Another Darkness

Chapter 2: Orma and Voron

They had already been walking for days and had only just come to the edge of the forest. It was one of the few woodlands that had remained unnamed. Ithil had always thought that it was because the Southerners did not deem anything above the mountains important, and the Northerners associated it with the South, which they wanted nothing to do with.

"How did you get past the forest in the first place Gandalf?" Ithil asked her wizard companion. Gandalf looked down at her petite frame. Despite her elvish looks, she was considerably shorter, yet she retained the curves of a human woman. She was, in every sense of the word, petite.
"Sheer luck I'm afraid."
"Let's hope for that, then." Ithil withdrew her knife to cool her nerves. Despite her cool and harsh exterior, Ithil was a rather anxious person with many insecurities. One was being rejected for not having a defined race, another was love, something she found foreign and altogether terrifying, the last was these forests in particular. Twice she had ventured here, thinking that if she just made it through, she would be fine. Both times ended horribly. Resulting in nightmares.

The two stepped into the dark forest. It was a dense piece of woodland with scratchy trees that shadowed the ground to the point where the inside of the forest reminded Ithil of night. Wolves were one of the major threats in these woods. The other being some dark elves, although they mainly stayed to the west of the forest. One of Ithil's expeditions had been hindered by wolves, resulting in a rather strange fear of candids and another was with the dark elves, resulting in a loss of innocence.

Ithil took in the cold, dank forest with a keen eye, flinching at anything that moved.
"Are you okay, Ithil?"
"I don't have particularly fond memories of these woods. I just want to make it to the other side," Ithil replied in a low, quiet voice. The Wizard nodded slowly, eyes flicking about him just the same. A howl came from the North East and Ithil jumped. Her skin tingled and her eyes seemed to swirl like fire. Gandalf watched the woman on her guard, power seemed to ooze out of her. He would say she was a witch, but it was a different kind of power, one that he had never felt. Gandalf rarely ever felt doubt in his decisions, but he was doubting the choice to bring her into the mainlands. She was not only powerful, but beautiful. Something he feared would cause hinderance in his adventure. He knew that others would seek her as a trophy, wanting to use her for their own advances. But he needed her on this Journey. Something compelled Gandalf North. When he heard of Ithil, he knew she was the first he had to recruit.

Ithil frowned at the dazed wizard lost in his thoughts.
"Gandalf, we are being hunted. I hope you can run, old man," she said before springing off with the dexterity and agility to rival any elf. Gandalf followed behind, his elderly appearance fooled most. They dashed through the forest, although the howls were getting louder...closer. Ithil could feel her heart racing, her magic was stirring and she shaped it into a weapon as she usually did with her unpredictable powers. Her skin glowed ever-so-slightly with the same hues as her eyes. The wizard found she was a rather useful light source as they ran.

Soon the wolves could be heard bounding after them. Ithil knew it was impossible to outrun so many North Wolves. She turned and thrust her magic at the nearest beast. The orange-pink energy flew at the wolf and Ithil watched as it stopped dead in it's tracks, eyes losing their amber colour and fading into a dull white. The process took less than a short moment, but it always seemed to stretch out for Ithil. She felt it feed back into her own power. Another burst of power, simply a burst, hit another of the wolves away, flinging it into a tree. Gandalf was beside her with his own magic and one handed sword. Ithil felt her self fly forward as another wolf collided with her back. Ithil spun to face the beast and drove her knife into it's heart and throwing it away before she even hit the ground. She hit the ground, rocked back on her hand and flipped herself up. She continued to cut down the incredibly large wolves.

After what simultaneously felt like hours and mere moments, all the huge wolves were dead. Ithil and Gandalf looked at each other a moment, silently thanking the other, before they continued on. Ithil could hardly help her shaking. It didn't matter that she had killed all those wolves, they still terrified her.

"So what's the plan?" Ithil asked, hoping to distract herself.
"First, we shall go through Eriador, past Bree, where we shall make stop to recruit. And then we shall venture to Gondor in hopes to recruit Man. Then we shall cross into Rhovanion where we will go past Mirkwood, try and get an old friend to join, and then continue back north to Erebor to recruit some Dwarves. Luckily our Journey will be central to Rhovanion."
"So, we're pretty much doing a giant circle?"
"Yes, that'd be about right."
"This will be a long journey..."

After another day of traveling they finally came out to Carn Dûm. Ithil thanked The One for only having one altercation. The Wizard and the Woman began their long, tedious task of recruiting. Which alone would span several months.

**BREE**

The first stop in their journey was a small town called Bree. Ithil had to admit it was a strange place. Then again, she had found everything strange after crossing into the mainlands. They found themselves in a pub very similar to the one in Ensam, although this one seemed to be livelier.
"Who are we recruiting here? I thought we were going to Gondor for Man."
"I have found this to be a very good place to recruit a certain variety of man."

They sat at a table and Gandalf seemed to be looking for someone. Ithil frowned, somehow she doubted this recruitment process would include actually finding willing participants, it seems the wizard had already arranged that.
"When you say recruitment-" Suddenly a bang at the table caused Ithil to stop mid sentence and glare up at a very obviously drunk man wavering over the table.
"Ah, Voron Bane!" Gandalf said warming in greeting as he stood politely. "Please, join us!"
The man named Voron sat and seemed to immediately sober up, much to Ithil's appreciation. Ithil examined the mans appearance with high scrutiny. He was dressed in leathers, his sandy blonde hair was tied in a low pony tail at the nape of his neck, and his eyes were a muddy brown colour. He was altogether rather plain and unassuming to look at, but there was a fierce and mischievous look behind those eyes.
"Gandalf, you're later than you promised." His voice had a slight drawl and he did not finish all his words. Gandalf smiled.
"Yes, Lady Lysa was rather hard to find. Voron Bane, this is Ithil Lysa, Ithil, this is Voron Bane, a master sneak and thief." They both waited for her to act outraged at being paired with a criminal, but she just stared at them, bored.
"You think this bothers me. It doesn't. I lived in Ensam. Thievery is a mild thing, albeit useful thing."
"And what are you? What good are you to the company?" Bane asked with a smirk.
"I am magic and a knife user. Also something about me being from the North means something."
"Ah, that's you then. I thought you'd be bigger. Or at least uglier." She was unfazed at his words.
"I'm deceiving." Bane smiled at the comment.
"Welcome to the company, Mr Bane."

**Edhelharn**

Gandalf, Ithil and Voron arrived in the great city of Gondor to find a rather prosperous atmosphere. Gandalf led them straight to the city guard. Noise and general murmur filled the streets and ithil could hardly believe such a place existed. She stood out amongst the Mortal men. People seemed unsure of her appearance. Unable to place her. It had been the same in every destination. They arrived at the barracks and went inside. A whole lobby of men were sitting around preparing, chatting or eating. When they entered the general murmur of the room went silent. Eyes flicked between the three of them, although many eyes kept returning to Ithil with leers.
"I'm here to find Orma Thoretes, Gandalf said in a booming voice unnecessarily. Slowly a woman emerged from behind a corner. her hair was cut short, a thick brown mess of curls that came to her chin. She stood tall, then same as Voron, although she was stockier than the lithe thief. She was a mass of muscles, but still held her feminine features. Her face was pretty, but hard. Her cool green eyes looked to the three of them, finally setting on Voron.
"It that Voron Bane, Gandalf?" Orma asked in threat.
"Now, now Orma. He was dropped of all charges. You cannot arrest him." Voron seemed to be looking for a place to dart off to away from the strong woman glaring at him.
"I came here for our agreement?" Gandalf ventured. Orma looked back at him.
"Yes, yes. I will come with you, but keep that damned criminal out of my reach." Orma grabbed a sword and a sack as if she had been ready for this at any moment. The strong woman came up to Ithil.
"So, you are the woman from the North?" Orma's tone was softer when speaking to her, as if she thought Ithil was a delicate flower.
"Yes. The one with the knives and the killing...that's me," Ithil said in a flat tone. Orma smiled, the bloody woman was riling her up.
"Ah, yes it is."
"This recruiting stuff is easy. I didn't realize you had it all planned, Gandalf."
"Ah, well, I had already sort out these two before I came to get you, the elves may be harder..."