Guys, I am so sorry that I haven't updated in foreveeerrr. I've just had a lot of personal stuff going on, but now I'm continually working on this fanfic, so I'll be updating more often. Here's Chapter 10 for you ^^
Aragorn's Pov
They had been running for days. Gimli struggled to keep up with Aragorn and Legolas on his stunted legs, and every so often they stopped to catch their breath. Well, really, only Aragorn and Gimli needed to rest. Legolas never seemed to tire. He kept watch while the two rested and caught their breath for a few moments, then they took off again. They had to reach the company of Orcs before anything bad happened to Merry and Pippin.
Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas ran through the night, hoping that their small friends would be unharmed if they ever reached them, As dawn approached, they crested a hill, and Legolas stopped suddenly, and looked out at the horizon.
"Legolas, what is it?" Aragorn asked.
"A red sun rises...blood has been spilled this night," Legolas replied hesitantly.
Aragorn felt a cold shiver go down his spine, though the day was warm. Hopefully, Legolas meant Orc blood, and not Hobbit blood.
They continued on for awhile, but then Aragorn felt a rumble under his feet. His first thought was of an earthquake, then he realized that it was the fall of horse hooves upon the ground.
"Move! Run to those boulders over there!" He bellowed, and they sprinted to the boulders that Aragorn had indicated.
Once they were well hidden, the trio watched as a large group horsemen galloped past, carrying banners that flapped wildly in the breeze. Aragorn suddenly recognized the sigil, and jumped out from behind the boulder, followed by Legolas and Gimli.
"Riders of Rohan, what news from the Mark?" He shouted to them.
The leader up front gave a signal, and the group of horsemen turned and headed towards them. Once they reached them, they formed a circle around the trio and pointed their long, menacing looking spears at them.
"What business does an Elf, a man and, a Dwarf have in the Riddermark? Speak quickly!" The leader said.
"Give me your name, Horsemaster, and I shall give you mine," Gimli said, and Aragorn cursed at him inwardly.
Handing his spear to another rider, the leader dismounted and came to stand in front of Aragorn. Aragorn placed his hand on Gimli's shoulder protectively.
"I would cut off your head, Dwarf, if it stood but a little higher off the ground," the leader said.
Legolas notched arrow in a lightning fast move and pointed it at the man.
'You would die before your stroke fell!" He snarled.
The other riders moved their spears closer, and Aragorn uneasily pushed Legolas' arm down.
"Please, Legolas, don't," He muttered.
"I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn. This is Gimli, son of Glóin and Legolas of the Woodland realm. We are friends of Rohan and of Théoden, your king." He said to the leader.
The leader of the group removed his helmet, and the rest of the group withdraws their spears.
"Theoden no longer recognizes friend from foe. Not even his own kin," He said. "I am Eomer, of Rohan."
Aragorn inclined his head slightly.
"Saruman has poisoned the mind of the king and claimed lordship over these lands. 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." Eomer continued.
"We are no spies. We have been tracking a group of Uruk-hai. They took two of our young friends captive, and we've been trying to catch up to them for days." Aragorn explained.
There was a sense of uneasiness that arose from the horsemen, and Aragorn's stomach knotted in anxiety.
"The Uruks are slaughtered. We killed them all last night," Eomer said quietly.
"There were two hobbits with them, did you see them!?" Gimli said.
"They would be only children to your eyes," Aragorn said.
Eomer was quiet for a moment.
"We left none alive. We piled the corpses and burned them," Eomer said finally, pointing to a cloud of smoke in the distance.
Aragorn's heart dropped into his stomach.
"I am sorry," Eomer said.
"Hasufel! Arod," He called, and two horses trotted to the front. "May these horses bear you to better fortune than their former masters. Farewell. Look for your friends. But do not trust to hope, it has forsaken these lands."
Eomer climbed back onto his horse, and with a signal to the horsemen, they rode north.
Aragorn climbed onto Hasufel, and Legolas helped Gimli onto Arod. Once Legolas had climbed onto Arod as well, they took off towards the pillar of smoke. When they reached it, Aragorn hurriedly dismounted and ran towards the pile. He started digging through, and his hand soon hit something metal. Pulling it, he examined it, and his heart sank. It was a piece of a belt and dagger sheath that one of the hobbits had been wearing.
"It's one of their belts,"Gimli said quietly.
Legolas began a prayer for their souls.
"Hiro îth… ab 'wanath…"
"AAARRRGGHH!" Aragorn yelled, kicking a helmet, and he fell to his knees.
"We failed them…." Gimli whispered.
Aragorn held his head, staring helplessly at the ground, and then he noticed something next to leg.
"These are tracks….a hobbit lay here…." He muttered to himself.
He stood up and followed the tracks.
"They crawled over here…." Aragorn said, then picked up a piece of rope off of the ground. "Their bonds were cut…"
Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas kept following the tracks, stopping suddenly when they saw where they led.
"Fangorn...what madness drove them in there?" Gimli said.
. . .
Ashlyn's POV
"Gandalf!"
Ashlyn's eyes snapped open and she snatched up her axe and stood, accidently knocking Sam onto his back. Realizing it had only been Frodo, she lowered her axe
"Are you okay, Frodo?" She asked him.
"Yes...I..just had a bad dream…" He said hesitantly.
"Oww," Sam said, rubbing his shoulder. "If you wanted me on my back, you could've just woke me up."
"Sorry, Sam. I heard a noise and thought it was something coming to kill us, but it was just Frodo waking up from a bad dream," She explained.
"What was your dream about, Mr. Frodo?" Sam inquired.
"It's nothing important, Sam, let's just go back to sleep," Frodo replied.
"Actually," Ashlyn said, "We have get a move on, we don't have time to waste."
With that, they packed up the campsite.
An hour later, they were trudging over Emyn Muil, and the Mountain of Fire came into view. They stopped to gaze at it.
"Mordor. The one place in Middle-earth we don't want to see any closer, and the one place we're trying to get to. It's just where we can't get," Sam said, and then he turned to face Frodo.
"Let's face it, Mr. Frodo, we're lost. I don't think Gandalf meant for us to come this way," He continued.
Frodo was quiet for a moment.
"Gandalf didn't mean for a lot of things to happen, Sam, but they did anyways," He replied.
Ashlyn was a bit taken aback by his harsh tone, and Sam looked a little hurt. She was about to say something when Frodo gasped, a look of fear appearing on his face. She scanned the area for any signs of danger but didn't see any.
"Frodo? Is it the ring?" She asked him.
"It's getting heavier," He replied shakily, clutching the ring to his chest.
He dropped to the ground and fumbled for his water bottle. Sam gave it to him and helped him take a sip.
"Do we have any food left?" Frodo asked.
"Well, we have Lembas bread," Sam said, digging through his bag. "Oh, and look...more Lembas bread."
Ashlyn stifled a giggle.
Sam broke a piece of the bread into three pieces and gave one to Frodo and Ashlyn, then went to sit next to her. He wrapped his arm around her waist as he ate, and she leaned against him, trying not to knock him over since she was bigger than him. That was one of the things she kept forgetting. She was Human and they were Hobbits. They only came up to her chest, but of course they must enjoy that, seeing as she had a generous chest. Frodo smiled at Sam.
"Nothing ever dampens your spirits, does it, Sam?" Frodo said, and Sam just smiled back at him.
Later that day, they continued through the rocky terrain, clutching their cloaks around them. Ashlyn could feel the rough rocks cutting through her sandals, and she winced from pain every so often.
Sam suddenly stopped.
"This place looks strangely familiar…" He said.
"It's because we've been going in circles!" Frodo said exasperatedly.
Ashlyn stood stock still, for she had sensed something moving around them.
"Quiet!" She said to them, and they turned to stare at her.
"We're not alone," She continued.