Chapter 15: Crebain, History, and Caradhras
A/N: Well I am trying really hard to make the chapters longer. I'm off of school for two weeks (Christmas break), but I'm leaving on Thursday and getting back next Tuesday. I will try to get another chapter up before school starts again in January, but I dunno. Hope you like it and please review!
Disclaimer: Never have, don't now, and never will
Legolas trudged on through the wasteland with the Fellowship. He wished now that he had said goodbye to Elerina. At least he would have heard her voice again. He loved Aragorn like a brother, and was always happy to listen to him tell stories of the Dúnadan, and Gandalf told wonderful stories as well. But the Hobbits... they were probably the most annoying creatures imaginable when it came to traveling. They asked question after question almost non-stop. Gimli was fairly interesting to talk to, but they got into arguments every few minutes.
Elerina was very nice to talk to. She was sweet and interesting. They had only been gone a week and a half, but Legolas already missed the familiar Mirkwood trees, the dinners in Elrond's house, sitting in the weeping willow trees with Elerina.
Well, thinking of everything he missed didn't make this boring stretch of the journey any better.
"We'll stop for a rest here," said Aragorn. They all thankfully sat down and took drinks from water flasks.
Boromir was practice-fighting with Merry and Pippin. Legolas studied the sky. He saw something strange. It looked like a cloud, but it was dark and moving swiftly. One of the Hobbits, Sam, who was cooking a meal, looked up at him.
"What is that?" he asked.
"Nothing, it's just a whiff of cloud," said the Dwarf. Boromir and the Hobbits had stopped their practice fight, and were studying the cloud as well.
"It's moving fast, against the wind," Boromir said. As it drew closer, Legolas' elf eyes saw that it was no cloud.
"Crebain from Dunland!" he shouted.
"Hide!" Aragorn yelled, and they all scrambled for cover. Sam put out the fire and hid under a bush just as a flock of great black birds flew overhead, cawing loudly. They circled the hill, and flew back southwards.
"Spies of Saruman! The passage south is being watched. We must take the Pass of Caradhras," said Gandalf. Legolas looked up at the snowy mountain top. That would be a hard road. The Hobbits would not be able to stand the cold. Would Gandalf lead them to their deaths?
Elerina sighed as she sat by her window. It was dull, sleeping and daydreaming the weeks away. She missed Míriel and their long talks in the gardens. She recalled the whole story of the Fellowship, and longed for the adventure of going with them. She yearned to know if they were all safe, especially Legolas.
She thought again of where she was. She was in Middle-Earth, obviously. But she was a fictional character. It made her feel... she didn't quite know. It made her feel strange to be in a made up world.
Elerina remembered the words of a phrase her mother once said to her: "You never know what you've got until it's gone." Elerina could relate to that now. Not only was she a fictional character, but she was in love with one as well. But he was gone, and there was nothing she could do about it.
She wanted to go back to the sea. It was so majestic, so powerful, yet so utterly beautiful. The grey waves crashing against the rocks, the soft sand beneath her feet, the cry of the gulls. It was all so calming.
She sighed again and got up, prepared to go for a ride. She thought better of it, for it was rather cold outside, and went over to the bookshelf on one side of her room. She had never read any of them, so she chose a book with a green binder. She picked it up and looked at the cover. It was beautiful green leather, with intricate designs embedded into it's soft exterior. The title was in Elvish letters, The Lays of Beleriand . Elerina still didn't know how, but she could read, speak, and understand Elvish fairly well. Enough to carry on a conversation, but she wasn't sure she knew enough to read a book. This must be a history book, she thought. She sat down on her bed and opened the book.
Surprised, she found that it wasn't Elvish that the book was written in. Only the cover had Elvish. She flipped through to the first chapter.
"TÚRIN SON OF HÚRIN
&
GLÓRUND THE DRAGON
Lo! the golden dragon of the God of Hell,
the gloom of the woods of the world now gone,
the woes of Men, and weeping of Elves
fading faintly down forest pathways,
is now to tell, and the name most tearful
of Níniel the sorrowful, and the name most sad
of Thalion's son Túrin o'erthrown my fate…"
Elerina read on through the rest of the day, her worries of the Fellowship dissolved in the story.
(A/N: Taken from part I, The Lay of the Children of Húrin, in The Lays of Beleriand, the third book in the Histories of Middle-Earth)
"So, Gandalf, you try to lead them over Caradhras. And if that fails, where then will you go? If the mountain defeats you will you risk a more dangerous road?" said Saruman, the Crebain flying and cawing around Orthanc.
The Fellowship plowed through the snow on the slope of Caradhras. Legolas walked lightly on the top of the snow drifts, going ahead on his quick Elven feet to help dig away the snow. He had been right. This was a hard rode for the Hobbits. They were barely conscious in the bitter cold. Suddenly the was an eerie voice on the cold air.
"Cuiva nwalca Carnirasse; nai yarvaxea rasselya!"(Wake up cruel Redhorn! May your horn be bloodstained!) Legolas heard it first.
"There is a fell voice on the air," he said.
"It's Saruman!" shouted Gandalf as an avalanche of snow fell, barely missing the Fellowship.
"He's trying to bring down the mountain! Gandalf, we must turn back!" Aragorn shouted over the mountain's noise.
"No!" Gandalf persisted. "Losto Caradhras, sedho, hodo, nuitho i 'ruith!" Gandalf chanted the counter spell. (Sleep Caradhras, be still, lie still, hold your wrath!)
"Cuiva nwalca Carnirasse; Nai yarvaxea rasselya; taltuva notto-carinnar!" they heard Saruman again. (Wake up cruel Redhorn! May your bloodstained horn fall upon enemy heads!)
Lighting struck the tip of Caradhras sending a second avalanche. Legolas grabbed Gandalf from the edge of the slope just before the snow covered them all. In a moment, they all emerged.
"We must get off the mountain! Make for the Gap of Rohan and take the west road to my city!" cried Boromir.
"The Gap of Rohan takes us to close to Isengard!" Aragorn replied.
"If we cannot pass over a mountain, let us go under it. Let us go through the Mines of Moria," Gimli said.
"Moria. You fear to go into those mines. The dwarves delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-dum: Shadow and Flame!" said Saruman.
"Let the Ring-bearer decide," Gandalf said grimly. Frodo hesitated.
"We will go through the Mines," he said.
"So be it," said Gandalf.
(A/N: Whoa… who wrote that? That's actually a fairly long chapter! At least longer than normal. Yay for me! -does little dance-)