The Manic Adventure Of Sam, Zee, and Jackie

Chapter 12: Hi-Ho! To The Misty Mountains We Go

Zee had finally calmed down after nearly losing her voice, she wasn't happy but at least she wasn't needing to be carried around anymore. She simply followed the dwarves with her arms crossed and refused to talk to anyone.

"Zee, really." Jackie sighed after an attempt to see if her friend was okay.

Zee refused to answer, just tossed her head and made a hmph sound. She had made a silent vow to never speak until they were accompanied by Sam and Gandalf so she could give the wizard the most epic ass chewing ever.

"You're not making this any better Zenin." Jackie sighed again when Zee merely walked past her friend. "I swear she acts like a brat sometimes."

"I always assumed that was how she and Sam became so close." Jackie jumped but then relaxed when she realized that it was simply Bilbo and Ori, "I can't see how else they became friends."

"Everyone sees them as complete opposites," Jackie laughed, "Sam always more carefree than Zee, Zee always is serious about her goals and works hard to achieve them while Sam just eases through."

"What do you mean exactly?" Ori asked with great interest, "How does she just ease through?"

"She never seems to put an effort," Jackie explained, with all honesty she had no clue how Sam got by. "When she does you can tell, but any other time she's just relaxing and not caring."

"She's carefree?" Bilbo wished he could be like that, the life of a hobbit did not allow for such extreme leisure.

Jackie shook her head, "More so just really laid back, she told me that she feels that stressing over every little thing is just stupid so she chooses to go and let whatever happens happen."

"Seems like such a luxurious life." Ori smiled, "Dwarves cannot live that way, we prefer to charge into our problems."

"Hobbits are no better." Bilbo sighed, "Still, I don't believe there could ever be a time where Sam and Zee will not be at each other's side."

Jackie only nodded in agreement, it was true that Sam and Zee had their differences but the two were incredibly close. It would take a lot to turn them against each other.

Thorin had heard the small discussion, he cared little of Zee but the information they had of Sam was intriguing. He had seen where Sam was laid back compared to her friends, she only was bothered or worried when it came to her friends or Fili. Was that because she held them dear? Probably, and that was a good thing because it showed her loyalty. Loyalty was a prized trait among dwarves, surely the court would see her use as Fili's bride.

"The others heard about our predicament." Balin told Thorin in a soft voice, "Everyone wants to help the lass."

"I'd imagine they would." Thorin took in a deep breath, "I do not want to see Fili wither away."

Balin nodded, "None of us do, the council cannot fight the voice of the people. We just need to make her desired by the public."

"She knows nothing of royalty." Thorin added, "She has made it known that she wasn't noble born."

"We'll have to teach her then." Balin patted Thorin's shoulder in a comforting manner, "We will see that Fili lives on happily with her."

Thorin gave Balin a rare smile, "We all will see it, one way or another."

"Hey, you invited me!" Sam snapped at Gandalf when he scolded her for being unprofessional with Saruman after an elf informed them that the company left. She gave the white wizard a fairly hard kick in the nuts for insulting the company.

"I did." Gandalf agreed, "I did not, however, ask that you attack Saruman."

Sam groaned and rolled her eyes at the wizard, "Oh boo-hoo, I smashed his balls. Big whoopie-doo." Really, the nerve of the albino asshole! To think he could insult her friends and not face some consequence. The bloody fucking nerve!

"I insist that you speak with respect, no matter who you talk to." Gandalf had asked that Sam be given new clothes for her travels so Sam was now wearing a loose black shirt with two brown belts holding it, she also was wearing dark green pants and black boots.

"Good luck trying to enforce that." Sam said as she gave him a deadpanned look, "I'm no soldier thank you very much."

"You need to act a bit more like one." Gandalf sighed, "Now let us hurry, I do not wish for them to get stranded with out my guidance."

Sam just shook her head and picked up her satchel that Arwen had given her as a gift. She was given a sword that was named the Ice Queen, they told her the elvish name but she totally forgot it. She also received a bow and arrows that were designed to match the color of fire. She also carried a few gifts for Zee and Jackie.

"Not like they follow it anyways.." Sam sighed as they headed off to rejoin the company, "So, why was I really brought to that meeting? Obviously it had little to do with my input."

"Saruman had heavily insisted on you girls not coming." Gandalf explained as they steadily left the elvish city, "To see that the Valar had brought you only served to prove his allegiance with the enemy."

"How so?" Sam asked, she found that the wizard sure walked rather fast as she was struggling to keep up.

"Only you girls have foreknowledge of what will happen, that makes you valuable to the good." He stopped briefly to share a look of dread with Sam, "Saruman knows that you girls could easily change the fate of this world, he will now do whatever is in his power to either eliminate you or make you a servant of evil."

Sam stared back with eyes wide and fear dwelling in her belly, nothing sounded more terrifying to her than what was just spoken. To think, at one point life was so innocent and sweet and now it was dark and filled with a storm of loss, confusion, forebode. "Servants...like the Nine?"

Gandalf's expression darkened, "Yes, just like the Nine." he continued to walk on and, though she followed, Sam was too occupied with her conflicting thoughts to take in anything around her. She didn't want to end up like any of the Nine nor did she want her friends to follow that path. She could have convinced herself that they all were aligned with justice but as Gandalf said, Saruman would do anything his power to either kill them or turn them.

Sam eventually made a promise to the Valar, she would see that Saruman and Sauron would not conquer her soon to be home nor would they bring tragedy to her friends. She didn't care if it would cost her life, she would rather greet death than see the people she loved suffer. If Jackie or Zee knew what she now knew, they would vow the same.

The company had traveled far from Rivendell, they were, by no means close to the Misty Mountains yet but from where they were it was a fair distance. However, night had fallen and the company was in great need of rest.

"We'll need a fire." Thorin told Bombur and Gloin to make a fire while the girls plopped themselves on the ground without their bedding.

"Jackie..!" Zee moaned, "I'm so tired..."

Jackie made a noise in agreement, "I am too..." Both girls had to walk over misshaped rocks, uneven floors, loose dirt, and Kili playfully tripping Zee who, in turn, took Jackie down with her. Both were tired, bruised, and about to wring some necks if they were awoken from any slumber they indulged in.

Fili and Kili saw the two on the ground as they gathered some wood and made soft chuckles at them, "You drained them Kili, I don't think my Âzyungâl would approve."

"If she was apart of it she wouldn't." Kili grinned impishly, "But either way, I'll let them sleep. They need it more than food."

Fili nodded, "Aye, I agreed with you there." He exhaled a breath and glanced at the stars, "I wonder how she's holding..."

Kili stopped and looked at his older brother, the last time he saw Fili look at the stars in questioning was when Thorin first named him the next heir of Erebor. Fili was afraid that he couldn't live up to the expectations and he had snuck out in the middle of the night to watch the stars. Now he was doing the same for his One.

"I can feel sadness from her," Fili sighed sadly, "but I can't tell what it is that makes her so."

Kili placed a comforting arm around his brother, "Sam is strong but she and her friends walk along the edge of danger, I'm sure she is afraid of what's to come."

Fili smiled a bit, sometimes Kili could act years beyond his age. "Thank you brother, I'm sure you're right." Sam and the girls knew the future so it made sense that Sam would be afraid of what she knew.

"It's my job to see you smile brother," Kili grinned, his normal attitude returning, "as it is her's to love you."

Fili grinned back, "If she heard you, she'd turn red and slap you." it was true, Sam hadn't quite adjusted to the fact that one day she and Fili would marry and Kili took advantage of that.

"It's great practice for speed!" Kili waved off his brother's mentioning of the painful smacks he had received. "Regardless, Bombur needs wood and I believe we've gathered enough."

Fili smiled and nodded, following his younger brother to where Bombur had a small fire going. He still never shook off Sam's sadness that he was feeling, as her One it was his obligation to see that she never felt distress when it was in his power to make her smile.

"Thank you boys." Bombur took the wood and soon the fire was to light the whole camp and soon everyone, minus the girls, were fed. None of the dwarves dare to bother the girls, the most they did was at least move them so that they laid on their beds.

"I still don't understand what Gandalf sees in the other two," Thorin told Dwalin as they took watch over the camp. "True, they have done some good so far but still."

Dwalin nodded in agreement, "Kili told me that they had powers like Sam and that they would be great assets in defeating Smaug." Dwalin had, so far, only seen Zee's powers at work when she tried to slaughter the elf Lindir but Oin had witness Jackie's healing powers and supported Kili's claim.

"Sam loves them dearly," Thorin commented, "I'd imagine they feel the same toward her."

"Ori said that Zee and Sam call themselves sisters to symbolize how close they are, Jackie is almost of the same rank."

"Almost?" Thorin asked, "How is she almost?"

Dwalin leaned against a rock, "I was told that she doesn't always understand the other two, apparently Sam commented that Jackie assumed reality a lot more than her." Dwalin shifted himself as he recalled the notes that Ori took of the three friends. "Sam claims that she can see the darkness of the world and will embrace it as it is a necessity for life just as the light is. When the two had discussions of the topic of good and bad, Jackie often made it look like Sam focuses of the negativity."

Thorin listened intently, with how close the girls were he never thought there was a strain anywhere in their relationship. For Sam and Jackie, it was battle of vision toward how the world worked.

"Ori said that Sam enjoys indulging in music and stories as it inspires her to prove the remaining wonders of the world. Sam supposedly feels that Jackie doesn't try to incorporate her spirit in her works."

"Her works?" Thorin asked, "What works?"

"Both girls enjoy telling stories," Dwalin explained to his king, he slightly wished to see Ori's journal so that he could retell the notes to the king. "Sam more than Jackie according to Ori."

Thorin made a grunt, "The more you speak of Ori's observations, the more I see that we all know so little of our female companions."

"I agree." Dwalin nodded, "But we all hardly have the time to speak with the girls, unlike Ori, Fili, and Kili."

"The young always find the time to gossip." Thorin let out a short chuckle, "I'm intrigued about this argument though."

"Between Sam and Jackie?"

"Aye," Thorin found the strain to be interesting and was curious to know from them how they could still be friends despite their conflicting views. "I'm curious of their opinions of each other."

Dwalin couldn't help but grin, "If Zee were to find out I'm sure she'd think we were trying destroy their friendship."

Thorin also held a smile and shook his head, "That one, she's more battle ready than any of us." To him, Zee was always ready to pick a fight with anyone unlucky enough to cross her path. Everything seemed to almost tick her off.

"I do believe that's how she is." Dwalin chuckled, "After all, remember how she also destroyed the dining room our first night in Rivendell?"

Thorin did grin there, "I do and I'm sure the elves surely won't forget the scene any day soon." He may have taken some pride in Zee's drunk episode, it pleased him to see her ruin that dining room. Not to mention he and the dwarves now knew to never give her dwarvish ale. Or any alcoholic beverage for that matter.

The two dwarves returned to their quiet watch, the occasional howl of a wolf or hoot of an owl was the only sounds they heard for a while.

Saruman had quickly made his leave from Rivendell to reach where Azog and his hunters where waiting for news of the dwarves. As much as he disliked the pale orc, the creature's rage toward the dwarf prince was useful beyond belief.

The orc, when his remaining underlings informed him of the white wizard's arrival, remained where he stood. "You bring news of the dwarf-scum?" He asked in black speech.

Saruman was not pleased with the more so demand but responded, "The dwarves escaped, they are heading to the Misty Mountains."

Azog was pleased with that, with luck the goblins would catch his prize for him. However, the pale orc saw something in Saruman's dark gaze, something would spell trouble for them. "Why do I feel forebode in your presence? What other news do you carry wizard?"

Saruman would much rather to eliminate the girls himself but he had other matters to attend to, "The girls you said were traveling with the dwarves, they are the ones I warned you about."

Azog's upper lip curled in disgust, so the wandering wizard had managed to get his so called help to Middle-Earth. "What would the chances of them succeeding be?"

"Far too great to be taken lightly." Saruman stroked his beard, "They will not be easy to manipulate, and controlling them maybe out of the question."

"Then we kill them." One of Azog's underlings suggested, "With the dwarf-scum."

Saruman brushed of the underling just as he had done to Sam during the meeting, "They will not be weak, the Valar must have gifted them their own magic."

Azog was not concerned with that, "I will see them lay across the ground, bathed in their own blood." He turned his back to the wizard, he knew what he needed to know so he had no need to speak to the wizard any longer. "I will have my revenge and soon the master will rise among the weak."

Saruman was no more convinced than he would be if someone told him that pigs had wings. He would not argue though, if Azog was going to kill the girls then let him do as he wished. Saruman would not concern himself with the matter anymore unless Azog failed. "See what you will, I have other concerns to attend to."

Saruman took his leave, for a moment something told him to keep watch over Azog's new mission. He did know that the orc was feared for his brutality but at the same time, Saruman saw the cunning eyes that Sam possessed and who was to say that the other two weren't the same as her. He had wondered if their master would like to keep at least one of the girls, for a benefit but he would need to ask.

But, first things first, he had to go seek out the graves of the Nine. He had to weaken the spells that held them within their graves, once it was weak enough Sauron could release them himself.

Heading Northwest toward Rhudaur, Saruman had to work quickly or he might be caught by Gandalf. That wizard, next to Radagast, Saruman held disgust for the grey wizard as he felt that the wizard was not using his magic for his own purpose. Helping the weak was such a useless task in Saruman's opinion, the world was meant for the strong.

Saruman quickened his trip, the faster he worked then the chances of him being caught in such an early stage of progress would be lessened. After all, what were the chances of those girls knowing for sure that he was not on their side? Judging from how Sam acted, she surely couldn't be that smart much less have the emotional strength to fight him.

Suddenly an idea came to him, those girls could not be that emotionally strong since they were so young. The younger girls were, the more emotionally unstable they were and adding magical powers only added to their instability.

"Perhaps they will be easy enough to deal with." Saruman let a dark smile grace upon his lips, "I must seek Azog again after this."

Hi-Ho Hi-Ho! Such a catchy title huh? Lol, so this is an important filler. Zee was so moody in this chapter and I have been assured that she really would do that.