The Daugher of Elrond {Ongoing} Of Every Race Saga Book II

Chapter 24: The Ring Goes South

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Btw, dedication for this chapter goes to....(drumroll please)...  Sadako_Kuren  for the wonderful comment last chapter!!!!! It was a hard choice, but remember, you never know, you might be next!

A chill wind howled its blustering way across the hills and plains of the barren lands south east of Rivendell. Celebwen wrapped her worn cloak more tightly around herself. Ahead, one of the hobbits stumbled on a loose stone. The sun shone done brightly from a clear sky devoid of clouds, but though its cheerful light enhearted them all, it gave little warmth and the biting gusts of winter's icy breath seemed to pierce their clothing with relative ease.

Silently, Legolas came up and walked beside her. They had been journeying for a fortnight, living solely on cold food and sleeping on hard cold ground, waking each morning with frost lying stifly on their clothes, but she was used to it. Many times Celebwen felt a slight feeling of impatience at the pase they were traveling, remembering how she had crossed the same ground in at least half the time it was taking them now....

Presently, Gandalf halted, his hand on Frodo's shoulder. The rest gathered round and listened to what he had to say. '"We have done well," he said. "We have reached the borders of the country that Men call Hollin; many Elves lived here in happier days, where Eregion was its name. Five-and-forthy leagues as the crow flies we have come, though many long miles further our feet have walked. The land and the weather will be milder now, but perhaps all the more dangerous."

'"Dangerous or not, a real sunrise is a might welcome," said Frodo, throwing back his hood and letting the morning light fall on his face.

'"But the mountains are ahead of us," said Pippin. "We must have turned eastwards in the night."

'"No," said Gandalf. "But you see futher ahead in the clear light. Beyond those peaks the range bends round south-west. There are many maps in Elrond's house, but I suppose you never thought to look at them."

'"Yes, I did, sometimes," said Pippin, "but I don't remember them. Frodo has a better head for that sort of thing."

'"I need no map," said Gimli, who had come up with Legolas, and was gazing out before him with a strange light in his deep eyes. "There is the land where our fathers worked of old, and we have wrought the image of those mountains into many works of metal and of stone, and into many songs and tales. They stand tall in our dreams: Baraz, Zirak, and Shathûr. Only once have I seen them from afar in waking life but I know them and their names, for under them likes Khazad-dûm, the Darrowdelf, that is now called the Black Pit, Moria in the Elvish tongue. Yonder stands Barazinbar, the Redhorn, cruel Caradhras; and beyond him are Silvertine, and Cloudyhead: Celebdil the White, and Fanuidhol the Grey, that we call Zirakzigil and Bundushathûr. There the Misty Mountains divide, and between their arms lies the deep-shadowed valley which we cannot forget: Azanulbizar, the Dimrill Dale, which the Elves call Nanduhirion."

'"It is for the Dimrill Dale that we are making," said Gandalf. "If we climb the pass that is called the Redhorn Gate, under the far side of Caradhras, we shall come down by the Dimrill Stair into the deep vale of the Dwarves. There lies the Mirrormere, and there the River Silverlode rises in its icy springs."

'"Dark is the water of Keled-zâram," said Gimli, "and cold are the springs of Kibil-nâla. My heart trembles at the thought that I might see them soon."