Master Of Death

Chapter 16

Third P POV

Legolas and Harry burst into the room that the fellowship had been given for the night. Aragorn was hot on their trail, whom they passed by on the way. He didn't waste a single second when he saw Harry and Legolas, assuming correctly that something had gone horribly wrong.

What they found was somewhat chaotic. Gandalf was not too far from a bowed over Pippin, whose eyes are squashed so tightly shut it looks painful. The others were in a panic, unsure what to do, eyes wide in shock. Gandalf is attempting to retrieve the Palantir from the hobbit, but unable to get a grip on the flaming orb with Pippin's aggressive twitching movements. The bedsheets have been hastily moved around in a panic, and it's a surprise no one has tripped over anything. Harry and Legolas are watching from the doorway, shocked when Aragorn slips past them into the room. Aragorn quickly snags the now glowing sphere from Pippins unusually strong grip, tossing it carelessly to the side in his haste to be rid of the evil artefact.

Pippin collapses as soon as the sphere left his hands. Everyone focuses, watching in stunned silence as the Palantir continued to cause havoc. Gandalf was alert and his face furious, Aragorn was shocked and just as frightened as Legolas and Harry. Many things happened within several more seconds, and seemingly all at once. Merry was already rushing to Pippin, panicked, and Gandalf thrust the poor hobbit off to the side as he desperately rushed to reach Pippin. The hobbit looked so small and frail where he had collapsed, and was still in a sort of dull shock, his eyes glazed over.

"What did you see?" Gandalf asks harshly, but that was a contradiction to the way he treated the poor hobbit; his hand cradled his face, and his expression was caring and soothing.

Pippin blinks to focus on the Gandalf, a figure so much larger and had so often been quick to anger. Still, now the Istari in front of him had soft eyes and concern for the foolish Took. Gandalf repeats the question and musters up the courage to finally Pippin answer.

"I— there was a tree," Pippin stuttered, "in a courtyard of stone! A–and it was dead! I think i– i– it was white... and th— there was fire all ev– everywhere."

"Minas Tirith..." Gandalf murmured almost as though a harsh curse. "Did you tell him anything? Did you?" Gandalf spoke a little more harshly now, eager and urgent to find the truth. The room was still tense, and everyone was frantic with worry and many questions.

"No, nothing!" Pippin finally spoke.

Only then did Gandalf's shoulders finally relaxed, he stood back up and lay a comforting hand on Pippin's shoulder, helping him up. He looked carefully into the hobbit's mind, as though trying to see something more than what he was saying.

"There is no lie in Pippin's eye, in fact, we have had a strange stroke of luck in seeing Sauron's plans. He must ride to Minas Tirith, and he will not be going alone! The rest of you will remain here until I give the signal. If the Beacon Amon Dîn is lit, Rohan must answer."

There's a series of rumbling accents from the room accompanied with disjointed nods. Harry nearly offers to go with them but realizes that he would only slow them down. There was also, in the back of his mind, the knowledge that he would have to leave Legolas. It was a thought that he didn't like. Harry knew from his experiences lately that he would rather avoid being separated from Legolas for any amount of time. The distance they had experienced had been more than enough, and they both feared to lose the other.

At dawn, Gandalf takes Pippin, and they rode out immediately. The horse, Shadowfax, burst forth at top speed in their haste. The rest of the fellowship were to remain behind. Harry was feeling once again that the fellowship had failed, split and broken apart. Harry, Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn and Merry knew what their task was, to ensure that Theoden had support in answering the call to war, even if none of them like the prospect.