All righty, enjoy:) Oh, if you like the riddles in the chapter...I had written a bunch of them, some of which were never used, and they will be posted on my website if you'd like to read them. :)
Chapter thirty-nine
This will never end
Eight-thirty rolled around and the Great Hall was buzzing with activity. Kisha had already handed out the group lists to the staff members and also flashlights. Gwen, Morgoth, Sauron, Lúthien, Galadriel, and the Valar had already dispersed themselves in the woods. After a few minutes of trying to hush up the campers, Kisha finally succeeded in making them shut up.
"Okay is everyone ready? Now in a few minutes you will all find out what group you are in. I would like everyone to be quiet for this as there are three hundred and fifty of you and only one of me. Okay? Good."
--
Ten minutes later the staff members were out with their charges and they began looking for the clues. Now Kisha thought it would add to the fun if even the staff did not know the answers to all the riddles. Nimrodel, Maedhros, Haldir, and Dior stood around with their eighteen campers and began discussing the riddles. They decided to start with one at the bottom of the list. Nimrodel read the riddle.
"Created by dwarves worn by two hobbits. I saved a Halfling's life and even recently a staff member at camp. Find me with this staff member. But remember, you must put up a fight. Okay so let's try to figure out what this riddle means."
The campers thought about it for a moment.
"This is a tough one," mused Sam.
"So it's something that two hobbits and a staff member have worn," Haldir stated.
Vesper thought back to the books and then remembered that Frodo's life had been saved when he got stabbed by the cave troll. He was wearing a Mithril coat.
Yes but a staff member saved by a Mithril coat as well?
Her thoughts turned to Tim. She remembered him telling her about how they had been captured by the Morgoth worshiping group.
Someone had been shot at with arrows…
Her eyes lit up. Gwen! It was Gwen! But then her stomach lurched.
We're going to have to fight Gwen…
She was brought back to reality when she heard them discussing the riddle.
"We're going to have to fight Gwen for the Mithril coat. That's what the riddle says," Vesper said suddenly.
Everyone turned to look at her with dawning recognition. Sam let out a huge sigh.
"Oh great. We have to fight Gwen!"
"We'll have to find her first," Kat mused.
"But where is she though?"
Nimrodel shrugged.
"I don't know. Come on, we've already solved one riddle and so let's go find Gwen and fight her for the Mithril coat."
--
"Last item I be. Try to seek me Many hands have I past through Even once a hand cut off; Find me with the king. But make sure to kneel. And ask exactly what you're looking for."
Gilrean read off the last riddle on the piece of paper. The second she finished it she knew exactly what the riddle was asking for and who had it. Mother's intuition you could call it. She let out a big grin.
"Do you know what the riddle is?" Kash asked.
She nodded.
"Yes but you should try and figure it out as well."
Dennis let out a frustrated sigh.
"This riddle is too hard!"
Gilrean smiled.
"No it's not. Now just think about the riddle. The item has passed through many hands and at the moment is with a king. But also look at the language of the riddle. It says 'past' instead of 'passed' which probably is a reference to the fact that this item has been around for a long time."
"But that could be anything," Clair replied.
"Is it a Silmaril?" Dennis asked.
Gilrean shook her head.
"Nope."
"A sword of some sort?"
"No."
"A ring?"
She nodded.
"Yup. Now whose ring is it and who has it?"
Clair's eyes lit up.
"Aragorn's! It's Aragorn's!"
Ar-Pharazôn shrugged.
"Well that's news to me."
Half of the campers already took off running in search of Aragorn and the staff members with them quickly caught up with them.
--
Gwen stood with her back to her tree and her sword in her right hand. She yawned and popped her back against the tree.
"Are you getting tired?" Morgoth asked.
She shrugged.
"Well I'm a bit sore from the fight with Fëanor still."
He nodded.
"Do you need a hug?" he asked.
For a second Gwen shuddered. Those words felt a bit strange seeing as whom it was coming from but she nodded nonetheless. He walked over and gave her a big hug.
"Feel better?"
She nodded. The two then heard rustling a few feet away. Gwen smiled.
"Come on. Let's go fight some campers."
Morgoth smiled wickedly.
"Yes. Let's," he said.
--
The two stepped from the woods and startled Nimrodel's group. But once the group realised it was Gwen and Morgoth they realised that they had found who they were looking for.
"Gwen, give us the Mithril coat," Vesper said.
Gwen turned to look at Morgoth and the two began laughing. Gwen turned her head back to Vesper.
"Okay sure. But first one of you has to fight me for it. Now here are the rules: it's technically a 'fight-to-the-death' thing but I swear to Ilúvatar if I get cut I will be pissed. To win I either have to give or you have to pin me to the ground okay? Now every member of your group, except the staff, can fight me but you must go one at a time. If you lose then you must leave for a half hour and then come back to try again with someone else. Got it?"
The campers nodded and Gwen smiled.
"So, who's going first?"
Sam took a step forward.
"I am."
Gwen motioned for Morgoth to hand her a sword, as Gwen got ready.
"Alright you ready to begin?"
Sam nodded and the two began. Before the two began Gwen knew she would win but she was a bit taken back when Sam fought back. She seemed to know what she was doing.
"You fight?" Gwen asked.
Sam nodded.
"Yes," she simply replied.
The two continued to fight and the rest of the campers cheered on Sam.
"Come on Sam! You can beat her!" Vesper shouted.
"If you're getting tired Gwen maybe you should give?" offered Nimrodel.
"Shut up I'm fine!"
Gwen fought on and her foot hit a root. She tried to catch herself but she fell and hit the ground with a thud. Morgoth rolled his eyes.
"Graceful dear," he commented.
Gwen glared at him as Sam put the sword up to her neck. She was about to claim victory when little Lalaith stepped from the woods.
"You're not going to hurt her are you?" Lalaith asked.
Taken aback, Sam looked over at the child and this enabled Gwen to get up and finish the battle. Gwen had the sword up to Sam's neck.
"I win," Gwen said with a smirk.
"No fair. You cheated," Sam replied. She realised that Gwen, Morgoth, and Lalaith had the whole thing planned and that it was a set up.
Gwen shrugged.
"My lover is the Lord of Angband. What did you expect? Now come back in a half hour for a second attempt."
Sam handed the sword back to Morgoth and the group walked away. Gwen sheathed her sword and walked over to Lalaith. She picked her up.
"Good job Lalaith," Gwen said as she gave her a hug.
--
"A great crown forged into a collar Held his stolen treasure. King of the World he claimed. The treasure gone, the crown remains. Find it in the true Angband"
"Well that's an interesting riddle," remarked Tammy once Arwen finished reading the riddle.
Arwen nodded and read it again in her head. The campers began thinking about the riddle as they sat in a circle in front of Mordor. Kerri mulled the riddle over in her mind.
"It's about Morgoth and his crown that held the Silmarils," Gracye piped in suddenly.
Everyone turned to look at her and Maglor nodded.
"That's exactly right Gracye…so now where is it? It says it's in the true Angband. Well where is the true Angband?"
"Is it a name of one of the buildings here at camp?" Sara asked.
Arwen shook her head.
"No it's a name of a room…" she trailed off and her eyes went wide. The rest of the staff in the group seemed to know exactly where the crown was and the four of them said it at the same time.
"It's in Gwen and Morgoth's room in Lammoth!"
"I'm sure it's booby-trapped," remarked Kerri.
Arwen glanced over at Maglor.
"Maybe we should move onto another riddle. I don't trust this one," she said.
Maglor shook his head.
"No, if we don't do it then someone else will and they will get the item. Now I'm sure it's not booby-trapped so let's go."
Arwen sighed.
"I have a bad feeling about this…"
--
Lammoth was dark and desolate when group three wandered in looking for Gwen and Morgoth's room. Arwen had never been inside the room and she was afraid of the things that might be in there. She felt relieved, however, when Celeborn and Maglor opened the door to Angband and instead of booby-traps, Morgoth's jewel-less crown sat on his bed. Gracye entered the room and picked it up. She smiled.
"I guess we solved one of the riddles!" she exclaimed.
The other campers nodded and smiled as well but Arwen knew that this had been too easy. Just as she suspected something did happen. In this case the crown had been attached to a string that held a bunch of crumpled pieces of paper that were painted to look like rocks. So the campers and staff alike ran from Angband carrying their first solved clue.
--
"I am the foe hammer and existed in Gondolin. I light blue when orcs are close. Find me with my final bearer."
"Oh come on that is such an easy riddle!" exclaimed Ciarda when Thuringwethil finished reading the riddle.
Galen huffed.
"So then what does it mean smarty-pants?" he asked.
"It's the sword Glamdring and it's with Gandalf! That was so not hard!"
Legolas nodded and smiled.
"You are correct Ciarda," he said.
Ciarda beamed.
"Why thank you."
--
The night wore on and many riddles were solved just to have the items taken away from them by the Valar, Morgoth, Sauron, and Gwen. Nobody had taken the Mithril coat from Gwen yet but group eight came pretty close when Gwen could not distract a camper named Torsi with the Lalaith trick. Sauron had reclaimed his ring a few times and put it back where it belonged.
It was getting close to midnight when Kisha called in all the campers and staff into the Great Hall to determine the winner. The groups trickled in one by one and they carried in various objects.
--
"Alright everybody quiet down so we can go over the riddles! Now I will read off each riddle one by one and I want to know who claimed the item the riddle asked for okay? The one with the most objects at the end will win. So let's begin!"
Kisha opened up her notebook and recited the first, and only non-Lord of the Rings, riddle from the list.
"A mask of hidden past lies here. Among the cobwebs of time. It's one step in and two to the right But beware you're in for a fright."
She finished reading the riddle and looked up.
"Okay so who found that one?" she asked.
Tom Bombadil, the leader for group fifteen raised his hand.
"Well by gracious we've got that one! It was a dooly I'll tell you what! Somebody in a phantom costume jumped out at us and chased us from the theatre! We still got the phantom's mask though!"
Kisha chuckled and shook her head. She then read off the next riddle.
"A book of mysterious yore taught strangers different things. This place is beautiful during the day but at night there is no light. Use your lantern to light the way least you be a sacrifice to heathen gods."
Fingon raised his hand and in it was a copy of The Silmarillion.
"How did you solve the riddle?" Kisha asked.
"Well the heathen god thing was a dead giveaway. The hardest part was locating the book in the woods."
Kisha nodded.
"Yes, though I suspect it was fun no?"
Fingon nodded.
"Of course it was fun. I almost lost a few campers."
Kisha rolled her eyes.
"Okay the third riddle: Sudden flame swept the land monsters and Balrogs too.
Gather together your small band and glance across the battle plain. A token of war you may find of a challenger of the lord of slaves."
Gil-Galad raised his hand.
"Yes we got that one. It was pretty easy seeing as I played Fingolfin and challenged Morgoth to single combat with that sword a few nights ago."
Kisha took note of who solved riddle three and read of the next riddle.
"A golden jewel that shines bright reclaim for me tonight. But beware of his sons for they want it too. Find the maker and you find the prize."
Maedhros raised his hand.
"Yes we found the Silmarils. They were with my father."
Kisha nodded and took note.
"That wasn't a hard riddle now was it?"
Maedhros shook his head.
"No, of course not."
--
At one in the morning it was decided that group one had solved the most riddles and had collected the most items with a wining total of seven and so the eighteen campers each won a fifty dollar gift card to Borders booksellers.
The campers, then being too tired to do anything else that night, went over to their respective dorm rooms and went to bed. The staff lingered in Lammoth for about an hour and then turned themselves in as well.
The next morning the sun rose at seven and it was Monday morning of week five. The fun games and competitions were going to begin.
--
Gwen woke up with a throbbing headache. Her arms killed and her knees ached like nothing before. She groaned as she opened her eyes. She rolled over and saw that Morgoth was staring at her.
"Good morning," she said between yawns.
Morgoth nodded in reply.
"Good morning love. You already look worn out."
She nodded and sat up.
"I'm sore that's all. It's not like it's going to get any better though. Today kicks off the final two weeks of camp which means contests, games, and competitions."
Morgoth groaned.
"What kind of competition?"
Gwen shrugged and yawned.
"All sorts of things like baseball, football, American football, and maybe even bowls!"
"Sounds like fun," he muttered.
Gwen nodded.
"It always is."
She glanced over at the alarm clock and saw that it was around seven-thirty in the morning. She pulled the covers off and got out of bed.
"Well I guess we better get ready for the day."
--
"Good morning everyone!" Kisha exclaimed in the dining hall.
The noise in the dining hall lowered to a dull murmur and Kisha let out a big grin.
"Today kicks off the final two weeks! Now I know we've all had a lot of fun so far but it's just going to get better as the week progresses! Today we will begin the volleyball competition between the staff and campers. After that we will have the Tolkien Trivia competition which does sound exciting no?"
The campers began to talk amongst themselves on how exciting that would be.
"We will talk more about the Trivia contest later tonight but first finish your breakfast and join us at the beach for the volleyball game!"
The campers quickly finished their breakfast and filed out of the dining hall to change into their bathing suits. Gwen finished her muffin and let out a huge burp.
"Well that was un-lady like," Kisha commented.
Gwen shrugged.
"Since when have I acted like a lady?"
"I think the answer would be never," Fëanor muttered under his breath.
"Shut up kin-slayer."
Kisha rolled her eyes.
"Not again! I swear to Ilúvatar I will be ticked off if this argument happens again!"
Gwen smiled.
"Okay Fëanor, let's end this once and for all."
He nodded.
"Yes, lets."
Morgoth glanced back and forth between Gwen and Fëanor wondering what Gwen had in mind.
"Gwen…" Kisha began.
Gwen kept her focus on the elf sitting across from her. Her eyes never left his as she put her arm on the table.
"We arm wrestle."
Fëanor looked at her and furled his eyebrows.
"That seems childish to me. Let's do something else."
"Like what?" Gwen asked.
--
"Okay so you have five minutes to drink four beers and then drive the four wheeler in a complete circle around camp. This will apparently solve the feud between the two of you but I don't see how it's going to help…" explained Kisha.
Fëanor and Gwen stood next to the two four-wheelers that sat parked on the camp lawn.
"You're so going down girly elf," Gwen said as she grabbed a beer.
Fëanor glared at her.
"I don't bloody think so smelly human."
"Hey! I don't smell like spoiled milk anymore!"
Kisha rolled her eyes.
"Okay start!"
The two then began chugging the first beer. Gwen finished first; she had won a good number of drinking games during her Uni years, and moved onto the second one. Fëanor finished a few seconds after she did and opened his second beer. Gwen threw down the beer can and moved onto the third.
"This is going to solve what?" Yavanna asked as she watched the beer can hit the ground.
Aulë shrugged.
"I haven't the slightest idea."
Gwen's forth beer can hit the group and she quickly staggered over to the four-wheeler and got on. She fumbled for the key and could not find it.
"Hey! Where's the key?" she demanded.
Kisha held them in her hand.
"Did you honestly think I would let you drive the four-wheeler around camp after you've had four beers? I think this competition just proved that you are both complete morons!"
Gwen sighed and got off the four-wheeler.
"I am not a moron!"
Fëanor glanced over at Gwen.
"So, who won?" he asked.
Gwen shrugged.
"Let's do that arm wrestling thing now okay?"
He nodded.
"Whatever."
Kisha rolled her eyes as the two attempted to arm-wrestle each other standing up.
Only two more weeks…only two more weeks….