me, I've got to go. Thanks anyway"
"Sure hon, have a nice birthday."
Emma was not so easily placated, but as she ran out of the door, her friend was no where to be seen.
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Raven landed with a thud, "Oww!" On the upside, she didn't throw up.
"Hey! Merry dol!"
"Thanks Tom."
"Always pleased to assist. So how did you enjoy the journey? I'm told the Watcher way of travel is worse."
"Huh? Wait, you transported me?" Touching the Eye confirmed as such.
Tom smiled, "Always happy to assist when the Watchers cannot," he repeated, "Now I must bid you farewell. Be bold, but wary! Keep up your merry heart, and ride to meet your fortune! Come Fatty Lumpkin!"
With that, Tom leapt on the pony and trotted off, singing to himself. Raven shook her head and motioned to Spider. "Come on, we've got to catch up with the Fellowship. Who knows how far they've got?"
Of course Spider knew. Although Raven would never find out, Spider had, in fact, been doubling back on herself hoping her mistress would change her mind; in truth, they were only a mile or two away from the outcrop of rocks. Now that she was racing at full speed, they would catch up with the Fellowship on Caradhras in no time.
To Be Continued…
Author Notes: Wow! My longest chapter ever! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! I really want to know what you think.
