Trapped In Middle-Earth
Part Two>
By: J. Jennings
Chapter 1
It was days later. We were tracking a band of Uruk-Hai and Orcs. They had captured Merry and Pippin and were taking them to Isengard before Saruman. Aragorn stopped and placed his ear against a rock.
"Their pace quickens. They must have caught our scent. Hurry!"
"Come on Gimli!" Legolas said.
"Three day's and night's pursuit.. no food... no rest... and no sign of our quarry but what bare rock can tell."
"Are you going to complain the entire time?" I asked.
We stopped shortly afterwards. Aragorn bent down and picked up a broach from one of the cloaks the elves had given us.
"Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall."
"Then that means they're still alive," I said with hope.
"Come Gimli! We are gaining on them." Legolas said as he ran ahead
"I'm wasted on cross-country. We dwarves are natural sprinters. Very dangerous we are over short distances."
We continued our pursuit over the plains. I was exhausted but Merry and Pippins lives were depending on us. The sun was beginning to rise over the horizon. We had stopped to rest for a while.
"A red sun rises," Legolas said. "Blood has been spilled this night."
I heard the sound of horses approaching. We hid behind some boulders as a group of horsemen galloped by. Aragorn stepped out from our hiding place.
"Riders of Rohan! What news from the Mark?" Aragorn called.
The riders turned and surrounded us in a tight circle, pointing their long spears at us.
"What business do you have in the Riddermark?" the leader asked us. "Speak quickly!"
"Give me your name horsemaster, and I shall give you mine," Gimli said.
The leader dismounted and approached him. "I would cut off your head, Dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground."
In a lightning fast move, Legolas had drawn an arrow and pointed it at the horseman. "You would die before your stroke fell!"
The riders pointed their spears closer. I put my hand on his shoulder as Aragorn pushed his arm down.
"We are friends of Rohan and of Théoden, its King," Aragorn said.
"Théoden no longer recognizes friend from foe," the rider said and took off his helmet. "Not even his own kin."
He signaled to his men and the spears withdrew. "Saruman has poisoned the mind of the king and claimed lordship over this land. My company are those loyal to Rohan. And for that, we are banished. The White Wizard is cunning. He walks here and there they say, as an old man, hooded and cloaked. And everywhere his spies slip past our nets."
"We are not spies. We track a band of Uruk-Hai westward across the plains. They have taken two of our friends captive."
"The Uruks are destroyed. We slaughtered them during the night."
"But there were two Hobbits, do you see two Hobbits with them?" Gimli demanded.
"We left none alive. We piled the carcasses and burned them." He pointed to a rising pillar of smoke in the distance.
"They are dead?" Gimli asked, refusing to believe him.
"I am sorry. Hasufel! Arod!" Two riderless horses approached. "May these horses bear you to better fortune than the former masters. Farewell. Look for your friends, but do not trust to hope. It has forsaken these lands."
They rode off and we headed toward the smouldering pile of Orc remains. Gimli searched the ashes and pulled out a small belt with a dagger sheath.
"One of their wee belts," he said sadly.
Legolas closed his eyes and said an Elvish prayer. "Hiro hyn hîdh ab 'wanath."
Aragorn kicked the pile of carcasses in anger and frustration. Then something seemed to catch his eye. He knelt down and touched the ground.
"A hobbit lay here, and the other. They crawled. Their hands were bound."
He picked up a piece of rope. "Their bonds were cut. They ran over here
and were followed. Tracks lead away from the battle, into... Fangorn Forest."
He stopped at the edge of the forest.
"Hiro hyn hîdh ab 'wanath" ("May they find peace after death.")