Thank you for the early positive reviews, it is very encouraging. The story is going to get darker from now on, so I hope you enjoy!
Aragorn did not know how many men were soon to appear out from the dark shadows of the forest, nor did he waste his time in trying to calculate a possible estimate. All he thought was that as long as he and the rest of the Fellowship stuck together, the possibility of survival was raised greatly. He clenched the hilt of his sword tightly; a slight trembling in his stomach of fear prompted a bead of sweat to trickle down the side of his face. Indeed, even for a season veteran of sword battles like Aragorn this situation was frightening, they did not know their enemy, they did not know their odds, all they could establish was how far away the enemy were by their grotesque language and the angered growl of the dogs. The Fellowship stood their ground, forming a circle, covering all possible areas of attack but as they stood their valiantly, ready for battle a deathly silence fell upon the forest. It was so silent every exhale of the group could be heard, even Legolas, it was unsettling and it didn't take long for Gimli to retaliate.
''What are they doing? Too cowardly to face us it seems!' he growled furiously, 'Show yourself!' he ordered.
Aragorn raised his hand to lower the dwarf's voice. But Gimli chose to ignore the command
'Let them come Aragorn, they threaten us, they should figh…'
None of the Fellowship expected to see what they saw, the Hobbits eyes looked on in horror at the sudden silencing of the dwarf. In a split second a small dart with a feathered end had imbedded itself into the dwarf's neck leaving him to fall heavily onto the ground in an unconscious state. Boromir went to take a step towards the fallen dwarf but Aragorn's hand raised up again;
'No, do not move!' Aragorn turned to face depths of the forest, he called out, ''we mean you no harm, please reveal yourself and perhaps we can discuss what matters you may have.'
They all waited hesitantly for the response, but they did not receive one. The hobbits eyed one another in fear;
'Stay close Mr Frodo'
Frodo took a step closer to his loyal friend and gripped Sting tightly
The intimidating silence ended with a loud commanding yell and within a flash 3 dogs and seven men ran out of the forest. Quickly the dogs fell to the elf's arrows but this was not a strong gain as the fighting soon became close combat. The men did not possess mighty skill with their blades but they certainly proved too much for the Hobbits who quickly came under vast pressure. Boromir fought bravely against the ferocious man by landing heavy blows against his sword, eventually the Gondorian was able to thrust deep into his stomach and was rewarded with a deathly groan as the man fell to the ground. However his new focus was daunting, the men targeting the hobbits had able to split them up with Merry and Pippin being closest to him, with haste he stormed over to the two hobbits who were fighting for their lives but suddenly felt a dark haze draw over him. His balance began to trouble him and he fell heavily onto the floor, he just had the strength to lift his heads to see Merry and Pippin and they two fell to the ground unconscious with the men standing proudly over them, it wasn't long until Boromir fell into the world of the unconscious himself.
Aragorn and Legolas unaware of their fallen comrades where still fighting against the remaining men, they were outnumbered but did not let that phase them, in quick succession the man and elf were able to kill two more of the attackers however as Aragorn pulled the bloodied sword from the man's chest he noticed the fallen figures of not only Gimli but of Boromir, Merry and Pippin. Aragorn's eyes widened at the sight and then spotted Frodo and Sam cowering by a nearby tree, the men that threatened to kill them had now moved onto Legolas and Aragorn. Aragorn motioned them to run but the Hobbits shook their heads in violent protest.
'Do it!' yelled Aragorn raises his blade to meet the man's
Sam looked hesitantly at Frodo, 'Frodo come on we can escape and send help'
'We can't leave them Sam!'
Aragorn killed another, leaving only four men, Aragorn had a brief moment to turn to the frightened hobbits once more, he opened his mouth to speak but no words escaped his mouth. A dart flew out of the forest and imbedded itself into the ranger's neck. He tried to fight against the growing haze by swinging his sword out in a violent motion but it was no use, he could feel every muscle shutting down and his eyes closing, he fell to the floor and gave one last attempt to plead with the hobbits to run.
'Mr Frodo, come on! We will end up like them, we can find help!'
Frodo's eyes filled with tears, 'I…I…can't'
'Think of the ring Mr Frodo, they have protected us so we can escape!'
Frodo sighed deeply and with deep regret ran off deep into the forest undetected
Legolas stood alone, one against four yet he still had complete hope he could prevail. At last one of the men spoke;
'Drops your weapons you cannot beat us.'
'I have be outnumbered before, you will prove no match to me'
'That is very arrogant of you Blondie, especially seeing that there are three more of us positioned in the forest ready to take aim at you.'
'You will not do any….'
Legolas felt a dart imbed itself into his neck and quickly he removed it. The men watched bewildered as to why he was still standing. Another flew into his neck, it still had no effect.
'You have harmed my friends I will not let you proceed with your intentions' Legolas stated bravely
'That's very sweet' the man said, 'But we cannot allow this, you will be coming with us'
Legolas knives we ready for the fight and the four men pounced on the elf but strongly he fought them off using his agility and highly trained skill. He was so effective against their slow movements that he was able to kill one of the men, which as a result ended up with another dart to his neck, but Legolas ignored it and carried on battling hard. One of the men stood back and yelled to the forest.
'He is an elf, more poison!'
This time 5 darts much larger than before struck Legolas and he stumbled backwards in response. His head suddenly felt dizzy and the men watched him with sadistic grins. Legolas pulled the darts out and once again raised his knives ready to fight taking them by surprise. Again blades locked blades but Legolas' agility was diminished, his strength failing, he fought and fought but finally the eighth dart struck into his smooth skin and he suddenly lost the grip of his knives. He stumbled and fell to his knees, trying to control his breathing. He fought the blackness but suddenly found to grubby shoes in front of him. He looked up and one of the attackers stood in front of him holding a large club. Legolas squinted his eyes in confusion. The man laughed at the pathetic look of the elf
'Night night Elf!'
With a hard whack, the club struck Legolas and he fell into unconsciousness.
