Chapter 6
"Oh! I can't stomach another mouthful!" Gimli groaned.
"Will someone pass the butter and syrup?" asked Sam. Again.
"I presume you will also want pancakes with that?" Lily said politely, (well, as polite as one can with a mouthful of pancake.)
"Well, yes," he smiled sheepishly, forking a few more off the plate.
Boromir leaned back in his chair and sighed. "That has to have been the most sumptuous repast I have enjoyed for a great while. Why, I would even say that the elves of Lothlorien have met their match. What do you say to that Legolas?"
Legolas did not respond. He wasn't at the table.
"Where did he get to, Gimli?" Aragorn asked.
"Still on the porch I reckon. Probably sleeping on his feet, you know how they do." Gimli grunted.
Aragorn quietly stood up and walked to the door. He pulled the sliding door open very slowly, so instead of 'SCREEEEEKCH!,' it went 'SCRuh-Schruh Schreee!' Stepping outside, he found Legolas standing, staring out at the broken wood, the distant west, and the darkling clouds that shrouded the sky. Aragorn watched for a moment. His mortal eyes may not have been as keen as his friend's were, but they saw the vision of growing evil as well.
"What do you see Legolas?"
"Something is coming. We will have to fight it. All of us."
Aragorn turned to look back through the glass at those still gathered around the table.
"The hobbits?"
Legolas nodded.
"The girls too?" Aragorn's face was a mask of concern.
Legolas was about to respond when the door screeched open and Olivia stood in the doorway.
"Hey, umm, Legolas?"
"Yes?" he turned.
"Well, I was thinking..." She looked like she wanted to ask for something and was just to shy to say.
"I my 4-H shooting sports teacher says I'm really good at archery, so... I was wondering..."
She pulled out a bow that was made of a strong substance which he was not familiar with. "Maybe you could teach me a little?"
Legolas's eyebrows furrowed, and it looked like he might say no. He looked to Aragorn. Aragorn whispered something in sindarin, that caused the elf to brighten somewhat, then become serious again. He considered a moment, then glanced at Olivia.
" Henion." he said finally.
"Understand what?" She asked.
He looked at her in surprise.
"Heniach nin?"
" Yeah, a little. I've been learning off the Internet."
His face lit up.
"Mas?" he said with a broad smile.
"Down there. We can practice by the shooting range." She answered excitedly.
Aragorn watched the two of them walk down the steps and towards what she had referred to as the shooting range. He went to the door only to be blocked by Lily.
"I heard what she said."
"And?"
She held out her 'sword ' threateningly.
"If she gets archery, then I want swording lessons."
The corner of his lip twitched, as he suppressed a smile.
"It would appear that I have no choice. However, I am unsure as to how I am to train you, unless perhaps, you have another sword?"
She looked at him in disgust. "I'll get you a different sword. Then we'll be even." She disappeared before he could argue.
Third person POV observing hobbits
The hobbits were gathered in the girl's room. After jumping on the beds for a while, Merry had found a stash of swords like Lily's.
"I am Lily, and I say we will investigate that bush over there!" Merry pointed to the chest of toys.
"That's not a bush." stated Frodo.
"I know!" He put on a lisp, "That's what makths it thpecial."
Pippin laughed. "Thatsth her alrighth!"
Sam meanwhile had climbed onto one of the lower bunks.
"What in middle earth is this?"
The rest of the group joined him on the bed.
"It's beautiful." He gasped.
It was. It hung on a heavy silver chain. The front was worn to a near mirror finish. Sam reverently turned the object over. The other side was deeply engraved with markings exceedingly strange. Circles on circles, straight lines, and odd cogwheel shapes. In its center was a perfect circle of flawless glass, through which one could see the spring as it whisked back and forth, and a multitude of moving gears.
Some were large and slow, some almost infinitesimally small. He held the device up to his ear. It whirred and clicked, tapped and twanged, and with every passing second came a sonorous 'Clang' that seemed to echo, as if the interior went on forever. However, there was one rhythm that was clearer than all the rest:
'Tick-tick-tick-tick'
'Tick-tick-tick-tick'
'Tick-tick-tick-tick...'
It felt alive. He felt its intricate pulse against his palm. He pulled it away, blinked, and looked at it again.
It was a watch. Nothing more.
Meanwhile Merry had noticed a something shoved up between the mattress of the upper bunk and the wooden struts holding it up. He reached up and pulled out what looked like a human size knife in a stiff blackened leather scabbered. On the scabbered was an unfamiliar device in deep red. Merry pulled the knife out.
"Woah! Where'd you find that?" Exclaimed Pip.
The blade was simple, but looked wickedly sharp. There was also a slit in the mid part of the shaft extending from where the blade met the hilt to about five inches down the length of the blade. The blade itself was some ten inches long. Its hilt was formed of a hard, black, non-metalic substance, and was of nearly equal length as the blade. The pommel was covered with half-inch spikes of the same dark substance, and looked almost as lethal as the blade. Everyone gazed at the cruel weapon. Merry noticed something else. With his thumb he pressed a tab on one side of the hilt. This caused two additional twin blades, each three inches long, to sprout from the hilt on opposite sides of the main blade.
"Do you think it's hers?" asked Sam.
In response, they heard gandalf yell, "They are upon us! DEFEND YOURSELVES!"