Chapter 16

Haldir let loose an arrow at the target and got a bull's-eye. It hit squarely and he sighed. She wasn't coming; she was having too much fun with Mithrandir. Haldir sighed again and loaded another arrow.

Suddenly, he heard a twig snap and his body tensed up. He slowly brought his hand to a dagger in his belt and was about to turn around to see who was behind him when Elizabeth waltzed right past him.

"You're losing your perfectness." She stated. "If I was an orc, I could have killed you."

"If you were an orc, you wouldn't be here right now." Haldir answered simply and reloaded his bow. He let loose the arrow and it his the bull's eye.

"Haldir, you know when you said that you—"

"Said what?" Haldir asked coldly. "Was there something of interest I missed? From my point of view, I never spoke to you yesterday and I never shall with care again."

Elizabeth winced and she felt as if a spear had been stuck through her heart. Haldir immediately regretted his harsh words. Tears began to well up in Elizabeth's eyes and she became angry. Her powers began to surge and she tried to control her anger and magic at the same time but was unsuccessful.

"I was just trying to say sorry, but obviously you hate me too much to let me say it!!!!!" Elizabeth shouted and a nearby sword cracked its blade from her anger. Haldir's head shot a glare at the sword.

By using that amount of power so quickly and excelling her anger, Elizabeth had weakened herself. As Haldir was busy taking a few steps towards the sword to watch it silently, Elizabeth collapsed to the ground and began hyperventilating uncontrollably.

The sounds of quickened and hard breathing brought Haldir's attention back to Elizabeth and he strode quickly over to her shaking body. Haldir scooped the child into his arms and rubbed a hand up and down on her back.

"Shhh," he whispered into her hair. "Shh, calm down my little one."

Slowly but surely, Elizabeth's breathing slowed down and she soon was breathing normally. Haldir stiffened slightly went he felt her body go limp and found she was asleep in his arms, but quickly straightened out and stood to take her back to her room.

As he lay her down in her bed and tucked her in, Haldir heard Elizabeth murmur in her sleep.

"I'm sorry…please…don't be mad…" she mumbled as she cuddled into the bed. Haldir smiled softly at her innocence and leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"I forgive you." He whispered and then placed a single kiss on her forehead and left.

I see you child…

…Do not think you can hide…

At least three hundred of those ugly things Elizabeth had seen in her last dream were running. Hopefully they were running away from the blade of the Fellowship. But they were not. The Leader, the same one the man in white had spoken to was loading his bow.

He let the arrow loose and for one brief moment, Elizabeth believed she would see Legolas receiving it through his chest. But it was not Legolas who was doomed to receive this arrow. When it hit its target, Elizabeth still felt like crying.

It was Boromir who received the arrow. It hit him squarely and for a moment he was just as shocked as Merry and Pippin (who were nearby) were. The two hobbits dropped the rocks they were throwing and stared at Boromir in shock.

True, Elizabeth had not liked Boromir very much, but now she felt sorry for him. She knew the Ring was confusing him and she wanted so badly to help. He took a second arrow but still persisted in his fighting. Obviously, if he went down, he was going to take some enemies with him.

The ugly Uruk-hai shot one more arrow at him and Boromir sank to his knees breathing hard. Before she knew it, the Uruk-hai leader was standing over Boromir. Elizabeth wanted so badly to kick or punch or hurt that beast that was trying to hurt Boromir.

The beast aimed its bow at Boromir's bowed head and just as it was about to loose the arrow, a black shape ran forward and knocked the Uruk-hai over.

It was Aragorn. He was all right! But Elizabeth's hopes faded as the Uruk-hai began to defeat Aragorn. And her vision began to fade away as she saw the Uruk-hai approaching a bloody Aragorn who was just getting up off the floor.

But her vision refocused and she saw Frodo and Sam in a boat, crossing the river alone, without the remaining members of the Fellowship. There was such a heavy feeling on Frodo and Elizabeth suddenly felt it on her own heart. It began to pull harder and harder on her and she began to pant heavily.

Suddenly a great fiery eyeball appeared before her and spoke to her.

'The pain will go away, little one, if you promise to help me retrieve what was once mine.'

'NO!' she shouted. The eye seemed to shine with happiness and the heavy feeling on Elizabeth's heart became stronger and painful.

As her vision began to fade once more, Elizabeth clutched at her chest mentally, straining to breath.

When she awoke, she groggily became aware of someone shaking her gently. She opened her eyes slowly and looked up to see Gandalf and Haldir looking down at her. Elizabeth then realized something else: she was on the hard floor of her room.

It took her a moment to put the words together, but eventually she did.

"Why am I on the floor?" she asked softly. She noticed Gandalf and Haldir were not in their usual attire either. In fact, Gandalf was wearing something that looked strangely like Long John Underwear. "Why are you wearing that?"

Her questions chased away Gandalf and Haldir's worried looks and replaced them with soft chuckles and smiles. But it was Haldir who was serious first.

"We were quite worried about you. The entire population of Caras Galadhon heard your screams this evening." Haldir answered.

"But why am I on the floor?" Elizabeth asked.

"We found you there." Haldir answered hesitantly. "You were writhing about on the floor and screaming loudly. Mithrandir had to use his enchantments to settle you down."

Elizabeth looked to Gandalf immediately for proof and he nodded silently.

"Elizabeth," Gandalf asked after a moment. "Did you have a dream?"

Elizabeth looked up at Gandalf and told him simply in his mind what her answer was. Gandalf seemed to read the small child like a book as he turned to Haldir.

"Haldir, if you do not mind, would you leave Elizabeth and I alone for a bit?" Gandalf asked softly. Haldir and Gandalf had a bit of silent understanding before Haldir nodded and left the room.

Once he was gone, Gandalf looked at the small child before him.

"Now, my dear, please tell me what you saw." Gandalf requested.

Haldir was pacing outside Elizabeth's room and stopped abruptly as he noticed a figure approaching him. He bowed his head quickly and made to kneel down, but was stopped.

"Do not bow, Haldir." Celeborn's soft voice said. "I heard from one of my servants that the child was screaming in her slumber."

Haldir raised an eyebrow. "Aye, 'tis true. Word travels fast through the servants."

Gandalf chose that very moment to exit Elizabeth's room, wearing a grim face.

"What has happened?" Haldir asked. "Is she all right?"

"She is fine—frightened, but fine nevertheless." Gandalf said.

"What did she see?" Celeborn asked after a moment's hesitation.

Gandalf looked darkly at Celeborn and they had a moment of clarifying with each other in silence.

"It was of the Fellowship. She saw many deaths…and I regret to say that Boromir is dead. She saw Legolas, and she saw Aragorn come very near to death. There is more she saw, but she would not tell me." Gandalf answered. He turned to Celeborn. "We are running out of time. You must alert them."

Celeborn stared into Gandalf's eyes for a moment, taking in what the wizard had said. He took a deep breath and sighed.

"Very well. I shall summon them immediately." Celeborn replied and turned away from Gandalf and Haldir. He headed towards the room where he communicated telepathically to the other elven sanctuaries.

Haldir looked confusedly from Gandalf, to the retreating back of Lord Celeborn and then back to Gandalf, a bewildered expression on his face.

"What is going on?" he asked a slightly confused scowl about his features.

Gandalf sighed and put his hand on Haldir's shoulder.

"It is as I feared. The War of the Ring is about to begin." Gandalf said and turned away from him to return to Elizabeth.

When Gandalf reentered Elizabeth's room, he saw her no longer sitting on the floor, but sitting in a comfy arm chair, hugging her knees. He smiled softly at the small child, but did not receive a smile in return. He kneeled in front of Elizabeth and lay a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you all right?" he asked softly.

"What do you think?" Elizabeth asked, keeping her eyes on the ground and away from Gandalf. She had a small pout on her lips.

"Ah, but what I think is not what we are speaking of. It is how you feel that matters to me." Gandalf answered.

Elizabeth said nothing and kept her eyes downcast and not turned towards Gandalf. Gandalf sighed.

"Elizabeth, there is something you are not telling me."

Elizabeth said nothing.

"You will need to eventually tell me what it is that is troubling you." Gandalf said.

"How?" Elizabeth asked quietly.

Gandalf gained Elizabeth's eye contact and watched her intently.

"How can someone be so bad? How can they kill Boromir? How can they make Frodo and Sam go by themselves to Mordor?" Elizabeth asked, her lower lip trembling.

Gandalf suddenly realized why Elizabeth had not told anyone of what else she had seen. She was too afraid that someone would hurt her if she did. She was too afraid for her friends.

"He will never harm you, my dear, never." Gandalf reassured. Elizabeth slowly tilted her head up to look into his eyes and let out her tears. They ran down her face steadily like melted snowflakes.

Gandalf cupped his hands around her cheeks and used his thumbs to brush away Elizabeth's tears. He placed a single, soft kiss on her forehead and smiled at her.

"As long as I am alive, his evil shall never harm you." Gandalf said again and pulled away from the small child.

"Promise?" Elizabeth asked in a small voice.

Gandalf nodded. "I promise."

Once Elizabeth had fallen asleep once more in her bed, Gandalf exited her room, closing the door softly. He motioned Haldir to join him as he headed towards Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel's private studies.

Gandalf found that the Lord and Lady were waiting for he and Haldir inside and entered upon arrival.

Once inside, Gandalf, Haldir, Celeborn and Galadriel sat in a circle around a small table.

"Have you alerted them?" Gandalf asked.

"Yes," Celeborn said. "Lord Elrond said that his people are continually leaving for the White Shores. He has none enough to send. And King Thranduil has enough trouble on his hands as it is."

Gandalf nodded silently. "So only you will send them?"

Galadriel glanced at Haldir. "That is for our Marchwarden to decide."

All eyes were on Haldir. Haldir glanced at everyone before sending a questioning glance towards Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn.

"Haldir, there will be a great battle very soon." Celeborn started. "If the elves do not renew their alliance with men, then the War for Middle Earth will be over before it started. Your choice is to command your troops to follow you into battle, or begin your journeys to the Grey Havens."

Haldir was silent while he contemplated the situation. He took a deep breath.

"You need not even ask the question of me, my lord." Haldir started slowly. "My troops and I will leave in exactly one week."

No one said anything, but inside they had just let out pent up breaths.

"What of Elizabeth?" Galadriel asked.

"She will join us." Gandalf said, answering for Haldir.

"Very well." Celeborn said. "Proceed with as much training as possible, Haldir. I want you ready for anything."

((ok....sigh that's done. I've already started writing a sequel--even though this story isn't done yet...I just felt like it....to give you a bit...er...of a teaser...ELizabeth...has, uh...become very, uh....er...."Suicidal"....we'll say that for now.....and uh.....someone is back from the dead and ready to try and conquer the world, er Middle Earth again...there....bye now...))