Sam stood protectively in front of his friends, but a nervous chill filled him. He was sure he'd seen something or someone sitting in a nearby birch tree. With in a few moments of Sam shushing Mallyra and Pippin, he was proven correct. The shadowy figure Sam had spotted jumped down from it's perch, and slowly moved towards the five hobbits.
"Greetings hobbits." a woman's voice drifted through the air. The owner of the voice made their way through the shrubbery and into the light of the clearing. Sam's eyes were met by the figure of a curvy, tall woman. But she was not ordinary woman. She was an Elf. Sam felt his jaw fall open a little, and took in a deep breath.
The elven woman had long, straight silver hair which glinted like metal in the sunlight, and eyes which were like that of a domestic cats in colour. A bright gold that shimmered to green when caught in a certain light. Her features were like the rest of her body, thin legs, curved waist, slightly broad shoulders and a thin face, with very prominent cheek bones. The elf was clothed in a long green robe which stopped just below her knees, with a thick brown belt around her waist, highlighting her figure even further. Over her legs, the elf wore dark brown trousers which clung to her tightly. On her shoulders, hung a deep green cloak that rippled behind her. On her belt, the elf branded a small knife with a leather sheath, and across her shoulder was a thin elven boe and sheath full of arrows.
"Who... who are you and what do you want?" Sam blurted out, his voice trembling slightly. The elf woman smiled down at Sam, before stepping back a little.
"I, Samwise Gamgee, am Lothiri of the high elves. And this.." she said, out stretching her hand backwards towards to forest. The shrubs rustled again, and a larger figure appeared. It walked slowly into the light, and revealed itself to be another elf, but this time it was a man. The male elf was of a big build, with thick golden hair which stopped just below his shoulders. His eyes were more golden than Lothiri's, almost burning bright orange in the morning sun light. He was dressed almost exactly like Lothiri, but his green robe stopped just past his waist, and instead of boe and arrows, the elf carried a large ivory white sword on his belt.
"This is Aiwendil of the woodland realm." Lothiri continued, as the other elf walked up to her side. Pippin peered up at him cautiously, trying to avoid looking at the gleaming sword on his belt. It was almost touching the floor, and was unlike any sword Pippin had ever seen before. The sword had jagged edges, with a black line running through its core. Pippin went to touch it, but Aiwendil quickly pulled his cloak over the sword and then glanced down at the hobbit. Pippin smiled and waved a little, but Aiwendil's face stayed solemn.
"Why are you here? Who sent you? What do you want with us?" Sam stuttered, still standing his ground. Lothiri smiled a little, and then went down on to one knee.
"We are here to help Mallyra Flintwater on her quest to find the great Etani and save Middle Earth." Lothiri smiled, watching as one by one, Sam, Frodo Pippin and Merry turned to look at Mallyra. The hobbit girl swallowed hard, and then attempted to smile.
"So... how did you know we were here?" Mallyra asked, stepping forward a little. Lothiri stood up right again, before she spoke.
"We didn't know you were going to be here specifically, but we were told that you would be passing through this area. So we've been camping here for two days now." The elf said, turning to Aiwendil and slowly beginning to walk in the direction of where they had come from.
"Wait, where are you going?" Mallyra questioned, peering at the elves. Lothiri and Aiwendil both turned to look at the five hobbits again.
"We've wasted enough time already Mallyra. We must get going again if we're to reach our first destination within the week. Now come along hobbits, we must move." Lothiri said with a more authoritative tone than usual. Mallyra frowned a little.
"Our first destination?" She muttered. Lothiri sighed, rubbing her temple slightly.
"We will tell you along the way Mallyra, now I must insist that we move!" she urged, her desperation becoming apparent. Mallyra nodded, and walked up to the elf's side. The four other hobbits stood quiet for a moment, before they too began to walk along side their new companions.
"So.. where's our first destination?" Mallyra asked, as Lothiri gently moved a branch from her path. the elf stepped out of the forest and into the open once more.
"We must make for the Ettenmoors, where we will find the villiage of Amros. There they will have all the supplies we will need to make it over the Misty mountains and past mount Gundabad." Lothiri said, making a small gesture with her hand to Aiwendil. He had been walking behind and keeping watch over the hobbits, and now walked in front of Lothiri. With one hand, Aiwendil drew out a small rock and placed it to his lips. Gently, he blew onto it, and the rock made a sound which Pippin thought sounded beautiful. In what seemed like a matter of seconds, a large black stallion rose from a bolder which was set in the earth right in front of them.
"What the?" Merry started, looking up at Aiwendil curiously. The elf put one hand to his lips to signal silence, and then stood to the stallions height. The horse tentatively stepped forward, it's jet black coat shimmering in the late morning sun. For the first time, the hobbits heard the male elf speak.
"Dae Elen, ando nin hini." He breathed, his voice deep and commanding. The sound of his voice made Mallyra wonder a little. Elves were supposed to have voices that resemble liquid silk.. how can he sound so powerful and noble with a supposedly soft voice? She blinked hard, and soon realised that many other dark horses were standing around them in a neat circle. Lothiri walked up to a younger looking one, and ran her hand down its muzzle.
"These are the children of the shadow star, the black stallion you saw rise from the earth." She smiled as the horse nuzzled at her cloak. "Come hobbits, we must ride now. You're all familiar with riding aren't you?" Lothiri asked, turning and looking down at the hobbits. Merry, Sam and Frodo shurgged a little, but Mallyra and Pippin both stood looking clueless at the elf.
"I take it you're unfamiliar with riding Mallyra?" Lothiri breathed, raising a silver eyebrow at her. The hobbit nodded slightly, turning a little red in the face. The elf sighed. "Never mind, you will have to ride with me on Astaldo. Pippin, you will ride with Aiwendil on Herven." She continued instructively, "Come now. We must find shelter soon, for it it almost noon now." With that, three of the five hobbits climbed onto three young black horses. Pippin turned to his riding companion, and then back to Mallyra.
"Can't we share a horse? He kinda scares me a little.." Pippin admitted, watching as Mallyra began to laugh quietly to herself. Mallyra was helped up onto the one know as 'Astaldo' by Lothiri, and was soon holding tightly onto the horses mane with Lothiri who held Mallyra round the waist to keep her stable.
The five horses and their seven riders had soon made their way over quite a lot of land, under one waterfall, over a small mountain and in what seemed like a wasteland in just under three days. On the third night, the party came to rest in an open field. It was just becoming dusk, and the sky was a large swirl of deep purple and orange with specks of white stars just becoming visible in the sky. Mallyra was sat against a small rock, watching Sam closely as he began to cook. While they had continued on their adventure, Sam had started to teach a curious Mallyra how to cook. Tonight, he was showing her how to cook a rabbit stew with three small rabbits Aiwendil had shot earlier. Mallyra went to write something down on her sketch pad, but stopped when she heard a noise behind her. Smugly, she sat and waited, acting like she was still completely unaware.
"RAWR!" Pippin launched his scarf around Mallyra's neck, whilst it was still slung loosely round his. "Did I scare you?" He asked enthusiastically, grinning wildly. Mallyra raised a light brown eyebrow at him, half smiling.
"I was completely terrified." She said sarcastically, glancing smugly across at Sam, who was also laughing. Pippin sighed, and then sat down next to Mallyra with a thud. Mallyra watched as he ran fingers through his hair and smiled. She went to say something, but her heartbeat was echoing in her ears as she thought about it. To quickly avoid an awkward silence, Mallyra thought of a small prank of her own, as she noticed the scarf was around Pippin's neck too.
"Well, see if this makes you jump!" She quickly said, grabbing one end of the scarf and pulling down on it hard. Pippin was as surprised by the results of Mallyra's prank as she was, as when Mallyra pulled down on the scarf, it made both her and Pippin lean in closer to each other. So close in fact, their noses and foreheads were touching. Mallyra felt her cheeks burn red, and tried to avoid eye contact with Pippin. But however much she wanted to, Mallyra couldn't quite convince herself to move away, and neither could Pippin.
"Ra?" Pippin breathed, looking into her blue eyes, and lifting his hand to her cheek, moving a strand of hair from her face with his thumb, and then focusing his sight upon her thin, pink lips.