~*~Chapter 1~*~
"Legolas!" The short elf gently shook the Prince of Mirkwood, "Wake up! A band of orcs has been spotted heading towards the high pass."
"I'm already awake Raenan," the elf answered, focusing his eyes on the elf kneeling next to him. He slowly stood up and glanced around their camp.
Most of the elves were still asleep up in the trees, "we will follow them and find out why they are headed that way, wake up the rest."
The short elf nodded and went to wake up all the sleeping elves.
The young Ranger glanced up at the sky. It was dark now; the small band of orcs he was following would be out soon. Just as he expected, the orcs began marching out of the cave. The larger ones at the front pushing aside the snow for the smaller ones, growling as they did so. Aragorn stood from
where he sat and hid himself until they were out of sight, then he began following their extremely easy-to-follow trail. He had been following them for quite a while, two days through the pass and two days before that. They should be through the pass in about an hour or so.
"There they are," Raenan whispered, glancing quickly at Legolas.
Legolas nodded and looked around, the area the orcs were in was a large clearing, and all around it were tall trees. The elf Prince put his hand in the air to catch his troops attention and then pointed up to the trees and pull his had in a circle, pointing at the clearing. The others nodded and started to make their way around the clearing. Moving soundlessly, as an elf can, they got around and up into the trees without the dark creatures noticing them. Once up they all looked to the Prince for their next move. Legolas nodded once, drew his bow and notched it. The other elves followed his example and did the same. He drew the arrow back nodded once more and they all let their arrows fly.
The rest of the group looked down at their fallen members and turned and ran into the bushes, knowing they were outnumbered and there were more coming through the pass towards them, they would probably head back through the high pass then down to Isenguard. They went through the pass and down because they would rather go near Rivendell than Lorien. Following Legolas, the elves jumped down from their trees and started following the orcs.
- What? – The Ranger thought, - why did they stop? -
The orcs had stopped, though it was still the middle of the night. This made no sense to the human but he shrugged and settled down, waiting for them to move on. He glanced around warily, he didn't like this area, it didn't show enough protection and he could easily be seen if one of the vile creatures decided to go for a walk. He climbed up into one of the few trees in the area and closed his eyes. He wasn't going to sleep, but his eyesight, though good for a human, was still not very good for the pitch-blackness of the middle of the night. His senses, though, were all very good and he took to listening for a while for the creatures were so loud they couldn't keep quiet if their lives depended on it. He sighed inwardly and listened to their babble, mainly about meeting up with a larger
group. After a little while he felt himself drifting off to sleep, he tried to shake it but it had been a while since he last slept and he was very tired. Before he knew what had happened, he was asleep.
^_^_^_^_^_^
He was sitting on the edge of a bed, a sick woman lying beneath the warm covers. She was beginning to get old for a woman of her time and her body was failing her. It was only a couple years ago he'd found out his whole past, even now he had a hard time understanding it.
"A-Aragorn?" the woman's voice whispered. She knew she was dieing and had come to terms with it, "remember, my son, that you are loved here, remember
that I have always loved you and… and that your father… he, he loved you too."
"I love you too mother," the young man whispered back, biting back his tears.
With that she smiled slightly and lay back against the pillow of her bed. Her breathing became shallow and stopped.
^_^_^_^_^_^
Isildur's heir shot away from the trunk of the tree, completely forgetting where he was. Not sure of what was happening, he was on the ground before he remembered where he was. He pulled himself out of the mud on the ground… wait… mud?
- Oh, great, - he thought, - it's been raining, - he looked at his hands and gasped, this wasn't mud, it was blood. That's what woke him up, orc screams… death gurgles more like it and evil laughter. He slowly raised his head to look at the orcs surrounding him. He slowly got to his knees and when one of the creatures took a step toward him, he jumped to his feed and drew his sword in one swift, almost graceful, movement.
He lunged forward, impaling the one that stepped forward. He continued his battle, blocking, ducking, and striking. He knew it was a one-sided fight, but he wasn't one to go willingly. A few minutes later, or what seemed to be an eternity to the young Ranger, he was pushed to the ground. He did quite well for one who was so tired.
His hands were tied tightly behind his back and he was dragged back up to his feet. Another length of rope was brought out and he was tied to the tree he fell out of.
One of the orcs drew an odd blade and pressed it against the Ranger's neck, "I suggests that you doesn't do nothing funny human," it spat before pulling the blade away, leaving a shallow gash under his chin, causing his blood to slowly trickle for his neck.
Another orc stepped up and pulled a long piece of black cloth and brought it around the human's neck, covering the gash.
"We must stop the bleeding, or better yet, why don't we just choke him?" he growled pulling the cloth so tight the Ranger could barely breath and in a few seconds began gasping,
"Listen to it!" he seemed almost delighted. "It sounds like a fish out of water it does!"
The first orc came back up and pulled the cloth from the Ranger's neck, "if I wanted him dead I could've done it myself."
The Ranger's breath steadied quickly. Any fear could only be seen by someone who knew how to look for it in the depths of the Ranger's seemingly emotionless eyes. He gazed steadily at the orc before him. The creature just growled and looked up at the sky. He muttered something in the black speech and the rest of the band headed towards the nearest cave.
"If you survive the day, I'll have my fun with you, but don't try to escape, we'll know."
The Ranger continued to stare at the orc and when it angrily stomped off towards the cave he gave a quiet sigh of relief only an elf could've heard. After a while, the adrenaline left his body at his momentary peace and he fell limp, asleep, hung there from the tree.
~*~*~*~*~*~
When the Ranger woke up he could have kicked himself, he should have been trying to escape, he wondered if he could fray the rope around his wrists by rubbing it against the ruff bark of the tree. He grinned when the rope finally split. He pulled it off and took off, away from the cave.
Just when he thought he was safe, he felt a sharp pain in the calve muscle on his right leg. Not able to support his weight anymore, the Ranger fell face first into the thin grass. The next thing he knew, he was being dragged, by a rope attached to the arrow, back towards the cave. He groaned as he was pulled, trying hard to ignore the pain.
The group of elves moved through the trees silently, following the band of orcs that was not as big now as it once was, thanks to them. Legolas glanced around at his fair sized group of elves. If the orcs saw them, they could attack and defeat them, but he did not want to take that risk unless need be.
The elves followed the fast-moving group easily through the trees. Moving swiftly, they realized the group was leaving the edge of the forest.
The Ranger was forced against the back wall of the cave, "What do you want with me?" He muttered almost inaudibly.
"That would depend on who you are," the orc nearest him said, "our master is looking for a certain Ranger, he is. We wants to know if you are that Ranger, we does."
The human simply scowled, "You will not find out who I am."
"No?" one orc came forward with a long, triple-thronged whip, "we'll just have to see about thats."
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Tell us!" the orc wailed angrily. They had been torturing Aragorn all day, and they hadn't gotten a thing out of him.
- Why can't I just black out? – He thought as the cruel torture weapon was brought down on his back yet again, he cursed himself for being so able to
withstand this.
The next thing he knew, he was turned around and a flask was shoved in his mouth, he tried to spit out the foul tasting liquid but the orc shoved his vile hand over his mouth and pinched his nose with the other, another came forward and punched him in the stomach, winding him. The human had to swallow the liquid in order to breathe. The human stumbled forward, the goop immediately taking effect on his weakened body. He fell to the ground and was left there.
When he regained consciousness he was shoved against the wall and was asked who he was. The liquid was strong, but it was too weak for the Ranger and
he didn't tell them. This resulted in getting another dose of the foul drink but this time he didn't lapse into unconsciousness. The orcs waited a while before trying again, but once again, he refused to tell them. After the third time, he was almost unable to stand and he felt forced to tell them so he told them his Ranger name, Strider. The orcs, of course, were not pleased and gave him another dose. This time his body was unable to take it and he fell into unconsciousness. When he woke, he told them his elvish name, Estel. That angered them even more, being an elvish word, for they hated the sound of the beautiful language and they forced a double-dose down him. This time when he fell into unconsciousness, he didn't waken for the rest of the day and most of that night, the last couple times, he was only out for fifteen to twenty minutes.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Who are you?" an angry orc voice asked when he finally woke up.
"A-Aragorn," he said, then gasped, he couldn't keep himself from telling them.
The orc smiled wickedly, "And are you the heir of Isildur?"
"Y-yes," he was ashamed of himself for not being able to keep himself from telling them.
The orc shouted something in the black speech that made all the others look at him wickedly. The human just scowled at him, "What was that evil you made me drink?" He managed to growl out through clenched teeth.
The orc laughed wickedly, "Well, I suppose it would not hurt to tell yous. It is what you humans would call a type of truth serum."
The human's scowl deepened, "Amin feuya ten' lle," he spat. // You disgust me, //
The orc froze, "What?" he said angrily, the use of the, in their minds, 'evil' language.
The human grinned evilly, "I said, you disgust me."
With that he was punched in the face, slamming his head into the rock wall behind him and throwing his already weakened body into unconsciousness
again.
"We will wait for the other group," the orc that punched Aragorn said, "then we will head back through the high pass and to Isenguard."
The other orcs nodded their approval at this idea.
"Good, now, get some rest while you can, they will be here in about a day."
~*~*~*~*~*~
(One day later)
Legolas looked around, the orcs they were following had wandered into a cave near the high pass. He nodded to his group and they went forward noiselessly, arrows notched and ready to fire.
Here are the replies from ch.5 of my last story!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep reading
and review!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :):):):):):):)
feanen- Thanx 4 the review! Glad it was still interesting!! :)
Lomiothiel- ...Glad yur happy 'bout the sequel... obviously... and punching
air is mean! :)
Baxley- ch.1? *giggles* yur a bit behind :) I'm glad ya' enjoyed it!
LalaithoftheBruinen- Yes, there obviously is a sequel... *looks around at
bunnies running all over the floor in a panic* Note to self... keep cats out
of room :)
Sunnflowers- Ch. 4... sry I didn't reply sooner... already had sent the 5th
ch. to my editor when ya' reviewed :) *laughs* glad it's interesting.
*Huggles Estel* please R/R!!!!!!!!!!
E/N: HEHEHEHE another one! Good job Elven!