"Italics" - Elvish, Sindarin
'Normal' -thoughts to one's self
'Italics' - thought speak (thought speak only applies with Galadriel)
A/N: I do not own Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, or The Hobbit.
"Ai, ai! The Dark Lord has come," Victoria heard Taurriel shriek just to her left.
"I see you, little elf," came a booming, reverberating voice out of the mass of blackness. Victoria could now see Tauriel's bow, nocked and aiming at the center of the shadow in her peripheral vision. 'Weird,' Victoria thought, 'Why did her invisibility drop?'
"You are not like the others. Not sent from the West. Join me. Share in my dominion over Middle Earth."
"Never," Victoria stated clearly, "I will never join you. And does that line work on anyone? Dark Lords don't share power."
"There is no light that can stand against the darkness, Wizard"
As the Dark Lord unleashed a wave of black tendrils and Tauriel let her arrow fly, time seemed to stand still for Victoria. She could feel an emotion she always felt when facing Voldemort, fear. Fear seeped into her body, adrenaline ready to start pumping, her heart and lungs preparing to work overtime, her muscles about to request more blood and oxygen from the rest of her body. Her body was a storm. But her mind, her mind was like the eye of a hurricane. Calm, centered, clear. 'How do I handle this?' she thought. 'What offense can I bring to bear against this thing? None that I can think off. Must go with defense.'
Tauriel's arrow flew harmlessly through the shadow entity as Victoria adopted her usually fighting stance of wand out front and sword to the side at the ready. Thinking of Professor Flitwick using a ward variant of the shield spell for dark magic before the Battle of Hogwarts, she thrust her wand forward, concentrating on keeping the ward small, like a spherical shield around her and Tauriel.
"Protego Horribilis," she shouted. Vilya and the tip of the Elder Wand glowed blue as the shield she envisioned enclosed around them before fading away, but she could still feel the magic there.
The smoky projections reached Victoria and Tauriel not seconds later, but were impeded as small azure blue shields began to appear in the path of every tendril. Victoria sensed her shield holding and only minimally drawing more magic from her. All sound seemed to fade away, and all Victoria could hear was the sound of her heart and Tauriel's beating fiercely. Sauron continued his assault for a few seconds before he drew all the dark magic back to him, unleashing it all at the front of her shield.
Victoria felt the shield beginning to fail as it drew more energy from her core. Again, the Dark Lord recalled his magic, and again he smashed it into the same spot. After the third time, Victoria began to feel hopelessness creep into her mind. She couldn't defeat this being. It was beyond her. Why not just give in? They would kill her, and it would be over.
She was jarred from her macabre thoughts when she felt Tauriel lay her hand over Victoria wand hand, still held aloft pouring energy into the shield.
"Control your mind. The darkness will try to weaken you. You are stronger than it. Let me help you if I can," Tauriel said, whispering into her left ear as her right arm came around Victoria's waist to lightly embrace her from behind.
Victoria could feel the light in Tauriel. The light she knew present in all elves. But she had never felt it before.
Power flowed anew into the protective ward around them. Victoria didn't know if Tauriel was lending her some strength or merely courage, but she was glad the elf captain was here with her. Two more barrages of dark energy were repelled by the shield.
Enraged, Sauron released a wave of dark energy as Victoria's field of view suddenly filled with fire. Unable to shield her eyes with wand and sword in hand, she watched as a figure clad in black armor, radiating dark power, walked into the center, serving as the pupil in a malicious fiery eye.
"Do you have a plan, my dear wizard?" Tauriel whispered again into her ear.
"I do. It's a very silly plan. But it's a plan."
"I trust you, Victoria."
"When I drop the shield and you see a bright white light, run. I'll follow you. Try to get us out of here." Victoria waited until the first new assault of black tendrils came, then as the dark magic drew back again, she dropped her shield and thought of times on the ride here she saw Tauriel's face when she blushed.
"Expecto Patronum!" Victoria shouted, waving the Elder Wand in a small circle with Tauriel's hand still on hers.
A bright, pure white eagle burst forth, sending spherical waves of light out in all directions. Victoria just had time to see the light waves battle against the tendrils when she felt Tauriel's hands release hers as they both took off running. After a minute, Victoria let out a sigh of relief when Sauron seemed to give no pursuit but she didn't stop. She wasn't planning on stopping until she could get out of this fortress and apparate away with Tauriel. The dark magics, now revealed, surrounding Dol Guldur gave her pause at the thought of apparation. Running by and around ruined sections of the floor and walls, Victoria could see glimpses into the lower levels as she moved past. Thousands, perhaps ten thousand, orcs and wargs looked to be readying to march out, presumably out the southern pass.
Tauriel led them into a small courtyard with a lot of stairs that led to broken pathways. It seemed to be a dead end, but Victoria was concentrating on the open view to the south she had. At the head of the marching orc army leaving the abandoned fortress stood a pale orc astride a white warg.
'Where are they going to attack?' she thought. 'And why now? They expected to kill me or at least capture if they expected me at all, so they aren't leaving because I found them. Erebor perhaps? But why an army for a group of thirteen dwarves who already have a dragon to contend with?'
Victoria's musing was cut short as she heard voices muttering in that dark, corrupted elvish the orcs used. Victoria and Tauriel moved toward the center of the courtyard, Tauriel securing her bow on her back and drawing Arwen's sword.
As the voices all around them seemed to start a second line of some dark poem, Victoria shouted out, "You know the creepy speech would be a lot creepier if I could understand it."
Nine spectral figures appeared on the landings of the broken pathways. The three in Victoria's field of vision were transparent with a lurking darkness in the distortions they made when you looked through them. And each were uniquely armored and armed. The three apparitions Victoria could see bore a spear, a long sword, and two one-handed swords.
"Will swords be of any use against ghost?" asked Tauriel.
"I think our swords will be," Victoria responded as she pointed her wand at the spear wielding wraith. 'Incendio,' she thought, and was both satisfied and horrified. As the creature caught on fire, it seemed to shatter and crack as its body convulsed and hit the ground. Victoria watched for a second as the ground began to crack underneath the ghost, collapsing the stairs and what little remained of a door on the landing at the top of the stairs.
She was bought out of her thoughts as the wraith with two swords charged at her. Victoria deftly blocked both attacked that came at her with Glamdring, pointing her wand at the creature and taking a step back said, "Expulso."
Blue light exploded on the wraiths chest, and the force sent it flying over the edge. Surely it would fall to its death or at least out of the battle. She was amazed when the figure of the wraith shifted in mid-air and reappeared on the broken platform he original stood on. 'Well, that didn't work. Lets see if Glamdring does," she thought, sliding under a mace larger than Azog's. Spinning around during the slide, she sprang up and drove her sword through the bull's head helmet of the mace wielding apparition. It gave off a horrible scream as it fell, dissolving the ground under it as it broke apart.
She had to keep moving. Looking around, Victoria saw Tauriel had the same idea. Use agility to their advantage. Victoria danced between two wraiths blocking their attacks with her sword, throwing the Bluebell Flame Spell in the face of one of them. The wraith dropped his weird three bladed staff as he fell dead, his imagine shifting about erratically.
Victoria brought the Elder Wand up thinking, "Protego," as the second wraith brought down an axe that would have cleaved her in two. As axe impacted on blue shield, she spun around and beheaded the wraith holding the axe with Glamdring.
Turning around and finding herself alone on that side of the platform, Victoria saw Tauriel engaged with a wraith wielding a long two-handed sword. Creeping up behind her, another wraith carrying a long club hoped to take her unawares.
"Incendio," Victoria shouted, righteous fury filling her once clear mind. The wraith behind Tauriel died in a inferno much larger than the first wraith did as Tauriel ran her sword through the chest of her opponent. They were alone again. Silence reigned. They both looked around for any other threats as the move toward one another.
As they met in the middle, Victoria stumbled and then felt Tauriel's hand around her waist, supporting her.
"I felt that last wraith behind me to late. Thank you for saving me," Tauriel said softly.
"And let something happen to my new friend, never," stated Victoria, giving her an exhausted smile. She was about to summon the Miruvor flask from her pack when in front of them the stairway and its broken door way on top exploded. A ball of flame took its place, the sinister eye had returned. In the center, Sauron stood, armored in shadow.
"It has already begun. The East will fall. So shall rise the Kingdom of Angmar. The time of the Elves is over. The Age of the Orc has come."
As Sauron spoke, the nine wraiths reappeared in front of him and began floating forward.
"Expecto Patronum," Victoria muttered weakly, so weary she felt her grip on Glamdring slip and heard the sword hit the ground. White vapor shot from the Elder Wand, slowing the wraiths down and nothing more. Searching in her mind for a happy thought, she instinctively found Tauriel's left hand with her right.
"Expecto Patronum," she roared again, putting everything she had into the charm. A blazing white eagle blasted out of her wand, coming to a hovering stop in between Sauron and Victoria and Tauriel. The wraiths retreated back to the master, all letting out disconcerting hissing sounds.
More black energy poured from Sauron battling against the Patronus in the air. Victoria kept her wand aloft and pointed at the ethereal eagle, pulling what magic she could from Vilya.
After twenty seconds of Victoria trying to hold back the Dark Lord through shear force of will, her heart plummeted when she saw her Patronus starting to dim. Her legs gave out, bringing her to her knees, dragging Tauriel with her. She couldn't even hold her head up, all her strength going to holding her wand up.
"You were a fool Wizard. To think you could in here and resist me alone."
Fatigue was coming on too fast. She wouldn't be able to hold out much longer. She should have never invited Tauriel along to die with her. Several more twisted thoughts passed through her mind as she looked at the ground, waiting for her power to finally fail. Victoria did not expect to see a feminine bare foot, followed by a leg showing off the bottom of a white and silver elven dress in the corner of her eye.
"She is not alone."
Drawing the strength to look up, she saw Galadriel looking at the Dark Lord with pure loathing. Victoria was suddenly reminded of the times Dumbledore actually got angry. Hearing a sword unsheathed behind them, she turned to see Lord Elrond in bronze armor and Saruman the White.
Light seems to bend around Galadriel and be absorbed by her leaving her looking raven haired and skin with a blue tint. Her dress, once white and silver, turned blue and black.
She held up her right hand releasing pure white light, causing the nine wraith to shriek and disappear. When she spoke, Galadriel's voice came out warped and echoing.
"You have no power here, servant of Morgoth! You are nameless. Faceless. Formless. Go back to the shadows!"
As she spoke the last word, the light from her hand flared brighter still, and Galadriel won the contest of strength. The giant armored figure, wreathed in flame, was banished from the fortress by the Lady of the Golden Wood. He flew high and fast away from the ruin of the fortress leaving a burning glow in the clouds as Galadriel returned to her normal self and fell back into Elrond's waiting arms.
"We were deceived," said Elrond.
Shaking slightly, Galadriel said, "The spirit of Sauron endured."
"And has been banished," stated Saruman, as if the matter was over.
Galadriel leaned against Elrond's chest saying, "He will flee into the East."
"Gondor should be warned. They must set a watch on the walls of Mordor," Elrond counselled.
"Without the Ring of Power, Sauron can never again hold dominion over Middle Earth."
"My Lord Saruman, he must be hunted down and destroyed once and for all," Elrond said with conviction.
"Look after the Lady Galadriel. Leave Sauron to me. The lady has spent much of her power. Take her to Lothlorien," Saruman replied to Elrond.
"No," Victoria said, gaining the attention of the Wise. She walked over as she took a sip of Miruvor and handed the flask to Galadriel.
"I'm going to need her help."
Saruman was indifferent to Victoria's plan and quickly left, presumably to prepare for the darkness to come.
Outside Dol Guldur, a Wizard and an Elf-witch stood in front of an Elf-lord and captain of the guard on the edge of the forest. Lightning poured forth from the Wizard, aimed at the only tower standing, as the Elf-witch tried to bring down the exterior walls. As the last support structure holding the tower up exploded in a clap of thunder, Galadriel brought all her power down on the walls, imploding them inward. The tower dropped into the center of the ruined fortress as the walls fell simultaneously, razing the structure to the ground. Tons of stone fell into the pits and caverns below the fortress.
Victoria and Galadriel both fell to their knees, looking out over the fallen stronghold of the Enemy. She turned to Galadriel, gasping for air, to see Galadriel breathing heavily too.
After she had calmed down and Galadriel caught her eye, Victoria smiled tiredly and said, "I've been here less than a year and already I've destroyed Goblin-town and Dol Guldur. Well, might have destroyed Goblin-town. Didn't go back to check. At this rate, evil will have no place to hide by the time I'm old and grey."
Galadriel left, too exhausted to saying anything other than farewell, with Lord Elrond, who nodded at Victoria with a kind smile and said, "Though I am loathed to admit it, giving you that relic will be as if dropping a stone into smooth water, dark as they are. The ripples you cause are already being felt in Arda." Elrond's voice grew low as he went on, "Your actions will draw the wrong type of attention as well. Do be careful, my dear Wizard. Arwen would be crushed to lose you, as would I."
Victoria felt Tauriel come up to stand just behind her, "I will be as cautious as I can, but situations seem to spiral out of control in my presence."
She watched until Elrond escorted Galadriel away from the fallen fortress and out of sight.
"We must make for Erebor. The dwarves will no doubt arrive soon at the mountain. Let's hope they merely find the keyhole and wait for me or we will arrive to find a dragon raging," Victoria said, turning to Tauriel.
"If Smaug is somehow slain, King Thranduil will likely march on the mountain in force. There are gems in Erebor he considers his. If your friends passed through the Woodland Palace, they would likely make a deal with the King for assistance with travel. With the dragon dead, Thranduil would unlikely expect the dwarves to keep their word."
Victoria mentally scoffed at the idea of Thorin giving anything up to an Elf-king, but with Gandalf their, anything was possible. "The army marched south out of the forest, we must head east and hope a marching army will move slower than we can run." Well, running once out of the forest was really plan B in Victoria's mind. She was seriously considering apparating back to Luna and then trying to side-along apparate the horse to the eastern side of Mirkwood. But she was thinking over apparating with a horse in her mind.
"I need to rest for a few hours, Tauriel. I am exhausted."
"You want to nap here? I can still feel a slight darkness radiating for the ruins," Tauriel responded.
"Take my hand," Victoria said, holding out her right hand. Tauriel confused, gazed at it before taking in to her hand. She watched as Victoria drew a small circle in the air with her wand, and a now familiar white eagle sprang out of the tip and flew in lazy circles around the fallen rubble. "That should help. Wake me after midday, please," Victoria said turning around and falling into Tauriel's arms.
Tauriel, at first unsure what to do, scooped Victoria up into her arms bridal style and moved to a nearby tree to rest by. She glanced down at the powerful Wizard she held. So kind in life, so fierce in battle, and so wise beyond her years.
Sitting down against the tree with Victoria's head resting on her shoulder, Tauriel felt solace and warmth when she felt the Wizard's arm wrap around her in her sleep.
When the sun was highest in the sky, Tauriel stirred Victoria from sleep and was rewarded with a blush on Victoria's face at the position they awoke in. With nothing to vanish or clean up, Victoria merely cleaned herself up and motioned to Tauriel to lead them east.
Once past the thickest of the spider webs, Tauriel broke out into a run, leading them over roots and under branches like the graceful white hart that led Victoria to Tauriel. She tried to her best to keep up with Tauriel, but Victoria couldn't match her agility completely. After three hours, Victoria ran into a small clearing, devoid of webs, with Tauriel waiting for her to catch up.
Panting for air, Victoria shuffled forward and summoned the flask of Miruvor to take a sip. Judging by the weight, the flask only remained about half full. The run here and since they had stopped was silent. But away from the threat of spiders temporarily, Tauriel broke the silence.
"Do you mind if I ask you something, Victoria?"
"Sure, go ahead."
"The spell you cast to summon the ethereal eagle. Why did you grasp my hand before casting it the last two time?"
"The spell is the embodiment of a happy thought. It was used to repel dark creatures in my old world," Victoria said, looking at the ground, color rising on her cheeks. "When I took your hand, it was easier to concentrate on a happy thought. I noticed it when you laid your hand on mine in our battle against Sauron the first time."
Victoria looked up to see Tauriel turning away with a smile on her face.
For sixteen hours they ran east, then northeast. Victoria thought she would have to drink up more Miruvor, but she found herself not tiring as much as expected. She even got bored along the way and started vanishing the webs she and Tauriel encountered. Victoria hoped the spiders would scatter being leaderless and directionless, but if they didnt, she would come back to eradicate them.
They came out into a large clearing, lacking any trees. Tauriel said the region was known as the East Bight. Finally beginning to feel fatigued, Victoria looked to the east, off in the distance and was glad to see no orc army passing by. What she did see surprised her for all of a second before she realized she should have known. A black horse, with a red and orange sheen in the rays of the dawning sun.
"What happen to stay and wait for me on the other side?" asked Victoria, smiling and walking up to Luna. Luna merely gazed at her as she threw her arms around the horse's neck, hugging her gently. "Thank you for coming, my friend. Save me the trouble of using magic I have not tested to go get you. Would not want anything to happen to you," she whispered to Luna.
Victoria proceeded to feed and water her horse before walking back to Tauriel and summoning some food for them to eat as well. Looking over, she saw Tauriel sneaking glances at her. 'I wonder what that's about,' Victoria thought as she pulled out her map.
"You say we are here, at the East Bight?" she asked.
"Yes," Tauriel responded simply, looking over at where Victoria was indicating on the map.
"So we have about 300 miles between us and Erebor. That's about six days if we push Luna as long as she can go, not keeping her at galloping speed the whole time," Victoria said as she packed the map back up. "Would you mind driving first? I'm beat from that run through the woods."
"Driving?" asked Tauriel, confused.
"Er, I meant take the reins while I rest a bit behind you in the saddle."
"That is fine with me," replied the elf, turning to look the Wizard in the eyes.
"When you said I could travel with you after we finish this business, is that offer still available?" asked Tauriel, the closest Victoria had ever seen an elf to nervous.
"Yes of course, I would love to have you along," Victoria said with a bright smile. "I think Gandalf may have other things to do after all this is said and done. It would be nice to have a traveling partner."
"And what do you plan on trying to accomplish?" asked Tauriel.
"Gondor will be warned by Saruman. Hopefully they can keep a watch on Mordor. I think I will make my home in Rivendell and use my ability to travel from one place to another instantly to roam the regions north of the Shire, hunting for orcs and trolls. That ability is called apparation by the way. Maybe wander far enough north to Fornost, or even Angmar, see if anything too foul still inhabits those lands."
Tauriel sat to her right, with the sun shining through her hair. Victoria thought her beautiful as the elf said with a warm smile, "That is a worthy goal, though dangerous. I would be happy to accompany you."
"Lets go. We need to make it to the mountain as soon as possible," the Wizard said, packing everything away and walking over to Luna. She climbed atop Luna first before helping Tauriel up in front of her. Letting Tauriel take the reins, Victoria cast a Sticking Charm on the front of her leather armor before hugging Tauriel securely from behind.
Victoria didn't realize see had fallen asleep, but a jolt woke her from her slumber. Looking around the fast moving landscape, she noticed Tauriel had Luna at a gallop. The plan was to alternate between pushing her horse for speed and letting to walk a while so as to not wear her down. Victoria brought her wand out and cancelled the Sticking Charm on herself.
"Lets stop for half an hour and feed and water Luna," Victoria said, bringing her mouth close to Tauriel's ear to be heard. She watched in fascination as the elf's pointed ears reddened slightly as she brought the horse to a halt.
After they both dismounted, Victoria began duplicating apples and conjuring water in a large bowl for Luna. She added a few drops of Miruvor to the water. It was a few hours after sunset and Victoria meant to ride on through the night after this little break. She had probably slept about twelve hours while Tauriel steered the horse, and she felt refreshed for it. Not that horseback-sleeping was all the comfortable, but her magic seemed to be back at full.
Duplicating some turkey legs, cheese, and bread rolls for both her and Tauriel, Victoria passed the food over on conjured plates and sat down next to Tauriel on the ground.
"So tell me, living closer to Erebor than anyone I've met so far, what do you know of the dragon?" asked Victoria.
"All I know for sure is the beast destroyed the old city of Dale before forcing his way into the Lonely Mountain. The dwarves lost many before abandoning their home," responded Tauriel, cutting into the cheese with her knife.
"Is that all?" wondered Victoria. "Anything that may aid in the fight against it?"
"The Woodland Kingdom has trading arrangements with the people of Lake-town, the descendants of Dale. The lake people spoke sometimes of two different accounts of the fall of Dale. One story had Girion, the Lord of Dale, unsuccessfully trying to kill the dragon with a black arrow and missing. The other spoke of the black arrow hitting its mark and knocking away a single scale of the beast's stomach. In one, Girion is a hapless fool. In the other, he is a lamentable hero, only needing another shot with a black arrow. Another shot he never got the chance to take. Most believe he was the hapless fool." Tauriel finished off the rest of her plate of food.
As Victoria finished her food, she pondered what Tauriel said. Maybe the dragon had a weakness to exploit. A literal chink in the armor.
Seeing Victoria done as well, Tauriel asked, "I know we need to conserve our strength, but do you think we could trade light blows with our swords so I can improve my footwork while we wait?"
A bright smile lit up Victoria's face. "Sure."
Five days later found Victoria at the reins with Tauriel holding on to her from behind. Even with all the thoughts of imminent danger in her mind, the one thought at the forefront was the greedy hope that Tauriel never got her own horse and would always ride with her. She then felt guilty at the thought. Tauriel was a beautiful immortal being, while Arwen often said Victoria was beautiful as well, she was not immortal.
She felt the elf shift on the back of the saddle to look behind them. Turning back around, Tauriel's voice in her ear sent a shiver down Victoria's spine.
"Across the river, there are a pair of elven scouts a league behind that just emerged from the forest. If the Elven-king is sending out scouting parties again, he must mean to march on the mountain after the chaos has settled."
Tauriel and Victoria had crossed the River Running at the bridge of the Old Forest Road earlier that morning. Finally nearing their destination, she pushed Luna a little harder, hoping to make it to Lake-town a couple hours after sunset. They could be at Erebor by sunup at this rate, even if it cost her most of her elven Miruvor. The last light of Durin's day would already have passed, but she hoped her friends had made it and found the keyhole. With Gandalf there, it should be relatively easy. She hoped.
For hours they rode, the top of the Lonely Mountain always in view. As darkness fell around them, Victoria began to feel something swift in the wind.
Off in the distance, a horrible crash and warping of metal was heard. Victoria pushed Luna as hard as she could go, as she heard a terrible roar, undoubtedly made by a dragon. Finally they reaching the top of a hill overlooking the lake. Victoria pulled her wand out and tapped her left temple, casting the Supersensory Charm. Her vision sharpened and she gasp. Far off, she could see the ruins of Dale, but that wasn't what caught her interest. Behind the lost city, stood Erebor, with its front gate blasted wide open.
Victoria's ears picked up a sadistic voice on the wind to the northwest of the lake near the town. She hoped she misheard it.
"I am fire. I am death."
Out of the clouds above Lake-town, a black serpentine shadow appeared, flying straight toward the town on the water. Fire issued forth from the beast, covering a quarter of the town in liquid dragon fire.
"Oh, Merlin."
A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favorites.