Janice: Hey, all you reader peoples who like Shards of the Future. You want to know some inside stuff about the story? Check the story's homepage: http (semicolon backslash backslash) freewebs (dot) com (backslash) gwynovir

Gwen: It's updated weekly with interesting things.

Janice: A comment is always nice. You don't have to have a freewebs account. Tell me how I can improve the pages.

Gwen: Every page has a song that somehow goes along with the story.

Janice: I'm glad I don't own Lord of the Rings, I'd probably be sued by now. Oh well!

lotrelves, yeah, I agree about the less author notes, but I was really bored on vacation, so random author notes were pretty much inevitable. megan, actually, no, Gwen isn't Gandalf granddaughter. I have a pretty much flawless plan about everyone figuring out who her grandfather really is. Clumsy Elf (grins) I'll try towards more nerdiness next chapter, because we nerds rock!

Shards of the Future

Chapter 10: Fire and Flame

Note to self: Climbing a mountain in the middle of the winter is bad!

I'm freezing my toes off; actually, I'm not even sure I have feet anymore! But every time I look, they're still there. Either, a.) they froze to my feetless body, or b.) I'm delusional. I'm hungry, too.

I've been having the most random songs pop into my head for days now, this past week it has been Disney songs. I sang them softly, but the words didn't sound right. God I hate numb lips! Anyway, it's "Oogie Boogie's Song" from Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas stuck in my head. I've always liked that movie, it was amongst the most memorable I've ever seen. But the damn song was so annoying!

I think I began to sing the song, because everyone just started to look at me. I just told them I had been possessed by the annoying writer of the song and it was burned into my brain. Merry and Pippin have been trying to look up my nose, I guess it's to see my brain, but I doubt they'll see it.

Edan was protecting Frodo and Sam, because I had asked him to. But my giant wolf…thing was never far off, often helping me up when I slipped and fell. It was either him or Legolas that helped me up. Edan didn't like that very much. I wasn't quite sure why, but his soft growls were more than enough.

Elsa was clinging to Sarah for warmth. Glenys and Raina stayed together with Gimli. The dwarf didn't seem to be bothered at the fact the two were practically dangling off him. I would have joined them, but Edan didn't want me to go from his side.

Well, it was our fourth week on the mountain. Aragorn decided now was a good time to rest. We practically slumped down on the small outcropping, protected from raging wind and biting snow.

Boromire pointed out to Aragorn how much they needed a fire. The hobbits (along with the annoying human girls, don't worry we almost mauled him with our claws) needed to warm up and how Edan couldn't warm all of us up.

Gandalf and I took this time to teach and learn a simple warming spell. Problem, too much memorization for the five spells I've already learned. I hardly remember English as it is! Anyway, Legolas say me struggling and told me to relax. This is coming from an elf who speaks Elvish as if it's the most natural thing on Middle-earth.

I wasn't the mean type…to him or anyone else in the Company, unless you were upon my closest of friends. So, I smiled at him and relaxed, letting the warmth of the fire almost burn my toes…It wasn't like I could feel it, but the warmth (which my body recognized) eased the ice from my veins.

I thought about the fire and how warm it was. How it's burning waves of love melted even the coldest of heart. How it reflected of Edan's eyes, as if it had always burned there. How it cradled me in the loving arms it bore.

Before I knew what I was saying, "Lauka." slipped from my lips. I heard a few gasps and felt instant warmth flood over my chilled skin. I heard Gandalf laugh and I felt him pat me on my shoulder. I was relaxed and I slipped into an easy…sleep.

When I woke up, I was snuggled up on Edan's back. He didn't seem to mind and he was really warm, like the spell I had used last night. His dark red fur was really soft and felt good against my cheek. He smelled like fir trees. I like that scent.

"You are awake…finally." he said to me. I yawned.

"I didn't mean to oversleep." I said back.

"The spell drained you." he said. "It'll be like that for a while. You'll just have to build up your magic's strength. It's how all novice wizards begin, don't worry."

"Edan…are you a shifter?"

"Shape shifter?"

"Yeah. I read shifters often take the shape of their spirit bond, their totemic animal."

"Something of that sort."

"Were you a wizard then? I know wizards can shift. Many don't anymore, but they used to."

"It's possible."

"Devil-Hounds have the ability to shape shift, correct?"

"Correct."

"So why can't you shift out of your form?"

"Sauron."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It was my fault. I was…foolish at your age. Reckless and rebellious."

"You were doing business for my grandfather, weren't you?"

"…"

"You were trying to help my grandfather find me, weren't you."

"No…That book. I had to retrieve a part for it. Do not say anything." I smiled at this, touched that he had given his life to get something for someone he didn't really know. I knew he could read my mind, and right now, I was happy he was able to. I wanted him to.

"Thank you, Edan." I said, nuzzling his neck.

The wind howled like a pack of wolves. The gnawing cold kept me from uttering the spell. The hobbits were being carried and the girls huddled together. I would have gotten off Edan, but he told me I was safer with him. I think he was pretty pissed with Legolas just because the elf helped me when I stumbled and not him.

"Edan…" I wanted to talk to him about why Legolas helped me, but I fought against it."The temperature has dropped, hasn't it?"

"Yes it has. Are you cold?"

"Aren't I always cold on this godforsaken mountain?"

He curled his wings in further to keep me warm. I nestled further into his back. I knew that he felt as though I belonged to him. I felt the same way, but he could at least give me breathing space!

We had stopped. I could feel that we did, Edan's shoulder blades no longer moved. Peeking over his head I saw the others looking at Frodo the Ringbearer. I wonder why.

"Moria." the hobbit said. "I choose Moria."

"Moria?" I asked Edan.

"It once was the centre of the Dwarf Empire. Darkness has shrouded the mine for a long while now. I think you'd best take the care to stay near me."

"
The good thing: The wind has stopped and it's not as cold as the mountain tops. The bad thing: We can't get inside Moria due to two large gates. And the neutral thing: throwing rocks at the lake is fun…not really. Actually, ignore the neutral thing. X it out completely. It wasn't even there. Got it? Good.

So, here I am with the hobbits, throwing rocks at the lake.

Aragorn and Legolas were talking in elvish too quickly for me to translate…that ot they didn't care that I understood the words: "monster," "lake," and "kill."

I bit my lip and stood up. The Little Folk looked at me.

"What's wrong?" Pippin asked.

"I suddenly got a bad feeling about the lake." I'll blame it on late intuition.

They stopped and headed back to everyone else. I walked and sat over by Gandalf, rereading the words above the door. I tried to make something of them, but heads nor tails would come of it.

Sarah was rocking back and forth next to me. It was kind of creepy and disturbing. I was about to snap at her when I realized she knew the answer, and she wasn't going to say anything.

She'd often whispered to me how something was wrong or off. It wasn't right in some way, it wasn't how it was supposed to be. She knew the answer and wasn't going to say anything for the fear of disrupting the story flow.

"Ah, I remember now." Gandalf said. Sarah puffed a sigh. "Eel." Sarah groaned and the door still didn't open. If she had a wall, she'd be banging her head against it. I bit my lip to stop my laughing.

I think a twenty more minutes passed before Frodo joined us. He looked at Sarah with a questioning look. I just shook my head, telling him, "Don't ask." He simply nodded and studied the words with me.

"It's a riddle." Frodo said. It was them I noticed the Elvish commas, which are simply little curls on the bottom of a letter. "Gandalf, what's the Elvish word for 'friend'?"

"Mellon." the old wizard said.

It worked! Finally, it worked!

Sarah sighed and jumped up.

"On forth to Moria!" she said.

Lauka is Elvish for warm, but I couldn't find warmth, so it had to suffice for this chapter until I find the correct word.
Janice: I wanted to get this up Wednesday, but a friend of the family was planning a wedding and I needed to be there. It's going to be beautiful I picked out the flowers, roses and baby's breath. I'll try to make it up to you guys...somehow. I'm having a problem getting a quote up, so I'm contacting the administrators to see if there's a problem. Soryy guys, it was a good one this week. :'(