Star-Crossed

Chapter 51

"The Elven Gate." Gandalf said, turning to the rest of the Company. "Here lies our path through Mirkwood." 

"No sign of the Orcs. We have luck on our side." Dwalin spoke, dismounting his pony. 

"Let the ponies loose." Beuren ordered, nodding to a distant ridge where Beorn paced back and forth, watching them closely. Everyone took that as their que to dismount and unload their pony. 

"This forest feels...sick, as if a disease lies upon it. Is there no way around?" Bilbo said, he looked nervous, and rightfully so. 

"Not unless we go two hundred miles north, or twice that distance south." Gandalf neared Beuren, his eyes trained on an ivy-covered statue. 

"It looks as though this path has been deserted." Beuren said aloud. "Unkept and abandoned." Gandalf seemed to ignore her as he drew closer to the statue. An uneasy feeling settled in the pit Beuren's stomach. She followed the Wizard to the statue, carefully, he reached up drawing back the vines. A red symbol had been painted on the statue, one Beuren was not familiar with. "What is that?" She got closer, reaching her hand out. 

"Beuren don-" Her fingers grazed the symbol. A sharp intake of breath, a shudder, Beuren bowed her head. "Beuren?" She straightened herself, rolling her shoulders, her color had changed, she paled, looked sick. "Beuren, are you alright? You look ill..." A crooked smile graced her lips.
"You should see me in a crown." She drawled, eyes meeting his. Her irises burned, fire flickering in her eyes. 

"Beuren!" Gandalf shouted. 

"She's not here Olórin-"

"BEUREN!" Gandalf boomed. She doubled over, clutching her stomach. Beuren cried out as a sharp pain reached her core, reverberating through her entire body.

"What's going on over there?" Thorin hollered from the other side of his pony. Beuren pitched forward on her hands and knees, vomiting. A moment or two passed and she gasped for breath, staggering to her feet. Turning to Gandalf she wiped the blood form her lips. 

"Alright, I shouldn't have done that." 

"Who was that?" Gandalf snarled.

"What?"

"Who was it?!" He took her by the shoulders.

"A man! I don't know his name! He called himself Mairon and Annatar!" He released her. "He came to me first when I got separated in the mountains. I thought it was a dream." 

"Tell me everything." He strode back towards the company, Beuren hot on his heels. "Not my horse! I need it."

"You're not leaving us?" Bilbo looked startled. 

"I would not do this unless I had to." Gandalf admitted. Beuren had left his side to unsaddle her pony and load her weapons on her person. 

"And where are you off to?" Thorin watched her as she hurriedly gave her rations to Bifur to carry and strapped her quiver to her back. 

"I can't tell you." She moved back towards Gandalf, he was speaking with the Hobbit when she neared. 

"Well, doesn't this sound familiar." She stopped in her tracks. 

"If you have something to say do so now." She barked back at him. 

"Why are you leaving?"

"I have something I must do."

"We are in the middle of taking back a mountain, of fighting a dragon, if you haven't noticed."

"Thorin, this is a little bit bigger than your dragon." She stormed to Gandalf's side, swinging herself onto the horses back behind the wizard. 

"We'll be waiting for you at the overlook, before the slopes of Erebor. Keep the map and key safe. Do not enter that mountain without us." Gandalf spurred his horse into a gallop as Beuren hugged him from behind. "Tell me everything!" He shouted over the wind in their ears. Beuren relayed her tale of the mountain meeting. How taken aback Saruman had looked when she mentioned the name Mairon. What had happened when she touched the symbol.

"It felt as though I was drowning, like I couldn't breathe, I couldn't scream, it was awful. I felt him, Gandalf, holding me below the surface." He was silent for the better part of an hour or two. Frightened by his lack of response, Beuren piped up in hopes of getting a reply. 

"Where are we going?"

"We are on our way to The High Fells of Rhudaur. Lady Galadriel has instructed me to seek out the truth of our enemy." 

"Enemy? What enemy? Gandalf, what's going on?" The Wizard remained silent. Angry, she reached forward and jerked the reins out of his hand, pulling the horse to an abrupt stop.