Disclaimer: Rub it in, they're not mine…they belong to J. R. R. Tolkein, who kindly allows me to play with his toys. Certain OC females, however, belong to ME.
A/N: This is not a cannon fic…I've had to resort to AU to make it all work out as is necessary for the romantic good of the universe. Or at least, this universe.
P. S. If at any point in this story you note a main character named Argon or Legalese, blame my spell check!
A Little Walk in the Woods
By Starzipan
Chapter 1: A Meeting
They still had not arrived. With an impatient little sigh, the self-appointed ruler of the Fangorn Forest silently shifted, attempting to find a comfortable position in the tree where she was waiting. She had scried the approach of the man, the elf, and the dwarf some hours ago—not that the magic spell had really been necessary. The dwarf's 'sprinting' had heralded their arrival louder than trumpets, thought it was not so acoustically pleasing. Not one to tolerate the pounding of foreign feet on the floor of her queendom, she had rushed at full speed to take up a post in the woods from which she might ambush the intruders. Apparently, when waiting on dwarves full speed was overly fast; she had lain in the tree, poised to strike, for over two hours now, and the irritating trio of invaders still showed no sign of approach.
Just as the loss of circulation in her right leg was becoming unbearable, a racket of feet pushing through undergrowth startled her back into alert. Instantly, she forgot her own appendages and focused on those belonging to the three silhouettes that were barely discernable in the scant light that the forest admitted through its canopy. From their easy manner and intimate banter, it was obvious they had no idea of the woman perched above them. The corners of her lips curled mischievously upwards; it had been long since she had engaged in a good tussle. With a silent contortion, she summoned one of her throwing knives to her right hand and peered through branches at the foe that awaited her blade.
* * *
After many hours of traversing the rugged floor of the Fangorn Forest, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli crested a small hill and found themselves in a grove of fair-barked trees. Beneath their feet, the silvery leaves shed from branches formed a crisp carpet that snapped with each footstep. Legolas stopped in the midst of the trees, startled to find such a peculiar anomaly in the midst of densely wooded evergreens. Behind him arrived Aragorn, who also stopped to marvel at the woods, and Gimli, who stopped himself just short of running into Aragorn, and, as he had little interest in trees, took the opportunity of stopping to catch his breath.
"Finally, Legolas!" he exclaimed in victory to the elf, "You admit that we must take a break from this ungodly cantering and rest our tired legs."
Startled out of his reverie, Legolas smirked at Gimli. He was certain that his legs did not suffer from the light work of jogging through the forest. "It is unfortunate that height is all you Dwarves have in common with Hobbits," he commented wryly, "Else I might carry you on my back to ease your legs and your complaining."
"I was not the one who stopped to rest, my Prince," retorted Gimli, with a snort. He continued muttering under his breath about the Elvish penchant to blame things on innocent dwarves.
"He did not break to rest his legs, Gimli," put in Aragorn in a distracted tone from a few feet away, where he was examining the foliage.
Legolas made his way across the swath of trees to join him, pausing to pick up one of the papery leaves. After rustling it between his slender fingers as if it were fine silk, he held it out to Aragorn with a look of wonderment. Aragorn took it in his hand, and soon a similar look was upon his own face.
"It is most peculiar, Estel," Legolas said in a quiet tone, "I cannot fathom how they have grown here."
With a shrug and a quick smile, Aragorn nodded. "Aye. Either it is a miracle, or we have wandered far afield from our destination and ended up in the gilded forests of Lothlorien."
Legolas raised an eyebrow. "As the one who entrusted you with the map, I hope dearly that there is only one valid option."
Aragorn narrowed his eyes in mock anger at his friend, "You dare to doubt the navigation of a Ranger?"
Gimli, who had been watching the exchange and attempting to extrapolate what his companions were discussing, offered, "As much as I wish we were still in fair Galadriel's realm, we all know that we are not. And as for the trees, I would be less concerned over why they are here than about whom it was that planted them. And where they are now."
At Gimli's words, the light tone of the conversation broke and levity deserted them. For a long moment, they stood surveying the clearing, respective hands on bow, axe, and sword. When nothing happened, the trio relaxed—slightly. Stepping into line once more and snatching watchful looks at every shadow, they proceeded forward for a few paces undisturbed.
Then a flurry of action, coming from the least expected direction of above, caught their attention by placing a glinting knife in a trunk just to the left of Gimli's ear. Weapons once more at the ready, they dodged two more barrages of knives, one of which slashed the hem of Aragorn's tunic.
Legolas barely had time to shout a truncated "In the tree—!", before their enemy was upon them, swinging down from said tree on a vine, a slender sword flashing as it arched down purposefully over the companions. On the hooded assailant's first pass, the blade snuck through Legolas's bow string, forcing him to abandon his weapon of choice for one of the Elven blades at his belt. As the attacker swung back, Aragorn was ready, parrying each thrust with a resounding peal of metal against metal. On the third pass, the attacker leapt, feet first at Gimli, who was bearing down with his axe, felling him with the breath knocked out of him.
Regaining his footing, the assailant turned to Aragorn and Legolas with a sword in one hand and a short knife in the other, and began to spar with them both in a flurry of skilled attacks. Despite the skill of the cloaked attacker with his blade, he was clearly outmatched by the elf and the Dunedain. If a sudden noise in the forest had not caused Legolas to glance away for an instant, the battle might have ended shortly. As it was, the elf's moment of distraction allowed the attacker to slash Legolas's wrist with his knife, and knock the elf's blade to the floor. Pressing his advantage in a series of urgent strokes, the attacker forced Aragorn against a tree, the point of his sword nestled beneath Aragorn's chin.
But before anything more perilous could occur, Legolas and Gimli appeared, recovered, and both held their own blades to the neck of the mysterious attacker.
"Hold!" shouted Aragorn, who had seen the face of his attacker.
To everyone's astonishment, the hooded 'man' let out a laugh and pushed back the hood to reveal a tangled black braid and discernibly feminine features. Even more astonishingly, she addressed Aragorn by name.
"Is this Isildur's heir I find disturbing the peace of my forest by walking loudly about in circles?" she inquired, a note of true pique in her wry tone. Despite the malice in her question, she lowered her sword an inch or two and glanced at the weaponry that flanked her on either side.
"And he has abandoned his horse for an elf…and a dwarf! Most curious," she added as if in an aside to the forest.
"You know it is I, m'lady," he said, rubbing one hand over the place on his neck where the point of her sword had rested shortly before. "But you are still most convincing in your attack."
"It has been a long time since your kind—any of yours—have found reason to come into my realm," she replied gravely, "Though you are known to me, Aragorn, I must know your business, and that of your companions, before I release you. Do not think that just because we have shared the road in the past I will spare you if I doubt your motive."
"Nay m'lady, I know that the Fangorn Forest comes before aught else to you," he replied, then noted with a bit of an impish smile, "Although at present it is my company which has you at their mercy, I will answer your question."
For a moment, the woman stared intently at Aragorn, then she sheathed her sword and nodded. "I will trust the word of Numenor."
Aragorn gestured for Legolas and Gimli to lower their own weapons, which they did with distinct resignation and an exchanged glance. Then Aragorn explained to the woman the situation in which Merry and Pippin had been carted off by Orcs and ended up running from that frying pan into the fire of the Fangorn Forest.
"Hobbits?" She asked, in a tone that suggested mirth. "I know the two of which you speak. They are currently in the possession of an Ent known as Treebeard; quite safely delivered there by another of your Fellowship."
At this, Legolas couldn't contain his curiosity. "Another of our Fellowship?"
For the first time, the woman acknowledged the presence of the others. She nodded and replied, "One of those Istari, dressed in white robes and carrying a ridiculous staff."
"You can't have given Merry and Pippen over to Saruman!" exclaimed Gimli in horror. He shuddered at the thought of the poor Hobbits in the clutches of the evil wizard—he doubted that Saruman served second breakfast or elevenses, not to mention breakfast, lunch, and dinner!
The woman looked peeved. "I may not leave the forest often, but I am not half-witted. I wouldn't deliver innocent halflings to the agent of the dark lord."
"Then who can you possibly speak of? The only wizard in our company fell into darkness on the journey through the mines of Moria, and he was not a white wizard anyway," pressed Aragorn.
"I speak of a magic man who is in some ways known to you," she said, speaking to all of them, "And in other ways completely unknown. Yet he is pure, and on your side. I think that it would be best for me to lead you to him, since the Hobbits are already rescued and I grow dizzy watching the circles you traverse through my wood."
Legolas and Gimli looked to Aragorn, unwilling to trust this stranger who had nearly been the death of them all, but faithful to their leader. Aragorn weighed the options in his mind, then conceded that her way was the best. He was tired of wandering through the Fangorn Forest, and curious besides to meet this wizard. He didn't believe that this woman, whom he had occasionally traveled and fought alongside, would deceive him; she was a most accomplished omitter of the truth, but not at all a liar.
"We will follow you, m'lady," he decided aloud, and Legolas and Gimli nodded giving Aragorn a look that informed him an explanation was in order.
TBC (hopefully)…Well, what do you think of my first fanfic efforts? Don't be shy…I'm ready for anything!