Thanks to everyone that is continuing to read this! If you could leave a quick review at the end of the chapter, that would be great :)

Chapter 6

"The Ring-bearer is setting out on the Quest of Mount Doom," Lord Elrond announced. Éponine's eyes flickered between each member of the Fellowship that she would be travelling with, as well as to the members of Les Amis de l'ABC that had wound up stuck with her on the trip. After a few days of training and gathering supplies, it was now time for them to leave Rivendell and go on what she suspected was, in a way, a suicide mission. "On you who travel with him," Lord Elrond continued, "no oath, nor bond is laid to go further than you will. Farewell. Hold to your purpose. May the blessings of Elves and Men and all Free Folk go with you."

"The Fellowship awaits the Ringbearer," Gandalf said, and Frodo, who would be carrying the ring that supposedly brought death, walked to the front of the group, only to whisper something to Gandalf before leading the way out.

Éponine felt her heart sink slightly at the realization that it seemed likely that the 'hobbit', or 'halfling', as the short people without facial hair were apparently called, had no clue how to get where they were going. It was bad enough she had to go on the journey, but the thought of actually being led by someone who didn't even know how to get to where they were meant to be going nearly made her sick.

On the other hand, Gandalf did seem to know where they were going, so at the very least she could rest assured that with the wizard on their side, they would not get lost.

"We must hold this course west of the Misty Mountains for 40 days," Gandalf said from his place on a rock. "If our luck holds the Gap of Rohan will still be open to us. From there our road turns east to Mordor."

The Fellowship and Les Amis de l'ABC, along with Éponine and Gavroche, had been travelling for three days already. Éponine was already frustrated with Boromir, while Enjolras appeared frustrated with pretty much everyone. Gavroche, however, was getting along very well with two of the hobbits, Merry and Pippin. The trio apparently shared an interest in mischief, and Éponine could only hope it wouldn't cause trouble for everyone.

As the group rested in the hills, some cooking food, Boromir was giving the three of them another lesson with swords.

"Two, one, five. Good, very good," Boromir praised as he drilled them.

"Move your feet," Aragorn reminded Gavroche and the hobbits from his seat on a rock. Éponine sat nearby, keeping an eye on her brother, ready to tear a strip off Boromir if he injured the boy.

"You look good, Pippin," Merry said cheerfully.

"Thanks," Pippin replied, clearly excited.

"Faster!" Boromir encouraged.

Éponine chuckled as she watched her brother and the two hobbits continue training with the man that referred to himself as the son of a 'Steward of Gondor', whatever that meant. She had to admit, however, that as much as Boromir annoyed her, he did seem to be getting on well with the three.

After a moment, she turned her attention elsewhere. Gimli was standing near Gandalf, and looked slightly peeved. "If anyone was to ask for my opinion, which I note they're not," he was saying quite loudly, "I'd say we were taking the long way round. Gandalf, we could pass through the Mines of Moria." Éponine raised an eyebrow. Gandalf's smile had disappeared at those words. She had no idea what Moria was, but it was clear Gandalf had no interest in it. "My cousin Balin would give us a royal welcome," Gimli added.

"No Gimli, Gandalf replied. "I would not take the roads through Moria unless I had no other choice."

"Sorry!" Boromir exclaimed suddenly as Pippin yelped, drawing Éponine's attention again in time for her to watch as Pippin kicked Boromir's leg.

"Get him!" Merry yelled before he, Pippin, and Gavroche all tackled Boromir. Éponine found herself laughing again, and she noticed that Aragorn was chuckling as well. He had barely smiled since setting out from Rivendell, and she was glad to see he was less stuck up than she had initially believed.

"For the Shire!" Pippin yelled. "Hold him! Hold him Merry!"

"Gentlemen, that's enough!" Aragorn chuckled, getting up and going to separate them only to be pushed away.

"What is that?" Éponine quickly turned her head. One of the other hobbits had spoken, the one named Sam.

"Nothing, it's just a wisp of cloud," Gimli replied.

"It's moving fast. Against the wind," Boromir commented.

"Crebain from Dunland!" Legolas exclaimed.

Everyone in the Fellowship immediately panicked, putting out the fire they'd been cooking food over and rushing to hide. Éponine looked around at the members of Les Amis de l'ABC, each of whom were just as confused as she was.

"Quick, hide!" Aragorn told them. Éponine chose not to question it and quickly ducked under a bush. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the rest of Les Amis do the same, along with her brother. Moments after all of them were under cover, a large flock of black birds flew past. Birds? Why are we hiding from birds? Éponine wondered to herself. Nothing in this place makes any sense. As quickly as the birds had appeared, they vanished again.

"Spies of Saruman!" Gandalf explained as they came out from their hiding places. "The passage south is being watched. We must take the Pass of Caradhras."

Enjolras decidedly hated the trip he was on. The first few days hadn't been terrible, but climbing the mountain in the deep snow was crossing a line for him. I shouldn't even be here now. I should be back in France, contributing to the revolution, he thought to himself. He still had no clue who this 'Saruman' was, or why this unknown individual had sent spies after them. And why were the spies birds? What is this ridiculous place? He shook his head, trying to bring back the excitement and conviction he had first felt when he had been up the tree with Éponine, listening in on the council meeting. That thrill of being in a new place with a chance to help new people. Those feelings had gone away quickly after a few days in Rivendell, in the strange society that worshipped kings and tradition and was full of so many things that made so little sense to him.

He had always considered himself a rational, decisive person, and all of these strange new things were throwing him off. Combeferre was the open minded philosopher, the one fascinated by ghosts and new things. The more frustrated Enjolras found himself, the more grateful he was that his best friend's endless curiosity had resulted in Combeferre nearly turning into an encyclopedia on Middle Earth over night.

He quickly turned his head as someone yelled, just in time to see one of the hobbits, Frodo, the one who was carrying the ring, slip and fall, rolling down to where Aragorn was. The dark haired man helped the hobbit to his feet, and the hobbit looked around anxiously. As Enjolras watched, Boromir, the other man, moved towards them, knelt, and picked something up.

"Boromir," Aragorn said warningly. Whatever it was that Boromir said in response was too quiet for Enjolras to make out, but whatever it was, Aragorn was clearly not impressed. "Boromir!" he said again, more sharply this time. "Give the Ring to Frodo."

"As you wish," Enjolras heard Boromir's voice now, though rather faintly. "I care not." The tall, light haired man ruffled Frodo's hair as he handed him the ring before turning to rejoin the group, and as Boromir approached, Enjolras saw Aragorn release his grip on his sword.

He was ready to kill him to take back the ring, Enjolras realized. With all their talk, I thought this seemed ridiculous, but they truly believe that this bit of gold jewelry is dangerous and worth killing over... He couldn't help but wonder once more just what he and his friends had gotten themselves into.

The group continued on as the winds picked up and more heavy snow began to fall, making the already difficult trek even more unbearable. Bahorel and Grantaire, along with Aragorn and Boromir, began carrying Gavroche and the hobbits as the snow became too deep for them.

The only one in the group that wasn't struggling with the snow was Legolas, the elf, who somehow managed to walk along on top of the snow.

"Stupid prancing pointy eared blondie," he heard Éponine mutter under her breath. Enjolras found himself struggling not to agree with her. The elf seemed annoyingly oblivious to the fact that the rest of them were fighting for every step through the snow that was nearly up to their waists.

"There is a fell voice on the air," Legolas suddenly commented. Enjolras squinted through the blinding snow. The elf appeared to be staring off into the distance. He strained his ears to try and catch whatever it was that Legolas had heard, but Enjolras found that he couldn't hear a thing except for the wind, which was becoming more deafening by the second.

"It's Saruman!" Gandalf yelled to be heard over the loud winds. Moments later, huge mounds of snow began to cascade from high up the mountain, narrowly avoiding the Fellowship and Les Amis.

"He's trying to bring down the mountain!" Aragorn yelled, concern evident in his voice. "Gandalf, we must turn back!"

"No!" the wizard refused.

"This is insanity," Enjolras heard Courfeyrac mutter to Combeferre, who nodded in agreement as Gandalf stepped forward and began yelling what sounded like complete gibberish. Enjolras looked around at his friends.

Bahorel and Grantaire were next to Boromir and Aragorn, trying to keep Gavroche and the hobbits safe. Combeferre and Courfeyrac were nearby with Jehan Prouvaire and Feuilly, along with Bossuet and Joly, the latter looking incredibly anxious. Enjolras could only assume that the poor man was convinced that he would develop pneumonia, hypothermia, frostbite, or some combination of the three. Hopefully we'll be done with this mountain soon.

Moments later, there was a bright flash of lightning followed by a loud clap of thunder, and snow once again came crashing towards them. They flung themselves towards the steep cliffs, away from the ledge, hoping that the wall behind them would provide some shelter from the sheets of snow threatening to bury them.

The plan did not work however, and they soon found themselves covered by a thick layer of snow. Enjolras quickly began to push his way up, scrambling for breath as he pulled himself out from under the snow. He looked around, relieved to see all of his friends alive and safe as well. Combeferre had even managed to keep from losing his glasses in the avalanche.

"We must get off the mountain!" Boromir was yelling. "Make for the Gap of Rohan and take the west road to my city!"

"The Gap of Rohan takes us too close to Isengard!" Aragorn replied just as loudly. Enjolras looked to Combeferre, hoping that his friend knew the words and places meant, but his friend was too preoccupied with trying to get the snow off of his glasses.

"If we cannot pass over the mountain, let us go under it," Gimli spoke up. Enjolras' eyes flickered over to the dwarf. "Let us go through the Mines of Moria."

From the corner of his eye, Enjolras saw a worried expression pass over Gandalf's face. That can't be good.

"Let the Ring bearer decide," the wizard said after a moment.

"We cannot stay here!" Boromir continued to yell. "This will be the death of the hobbits." Enjolras looked back over to wear Bahorel, Grantaire, Aragorn, and Boromir were huddled with the four hobbits, along with Gavroche. The five smaller group members looked cold and terrified.

"Frodo?" Gandalf asked.

"We will go through the mines," the dark haired hobbit decided. Enjolras glanced back at Gandalf, who looked rather defeated at that statement.

"So be it," Gandalf agreed after a moment. Enjolras prayed that whatever it was that the wizard was afraid of would be no trouble for their group.