A/N: Thank you to all my faithful readers and reviewers (all fifteen of you). Mostly I am writing this just for the pleasure of writing. However, that other people seem to be getting some enjoyment out of this heightens my own pleasure. So thanks again and hopefully I can continue to keep you interested. Unfortunately I might be unable to post for a few weeks. I am about to go back to school and am studying abroad so we'll see how it goes. I am quite inspired so I would hate to have to take a break.

Disclaimer: I do not own LOTR or anything associated with it except for my own OC's. I also own none of the franchises mentioned in this chapter. If only...

Chapter 16- Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

It was evening by the time we halted to rest for the night and discuss our future course. We were all weary and all but the elves were quite chilled as the wind was cold. Gandalf spared us another taste of miruvor and then talk began about where we were going to go from here. As soon as Moria was mentioned, Almira and I exchanged pained glances. It was hard listening to everyone speak against Moria (sans Gandalf and Gimli) and knowing we would end up there eventually. Almira and I kept silent as Gandalf seemed to be fighting a losing battle because most of the Company did not want to try treading the path under the mountains.

"But the question is: who will follow me, if I lead you there?" said Gandalf. (1) At this Almira shot me a silent question and I gave a small shake of my head. It was probably best not to speak unless directly asked. It would not due to have them think we were trying to influence events.

"I will," said Gimli eagerly. (1)

"I will," said Aragorn heavily. "You followed my lead almost to disaster in the snow, and have said no word of blame. I will follow your lead now-if this last warning does not move you. It is not of the Ring, nor of us others that I am thinking now, but of you, Gandalf. And I say to you: if you pass the doors of Moria, beware!" (1)

I heard Almira's sharp intake of breath after Aragorn's pronouncement and steadfastly ignored her gaze. Discretion was necessary. Any careless words or actions about Moria on our part could be disastrous.

"I will not go," said Boromir, "not unless the whole vote of the company is against me. What do the women, Legolas and the little folk say? The Ring-bearer's voice surely should be heard?" (1)

At once the attention of the Company was focused on us. We shifted uncomfortably before Almira gave a small shrug of her shoulder, looking at me helplessly and I sighed trying to think of something to say. "We will follow you," I said simply and Gandalf gave a grateful nod as the others regarded us thoughtfully. I could practically see the thought running through their heads: Does that mean we are meant to go?

I heard Legolas sigh before he said, "I do not wish to go to Moria." (1)

The hobbits were silent until Frodo finally spoke. "I do not wish to go," he said; "but neither do I wish to refuse the advice of Gandalf. I beg that there should be no vote, until we have slept on it. Gandalf will get votes easier in the light of the morning than this cold gloom. How the wind howls!" (1)

We fell into contemplative silence until Aragorn leapt up proclaiming that the howling wind was actually the howling of wolves. As Gandalf pointed out the gig was up, we would be tracked by wolves if we did not go through Moria. And who wants that? As we climbed to the top of the hill under which we had our meeting, Almira walked next to me and muttered, "You could have mentioned the wolves." She shivered as another howl sounded deep in the night.

I glanced at her guiltily. "Sorry...I forgot until Frodo said that about the wind." We reached the top and made our way to the center of the clearing surrounded by old, twisted trees and boulder-stones.

"At least you knew," she said glumly, then groaning, "Why did I never read the books?"

"Because there was no Orlando Bloom in it?" I quipped and was rewarded with her slightly sheepish smile. We watched as Boromir started a fire then took a seat around it with the rest of the Company. The hobbits dozed uneasily, the past day and night's events having been the hardest on them while the rest of us were on our guard. The howling of the wolves grew closer as the night deepened. We finally saw their eyes as they appeared at the edges of our camp in the dead of the night. At a gap in the circle of stones, a great wolf could be seen hovering before he let loose a terrible howl.

I shivered before standing with the other members of the Company and loosening my sword in its sheath. Gandalf strode forward, holding his staff aloft. "Listen, Hound of Sauron!" he cried. "Gandalf is here. Fly if you value your skin! I will shrivel you from tail to snout, if you come within this ring." (1)

Apparently the wolf was not intimidated because he sprang towards Gandalf only to end up with an elvish arrow embedded in his throat. As Aragorn and Gandalf strode towards the edge of the camp, I noted the silence surrounding us. The packs had fled...for now.

"Nice shot," I said quietly as I came to stand beside Legolas.

"Thanks," he said rather absent-mindedly. His focus was wholly on the darkness outside the broken ring of stones. "They will come back?" he asked quietly in Elvish. I hesitated a moment before nodding. "They will try to surround us," I said.

"You will be alright?" he asked, his attention now wholly on me.

I gave him a gentle smile. "Don't worry about me. Just focus on not getting eaten."

He returned my smile cockily. "Fear not, that is on my list of things to do...right after preventing you from being eaten."

"Good to know," I replied, my smile becoming more affectionate. We lapsed into silence as the night wore on. I was staring into the shadows mindlessly, Almira doing the same nearby when the howling began. More intense than before, I jumped in momentary surprise before following Legolas' lead and fitting an arrow to my bowstring, waiting tensely for a shot to present itself. I heard Gandalf yelling at the hobbits to add more fuel to the fire and with the renewed light I saw several dark shapes leaping over the stones. I felt panic rise in me but ruthlessly shoved it aside as I aimed and fired and then watched as my arrow embedded itself in the chest of one of the wolves. I heard the twang of Almira's bow but could not tell if she hit anything. Legolas' bow was practically singing on my left with the faint drumming of Gimli's axe as it was wielded ruthlessly making for a strange soundtrack to our slaughter. It was so surreal watching wolf after wolf fall to our arrows and the blades of our companions. I was controlling my discomfort at the dying wolves as best I could but I could not control my grimace at the sights and sounds. And then I noticed Almira was backing towards the hobbits, a look of complete panic on her face. Typical, I thought angrily. Did she really have to embody the Sue behavior now? And then I noticed the wolf that was slowly stalking towards her.

"Almira, shoot it!" I cried desperately, hoping she would snap out of her daze. She didn't. Swearing I quickly switched my aim from the wolf fast approaching me and skewered the wolf stalking her through the neck. Turning back I realized the wolf was practically upon me and jumped out of the way like Frogger on crack. I hit the ground and tucked into a roll, managing to somehow end up back on my feet. Seconds later I heard a tell-tale thud and whirled to find the wolf lying dead, an arrow through its eye. I met Legolas' gaze and gave him a short nod that he returned. I made my way to Almira and was busy covering both of us.

All of a sudden Gandalf strode forward, looking larger than usual and carrying a flaming branch which he then tossed into the air crying, "Naur an edraith ammen! Naur dan i ngaurhoth!" (1) There was a roar and a crackle and the tree above him burst into flame, the fire quickly spreading to the other trees until the whole hill was lit up in a spectacular and rather dramatic way. The light reflected off the blades of Aragorn and Boromir and it almost looked as if they were glowing like light sabers, which would have been really handy at that moment. Legolas' last arrow plunged aflame into the heart of the great wolf-chieftain. The rest of the wolves fled. We just stood there a moment in shock, wary that maybe they were just regrouping for another attack. But as the minutes ticked by and no howl was heard we relaxed. The dying fire and swirling ash created an eerie atmosphere as the first rays of light lit up the morning sky. Whirling on Almira, my annoyance and remembered fear won out and I hissed, "What the hell was that? I thought you were supposed to be some kind of ridiculously fierce warrior. What happened to your Sue skills?"

"I-I d-don't know," she stammered, avoiding my gaze. "I must have panicked."

Masterfully reigning in my temper at her obvious distress, I sighed. "I'm sorry. I should not be short with you. Having the skills and actually using them are two separate things and it's not like you've ever been in battle before. You just scared me and I reacted badly, that's all."

She shrugged and finally met my gaze. "You did well," she pointed out, a bit of chagrin in her tone. "Nice move by the way," she added with a small smile.

"Oh good, I'm glad someone saw that because it will never happen again. I still can't believe I pulled that off. I suppose I have adrenaline to thank for that," I stated wryly, unconsciously massaging my shoulder.

"Did you re-injure your shoulder?"

Legolas' voice startled me and I jumped, glaring at him as he stopped next to me and began to probe my shoulder. "Must you always sneak up on me?"

"Must you always be so unobservant? It is not dislocated." He looked relieved.

I shook my head, grimacing as I rotated my shoulder. "No, it is just sore, evil shoulder."

"Nice move by the way," he said with a grin.

"You saw that too, huh?" I asked, faintly embarrassed at getting praise for something I pulled off purely based on luck.

He sobered. "Definitely, I am pretty sure my heart stopped beating when I noticed you weren't aiming for the wolf coming straight at you. That is until I noticed what you were aiming for. Are you alright?" he asked softly, gazing intently at Almira.

"Yeah," she replied, once again gazing at the ground and fidgeting. "I just panicked. Anyway, I am going to go check on the hobbits." And just like that she dashed off. I turned to Legolas and noticed his gaze was still on her. He was staring at her speculatively and had his head tilted to one side. Turning to face me and seeing my questioning look, he whispered, "She is hiding something."

"What?" Surprised, I returned my gaze to the elleth now talking softly with the hobbits.

"I know not," he said with a shake of the head. "But I sense there was more to her panic than simple fear."

"This does not bode well," I stated darkly.

"Oh? Care to tell me what you mean by that?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

"I hate waiting."

"Join the club."

At his look of confusion, I clarified. "Club, a group full of people based on something they share a similar interest in."

"Ah, interesting." With an affectionate smile, the kind he always gave me when recently hearing of something from my world, he said lightly, "Come, we must gather our arrows."

In the daylight, there was absolutely no trace of our attackers and we found most of our arrows undamaged. "This is too weird," I muttered and Legolas nodded in agreement.

"It is as I feared," said Gandalf. "These were no ordinary wolves hunting for food in the wilderness. Let us eat quickly and go!" (1) As we stood upon the hill top ready to depart, Gandalf spoke about the need to reach Moria quickly and before sunset else we might not get there at all.

"I do not know which to hope," said Boromir grimly: "that Gandalf will find what he seeks, or that coming to the cliff we shall find the gates lost for ever. All choices seem ill, and to be caught between wolves and the wall the likeliest chance. Lead on!" (1)

I stared at him for a second, stunned at his sarcasm before a grin slowly made its way onto my face. I knew there was a reason I had always liked him in the books. "Boromir, I know exactly how you feel. Literally being stuck between a rock and a hard place is not too appealing. Luckily I appreciate irony and can find some grim entertainment out of our predicament."

He just stared at me for a second obviously surprised I was talking to him before giving a bitter chuckle. "As has been repeatedly proven to me over the years, irony is integral to keeping one's sanity intact in this world of ours."

"So it would seem," I said before we shared a final smile and took our places in line. As we started walking, Legolas came to walk next to me. "See? I told you it would not be so bad. At least he's still willing to talk to a mere female," he said teasingly and I rolled my eyes.

"Are you always so obnoxious when you are right?"

"Generally," he replied with a roguish grin.

"Well, then I guess it is a good thing it doesn't happen very often isn't it?" I retorted.

"So it would seem," he stated with a wide smile, which I found myself returning as we made our way towards Moria. We took a quick break as the sun began to head west to allow the hobbits to rest a bit and to take our chief meal.

"This pace is grueling," groaned Almira as she flopped down next to me. "Thank God I am an elf," she stated shooting a sympathetic glance at the hobbits.

"Tell me about it. It's only made worse by the fact that we have to watch Gimli practically prancing about. Such merriment is disgusting," I complained, smiling at the hobbits as they joined us.

"Speaking of disgusting, cold food is just not cutting it," Almira stated with a dark glance at our dried fruit and crusty bread.

"Seriously. I would kill for a bacon double cheeseburger right now," I said, stifling a groan.

"What is a bacon double cheeseburger?" Pippin asked, and all the hobbits seemed to perk up at the idea of a new type of food.

"Heaven on earth," I replied. "It is type of sandwich with two pieces of grilled ground beef patties, a piece of cheese in-between each-which is nice and melted- topped with bacon, lettuce and tomato on a roll and served hot."

"Of course it's not complete without french fries and a pop," Almira added, then hastily explained, "French fries are just potatoes that have been cut into strips then fried in oil. And pop, well suffice it to say it is a special beverage in our world."

"I could also go for some tacos," I stated dreamily.

"Or fried chicken."

"Mashed potatoes and gravy."

"Pizza."

"Milkshakes."

"Fettuccine alfredo. Scratch that and make it anything from Olive Garden."

"Anything from Red Lobster."

"You two should stop tormenting the poor hobbits with your talk. Can you not see they are practically drooling?" Aragorn interrupted humorously coming to crouch next to us along with Legolas.

It was true; the hobbits were staring at us in something akin to wonder. I doubt they understood what we were talking about, but so many new and different foods and the way we were talking about them had them excited.

"You know, we could probably make most of the foods from our world," Almira stated, looking at me and shrugging a shoulder.

"Probably, you guys could be our official taste-testers," I said.

"I am going to want to be part of this," Aragorn said.

"Me too, especially after trying their egg nog," Legolas said, then smiled sheepishly as I gave him a knowing grin.

"So long as you don't eat all of it," I quipped.

"I will leave that to the hobbits," he replied, smiling at their enthusiastic nodding, save Frodo who only managed a small smile. Gandalf announced it was time to leave and as we stood I moved over to Frodo and whispered, "Do not be too fatalistic. I will not let you get away with never trying a bacon double cheeseburger. It would be a crime, and seeing as I like to stay on the right side of the law you are going to have to try it."

He smiled a little wider. "Thanks."

"Anytime." He nodded before lengthening his stride to catch up to his place behind Gandalf and Gimli and I fell to the back of the line.

"He grows more miserable everyday. I wish there were more we could do. But as long as he carries the Ring he will suffer and it is hard to watch," Legolas whispered as we walked.

I nodded in silent agreement and we spoke no more as we strode towards the walls of Moria.

A/N: I am sorry this is so short, it is all I managed to write before coming over here to England. It is meant to tide you over until I can tackle the project that is Moria. Seeing as I do not have the LOTR trilogy with me, I will not be directly quoting and therefore writing will be slow until I can get my hands on a copy. I am sorry to be doing this to you but thanks for being patient and understanding.