"Dawn, you must be mistaken," Merrimac said as he looked at the old miniature painting. When Dawn had fainted after discovering the painting's subject, her friends had rushed her home as fast as they possibly could. Now, as the afternoon begant to turn to evening, the shadows lengthening outside with the setting of the sun, Eliza sat with her dearest only child, the poor girl wrapped in an old blanket.
"I assure you… I am not," Dawn said quietly, her tall frame still shaking from her shock. "I have seen him before."
"Dawn, be logical," Merrimac said, still examining the portrait. "Frodo baggins disappeared at the beginning of the Fourth age, nearly… 6000 years ago! Even if he'd been living with Elves in Valinor, as his book claims, if he had come back at anytime, he'd surely be dead by now. He was over 50 years old when he got mixed up in that 'ring' business, for goodness' sake!"
"Well, love," Eliza interjected as she got up and looked at the painting, "You have to admit… There is a resemblance-"
"No there isn't," Merrimac insisted, jerking the painting away.
"Of course there is," Eliza said, "Especially in the eyes. Those eyes are the same as my baby girl's-
"They are not!" Merrimac shouted, his face going red.
"They are!" Eliza shouted back, "And you nor anyone else can convince me otherwise!"
"Stop it!" Dawn cried, tears streaming down her face. "I can't stand to see you fight! Maybe I am mistaken… Maybe… Maybe I only think I've seen someone like this before. I know Elves don't exist anymore, and I know that the people mentioned in that old red book my very well either be fake or exaggerated. I'm sorry I caused you to fight. Just please, stop."
"Oh, honey lamb," Eliza said, returning to her daughter's side to hold her, "I know this is upsetting… But you're wrong, dearie. Elves do exist, still."
"Eliza," Merrimac warned his wife.
"It's time I told her the truth- the whole truth- about it, Macky," Eliza said to her husband. She turned back to Dawn, cupped the girl's face in her hands, and said gently, "Now, dear, you know you're a foundling - we've never kept that secret, though we love you as we would if I'd born you - but, we never told you everything about the morning I found you in that basket floating down the river. You see, that day, I, and many of the children - your own dear Danwise among them - saw Elves peering through the trees. I saw their bright golden hair, and their dark green cloaks! And when the children pointed them out, I saw them running back into the woods… To the West. And few moments later I saw the basket… floating down the river… and in it was the most beautiful child with the most brilliant blue eyes I'd ever seen."
When Eliza was finished, Dawn was speechless. Her mind was completely blank from this confession. But her heart was filling with anger and hurt and confusion. She turned away from Eliza, and bowed her head. Then, she whispered, "Leave. Please."
"Dawn-" Merrimac said, again wishing to reason with his most beloved child.
"Leave me alone!" Dawn screamed. The sound had made Eliza jump up and run to her husband's arms. They'd never heard Dawn speak this way. So, slowly they left the room, and closed the door. But even as they stood outside the room, they could hear Dawn as she burst into heavy sobs.
Later, as Dawn's sobs dissolved into quiet tears, Danny came in with some hot tea for his friend. He set the tray down, and sat down beside her. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked humbly.
Dawn shook her head, and suddenly draped her arms around his neck as her sobs burst out, again.
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In her new Dark Tower, Mordea, the Shadow Sorceress, looked in her many mirrors. Her new prisoners, the four Hobbits of Valinor, were still huddled together in a far corner. Her interrogations were not going as she'd planned. She swirled around, the fabric of her dress whipping in the air, and walked firmly over to her captives.
"I have tried reason," she told the old and decrepit creatures, "And you give me nothing. I refuse to believe that in all your years of living in the Undying lands, that none of you know nothing of the location of the three Silmarils. Now," she said, looming over them, "Speak!"
All shook in fear, but stayed silent. Until Carole, always a very hasty one, spat "Eat worms, you witch!"
"Oh… you insult me?" Mordea said calmly. Then, quick as lightening, she grabbed up old Bilbo by the shirt collar and held him aloft. The others cried out in shock, anger, and fear, but it did nothing. Mordea smiled at them and said, "Tell me what you know, or he becomes a new toy for my Orcs."
"We have told you, you wretched demon," Frodo said, getting up on unsteady legs, rage finally boiling over in him, "We know nothing of the Silmarils! Now put my uncle down!"
Mordea stared into his eyes, which now burned lick the hottest fires, and her smile grew even wider. She exposed her perfect pearly teeth. "I believe you… Frodo of the Shire. I shall indeed put your uncle down… But not before I punish you all for your impudence!" Suddenly, her free hand shot up, and into Bilbo's chest! Sparks of lightening surrounded his old body as he screamed and writhed in pain, whilst his family watched and cried out again in utter horror. At last, Mordea withdrew her left hand, and dropped Bilbo on the floor. The others ran to him. He was alive! Shivering, shaken, but alive. Not even a hole was left where the Dark Sorceress had thrust her hand in him. Then, they turned, and saw in her hand a dark, smoking, seething black ball. It was the size of an apple, and in it's heart was a small orange flame that flickered in and out of view.
Mordea's smile stayed on her lips as she took a casual glance at the orb in her hand. "Oh this?" she asked them. "Oh, this is an interesting little thing. It is the darkness- the essence of pure evil- that the Ring of Power left in your dear Bilbo's heart. I have been so kind as to remove it for him… though it has shortened his life span quite considerably. Perhaps by… 10 years of natural time?" she said as her deep laugh rose. "And all the Ringbearers have this in them. Even you, Samwise, though you 'rejected' the Ring. And I mean to take it from you all.
"But you," she said, suddenly grabbing Carol by her graying hair and dragging her away from the rest, "Are nothing but a meddlesome old shrew."
"Let go of her!!" Frodo demanded, getting up, about to charge at the Witch.
"Silence!" Mordea ordered, turning long enough to throw up her hand, thus producing an invisible wall that knocked Frodo down. As Sam attended to his old master, Mordea dragged Carole to one of her many mirrors. "Now, little Hobbit woman, as a favor to my Captain, I will dispose of you."
As she held up the elderly Hobbit, she inadvertently pressed Carole's back up against a mirror. Then, the mirror began to ripple, and an image appeared. Mordea's gaze was drawn to what she saw there, but she kept Carole held against it, so as not to lose the image. What she saw was a baby… A baby with large feet and tanned skin… And big blue eyes. Mordea smiled, and finally dropped Carole. Carole looked up and stared as Mordea took the mirror in her hands and walked with it to the middle of the room.
"So," Mordea said, "There is a child here you care for?" she asked. "A very precious child?" She looked into Carole's eyes, and with her mind she locked on a memory, making the Hobbit woman's body freeze and jerk as she did so. The Witch withdrew that knowledge, and laughed. "So! That is who she is? Mirror!" she commanded, "Show me this child- where she is, and what she is doing! Show me Aurora Baggins!" Suddenly, the mirror's image went from that of Mordea's to one of passing over fields, mountains, and rivers, to a green country filled with many Halflings. The searched narrowed to a large Hall, filled with yet more Shirelings, then, into a single room, where tow Hobbits sat. One was stout, with curled yellow hair. But the other… Her hair had waves like the far sea, but was as dark as onyx. And her eyes were a blue as deep as an ocean, but as clear as a midsummer sky. She gasped and shuddered. That face! It was like that of another female she'd known- one she despised with all her heart and soul- only her skin tone was different. "No!" cried Mordea, as shed dropped the mirror. As it landed, it shattered into countless silvery pieces.
Mordea whipped around to Carole, her lovely face sneering, and she used her powers to throw Carol back to her companions. Then, the Dark Lady cried, "Guards!!" The doors opened, and Culachquen, followed by many Orcs, filed in. Mordea turned to the Orcs and shouted, "Take these Rats to the dungeons, but leave them alive and unspoiled. NOW!!" The Orcs grabbed up the Hobbits and carried them away, leaving Mordea and Culachquen alone. Mordea began to pace, her spiked heeled shoes crunching the shards of glass.
"What troubles you, My Lady?" Culachquen asked.
Mordea, never ceasing in her pace, bit her thumb, and said, "Her curse is catching up with me. I know it."
"My Lady?" Culachquen asked, his face and voice showing no emotion.
"Never mind," Mordea said, "My plan is beginning. I have some of Sauron's evil now."
"Ah, then you managed to extract the Power from one of the Ringebearers?" Culachquen asked.
"Yes, and I have you to thank for that," she said. "If you had not told me they were lining on the Blessed Isle, I would never had found them."
"Thank you, My Lady," Culachquen said, bowing. When he stood up again, Mordea took a bit of his silken red hair between her fingers, and ran the digits down it. How she loved to touch his hair- as he visibly loved it, too. Then, she let it go, and walked over to a large throne that sat at a far, darkened wall. "You may go, now, my Culachquen," she said. But before he left, she said, "Culachquen," He stopped and turned, his long crimson cape whirling around him gracefully.
"Yes, My Lady?" he asked.
"Those Shire Rats showed me the vision of a girl," she said. "A child most dear to them… I want her killed."
"What would that serve, My Lady?" Culachquen asked.
"You question me?" she asked, her face twisting in anger.
"No, My Lady," Culachquen said, "Forgive me… Where is the doomed one?"
"In the Shire," she said. "A place known as Brandybuck Hall. She will be most easy to find: taller than the others, by far, with raven hair and blue eyes. And if you must know, I want all whose beauty would rival mine to be destroyed."
"How could anyone, Hobbit, Elf, or Human, have beauty enough to rival yours?" Culachquen asked.
"Do not question me!" she roared. She slammed her luminous hands on the arms of the throne, and ordered, "I want this girl killed! Do you understand!"
"Yes, My Lady," Culachquen said. He bowed again, and left the room.
Once out, he went to one of many Orc Captains, and said, "I want your best archer to ride to the land called 'The Shire'. Her Grace has an errand that must be done."
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As the half moon shone down on the sleeping Shire, six steeds, bearing seven riders, galloped down the dusty roads. Four horses parted, as three continued on their way to a hidden valley in the east, hidden deep in the forests.
The four that departed the group raced past the peacefully sleepy, thatch roofed Hobbit houses and hills of Hobbit holes, until they reached Brandybuck Hall. The horses and riders came to a stop, and the foremost of them dismounted. He did not pause for even a moment, but went straight away to the six foot high front central door, and slammed his fist against it. He did this over ten times before the door was thrust open by a very frustrated Merrimac.
"What the devil do you want?!" the hobbit asked before he saw the large, imposing figure standing behind the door. He slowly looked up the length of the being cloaked in dark green. His jaw dropped, and he staggered back as the brute pushed his way in.
Then the intruder said, "I have come for Aurora."
"Wh.. What? Who?" Merrimac stammered.
"The girl you call… Dawn."
------------------Authoress' Note---------------------
So, what did y'all think? I'm giving an ultimatum: I'll only post more if more than one review comes in. So even if I get one solitary review, I'll still pull the story from the site. So, please, if you read this, post a review! Good, bad, doesn't matter; I need yall's input!!!