Hello! As you could see in my last post, I am stuck, horribly. So I started to write the story again. Beter and more detailed. I won't delete this story, and I will continue it when it comes to me. You can say I use this as my draft and made the last one even better.

Look below for some more news.

Strider was catching his breath as he pulled his sword from the last ork he killed. They were all dead now and Mace was jogging over to him. "Everyone alright Mace?" He asked his fellow ranger. The large man nodded. "You?" He pointed at the blood on Strider's arm. "Yes. That's not mine." Strider cleaned his sword with a cloth, getting most of the gore off of it.

"I don't think this was the main group. They were too few." Mace said as he looked at the dead orks. Strider nodded. "I agree. This was a scouting party. We need to be careful." Strider looked up at the moon, his hand moving to the necklace around his neck. Mace saw the movement but kept quiet. "What do we do now?" He asked the captain.

"I think we need to regroup and find a safe place to rest. If there is a greater number out there we need to be on our guard."

The small group of rangers scouted the dead orks one last time to see if they missed any important signs before they took off into the darkness of the night.

They had been traveling towards Edoras, but they had encountered a few groups of orks on their way. They had found abandoned towns, towns that were burned down by the fire. But they had not seen any one of the race of men.

It worried Strider, Where were the Rohirrim? Where was Rohan's mounted force?

Mace placed his hand on Strider's shoulder. "Come on, we need to go."

Strider followed the other rangers. When the sun was about to go up, they stopped and made camp. Yvan was starting the fire and would soon start cooking. Rithil took Lopin to scout the area and get them some supplies. Mace and himself put up the rest of the camp. He had spent some weeks with them now, and their routines had grown on him quickly. He slowly was getting to know the other rangers better. They were hard men. Formed by battle and hardship, excellent fighters.

When they sat down for food, Strider looked up at the sun rising. He had trouble eating, and his bowl stayed full in his hand.

The hand on his shoulder, made him turn to his side. Mace was looking at him, his eyebrows knit together. He looked worried. The resemblance to Ram's worried look was unnerving sometimes. He missed her. Being around her family somehow both comforted and hurt him at the same time. Their small ways amongst each other, the ways they prayed before they left. Even the tone of their voice and their slight accent reminded him of her.

"I am sure she is fine," Mace spoke to him, making the other 3 rangers look up at them. He saw the worry in their eyes as well. "My little cousin can take care of herself." Yvan nodded. "Yes, do you remember that time when she was chased down by a bear." Rithil and Mace laughed. Lopin was still young and looked at Strider. He winked at the young one, also not knowing what happened when Ram was chased by a bear. "She had the bright idea to get some honey, but the beehive dropped on her, and she was covered in honey. There was a bear close by who chased her up a tree. She killed it in the end." Mace laughed at Yvan's story. "She was covered in bee stings and honey. She had to cut her hair off. She was so pissed but never collected honey after that." The rangers laughed at the story. Strider saw Mace look at him from the corner of his eye, nodding as Strider had started eating again.

"She is quite a spitfire," Strider said smiling softly. The others nodded. "You are a lucky man to have her heart, Strider," Mace spoke with his deep voice. Strider nodded and stood up. "I am getting some rest." He made his way to his pack and tried to catch some sleep. Ram's smile haunted his dreams.

Strider was on his knees, his head hung low as blood slowly dripped from his nose. The huge ork in front of him snorted, as he grabbed the ranger by his hair and pulled him up. "Pathetic human." It spoke, the words coming out sounded as foul as the dark speech.

"You will break and tell us where she is." He sniffed near his ear. "You will learn to fear me."

Pain followed quickly.

Striders ears rang from the force of the blow, as his blood mixed with the mud on the ground.

"As will the others." He could see the ork walk past him towards Mace. "You smell so much of her. Perhaps you know the places between her legs." Mace glared at the ork trying to fight his chains. "But not to worry. Our dear princess will not stay hidden forever. Our king has sent her a vision. She will come running right into his arms to save her kin."

Strider shot up from his bedroll, a knife in his hand. Yvan looked over his shoulder to the other rangers. The man was guarding them and his eyes quickly looked back to their surroundings. The sun was up high in the sky and it was slowly getting a bit warmer. Strider rubbed his face trying to let go of some of the tension. He got up and sat down next to Yvan. "Bad dreams?" The ranger asked him. Strider nodded. "The same one again." Yvan put his hand on Strider's knee as a sign of compassion. "You can go back you know. We will manage here without you."

Strider shook his head as he played with the tall grass between his feet. "I know you can. But something is going on here we need to take care of. Now is not the time to follow my heart. Not when others are in need." Yvan sighed. "You do know there will always be others in need." Strider snickered. "I know. Yvan. I know." He saw a flash of light in the distance. Yvan saw it too because he tensed up. "Orks?" Strider asked, but the other ranger shook his head. "Not in the middle of the day." Strider got to his feet. "It must be the Rohirrim then. Wake the others."

Yvan nodded and got up. "Finally."

Yeah I know that is it for now.

You would think in lockdown someone would have the time to write. But as my profession needs me to be at work (I am a teacher), with my kid back home for homeschooling and my husband working from home and having to teach my kid during the day because I am at work. It gets a little crazy I tell you that. But I think half the world is like that now. What crazy days we live in. Good luck everyone. check out Together we stand, for a new version of this story. Or leave your ideas for this one in a review.