I headed to my room to do....nothing. This whole day Had bee a lot of....I wouldn't say fun, but I would say different. I learned a lot of new things, and one of them was to always go with your gut. I pranced down the hallways in an elf like fashion, lightly dancing on my feet. I passed more weapons and armour. I placed my hand against the side of my hip where the whip was tied to my belt. I hadn't used it in a while. I should have used it in the battle in the valley. I could have saved Merry and Pippin.
I reached the last door at the end of the castle. I shoved the large door open and breathed in the nice, smooth air that was coming in through the balcony. I wandered over to the balcony and out over the edge. It looked over the small city of Rohan. It wasn't a very rich city, the houses were made of thatch and mud. But the horses were very well bred and brought up. I watched as two men took a horse out of the stables and saddle it up. The horse was calm and very well mannered. I admired the art of horse riding. This must be why Rohan is the land of horse men was it? I peered down at my long locket and opened it up. Merry and Pippin were along the edges of the forest. They looked even taller than they had before! I watched and saw that they were alarmed by something. Was it the Uruk Hai!? I Panicked and slammed the lid of the locket shut. I couldn't't bare to watch it much longer than I already had.
"They will be fine. I trust that the rider will find them. Just how do you plan on telling your husband that you are in a war and carrying his baby, eh?" I turned from the cool air and looked inside my room, where the voice had come from.
"Boromir! You're not mad anymore!" I smiled and ran out off the balcony and into the room.
"How could I? And, you were right. I coulnd't always protect you from that kind of...stuff. I'm just glad to have a friend here while I am away from my kingdom." Boromir confessed.
"Don't worry. It's nice having a support here. I just don't plan on telling Aragorn. I know he won't let me go to war. Legolas already knows and Gimli, he will bicker about how I was better than him in war and I was pregnant!" I told Boromir how each of the Fellowship would react.
"What about the little ones? The Hobbits?" He asked.
"Well, well, well, we have Frodo. I don't think that he will be very happy with me. You see we were engaged before I was married to Pippin, so that might cause tension. Sam won't be too pleased with me doing that. Merry...he might be even more distraught with that fact, but I think that he would be happy to be the godfather of the child." I told Boromir what each of the Hobbit would do or react to me telling them the news. Boromir chuckled at my observation.
"wow, looks like you got a handful. But tell me, do you ever plan on seeing Frodo or Sam again. They did head to Mordor after the fight in the valley?" He asked. I thought about it. It was a very important question that I had not thought of yet.
"I hope to see them again. I really liked Frodo. he was very nice and respectful. Sam, not so much, but hey, we all have those people." I put on a optimistic smile.
It was now 6 in the afternoon. That was the calling for supper. Boromir and I had stayed in the room and talked about what we couldn't;t wait to do once we reached our homelands. He talked about wedding the woman he had left back in Gondor. I talked about learning more of the Shire tradition. That last time I was there, I could still remember what my fake life was like and who my "parents" were. I had changed a lot compared to when I first landed here. i was a part of Middle Earth. not some random mortal girl. I was half elf, half hobbit and an elven princess. what more could I ask for?
As we finished talking, I heard a knock on the door.
"Come in!" I called out to the person beyond the door. I prayed and hoped that it was the rider Eowyen had sent out to go find Merry and Pippin. The large wooden doors swung open, letting in a draft from the hallways. Oh great, who else could it be? Grima, hunched over and slumped down.
"The king has told to inform the guests that it is time for supper. Join us." He snarled. I could tell that he was not happy I was still here and the King knew that. I planned on getting him caught.
"Okay. Thank you. We were actually just on our way." Boromir said cheerily, unaware to the tension between Grima and I. I balled my fists and clenched my jaw. My whip was sat by my side, ready to go into action. I stood up from the seat and followed Boromir as he followed Grima down they hallway. As we walked, I could Grima muttering something that only I could hear with my special elvish hearing.
"Humans, mortals! Telling the king what to do! Preposterous! I will find a way to get rid of them before the day ends." he snickered to himself at the end. I stopped walking and stood there, re-listening to what he said in my head. Ridding us from the castle, or from existence? I felt sick and did not want to proceed. Boromir had been walking on, when he noticed I was not by his side. He stopped and turned around, and came striding down the hall quickly.
"Hurry Alice. What is the matter? We must get to Supper. We cannot show up late. We need to go with the man." he told me, taking my arm. I shook it away.
"No. Boromir, I just heard him. He said that he wants to rid of us by the end of the day! He doesn't like us here. I think that because I told the King that the Uruk Hai were coming for the kingdom's, he became mad, like he didn't want the King to know about the invasion! He doesn't like us!" I warned Boromir. He looked at me as if I had grown a tail.
"Don't be silly! Grima seems perfectly harmless. Sure he is a bit odd, but why would he have a reason to hate us? Come on." This time, Boromir dragged me with him. All I could do was go along with him. He wouldn't believe me. I sighed, would anyone?
We reached the dining hall just in time for the final meal to start. Eowyen stared down at her plate and only looked up when I entered the room. I caught her gaze and quickly took my place next to her. She resumed looking down at her plate.
"So, what happened when you left?" She asked me.
"Oh, Boromir and I began to talk some more and we are on good sides with each other, but he doesn't believe that Grima is....evil! I tried to tell him, but he just won't believe. Boromir just thinks he is an odd person. It seems like everyone has pity on him." I told her my sorrow. She nodded her head.
"I told you. No one would believe. They all carry pity on him. Even after you left when he threw you down the stairs, the men rushed over to him and asked him if he was okay. It seems like he has everyone but us under a spell. I start to worry that he will turn everyone against the greater good and we will be doomed." She sighed and looked back at her plate, playing with the roast chicken that sat, lonely on her plate. I stared at my own.
"We are going to be screwed." I told her. She looked up at me with confusion.
"What do you mean by being screwed?" She asked. I tried to remember what it meant. Was that a word from the old world.
"I think it means that same as doomed." I shrugged. She took it in and thought about it.
"Screwed...screwed. Yeah, we're screwed." She said.I laughed a little. She sounded so funny saying that word. I looked back down at my plate and began to eat. It was sooo good! After my first plate, I grabbed another one and began to scarf down as much food as I possibly could with out getting any crazy looks from everyone else at the table. Eowyen was able to stop me quickly enough.
"Slow down. You are going to eat the whole table before we even reach the end of the night." She joked. I laughed quietly. I caught Grima glancing at me. I looked him dead in the eye and mouthed, "I know who you are! Die." His eyes widened and I could see the terror in his eyes. Then the mean, menacing, evil, demented part of him came back. what the hell did i just do?
The end of the night drew near and I was even more afraid to go asleep. Grima knew that I was of high importance to some people and wouldn't take any risks to kill me or get rid of me. I was scared that I had messed with the monster too much. My hands were sweating and my feet began to ache. My head spun and I was trying to keep calm and not show any emotion. As this went on, talking began to commence. this would be the perfect time to escape un noticed by that slimy creature. As he was talking to one of the new men that had arrived today, I slunk out of my chair and onto the ground. not even Eoywen noticed. I got onto my hands and knees and began to crawl quickly across the cold, marble floor. The corridors were just a couple feet away.I think I was about to make it......I dashed up and made it safely away and into the dark corridors were I could slip secretly un-noticed by anyone who might be lurking in the shadows. As I walked across the marble floor in my bare feet, I could feel the cold draft leak up into my body, cooling it down, calming me from my previous panic attack that I had. I felt safe now. Soon, merry and Pippin would be here and then, hopefully, Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas would come back and we would be reunited. Well, some of us. Gandalf was still dead and Frodo was with Sam and they were in Mordor. Let's just say that the majority of our group would be together. I smiled at the thought of being together. we would be safe. I walked even quicker and I got closer to the room.
"What are you doing?" I heard a quiet voice asked me from behind my back. Scared out of my wits, I turned around and shoved that person into the wall and they crashed into it. I held them there.
"What do you want with me! What do you want!" I yelled out. The person grabbed my shoulders and stepped into the light.
"Alice what is wrong with you. It's just me." Boromir said.
"Son of a gun! You scared me! Don't do that again!" I scolded him.
"What is the matter. You've been acting psychotic ever since we got here?"
"It's Grima. He's is going to kill us. Or me...I don;t know. He hates us!" I told him. I could feel my hands shaking as I told Boromir my worries. He looked at me like I was crazy.
"It's okay. Don't worry, he won't hurt us-"
"BOROMIR!! DUCK!" I yelled at him. Grima had come up behind him with one of the weapon swords that had been hanging from the wall and taken it down. Then he had advanced toward us. Boromir ducked and I grabbed my whip that was at my side. I untangled it and held the firm grip. I lashed it out and it caught onto his hand. I sharply pulled back and it let him go with major rope burn. He hissed and turned back around and ran away. I stood there, shaking in my bare feet. oh god...oh god....oh god...I panicked and shivered. Boromir stood up and walked over to me.
"Okay, maybe I should have listened to you. Come on let's go." He pointed out that I was right.
"Yeah, I told you, but nooo no one listens to the small, elf/hobbit girl who is going to have a baby!" I told him. Truth was, I was really scared. I knew that I was acting out on my part to be tough, but I was scared. I wanted my Hobbits back. Why hadn't the rider come quicker? I sighed and walked down the long halls to the last room.
"Goodnight." Boromir said as he patted my head.
"Wait!" I called out for him.
"What?"
"Can you stay."
"Why?"
"Because....I-I-I'm scared!" I told boromir what I felt and he sighed again and nodded in agreement.
"I better get some sleep though."
"You will. Don't worry." I told him. He followed me into my room and walked out onto the balcony. I jumped right into the bed. It nice and warm, soft and cozy. It reminded me of the Shire. How I missed the Shire. Becoming one of the Shire folk was one of the best things in my whole entire life.
I laid in the bed, thinking about the Shire and how dearly I missed it. I also missed having that second person next to me: Pippin. By this time now, we would be chatting away about what we did today or what we saw. Sometimes he would crack a joke or two and I would laugh. Then, he would tell me how much he loved me and then we would both drift off into sleep. I had high hopes for the Rohanian rider that we had sent out to go find them and bring them back. Hopefully, he would bring them back in one piece. My heart skipped a beat and down in my belly, I knew that the baby felt the same way.
"Don't worry. Shh..." I told the baby. Then I thought of an idea. What if I sang to it? Of course I didn't know any songs. I would have to make them up as I went.
"Uhhh...errr.. Home is behind, the world ahead. And there are many paths to tread. Through shadow, to the edge of night. Until the stars are all alight. Mist and shadow, cloud and shade. All shall fade....All..shall..........fade.
"That was beautiful. Where did you learn that song?" Boromir had stepped out of the cool air and into my room. I jumped a little.
"Oh, nothing. Just a little song I made up. I don't have a very good voice, so I am hoping that Pippin can sing to the baby...he has such a lovely voice. I sighed and thought of him singing that to me....
"Even if your not......one does not simply make up wonderful songs from scratch like that." He told me. I blushed and smiled.
"Thank you very much."
"Do you still want me to stay?" He asked, he walked toward the giant, looming doors.
"Yes! Please! I am still scared. I don't feel safe. And I won't feel safe until the others arrive. No offense, but with the two of us, not much will happen if we try to rid the castle of Grima, but if everyone came and showed what a....fake he is!" I thought of the idea of victory. "Then....then we could get the revenge!" I saught out pride and joy with this. I was also hoping for a compliment from Boromir, but I got the opposite. He strided back over to the bed and sat down on the side.
"Don't try. I know that path you are going down. You want revenge and everything good to come with it. But trust me, being evil to someone who was evil to you won't help a thing. If you give in to the temptation, then you can never get out. Just keep calm and let the others arrive. I think that we have a chance to rid him. Just not so....evil.." He trailed off. I sighed and nodded. Boromir was right. I should stop trying to be so menacing and intimadating about everyone i encounter, especially people like Grima.
"Good night. I will see you in the morning hopefully. Pleaseeeee don't leave me here by myself." I pleaded him to stay with me through the night. If he left, who knew what Grima could do.
"I promise I will not leave this room and If I do then may someone put a curse on me." he said lamely, Then he took a seat outside in the Balcony, looking out over the gracious landscape that Rohan had provided us. I nestled my head deeper into the pillow and repeated my new song over and over until, the lyrics were drifting into my head as I fell asleep.
My dreams weren't pleasant, but then again, they were not nightmares either. I was stuck in a blank space in my mind. With no where to go, but only to think and float. Let me tell you, I think i bore my self awake. I opened my eyes and looked around. I was still in the room and I was still okay. I peered over the bed and looked out at the balcony. Boromir had fallen asleep in the chair. Feet up on the railing and the chair tipped back, his hand on his sword. I breathed a sigh of relief. I sat up and the covers were strewn about. The sun was already up and it burst through every window that was in my room. I carefully got up and my feet touched the warm ground. I was still in the elvish garments that had come form Rivendell. I needed to change, so I walked around my room and found a nice dress. It had a mint green corset torso and a beige body color. The shoulder puffed out a little and the arms extended past my hands. I took the dress down and slipped into the bathroom. I closed the door and began to undress. as I was, I caught my self in the mirror, I stood sideway and looked at myself. You could barely see the bump potruding, but it was there, just barely though. I took the dress and quickly put it on. When I did, I looked at myself. Oh! i was so pretty. The dress flowed around me perfectly, like most did. When I was done, I left the bathroom and went out to the balcony to wake Boromir.
"Hey, wake up...." I told him. He started awake and jumped, when he saw it was me, he calmed down and stood up.
"It's nice to see you still alive. I think I've done my job well." He grinned and fitted his sword back into it's holding case. I had already tied the whip underneath the dress with a pair of Hobbit shorts.
"Yes. I think that breakfast has started and I think that maybe the rider has returned with Merry and Pippin." I told him with excitment. I couldn't wait to see them.
"don't get your hopes up. But you are right, we shoulnd't be late for breakfast." Boromir stood up and straightened his outfit. I nodded and we progressed out of the room. On our way out, we were met by Grima, who still was snaking around like he owned the place. I wanted to change that soo bad. And I as going to.
"Hey, Boromir, I think I might go back to the room. I think I forgot something." i told him. He stopped and turned around.
"Oh okay." he stood there.
"You can go ahead." I told him.
"Nooo, i think I will stay right here." He seemed wary near me.
"I won't do anything. I promise. Trust me!" I pleaded and crossed my fingers behind my back. I lied.
"Fine. Go ahead." He kept walking. Ha, foolish man. I felt so sorry that he had been deceived by a 18 year old. I grinned and ran back to the room. Before I entered, I looked all around for Grima. No sign of him. Had he left already? I entered the room silently and scanned the area. From the corner of the room, where a large closet stood, I heard movement. This time, I went for my sword. It was laying on the bed in it's case. I pranced over and quietly took it out, pointing it out, I turned in a circle and kept walking. I tip toed over to the closet and held my sword out before me, ready to strike at anything that moved. I slid up against the wall and flat up against it. I peeked my head out and peered into the closet. A person wandered around the large room, looking for something. Black clothing and stringy hair. His pale skin...I jumped out, "Ah-hah!" I yelled. The person jumped and snapped around so quickly, I thought they had broken their spine. Grima put his hands up, scared and frightened, but once he saw it was me, he pulled them down and grinned sneakily.
"Look who it is. never one to back down. Always one to hold a grudge." He chuckled and coughed.
"What were you doing in here? You have no buisness here!" I told him, inching closer, sword at the ready.
"Oh, well since you mentioned that you were having some....guests coming, I thought that maybe I should find something of yours or theirs and....use it as an idea to greet them." He frowned.
"What was it! What did you take?!" I thrust forward with the sword, and he jumped back, narrowly missing the blade. I huffed in anger that I did not thrust the blade into his heart at that time.
"Oh...just this. I hope you won't miss it..." He removed his hand from his cloak and out fell from his fingers, my locket. I gasped. How did he get that.
"How did you get that!" I searched my neck. I had been wearing it the whole time. When had he taken it.
"Simple. When You were sleeping and your "guard" had fallen asleep, I snuck in to....well, I was going to end your life, but....I had pity in the small child that was inside you. So, I spared your life. But instead, took this." He chuckled. I reached out my hand to take it, put he pulled back, so the locket was out of my reach. I growled, "Give...it...to...me!" All he did was laugh in my face. That's it! I pulled forward and thrust the swords forward, and he ducked. Then I swung it sideways, barely clipping his ear. I ran toward him and swung it left, trying to lop his head off. He stepped to the side and I tripped forward. I turned and took both hands with the sword and flung it at him. He had to do a backbend and it narrowly missed his whole face. It got wedged in the head boards. I looked at it. He blocked my sword. I walked toward him and tried to casually take the sword, but there was no way he was going to let me pass. I backed away and looked up. Low beams hung from the high ceiling of the closet. Oooh! I had an idea. I backed up away from him and retreated into the entrance I took my whip out and flung it around my head once and snapped it down, just for show. Then, I took a running start and whipped the whip out onto one of the beams. it latched on and I swung right over Grima's head and landed next to the sword. I pulled it out of the wall and snapped my whip back.
"Hand me the locket....now." I growled quietly. I scared myself. I sounded insane.
"Never. I need this kind of elvish magic." He gripped it tightly with the hand I had rope burned earlier. I huffed. I had enough of this, I ran at him and pushed him up against the wall by shock. I held the sword up to his throat.
"What about now. I think you should hand it over." I told him. He gulped and shook his head.
"Like I said, never!" I pushed the sword in harder. One more and I could kill him. He writhed with pain and handed my the locket. Just as I was about to end his miserable life, I heard some one running through and grabbing me. Boromir had figured it out.
"What in the HELL are you doing!?" I screeched.
"I knew that took too long ot get something from your room. I'm not stupid." He said. "Like I told you, never give into one's dark side. That never accomplishes anything." He drug me out of the room and Grima fell to the ground, grasping his throat for breath. I cackled. Boromir, stood me up straight and looked me dead in the eye, then without warning, he slapped my gently across the face.
"YOU ARE GOING INSANE!! You have changed. I thought you were strong willed and could handle yourself, but all you do is get yourself into trouble and try to kill people!" Boromir yelled. I snapped back to my real self for once and realized that I had been acting insane.
"Ever since your young Hobbit left, you have been acting like this. Fighting with Gimli, threatning Aragorn, and now trying to kill Grima! Just because you are sad, doesn't mean you put it out on other people! This is about Frodo and Sam getting the Ring to Mordor and destroying it. I felt a tear come to my eye and I began to cry heavily...
"I'm sorry....Boromir.. I-I-I"m sorry." I sniffed and hiccuped.
"It's okay. Don't worry. Now, let's get to breakfast.." He said. I nodded and we went back to our regular schedule...