The Protector in the Shadow
*Just so you all know, the two chapters a day might start slowing down to one chapter a day, or even one chapter a week once school starts back up again. Do not fear though! I shall never leave you, mellon nin. I might have abandoned my other stories, but I never seem to run out of muse for this one! Enjoy friends; this next chapter is dedicated to all who review and all who story alert/ favorite! - Ze*
Disclaimer: Well, Still don't own it. Don't touch Fëa! My kittens might not bite! But I do!
*Fate*
*Normal*
Chapter Eight: Protector of the Weak
(Fellowship)
They came in the cover of the night, the pack of wolves, though smaller then Fëa, there were many. Frodo's mind flashed back to when they had first heard the howl and gone to see if it was Lyavain. They had been so stupid to simply slip away from their Protectors with such ease and ignorance. They had been discussing plans around the small camp fire on the cliff face. Frodo hadn't been thinking in the slightest at what such a stupid decision. He had led all of his friends to danger so willingly. Now they stood in the dark, though the moon was bright on the thick snow he had wished with all of his heard it was black. Then he couldn't have seen the end coming too them.
The hobbits packed behind the men from the creatures that came from the wooded pine like a cloak of shadow. Black, grey, white, and brown, in all colors they came wild as the stars over head. Like an arrow headed straight for its victim; they trotted from the trees, a large white wolf in the lead of his band dead set on the target before them.
They halted only a few feet away from them, eyes hungry for the exotic flesh they would feast, all seemed to be growling and snarling at the bodies. The alpha moved first leaping towards Aragorn whose sword was drawn and at the ready, but Frodo, wanting to protect his friend pushed him out of the way staring straight into the face of the wolf before him. No one heard the chains of old like Frodo did, no one heard the padding feet, to focus on what was before them, not coming from the right flank. It was so sudden one second the beast was inches away mouth ajar reaching mid air to take Frodo's life and, but before it could a black mass came from nowhere colliding with the white wolf's side.
Snarls, growls and horrible ripping of flesh could be heard as the white wolf struggled, his pack in such shock they took a step backwards toward their comfort instead of forward to aid their Alpha. A single yelp could be heard as a ripping could be heard before more snarls. The Fellowship couldn't help but watch as the black mass brutally tore into the once white creature. Blood dripped into the snow as one final yelp was heard and a loud snap could be heard as the creature went rolling lifelessly towards its pack, who only now realized what had happened. A violent string of snarls rolled from the beast who had taken the life of the alpha as it turned, foot falls heavy and deadly not attempting to be graceful and elegant. She was showing strength to the pack, offering any of them to challenge her.
"Have mercy on my soul." Boromir said with a cold shiver, it was lucky that Lyavain was far to concerned with protecting to notice the frightening words.
"Behold the black wolf, In all her might." Gandalf breathed out still in slight shock from the display.
Blood dripped from her maw, the once white star on her chest was pink with the blood of her kills from that night, her teeth laced with the fresh blood of the wolf who so happened to be her latest victim. She was not hiding behind Frodo; Fëa was not the creature who spent hundreds of years in the wild fighting on her own. She was protecting her "pack" as any creature would. Only one wolf charged towards her, a wolf she could tell would be more trouble than it was worth, but she didn't care she lunged forward clashing with it mid air they flipped lightly and Lyavain leaped off of the creature. As the circled one another they roared at one another, the white creature looking for revenge on her killed mate, another wolf jumped on top of Lyavain who simply flipped landing atop the wolf and snapping at the cheating creature killing it instantly. She charged at the Alpha female who died almost as quickly as the cheating creature.
When she stepped from the corpses she turned to the remaining wolves stepping forward she reared quickly on her back legs before slamming her front paws back down to the snowy earth, a deep snarl that had never been heard before erupted from her chest as the all turned to flee. She gave chase until they reached the wood line before stalking back up the hill towards the Fellowship. Frodo came running towards her, his hands outstretched in worry. "Do not embrace me yet Frodo, I'm bloodied, such an innocent creature as yourself should not have such gore on your hands." She said with a small wave of her tail the only thing that wasn't blood covered was the feather around her neck. She led the hobbit back to the group with a sigh her eyes pinned on the older men with a bit of anger. How could they allow Frodo to step in front of them?
"I am agitated Master Baggins. Come play in the snow with me?" It was more a question than a request, but as a ball of tightly packed snow hit her square between the eyes she found it entertaining. Her eyes trained in Peregrin Took, who stood bashfully behind Gandalf. She walked towards him tail wagging behind her before taking a paw full of snow and kicking it towards him. It covered the Hobbit completely. Everyone stood shocked again not moving until Peregrin muttered something along the lines of "This means war." And so the greatest snow battle of Middle –Earth began.
After all was said and done everyone decided it was cold, they were wet, and it was a good thing there was a wolf to cuddle up with. She had balanced Frodo Baggins on her back like a child on a horse as he slept, though his fingers stayed intertwined in her pelt. She sang him a lullaby in his head to keep him asleep even after she lay down and all of the hobbits curled into her warmth. She herself was exhausted, full to the brim with stag; she was completely content as she stayed close to the fire, slowly falling asleep in its warmth. Everything back to normal, her visions flooded her mind of betrayal, pain, and death. Death of someone she detested, but still it was something she never wished of him. She awoke with a start not disturbing the hobbits, but a whine escaped her chest. Ava's eyes searched drastically for something she recognized her body relaxing as she found it. Aragorn, gazing into the moon light from his seat for the watch over camp, he seemed distracted, almost too distracted. She didn't say anything, only groaned slightly as she looked a head.
"Are you faring well Fëa?" Aragorn questioned in a whisper as he moved to pat her head gently, her head nodded lightly at the question before gazing up at him as if asking the same. "I have fared much better in my past years, but am well, thank you." He said with a small smile looking out over to the woods below. "You saved us earlier, for that I am grateful, I started to believe Boromir's mutterings that you had left us." His husky voice brought comfort over as she gently sat her skill in his lap eyes looking up at him again with a brow raised. Asking the unspoken question of "Why?" he honestly wasn't sure. He hadn't really begun to process why. "Because the mongering of a mad man led my beliefs astray." He sat stroking her soft pelt until the second watch when he had to move to wake Legolas. Silence then fell between the two as Aragorn bedded down for the night.
The she wolf fell down into a dark dreamless sleep, it was almost more unwanted then visions of death. She woke again when she heard Aragorn and Legolas speaking Elvish, long had it been since she had spoken her true tongue, she hardly even remembered it, she only knew the words the guards had spoken, she had been forbidden to know the Elven language because of her blood line.
"What ills you Fëa?" Frodo questioned lightly with a soft expression. Still not aware he was atop of her.
"I'm listening to their chatter; I'm unfamiliar with what they speak of, but it's so utterly beautiful. I've never learned such a language." Her mind called back to him with a soft smile pasted onto her otherwise emotionless face.
He sat up quickly looking shocked and appalled shocking Legolas and Aragorn out of their conversation. "What? Never? But you lived in Gondolin! In the city of Elves!" He said not controlling his volume level and disturbing everyone in the small cave.
"What is wrong Frodo?" Aragorn said laying a hand on the Hobbit. Frodo blushed profusely and looked down at his hands, Lyavain was chuckling wildly the huffing noise and the rising and falling of her chest woke the creatures who slept in her warmth. She couldn't help but laugh at his expression; he playfully hit her before sliding from her back.
She continued to laugh brightly which caused the hobbits to start chuckling, it seemed that contagious to the rest of the camp. "She said she does not understand Elvish!" he defended before flinging his hand over his mouth the camp went silent.
"What did you say?" Pippin asked with a raised brow.
"Nothing!" Frodo spat suddenly, grabbing his things and hiding behind Fëa for protection.
They stared with unbelieving expressions tinting their eyes. They did not believe him, as they shouldn't It was Boromir who spoke next his if looks could kill, Lyavain would be dead. "Lies! You said, "She said she does not understand Elvish!" Boromir went to grab Frodo but Ava stood in front of him snarling violently at the man.
"Take a step further and you will die." She snarled into the mind of the man, though the voice whispered through the wind as well. There was a silence as Boromir took a step back.
"W-what?" He said with a wide eyed horror.
She snarled taking a step forward "You heard me." She stopped when Frodo gently touched her shoulder. Whispering calming words to her, she slowly lowered herself back down, closer to the fire whimpering a small apology to her master.
"It s-spoke into my mind!" Boromir chirped stepping back once more, "What is this creature?"
"A creature far more deadly then we first assumed." Gimli said with a growl holding his axe close. Her eyes dropped in regret instantly heart pounding in her ears she felt her face heat up, if she would have been in her other form she would have been blushing harder than she ever had in her life. She felt embarrassed in front of them.
"If she meant us harm, she would not have come to our aid last night." Aragorn said, instantly calming the camp of people soon nodding and understanding his words. She would have simply left them for dead if she didn't care if she was a wild demon who roamed the night. "Do not let your mind roam Fëa; the thoughts of others should not be meddled with." He said sharply locking pools with her for a moment, then dropping his own down at his sword. Still she couldn't bite back a snarl in time causing the rest of the camp to jump once again. Frodo once more calmed the rogue creature like no one ever had before; he was a whisperer in her mind. That one thing that kept her from snapping and hurting someone.
"Aragorn your words are hurtful to her, never before has she roamed the minds of others. She leaves creatures thoughts to themselves; they do not matter to her." Frodo sounded like an adult scolding a child, but his voice was soft, clearly the beast had become much closer to the hobbit than anyone had realized. She sighed looking down, she was causing more trouble then she should have been what the others would do when they found that Fëa the wolf was actually Lyavain, the Black wolf of Gondolin, The Elf who could walk in the form of a beast. She moved toward the exit of the cave with Frodo and the other hobbits quick on her heels, they had made a point never to stray far from her form. She was the creature who kept them safe and warm. Possessing powers others could not dream of. If only those powers could come to save the lives that would soon be lost.
They walked for more days, Frodo had told Fëa about how he had rolled down the hill, and Boromir had gotten hold of the Ring, she held back the anger from reaching the surface. She calmed when she heard Aragorn had neutralized situation almost the second it had arose, Lyavain found it extremely interesting how she found almost all of their conversations came back to the Heir of Isildur, why was the wolf so drawn to him in the first place? He was from the race of Men, not that there was a problem with his face. She just felt that she had become way to interested in the man. She had to remember the fate that Eru had planned for him, and that fate would likely not include her. A creature that should not exist on this world should not be in the hall of the king. No matter how much she liked the man.
"Fëa are you alright?" Frodo asked quietly, he was on top of her back like a horse, clinging to her fur, and to Pippin who was barely awake.
"Yes I am well, keep Pippin awake if he falls asleep, we may never wake him up." She said with a quiet snip, she could hear a violent voice on the wind, and this terrified her, she almost hit into Aragorn, who was carrying Samwise. Boromir was carrying Merry. They could barely walk in the snow, the only reason she was carrying both Pippin and Frodo was because both of them couldn't move their legs, and thus it would be safer. She was walking on top of the snow with Legolas; even though she was a wolf she was still light on her feet. If she wouldn't have been so deep in thought she would have heard Legolas comment on the voice and she would have heard Gandalf indentify that particular voice.
But alas the last thing she remembered was being crushed beneath snow, she remembered looking up and shielding the hobbits on her back from the snow. Her warmth keeping them alive, she could hear the others around them getting unstuck from the snow, but she could feel her lungs screaming for air and the hobbit's started squirming under her grasp. She looked down to see arms…Elven arms…she had transformed to protect them! Her body moved frantically as she shifted painfully into wolven form the change so powerful and quick the good foot of snow above her flew off. Her bones ached at the sudden shift, but she couldn't risk being found out yet. The hobbit's breathed frantically but Fëa did not she trembled. Shifting slowly and embracing the change was one thing, but as quickly as she had changed her bones hadn't all connected in the right places. She walked numbly behind the mortals Legolas could sense something was wrong but Lyavain was to guarded at this point to respond or let on. She carried Frodo the long way back down the mountain; they stayed far away from the pine forest.
She wasn't sure if her body could carry her all the way to the mines of Moria. They didn't stop for camp where they had before, but soon enough the hobbits warmed enough to walk. It was almost the middle of the night before they stopped to rest. She climbed like an undead creature toward the fire and collapsed Frodo ran to her side quickly asking if she was alright, but sleep overtook her before she had a chance to respond.
Well needed sleep consumed her like she consumed the Stag almost five days ago. Her eyes were heavy when she woke to Aragorn gently stroking her pelt once more, his stony grey eyes locking with her half lidded azure eyes. Very rarely did Fëa sleep, she was normally on watch all night, but she was just too tired from the shocking change. The cold had enveloped her in ways that no one knew. Bringing back the memories she wished for years to forget. "Go to sleep." Aragorn whispered lightly to her continuing the gentle strokes. With no other encouragement needed she closed her eyes and nuzzled her large skull deeper into the hand of Aragorn.
But little did she know she also went deeper into his heart.
*I hope you liked this chapter! I wanted to add that last bit about the accidental transformed, no one saw, but it just added another air of danger. That sometimes even if she is much older then she lets on, she still slips up every now and again, and that was the perfect example. At least as far as I could think of, I also wanted them to know of the power of her thought. Legolas already is pretty sure of her identity, but everyone is a bit clueless! R&R to tell me how I'm doing!
Quick shout out! Arianna Silvers: Thank you so much! Also I feel the same way, I think it shocked Frodo too after he slapped her because he's always viewed her as an Elf, and as a person rather than a wolf. :] Thanks for your many lovely reviews! You have no idea how great it makes me feel to have a reader like you! - Ze*