The Girl and the Orc 2

The Message

      Rain sat, patiently waiting for Lord Elrond to come out of a meeting he was having with several important members of the other races of Middle Earth. This meeting was supposedly a matter of life and death. Rain couldn't see what was so important about this meeting though. She was a bit hurt that Elrond had so quickly pushed her out of the room as his 'more important' friends showed up at Rivendell. She was trying to ask him about her mission. About what exactly he had planned for her to do.
     You see, after the mishap with the Tigers and the Pirates at the island, and the whole thing about her blowing up Blackbeard with a rock, strange things had started to happen. Her rock seemed to have gotten a mind of it's own. It glowed at random times of the day, sometimes making a strange buzzing noise. It was like it was warning her about something. Something bad.
     What was even worse though, was that she kept having dreams. They were strange dreams, and she could never really remember what they were about. However, one thing she would never forget was the strange dark figure she saw in these dreams. It was tall, and completely covered by a shadow, a shadow of death and despair. The figure loomed over her, laughing a horrible, sick, disturbing laugh. Rain would always wake up just as the figure began to laugh, in a cold sweat. Sometimes with tears running down her face. Rain knew her dreams meant something, but she didn't know what. All she knew was that she had to talk to Elrond. He would know what to do to stop the nightmares. Horrible, sick, twisted nightmares.
     She shuddered to herself as she thought on this subject. The girl had to get her mind off these dreams. They were driving her insane. Rain felt like she was loosing her mind. She stood up and walked down the long hallway, looking for something to distract her mind as she waited for Lord Elrond.
    That's when she stopped in her tracks.
     There was that buzzing noise again.

     She pulled the blue stone out of her pocket and looked down at it. It was glowing again. This time it was vibrating too. A feeling of dread washed over the girl. Something bad was about to happen. Something horribly, terribly bad.
     The stone soon began to turn colors, from blue to yellow to red and back to blue. Rain's eyes grew wide, this had never happened before. The rock suddenly began to heat up, causing the girl's palm to burn. Rain dropped the rock in pain, tears stun her eyes. A red welt was already starting to form from where the stone burned her. What was going on?!
      A laughed echoed through the hallway. The same, sick, horrible, disgusting laugh. This was bad, this was really, really, bad.
      Rain felt a presence come up behind her. Something hit the back of her neck, like a warm breath. A hot, warm, sick breath.
      This girl turned around. Sure enough, there was the same dark figure from her dreams. Just as tall, just as menacing, just as horrible. She pressed her back up against the wall, there was no where for her to run. The figure leaned over her, laughing again, although there was no mouth to show a smile. It was just laughing.
     "Wha-what do you want?" Rain's voice trembled with fear. She was trying to be brave, she was trying not to break down and cry. Something in her gut said that this thing would be the death of her, if not now, sometime soon.
      "We want nothing from you," said a voice, or rather, many voices at once, all echoing together into one horrible, rasping sound. "We want the ring."
     "I don't have a ring," Rain argued.
      "No, of course you don't. But someone does. Someone here. A hobbit, a little hobbit with a ring. It's too bad, that such a little hobbit would carry such a large burden."
      Rain was honestly confused, "Then why are you talking to me? I can't help you."
     "On the contrary. We have a message for your Elf King... Elrond. Tell him we know the hobbit is coming. Tell him that we know. Check Mate."
      The only thing Rain could do was nod. She gulped as the dark figure lingered over her, laughing once more, before dispersing into shadow.
      "We will meet again."
      As soon as he, or it, or they, or whatever that thing was, Rain slid down the wall of the hallway onto her knees. Trying to get a grasp on what had just happened. Her heart was in the pit of her stomach, she knew that this meant trouble.
      "Rain."
       The girl looked up, in front of her stood her dearest friend, Bogwater the Uruk.
       "Where have you been? Elrond says he's ready to meet with you now."
       "I-I-..." her voice trailed off, trying to figure out what to say, how to word her thoughts.
     "Rain? What's wrong?" Bogwater looked down at her with concerned eyes, "Are you sick?"
     Rain pointed at the rock, which was still laying on the floor, "It started glowing again." She had told him about the glowing already, she just hadn't said anything about the dreams. Now she knew that somehow the two were connected.
      "Rain, you look like you just saw a ghost. What on earth happened?" The Orc demanded.
     "I... well, I've been having weird dreams, and the figure from the Dream just showed up and gave me a message for Elrond. Something about a ring and a hobbit. Check Mate."
      "Check Mate?" 
       Rain shuddered, crossing her arms around her body as if to protect her, "It was awful."
       Bogwater crouched down next to the girl, "Hey, it will be okay. I won't let whatever it was scare you again. Let's go to Elrond. He'll know what to do."
        All Rain did was nod.
       Bogwater took the girl's hand, studying her palm, "What happened here? How did you burn yourself?"
      "The rock vibrated and got hot."
      "Has it ever done that before?"
       Rain shook her head.
      The Uruk helped the girl up to her feet and picked up the rock, handing it to the girl. He felt deeply concerned about her, nothing had ever shaken her to her core like this before, at least not that he'd seen. He didn't like it. He didn't like how her eyes were clouded over or her face was drained of all her rosy color. Something about this thing she saw must be bad news for them, especially if it had anything to do with the glowing rock.
      Bogwater and Rain walked side-by-side back down the hallway to where Lord Elrond was waiting for the two. Bogwater and Rain's other companion, Havish, was already there, sitting at a long table. The Elven King and the old man both stood up as the couple entered the room.
     "What's going on?" Havish spoke up first, "You both look like you saw the devil himself."
      Bogwater and Rain both sat down at the table with their friends. Rain held the stone in her palms as Bogwater began to explain the situation.
     "Rain says a figure came to her, the same one that she had been seeing in her dreams." 
       The girl interjected as she stuffed the rock back in her pocket, "It said that it knew about the ring, and the hobbit. That it was ready. What does that mean?"
       Elrond lowered his head in his hands, this was bad. "The figure you saw, could have been a messenger for Saraoun. It means he knows our plans"
       "What plans?" questioned Havish.
       "The Ring is the ring that he wants. The one ring to rule them all. The hobbit, Frodo, is going to go to the Mount of Doom and toss it into the fires. That's the only way to destroy it. Once it's destroyed, he is vanquished. This is the last hope for us. This is the last thing we know to do."
       "So if he knows, that means he can prepare for it," Bogwater frowned. No wonder Rain was so upset over this.
       "Exactly. Then the war will be lost, and the whole earth will plummet into darkness."
      "So how can we help?" questioned Rain, "How can we keep Saraon distracted enough so he doesn't have as much time to prepare for Frodo?" This seemed like their only option. If he had time to prepare, all would be lost. There had to be some way to distract him.
     "You have been practicing vaporizing with your rock, correct?" Elrond questioned in return.
      Rain gave a sharp nod.
      "Then I think I know what we could do."