Lady Hope of Middle Earth

Chapter 29: My New Mission

Hope's POV:

The next morning I wake up to Gandalf shaking me. "Get up, get up now." He says. Confused I stand up. "What's going on?" "I have mission for you." "What is it?" I ask, worried now. What mission could he be coming to me with?

"There are more shifters in Middle Earth, a group of wolves who stick to themselves. We need them. If we're going to win  need you to go and talk to their Alpha, convince them to fight with us. Only then will we see a victory." He says. "Ok, where are they?" He says. 

"About a weeks ride south. You must leave immediately. Change into your armor and go." He says. I nod and with that he's gone. Aragorn walks into the room. He sees me standing there alone and comes over to me, confused. "What's wrong?" "I'm leaving?" He looks shocked. 

"What?" "Gandalf gave me a mission. I'm leaving once I change." I say. "Ok, I'll grab the others and-" "No, I'm going alone." I say. "What? Why?" "Because I'm going to talk to a group of shifters in the south. They might not take well to humans. I need to do this alone." I say. 

He stands there, thinking for a second. Then he grabs bother sides of my face and pulls me into a deep kiss. I tangle my hands in his hair, pulling this closer, as if it's the last kiss we'll ever share. I feel the pang of hunger, but I push it away. I will not let the bloodlust ruin this moment for me. 

I refuse to let it. When we pull away we are both breathing heavily. "Come back to me safe my love." "I will, stay safe while I'm gone." He nods. With one last glance at him I grab my kit and armor and run off to change. 

Once I'm dressed I pull my hair back into a pony tail and braid it. Once I'm done I throw my Lothloríen cloak on and head to the stables. Bell is waiting for me. I saddle her up and climb on. A week. I a week to figure out how to convince a pack to help fight in a human war.

I can only hope I'm persuasive. With that I nudge Bell and she takes off running. We ride all day, stopping to rest when it gets late, but then we're off at first light. I hunt every once in a while, but other than that I stop to let Bell rest. 

We've been going full speed for days now and she's a trooper. She's always ready to go in the morning and doesn't fight me at night. A day ago I started to fee my necklace on my chest pulse. There's only one thing that can mean. Aragorn is in trouble. 

He's in danger and there's nothing I can do except finish my mission. I have to finish my mission. Finally, after seven long and tiring days of riding I see the place Gandalf spoke about. It's night by now and the trees seem daunting. There have been mostly plains and hills on this ride. 

This is the first sign of a forest we've come across. When I reach the edge of the woods I get off Bell and face her. "Go back to Edoras. Thank you friend." I say, petting her head. She nudges my hand before turning and walking off. Sighing I turn to face the woods. 

There are no sounds, not even crickets. It's early quiet. Then I hear it. A howl. I'm defiantly in the right place. I decide to shift so that when I reach them they don't automatically attack me. Once in wolf form I slowly walk into the forest, keeping my guard up. 

I cannot let them overtake me before I can defend myself. As I walk deeper I hear growls. I can hear eyes on me. It's unnerving. They let me pass through, knowing what I am. They want to go deeper, to cut myself off more from the outside world. 

The deeper I go into the woods the less trees there are. I smell a fire that has been put out. I'm getting close. Suddenly there is a growl from behind me. I whip around and stand ready when I see a large grey, black, and white wolf in front of me. It's defiantly a male. He growls at me. 

He doesn't trust me. I have no clue how to signal to them that I am not a threat. I then realize something. It's not a full moon, but he's in wolf form. Maybe shifters are different from werewolves. I wonder. I groan as I shift back into human form and stand up. 

"My name is Hope Mikaelson. I've come to talk." I say firmly, hoping that he doesn't try to eat me. Something registers in his face when he hears me. He retreats back into the trees. What? "Hey! I have to talk to you! Please!" I call out. 

I hear the sounds of bones cracking and the sound of clothes being put on. I hear footsteps approaching. Human footsteps. Several pairs. At least two maybe more. They stay in the trees, observing me. 

For a second I wonder if there's a limit to how many times you can shift in the armor, but when I look down that is no the case. "Come out! Show yourself!" I yell, wanting this whole thing to be over with. I just want to get back to Aragorn. 

I can feel the necklace pulsing harder and harder which means he's in even more danger than I feared, but I can't dwell on that. The way to help Aragorn is to get these shifters to fight Sauron with us. "You know, yelling has never gotten you anything." I hear a woman's voice says. 

That voice. There's no mistaking that voice. "What are you playing at?" I ask. She doesn't answer. Instead two people walk out of the shadows. My eyes widen. My heart begins to pound. Tears flood my eyes as I take in who is standing right in front of me. "Impossible." I mutter. 

"You should know nothing is impossible, my littlest wolf." The man says, smiling at me. In front of me stand two people that died. Two people that I never thought I would see again. "Mom? Dad?"