Roswehn of Mirkwood

The Misty Mountains

Thranduil was right.
The way through the Misty Mountains was almost impractical, there was a path that Feren had drawn on her map and that the girl should have followed, a narrow path full of boulders, ledges, and rubbish of earlier travelers.

Once arrived at the beginning of the path, her horse Eléntari had not wanted to go back to Mirkwood, so the girl had to hold her by the bridle, and to proceed in front of her.

"If you fall, I'll let you go, know this. I will not be dragged down with you." She said to the animal. "Feren warned me, you're more stubborn than a donkey!"

It had already been very hard to cross the Anduin River, she had to thank her beloved King for having let her take a boat. Even in that case, the size of the horse had been a problem, the boat was about to sink in the journey. But that was the nature of Elves' horses: they grew fond of their masters, and refused to leave them.
Now, Roswehn had to understand how to make the animal proceed on that road that not even an ibex could have crossed easily.

At midday, and after several frights, the two managed to get to the center of the mountains, where the temperature dropped significantly. July, with its heat, had melted the glaciers, but it was still possible to see some snow on the peaks.
Roswehn put on a cloak. "I'll get sick here ... if I do not fall in that ravine first."

Suddenly, she heard a sound. Like the scream of the eagle, but longer, and penetrating. Elentári got scared and walked back, pulling the reins.

"Don't be scared, it's just a bird." she whispered to calm the animal. But the horse did not calm down at all. Elentári began to neigh, and shook her massive head to free herself from Roswehn's grip. "Gods...what are you doing...daro, daro!" she yelled in elvish. Daro meant stop now! she had often heard it from the Elves when they were training the young horses.

The human girl looked over her head, to understand where that high scream came from. She saw nothing, no eagles, nor hawks. Nothing. She scanned the walls of rock and saw an uneven surface, some caves, and the thick mist that gave its name to the Misty Mountains. The woman's attention was attracted by one of the caverns on the other side of the cliff: its entrance seemed wider than the others. She stared at it for a moment and saw a movement, or rather, saw something. Something that was watching her. From that distance, she saw a form with undefined outlines, but she had the strong impression that it was an animal.

She felt a chill, and turned back to Elentári, which was terrified. "You'll fall down, if you do not stop! Calm down, please!" she implored the animal. The female horse lifted her head again and neighed, and Roswehn felt a warning in that. Watch out!

She heard a new noise. This time, it was like a flap of wings...giant wings. It only lasted a few seconds, Roswehn looked up quickly, but in that space she saw nothing. Whatever creature had flown over the ravine, it was gone.

She pulled the reins again. "Now you have to move, I will not stay in this cold place all day ..."
Elentàri, however, had no intention to move forward; she kept lifting her big head as if to indicate something in the air. Roswehn looked up, right above them.
The rock wall was gray, with various bluish streaks due to ice residues. But there was a stain in the middle, a white spot.
The stain moved.
At first slowly, then with greater speed that thing moved towards them, descending to the path.

Roswehn's eyes widened and she felt her heart lose a beat. She tried to look beyond the mist and noticed immediately claws: they were a kind of long white fingers, and they were attached to huge white membranes.
They reminded her of immense bat wings. Two red eyes appeared from the haze, with thin slits in place of the pupils.
She immediately thought of the eyes of a snake.
She also saw two large black nostrils, which opened and closed to sniff out those two unexpected guests. To sniff her.