The Road Ahead

Boromir had his head back against the tree, breathing heavily. I touched his shoulder. "Boromir?" He opened his eyes, meeting mine as his eyes widened.

"They took the little ones." He told me desperately, his voice hoarse. Aragorn approached us, and after a moment, he was kneeling beside me.

"It's okay…we'll find them. Don't worry." I murmured, taking his hand. "Boromir?" I choked on the words, swallowing hard as I tried not to cry. "Please…you're fine. You will be fine. You are going to show me your great city, remember." My fingers went down to the arrows. "I'll get them out…"

"Leave them." He murmured, smiling tiredly at me.

"Aragorn…you can..." I felt wetness run down my face as I pleaded with the solemn looking man kneeling beside me. Once more, I touched the arrows lodged in my friend's chest. "Please…"

"Leave them, Anne." Boromir ordered quietly, his hand rising weakly to touch my arm. A thousand smart retorts came to mind, but I couldn't say any of them. I felt someone approach, and I pulled out a dagger, ready to kill them, but it was Aragorn who knelt beside me, hands going to Boromir's chest. Maybe he could heal him, I thought desperately, but Aragorn closed his eyes then, dropping his head for a moment, and I clamped a hand over my mouth, forcibly keeping back the sob. Aragorn stared at Boromir, heartbroken and weary as he touched his friend's shoulder, and I moved to the other side of the tree, hiding my face in my knees, my arm behind me and wrapped around the trunk as I held tightly to Boromir's hand. He'd know I was there. He wouldn't die alone, even if I was too weak to watch. Behind me, they spoke quietly, but I wasn't listening. I couldn't.

When more footsteps came through the forest, I didn't even look up. If there were more monsters, I had no more fight left in me. So I sobbed into my knees until a hand touched my arm where the arrow stuck out. Flinching sharply, I clumsily unfurled the fan with my right hand, holding it out threateningly at whatever came near me. Boromir's hand went limp in my own, and I dropped the fan, wrapping both arms around my legs, the arrow shifting in my arm. I barely felt it.

Arms wrapped hesitantly around me and all I could think about was Gimli, ranting and yelling outside of Moria, and Aragorn, whose first instinct was to embrace his friend. To give and draw comfort in order to calm him. Letting myself follow my own instincts, I wrapped my arms tightly around the one that held me, clutching them for dear life. I suddenly felt so young…there had been so much death in my short life, and I no longer felt prepared to face any of it. But I had to explain myself. Somehow. So I made myself breathe until I could speak.

"I'm sorry." It was a good place to start, I supposed. My throat ached as I cried, my chest uncomfortably tight, my cheeks hot. "I let them get away. Merry and Pippin…I couldn't stop them. I couldn't save him…"

"None of us alone could have." Aragorn told me quietly, a hand on my back, and I realized it was the dwarf who held me.

"I swore to protect them!" I cried.

"Even had you followed by yourself, there were too many. You could not have fought off an entire army of Orks alone."

"I could have tried." I all but shouted at him, disgusted with myself.

"You would have been killed." Aragorn told me firmly, and I pulled away to glare at him, uncaring of the wet trails on my face.

"Better me than them! Better me than Boromir!" He seemed taken aback at that, and for a long moment, he stared at me strangely, but I continued. "Now what? Gandalf and Boromir are gone. Merry and Pippin have been taken. Frodo has probably left by now. The fellowship is broken, Aragorn!" He was watching me silently while Legolas stared at my arm as though wondering if he could get away with trying to help me now.

"How do you know that Frodo is gone?" Aragorn wanted to know.

"He planned on leaving us, you have to know that. He spoke to the lady Galadriel." He stared at me and I rolled my eyes. "I eavesdropped, alright?" It was hardly the worst crime I had ever committed.

He was silent for a moment, then shared a look with Legolas. "The sooner we get that arrow out, the sooner we can get started." I stared at him, then at Gimli who was watching the exchange with some of my confusion.

"It has all been in vain." The dwarf spoke softly. "The fellowship has failed."

Aragorn shook his head. "Not if we hold true to each other." The man looked at each one of them, his gaze landing on me. "We will not abandon Merry and Pippin to torment and death, not while we have strength left."

'Remember, young Lady Knight, you have much to do here, and much will rely on you.' Lady Galadriel's words came back, and I took a deep breath. There was still more for me to do here. Pushing away my sorrow, I took a deep breath, then, looking up into the trees, I called out. I was a knight. Keep moving, that was my motto. Don't think, act. I couldn't protect Frodo if he didn't want my protection. I couldn't trail after him and keep him safe. But I could give him the next best thing.

"Mori!" I called, staring up into the trees where I knew my friend was waiting No sooner had my words reached the sky did the bird swoop from the sky, landing on the ground in front of me, staring up at me warily.

"Anne…" The bird spoke so all could understand, and I let the water fill my eyes again. Crouched beside me, Aragorn watched the exchange closely, and Legolas seemed about to tend to my arm, whether or not I was ready for it. Gimli rested a hand on my shoulder, also confused, apparently. Steeling myself, I forced the words out.

"Not since I was ten years old have you left my side, my dearest friend." I reached out, touching the bird's head. It was true. Ron liked to joke that the goddess herself had sent my friend to me to aid me. Or maybe it wasn't a joke. Either way, without my friend, I would have never become a knight. She had given me the idea to lie about who I was, about who my family was, and somehow, it had worked. She had given me the words, telling me what to write so that I would be accepted. How else would a common girl from nowhere be allowed to train as a knight? I pushed the thoughts away, as I always did. I couldn't bear to think of it. "Now I must beg you to."

"Anne-girl…" The bird cocked her head, moving closer, and I wiped a tear away impatiently, reaching out to touch her head.

"I swore, Mori. I swore to protect him. But I can't now, so I am asking you to."

"And what about you?"

"These three will keep me out of trouble, as much as anyone can, I'm sure. They are more than qualified. But I have my mission and now you have yours. Go with Frodo. He needs you." The bird lowered her head, nodding. Silent, she started to go, but I reached out, stroking my friend's feathers. "I'll see you at the end of all this, Morrigan. But…but if I do not…"

Her feathers puffed indignantly. "There's no…"

I spoke over her. "If I do not…if I do not make it to the end of this quest, go home, and tell Ron all about our adventures here. He'll love to hear it. You know how he loves a good story."

"You will tell him yourself, Anne." The bird jumped to my shoulder, head against my ear as she nuzzled. "I love you, my dear girl." She whispered so only I could hear.

"I love you too." I smiled; pulling away and watching my friend fly away. Ignoring the gazes of the others, I waited until my friend was out of sight to meet Aragorn's gaze. Smiling weakly, he touched my uninjured arm.

"Gimli, help me. Legolas, can you get the arrow out?" The elf nodded tersely, moving over to my side and touching the area gingerly.

"I have supplies in my pack…I left it on the shore." Nodding, I accepted his hand up and let him guide me towards the shore. In his ears, as in the ears of Aragorn and Gimli, were Morrigan's final words, spoken only to them. It wasn't until so much later that they told me what she'd said.

"Keep my girl safe. I'm trusting you." It was a request they would take very seriously.

It was a long walk to the beach, full of twisting vines and braches that seemed to grab at me, making it more difficult than it had seemed on the way out. Legolas was watching me, I was sure of it, his eyes on my back as I walked slightly in front of him, wincing when the arrow would snag at a branch. Finally, fed up with the thing, I reached up, but he stopped me. "Do not pull it out…the bleeding will become worse." I glanced down at the place on my arm that was now covered in dried blood, rolling my eyes in irritation. He was right, of course.

"Fine. We can at least cut it shorter." Pulling out the last throwing knife in my boot, and making a mental note to try and find my other ones, I hesitated, then handed it to him. Holding my arm steady, I watched as he carefully cut through the arrow, leaving only the tip and a few inches sticking out of my arm.

"Not much further." He assured me, placing the knife back in my hand, and I moved carefully to replace it in my boot. His arm hovered around my back as though to catch me should the need arise, but I wasn't about to fall. I had humiliated myself enough, first failing the fellowship I had imposed myself upon, and then crying in front of them like a child. So now I wouldn't give them any reason to doubt my ability. Thinking back to Boromir, I glanced back at Legolas.

"We need to bury him." I spoke roughly and then cleared my throat. "Or whatever custom you have here."

If he noticed I was trying not to cry, he did not mention it, thankfully. "Aragorn and Gimli are taking care of it."

"I can help."

"You have an arrow sticking out of your shoulder, Anne. The wound needs to be dressed."

"And then I can help."

"Aragorn and Gimli will take care of Boromir." He spoke with a calm patience that infuriated me. But as always, he seemed to sense this before I spoke, and placed a hand on my shoulder, speaking with some exasperation. "They do it, not because they think you cannot, but because they wish to spare you that pain. Boromir cared deeply for you, as we all do. We have all become like family, and not one of us believes that you are less, or that you cannot fight as well as any of us. You are strong, and brave, and we can rely on you, but none of that will do us any good if you die from an infected wound." I closed my eyes, nodding and walking once more with him as he continued.

"None of us believe you are weak, Anne. You lost someone you cared for. It is, I believe, an experience you have had far too many times for one so young, surely more times than myself." I glanced at him as they walked, noting his sad, far off expression. "My people are all but immortal. We do not often become ill, or injured. In our cities, we are safe and content. When we do experience loss, it is strange and terrible…it can tear us apart. My father lost my mother when I was very young, and to this day he will not speak of it."

The vegetation gave way to beach, and he led my to sit by one of the boats where the bag of medical supplies lay. As he approached, I spoke quietly. "My mother took her own life when I was six." I whispered the words I had spoken to Boromir. "I found her." He lay a hand on my arm near the arrow, and I wondered if he was trying to comfort me or assess the wound. Either way, he watched me, eyes sad and kind all at once. I stared out at the water, wondering if Frodo was on the other side, and if Sam had followed him. "We lived with my aunt. She told me it was my fault…that my mother hated me, and that she…she did it to get away from me."

I waited for him to tell me it wasn't true…what I had always feared people would say. Instead, he cut my sleeve around the arrow, moving carefully so as not to jostle the arrow. "If it was true, then your mother was unwell. Otherwise she could never feel that way about her own child. Your aunt sounds like a cruel woman. It is good that you were able to get away from her." Gently but firmly, he began to dislodge the arrow, making me flinch. Keeping my mind on the mental pain rather than the physical, I went on. Who would he tell?

"She hated me. My aunt. She said I was too outspoken, that I should learn to be quiet." He smiled a bit at that even as he managed to dislodge the arrow and pull the salve out of his bag. Glancing down, I stared at the scar on my palm. He looked down as well.

"She gave you that scar?" It was more of a statement than a question, but I answered him anyway, giving him the full story, which I'd never given anyone else. I supposed he deserved it.

"She caught me trying to steal food…I was always stealing. Even in town…in a past life, I was quite the accomplished little pickpocket. She barely fed us, and my brother was hungry, so whenever she slept, or had her back turned, I stole from her. I spoke back to her when she hit me, so she held my hand to a hot stove. I left a few months later." He was silent, jaw tight as he wrapped a bandage around my arm, then pulled away to look at me. "Do you think we can save them?" I asked then, my voice almost a whisper, tired of speaking about my past. "Merry and Pippin."

"I know we can. And we will." He spoke firmly, touching my uninjured shoulder. "Come. We should salvage as many of your knives and my arrows as we can. Aragorn will want to leave as soon as Boromir is…taken care of." I nodded, standing and moving with him back into the forest.

Boromir's body was placed into a boat, hands on his chest, holding his sword, broken horn beside him. I stood on the shore with a man, an elf, and a dwarf, watching my friend's body disappear over the falls. I cried again, but quietly, the tears dripping down my cheeks. Aragorn placed a hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently, and I reached down, gripping Gimli's hand. The dwarf reached up and touched Legolas's arm, and together they stood, connected, watching their comrade's body go over the falls. I remembered Galadriel's words. I had more to do here. More to accomplish. I may no longer be protecting Frodo, but Merry and Pippin needed me now, and I would not fail them.

Thank you so much to everyone who has read or reviewed this story. I have plans to continue, but some of that depends on wheter there is any interest in this story :)