The Elven Gates [CONTINUING!!]

Chapter Thirteen

The wind continued howling and the snow kept falling. We could hear almost nothing over the harsh winds blowing from East through the mountain pass. I was surprised even Legolas could hear something over the endless noise.

"There is a fell voice on the air!" he exclaimed, turning to Gandalf.

"It is Saruman! He is trying to bring down the mountain!" Aragorn called to the wizard.

"Nurta! [hide]" I yelled to the others, "Tessa sinta amin, hold onto me, I'll protect you!" I grabbed the hobbits and dove behind a small rock ledge. Snow was falling off the cliff above us in large chunks. I could barely breathe, and when I did it was in short, ragged gasps full of panic. I heard small screeches as some members of the fellowship were pulled under the snow, and I was thankful for our clever hiding place.

But it seemed our rock ledge wasn't good enough. Another chunk of snow fell from the cliff above and buried us. I was encased in total darkness, and the cold was enveloping me. The icy arms of the snow were tempting me to stay, to forget about the quest, and the ring, and Middle Earth itself, and simply stay here in the illusion of safety. I heard Gandalf's muffled voice as he shouted elvish spells back at the wizard, and commanding the mountain to calm itself, but none of them affected the storm at all. My head ached from the cold snow, and I tried to move but I was stuck in place. I tried to remember what the people on those "Surviving Shows" on TV said to do in quicksand. Something about 'the more you struggle the deeper you are pulled in', right?

I felt a warm hand dig through the snow and yank me out my the elbow. I looked up to see Boromir and smiled. But I looked past him and I'm sure he the saw fear and sadness plastered across my face because he whipped around to see what I was looking at.

"NARWA!" I screamed, running to the edge of the cliff, where I fell to my knees. The only thing I had seen was the last wisps of his black mane tumbling over the cliff. I looked down to see a small horse figure falling towards the dark bottom of the ravine.

"Narwa," I shuddered and my face fell to my knees, "Narwa no." My shudders soon turned to whimpers, and the whimpers turned to sobs as I sat on the edge of the cliff. For those few moments I left the horrid world of Evil Overlords and Rings of Power, it was just me and the first horse I had ever known falling to his death.

It almost felt obnoxious, while some members of the fellowship were fighting for their lives every day, or had watched their families die and had never shed a tear, I was sitting on the ground crying over a horse. Would they be mad at me? Or embarrassed?

'No' I thought, 'they should understand your sadness. Suck it up Rhoe.'

I felt Legolas's hand on my shoulder and turned my tear-stained face towards him.

"We must be moving Rhoevien. Though I am sorry for your loss, this is no time to grieve. His death was not in vain, and he was a noble steed in all his time here in Arda."

"Yes he was," I mumbled. This was Saruman's doing, he was responsible for Narwa's death. This lit a fire of hatred within me towards the White Wizard.

I remembered being placed in Losse's saddle before falling asleep, to the sound of Legolas's elvish prayer for Narwa.

"Rhoevien, wake up." A whisper filled my ear. I unburied my face from Losse's mane and looked up to see a great stone wall.

"The walls... of Moria!" Gimli exclaimed and jumped around in little circles.

"How did we end up here?" Aragorn asked, "I thought Frodo decided to follow through to the Gap of Rohan." Frustration was clearly evident in his voice.