A/N: To our reviewers: Hope and Love, Fern Timberlake, Save a broom ride a chaser, a big thanks. Cookies all round. To everyone else, please review, it helps us to know what people think about it, and could give us suggestions of what to do…
Chapter 8: Dalliance with wolves
"Damn those elflings," muttered Lughorn, deputy leader of the hunting expedition that had just arrived. Their leader, Darûk, sat atop his makeshift throne, waiting for a report.
"Lughorn, where is your commander?"
The Urak-hi hesitated, "He was killed,"
"By whom?"
"The warriors rescuing our…captives,"
"And why did you have captives?"
"Well, they were elflings and we thought you might want them, then the Rangers…"
"RANGERS?" the leader said, quite shocked.
"Yes. King Aragorn himself was leading them, as well as some elves and a dwarf,"
"Did you kill the King?" a voice in the crowd which was gathered around the throne, demanded.
"No,"
"Since when did Urak-hi leave men alive? Fleeing like humans faced with the pike of an orc!" the voice yelled.
"Who is that?" The leader demanded, realising the voice was not one of an orc or Urak-hi.
"It is I…"
……………………………..
The room was dark, silent, and was empty barring two people who stood still, listening to the wind.
"They ride in the shadow of the mountain, their destination is nigh," a voice whispered to their minds.
"Are they fit for their task?" one of the men in the room asked, back in the same way.
"They are competent, though I suffer from doubt, they are not as I would have perceived,"
"Things will change," the other man in the room replied.
……………………………….
A week into their journey the group stopped beside a stream for the night, they lit a large fire which they all lay in a circle around it. Two Rohirrim stood guard and would be relieved in a few hours. When the guard was changing the group heard a low growl in the distance.
"Wolves," Tydd muttered, taking up his post. "Sound like they're on the other side of the stream. Won't go near the fire,"
The growls remained constant and soon Elladan sat up, instantly awake and reacting to the noise. "They sound wild," he commented, listening to the noise.
"We'll be fine, they'll stay away from the fire," Tydd said.
"They don't sound like normal wolves,"
"They sound disturbed," Jess said, eyes still closed.
"I think there's a movie about that, mad murderous wolves, or something," Jackie muttered, much to the confusion of the Rohirrim and Elladan.
The growling got louder and fiercer, and Elladan detected that they were approaching the campsite.
"They're approaching the campsite," Elladan informed the group.
"Indeed, they seem to be surrounding us," Jess said, sounding all serious.
"WHAT?" Susan shrieked, instantly awake.
Mel sat up, eyes wide, "You know Jess, that may not be the most comforting thing you could say at this interval," Mel muttered.
"Are we in any danger?" Susan said, her voice going high and squeaky, suddenly finding herself clinging to Tydd.
"Of course not," Tydd said, acting tough, though Mel and Jess detected a wavering of his voice.
"What do they want?" a Rohirrim asked, concerned, holding his horses' reigns tight, making sure it remained calm.
The wolves growling got louder and more defined as one stepped into the firelight, appearing just near Elladan and Jess. A Rohirrim stood just in the shadows and Jess saw a glint of steel in his hand, partly hidden by the folds of his cloak. Jess attempted to grab his attention, tell him not to provoke the animal, when she got distracted by something strange. She tilted her head and stared at the approaching animal. Elladan attempted to put himself between the wolf and Jess and attempted to communicate with the animal, in the way of the elves. After a moment he was almost tossed backwards by an unseen force.
"He's wild," Elladan said, eyes wide, "I can't seem to communicate with him. Usually they respond to us, and calm down, but this wolf seems untameable. There's a wildness in him I have not encountered before,"
Jess reached out, slowly, towards the beast, who was glaring up at them. Elladan tried to snatch her arm back, though Jess somehow seemed safe, the wolf had stopped growling and was watching her cautiously.
Out of the corner of her eye Jess saw movement and froze. "No!" she cried as the Rohirrim dashed forwards, his knife raised high, aimed towards the wolf. The wolf turned towards him and leaped.
………………………………………………..
Fern's laugh echoed through Master Elrond's halls. "He did what?" she demanded of her friend Daniella, daughter of the leader of a ranger troop that had been passing through.
"I swear he danced half starkers on top of Lord Elronds' table in the Great Hall!" Fern blushed mildly.
"Was anyone there?"
"I believe a maid saw him, as well as some of his troop o' course," Fern laughed loudly at Daniella's comment. "I think one of them threw a boot at his 'ead or something, as he's in the Healing House right now, getting patched up," Fern paled mildy at this news. "Well go on then, go wish 'im well,"
Fern blushed considerably and they walked down the long terrace in silence for a moment, the only sound was the flickering of the torches and the hooting of a passing owl. Fern was still familiarising herself with her surrounds, as she had only been out of bed for a week or so, and wondered were they were heading, then she wondered if Daniella knew where they were. She looked around quickly, trying to find their bearings, they couldn't possibly be lost! Could they?
"Ahh, here we are," Daniella said, nudging Fern through the open doorway next to them. Fern toppled sidewards, amazed at Daniella's strength. She looked at a familiar floor, made of white marble, which reminded Fern of clouds.
"Oh bugger!" she muttered, quite loudly. She pulled herself up and instantly realised where she was. The Healing House. Oh dear. Standing not far from her was a large group of Rangers, weaponless, standing around a bed. They were all staring at her. Fern blushed, and in that moment, missed the person on the bed sit up slightly and call her name. It took her a moment to understand what was going on. There, in the bed, was none other then a certain table top dancing Ranger, who appeared to have a slight bump on his head. Fern blushed furiously as he said her name.
"Fern, are you alright?"
"Hmm? Oh, yes James, just had a slight miscalculation there, you see, the floor, must be raised or something, honestly, someone should fix that, maybe it's wet. I swear, honestly," she said stamping on the floor, "see, crooked!" upon realising what she was doing, she blushed. Upon realising how much she had been blushing, she blushed.
"Yes, very tricky floor indeed," James said kindly.
"How are you James? I heard you had a nasty bump to the head," Fern said, changing the topic. James refused to meet her eyes, embarrassed about his actions.
The Rangers stepped back a little, allowing Fern to get closer to James.
"Mistress Fern?" a messenger said, appearing at the door. "Lord Elrond requests your presence in his study,"
"Oh," Fern said, glancing up at him, then back at James. "I better be off then,"
Suddenly James was pulled to his feet by his fellow Rangers, and the two of them found themselves very close to each other. The Rangers surrounding them seemed to tighten ranks, moving Fern and James closer and closer to each other. "Ohhh,"
"Well, goodbye then Fern, or, at least, 'till next time, I hope," he said, slowly and quietly, Fern hung on his every word. She felt him lean in towards her, and she was inclined to lean towards him in reply. Both paused and realised their noses were almost touching.
"Oh, sorry," James whispered, pulling back slowly, feeling as if he had gone too far.
"Don't be," she whispered. She found herself flinging her arms around his neck. "I don't mind. Don't mind at all," their eyes met. And she kissed him, and he kissed her back.
……………………………………………….
The wolf leaped at the Rohirrim's throat, but the man swiped at it with his knife, missing the beast, but stopping it from getting to his throat. Them wolf disappeared from view, and the man had thought he'd scared it off. Proudly he smiled at Jess, who was looking behind him.
"Behind you!" Tydd yelled from across the clearing.
"Wha…?" the Rohirrim said, turning, just in time to see the wolf latch on to his…
…………………………………………………
Jackie was watching the scene that was unfolding before her with great confusion. She saw Jess reach down to pat a suddenly docile wolf, laughing quietly. "He seemed to be under some sort of enchantment," she heard Elladan say. Then suddenly there were screams.
Her head wiped up to see Susan screaming, and turned back to the wolf, the once docile wolf which had latched onto the Rohirrim's leg. Jackie was startled, and extremely confused.
The man kicked the wolf off his leg and screamed out in pain. Elladan rushed to his aid.
"You shouldn't have provoked him!" Jess yelled at the injured man. "We were communicating! Then you had to go and scare him! You know how long that took? Seriously? The first thing I got out of him was grr! I had tamed the damn wolf!"
"You spoke to him?" Elladan inquired, completely ignoring the injured man for a moment.
Jackie stopped listening to their conversation for a moment, and watched the wolf back away. It seemed to watch Elladan and Jess, and she could have sworn it was listening and taking in everything they said. Then the something entirely unexpected happened. The wolfs eyes glowed red. Jackie saw this as a bad sign. In movies glowing eyes always meant bad things.
"The wolf is doing something!" Mel yelled, attempting to get the groups attention back towards the imminent threat.
"Oh bugger," Susan said.
………………………………………….
The wolf sensed that the man was no-longer a threat and was searching for the next greatest threat. Many of the Rohirrim were on the other side of the fire, calming their horses, and he saw their small swords and spears as no great threat whilst they were on the ground. His choice of greatest threat was an interesting one. He went straight for Jackie and her broadsword. As the wolf ran towards her Jackie had an idea. She hit it over the head with the hilt of her sword. It yelped and froze, startled.
"Jess, now!" Elladan cried.
The wolf turned and looked towards Jess. It's head tilted, as if it was trying to understand something. Then suddenly it bounded across the clearing towards Jess, and stood in front of her.
"How curious," Elladan said.
Jess reached down to pat a suddenly docile wolf, laughing quietly.
"He seemed to be under some sort of enchantment," Elladan said.
"Whoa, dejà vu," Jackie said, noticing the similarities in the scenes.
No-one seemed to hear her, so Jackie went over the where the group was gathering around Jess and the wolf.
"You talked to the wolf?" Mel said, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes," Jess said, as if it was the most obvious and common thing in the world. "It's a rare gift," Elladan said softly and wisely, "an advancement of the elven skill of communicating with nature. It used to be called beast-speaking when it was more common. That is a great skill you have,"
"So you can speak to animals?" Susan asked. Jess nodded and shrugged. "Oh my God!" Susan squealed.
Jackie said nothing, as she had not been truly listening to the group. She was lost in her own thoughts, a rare occurrence for Jackie, who was more a doer, then a thinker. Perhaps she had just been hallucinating after all…
………………………………………………..
"So, the blonde girl is communicating with the wolves? In ways unlike those of the elves…" the man said, thinking. "How very interesting…very interesting,"
A/N: Please review, thanks.
Also, another mini-story type thing: note: Jess is bold. Mel is italic. We'll try to remember to keep this format going.
"Then one day Fern looked weak, and died. He managed to revive her. Then he died.
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
Fern died of a broken heart.
Stupid bitch steal my man I'll teach you!
Umm shes dead, idiot.
So I can bring her back and kill her more painfully as it is my story too!
Well then can't you just bring him back and live happily ever after. You could just say that this was all a dream, after all you are the writer.
I could but where is the fun in that?
Well you could bring them back to life, kill her and then see if he dies of a broken heart and if he doesn't then he loves you and not her and you can live happily. Until he dies when he forgets to clean the tree and you get angry.
They don't live in trees in Rivendell. Unlike your stupid realm!
Well, I'm not sure they do in my realm either, it's just the principle of the matter: one cannot have a dirty tree!
Yes you're right and people in your realm do save for the people who live in the palace which is located in a cave!"
Note: it is a conversation b/w two people, each new line means a new person is 'talking'. Yep, strange 'convo' b/w Jess and I.
Between Mel and I!
