Wolf of Darkness ||A Lord of the Ring FanFic||

Prologue

She was so unsure of herself. Well, of herself and the sleeping child in her arms.

What was she to do?

Or more so, why was she doing this?

She'd never had a child and growing up with no siblings to speak of, and living in a forest, did nothing for her in relation to the 'experience of children'. And then to be pulled into the journey with none other than thirteen of the worst, most ungrateful dwarves she had ever seen along with a hobbit that bickered and disappeared much too often for her taste. Oh, and let's not forget that wizard. The one that came pounding on her tree and demanding she make a presence at the house of End and Bag the home of some hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, she was always getting these things wrong.

You'd think that with having the ability to see into the future and transform into the most beautiful autumn fox, that she would have been prepared for that wizard. But wizards were the wandering sort and always showed up when least expected and never showed up when needed. They were never late, nor early, they were always arriving when they wanted to arrive.

That was not how she worked.

At least not until they came along. Those thirteen, gruff, rusty, big-mouthed dwarves.

After that first week, she gave up trying to understand them and just went along with her own thing. Hunting for her own meal and sharing with them when they were too lazy to get their own. Ah, she use to despise dwarves... and wizards for that matter, but now she had a new sense of understanding at she stared at the sleeping form of her daughter.

Her husband knew what she was doing. He knew that she was giving the child to the elves, in a hopes that she would be able to learn control. She was a rare one, the mother was. An elf with the father of a shifter and the mother of a long-dead high elf. The hybrid ability to foresee and change into a fox at will made her special. But her daughter, she seemed to be even greater than herself. She had hoped that her child would be spared, especially with the race of Men as her father, but no. If anything her aura was much stronger.

Elwing adjusted the girl in her arms. She had wanted to name her, but she knew with a name came the want to care and raise her, and her daughter couldn't be with herself in any way. She was far too unpredictable to be the mother of this child. Perhaps, once she grew up Elwing would visit her and make things right, but for now she must cut all ties and pray the elves will be generous. The house of Elrond is not one to be underestimated but the Mirkwood forest was not for a child with too much power, and she feared to take her to Lothlórien. The high elves would do unthinkable things with her daughter.

No, she must stop thinking and put the child where she would be cared for.

In the path of a ranger with too much love to hold for himself, and a heart as pure as gold. He would train her. He knew the craft of every animal and race, and the weapons he used would be good for her to train with and learn control.

Elwing had seen him. She knew where he would walk when the moon was high. She knew that she was about to change his future, but if she didn't, Gondor would never gain their rightful king, and Aragorn would die a man of the North with no title to put on his tombstone. Besides, Lady Arwen needed a small push too, a child in the ranger's hands will need a woman's touch. If the 'seeing' spoke true, Arwen would be perfect.

Elwing stopped before the river. She dare not cross it, least be washed away and the journey be for nothing. Besides, she had a loving husband waiting for her just past the Misty Mountains to ride with her home to Rohan, a dunking and a drowning would do nothing for his already sad spirit at the loss of his first born and the giving away of his second.

She could detect the ranger's footfalls and pulled the child close. The child. How quickly she gave away her rights to the baby.

"Be safe, sweet girl." She whispered, staring past the already growing black mop of hair and speaking in her Elven tongue that she hoped would be passed to the girl. "Do not stray too far from the path I have given you. The ranger will care for you, but don't forget to protect him too. He will need it. You will be his encouragement, but if you stray, you will be his downfall."

The footsteps were much too close now. So with silent tears finally cascading down her cheeks, she laid the baby at the foot of a great pine. She kissed her head once, her silver tears shinning on the light dusting of black.

Pinching the child's arm and jostling her a bit, Elwing woke the girl, who then began to whine at the untimely interruption. Elwing tried to smile at the pale, blue eyes staring at her, but couldn't. So instead she stood and left without once looking back.

"What have we here?" Said a man's voice, from nearly farther than she wished to be at from her daughter, but she kept going and listened no longer. The child was safe.

>>>~~~~~~><~~~~~~<<<

So, there you have the prologue. It was supposed to be my Christmas present to y'all, but with just getting home from an eighteen day road trip, I completely forgot.

Tell me what you think, please.

-author

12/27/15