Okay, enjoy the chapter. :) Oh, if you're interested I have two stories up on my website (ones a lotr fanfic and the other is just a fantasy original) that have been put up. So if you want to read em go ahead. :)

Chapter twenty-eight

Dentyne Ice

The first thing Gwen noticed when she woke up was the sound of Morgoth and Sauron sneezing every twenty seconds. Realising the two weren't going to stop, she sighed and got out of bed. Her watch said it was six in the morning but no sun shone through the window's closed curtain. Her feet touched the floor and she immediately jumped as the bare floor was cold. She looked over at Morgoth and Sauron and saw that the two had runny noses and looked dreadfully sick. Gwen shivered and wondered why the room was so cold. She put on a bathrobe and some slippers and left Angband. The hallway was just as cold as her room and she breathed into her hand to make it warm up. She knocked on Kisha's door and Manwë answered it. Manwë appeared not to be a morning person and he looked grumpy.

"What?" he asked groggily.

"Is Kisha up yet?" Gwen asked.

Manwë shook his head.

"No."

"Okay, let her sleep then. I was just curious if she knew why it was so cold."

Manwë pointed to a window.

"I think it has to do with the snow that fell last night."

Gwen rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on there's no snow outside. It's the summer you dolt."

Manwë shrugged.

"Fine, suit yourself. Go outside and see," he said.

Gwen shook her head.

"Fine I will."

She trudged down the hallway and went into the living room. She opened the porch door and was met by a very frigid blast of cold air. Her eyes went wide with what she saw. Everything at camp was covered in about six inches of snow. Even though Camp Glingal was located in Northern British Columbia, snow was not expected for another three to four weeks and so the snow and cold that greeted Gwen was a horrible surprise. Being from Winnipeg herself she was used to snow and negative temperatures, but coming across it at camp while there were still campers here was a first. Five years ago a freak snowstorm hit the day after the campers left. Kisha thanked God that it occurred after camp ended but now that there was snow coating the entire camp, Gwen had no idea what to do. After closing the porch door she quickly ran back to Angband and jumped under the covers.

I'm really starting to hate camp…

--

"Come on! Get up in there! We have to deal with the snow!" Kisha said pounding on the door of Angband.

"I'm getting dressed okay?" Gwen replied as she put on a pair of jeans and a long sleeve. She slid on a pair of boots and headed out of Angband. Kisha stood waiting in the hallway. She had on a big elk fur jacket that she had brought with her from Nunavut.

"Okay ready," Gwen said.

"Where are the idiots?"

Gwen pushed open the door and Kisha saw that both looked sick.

"I think they got a cold."

Kisha rolled her eyes.

"Well it figures that they wouldn't be able to stand the cold. Come on we have to shovel out."

Gwen sighed.

"I was hoping I would not have to shovel out this early in the year. Damn," Gwen said as the two walked down the hall.

Kisha nodded.

"Be thankful you don't live in Nunavut."

"I know."

The two reached the door and most of the Tolkien characters were standing around in the living room shivering.

"Oh pull yourself together and follow me to the garage. There are shovels inside for situations just like this."

--

Kisha handed out all the shovels and created groups for the shovelling process. Most of the campers had decided to stay indoors but some helped the staff shovel out. With the wind drifts the snow had piled past the first floor windows of Numenor and Mordor and since there was not heat in the camp, the entire place felt frozen solid. After they finished shovelling out the camp road and making pathways to each building, the staff congregated in the living room and Kisha passed out hot chocolate.

"You know, I think we better check on the two Dark Lords," Gwen suggested after she finished her cup.

"Why?" Fëanor asked.

"When I left them this morning they looked pretty sick."

"So that's why they weren't out helping us, and here I thought they were just lazy," Tulkas replied.

Gwen stood up.

"I'll be back."

She walked down the hallway and entered Angband. By now she was no longer cold as she had just finished a few hours of manual back breaking labour. She heard Sauron sneeze again when she finally entered the room.

"Are you guys alright?" Gwen asked.

"No," Morgoth answered in a nasally voice.

Sauron sneezed again.

"What's happening to us?" he asked and then let out a series of sneezes.

"I think you have a cold. You guys never really went into cold places for long did you?"

Morgoth sneezed and shook his head and Sauron just let off a rapid succession of sneezes.

"I'll take that as a no."

She went to Morgoth's bedside and felt his forehead. His head was steaming hot and Gwen guessed that it was around one-hundred and two.

"When did this start?" she asked.

Morgoth sneezed.

"In the middle of the night," he replied in a thick nasally voice.

She stood up and tried to think if the infirmary had any cold and flu medicine. A long time ago they had a bottle of it but she was sure it was gone by now.

"Okay I better go into town and get some medicine. I'll be back in a few hours," Gwen replied.

Sauron sneezed again and Morgoth started coughing.

"If anything comes up when you cough spit it out alright?"

She left Angband and walked back into the living room.

"So, are they faking it?" Fëanor asked.

"No they both have a cold. Or the flu, I'm pretty sure it'll progress to the flu if it hasn't already. Does anyone else feel sick?" Gwen replied.

"Well I feel really cold after all that shovelling," Sam Gamgee said shivering.

Kisha sighed.

"Gwen you might want to go into town and buy cold and flu medicine. Take the truck because I'd also like you to buy some generators and blankets," Kisha said.

"And here I thought today was going to be a normal day at camp. Stupid Wednesdays,"

Gwen said heading back to the room to grab her Discover card.

--

"Come on damnit! Start already!" Gwen screamed as she hit the dashboard for the fiftieth time. The truck kept rolling over and wouldn't start. After about five minutes of kicking, punching, swearing, and general yelling, the truck started.

"Thank Ilúvatar," Gwen said as she pulled out of camp in Kisha's big red truck.

--

Back inside the living room everyone was trying to warm up. Kisha had decided that maybe the big bonfire should be lit and so a handful of staff members went outside and started the fire. It made little difference, as nobody wanted to go outside and sit by the fire.

At around ten in the morning Kisha called everyone into the Great Hall and told camper and staff alike to bring blankets, pillows, and anything else that they would want to use for the day. Kisha had decided that maybe it would be a good idea if the entire camp was together during the freak snowfall and cold snap. Kisha still wasn't sure what caused the sudden storm and so she waited in front of the TV watching the news.

--

Gwen thanked Ilúvatar again when she drove over ploughed roads. Normally in these backwoods, nobody ploughed the snow off the roads. There was not a car in sight and so Gwen was able to quickly slink through the town and made her way to the highway. She was going to stop off at Lucky 19's General Store but there had been a big closed sign in the window. Five minutes after she got on the highway, the flashing blue lights of a cop car came up behind her. Swearing very loudly, she pulled over and the officer walked up to her window.

"You do know there's a state of emergency in effect at the moment right?" he asked.

Gwen looked at the officer and recognised him immediately.

"Oh sorry Officer Natalick," Gwen replied.

Officer Natalick thought for a moment. His eyes lit up with dawning recognition.

"Why hello Gwen, why are you out?"

"Well we just finished shovelling out at camp and two of the staff has come down with dreadful colds. We don't have any cold medicine in camp so Kisha set me out to get some."

"You haven't been watching the news have you?"

Gwen shook her head.

"No, we've been shovelling all morning. Why?"

Officer Natalick pointed down towards Altona.

"Well Altona's closed down due to the amount of snow that fell and pretty soon the snow's gonna harden into ice with the coming cold."

"How cold is it going to get?" Gwen asked.

"Well the weather girl says it'll be around negative fifty-five."

"In the middle of summer!" Gwen exclaimed.

Officer Natalick nodded.

"Yup, it's a cold band that slinked its way on down to here instead of staying north in Alaska. They are calling for nice weather by Friday."

Gwen rolled her eyes.

"Great."

"Listen, I'll let you go on past but don't stop in Altona. Go straight through to Peru. You know where that is right?" Officer Natalick asked.

"Of course, they just put in the new Dollar General last week eh?"

Natalick nodded.

"Yup, it's a great place too," he smiled and then added. "It's clean."

Gwen laughed.

"The only clean thing in Peru eh?"

"You're damn tootin it is. I give it a month. Me and the guys back at the station have a bet going on. Well I won't keep you. Hurry on down to Peru and then quickly back alright?"

Gwen nodded.

"Sure thing Officer Natalick."

He smiled and walked back to his car. Gwen pulled out and continued her drive. In her rear-view mirror she could see Officer Natalick car turning around. Ten minutes later she saw the exit sign for Peru and she pulled off. Peru, being a small town anyway, was notorious for having no traffic on the streets. But at the moment there weren't even any signs of life. Gwen pulled onto the main road and drove past the grocery store. She pulled into the parking lot of Pete's General and parked. When she opened the car door, the blast of frigid air splashed against her face. Gwen quickly ran into the store. At first Gwen did not see anybody but then a head stuck out from one of the rows.

"What can I do you for miss? You're the first person to stop in all day!" the man exclaimed.

Gwen smiled.

"Well I need heaters, blankets, pillows, flannel and fleece, and cold medicine," Gwen rattled off.

The man, now standing fully in front of Gwen, whistled and nodded.

"I'm sure I can provide you with all of that!"

"Thank Iluvatar," Gwen whispered.

The man cocked his head back in a queer position.

"Who's that?"

Gwen inwardly laughed and smiled.

"Nobody Mister, nobody."

--

"Valar, Valar, Valar, Valar, Valar, Dark Lord!" Kat screamed as she ran around the group. Kisha had started a game of Valar, Valar, Dark Lord, which is pretty much the same thing as Duck, Duck, Goose, and a bunch of campers and staff decided it would be fun to play. Kat had called Legolas a Dark Lord and she immediately regretted doing so as Legolas tagged her before she could get back to his spot. She then sat in Mt.Doom, the centre of the circle, and waited until someone else would get tagged and have to take her place. Legolas then tagged Manwë just to tick him off even though he knew Manwë would be able to catch him.

All of the staff and campers had gathered in the Great Hall for warmth as the temperature seemed to have dropped another twenty degrees in the span of three hours. Kisha and a few others took on the job of cooking warm meals for everyone in the kitchen and then running them over to the Great Hall. Aragorn, Tom Bombadil, Goldberry, and Elrond stayed near Morgoth and Sauron and tried to help them get over their cold. It was quite comical at some points as the two had become delirious and said things that should not have been said. Sauron kept calling Morgoth an idiot and saying he was the true power behind the throne and Morgoth admitted he liked Gwen and he kept asking for his stuffed animal named Fluffy-Duffy. Everyone in the Great Hall found this more frightening then talk about world domination or killing everyone, so most of the staff and campers stayed clear of Morgoth and Sauron.

Throughout the day Kisha set small bands of ten to fifteen people to shovel some of the snow away. Most would only last fifteen minutes because of the cold and also the fact that the temperature was so low the snow had frozen into one solid ice mass. Kisha made many pots of hot cocoa and passed many blankets around. Most of the campers did not mind the snow and they enjoyed playing games such as Valar, Valar, Dark Lord. Some were even practicing for the variety show that Kisha said they would have that night. She decided to do the variety show now to keep the campers, and staffs, mind off the freak snow storm that had just passed through.

Sauron began sneezing again and he blew his nose in the tissue Aragorn handed him.

"I hope Gwen gets back soon. I'm sick of playing doctor," Aragorn said.

"Try playing camp psychologist. It's much more fun," Manwë interjected.

--

"How many heaters do you think you'll need?" The man asked Gwen as they walked down the isles. They reached the heater section.

"Well how many do you have in stock?" Gwen replied.

The man counted the ones on display and then thought for a moment. In his mind he counted the heaters they had in the back room.

"We have eight, "he finally responded.

"I'll take them all then," Gwen said.

The man's eyes lit up.

"Wow miss! At one hundred dollars a piece that's eight hundred dollars!"

Gwen nodded.

"I know. Now how about cold medicine? I have two friends who are dreadfully sick."

She paused before she said the word 'friend' and had almost said 'dark lords' instead. Luckily the man did not notice her slip up and he led her to the medicine isle.

--

Forty-five minutes later the man had helped Gwen pack all eight heaters into the truck. She had also bought out the entire stock of pillows, blankets, cold medicine, and warm clothing. Her total bill came out to around fifteen hundred dollars and the man couldn't believe it when he totalled everything up. The eight heaters barely fit in the truck and Gwen was glad Kisha told her to take the truck. After everything had been loaded up, the man locked up the general store and went home as well. She said goodbye to the man and drove back to camp. She felt saddened that she forgot to grab her Blind Guardian CD's for the trip but she flipped through the stations and found a local news station.

"I'm Susan Summers of All Things Considered. Joining me is expert meteorologist Mike Brown here to talk about the sudden shift in climate near Northern British Columbia. So Mike Brown can you explain what has happened?"

Gwen turned up the radio and listened closely.

"Well Susan, a cold front that had been en route with Fairbanks, Alaska changed directions suddenly and hit British Columbia. This cold front, reacting with the relatively warm climate of the Canadian summer, caused a sudden and drastic shift in climate. Scientists are still deciding what caused the sudden change in directions but they're speculating that it has to do with the winds near the artic circle that are changing due to the melting of the ice caps. The ice caps, which have been melting for a while now, are causing a rise in ocean level. This rise in ocean level is creating more precipitation in the air therefore more storm fronts. The rise in storm fronts has created a strange cold front that has been unpredictable. It was forecasted to hit Fairbanks but as we see it did not. As of this moment meteorologists are saying that the strange cold snap will push through in the next couple of days. After that it should be bright and sunny in northern British Columbia."

"Thank you Mike for that interesting report. Now turning over to entertainment: the best seller book by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lady and the Necklace, has just set the record for the most books sold ever, surpassing even the Bible itself. It's amazing that such a terrible ending to a story keeps readers wanting more. In honour of the new record, our very own Robert Blackheart will be reading through the trilogy on National Public Radio starting at noon today. We hope you'll join us for the reading…"

After that the woman droned on about a ruby tournament across the pond but Gwen paid no attention to it. She forgot all about Tolkien's story and so she vowed to read the entire trilogy before the end of the week.

An hour later she pulled into camp and began taking the heaters from the truck. Manwë, Tulkas, Aragorn, Gandalf, and various others came out and braved the cold to help Gwen take them into the Great Hall. After all the heaters were brought in they helped bring the bags of blankets, clothing, and cold medicine. Once she warmed up a bit and stopped shivering, Gwen took the bag of cold medicine and walked to the corner of the room where Morgoth and Sauron were. They still looked really sick.

"How are they doing?" Gwen asked.

Goldberry looked up from a needlework project she had been working on and shrugged.

"I don't know. They were delirious and at one point they kept saying random things. Morgoth asked for a teddy bear at one point."

Gwen shuddered.

"Well I have the cold medicine," she said putting the bag down and pulling out a bottle.

"How much should we give them?" Goldberry asked.

Gwen read the back of the bottle.

"Well it says here that a normal person should be given three tablespoons every three hours so we'll give each one a bottle and see what happens," Gwen replied.

"Is that safe?"

Gwen shrugged.

"I don't know but we'll find out now won't we?"