First things First, I'm extremely sorry for how long I've put this chapter away for, it's because I'm currently in an area with no internet connection what-so-ever, so I've only just got wi-fi. Once again, if you feel like it, Flames accepted! (I know I deserve them after the wait…)
Well, here is the latest instalment of, If I Die Young, I hope you all like it!
And to all my reviewers, Thank You so much for all your continued support, this one's for you guys!
Well, onto the story…
If I Die Young
Chapter 5
You're in so much Trouble
With a pitch black cloak draped over her head, concealing most of her face, Rosalie snuck, silently through the hallways of Rivendell to the Gate. With her twin blades strapped firmly to her hips, Staff strapped to her back and her daggers snuck in various parts of her clothing, the witch was ready to go. There was no way she was letting Gandalf and the hobbits go on this treacherous mission without her. Nu-uh! Plus… Legolas never even finished her lessons! How was she supposed to shoot a bow without his lessons?! She wasn't, that's how!
Hearing another pair of boots heavily stalking the hallways, the mage's breath caught sharply in her throat and she froze like ice. With the loud footsteps echoing eerily closer and closer she gave a girlish "Eeep!" when a hand found its way to her arm tightly. Spinning around, Rosalie attempted to tug her arm free of the person's grasp, but it turned out that they had quite the grip on her poor arm. Her heart plummeted to the floor when she saw Aragon was the person stopping her from continuing.
"Shouldn't you be with the rest of the Fellowship?" She said, determined to get away from the man's grip.
"Shouldn't you be in your room?" He retorted, not missing a beat. She huffed in slight annoyance at his mocking expression.
"No."
"And why – pray tell – is that?" He said amusedly, looking at the pouting woman.
"I'm coming with you." She replied with a few seconds of hesitation.
"No. You're not."
"You can't stop me."
"Gandalf can."
She gave an "Aha!" Before smirking at the – in her opinion – insufferable man saying,
"Actually, he can't! He isn't my legal guardian, Just my Mentor, so, Ha!"
Aragorn had noticed that the shouting had caused a few Elves to look in their direction with confused looks.
Dragging the girl into a dark room he whispered darkly,
"If you are coming, then keep your voice down! We don't want any un-needed attention."
It was the Mage's turn to look confused as she asked suspiciously,
"You're… not going to stop me?"
He gave an audible sigh, pressing a hand to his forehead in frustration at the girl,
"As much as I would prefer too, It's not my decision. But. Remember this – Gandalf will find out, and he won't hesitate to send you right back." He said with a serious look and then a disapproving one as the girl replied happily,
"Great! It's a Deal!"
"Wait! What?!" He shouted as she sped out of their hiding place and down the white hallway in happiness, and for the second time since meeting her, he muttered,
"Women…"
xxXXxx
Concentrating on her magic and Morrigan's teachings, Rosalie muttered a small enchantment and with a flashing light dissolved into particles. The pieces seemed to float away but in a few seconds re-formed into the shape of a small cat.
"Yes! I did it!" She said, the words coming out as small meows. Scampering out of the brush and into the clean air the mage realised that her pendant was still clasped firmly around her neck as it glittered enchantingly in the sun along with her new silky brown fur.
She walked calmly towards the gate, watching the scenery with new eyes. Gripping onto the stone wall with claw-ready paws she scrambled up the wall with a puff of exhaustion. Wow. She had really let herself go over the past few days.
"Stupid Elvish Feasts…" She grumbled walking nimbly across the wall. It was only a second before she heard Pippin's voice and nearly fell of the stone wall when he and Merry rushed towards her. Aragorn spared her a glance and she saw his eyes furrow in confusion, probably from wondering if she had changed her mind about going. No-one else looked at her, though she thought she saw Gandalf smirk… but…Gandalf didn't smirk! He… Just Didn't!
"Hmph! Stupid Wizards…"Rosalie grumbled, the words still coming out as small meows.
"Can we keep her Gandalf!? Please~!" Merry said, looking at the Wizard with hopeful eyes.
"This is a dangerous journey, but… if you truly want to keep her then I shall not interfere."
At this the duo smiled in excitement and Rosalie grinned. If she was being taken along without them knowing, then all she had to do was change back when she had to fight! Purrrfect!
xxXXxx
The group had been walking for a good few hours so they stopped for rest at a conveniently placed clearing. Rosalie, still in cat form, sat on a roasted slab of stone as she watched the man – Boromir she learned his name was – teach Merry and Pippin how to fight with a sword. The duo hadn't left her alone since the journey started so she was happy with the quiet… while it lasted that is. Hearing swords clanging she opened one silvery-white eye and saw Boromir get attacked by the two hobbits. Chuckling she closed the eye again and drifted off, half-asleep. She hadn't realised she was singing until she heard herself.
"Sanctus Espiritus, redeem us from our solemn hour,
Sanctus Espiritus, insanity is all around us.
In my darkest hours
I could not foresee
That the tide could turn so fast to this degree
Can't believe my eyes
How can you be so blind?
Is the heart of stone, no empathy inside?
Time keeps on slipping away and we haven't learned
So in the end now what have we gained?
Sanctus Espiritus! redeem us from our solemn hour
Sanctus Espiritus! insanity is all around us
Sanctus Espiritus! is this what we deserve?
Can we break free from chains of never-ending agony?
Are they themselves to blame
The misery, the pain?
Didn't we let go?
Allowed it,let it grow
If we can't restrain
The beast which dwells inside
It will find its way somehow, somewhere in time
Will we remember all of the suffering
`Cause if we fail it will be in vain
Sanctus Espiritus, redeem us from our solemn hour
Sanctus Espiritus, insanity is all around us
Sanctus Espiritus, is this what we deserve?
Can we break free from chains of never-ending agony?
Sanctus Espiritus!
Sanctus Espiritus!
Sanctus Espiritus! redeem us from our solemn hour
Sanctus Espiritus! insanity is all around us
Sanctus Espiritus! is this what we deserve?
Can we break free from chains of never-ending agony?
Sanctus Espiritus! redeem us from our solemn hour
Sanctus Espiritus! insanity is all around us
Sanctus Espiritus! is this what we deserve?
Can we break free from chains of never-ending agony?"
"I had the sinking suspicion it was you, Rosalie." Gandalf said, a disapproving yet amused look in his eyes.
The mage blushed heavily under everyone's gaze and was about to object when Legolas interrupted.
"Amazing! She is an Eratum, No?"
'Eratum?' The Witch thought now standing and watching her mentor with a confused and suspicious gaze.
Ignoring the girl Gandalf said quickly,
"Change back, Rosalie, I want to talk to you."
Rosalie heeded her Mentor's words as she didn't want to get into any more trouble than necessary. Walking into a cluster of trees she repeated the chant and came back out seconds later as if nothing had happened.
She gulped in fear when Gandalf looked at her with a disapproving gaze.
"You shouldn't have followed us, Rosalie."
She fidgeted from where she was standing and was about to reply but was cut off by Merry who had seen a dark cloud-like shape in the clear, blue sky.
"What is that?"
"Nothing," Gimli replied gruffly, brushing the question off, "Just a wisp of a cloud."
"It's moving fast," Boromir notes, uncertain of the dark shape, "and against the wind!"
Legolas who had been standing on top of a – slightly – flat boulder to get a better view cries franticly, "Crebain from Dunland!"
The rest was a blur. Rosalie had curled herself behind a rather large boulder that hid her small frame completely. It wasn't long before Aragorn ducked behind the boulder with her, the duo freezing in place as their arms touched.
As the ear-shattering shrieks of the foul creatures died away the group appeared from their hiding places as Gandalf talked.
"The passage south is being watched," Gandalf says "We must take the Path of Caradhras!"
The Fellowship looked up at the bitter cold, frozen mountain. Rosalie could tell she wasn't the only one less than eager to climb the treacherous mountain. Besides Legolas, that is.
xxXXxx
Rosalie hated snow. It wasn't hard to guess why, either.
"Stupid Elf Powers…" The mage muttered woefully at (in her opinion) the show-off; Legolas, who was currently having no distinct problem climbing the snow covered mountain. Hearing the witch mutter, Legolas gave a smirk to the troubled girl. It was no surprize really, aside from the hobbits, Rosalie was the shortest in the group and while the snow only reached Boromir and Aragorn's calves, the poor girl was hip-deep in the bitter cold snow.
'I'm cold, I'm wet and I wanna' use Magic~' the mage thought sadly, trudging at the back of the group with Bill the Pony. She was ashamed of herself. If Gandalf hadn't banned her magic for who-knows-how-long, she would have changed into a bird or a horse and saved everyone the trouble of waiting on her.
'Stupid Wizard, Stupid Elf-' She thought woefully and, seeing Bill pass her, the young mage yelled angrily,
"Stupid Horse!"
"Would you like me to carry you, My Lady?" Aragorn asked, half-mockingly, half-earnestly to the small witch. With a nasty glare and some (rude) words spat in Anger, the man held his hands up in surrender, making the rest of the Fellowship chuckle in amusement at the - now furious – witch.
The witch grumbled for a moment, but the anger washed away at the sight of Frodo falling into the bitter-cold snow. Concern filled her mind as Rosalie watched the young hobbit search for the golden band. Without a moment to lose, Boromir picked up the evil ring and gazed – almost lovingly – at it.
He spoke a few words, but Rosalie never heard them as she was at the back of the group. Hurrying towards Frodo, she heard Aragorn say to Boromir in a slightly threatening tone,
"Boromir, Give the ring to Frodo." The Ranger's tone held no argument and with a ruffle of Frodo's hair, Boromir snapped out of his trance and handed the Hobbit the ring.
Within a few seconds the group carried on, and once again, Rosalie was at the back, waist-deep in the crisp-white snow. Hearing a – slightly haunting – noise being carried by the wind, the group paused and Legolas yelled,
"There is a foul voice in the air!"
"It's Saruman!" Gandalf replied, just as a loud crackle of thunder resounded in the wind.
Rosalie panicked and before she knew it, she was buried alive in the freezing snow. She was only vaguely aware of Aragon pulling her out of her almost snowy grave and when he finally succeeded, the Ranger pulled the now-shivering mage into his arms, trying desperately to give her even the slightest bit of warmth.
"Gandalf!" Aragorn shouted, getting the Wizard's attention. "We must turn back!"
Seeing the freezing girl in the Ranger's arms, Gandalf was reminded of an incident Rosalie was put into, almost killing the young witch.
"We cannot go over the mountain," Gimli said. "Let us go under it. Let us go through the mines of Moria."
Gandalf appeared to consider this for a brief moment before saying,
"We will let the Ringbearer decide." Rosalie met Frodo's eyes. She pulled closer to Aragorn subconsciously, and tried not to let Frodo see her shivering. She would hate herself if Frodo made his decision to leave based on her.
Finally, Frodo made a decision and said,
"We will go through the mine."
Oh yeah, Rosalie Hawke, you-better-damn-well-freaking-believe-it, hated god-damn snow.
xxXXxx
"You are shivering." The question, no, statement, made Rosalie look up in slight surprize at the dark-haired Ranger.
"J-just a little bit."
He chuckled at this and sat next to the shivering mage.
"Why were you so scared of the snow?" He asked, curiosity filling his gaze.
"I wasn't scared." She said, huffing at the man. "I just have a great dislike for it."
His gaze never faltered and the witch sighed in annoyance.
"If you really must know," She started, finally looking into the man's silver eyes. "When I was about 4 or so, I had a bad experience with water. Hated it ever since."
Aragorn's eyes softened at the mage and he inwardly gave a whoop of happiness at gaining the young girl's trust. She pulled the black cloak she was wearing, closer to her freezing, tiny body and began the story…
xxXXxx
"It was a normal night in the Circle, Templars watching the apprentices every move, Senior Mages teaching the newest magelings and myself and Anders planning yet another escape from the prison called the Circle of Magi.
We had decided on an escape by water. Apprentice mages like us were allowed one hour every three days outside, with Templars ever-watching. Anders and I were both decent enough swimmers so we should be able to reach the shore no problem. It was unlikely that the Templars would follow us through the water as they would just sink, due to their heavy armour. There was one problem however… it was the middle of winter so the water would – no doubt – be freezing. There was always the danger of catching hyperthermia, but as two mages who had been threatened to be made tranquil… We were ready to take the risk.
It took another 2 days before we were allowed the time outside and we believed we were ready. But we were wrong. As soon as the Templars had their back's turned, we jumped into the freezing cold lake surrounding the Circle.
It was all going fairly well, Anders and I had a good start and none of the Templars followed us. Then everything went bad. A Templar stunned me. I couldn't feel anything. In seconds I began to sink. I knew I would die in minutes as I was already head under the water. Thankfully Anders saw me drowning and tried to pull me out. My apprentice robe caught on some plants under the water and I could feel the freezing water soaking my robe further. I couldn't help it. I fainted…"
xxXXxx
"It's not the snow I'm afraid of." The witch started, her eyes looking at her boot-clad feet as she fidgeted, ashamed at her weakness. "It's the water."
Aragorn looked at the seemingly defenceless girl in pity. She was so young to have faced such a challenge, and that 'Circle' sounded horrible.
With a light, airy sigh, Rosalie stood up, stretched and said in a fake chipper voice,
"Well we can't just sit here, can we? Let's go! The walls of Moira await!"
xxXXxx
The group anxiously stood outside the walls of Moira and each and every one of them looked as if the hadn't slept in days.
"Legolas?"
"Yes, Little One?" Rosalie pouted at the nickname, calling her short was just plain mean! Shaking her head of any and all irrelevant thoughts, Rosalie asked the question that was swimming in her thoughts ever since it was brought up.
"What's an Eratume, Legolas?"
The Elf hesitated for a split second before answering,
"An Eratume is a Magical Being, said to be half-human, half-demon. The demonic-part of an Eratume is said to be their spirit. An Eratume's spirit is like it's other half, if one dies so does the other. Eratume are also known to have the ability of shapeshifting."
At the witch's questionable gaze, Legolas continued.
"The reason I thought you to be an Eratume, was because of your ability to change shape. And the fact that you have magical talents, of course."
"But a friend of mine is a shapeshifter, and as far as I know, she isn't an Eratum." The Mageling said, confused at Legolas' description of the mythological beings.
"But you were able to talk while shifted. You friend was not, am I right?" He said, wisdom shining in his eyes.
At this, Rosalie stood, confused at Legolas' words.
'What if –' Rosalie's train of thought, however, was cut off as Gandalf went into a slight fit at his in-ability to open the doors of Moira.
"It's a riddle," Frodo finally said. "What's the elvish word for 'friend'"
"Mellon," Gandalf said. To their surprise (and happiness) the door opened.
Walking past and into the gates of Moira, the Fellowship was shocked to see skeletons of the Dwarves that must have inhabited the area recently.
"This is no mine," Boromir said – albeit worriedly, "it's a tomb. We make for the gap of Rohan. We should never have come here. Get out!"
At Boromir's frantic shouts everyone rushed out but not before a black, slimy, tentacle-like thing latched onto Frodo's ankle and proceeded to pull the defenceless hobbit back, into the water. Giving a startled shout, Rosalie jumped forward and stabbed the tentacle brutally, with the demonic bladed end of her staff. She threw a fireball for good measure and she was sure she received some gasps at her brutality as the creature shrieked in pain. Suddenly, another tentacle materialised from the murky water and slapped her stomach, sending the petite girl flying through the cave. The Witch cave a quiet gasp of pain as she hit the rocky wall and, steeling herself, stood back up for another round.
She could see through blurred eyes, Aragorn pulling his sword from its sheath as Legolas shot the beast with an arrow in the head with deadly accuracy. Charging deadly volts of electricity in her small hands, Rosalie muttered a curse darkly as the creature writhed in pain, dropping Frodo in the process. The witch threw the ball of energy at the creature, extra pain coming from the water. As Boromir caught Frodo he yelled to the mage whose eyes held darkness at the beast as she continued with the pain-inflicting curse. Aragorn grabbed her scarred arm and pulled her into the now-crumbling cave as it shut behind them, boulders clipping their feet.
"We have but one choice now," Gandalf said, illuminating the cave with the edge of his staff. "We must face the long dark path of Moria. It is a three-day journey to the other side. Let us hope our presence may go unnoticed."
xxXXxx
Rosalie followed her Mentor through the dark pathway as she cursed herself and her stupidity. She let Shadra take over again. She didn't know how it happened, it usually never did.
"It's Natural, my dear." The witch heard the haunting, feminine voice of the demon inside her. Seeing Aragon look at her worriedly she muttered angrily in her head,
"Get out of my head, Shadra. You've caused us enough trouble."
A chuckle was all that was heard in response as she mentally smacked the demon. Pushing Shadra out of her head, Rosalie instead focused on the dark walls of Moira. Nearly hyperventilating, Rosalie pushed the thoughts of them closing in on her, away. This was certainly no time to be scared out of your wits. The witch was startled out of her thoughts when her Mentor stopped and gave some horrible news.
"I have no memory of this place."
At this, the rest of the fellowship sat down, eager for a rest, as Gandalf tried to find the groups bearing.
"Your arm. It's bleeding."
Rosalie looked up at the sound of Aragorn's voice.
"You sure do like to point out what's wrong with me, don't 'cha?"
At this, Aragorn gave the witch and eye roll at her immaturity. Pushing the thought off telling her off out of his mind, the Ranger pulled the mage's blood-soaked arm towards him, inspecting the damage.
"It doesn't look there's any blood in it… it was a clean cut apparently."
At the Ranger's words, Rosalie brightened up immediately, giving a small smile.
"Perfect!" She yelled excitedly, pulling her arm back, resulting in a questioning look from the man opposite her. Deciding to put the man out of his curiosity and laid a hand on her soaked with blood arm. She whispered a small charm and soon after, the clean cut began to heal itself slowly. She twitched in pain slightly during the process, but after a few seconds she removed her hand and squealed in excitement.
"I did it! I did it! Gandalf I healed myself!"
"That's nice, Rosalie." Gandalf replied, not really listening to the bubbly witch.
"Did ya' see it, Aragorn!? Did ya' see it!?" She squealed happily, cradling her arm to her chest.
"…Yes?..."
"See! He saw it!" she said, giving the – now extremely confused – man a hug before she rushed over to Boromir and Legolas yelling,
"I did it! I did it!"
The duo looked at the young girl fondly as Borormir said,
"It is most impressive, little one."
At the nickname, however, Rosalie pouted and yelled at the Gondorian man.
"Just 'cause I'm short, doesn't mean you can make fun of me for it!"
Boromir looked on in confusion as the mage walked away, starting a conversation with Merry and Pippin, while Legolas smiled at the overly-sensitive witch.
It was a wonder how Gandalf was still sane after who-knows how many years.
xxXXxx
Once again I am so, so , so sorry about the wait, I really do feel terrible about leaving you guys hanging. Be as Blunt as you like about this one if you feel like reviewing and, once again, I'm so sorry. On a lighter note I'm thinking of starting a new story about the movie 'Aliens', that's just one more of the reasons for the wait, so it may be up soon, tomorrow if not today. Please forgive me! Hope you liked this Chapter, next one shall not be as long a wait, I Promise. Until next time, See you soon!