As the sun disappeared into the mountains and Emma and the elves became bored of Millie's constant complaints about her ass("it really is gonna fall off in a minute if we don't stop, and don't know about you but I wouldn't like to see my arse fall off!") the group finally found a place to make camp, a small dry cave. Not the most comfortable of places but certainly better than sleeping out in the cold open air. Um did I say cold, replace with freezing!

Millie almost fell from the horse in her eagerness to be free of it making Emma laugh as she leapt confidently from the saddle. Her friend glared at her; "Oh come on, you get to be an elf I should at least be able to laugh when you fall of a horse!"

Atan and Legolas lead the horses into the cave Legolas shaking his head at the girl's talk, it often sounded alien to him and he had become tired of trying to work out the meaning of their words.

"Anyway I need to talk to you, I've been talking to Atan."

"I noticed." Millie replied with a knowing-and very annoying-smile.

"Millie shut up, you can fancy Legolas as much as you like but that doesn't mean I have to like every elf I meet. Can I carry on now?"

"Sure." Millie said unconvinced and as annoying as ever.

"Fine, Atan said that this 'council' is because the battle is over, do you know what that means?"

"That the battle is over, so what?"

"So, we're not in Lord of the Rings, well we are, but right at the end, like just before the whole Grey Havens thing you never read. That means I have no idea what's gonna happen!"

"So?"

"So, I kinda like to know what's gonna happen when I'm stuck inside a book!"

"Hmm, well since I've never been 'stuck inside a book' I wouldn't know, but Legolas said something about vampires."

"Vampires?"

"Nos Feratu."

"And that makes it so much easier to under stand." Emma replied sarcasitically running her fingers through her hair; "I have never heard of vamps in Lord of the Rings, Werewolves, wargs, trolls, orcs obviously …"

"I think I get the idea, but if Leglolas say's they're here then they are, and he seems to think we might be here to stop them."

"Well Atan thinks we were sent by the Valar and as I have no idea how we really got here I think we should probably go along with what they're saying."

"You mean we have to go fight vampires? Cool." Millie replied totally unphased.

"Can you even fight?"

"Do you even have to ask that?"

"Do I take that as a yes or a no?"

"A yes."

"Um with a sword?"

"Ok no."

"Great…"

"But I'll just get Legolas to teach me."

"You better hope you're a quick study!"

"Oh it'll be fun."

"Fun, learning sword fighting…now there's two words I wouldn't use in the same sentence, at least not without a not."

"And what'll you do when we run into a, what the hell is the name for a group of vamps?"

"Um I have no idea, pack maybe? Horde?"

"Whatever, what'll you do if we get attacked by a large number of very visous vamps?"

"Die?"

"Not funny?"

"It wasn't meant to be. Fine, go learn sword fighting from the, I must admit, very cute master. I'm gonna try something a little easier."

"What?"

"Archery."

"What's easier about that?"

"Well I've done it before, only twice but I at least know basically what to do."

"I know basically what to do with a sword…stick the sharp end in the other person before they do the same to you."

Emma laughed, "Great start."

The next day Atan halted his horse at the top of the pass, far below Emma-who rode with him-could see the greenish-grey moor disappearing from sight before her. A few stands of trees could be seen and a river passing into the north, but little else broke the endless moor until a distant wood barely visible on the horizon.

"Rivendell is beyond sight for now, but it is only a few days away now, we will most likely rest in the mountains and continue the journey at sunrise."

Emma nodded though her gaze remained fixed on the horizon, far away before her a great eagle circled. "Will you teach me more archery?" She asked.

"If you wish." Came the reply as the elf urged his horse on down the path. The white steed walked at first but as the way became gentler it trotted then cantered and finally galloped at full speed down the slope. Emma gripped on to Atan for fear of falling as they quickly drew level with the other elves.

As the horse slowed Emma began to laugh; "Wow, that was cool, can we do it again?"

"I did not find it…'cool', today is quite warm in fact." Atan replied confusion telling in his voice.

"Never mind."

The group had not travelled far down the sloping pass when Legolas drew his horse to a halt causing the others to follow suit. Millie opened her mouth to ask why they had stopped but Legolas raised a hand to silence her as he listened intently. Mille tried to do the same, closing her eyes to focus on any sound, suddenly she grinned at Emma who was still looking confused and whispered; "There's someone over there." She pointed towards the edge of the path.

"I nar le? Tul et." Legolas called in clear quenya. Suddenly an elf appeared above the path, dressed in dark flowing travelling clothes he leapt down to the track before the company to stand, bow in hand, arrow strung.

"Oh my God Millie, he looks just like that guy…from that film…"

"I assume you mean Heath Ledger" Millie replied a smile on her face as she watched the elf.

"Manen lerta lelelya úlá i Kriaz-nor?" The elf asked raising the arrow to aim at Emma.

"What the fk?" Millie asked but Legolas again silenced her.

"Kriaz-nor?" he asked quietly.

The elf nodded but did not lower his bow.

"You are mistaken." Legolas said in the common tongue so that he could be understood.

The other elf shook his head before speaking again in quenya.

"What did he say?" Millie asked.

Legolas, having no time to wonder why she did not speak the elven tongue replied; "He believes he is not mistaken and would kill your friend."

"Well you can just tell him to fk himself!" Millie replied making Emma smile weakly.

"?" Legolas sent her a questioning look but received no answer as Emma quickly leapt from the saddle. The elf's arrow followed her as he corrected his aim and the girl felt her legs go weak but stood still before him.

"Why?" She asked quietly surprised to find that her voice did not shake.

"Le nar Kriaz-nor." He answered his voice cold and certain.

"Lower your bow!" Legolas said dismounting himself followed by Millie whose hand was already reaching for the dagger sheathed at her side.

The elf shook his head.

Emma stepped forwards, her hands clenched into fists at her sides and her face pale.

"Emma stay where you are!" Millie told her.

"If he wants me dead I'd like to know why." Emma said her voice quiet but still strangely steady.

"Emma will you just shut up and stay still!"

Before anyone else could say or do anything the elf drew back the string on his bow, Millie tried to move forwards to stop him, or help Emma or do something but was prevented from doing so by Legolas who, like Atan, had reached for his sword.

Emma stared into the elf's dark eyes, there was no anger there, no fear but there was something, hate possibly, a certain mind numbing hatred which Emma found hard to attribute to the fact that she was human. And what the hell did 'Kriaz-nor' mean? Before she could think of anything else a grim smile touched the elf's features and he released the bow sting.

The girl felt something hit her as she tried to avoid the arrow and suddenly pain filled her. She vaguely heard Millie's voice as she dropped to the floor, her vision faded and a red mist drifted across her. She thought she heard voices and then all was silence.

Millie had watched as the elf drew back his bowstring unable to do anything with Legolas' restraining hand on her arm. Suddenly the arrow was released, and Millie watched silently as it sped through the air to bury itself deep within her friend's chest. She saw the startled look on Emma's face as she dropped soundlessly to the ground. "Fk you (ok add a range of random swear words because as you know I Never swear and only say things like 'goodness' etc. (as if you can't guess I'm being sarcastic and just can't work out what the hell you would say and don't want to write anything like you did where you made me say all that 'goodness me no' crap!)

Legolas held her back, preventing her from doing anything, she turned to swear some more at the elf when she noticed something in his face that made her stop, following his gaze she saw Emma still lying on the floor, but suddenly the girl began to move. Millie stared as her friend twisted and writhed on the ground and suddenly realised that the girl was changing. Before she knew what was happening Millie was watching not a girl before her but a creature, golden fur growing from her skin, making the clothes she wore fade into nothing. Emma turned to face the elves but it was not a human face that watched them but that of a wolf.

"Oh your God, it's a werewolf!"

"Werewolf?" Legolas asked, "She is Kriaz-nor!"

The creature snarled and turned to the arrow in her chest, she tore it from her flesh with a whimper of pain and then snarled at the elf who had shot her.

The elf went white, his fumbling fingers reached behind him searching for another arrow but the creature rose quickly and-without touching the elf-tore the bow from his hands snapping it in her powerful jaws. The elf stood frozen as the wolf sat before him, tail flicking in a bored manner, amber eyes watching him. Her head tilted to one side, tongue flicking out to lick her nose as she silently watched the shaking elf. A moment later the creature snarled sending the elf running as fast as his feet could carry him-and he being an elf could move very fast.

The wolf yawned and barely seemed to notice the elves behind her as she licked at the red wound in her chest. Millie made to step forward but again was stopped by Legolas.

"I'm getting fed up with this!" She yelled "Let me go now!" The elf released her immediately but spoke quietly.

"She is Kriaz-nor, she may have no control of what she does."

"What the hell is this 'Kriaz-nor?' If you ask me she is no more than a werewolf."

"There have been no werewolves in this land for three thousand years and even when there were they were merely wolves with the spirits of men trapped within them, she is not that, she is changed."

"I don't care what she is, she is my friend!"

"She may not be anymore." Legolas replied.

The wolf watched all this in silence, but as Legolas finished she yawned again and seemed to shimmer and fade from view, it was hard to focus on her at all and suddenly it was no longer a wolf before them but Emma again.

As the sun set on Middle-Earth Atan stood before the small cave the group had found to rest in. Little had been said about the day's earlier events but the elf still worried about the girl who he felt had been placed under his care.

Legolas strode from the cave, a look of undisguised worry upon his hansom face, "Has there been any sign of the elf, Vennek?"

"No my lord, and Manwë has not yet returned, but I do not think he will trouble us again. How is the girl, Emma?"

"She is Kriaz-nor." The elven prince replied as if this was all the other needed to know.

"But what does that mean? What are these Kriaz-nor?"

"Many thousands of years ago the Dark Lord Sauron began forming his own dark creatures, following in the path of his own master, Morgoth who created the Belrogs themselves. Sauron in his time created the orcs and goblins that still roam our world today, but he also created the Guar Wraiths known to the humans as 'Werewolves'. These creatures were then merely the spirits of men long tortured and held imprisoned in the bodies of wolves, hence the name we gave them, Guar meaning wolf and Wraith, spirit. These dark creatures gave the Dark Lord his title of 'Lord of Werewolves' and served him faithfully for many years.

"Three thousand years ago the Dark Lord was defeated by the last alliance of elves and men, his followers disappeared into the shadows, many coming here to these very mountains, but of the Guar Wraiths little was known.

"It was not until many hundreds of years later that anything more was heard of that race. There had been many whispered tales among the humans, but no elf heard anything until one of them ventured into the heart of Lorien."

At this Atan gasped, for such a dark creature to even contemplate entering the fine woodland realm was impossible to believe!

"The creature was found and obviously killed, but the elves who defeated it claimed that the creature had at once been both human and animal, a wolf in the shape of a human who fought with deadly and dark power. It was not known what they had meant for some time but it appears that this was the next stage in the evolution of these beasts.

"Soon after it was clear that many of the Guar Wraiths still lived in Middle-Earth and many of them were rooted out and killed, and each time the creatures would rise up in semi human forms, able to weald weapons and fight with deadly power. They seemed to be able to withstand almost any injury save decapitation until it was found that for some reason silver, and especially Mithril had some effect on them. The creatures could not heal from a wound made by these metals and Mithril, being the purest form of silver, could drain their strength and burn their skin.

"Now the creatures have evolved even further into what you saw today, now the Guar Wraiths have become Kriaz-nor, able to shape shift fully between human and wolf. In fact the more powerful of their kind can even effect what wolven form they take, becoming large when fighting, or smaller to stalk prey. Still both silver and Mithril affect them greatly but now there is no indication that all the Kriaz-nor are evil.

"It appears that the Guar Wraiths mixed their blood with humans and possibly elves so that the Kriaz-nor are not the evil spirits trapped as their ancestors were and some, as I believe Emma to be, may indeed be 'good'."

"And what does this mean for the girl? Will she be hunted for the rest of her life by elves and men like Vennek?"

"I believe not, although it is often said that Kriaz-nor turn to wolven form only at the time when the moon is fullest many of their kinda have more control than this and I believe Emma to have this control. As you saw earlier she can change at will and similarly she can 'not change' at will. If she remains human she will practically be human although her senses may be heightened and silver will affect her."

"But Vennek was able to sense that she was Kriaz-nor, will others be able to do the same."

"None of her own race will have the skill required but there may be other elves who can sense it, powerful elves like Lady Galadriel, Lord Celeborn, Lord Elrond…"

"But not you?" Atan asked innocently.

Legolas laughed, "No, it appears not, I can travel Middle-Earth, fight all manor of evil, and yet I cannot sense when a girl has the blood of the Kriaz-nor."

"Will she be alright?" Atan asked suddenly serious again with concern.

"I do not know, the Kriaz-nor are said to be able to withstand any wound not made with silver or Mithril, but whether this is true or not I do not know, I believe we are soon to find out…"

Within the cave Millie sat stony faced watching the dark shadows deepen, her eyes darted to the form beside her and met only the cold pale face that had been there before. She didn't like to admit it, but she was scared, scared for her friends life. Emma had become unconscious almost as soon as she had changed from wolf back to human and had not recovered since, her face now looked grey-white in colour and although it had often been thought that the girl could only become paler than her normal colour in death, Millie hoped that this was not true.

Sitting there now it seemed like hours ago that Legolas had rushed to her side, bandaged the wound and allowed Atan to bring them here. Since then Millie had heard the elves whispering, catching words like 'fractured ribs' and 'punctured lung' without really knowing what was going on. Then Manwë has left in the hopes of finding the elf who had done this, an individual named Vennek it appeared, he had not yet returned.

Suddenly the girl beside her gasped, her eyelids flickered and her breathing became erratic gasps that sounded almost as if the girl was hyperventilating. Millie grabbed her shoulders; "Emma, calm down, breath slower…or deeper…or whatever it is, maybe you need a paper bad, oh fk I think you need a paper bag but they don't have them here…"

Emma's gasps began to slow though her breathing remained laboured; "Millie…shut…up." She managed between gasps of air, one hand on her bandaged chest the other tightly balled against the pain.

"Emma are you ok? No, stupid question, never mind."

"What…happened?"

"Well you know, apart from getting shot and turning into a wolf…oh nothing much. You scared the crap out of us though; I thought you weren't going to wake up."

Emma tried to smile but suddenly coughed; holding her hand before her mouth the girl suddenly stopped wide eyes, staring at her fingers. They were sprayed with tiny droplets of blood.

"It's probably just from the wound thing; it's nothing to worry about." Millie said.

Emma nodded slowly as if trying to convince herself of this. She wiped her hand on her top before trying to speak again; "Am I...gonna…well, what has…Legolas said? Am I gonna…be alright?"

"He hasn't said much, but your gonna be fine."

"Oh God…Oh fuck, I wish we'd never come here, I wish none of this had ever happened!"

"So do all who live to see such times." Millie replied in her best Gandalf voice.

"Millie! Stop with the lord of the Rings quotes!"

"Oh come on, you did it too."

"I'm allowed to, I'm dying."

"Yer well I'm allowed too then-you're dying." Emma laughed despite herself and ended up coughing again. "I think you should probably rest." Her friend said quietly. Emma nodded wincing as the pain in her chest stabbed again, she closed her eyes and within moments had drifted off into sleep.