Authoress Note: Welcome to Chapter 4 of Easterling Princess. This chapter took a bit to write, sad enough to say since I wasn't sure how the pieces were going to fit together. I decided to add a flashback in this chapter to show you a little bit of Asta's history. It is like a nightmare for her though. Boromir will actually for once be nice to Asta. Even though he was a little nice to her in the last chapter. But he will be nicer in this chapter due to her having a nightmare, but she won't be any too nice to him. Without further ado Chapter 4.

Chapter 4

Asta was on her horse riding fast. Her bow was drawn and an arrow knocked into it. She fired it and hit another man, killing him. Her aim was true, impaling the man in the eye. The war between good and evil was growing and Sauron would want his ring to return to him. Asta was one of them that was to be hunting for the ring. She had promised her people that she would find the ring and return it to Sauron. But so far her quest was not going that great. She was failing at it. She would never be able to go back home not without the one ring to rule them all.

She knocked another arrow and fired it into another man hitting him dead in the head. She dodged one of the arrows that was aimed at her. She wasn't expecting another arrow to fly towards her. It hit her dead in the chest causing her to fall off of her horse harshly onto the ground.

Asta shot up and pulled her dagger out. She thought that someone was going to attack her. Her violet eyes went wide when she saw who she had her dagger pointed at. None other than Boromir. She panted softly as she looked at him with wide scared purple eyes.

Boromir held up his hands in surrender. He didn't know why Asta had pulled her dagger from her belt, but he had known it was from her sleep. Something had scared her half to death for her to pull her dagger out and point it at anything that surely caused her any harm.

He could not help but wonder what caused this woman to have her mind plagued by nightmares. Did something happen to her that he still did not know? He was being polite to her like Gandalf had asked, but he still didn't like the fact that she was still hiding many many things from the fellowship. He wanted to know what she was hiding from them. He didn't care that she was changing her ways, he wanted to know if the fellowship was going to be detained due to her. He still wasn't sure of what Gandalf was thinking by having her part of the company, but if it was his choice then there had to be some reason to have an enemy on their side.

Asta put her blade back where it belonged. She looked at Boromir like he was someone that she would not speak to. She wasn't about to tell him what the problem was. It was something that she was planning on keeping to herself. She moved away knowing that soon enough they would be travelling. Going through the mountains of Caradhras also known as the Misty Mountains.

Not even a few hours later they began their journey up the mountains. Cold wintery air whipped around them. The company is having a hard time with the snow and Legolas walking on top of the snow. Which made the mood of the ones that were almost knee-deep or even half of their bodies under the snow go down the tubes.

Frodo fell down the mountain due to him losing his footing. A scream left his lips.

"Frodo!" Aragorn yelled, stopping the young hobbit and helping him up to his feet.

Frodo began to look for the ring that he was taking to Mordor. Horror crossed his face. The ring had disappeared.

Aragorn turned his head and saw that Boromir had it near his feet. "Boromir…"

Asta looked at Boromir with wide eyes. She didn't like the look that crossed Boromir's face. It concerned her a lot. The ring was already taking hold on Boromir and was not going to be letting go of him any time soon. It was just going to corrupt him even more.

Boromir picked it up looking at it like it was going to be going with him. "It is a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over such a small thing. Such a little thing."

"Boromir!" Asta shouted, breaking him from his thoughts.

"Boromir gave the Ring back to Frodo," Aragorn demanded the Captain of Gondor.

Boromir looked at Aragorn. He walked down to where Frodo was and handed it back to Frodo. "As you wish. I care not."

Asta looked at Boromir. She knew that Boromir cared about the Ring. More than what he had let on. She wasn't going to allow Boromir to fall under its power. It was something that she was going to stop Boromir from doing, but she didn't even know how to stop the Captain of Gondor from being driven mad by Sauron's ring. She was still feeling its pull and she wasn't going to allow it to even enter her mind. She was concerned that Boromir was going to do something that he was going to regret. Asta grabbed onto Boromir's arm.

Boromir pulled his arm from her grasp. "Do not touch me." He told her.

She grabbed his arm again pulling him back towards her. "You do not order me, Captain." She hissed out. Her violet eyes narrowed at him.

Boromir looked at her. He saw the look in her violet-colored eyes. "You want the ring for yourself and return it to your master." He hissed at her.

"That is where you are wrong. I am fighting the ring more than you are letting yourself fight it off. You are allowing your mind to be corrupted by the evilest ring in all of Middle-Earth. Are you willing to allow something so small to ruin everything that you hold dear?" She demanded. She was not going to fight with Boromir on this, but this was seriously bothering her. She was not going to allow Boromir to fall under the power of the ring. She couldn't allow that to happen. After all that was a fate far worse than death itself.

Boromir looked into her violet-colored eyes and saw that she meant what she said.

They continue their struggle up the mountainside. Legolas is the only one that wasn't having a problem with going up the mountainside.

"There is a fell voice in the air." Legolas alerted the rest of the company that was there.

Asta's eyes widened. That was bad news indeed. Whoever it was, it was dangerous to all of them.

"It's Saruman!" Gandalf yelled.

"Quick to the mountainside." Yelled Asta, her eyes wide with fear as she tried to get them turned around.

The first avalanche falls and they do what Asta said to do. They threw themselves against the mountainside to avoid the avalanche.

"He's trying to bring down the mountain! Gandalf, we must turn back!" Aragorn yelled to Gandalf. He was hoping that the old wizard would heed his warning of the white wizard and it would undoubtedly be the death of everyone else in the company.

"No!" Gandalf yelled taking a step forward and he began to chant a spell in hopes that it would be the end of it. "Losto Caradhras, sedho, hodo, nuitho i 'ruith!" He yelled hoping that the spell would take place and Saruman's spell would not cause damage to them.

Lightning strikes the top of Caradhras sending a second avalanche onto the Fellowship.

Legolas pulled Gandalf back and against the cliff. This time they were covered in snow.

They begin to emerge from the fallen snow.

Asta being shorter than Aragorn, Legolas, Boromir, and Gandalf had trouble like the hobbits and Gimli.

Boromir gripped onto her black-clad arm and pulled her up out of the snow. He had taken notice that Asta's veil had fallen away from her face. He noticed that her lips were beginning to turn blue. Why in all of Middle-Earth hadn't she said something about it? But then again she was a warrior of course she wouldn't say anything, but with her being a woman in the company and the only one at that they were going to have to take more care of her even though she had told them not to in the past.

Boromir looked at Gandalf. "We must get off of the mountain! Make the Gap of Rohan and take the west road to my city!"

"The Gap of Rohan takes us too close to Isengard!" Aragorn yelled at Boromir.

Asta fixed her veil. "It's true. Too close to Isengard is too close to Saruman. He will try to take the Ring if we go that way." She shouted. Her voice was a little hoarse due to the cold. She wouldn't admit that she was freezing. Her concern was the four hobbits that were with them. They couldn't continue on this mountain. It was much too cold for them.

"If we cannot pass over a mountain, let us go under it. Let us go through the Mines of Moria." Gimli said to Gandalf.

Gandalf looked at Gimli like he was signing a death warrant for the entire company. He knew what lay deep in the shadows down in the Mines of Moria. He could only hope that Balin, Oin, and Ori were still alive and well. He wasn't sure if the Mines were going to be the easiest path to take. "Let the Ring-bearer decide."

"We cannot stay here! This will be the death of the Hobbits!" Boromir shouted.

Asta nodded her head. "We cannot continue this way, Gandalf. They are like children." She shouted she wasn't about to have the Hobbits freeze to death from the cold.

Gandalf looked at Frodo. "Frodo?"

"We go through the mines." Frodo said to Gandalf.

Gandalf took a deep breath. "So be it."

They begin their journey down the mountainside being very careful not to slide down the mountain from all of the fallen snow.

Asta grabbed Gandalf by the arm. She pulled him back to talk to him privately. "You know what lies in those Mines. You are hiding something Gandalf. What is it?" She questioned softly, trying her best not to shudder from the cold.

Gandalf didn't answer her.

Asta let out a sigh. "Is it information that you will not trust me with? The Easterlings heard many many stories of the Mines of Moria. Of what might lie under the mountain. One who enters those Mines never comes out alive." She muttered to him.

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This is one of my longer chapters for this story. I have to admit that I did have fun writing this chapter even though it followed the movie, but it still has some of my scenes in it. What do you think is going through Boromir's mind? Do you think that he needs to be a little nicer to Asta? Until next time.