~ My POV ~
And then I saw the birds. And I knew. "HIDE!", I cried, while pushing Alataire and Frodo beneath a big rock, protecting them. Then I lay down next to them. By whatever grace, don"t let them see us. A short .moment we lay there, quiet. Just don"t tell them who we are, I thought with closed eyes. The white Wizard shall not find us here.
"What are those?", Frodo asked, but it was Gandalf, who answered: "Spies of Saruman. The passage South is being watched." Aragorn looked at me. "You knew", his eyes said. "Sometimes, reading books helps to learn", I answered loudly. I knew these birds were not idly bread.
Aragorn smiled, as I did, while all the others crept out of their stashes.
"Now you shall know why you took me with you." My lips curled slightly. The Hobbits looked up at me in admiration, only Boromir still seemed to have a problem with me. Silence.
"We have to go over Caradhras", Gandalf muttered. I turned around, stunning. "We can"t", I said. "We must", he answered.
And so we did.
It was not the wind that bothered me, not at all, as I was able to keep it in barriers.
It was the freezing cold, croaching through my skin and bones, slowly longing for my heart, driving me so mad. Never in all my life I experienced such a cold. "Hold on", a voice whispered into my ear. It took me some moments to recognize it was Aragorn talking to me. I nearly had let the Hobbits I was protecting standing alone in the cold, while worrying about my problems. Damn me. I just was about taking Merry and Pippin closer to me, when the mountain above me started to crack. I hesitated.
Saruman. The wizard tried killing us. "Can"t you do anything?", Alataire cried, meaning Gandalf. And I must say, he really tried.
The terrible storm increased to an incredible point. Gandalf whispered his words. Legolas, Aragorn, Boromir and I tried to help the others. One moment everything seemed to be working out, as suddenly a wave of snow fell from the mountain and in our direction.