𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚆𝚘𝚕𝚏

Chapter 9- Lost friends

Lorelei and Éomer followed Saphire into the living room. It was empty save for the snoring dwarf on the brown sofa.
"Honestly Gimli get up, " Saphire poked the dwarf sharply startling him awake and causing him to fall off the sofa with a shout. Lorelei and Éomer laughed at Gimli.
"That's the second time I've woken you up, " she said leaving the room.
"Stop your laughing, " Gimli grumbled sitting back on the sofa.
The two stopped laughing barely and held the rest back but couldn't stop the smirks on their faces. Seeing Gimli in such a state was quite amusing as it was quite different from how they'd seen him before. Soon all of left the house and went back down into the main village and into the hall. When they got there Aragorn was waiting and explained to the others what he had seen when Théoden entered already wearing his armour.
"We are leaving within the hour. You should all be getting ready, " he said to the large group.
"Yes and we shall, " Anastasia replied she stood by her brothers and sister with Rîndis.
"You wouldn't happen to have any armour for someone shorter would you?" Fíli piped up.
Théoden eyed both the Durin brothers and their elven companion curiously.
"Well this should be interesting, " Lorelei commented to Éomer.
"They arrived yesterday I apologise for not telling you but I was quite happy to see my brothers after being away from them so long, " Anastasia explained.
"The Durin Princes. I presume, " he said. "Why have you come?"
"Our sister sent us word of the Uruk hai army and we had heard news of orcs massing King Thorin gave us permission to come and help as he knew his daughter would be part of the battle, " Fili explained.
Théoden seemed happy with the response and left us.
"Well that wasn't very interesting, " Éomer said to L.
"You know it's not very princely to lie to a King, " Annie pointed out.
"Be patient, " L replied to Éomer.
"Whatever could you mean by that sister?" He said feigning offence.
Lorelei smirked to herself. The number of times I've heard that line. She thought. She noticed Rîndis shaking her head smiling.
"We both know Adad would not let both you come to fight with me. He would either send you both of you to come get me and bring me home or he would not let you come at all. He doesn't need practically his whole family in danger, does he? Especially not when one is the heir to the throne of Erebor, " Annie conclude eyeing Fili as she mentioned being the heir. There was a silence and Lorelei heard Gimli mutter to his friends "Three, two, one,"
"Ok, we snuck out, " Kili blurted out.
"And you told no one where you were going?" Sapphire piped up being the responsible one as ever.
"We left a couple of notes. One for Amad and one for uncle, "
"You do realise you both are well and truly screwed when we get back to Erebor right?" Gimli and Legolas laughed, knowing what Thorin was like, which earnt them a glare from the Durins.
"I mean I don't suppose he'll be too happy with me being in so many battles and being caught up in the war of the ring but at least I gave him some sort of warning," Anastasia continued.
"Well we can worry about that later, " Aragorn said "For now we need to get ready, "
"Agreed, " Anastasia said and the group split up to ready what they needed before setting off.
Lorelei rode on Nemira in the middle of the group of her friends. She kept looking back at Anastasia occasionally as she was seeming off today. Lorelei couldn't pinpoint what it was. She noticed that Saphire was doing a similar thing as was Kíli. He had asked Annie how she was doing and all she answered with was a dismissive. "I'm fine, ". Lorelei rode up alongside Aragorn.
" Should we tell them? That their sister is slowly losing her will to Sauron and that she may become possessed and overwhelmed by the power he gave Anastasia, " She asked jer brother knowing he knew what to do best when it came to people. Lorelei knew she was blunt sometimes as she had a tendency to forget how people work and react sometimes.
"Perhaps but not now wait till we stop and we can get them alone. Speaking to them about it around so many people would be unwise. We don't how they themselves will react nor the soldiers that don't know Annie who could potentially overhear the conversation, " Aragorn concluded.
"You know best but I can't help but feel guilty about how they don't know, "
"We don't know for certain that they don't already, "
"You really think Anastasia has told them? Aragorn she's like me she doesn't want other people burdened with her problems. Or at least that's how she sees it, "
Aragorn sighed. "You're probably right, "
Once they finally got to their destination Lorelei took care of Nemira and helped set up some tents with Éomer before sitting down to eat. She sat between Éomer and Aragorn and over the fire she saw Saphire sat by herself seeming a little awkward. Legolas, Fili and Kili had all be sat around the fire too. Legolas had gone to Anastasia something to eat and Fili and Kili went after him when a few moment shad passed and the brothers had seen his close Annie and Legolas were being.
Once L had finished her food she went to speak to Saphire.
"Hey can I talk to you for a minute, " Lorelei said kindly.
"Yeah let me just check on my sister first, " she smiled and left. Lorelei stood up and went for a walk to clear her head. She remembered another reason why she had cut off ties with the outside world. She had always cared too much about everyone else so when anything happened to then it hurt. She returned a little while later and went to look for Saphire but Éomer caught her.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine just a-"
"Lorelei, " The worried voice of Saphire cut off. Lorelei immediately looked to Saphire who was just a little far ahead of her she was looking at Anastasia but it wasn't quite Anastasia. It was the one that Aragorn described. The one who wanted to kill and destroy. The one made up purely of her anger and rage and desire for destruction. The one under Saurons influence.
"What's wrong with her?" Éomer whispered.
"No time to explain, " she replied.
"Annie, what are you doing?" Lorelei stepped forward putting a hand on the hilt of her sword. She didn't want to hurt Annie but she knew of the danger she was now as this...thing. Lorelei didn't know what to call it but she knew it wasn't Annie or at least not the one she knew.
"Oh nothing, I'm just going for a walk, " she smiled. Causing the scars on her face to crack. Lorelei noticed she had more them now and Annies once pretty purple eyes were now a fierce red.
"I can't let you do that, " Lorelei replied drawing a sword. If she was going to make this thing stay she wouldn't get it down by mere talk. Éomer followed suit. "What are you doing?" Éomer asked as Lorelei saw her brother run off towards the Durin brothers.
"We can't let her leave, "
"And I can't let you stop me, " Anastasia replied drawing her sword.
"Annie this isn't you. whatever this is you can fight it, " Saphire said inching closer with glassy eyes. Lorelei edged forward too.
"You haven't changed a bit, have you? You're still the naïve little girl you always were, " Anastasia snapped.
Fili, Kili joined them now with their swords drawn but Lorelei could see their reluctance. She also saw Legolas and Gimli on the other side as her brother joined her and Éomer. The camp seemed eerily quiet to her but she wasn't really paying attention to anything outside of what was going on in front of her.
"Oh I'm flattered, to have such an audience, " Anastasia said after scanning the group.
Legolas said something Lorelei couldn't quite make out the only thing she heard was necklace.
"What you mean this little thing?" Anastasia ripped the necklace from her neck "This hasn't been doing anything for a long time, "
"Now if you excuse me. I'm going to leave this stupid place full of naïve little boys who think they have the strength to match Sauron's army, " she laughed and turned to leave but an arrow struck the floor in front of her. she plucked it from the floor and Lorelei looked to Legolas first thinking it was him who had fired but he was looking at someone opposite him. Rîndis.
"Someone's got guts, " Anastasia snarled admiring the arrow the looked quite ornate from where Lorelei was standing. "This is an interesting arrow, " she turned to Rîndis. "It'd be a shame if you lost it, " she threw the arrow sharply and it embedded itself in Rîndis's stomach. Kíli looked horrified as Rîndis feel to the floor. Lorelei and Aragorn stepped closer.
"Annie I don't want to hurt you, " he said cautiously.
"Well I do, " Anastasia lunged forward swinging her sword high.
Aragorn blocked and Lorelei attacked. Three caught and the others looked on. No one wanted to hurt her but it was clear this wasn't the Anastasia they knew. The clanging of swords attracted more attention including the King. Anastasia disarmed Lorelei slicing her hand causing her to hiss in pain and dropping her sword. Before Lorelei could do anything Anastasia's sword was at Aragorn's throat.
"As much as I'd like to kill you now I think it will be a lot more fun when you've lost all hope on the battlefield.
"Enough. What is this!" Théoden boomed.
"Ah, Théoden King of Rohan. The man who lead his people to their deaths, " she smiled menacingly. "I'll see you on the battlefield. She shifted into a wolf and vanished into the night.
Lorelei stood there stunned for the moment.
"Someone help me with Rîndis, " Saphire cried rushing to the wounded elf. Lorelei ran over and help pick her up and take her to a tent before leaving Saphire, Fíli and Kíli with Rîndis. She walked back out and saw Aragorn talking with Théoden she supposed explaining what had just happened. Lorelei couldn't quite believe it herself she thought that Annie is strong enough to fight whatever it was trying to get ahold of her.
"Lorelei what happened?" Merry ran up to her with Éowyn seemingly having heard the commotion.
"It's... It's Annie. She's gone. She's been possessed and changed by something, " Lorelei managed out as emotion finally flooded her.
"Come Merry let's go find the others, " Éowyn shepherded Merry away and gave Lorelei a sympathetic glance. L finally let the tears go. She hadn't known Anastasia as long as the others but she had been nice to her understanding of her secrecy and she still wanted to friends with Lorelei after it all. Lorelei cared too much sometimes she felt that was a good thing but right now it really didn't.