The Daughter of the Moon Volume I

Chapter 9 : Attack

-If the Elves could fly over the mountains, they could go and get the sun to save us," Gandalf replied. But I need something to work on. I can't burn snow.

-Well," said Boromir, "bodies must serve, as we say at home. The strongest among us must seek a path. Look! Although everything is now covered with snow, our path on our way up went round those rocks down there. That's when the snow started to overwhelm us. If we could reach this point, perhaps it would be easier beyond.

-Well, let's make our way there, you and I," said Aragorn.

Aragorn was the tallest of the Company, but Boromir, slightly shorter in height, was wider and heavier in stature.

He passed in front and Aragorn followed him. Slowly they set out, and soon they were painting hard.

The snow came in places to their chests, and Boromir seemed to swim or dig with his big arms rather than walk.

After observing them for a moment, Legolas turned to the others, with a smile on his face.

-The strongest ones have to look for a path, you said? But I say: let a ploughman plough, but choose an elf to walk and run on the snow!

Then he sprang forward with a ballast, and Frodo noticed for the first time, although he had known it for a long time, that the Elf had no boots, but only light shoes, as he always did, and his feet hardly left any marks in the snow.

-Farewell! he said to Gandalf, laughing. I'm going to get the sun.

Then, with the speed of a runner on firm sand, he set off in a hurry, and, having quickly caught up with the men who were painting, he passed them with a wave of his hand, continued his way at full speed and disappeared behind a rocky ridge.

Elenwë had for a moment observed the agility of the elf prince.

He was certainly unusually elegant, even for an elf.

She found herself ungainly beside him.

It had turned out that it was impossible to continue, and the wearer of the Ring had decided that the company would go through the mines of Moria, to the great displeasure of Mithrandir, who had hitherto rejected this solution.

The members of the company, apart from the elves, were quite depressed.

They moved slowly and at one point Frodo stumbled.

As he fell, he slipped several metres.

Aragorn and Legolas ran up to him.

He got up, looking absolutely panic-stricken. He was touching his neck, looking for his Ring.

Where he had fallen from, Boromir bent down and picked up the chain.

Looking obsessively at the One, he said:

-How ironic that we should feel so afraid for such a small thing...

-Boromir?

Elenwë looked at him worriedly.

He did not answer.

Aragorn approached with great strides  and stared at Boromir from head to toe.

-Return the Ring to Frodo, Boromir.

-As you wish! I don't care about that... thing!

Elenwë saw with suspicion a gleam of lust in the brown eyes of the Gondorian.

Frodo retrieved the Ring and put it back around her neck.

Everyone around him breathed normally again.

They walked all day and arrived that very evening near a hill in the forest.

They settled down for the night.

Legolas and Gandalf were awake when suddenly there was a sudden howling in the woods.

-Wargs! said Legolas.

-Get up! ordered Gandalf. Elenwë, stoke the fire.

-Yes Mithrandir.

Elenwë soon had the fire tripled in intensity.

The wargs were approaching.

They prepared to defend themselves. When the first beasts arrived, Aragorn, Gimli, Gandalf and Elenwë set off, weapon in hand, to attack.

Legolas had caught an arrow which he immediately notched.

Boromir, who was in charge of the hobbit defence, remained slightly behind.

The four companions in the front line were cutting, beheading and planting their weapons in the wargs' corps.

While Elenwë was fighting three wargs at the same time, a fourth one appeared and ran into his legs.

She lost her balance and crashed a few metres further on a rock.

Her left side exploded in pain but she got up ready to continue fighting.

Gandalf suddenly cried out:

-Naur an edraith ammen! Naur dan i ngaurhoth!

There was a rumbling, a cracking, and the tree above him burst into a blinding blossom of flames.

The fire jumped from tree top to tree top. The whole hill was crowned with dazzling light.

The swords and daggers of the defenders shone with a glittering glow. The last arrow of

Legolas burst into flames in the air and plunged, burning, into the heart of a great chief warg. All the others fled.

Slowly, the fire died out, and soon there was nothing left but ashes and sparks, a pungent smoke rose in volutes above the burnt trees and spread its dark mass around the hill, while the first light of dawn rose pale in the sky.

Their enemies were routed and did not return.

They set off again in the morning.

At the end of the day they reached their destination.

-Well, here we are at last," said Gandalf. This was the end of the Elvish road to Husaye. The holly was the sign of the people of this land, and they planted it here to mark the end of their domain, for the Western Gate was made especially for their use, for their trade with the Lords of Moria. Those were happier times, when there was still sometimes close friendship between people of different races, even between Dwarves and Elves.

- The Dwarves did not cause the decline of this friendship, says Gimli.

-I have never heard that it was the fault of the Elves," says Legolas.

-I've heard both," Gandalf said, "and I'm not going to pass judgment now. But I am asking you two, Legolas and Gimli, to be friends and help me. I need both of them. The doors are closed and hidden, and the sooner we find them the better. Night is coming soon!

Elenwë sighed inwardly, thinking that the old magician was right. She discreetly put her hand on his side. She was still in a great deal of pain.

Gandalf approached the wall and touched it.

The moon now lit up the grey side of the rock, but for a moment they saw nothing more.

Then, slowly, on the surface where the magician had walked with his hands, lines appeared faintly, like thin silver veins running through the stone.

At first they were only pale writings, so fine that they shimmered irregularly only where the moon struck them in full, but they became wider and clearer from moment to moment, until one could guess the line.

At the top, as high as Gandalf could reach, there was an arc of intersecting letters in the characters

elvish. Underneath, although the threads were in places blurred or interspersed, the outline of an anvil and a hammer topped by a crown with seven stars could be seen:

Also below were two trees, each bearing a crescent moon.

In the middle of the door, a single star with multiple rays shone brighter than all the rest.