All Shall Fade (LOTR-Wattys 2014)

All Shall Fade - Chapter 23 - Sweet Dreams (LOTR)

All Shall Fade

Chapter 23

Sweet Dreams

***Alice’s Point of View***

I sighed and rested my head on Aragorn’s back, closing my eyes as I tried to get comfortable on the galloping horse. Despite the ‘healthy’ façade I’d put on back in the forest, I’d never felt worse in my entire life. Everything hurt, I was cold and tired, and ever since Aragorn had told me about Boromir I’d had this numb pain in my chest that I couldn’t get rid of. And then I was confused about the whole Gandalf matter. Of course I was happy that he was back… But how was he back? The whole thing was leading up to a massive headache that I just wanted to sleep off, but I was afraid to go to sleep in case I lost my grip on Aragorn and fell off the horse. I closed my eyes but didn’t loosen my hold on Aragorn’s coat. Falling from a speeding horse onto uneven ground was definitely not on my agenda for today. Which was why I really shouldn’t have let myself start yawning, or let my head begin to drop… To hell with it, if I fell off I had no one but myself to blame, after all, it was my fault if I let myself fall asleep…

I blinked awake in a dark room and frowned as I found myself lying on a cold, black, stone floor. I sat up and looked around, my eyes widening as I spotted the man dressed all in white sitting in what looked like a black throne.

“This is getting ridiculous.” I groaned, staring intently at him. “I’ve never even met you and yet somehow I know what you look like and have nightmares about you.”

“That is because I allow you to see me.” The wizard spoke in a low voice and I rolled my eyes.

“Whatever.” I sighed, rubbing my temples, “Can you go away for a bit? I was kind of hoping I’d catch a decent bit of sleep.”

“You and the Halflings escaped me and my Uruk-Hai once; I will not allow it to happen again.”

“Oh shut up.” I muttered, crossing my legs so I was more comfortably seated on the ground. “This is my dream, therefore, this is all in my head, and therefore you have absolutely no right to threaten me or my friends – or I’ll kick you out for trespassing.” The wizard twitched his black staff and a sudden force hit me like a punch in the chest and I was sent spinning across the ground.

“I am the one with the power here.” He growled as I rolled onto my back and stared up at the impossibly high black ceiling.

“Piss off.” I grumbled, “I’m not going to help you with anything, so you’re wasting your time. I don’t know anything about warfare anyway.”

“That is what you think. I know you are not from this world, and that war in your world is much more advanced then this.” I noticed that he had stood and was walking slowly towards me.

“It doesn’t change the fact that I know nothing about it.” I scowled, “Go work it out for yourself, I want nothing to do with it.” Again, I felt like I had been struck by something and I my body rolled to the side of its own accord. “And you’ve got magic on your side.” I pointed out as I once again pulled myself into a sitting position. “So you’ve got the upper hand there.” I stared hard at the tall man and curled my knees up to my chest. “You can beat me black and blue but it won’t change anything. Now go away and let me sleep.”

“This is far from over.” The wizard sneered, and I gasped as I felt a sharp pain in my hand, I glanced down at my palm to see a deep red line being drawn across it, as if by an invisible knife. Blood welled up to the surface of my skin as I gritted my teeth.