Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah. You know I don't own it.
A/N: I know the word "fuck" is probably not that old and I'm fairly certain it wasn't used in Middle-Earth. Humor me, okay?
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As she had predicted, by morning all the strain on her muscles from traveling yesterday had caught up with Valora. She groaned when she felt someone shake her shoulder, trying to wake her up. "Go away," she moaned, yanking her blanket over her head.
Strider was torn between being amused and annoyed. He shook her shoulder again. "Come, Valora. Wake up. We have to leave soon." He pulled the blanket down to expose her face again.
She groggily opened her eyes and looked up at him. Well, glared actually. "Strider, it's not even light yet," she whined.
"I am well aware of that. Now get up."
"Fuck off," she growled, rolling over and dragging the blanket over her head once more.
Strider stared at her in shock. Never had he heard a lady use such language. He turned to look at Frodo, who was laughing.
"Don't take it personally," Frodo told him. "She gets like this sometimes. Usually in the morning. Or when Merry and Pippin do something to really annoy her."
"Or that time she stubbed her foot," said Sam.
Frodo poured some tea into a small mug and walked over to Valora. "That's true," he agreed. To Strider, he said, "If you think she's bad now, wait until you see her when she's really upset about something. It's nothing serious, really. I know it can be shocking at first. It just takes some getting used to." He gently nudged her through the blanket. "Valora, get up."
"I don't wanna," she whined.
"Here," he said, holding out the tea.
Very reluctantly, she sat up and took the tea. "Thanks," she mumbled and took a sip.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
In less than an hour, they had eaten breakfast and were packing everything to leave. The sun was just beginning to rise. While the others tied the last of their cooking supplies to the pony, who Sam had named Bill, Valora approached Strider. "Could I talk to you for a second?"
He nodded.
"I'm sorry about earlier. I'm not much of a morning person."
"So I gathered," he said dryly.
She looked at her feet, feeling horrible for the way she had acted towards him. He had done so much for them. "And then, with everything that's been happening... I just wasn't in the best of moods. In fact, I'm still not, but... I know I was being a bitch and I just wanted to apologize for it."
"Accepted."
"Thank you."
"Are we ready?" he asked the Hobbits.
"Yes," answered Merry.
Strider gave a curt nod and started walking.
Valora sighed and looked at the others as they began to follow Strider. By the way they were moving a bit stiffly, she was fairly certain that their muscles were feeling much the same as hers were. As if someone had taken a sledgehammer to them. Oh, for some decent rest and a hot bath. But there wasn't a hot bath available and they had to keep moving if they wanted to reach the safety of Rivendell without having another run-in with the Ringwraiths.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
It was nearly sunset. The entire group was looking forward to stopping for the night. Even Strider, who had sacrificed so much sleep lately that he felt he could drop at any time. He hoped it didn't show. He'd already smothered several yawns today. And even though tonight promised to be another sleepless one for him, some rest would be better than none. At any rate, the Hobbits hadn't seemed to notice just how tired he was. Valora, on the other hand, had looked at him suspiciously when he had run his hand over his face to hide a yawn.
He stopped when they had nearly reached a ruined structure that stood on a very steep hill high above the ground. "This was the great watchtower of Amon Sul," he told them. "We shall rest here tonight."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Valora tossed down her pack, every muscle in her body screaming in protest at every movement she made. Never in her life had she exerted herself this much. She sat down gingerly on the wide ledge Strider had chosen for them to stay on for the night. When Strider had announced that they would be stopping, she had been thrilled. But then it had taken an extra twenty minutes or so to climb up to their campsite.
The others threw themselves down in exhaustion. They were all utterly spent. Strider riffled through one of the packs on Bill and brought out something wrapped in a bundle. He unwrapped it. "These are for you," he announced, revealing the five small swords to his companions. He tossed one to Merry and one to Sam as Pippin and Frodo each picked one up. Strider picked up the last one, the longest one, and took it to Valora, who looked as though she didn't want to move ever again. She took the sword from him with a worried look on her face. "Keep them close. I'm going to have a look around. Stay here," he told them.
They watched him walk away.
Valora looked at the sword in her hands. Carefully, she strapped it around her waist, hoping Strider wouldn't be gone too long. The combination of having missed a fair amount of sleep and traveling without many stops was quickly catching up with her.
Frodo settled down a few feet away from her, equally, if not more exhausted than Valora.
Both of them drifted off to sleep.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Frodo awoke to sounds and voices behind him. He sat up and looked over at the other Hobbits. "What are you doing?!"
Valora woke with a start at the almost shrieked words. She turned to see Frodo sitting up a few feet away. She looked in the direction he was and, to her horror, saw the cause of his distress. The others had built a cooking fire.
They didn't seem to understand either her or Frodo's distress. Merry calmly pointed to the things in the pan. "Tomatoes, sausages, nice, crispy bacon."
"We saved some for you, Mr. Frodo," said Sam, offering a plate.
Frodo and Valora leapt to their feet, forgetting their aching muscles, and ran to the fire. "Put it out, you fools! Put it out!" cried Frodo. Valora assisted him in stomping out the fire.
"Oh, that's nice!" said Pippin. "Ash on my tomatoes!" he cried loudly enough for his voice to echo.
"Pippin, shut up!" hissed Valora angrily. She ought to bitch-slap all three of them! How stupid could they be? Building a fire up here! They might as well have put up a neon sign that said, "We are here!" for anyone who might be trying to find them.
A sudden shriek split the night air.
Valora froze, all the blood draining from her face as her heart rate sped up. She knew that sound. She would never forget that sound as long as she lived. It was the cry of the Ringwraiths.
All of them ran to the edge of the ledge and looked down. Five Wraiths were approaching the Watchtower.
Frodo drew the blade Strider had given him. The others did the same. "Go!" he cried, and they all ran up to the top of the watchtower. It was the only place they could go. The only problem was, that meant they were trapped. And they had no idea where Strider was.
They stood together in the center of the watchtower, looking around fearfully. They all knew the chances that the Wraiths wouldn't find them here were very slim to none, if they were even that good.
Feeling a presence behind them, Valora and Frodo turned around. The Wraiths were approaching slowly, their swords held up in front of them. Instinctively, they began to back away from them. None of them were well learned with a sword, so that would provide only minimal protection. By now, the other three had also noticed the presence of the Wraiths. Everyone tried to stay in front of Frodo.
"Back you devils!" cried Sam. He lunged forward with his sword. The Wraith he attacked merely blocked his thrusts and tossed him aside.
Merry and Pippin stepped closer together in front of Frodo and Valora, only to be yanked aside and tossed away as well.
Valora and Frodo were on their own now. Not knowing what else to do, Valora kept herself between the Wraiths and her friend. "You can't have him," she whispered. Her mind screamed at her to call for Strider, but the sound froze in her throat. She held up the small sword threateningly, but the Wraiths hardly took any notice. The one closest to her reached out to remove her from their path as well. She lashed out. She managed to snag a bit of its cloak with the end of the sword, but it repelled her attack and threw her to the side. Her head struck a stone, not rendering her unconscious, but disorienting her badly.
Frodo dropped the sword. This was a fight he could not win. He stumbled back and landed hard on the ground. Frantically, he continued to back away from the approaching Wraiths until he found himself up against a stone. He was trapped and the Wraiths were closing in. He heard the voice of the Ring telling him to put it on. And, in a moment of panic, he obeyed.
The moment the Ring slipped onto his finger, it was as if he'd entered another world. Just as it had back at the inn, everything seemed to fade into shadows. Only, this time, that great, frightening eye wasn't there. As he looked up, he could still see the tall figures of the Wraiths standing over him. But gone were the black hooded cloaks. They were ghostly white and crowns sat upon their heads.
"They were once Men. Great kings of Men," Strider had told them.
The nearest Wraith reached down for the Ring. To his horror, Frodo felt his hand lifting and reaching towards it. He pulled against it. The Wraith's fingers moved closer to the Ring. Using all his strength, Frodo pulled his hand away. Without hesitating, the angry Wraith stabbed Frodo's shoulder with a long dagger. Frodo screamed in pain.
The Wraith looked up and dropped the blade it had used to stab Frodo as an angry cry was heard. Strider leapt over Frodo and swung his sword and torch at the Wraiths, forcing them away from Frodo.
Frodo pulled the Ring from his finger, crying out in pain yet again.
The others ran to him. Sam got there first. Valora, still reeling from the blow to her head, knelt down beside them. She quickly pushed aside the cloak and Frodo's coat to examine the wound. It wasn't bleeding, which was strange, but it didn't look too good. "Oh, god!" she whispered. Normal wounds she could handle, but this wasn't something she knew how to deal with. She turned to look at Strider. Hopefully, he would know what to do.
Strider fought with a fury that they had never seen before. The fight was five against one, yet he was winning. They watched as he set fire to one of his opponents. One by one, the Wraiths fled. Until only one remained. Strider threw his torch at it. The torch struck it in the face, where it stuck. The Wraith screamed in agony and fled.
"Strider, help!" called Valora.
He went quickly to them and looked down at Frodo, who was moaning and writhing in pain.
"Help him, Strider," begged Sam.
Strider picked up the dagger that the Wraith had stabbed Frodo with. "He's been stabbed by a Morgul blade," he said grimly. To the astonishment of the others, the blade dissolved into dust, leaving only the hilt, which Strider threw down in anger and disgust. "This is beyond my skill to heal. He needs Elvish medicine." He scooped Frodo up and ran.
They stopped only to gather their supplies as quickly as possible. Very soon, they were running through the forest. "Hurry," called Strider from the front. They could hear the Wraiths pursuing them.
"We're six days from Rivendell," cried Sam. "He'll never make it!"
"He has to," said Valora. She was so afraid for her friend that she was on the verge of tears.
"Gandalf," whimpered Frodo.
"Hold on, Frodo," said Strider quietly.
"Gandalf!"
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I've been getting mixed opinions on wether Valora is a Mary-Sue or not. Keep in mind what I told you about her in the beginning. This girl has been mistreated and misunderstood her whole life. This has made her kind of timid. Just because she is a bit timid and a sweet girl, doesn't necassrily make her a Mary-Sue. And even if she *is* a Mary-Sue, she's not our average one. That is about to become increasingly apparent as she starts to really grow comfortable with the other characters and open up to them.
A/N: I know the word "fuck" is probably not that old and I'm fairly certain it wasn't used in Middle-Earth. Humor me, okay?
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As she had predicted, by morning all the strain on her muscles from traveling yesterday had caught up with Valora. She groaned when she felt someone shake her shoulder, trying to wake her up. "Go away," she moaned, yanking her blanket over her head.
Strider was torn between being amused and annoyed. He shook her shoulder again. "Come, Valora. Wake up. We have to leave soon." He pulled the blanket down to expose her face again.
She groggily opened her eyes and looked up at him. Well, glared actually. "Strider, it's not even light yet," she whined.
"I am well aware of that. Now get up."
"Fuck off," she growled, rolling over and dragging the blanket over her head once more.
Strider stared at her in shock. Never had he heard a lady use such language. He turned to look at Frodo, who was laughing.
"Don't take it personally," Frodo told him. "She gets like this sometimes. Usually in the morning. Or when Merry and Pippin do something to really annoy her."
"Or that time she stubbed her foot," said Sam.
Frodo poured some tea into a small mug and walked over to Valora. "That's true," he agreed. To Strider, he said, "If you think she's bad now, wait until you see her when she's really upset about something. It's nothing serious, really. I know it can be shocking at first. It just takes some getting used to." He gently nudged her through the blanket. "Valora, get up."
"I don't wanna," she whined.
"Here," he said, holding out the tea.
Very reluctantly, she sat up and took the tea. "Thanks," she mumbled and took a sip.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
In less than an hour, they had eaten breakfast and were packing everything to leave. The sun was just beginning to rise. While the others tied the last of their cooking supplies to the pony, who Sam had named Bill, Valora approached Strider. "Could I talk to you for a second?"
He nodded.
"I'm sorry about earlier. I'm not much of a morning person."
"So I gathered," he said dryly.
She looked at her feet, feeling horrible for the way she had acted towards him. He had done so much for them. "And then, with everything that's been happening... I just wasn't in the best of moods. In fact, I'm still not, but... I know I was being a bitch and I just wanted to apologize for it."
"Accepted."
"Thank you."
"Are we ready?" he asked the Hobbits.
"Yes," answered Merry.
Strider gave a curt nod and started walking.
Valora sighed and looked at the others as they began to follow Strider. By the way they were moving a bit stiffly, she was fairly certain that their muscles were feeling much the same as hers were. As if someone had taken a sledgehammer to them. Oh, for some decent rest and a hot bath. But there wasn't a hot bath available and they had to keep moving if they wanted to reach the safety of Rivendell without having another run-in with the Ringwraiths.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
It was nearly sunset. The entire group was looking forward to stopping for the night. Even Strider, who had sacrificed so much sleep lately that he felt he could drop at any time. He hoped it didn't show. He'd already smothered several yawns today. And even though tonight promised to be another sleepless one for him, some rest would be better than none. At any rate, the Hobbits hadn't seemed to notice just how tired he was. Valora, on the other hand, had looked at him suspiciously when he had run his hand over his face to hide a yawn.
He stopped when they had nearly reached a ruined structure that stood on a very steep hill high above the ground. "This was the great watchtower of Amon Sul," he told them. "We shall rest here tonight."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Valora tossed down her pack, every muscle in her body screaming in protest at every movement she made. Never in her life had she exerted herself this much. She sat down gingerly on the wide ledge Strider had chosen for them to stay on for the night. When Strider had announced that they would be stopping, she had been thrilled. But then it had taken an extra twenty minutes or so to climb up to their campsite.
The others threw themselves down in exhaustion. They were all utterly spent. Strider riffled through one of the packs on Bill and brought out something wrapped in a bundle. He unwrapped it. "These are for you," he announced, revealing the five small swords to his companions. He tossed one to Merry and one to Sam as Pippin and Frodo each picked one up. Strider picked up the last one, the longest one, and took it to Valora, who looked as though she didn't want to move ever again. She took the sword from him with a worried look on her face. "Keep them close. I'm going to have a look around. Stay here," he told them.
They watched him walk away.
Valora looked at the sword in her hands. Carefully, she strapped it around her waist, hoping Strider wouldn't be gone too long. The combination of having missed a fair amount of sleep and traveling without many stops was quickly catching up with her.
Frodo settled down a few feet away from her, equally, if not more exhausted than Valora.
Both of them drifted off to sleep.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Frodo awoke to sounds and voices behind him. He sat up and looked over at the other Hobbits. "What are you doing?!"
Valora woke with a start at the almost shrieked words. She turned to see Frodo sitting up a few feet away. She looked in the direction he was and, to her horror, saw the cause of his distress. The others had built a cooking fire.
They didn't seem to understand either her or Frodo's distress. Merry calmly pointed to the things in the pan. "Tomatoes, sausages, nice, crispy bacon."
"We saved some for you, Mr. Frodo," said Sam, offering a plate.
Frodo and Valora leapt to their feet, forgetting their aching muscles, and ran to the fire. "Put it out, you fools! Put it out!" cried Frodo. Valora assisted him in stomping out the fire.
"Oh, that's nice!" said Pippin. "Ash on my tomatoes!" he cried loudly enough for his voice to echo.
"Pippin, shut up!" hissed Valora angrily. She ought to bitch-slap all three of them! How stupid could they be? Building a fire up here! They might as well have put up a neon sign that said, "We are here!" for anyone who might be trying to find them.
A sudden shriek split the night air.
Valora froze, all the blood draining from her face as her heart rate sped up. She knew that sound. She would never forget that sound as long as she lived. It was the cry of the Ringwraiths.
All of them ran to the edge of the ledge and looked down. Five Wraiths were approaching the Watchtower.
Frodo drew the blade Strider had given him. The others did the same. "Go!" he cried, and they all ran up to the top of the watchtower. It was the only place they could go. The only problem was, that meant they were trapped. And they had no idea where Strider was.
They stood together in the center of the watchtower, looking around fearfully. They all knew the chances that the Wraiths wouldn't find them here were very slim to none, if they were even that good.
Feeling a presence behind them, Valora and Frodo turned around. The Wraiths were approaching slowly, their swords held up in front of them. Instinctively, they began to back away from them. None of them were well learned with a sword, so that would provide only minimal protection. By now, the other three had also noticed the presence of the Wraiths. Everyone tried to stay in front of Frodo.
"Back you devils!" cried Sam. He lunged forward with his sword. The Wraith he attacked merely blocked his thrusts and tossed him aside.
Merry and Pippin stepped closer together in front of Frodo and Valora, only to be yanked aside and tossed away as well.
Valora and Frodo were on their own now. Not knowing what else to do, Valora kept herself between the Wraiths and her friend. "You can't have him," she whispered. Her mind screamed at her to call for Strider, but the sound froze in her throat. She held up the small sword threateningly, but the Wraiths hardly took any notice. The one closest to her reached out to remove her from their path as well. She lashed out. She managed to snag a bit of its cloak with the end of the sword, but it repelled her attack and threw her to the side. Her head struck a stone, not rendering her unconscious, but disorienting her badly.
Frodo dropped the sword. This was a fight he could not win. He stumbled back and landed hard on the ground. Frantically, he continued to back away from the approaching Wraiths until he found himself up against a stone. He was trapped and the Wraiths were closing in. He heard the voice of the Ring telling him to put it on. And, in a moment of panic, he obeyed.
The moment the Ring slipped onto his finger, it was as if he'd entered another world. Just as it had back at the inn, everything seemed to fade into shadows. Only, this time, that great, frightening eye wasn't there. As he looked up, he could still see the tall figures of the Wraiths standing over him. But gone were the black hooded cloaks. They were ghostly white and crowns sat upon their heads.
"They were once Men. Great kings of Men," Strider had told them.
The nearest Wraith reached down for the Ring. To his horror, Frodo felt his hand lifting and reaching towards it. He pulled against it. The Wraith's fingers moved closer to the Ring. Using all his strength, Frodo pulled his hand away. Without hesitating, the angry Wraith stabbed Frodo's shoulder with a long dagger. Frodo screamed in pain.
The Wraith looked up and dropped the blade it had used to stab Frodo as an angry cry was heard. Strider leapt over Frodo and swung his sword and torch at the Wraiths, forcing them away from Frodo.
Frodo pulled the Ring from his finger, crying out in pain yet again.
The others ran to him. Sam got there first. Valora, still reeling from the blow to her head, knelt down beside them. She quickly pushed aside the cloak and Frodo's coat to examine the wound. It wasn't bleeding, which was strange, but it didn't look too good. "Oh, god!" she whispered. Normal wounds she could handle, but this wasn't something she knew how to deal with. She turned to look at Strider. Hopefully, he would know what to do.
Strider fought with a fury that they had never seen before. The fight was five against one, yet he was winning. They watched as he set fire to one of his opponents. One by one, the Wraiths fled. Until only one remained. Strider threw his torch at it. The torch struck it in the face, where it stuck. The Wraith screamed in agony and fled.
"Strider, help!" called Valora.
He went quickly to them and looked down at Frodo, who was moaning and writhing in pain.
"Help him, Strider," begged Sam.
Strider picked up the dagger that the Wraith had stabbed Frodo with. "He's been stabbed by a Morgul blade," he said grimly. To the astonishment of the others, the blade dissolved into dust, leaving only the hilt, which Strider threw down in anger and disgust. "This is beyond my skill to heal. He needs Elvish medicine." He scooped Frodo up and ran.
They stopped only to gather their supplies as quickly as possible. Very soon, they were running through the forest. "Hurry," called Strider from the front. They could hear the Wraiths pursuing them.
"We're six days from Rivendell," cried Sam. "He'll never make it!"
"He has to," said Valora. She was so afraid for her friend that she was on the verge of tears.
"Gandalf," whimpered Frodo.
"Hold on, Frodo," said Strider quietly.
"Gandalf!"
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I've been getting mixed opinions on wether Valora is a Mary-Sue or not. Keep in mind what I told you about her in the beginning. This girl has been mistreated and misunderstood her whole life. This has made her kind of timid. Just because she is a bit timid and a sweet girl, doesn't necassrily make her a Mary-Sue. And even if she *is* a Mary-Sue, she's not our average one. That is about to become increasingly apparent as she starts to really grow comfortable with the other characters and open up to them.