All Shall Fade

Chapter 13

First Steps

I anxiously checked my appearance in the mirror one last time before I shouldered my pack and left my bedroom with a small, sad sigh. The pale dawn illuminated the hallways as I dashed down the stairs and out into the courtyard where the rest of the Fellowship were preparing to leave.

“Mornin’,” I yawned sleepily as I made my way over to Legolas. “Are we all set to go?”

“Almost, I believe Lord Elrond wishes to speak with us before we depart.” He smiled, somehow looking his usual picture-perfect self, whereas I was a bit of a mess, with tumbleweed hair and dark circles under my eyes after my restless night.

“Sure thing.” I sighed, rubbing at my eyes as Sam strapped the last of the bags onto Bill’s back and the other Hobbits assembled themselves – with Pippin complaining of the lack of breakfast. I smiled at Aragorn as he solemnly stood near the back and inclined his head slightly to acknowledge me. He was seemingly treating me the same way he had done before our conversation last night, as if it had never happened… Elves began to appear on the balconies and walkways around us, and I suddenly felt nervous beneath their gaze. As we assembled in a loose formation around the Hobbits, a small group of Elves glided across the courtyard towards us, and I smiled as I spotted Arwen amongst them. She smiled weakly in return and I noticed her gaze dart towards Aragorn as the group halted and Lord Elrond stepped forward to address us.

“The Ringbearer is setting out on the Quest of Mount Doom. On you who travel with him, no oath nor bond is laid to go further than you will.” His eyes met mine, knowing that there was a chance I would leave the Fellowship at some point. I was on my own quest after all. “Farewell. Hold to your purpose. May the blessings of Elves and Men and all free folk go with you.” His gaze shifted from person to person, and I somehow got the feeling that I wouldn’t see Rivendell again. I wanted to thank Elrond for everything he’d done for me, and I wanted to say a final goodbye to Arwen, but it didn’t look like I would be given the chance. For a brief second, I managed to make eye contact with Arwen, and my hand crept to my neck to lightly touch the jewel she had given me. She saw this action and a small smile crossed her face, before she returned to looking at Aragorn. I couldn’t blame her, if I was seeing someone I loved for the last time, I’d be sure to memorise everything about them. I hadn’t been given that chance before I arrived here. My last few hours with the people I loved were now a jumbled blur in my memories.

“The Fellowship awaits the Ringbearer.” Gandalf declared and beside me, Frodo reluctantly turned and began to lead us out of Rivendell. I cast a glance back, one final look, before I followed Legolas out through the stone archway that I had entered by almost two months ago. I closed my eyes and whispered a silent goodbye as I took my first step out of Rivendell, and onto the strange and probably perilous road home.

***

Days of endless walking merged into weeks as the Fellowship made our way towards the distant mountain range known as the Misty Mountains. Landscapes passed us by in a blur of grass, forests and rocks, until we were climbing in the foothills of the mountains. I was quite enjoying myself – it was like one big camping holiday. The only downside was the walking. Every morning I would wake up with aching muscles and have to get up and start the walking process all over again. On the up side, I was going to have a killer figure when this was all over.

Despite the fact that winter was approaching, the weather seemed to be unseasonably warm at our low altitude, and it was still pretty nice even when we climbed a little higher. One day, when the sun was shining particularly brightly and everybody was in a reasonably light mood, we stopped for a rest at the top of a small hill in the shade of several large, white boulders. I had shed my outer layers a few hours ago and was tramping up the hill in my vest top and leggings before shrugging off my pack, collapsing on top of a rock and spreading myself out like a lizard sunning itself.

“We must hold this course west of the Misty Mountains for forty days.” Gandalf declared as the others settled down.

“Forty?” I groaned as the wizard carried on – ignoring me.

“If our luck holds, the Gap of Rohan will still be open to us. From there our road turns east to Mordor.” Ugh, this journey was going to be so long… I still hadn’t given up on finding some way to get home; occasionally I would stop and tap a rock or a tree that looked out of place – just in case. Everyone had thought I was going a bit bonkers until I’d explained my ‘gate’ theory.

I closed my eyes and focused only on the feeling of the sun on my skin, ignoring the conversations around me as I began to relax. It really was very peaceful here – at least, that was the case until the rock I was sitting on seemed to become popular. I cracked one eye open to see who had joined me but closed it again as I saw it was only Aragorn – no captivating conversations to be found with him right now. I was about to settle down again when someone sat on my other side with a lightness which meant that it could only be Legolas.

“Hey.” I smiled as I sat up a little, just in time to see Boromir begin a sparring match against Merry and Pippin. The elf greeted me with a nod before turning back to watch Boromir instruct the Hobbits. I looked over at him and noticed that his normally prefect hair had been ruffled by the wind, so I subconsciously set about adjusting it. He glanced at me and I shrugged a little and started plaiting his long hair.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“Plaiting.”

“Why?”

“Because.” I shrugged.

“Because…?”

“Just because.” I smiled as I ran out of hair and left the long plait hanging down his back as I thought I heard Aragorn laugh. “Don’t laugh or you’re next.” I grinned eyeing up his hair. Not much to plait, but I could always torture him with pigtails. The thought of Aragorn with pigtails was enough to make me giggle and I had to bite my lip to suppress it. I had noticed that he was smoking a pipe and I wrinkled my nose at it, before remembering that this was Middle Earth and they probably smoked something different to tobacco, and even if they did it wouldn’t have any of the cancer-causing tar and junk that cigarettes had… So I supposed it was a little more socially acceptable. Gandalf and the Hobbits seemed to do it anyway so it must be pretty normal to smoke here – not that I was going to try it. I had vowed never to smoke anything in my life, and I was going to stick to it.

“Two, one, five, good! Very good.” I heard Boromir call from where he was blocking the Hobbit’s blows.

“Move your feet!” Aragorn instructed from the sidelines as Legolas stood and went to talk to Gandalf.

“That's good, Pippin!” Merry complimented his friend.

“Thanks!” Pippin responded breathlessly.

“Faster!” Boromir demanded as I heard Gimli speak somewhere behind me.

“If anyone was to ask for my opinion, which I note they're not, I'd say we were taking the long way 'round!” He declared loudly, “Gandalf, we could pass through the Mines of Moria. My cousin Balin would give us a royal welcome.”

“No, Gimli, I would not take the road through Moria unless I had no other choice.” Gandalf answered solemnly as I frowned before turning back to the fight.

“Come on, good!” Boromir encouraged, blocking one of Pippin’s blows just as the Hobbit jumped back.

“Ow!” He cried, holding his wrist.

“Sorry!” Boromir apologised as I sat up in alarm.

“You ok Pip?” I asked, remembering how painful the cuts I had received in training had been. I needn’t have worried though, as Pippin threw down his sword, kicked Boromir in the shins and tackled him!

“For the Shire!” Merry yelled as they both wrestled him to the ground.

“Hold him down Merry!” Pippin shouted as I laughed, and looked around in surprise to see that Aragorn was laughing along with me, and he never laughed.

“Gentlemen, that's enough.” He suddenly declared, going over to rescue Boromir, but got tripped by the two Hobbits.

“Serves you right.” I grinned as they pinned him – something that had taken me days to achieve! I figured I should go rescue them from Merry and Pippin’s miniature wrath, so I stood and walked over, but got suddenly pulled to the ground. “Hey! This isn’t fair!” I cried as Pippin sat on me, “What did I do?” I laughed as I tried to bat him and Merry away. They were both suddenly lifted off me and I glanced up to see Boromir and Aragorn holding a wildly thrashing Hobbit each. “Thanks.” I smiled as Boromir helped me up.

“What is that?” I heard Sam suddenly ask from where he was crouched over a fire behind us. I turned and frowned at the black speck in the sky that he was peering at.

“Nothing, it's just a wisp of cloud.” Gimli shrugged it off as everyone turned to look.

“It's moving fast, against the wind.” Boromir murmured.

“Crebain from Dunland!” Legolas cried as I frowned in confusion. What are Crebain?

“Hide!” Aragorn yelled as I span around in bewilderment. What was going on? Why was everyone so scared? I was suddenly grabbed from behind and pulled to the ground. In the commotion I panicked and struggled, before I realised that it was only Boromir as he pulled me under a bush.

“Be very still.” He whispered as everyone else hid amongst the rocks. I nodded a little as I lay beside him, staring up through the branches at the sky. Suddenly, the sky was covered by a writhing, noisy black mass and I shrank back against Boromir in fear. As the mass seemed to separate, I realised that it was made up of thousands of black crows that swooped amongst the rocks, as if they were trying to find us… But why would birds be searching for us? One flew particularly close to my face and I stiffened, holding my breath for what felt like an eternity, but was really only a second or two as the birds appeared to have finished their search and reassembled into their cloud formation as they flew back in the direction we had walked from. We waited until we were sure that they were gone for good, and it was a good few minutes before we emerged from our hiding places.

“Spies of Saruman.” Gandalf growled as I rolled out from my cramped hideout under the bush and dusted myself off. “The passage south is being watched. We must take the pass of Caradhras.” The wizard declared, glancing up to look at the snow-covered mountain that ominously stood behind us. I swallowed nervously as I took in our alternate route. Some how I didn’t think I was going to enjoy ‘Plan B’.

*

I’d never really been one for cold weather; don’t get me wrong, I liked winter and snow and all that, but the best bit about winter was always getting out of the cold and sitting wrapped in a blanket with a mug of hot chocolate. That was my idea of a fun winter.

This most certainly was not a fun winter.

I pulled my cloak a little tighter around my shoulders and breathed on my aching fingers, rubbing my hands together to keep them warm as I tramped through the knee-deep snow, keeping my eyes on Legolas’s back as he climbed a few feet ahead of me. With every step we took up this mountain, the air became thinner and colder – every ragged breath I took froze my lungs and made me shiver uncomfortably. My legs stung because of the cold. Even though my lower legs were protected by my boots, my leggings were fast becoming saturated, and occasionally lumps of snow would fall inside my boots and turn into little puddles of slush around my frozen toes. I glared at Legolas, grumbling inwardly about how he had it easy as he lightly walked over the top of the snow. Honestly, he must quite literally weigh as much as a mouse. A blonde mouse with pointy ears. I snickered a little at the thought of a Legolas-Mouse, just as a commotion in front of me caught my attention. I glanced up just in time to see Frodo roll past me in a blur of curly hair and bare feet – seriously, how did the Hobbits manage to walk in bare feet? I turned in alarm to see his passage down the mountain abruptly cut short by Aragorn who walked at the back, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I watched as Aragorn helped him to his feet, just as Frodo clutched at his chest, and even from this distance I could see that his big blue eyes were wild with panic. I realised that the Ring must be missing as he frantically looked around, whilst a few feet away from me, Boromir knelt down. I exhaled a little as I saw him lift the gold chain with the ring hanging neatly at the end, shedding little clumps of snow as it was held aloft.

“Boromir.” Aragorn called out in a warning tone. I frowned as I strained to see what was going on, but because of that bloody great big shield Boromir insists on carrying everywhere, I couldn’t see past his shoulders.

“It is a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing.” He murmured as I sidestepped in order to see his gloved hand reaching out to the Ring, “Such a little thing...” I nervously looked on, anticipating some kind of repeat of the mood swing he’d had at the council.

“Boromir!” Aragorn’s voice harshly broke the snow-muffled silence, “Give the ring to Frodo.” He ordered in a quiet tone, and I thought I detected something in his voice that silently added ‘Or else’ to the end of that sentence and my eyes widened in alarm to see that his hand was resting on the hilt of his sword. Jeez… Men and their swords… I almost laughed at my unintentional innuendo - yeah, my mind was in the gutter for sure.

“As you wish.” Boromir smiled, seeming to snap out of him Ring-induced daze, “I care not.” He laughed light-heartedly as he walked towards Frodo and dropped the Ring into his outstretched hand, before ruffling the Hobbit’s hair and turning away. I didn’t notice that I had been staring until he walked past me and I was jerked back to my cold reality. I glanced back at Aragorn and Frodo before wrapping my arms around myself and tramping on as I uneasily glanced up at the sky.

“Looks like a storm’s coming.” I murmured to myself.