All shall fade

Cahpter seven

Safe Haven

We walked on, leaving the mines behind us as we made our way over the last of the mountains. Time passed, but I didn’t register it. I was vaguely aware that it was late afternoon, meaning we had spent longer than I had thought in the mines. It didn’t matter much to me though; I’d slipped into a state of disconnected numbness, both physically and emotionally. I no longer noticed the aching pain in my shoulder and muscles, and mentally I seemed to have just shut down. I mindlessly put one foot after the other, not caring about where I was going or who I was following. I just felt hollow and emotionless. Anything could happen now and it probably wouldn’t faze me. Occasionally, we would jog to cover more ground, using small bursts of speed in an attempt to distance ourselves from the mines. I would glance up occasionally, although I tried not to. Every time I looked to the front of the group it would remind me with a painful stab that Gandalf was gone. Never again would I look up and see his pointed hat bobbing along as he lead us onwards, and the thought of that was almost enough to make me break down again. That was why I pushed it away, bottling up all my thoughts and emotions in an attempt to pull myself through the crushing grief. When I did look ahead though, I could see a large forest growing closer with each step we took, and soon we were off the mountains, running across the small area of grassland as we made for the cover of the forest, and minutes later I found myself walking under the shade of the trees. As I reduced my pace, I allowed myself to glance around, taking in the woods. Leaves swirled downwards through the air around me as I wrapped my arms around myself, being careful not to nudge my shoulder. Something was definitely wrong with it, I had suspected as much since Moria, but I hadn’t had time to examine it.

“Stay close, young hobbits.” I heard Gimli whisper behind me, “They say that a great sorceress lives in these woods, an elf-witch of terrible power. All those who look upon her fall under her spell… And are never seen again. ” I glanced back; his words making me feel uneasy as I walked on. Witches now? The parade of supernatural weirdness just gets longer and longer… “Well, here's one dwarf she won't ensnare so easily!” Gimli muttered defensively, “I have the eyes of a hawk, and the ears of a fox!”

Suddenly, in a movement faster than I could see and quieter than a whisper, I found myself surrounded by arrows inches from my face. I was wrong when I had thought nothing would faze me, as I stepped back in alarm, and then shuffled forward as I found another arrowhead poking my back. I glanced around for help, but found my companions faced with a similar situation, although Legolas had already drawn his bow. I fearfully looked up, expecting to meet the eyes of an Orc, but instead found myself face-to-face with several blonde male elves and once again I found myself proved correct – all the men here are ridiculously good looking.

“The dwarf breathes so loud we could have shot him in the dark.” An elf stepped forward, staring intently at Gimli and I felt myself shrink back a little under his intimidating stare. “You will come with me.” He stated, turning and walking away. He was flanked by two other elves, whilst the rest of his bow-wielding posse focused on making us walk after him. I stumbled as an arrow was pressed against my injured shoulder and I quickened my pace so I could walk alongside Legolas, who had relaxed a little. I couldn’t follow his lead though, my heart pounded in my ears and my breathing became ragged and panicky as I followed him through the strange forest. As we moved deeper into it and the cover of trees became thicker, the daylight was blocked out and the areas we walked through were illuminated by small glowing lights nestled in trees. Suddenly, Legolas abruptly stopped in front of me and I looked up to see a rope ladder being lowered from a tree.

“What’s going on?” I whispered, glancing at him as I waited to be reassured. “Are these guys going to hurt us?” My gaze flicked towards the apparent leader of the elves as he gracefully climbed the ladder, followed by a few more before Aragorn began climbing.

“No,” Legolas smiled comfortingly, “They are not our enemies.”

“Ok…” I breathed as he stepped up to the ladder, but looked back at me, his gaze fixing on my shoulder. “I’ll be fine.” I assured him as he reluctantly turned back and began climbing. I stepped up and put my foot on the unsteady ladder as I tried to use my injured arm as little as possible. I hauled myself up slowly and ungracefully. The ladder had barely twitched as the elves had ascended, but it swayed wildly as I climbed, making my shoulder spasm in pain as I clung on. Eventually, I pulled myself up to the top and found myself on a wooden, leaf-shaped platform spread across the branches of the tree. Legolas helped me to my feet as I nervously glanced around, waiting for the rest of the Fellowship to emerge. As we stood in a line facing the elf who had ordered us to come here, I saw the Hobbits shuffling around uncomfortably, clearly unhappy about being so high up. The Elf walked up to Legolas, who stood beside me, and I tried to maintain a confident façade as they both began speaking in Elvish. I recognised Legolas’s name amongst the foreign words, but that was just about it. The Elf then moved on the Aragorn, and once again I picked out his name. He seemed to be greeting the members of the Fellowship that he knew.

“So much for the legendary courtesy of the Elves. Speak words we can all understand!” Gimli grumbled.

‘Here, here.’ I silently agreed as the Elf turned to face him.

“We have not had dealings with the Dwarves since the Dark Days.” He said in a distinctly hostile tone.

“And you know what this Dwarf says to that?” Gimli answered and proceeded to snarl something in a language I had never heard. Aragorn put a warning hand on the Dwarf’s shoulder and turned to him.

“That was not so courteous.” He muttered, and I figured that whatever Gimli had said must have been an insult. As the Elf walked past me, his eyes met mine and I defiantly stared back, still suspicious of him. His gaze then wandered over to the Hobbits and settled on Frodo.

“You bring great evil with you.” He said, turning to the rest of the Fellowship, “You can go no further.”

“What?” I hissed as he walked off. I noticed Aragorn glance at me before following the Elf. Legolas walked after him and stood nearby as the two seemed to argue in Elvish. I sat down, folding my legs beneath me as I cradled my aching shoulder. I was positive that if Gandalf had still been with us, we would not be having this issue. I felt tears prick at my eyes as I thought of the wizard, but I forced them back, knowing that an emotional outburst wouldn’t help in the slightest.

Even though I had only known him for a short time, I still felt the pain of Gandalf’s loss as forcefully as I would feel the loss of an old friend. Somehow, I knew that deep down; I had been counting on him to help me get home. Now that faint hope had been crushed.

“Gandalf's death was not in vain.” Boromir’s words caught my attention and I looked up, seeing him speaking with Frodo, “Nor would he have you give up hope. You carry a heavy burden, Frodo. Don't carry the weight of the dead.” I sighed quietly, knowing he was right. Just because Gandalf was gone didn’t mean I was never going to get home. Suddenly, the Elf appeared, and it seemed the argument between him and Aragorn had finished.

“You will follow me.” He stated.

*

We left the platform in the trees and walked on, taking narrow, faint paths through the woods. As the forest began to thin again, I could see that it was early evening, and the sun was low in the sky. The Elf – whom Legolas had informed me was called Haldir – led us through the forest quickly, and in my exhausted state I found it hard to keep up at some points, particularly when he led us up a steep incline, but at the top he hesitated, looking out of a view I couldn’t see as he waited for us to catch up. As I reached the top, I saw that the trees had disappeared, leaving a panoramic view of a hill in the distance, covered with impossibly tall trees.

“Caras Galadhon, the heart of Elvendom on earth, realm of the Lord Celeborn and of Galadriel, Lady of Light.” Haldir spoke passionately as he looked at the hill, framed by the golden glow of the setting sun. It was beautiful, I had to admit. Although he wasted no time in getting us moving again.

After another hour or two of walking, I began to spot signs of civilization. Steps took the place of steep uphill paths, and here and there I would spot an elf walking amongst the trees which were lit by eerie ethereal lights as the last rays of the sun slipped below the distant horizon. As the trees became thicker, I looked in awe at the staircases that wound around them, leading to higher platforms. Haldir lead us to the foot of a massive tree and began climbing the delicate staircase. I followed, still sticking close to Legolas’s side. He seemed to know what he was doing, so I tried to follow his lead. I glanced behind me and spotted Boromir nervously glancing around and I tried to smile comfortingly before walking on.

As the staircase ended, I found myself standing on another wooden platform. But this one was made up of overlapping leaf shapes, laid in a ring shape, leaving a hole in the middle. I didn’t even want to think about how high up we were, or how close I was standing to that hole as we assembled ourselves before a smaller staircase. Aragorn stood before our group, taking the place of Gandalf. I resented the fact that the position of the leader of the Fellowship had been so easily filled, but I understood that if Aragorn had not taken charge, we would still be on that hillside, probably being mauled by Orcs. I stepped a little closer to Legolas as I looked up the steps and saw a bright, almost hypnotising light, and out of it appeared two elves, hand in hand and both clad in white. One was a man, who regarded us with an unreadable stare, but my attention was not held by him for long, as my eyes travelled over to the woman, and it took all my conscious willpower to stop my jaw from dropping at the mere sight of her. Knowing that someone of her beauty even existedwas a massive blow to my ego, and I felt horrendously self-conscious as her sapphire blue eyes swept across our group.

“The enemy knows you have entered here. What hope you had in secrecy is now gone.” The man spoke first in a calm and unchanging tone as he observed us, “Nine there are here, yet ten there were set out from Rivendell. Tell me, where is Gandalf? For I much desire to speak with him. I can no longer see him from afar.” I had to choke back a whimper at his reminder of the absence of the wizard, and I felt tears sting at my eyes as I found myself unable to look away from the two Elves.

“Gandalf the Grey did not pass the borders of this land.” I glanced to the woman as she spoke for the first time in a voice no louder than a whisper, but still the sound was somehow piercing, “He has fallen into shadow.” I bit down hard on my lower lip to drive back my tears a she surveyed us with a single glance. Beside me, Legolas glanced up.

“He was taken by both shadow and flame.” He murmured, “A Balrog of Morgoth. For we went needlessly into the net of Moria.”

“Needless were none of the deeds of Gandalf in life.” The woman contradicted him, “We do not yet know his full purpose.” Her eyes travelled across the Fellowship, and I couldn’t help but feel like she was analysing us, “Do not let the great emptiness of Khazad-Dûm fill your heart, Gimli son of Gloin. For the world has grown full of peril, and in all lands love is now mingled with grief.” She then turned her gaze to Boromir who stood beside me, and although she said nothing, he gasped quietly and made a small choking sound as he looked away, as if he was holding back tears.

“Boromir?” I whispered in concern as I reached out and lightly touched his arm.

“Be patient, child.” A voice echoed through my head and I gasped in alarm, looking up at the woman as she smiled knowingly at me. How could she be inside my head?

“What now becomes of this Fellowship? Without Gandalf, hope is lost.” Her partner stated and I frowned. Hope was far from lost, how could he say that so easily?

“The quest stands upon the edge of a knife, stray but a little and it will fail, to the ruin of all.” The woman said, her eyes meeting mine before moving on, “Yet hope remains while the company is true.”

“Who are you?” I concentrated hard on the single question, directing it at her as those blue orbs flashed back to me.

“My name is Galadriel.” She answered in an echoing whisper, and I was about to ask another question as I heard her voice again, “I know who you are, and that you have many questions. Be patient, we shall speak later.” Her eyes left mine as she glanced at the Hobbits.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Go now, and rest, for you are weary with sorrow and much toil. Tonight you will sleep in peace...” She trailed off dreamily as I glanced at Legolas, who had stepped back, and I followed him and Aragorn back towards the steps, placing my hand on Boromir’s arm as he passed me. Undoubtedly she had spoken to him as well, and whatever she had said had reduced him to a nervous wreck. He glanced up, his tortured eyes meeting mine before he walked on. I followed him back down the steps, but not before Galadriel’s voice once again echoed through my mind.

“Answer when I call…”

I frowned at her ominous message, before shaking my head and hurrying down the steps.