Hey, so there was a little confusion on the pronunciation of Deirdre, so I figured that I would clear that up. The most common pronunciation phonetically is Dear-drah.
A/N: I own nothing.
***Chapter 8***
***Deirdre's POV***
When I awoke that morning, I felt surprisingly good. Last night after I spoke with Legolas I slept fine. Maybe all I need to do in order to fall asleep is to stay up and chat with the person on watch. That should do the trick. I stretched my arms out and popped my back. I forgot about my loosened corset as I arched my back to awaken fully. I looked beside me and saw that Saffy was lying awake next to me.
"Saffy?" I questioned, intending to get her to re-lace my corset.
"Yeah, yeah. Turn around." She said, used to what I asked every morning.
So I complied and turned around so that she could lace up my corset. Once it was done, I turned around and motioned for her to turn so I could lace hers as well. She complied with my unspoken direction. I laced up her corset and tied it off nicely. I grabbed a dress from my pack, I had made sure to pack about three dresses as well as the thin nightgown that I was currently wearing, so once I had grabbed the dress I rose from my bedroll and moved to change behind a rock. However, as I walked off I was stopped by Gandalf's voice.
"Deirdre, where are you going?" Gandalf asked, I guess he missed most every morning when I disappeared to change. Then again today I wasn't dragging Saffy around behind me.
"I was thinking I would change into a real dress. Or I could just wander around in practically nothing like now, start a new fashion, you know?" I joked, not wanting to be disrupted before I had real clothing on. Mornings weren't exactly my favorite time of the day.
"Alright, stay close." Gandalf told me, turning away once he had fulfilled his obligation of checking to see if I wandered off.
I moved behind the rock formation that ironically had been where Legolas had kept watch from last night, and where I had sat and talked until I was tired. It only took me a minute or so to change, though I still had to walk back over to my bedroll barefoot because I hadn't grabbed my boots. Apparently, I wasn't paying a lot of attention to what was happening around me, because suddenly there were arms around my waist and a hand clapped over my mouth.
I jumped and tried to scream only to hear laughing from behind me, I twisted around in my captor's arms, looking behind me to find that it was Saffy who had snuck up behind me.
"Gotcha." She said, as she let go of me, to which I rolled my eyes.
"Ha, ha. Very funny." I said flatly, as I moved back over to my bedroll and away from Saffy.
"I love you." She called out at me, peering over the rock to see me walking away and slipping my boots on.
"Yeah yeah, sure whatever." I said monotonly, I figured if she was going to tease me then I was going to do it right back to her.
As I was rolling up my bedroll, Saffy came up to me and began rolling up her bedroll as well.
"You love me and you know it." She said, while she continued to work.
"Only because I like sleeping with you." I said with a smile. "I like having the body heat."
At this most of the members of the fellowship were staring over at us. I understood this would happen, as it was something that happened many times before. Whenever we so much as hinted at sleeping together, even when it was entirely innocent, it got the attention of males. Gandalf was one of the few who took it in stride, over the faces of most everyone else was shock at what I had said.
"Remind me why I love you again?" she said, sounding as though she really couldn't come up with a decent reason.
"Cause you like my tits?" I questioned.
"Yeah, I guess that's as good a reason as any." She said, an amused smile on her face.
We both laughed and finished packing up our things. Once my bedroll was completely packed, I fastened my swords around my waist and my bow and quiver on my back.
At midday day when we stopped for lunch, we were at a familiar rocky outcropping. Merry and Pippin were training with Boromir, while Sam was cooking lunch. I sat nearby with a pot of water, ready to douse the fire at any moment.
"Two, one, five. Good. Very good." Boromir encouraged as he sparred with Pippin, calling out the block or thrust that Pippin should be using.
"Move your feet." Aragorn called out, he was sitting nearby smoking a pipe and watching them spar.
"You look good, Pippin." Merry said, standing only a foot or so away and waiting for his turn at the fight.
"Thanks." Pippin responded cheerfully as he continued meeting Boromir's blade.
"Faster." Boromir encouraged.
I continued to watch Boromir spar with the hobbits. He was rather good with them, better than he was when he was training me and Saffy with Aragorn, though that was probably because Saffy and I both make rude comments.
"If any was to ask my opinion, which I note they're not, I'd say we were taking the long way round. Gandalf, we could pass through the mines of Moria. My cousin, Balin, would give us a royal welcome." Gimli said, his voice proud at the thought of his cousin's would be hospitality.
I hurt a little inside, knowing that Gimli's cousin was dead. Finding out for himself would be a painful thing. The guilt already started to boil up in me.
"No Gimli, I would not pass through the Moria unless I had no other choice." Gandalf replied to Gimli.
Upon hearing these words I knew that the time was close at hand for the Crebain to come flying through and that we would need to hide ourselves quickly. In preparation for this I had left my bag unpacked near Saffy, who would toss them into the bushes to cover them more quickly. While I would be dousing the fire and making sure that everyone was safely hidden away.
"Saffy." I stated, looking over to her with a look signaling that it was almost time.
She nodded her head and quickly moved, hiding our packs beneath some bushes nearby. I grabbed the pot of water and moved closer to the fire. Sam was still making lunch for everyone, frying up sausages.
"I think that's enough food for now, Sam." I told him, causing him to look confused at me.
"Come on. Good." Boromir called out.
"Aahhh!" Pippin cried out as Boromir accidently nicked his hand.
"Sorry." Boromir hastly apologizes, but not good enough for the hobbits.
Pippin kicks Boromir in the shin, causing him to cry out. Then in a rush, both the hobbits tackle Boromir with a cry "For the Shire" and start pinning him to the ground. When Aragorn, although laughing along with Boromir and the hobbits walks over to them to break up the mock fight.
"Gentleman, that's enough." Aragorn says amused, putting a hand on each other their shoulders to halt their fight.
Both the hobbits look up at Aragorn for a moment, and then pull his feet out from underneath him. Causing Aragorn to fall onto his back and the hobbits switched their target from Boromir and began jumping onto Aragorn's fallen form.
However, Aragorn manages to get the upper hand and grabs hold of Pippin's arm, switching who was dominant. I laughed as I watched. Until, I heard Sam's words that reminded me that I was supposed to be doing something.
"What is that?" Sam questioned.
While he was turned from the fire to stare at the black cloud on the horizon, I took my chance to douse the fire and began gathering things up.
"Nothing, it's just a whiff of a cloud." Gimli stated gruffly, thinking nothing of the dark cloud.
"It's moving fast… against the wind." Boromir stated, knowing that something wasn't right.
Saffy had also begun hastening around the campsite getting everyone's things out of sight and safely tucked away.
"Crebain from Dunland." Legolas called out, causing Gandalf, Boromir, Gimli, and Aragorn to pause for a second.
"Hide!" Aragorn called out to the group, causing a flurry of motion in everyone to assist what Saffy and I had been doing beforehand.
"Hurry!" Boromir shouted, making the hobbits rush around a little quicker.
"Frodo! Hurry! Take cover!" Aragorn said as he practically shoved Frodo toward rocks.
After everything was quickly put away, most of the others were already in hiding. I made another quick check around the campsite, making sure that everything was put away. Only to be grabbed about the waist and shoved under a bush. My savior's body pressing down upon me. My breathing was a little sporadic from the rapid change between standing and being pressed against the ground with someone lying on top of me. I looked up a little and noticed it was Legolas who had grabbed me and thrust me under the bush with him. Our faces only inches apart as he looked down at me as well. As much as I was enjoying the closeness of the handsome elf, whose well-built body was pressing against my intimately, I shifted beneath him. His face being so close to mine and my needing to breathe a little heavier was beginning to get to me. The air felt too warm, making it feel as though it stuck going down my throat into my lungs. I needed a little more space than this, and since he wasn't too keen on moving for fear of drawing the attention of the Crebain, I had to roll my head so that I was facing the side.
I took a deep breath of the cool, fresh air, finally, finding my own oxygen source that wasn't being used by the elf who was laying on me. However, my deep breath caused my body to rise and meet with Legolas' chest. After a few minutes, the Crebain have completely passed over our campsite and had continued on. I looked up at Legolas, to see him quickly give a slight smile as though apologetic and climb out from under the bush. When he climbed off of me, the air felt especially cold where he had touched me.
After a moment of catching my breath, for it was easier without having Legolas laying on top of my chest. I climbed out from under the bush, looking up I saw that many members of the fellowship were already out of their hiding spots. I looked over at Saffy to see her smiling at me like something was actually meant by my climbing out of the same bush as Legolas.
"Spies of Saruman. The passage south is being watched. We must take the pass of Caradhras." Gandalf informed, spitting out what the Crebain were.
Gandalf looked to the mountain tops, and I couldn't help but follow his gaze. Looking at the mountains, I was not looking forward to freezing my butt off pointlessly. But there really wasn't that many options and it would be best to go along with Gandalf's idea.
By the time that we made it to the snow, Saffy had finally decided to tease me about being under the same bush as Legolas.
"So?" she said, in her tell me voice.
"So." I replied, my tone flat meant not to show any response.
"You and Legolas?" she asked me.
"I was making sure that our campsite had been completely cleaned up, and I guess I was taking too long. So he pulled my under the brush to make sure that the enemy didn't see me." I said, stating simply what had happened.
"Is that all?" She asked, her tone unbelieving. She still held that hint of teasing in her voice, she was trying to prod me for more information.
"Yes, Saffy. That's all." I said, but in my head I was thinking about the way that he was laying on top of me, with one of each of our legs between the others.
"I don't believe you." She said with a smile.
It was about now that I realized about how much snow was around us, and I got an idea. I stooped down and grabbed a handful of snow. Then reached my hand around to Saffy's mouth holding the snow over it.
"Does this smell like chloroform to you?" I asked, keeping my hand over her mouth as she held her breath. "Just go to sleep."
When I pulled my hand away, Saffy reached down into the snow and grabbed herself a handful. Packing it quickly she threw it straight into my face. I wiped the snow away then reached down and threw a snowball at the back of Pippin's head. Which caused him to join in, it didn't take long for all the fellowship, besides Gandalf, to be involved in a snowball war. I decided that Legolas' hair was too perfect today, and that it wasn't fair that he always looked in pristine condition when everyone else was covered in dirt and grime. So I jumped onto his back and forced him facedown into the snow. It would make up for being able to walk on it later. With his face down into the snow, he reached his arm around him and grabbed me by the waist. Causing me to squeak, I had a ticklish spot on either side of my waists, it was one of many. With that he flipped over so that I was lying on the snow with him on his back on top of me. He turned around and pinned my arms to either side of my head.
"Do you enjoy being on top?" I teased, my voice coming out a little breathless from the rapid position change.
"It means you are lying down in the snow instead of me." Legolas said, a smirk on his face as he pressed down on me.
I smirked right back at him, bringing my legs around to wrap around his waist. This caught him off guard, as this position would look like we were having sex to people looking. But I smiled and shifted our position, using the butterfly technique that my friends had taught me and that I had only mastered shortly before I woke up in middle earth. It left me once again pinning Legolas, only this time I was straddling his waist, holding his arms down in the same manner that he had just held mine.
"I'm sorry. What were you saying about lying down in the snow?" I asked, sarcastic as my voice came out almost sweet and innocent.
"We need to keep moving." Gandalf's voice stated, looking down at the compromising position that we were currently.
"But if you are too busy, then you can just catch up later." Saffy interjected laughing as she did.
"Nope. I'm done." I said brightly, as I lifted my body from Legolas releasing my grip on his wrists.
I was actually shocked that I had managed to hold him in place for so long, I was sure that he had much greater upper body strength than I did. After all, I was rather weak considering that Saffy could easily pin me down. I offered Legolas a hand up, which he surprisingly took. It was good to know that he didn't have problems with his pride being damaged by a girl. Though it was starting to make me think that he may have been letting me hold him in that position, I couldn't think of why however.
We hiked up the mountain, it was freezing cold and I was losing feeling in my feet, hands, and face. Slowly my ass was joining the list of body parts that were numbing. As I was walking I heard the sounds of someone falling backwards downhill in the snow. I turned around and there was Frodo doing what could have been backward somersaults.
"Ungh." Was the sound coming from Frodo's mouth as he crashed down the mountain, landing on his face in the snow.
"Frodo!" Aragorn called out, rushing to the hobbits side.
I also moved to help Frodo, dusting some of the snow off of his cloak and head. His eyes were trained on the Ring that Boromir had picked up.
"Boromir." Aragorn spoke quietly, to the man whose attention was fixated entirely upon the golden ring before him.
"It is a strange fate we should suffer so much fear and doubt… over such a small thing." Boromir spoke completely absorbed in his thoughts of the ring.
"Boromir." Aragorn stated, more harshly intended to finally break Boromir's concentration on the ring. "Give the ring to Frodo."
Boromir looked down the mountain at us, he was only about ten feet away. His eyes went to Frodo, who had outstretched his hand to take the ring back from the man. But my eyes drifted to Aragorn's hand, which now grasped the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it should the need arise. Boromir slowly walked down with the chain of the ring firmly in his grasp. He offered the ring to Frodo, who hastily took it back and hung it around his neck.
"As you wish." Was Boromir's only response, his eyes drifting from Frodo for a moment to look at me, then quickly back down at the hobbit before him, then as though to himself for reassurance. "I care not."
It was a long trek up the mountain, we only broke for camp once at nightfall. We all huddled together so that the warmth of the group could keep everyone safe and somewhat warm. Both Saffy and I didn't change into our night garments as we had gotten used to doing. In the morning we took up our walk once more, and the snow grew deeper and deeper as we walked higher up the mountain. As we walked across the deeper snow, I realized something. I didn't sink into the snow as the others did, but walked on top like Legolas. Obviously this confused me, I was no elf, yet I could walk above the snow without sinking as was a characteristic of the elves. As we walked up the mountain, I took Frodo into my arms. Instead of Aragorn holding onto him, I carried him above the snow. With the added weight, I sunk into the snow a little but only up to my knees, not the same waist deep frost the others faced. I had Frodo on my hip as though he was a child, and I thanked god and my heredity that I had been blessed with what we called wide child-bearing hips. Although, I got tired much faster in this manner, it kept Frodo from facing as much cold. He even seemed warmer than the other hobbits, as his feet only sunk a little into the snow.
I watched as Legolas walked further toward the edge of the mountain path as a great storm raged. The storm was far from natural, as at the root of the mountains vengeance, were the words of Saruman.
"There is a fell voice upon the air." Legolas shouted over the wind, his words coming back to us at a bit of a delay.
"Saruman." I breathed the name at the same time that Gandalf announced it to the group.
After checking Sam, who he was carrying, Aragorn looked up at Gandalf. A look of worry across his face, the hobbits were freezing in the cold weather.
"He's trying to bring down the mountain! Gandalf, we must turn back!" Aragorn called up to Gandalf, who had a look of perseverance. He didn't want to turn back, other than the snow and the chance that the hobbits would lose their toes, it was one of the safer routes.
"No!" Gandalf yelled back then turning to face away from the fellowship he began speaking in a different language. Telling the mountain to sleep and hold its wrath.
When Gandalf began chanting I moved up against the side of the mountain, ensuring that when the time came neither Frodo nor I would fall from the cliff. Saffy had the same idea, though she wasn't carrying a hobbit. The only reason it made any sense for me to carry Frodo was that I could walk above the snow. So since neither Saffy and I had the best arm strength compared to the male fighters, they took the brunt of the halflings and I carried Frodo so that he would stay out of the snow the most. It was in hopes that we would ease the burden of carrying the Ring, though I'm not sure how much good it did.
Saffy grabbed my hand and wrapped her other arm around both Frodo and I. We would need the body heat when the snow came cascading down upon us. That is exactly what happened next, the mountain began to shake and everyone scurried in as close to the mountain as possible. The avalanche of snow crashed upon us, knocking my down deep beneath its depths. I could feel Saffy and Frodo holding onto me, but I couldn't find the strength to stand up. Though the snow froze down into my bones and stole away the heat, the darkness of the snow upon me felt almost comforting. I lost hold of Saffy as I assume she surfaced, the Frodo disappeared up to the sky along with her. But the feeling of the snow and the lack of oxygen made me feel tired. I probably shouldn't have been carrying Frodo, but I wanted to help. And now it seemed as though I had no energy to even find my way out of the snow.
Just as I was beginning to give into the pressure of the snow and planning on falling into the darkness of sleep. Hands grabbed my side, burning heat sinking into my skin where they touched me, which left the strangest sensation. My body was freezing, except where these hands made contact with my waist and began pulling me up through the snow. I felt the pressure of snow lessen as I was slowly pulled to the surface. I opened my eyes when I felt the air hit me, instead of the crushing snow, and damn was it bright. I mean it was like walking out of a completely black room into the light of high noon in the middle of summer bright. That was how shocking the air was. Looking up I was met with the azure blue eyes of Legolas. My lips quivered as my teeth chattered from the cold. He brought me tight into his body, sharing some of his body heat with me. My chattering subsided shortly and I moved back over to Saffy and Frodo, who embraced me quickly. I held them both close to me as I enjoyed the heat they provided for me.
"We must get off the mountain. Make for the Gap of Rohan and take the west road to my city." Boromir interjected offering his best suggestion. It made sense for him to state this option, his geographical knowledge would be centered around where he lived.
"The Gap of Rohan takes us too close to Isengard." Aragorn returned, not wanting to risk going so close to the man who was currently trying to kill us.
"If we cannot pass over the mountain, let us go under it. Let us go through the mines of Moria." Gimli put in his part, making the same suggestion that he had been pushing for the past few days.
"Let the Ring-bearer decide." Gandalf said, looking at Frodo who had shifted in my arms and I was once again holding so that he could save some of his body heat, and so that I could gain some from him as well.
"We cannot stay here, it will be the death of the hobbits." Boromir cried out, as he looked at the faces of the frozen hobbits on either side of him.
They indeed looked half-frozen to death, I glanced down at Frodo. He didn't look that much better but with both Saffy and I warming him, it was helping his complexion a little.
"Frodo?" Gandalf enquired of the hobbit in my arms.
Frodo looked amongst us and at his fellow hobbits, whose teeth chattered audibly. He nestled a little more into my side, I leaned into Saffy who wrapped her arms around the both of us, effectively sandwiching Frodo.
"We will go through the mines of Moria." He announced, I could feel his body shaking from the cold. His decision would ensure some warmth, at least more than what we currently were facing.
"So be it." Gandalf said sadly.
We began moving back down the mountain as a group, I walked above the snow as best as possible, again with Frodo in my arms. I brought my cloak around to cover both of us in it, making the body heat inside trapped between the two of us.
We made good speed back down the mountain, we almost made it to the base of the mountain before darkness set in. So we continued walking down until there was no longer snow beneath our feet and set up camp, in the last traces of daylight.
That night, I slept soundly from the second that I lay down on my bedroll. It seemed that the exertion of carrying Frodo until we found where the snow wasn't as deep had exhausted me. That as well as the fact that I was finally getting warm, as I wrapped my arms around Saffy and she did the same I fell into a deep sleep.
***End Chapter 8***
Alright, there it is. Please Read and Review.