A/N – Chapters will generally be longer than this. Promise.
Legolas sat up straighter in his saddle, straining to hear the faint sound that the wind had brought to him just a moment before. The riders around him perked up, most sending odd looks his way. He was riding north with a group of Rohirrim who had happened to be going the same way as he when he set out from Edoras. He knew most of their names and called a few of them friend. He didn't at all mind the company, except at times like this.
There was something on the wind that had caught his attention, and that did not bode well for the company. He might have said his goodbyes and parted from them to follow where the voice told him, but then again, he might need their strength in numbers. Arod stopped in his tracks, letting his master concentrate more fully on the direction from which the sound came. When he found it, Legolas urged the horse forward, and Arod knowingly sprang into a gallop. The Rohirrim, having now had time to rest their full attention on Legolas but little time to actually assess the situation, instinctively followed behind.
The wind started to pick up and Legolas' hair flailed around him, whipping every which way and impeding even his elven sight, but Arod was on course now and there was no stopping him. A few hills and valleys later, Legolas began to hear the dull rushing of a stream. This not being the sound he'd expected to hear, he began the wonder if he'd been imagining all along. Arod kept his pace. He, at least, had enough sense to know that his master was not delusional.
The other riders were falling behind. Their horses were becoming quite bored with the sudden sprint and did not have as much faith in Legolas as Arod did. The riders themselves were not so very sure of their course, either, but Legolas galloped on and so, having nothing better in particular to do and since it wasn't very far from the course they had originally intended to take, the company followed. A few moments later, Legolas crested a hill and then vanished from sight, nothing unusual, except that he failed to come into view again on the upward slope of the next hill. Before they knew it, the main body of the company was speeding down the hill and into the little river at the bottom.
Legolas had come to that top of the hill and immediately known what he had heard. So had Arod, who had managed to stop half way down the slope. The large group of riders surged around Legolas as he stood looking at the figure in the water. They had split their horses away from him in order not to run him down, and thank Elbereth they had or they would also have trampled the body. One of the men in the stream regained control of his horse only to find himself looking down onto the body of a pale, naked young girl. He dismounted and stepped over to her where she lay on the rocks. Her head was cut, her body bruised and her chestnut hair was flowing down the stream mingled with fresh blood. He shivered as he thought of his own children back home, his little daughter with the blond hair typical of his people and young son with his mother's dark complexion. Other men had gathered there by now and a circle had been formed around the girl. Yet no one moved in; no one touched her. No one even checked for signs of life. Instead, the circle broke apart at one end as the men turned to face Legolas. Now finally fully realizing what the race had been towards, they waited for his instructions concerning the girl, who, without him, might have gone unnoticed.