Pov narrator

The Fellowship climbs the snowy slopes of Caradhras. As they rise through the glistening, fresh snow beneath the great blue sky, Frodo loses footing and falls, rolling down the hill towards Aragorn and Silveria. "Frodo!" Aragorn calls and helps him to his feet. Frodo regains his footing and puts a hand instinctively to his neck for the Ring. Finding it missing, he looks back up the slope. The Ring lies in the snow, glistening. Boromir sees the Ring and picks it up by its chain. A low rumble erupts from Silveria; she's growling.  "Boromir." Aragorn quietly says, but Boromir is oblivious. His face seems sad.

"It is a strange fate we should suffer so much fear and doubt... over so small a thing. Such a little thing." He says softly. He reaches out a gloved hand to touch it. "Boromir!" Aragorn says, now more loudly. The growling from Silveria has quiet. Boromir looks up, pulled from his trance. "Give the Ring to Frodo," Aragorn says. Boromir strolls down the slope to the Ranger and the Hobbit. Aragorn's hand is on the hilt of his sword. The steward's son holds out the Ring to Frodo as he says, "As you wish...." Frodo does not wait and grabs the Ring sharply. "... I care not," Boromir says and jokingly tousles Frodo's hair, turning to resume climbing. Frodo looks on suspiciously; Aragorn releases his grip from his sword.

➳

Over Isengard, there is a veiling shadow. The crows fly down through a maze of underground workings, past Orcs laboring. They circle, cawing.  "So, Gandalf, you try to lead them over Caradhras. And if that fails, where then will you go?" Saurman says.

Gandalf's staff drives into the snow, forging a way through a growing blizzard as Gandalf guides the Fellowship along a narrow ledge on the Pass. "If the mountain defeats you, will you risk a more dangerous road?" As the Fellowship labors onwards through the high snow banks, Legolas runs out ahead. His step is light, and he moves with ease across the top of the snow, staring into the blinding storm. "Cuiva nwalca Carnirasse; nai yarvaxea rasselya!" (Wake up, cruel Redhorn! May your horn be bloodstained!) Saurman chants. Silveria growls now loudly as she recognizes his voice.

"There is a fell voice on the air!" Legolas call back as Silveria comes up beside him. "It's Saruman!" She hiss. With a rending echo, a horde of rock slabs and boulders falls from the mountain's arms. The Fellowship shoves themselves flat against the sheer cliff wall to avoid the onslaught of stone. "He's trying to bring down the mountain! Gandalf, we must turn back!" Aragorn calls it the wizard. "No!" Gandalf exclaims. He steps out onto the ledge, rising on the snow.  "Losto Caradhras, sedho, hodo, nuitho i 'ruith!" (Sleep, Caradhras, be still, lie still, hold your wrath!) he says, a counterspell from Saurmans.

The wizard's voice is drowned out by a more terrible cry in the vortex. Saruman stands on the Pinnacle of Orthanc and continues to command Caradhras. Away above him where he stands, a tremendous black wall-cloud towers over Redhorn. "Cuiva nwalca Carnirasse; Nai yarvaxea rasselya; taltuva notto-carinnar!" (Wake up, cruel Redhorn! May your bloodstained horn fall upon enemy heads!) he chants. Lightning strikes the tip of Caradhras, sending a second avalanche of white ice onto the Fellowship. Legolas snatches Gandalf from the edge, pulling him against the cliff just before the ice-fall hits. The avalanche cascades over the Fellowship, and snow buries them completely. After a moment, they emerge.

"We must get off the mountain! Make for the Gap of Rohan and take the west road to my city!" Boromir calls thru the storm.  "The Gap of Rohan takes us too close to Isengard!" Aragorn calls back. Silveria, who's digging her way up of the snow, roars as she gets irritated from the snow, not wanting to go away. She let her body heat up, and the snow smelts immediately. She uses this to get the others out as well. "If we cannot pass over the mountain, let us go under it. Let us go through the mines of Moria." Gimli says as Silveria hauls him up of the snow. In Gandalf's eyes, there is a shadow of a doubt, of fear that lies unsaid. He is conflicted.

Silveria knows what her old friend is afraid of, being a dragon, she didn't have so many fears, but if the man who practically raced her as his own is scared, the silver dragon can't help but feel a slight pull of that fear too.

"Moria... You fear to go into those mines." Saruman sits in his study in Orthanc, reading a page in a book of lore written in a strange tongue. "The Dwarves delved too greedily and too deep."

On Caradhras, Gandalf's eyes glint, fearful.

"You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-dûm: "Saruman turns to another page, revealing a mysterious form drawn as blackness and deep fire, with two sparks in the flame and dark, like eyes. "Shadow and Flame!"

On the mountain, Gandalf speaks grimly. "Let the Ring-bearer decide," Boromir shouts through the snowstorm, holding Merry and Pippin to him. Both are cold and extremely pale. "We cannot stay here! This will be the death of the Hobbits!" He shouts. Silveria's eyes are saddened at sight, and she moves to the tiro and takes the hobbits from Boromir's embrace as she's warmer. He gives her a look of appreciation. "Frodo?" Gandalf says. "We will go through the mines." The said hobbit says. "So be it," Gandalf says.

———————-
Relatively short, I know.

-Saph