The Protector in the Shadow
*I know, quick update, I'm procrastinating from my other stories. I'm a rebel to the bone. Plus I'm in love with LOTR, so everyone should stop sending me hate mail for neglecting my other stories. It's freaking annoying. Anyway here she is! Next chapter of The Protector in the Shadow, shining light on Lyavain's past.–Ze*
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or lines directly from the book/ movie. I only own my plot line, and my character!
*Flashback*
*Normal*
Chapter one: The Prancing Pony
Frodo Baggins grew to be a man under the protecting and watching eye of Lyavain for years. The boy grew much to the dismay of his guard, but the bright shine of his eye, and the intelligence grew with him as well. Though she was no longer a human she stood, vivid azure eyes always watching, waiting, for the day Frodo would make move to the village of Bree. She had very little visions, and knew that fate was changing every day; she knew nothing past the interaction of evil that would take place on her watch tower. She couldn't help the snarl that rumbled into the morning light. She didn't want this to end; she had grown far too fond of the Shire, and her master. Never had she a home like this, so welcoming and warm. The simple task of remembering a home was harsh.
Shrill cries could be heard over the drumming above, her body tore and her bones broke. The beast inside of her snarled in release, chained to the wall by the guards of Gondolin, the hidden city of the Elves. The noises soon grew louder as the girl grew, bones snapping and popping, the painful process of the first change. Her father, a brave wolf of the north, watched calmly as his Elven child changed forms. He cursed himself, of only he hadn't lost his gut around the female Elf he so loved now, this abomination wouldn't have been conceived. This beautiful creature so wrong in the world of magic yet so right wouldn't exist. "Ada!" the girl screamed looking to her father for help,
"Ada, the chains burn! Ada please help!" The girl wailed as another loud crack resounded through the small prison. Elves didn't really need prisons; they were such graceful creatures, in a hidden city the crime rate was so low and the only thing that really happened if anything at all were intruders. He watched still as his daughter struggled before finally the black hair formed, her clothes shredded she exploded landing in a wolven form only a bit smaller then my own. So this was the birth of the black wolf? This was the killer Eru warned about? The small girl had shifted forms like a demon, changing into a black wolf. Her azure eyes still Elven, but her body large, ladened with a thick black fur a small white spot on her chest. The chains had snapped but the cuff around her wrist was still there, the only thing that didn't break was the necklace around her neck, a large silver feather, the color of her human hair was still located on her person. It was sudden but the wolf which was his daughter tossed her head back and let out a horrified shrill howl.
Days passed as she waited, Bilbo Baggins, Frodo's uncle had the Ring in his possession. No one else noticed the changes in Bilbo, how he had become more withdrawn, and his body never aged; perhaps it was the lack of change that worried her the most. The mindless muttering only she could hear. Bilbo never wore the Ring, hardly ever in fact. But when he did she could feel an evil like no other, he could almost feel the heat coming from Mount Doom, so justly named for the evil that lay there like a beast in its den. Mordor, the land of shadow, was to the world of men as those chains and isolation cells were to her.
"Naneth, why do they keep me here?" The girl asked, hate laced her voice like poison on an arrow, "Am I not worthy to walk in their streets?" she snapped again looking at the sad expression on her mother's face.
"They do not understand you child. You are the only one of your kind, and they fear the beast inside." She said gently stroking her daughter's hair. She hoped her words would help but she knew they would not. She gently worked herbs and oils into the girl's chaffed and torn wrists from the chains binding her to the cage. What a sad site it was, to see such a beautiful Elfling fall to such a horrid fate. This was her daughter; she didn't know when to break it to the child that the only creature who understood her pain was dead. Her father, mortal in more ways than a man had fallen victim to an orc attack when he went off to hunt. "Naneth, I haven't seen Ada, is he well?" the girl questioned with a look of innocence on her face. "Child, your Ada has….." drums over threw her sentence, but the Elfling could read her mother's lips, silence overtook them, and then, they wept.
Days turned to months, months turned to years and then decades came. She waited; calmly her form had not changed in over thirteen years it was then, on the eve of Bilbo's one hundred and eleventh birthday. That the ring awoke once more. Lyavain had been watching this day was the day she had been waiting for since the day of her birth. The day that she would finally act, it would only be a few days now. Only a few days. She could hear the whispers of darkness coming from the Ring, she was certain her master could hear it too. The whispers of an evil sort, the language of the dead lands of Mordor. Lyavain only knew a few words in the tongue, but those words she never uttered unless she had no other means of escape. Only creatures of darkness understood. Nazgûl or ring wraiths spoke this mostly and that in and if it's self scared her. Those were the one creatures that scared her more than ten thousand orcs or goblins.
A new scent rocked her nares; she hadn't taken a whiff of this scent since Bilbo had vanished. Her long graceful black paws carried her closer to Frodo's small home then it had in a long while. Power surged through her as she stared at Gandalf and Frodo through the small window before her.
"What are you doing?" Frodo exclaimed, quite bewildered as he watched Gandalf drop the envelope with the ring inside to the fire. The she-wolf stifled a violent snarl from escaping her lips. She knew this must happen; it was part of the fate of the world. The only reason the girl was so angry was because of the tone Frodo used. She had been so used to eliminating anything that came to harm her master, any tone he used she was afraid for any harm to fall upon the child she so adored.
"Hold out your hand Frodo," The old man spoke she did let a rumble escape her chest at that, "It's quite cool." He finished his statement and her master slowly. The next few things happened in what seemed slow motion. She didn't have time to see because she heard Samwise Gamgee sneaking up from the small dirt path. She quickly bolted away from the window and back into the shadow.
It was dawn the next time she saw the hobbits they were walking quickly with the wizard, he was instructing them to go to Bree, to the prancing pony. This was it. Her day. Her paws padded lightly down the trail, they were blazing their own, but she had their scent to fallow. Soon enough two more hobbits joined the party things were going as planned all until the Nazgûl showed on the road, it was planned, but not this way. She couldn't react until nightfall; she couldn't let herself be seen yet. It was too dangerous. But soon night fell, the darker it became, the louder the Nazgûl became. She was right behind the hobbits silently running after them, her graceful large body pulling her quickly, blending with the shadows. The Nazgûl blocked Frodo off from the rest of the hobbits, reaching down for him but she jumped in instead. She reared to her back legs and flew into the air, making contact long enough to stun the creature, sadly enough shocking Frodo. She spun quickly snarling violently at the hobbit causing him to run. He didn't recognize her yet, she commanded such so of course, and the expression on her face screamed she was glad her charms worked.
"Run hobbit, run." Her voice screamed into his mind as he ran, she was smacked off of the creature as it took off to move again. Her azure eyes darkened in bloodlust towards the creature who had hit her. She would have the creatures head, but not now. She couldn't deny the hobbit's their fate.
She knew where she was going she didn't wait for the hobbit to jump onto the boat. Her body moved quickly she had twenty miles to run and she could do just that if she fallowed the river. It wouldn't take long, with legs as long as a proud mare she could tackle long miles in simple hours. But the Ring bearer and the hobbits were on a fast moving river, the chance they would arrive before her was too great for her to risk slowing down. Power, power etched its way into her exhausted legs as she pushed. Snarling with any step, yes she was an Elf, but she tired like a beast. Her heart rate was pounding from adrenaline that was coursing through her veins like nothing else. She was correct, she had reached Bree around the same time the hobbits did, she fallowed slowly behind them keeping distance from the boys. While the gate keeper was distracted with the hobbits, she made way down to a waterway that was shown to her by Eru. Slipping into the village of Bree without being seen, she stood where she was supposed to stand, the cuff around her ankle still there from so many years before, and the feather of protection her mother gave her as a child still stayed on her person.
Quiet eyes waited as the hobbits walked by, Frodo turned suddenly as if he saw something out of the corner of his vision, his eyes turned and locked with the she-wolf's eyes. She felt her heart jump from her chest and settle in her vocal cords as Lyavain watched recognition wash over Frodo Baggins face. She watched words escape his mouth with satisfaction, fate was now set into motion. A fate the she wolf wouldn't be able to escape. She bowed her head into respect watching the reaction on Frodo's face. He did the same back before Samwise pulled him towards the inn of the prancing pony.
So she fallowed she stole a hooded cloak from a man nearby, too drunk to notice and slowly, painfully she shifted back into her Elven form behind a building close to the "pony" as she heard a man from Bree refer to it. She covered her naked form with the cloak and pulled the hood to hide her long silver hair which fell much longer then it had before. The cuff on her ankle jingled like a bell though muted by the mud. Her pale skin soon dirtied, she couldn't wait until she was back in wolven form. But all would have to wait, Frodo was about to meet someone important to his quest. Someone much more important in the future days to come, and Lyavain wanted to see it come to pass. She wanted to witness these events to play. Hidden in her overly large cloak she would watch azure eyes peering from her hood like a demon of darkness. Which was what she was…wasn't she?
She sat quietly at a table, staring at the ranger in the corner where most conversation was directed. Her fingers dusted gently over the silver feather hanging from her neck as she played with the coin purse she had found in the cloak. She wasn't normally a thief, but growing up in a cage made her want to experience things that her mother's people frowned upon, her father laughed encouraging her growth in any area she wished. But her mother was much more guarding of her, her mother even in death viewed her as a breakable little girl. It was when someone sat at her small table that she raised her haunting pools, Frodo, her master sat before her his gaze was quiet, as if he knew what she was.
"Lyavain Sehama?" the small hobbit questioned, clearly hoping that he was correct, Ava's eyes glanced to the ranger who was looking more closely now leaning forward on his knees as if he didn't expect Frodo to engage in conversation.
"Frodo Baggins." Lyavain's bell like voice gently wafted to the male who sat before her. Her face hidden in the shadow of her cloak, if she moved she would be revealed as naked, and discarded from the Inn, which she didn't wish to happen at any cost. She spoke quietly, so that if anyone was listening they would not hear, "Your path wavers from here child, the one you seek will not be coming any time soon," she whispered softly eyes locking with the boy, "do not leave disheartened, do not leave at all. Another wishes to meet you. One who will change the tides of this world." She said with a small smile knowing her expression and her entire person was hidden in the shadow of the deep hood, and the dark lighting of the room.
Frodo opened his mouth to speak but the she-wolf shook her head nodding to a hobbit nearby. "Peregrin Took, will soon be overcome with the effects of ale, do keep watch on him." She said in a whisper only he could hear. "Ask no questions master Underhill," Lyavain said as she slowly and gracefully rose to stand. Eyes looking down at the male.
"I will meet you soon, I must be kept a secret master. Not a word of this "Lyavain Sehama" can be leaked. I am the Black Wolf of Gondolin from now until I meet you in this form again." Her voice again silent but the male could hear it. She spoke into his mind, the bond, a gift given to her by Gandalf would save Frodo much confusion in the future.
"Be safe…Master Underhill." With that she was gone, vanishing from the building before the sudden uproar of Frodo stopping Peregrin Took from revealing his identity and vanishing. She knew what was to come next as she heard the Nazgûl's scream into the night. It was time for her to play wild, she wouldn't be safe until much trauma had passed. She would need to proceed with caution.
But proceeding safely, where is the adventure in that?
*I hoped you liked it! Please R&R I worked pretty hard to get this in on Christmas Eve! Happy Holidays for all, and merry Christmas to those who celebrate it! I do hope to get a chapter in on Monday, but if I happen to be up enough tomorrow, on Christmas, I will attempt a chapter then. I make no promises! Farewell my loves, I hoped you enjoyed it! - Ze*