It really shouldn't have surprised him that his current situation was less than ideal. All one had to do was to look at the facts. And the facts, in fact, were blatantly obvious. But apparently not obvious enough, because there Aloric stood. Well, he was standing there a moment ago. Now he was down on the ground, feeling aches and pains rise up in his tattered body. Ah, there we go. Now he was standing there again.
Where was I? Oh, yes, it really shouldn't have surprised him. But we've assumed lesser things about Aloric, and those proved to be false assumptions, as well. There really is no assuming to be done, when the ranger is concerned. You're supposed to expect the unexpected when it came to this fellow. Or rather, unexpect the expected. Because when the inevitable happens, you'll find yourself wondering why you had not seen that coming. At least, that's what Aloric was thinking of himself, right about now. Perhaps you, the reader, are smarter than him.
Actually, there's a pretty good chance of that.
Frankly, he was really surprised at how this tiny adventure had turned into a great undertaking. As he got back up to his feet, he suddenly regretted his decision to come this way. What had made him think this would be any easier? Then again, he couldn't possibly have expected that the Nandgirith region was as bad as the tales. But there was no denying now that the tremors and earthquakes of the area was more than just an old wives tale told to unsuspecting listeners. They were real.
As he dropped back down to his feet at the latest tremor of the earth, he took a moment to consider just how he had managed to get in such a desolate wasteland of cracked stone and tumultuous terrain. He had needed to get away from the desert, certainly. After his adventures with Albeiro (or rather, misadventures, though a new term with a more precise definition should have been coined to describe the pair's nonsensical journey) in Anfauglir, no one could have condemned him for trying to get away as quickly as possible. But he had also received word that Paliath, his mentor of sorts, was in the region. More specifically, Ondolond. And the ranger was intent on seeing his only good friend as soon as possible. He was frustrated with the results of his latest endeavor, and hoped that the wise man would be able to give him some encouragement for the coming days.
And so, Aloric had decided that there were two routes that would lead him to his eventual destination, the bustling trade city of Ondolond.
The first route would take him through the Misty Forest. If that doesn't sound scary enough, consider that the veil of mist that envelopes the woodland area is perpetual. A line of sight that never exceeds thirty meters didn't sound like a good deal for Aloric. There was no telling what danger would await him, should he have chosen to take that course. This is not even to mention the fact that Ungol Felas, the great spider caves of the Ered Annon, was an easy but unpopular destination that could hardly have been avoided should he have walked around in the mist long enough. This choice was easily discarded almost as soon as he had considered it.
By default, that left only one choice. That choice, coincidentally, happened to be fixed between the Ered Annon mountains and the large brooding and ominous geographical structure otherwise known as Lhachlith Volcano. If that doesn't sound scary enough, then... well, it really doesn't matter, because it sounded scary enough for Aloric. And that's all that matters.
But at the time, it didn't seem to him that he had much more of a choice. After venturing through the region known as Nandgirith, the ranger would come along relaxing fields of green grass, before he would climb into the exterior of the mountain range in order to have a clear path to Ondolond once again.
If anything, you have to at least admire his knowledge of the main continent of Arda. It's not every day that his ranger skills were so clearly useful. Not that his ranger skills functioned most of the time.
He collapsed again. This was not going to be as easy as he had originally intended. He surveyed his surroundings quickly; it wasn't like he had much to do as he sat on the tumbling ground and waited to catch his breath. He took in the valley in one sweeping gaze from his left to his right. Sans the sand, one couldn't really tell that it was any different than the desert that he had just left behind him. The dry ground that swirled beneath his feet was cracked and desolate, as if the fates had given up on trying to bring life to this part of the world. He didn't blame them. What would have grown here, where the ground never ceased its sudden movements and the sky above told of foreboding ashen clouds and spouts of oozing lava. Just like the ground of Nandgirith, Lhachlith itself never slept.
He sighed heavily. He was fairly certain that he'd be able to manage eventually, that he'd see Ondolond and his mentor some time soon. But there was little doubt that he would not be able to traverse the valley region within one day. Maybe not even in one piece.
He could have sworn he had seen a humanoid skull shake and rattle and jump into the air as the latest quake was set in motion. Though her travels had taken her over much of Arda, Merenwen found that she still had many places to see. She had visited home a couple of times in order to show her parents that she was safe and each time she headed out she tried to take a different path in order to see more. Even so, there were many places that she had missed on her travels for one reason or another and she wanted to be sure to see them all.
One of the areas she had yet to visit was the land around the Lhachlith Volcano, Nandgirith. She also had not seen the volcano itself yet but did not feel like daring that trip on her own just now. She would make it there sometime but as for now, she felt that seeing Nandgirith would be a good start. With that idea in mind she had set out from her home and went through the Salquedor Grasslands until she had gotten close to Nandgirith.
It was as she got close that she remembered all the stories she had been told about the land she planned to tread upon and it was then that she sat down to think things through. Her Golden Harrier, Arien, perched on her shoulder and waited for her to make a decision. Merenwen didn't want to spend the whole time fumbling around and falling over but she also didn't want to give up on taking the path. If she did then she would not be following her heart which told her that she had to see all that there was to see and protect it all, whether it was her favorite spot or not.
She glanced over at Arien and said, "What do you think, should I take the path or choose another?" Arien merely lifted off of her shoulder and flew up above her head looking in the direction of Nandgirith. Merenwen took this to mean that Arien felt she should follow her heart and see as much as she could but Mere still worried about trying to traverse the path.
Suddenly she glanced down at herself and her mind cleared up. Why didn't I think of this before she thought to herself. She had used her armor to change shape many times before and it was odd that the idea hadn't popped into her head immediately but she must have just been too preoccupied in thinking of the stories to have thought about the fact that she could just turn into her Hawk for and fly over the area where the quaking of the ground would not bother her.
She hopped up chuckling to herself slightly and quickly transformed into the form of a beautiful hawk. She started to flap her wings and in a short time was flying along next to Arien. The two of them looked quite beautiful together, with both of them having a golden hue, but it was easy to tell that there was something different about the hawk. There was a glow coming off of its body that was due to the armor that gave Merenwen the ability to transform. It would always transform with her and protect her but it also made it easier for people to realize that she was not just an ordinary hawk.
Of they flew, up through the sky and in the direction of skies that were less clear. It wasn't that there was a cloud cover, but the air help the ash that floated down from the volcano and thus wasn't as bright and beautiful as they land they left behind. The land also changed as they entered Nandgirith, it seemed almost dead in comparison to the grasslands and the cracks made it look like some giant had marched along the land and cracked it when it was forming.
She could see the ground quaking and a new crack formed below her releasing what she thought must be heat from the magma that surely ran below on its path the volcano. This caused her a slight bit of fear as she didn't want either herself or Arien to get burned so she lifted herself up a little higher where the danger would be less. She didn't notice anymore rising steam as she flew over the ground but then, it wasn't long before she caught sight of something up ahead and became too distracted to pay attention to what lie below her.
She was almost sure that she could see a person off in the distance and it seemed that he was having a rather difficult time walking across the quaking earth. She watched as he fell down with one of the shudders and wondered if there was possibly some way she could help him. She flew slightly higher so that she could build a little more speed and flew towards the man. Even knowing that it was possible he would be evil she couldn't stop herself from wanting to help, if he was evil she would just leave him be but she had to see and help if she could.
She had reached a point where she could clearly see the man and nothing about him shouted out evil. She could see a spot where a crop of rocks rose up above the ground and decided that would be the perfect spot to land. She landed carefully and concentrated on shifting back into her human form. Her blonde hair flew about her face and just as she finished her transformation the ground shook again. Even though she had transformed in a way that left her sitting on the rock she still found herself tossed to the ground as she had not been ready for the rumble.
When the quake stopped she pushed herself back up to her feet and brushed her self off. She then turned to the man and said, "Hello I noticed that you seemed to be having a difficult time traversing the terrain and figured I'd see if there was either a way I could help or even just travel with you so we won't both be traveling alone. I am Merenwen by the way, and this little one," she said pointed to Arien who had landed on her shoulder again, "is Arien."