Chapter 21

Departure of Lothlorien

Aliya found herself being gently shaken awake the next morning. She opened her eyes and saw Pipp and Merry.

"Good morning." She said as she rubbed her eyes and sat up.

"You need to get up, we're getting ready to leave." Legolas said as he walked over and brushed a strand of hair out of Aliya's face.

"Your clothes from before we came here are right here." Merry said as he handed her the folded clothes.

They were nice and clean and smelled of lavender.

"Thank you." Aliya said as she took the clothes.

Pipp and Merry then walked away and started packing their bags.

Legolas then sat down behind her and started to brush out her hair.

"Where are we going to go?" Aliya asked.

"Rohan then to Gondor." Legolas said as he started to braid her hair. "Do you know how to ride a horse?"

"No." Aliya said.

She had never ridden a horse because she lived in the wizarding world so she never had the opportunity.

"Well then you can ride with me." Legolas said as he finished Aliya's hair.

"Hey what about me?" Gimli asked.

"You can ride with… Aragorn until we reach Gondor. Then you and Aliya can switch or she can ride a Rohan horse if she would like." Legolas said.

Aliya got up and left the room to get dressed.

Once she returned the only person left in the room was Frodo.

"Where's everyone else?" Aliya asked as she strapped her quiver and daggers to her and grabbed her bow.

"They headed out to get horses. I decided to wait for you." Frodo said. "Are you ready to leave?"

"Yes." Aliya said.

She followed Frodo out of the room and outside to the stables.

Once they got there Aliya looked around at everyone.

Pipp and Merry were on a white pony with brown spots. Boromir was adjusting the saddle on a brown horse. Gandalf was sitting on a tall white horse with surprisingly no saddle. Sam and Frodo were on a brown pony. Legolas was on a white horse and Aragorn and Gimli were on a brown horse.

Aliya walked over to the horse Aragorn was on and started petting it.

"This horse looks very tough. I'm surprised it let you on." Aliya said.

"His name is Brego. He and a few other horses from Rohan were sent here to us for transportation." Aragorn said as he started petting Brego.

"Let us get a move on." Gandalf said.

Aliya heard a horse come up behind her. It was Legolas.

Aliya turned around and Legolas helped her onto the horse.

"Aliya meet Arod." Legolas said, motioning to the horse.

Once Gandalf saw that Aliya was on Arod they started off.

Arod lurched forward, startling Aliya (who nearly fell off). Aliya wrapped her hands around Legolas tightly. She was not in the mood to break a bone from falling off a horse. It would have been terribly embarrassing especially since Gimli is able to manage staying on his horse.

"Aliya you do realize breathing is kinda important." Legolas said.

Aliya immediately loosened her grip only enough for him to be able to breathe comfortably though.

"That's much better. Thank you." Legolas said as he coaxed Arod into a trot.

Aliya looked around to see who was near her. She saw Aragorn riding next to Legolas. Gimli had himself seated behind Aragorn and was bouncing up and down.

Aliya craned her neck to see who was riding in front of them. She saw Pipp and Merry. She looked to the left of them and saw Frodo and Sam. Boromir was on the right side behind Pipp and Merry and in front of Legolas.

Aliya turned and looked at Gimli.

"Gimli? Just curious but… why don't you ride a horse on your own?" She asked.

Gimli looked down at Brego before saying, "Let's just say I'm not too fond of the beast."

Brego who seemed to understand tried to buck Gimli off before Aragorn calmed him down.

Aliya laughed to herself.

As they came to the edge of the forest they slowed down and stopped by a stream so the horses could drink the water.

Once the horses were ready they started off and exited the forest.

They had now entered a plain. There were a few trees here and there but not a whole lot.

Aliya sighed happily as a cool breeze blew through her hair.

Just as she was getting comfortable enough to loosen her grip on Legolas a little more Arod stopped abruptly and reared up.

Aliya tightened her grip on Legolas holding onto Legolas as if her life depended on it.

Everyone stopped and looked to see what was going on as Legolas tried to calm Arod down.

After Legolas had calmed Arod down he climbed down and walked in front of him while holding onto the reins.

"What happened?" Aliya heard Legolas ask.

Aliya craned her neck to see who he was talking to. She saw Legolas standing in front of Merry who was on the ground. Pipp was still on the pony craning his neck to see Merry.

"I don't know. Last thing I remember is Pipp re-situating himself on the Seattle then next thing I knew I was falling off the horse." Merry said.

"I see. Well let's try to be more careful next time. You're lucky Arod saw you otherwise you could have been trampled." Legolas said as he helped Merry up.

Then Legolas turned around and got back on Arod. Then they started off again. Aliya was no longer comfortable with loosening her grip anymore.

"Aliya once again I can't breath." Legolas said.

Aliya loosened her grip a little.

"Thank you but there's no need to be nervous about falling off." He said.

Aliya didn't respond. She focused on their surroundings. She could see a river in the distance and a small forest on the side of them.

Just then Arod took off into a gallop along with everyone else.

"What's going on?" Aliya asked as she tightened her grip on Legolas (but not to the point where he can't breath).

"Orcs!" Aragorn shouted.

"Some of them are on Wargs!" Boromir shouted.

Aliya remembered reading about Wargs. They are basically horses for the Orcs except they look like a dog mixed with a hyena. But much larger.

"How close are they?!" Legolas shouted.

"A little ways away but not too far! Why?" Aragorn responded.

At hearing this Legolas somehow managed to switch spots with Aliya. He had his back to her.

"Legolas what are you doing?!" Aliya asked panicking.

"Saving everyone's life." Legolas said as he notched two arrows in his bow.

He released it, killing an Orc and Warg at the same time. He notched another two arrows in his bow killing more until only Orcs that were on foot were left.

Then Legolas somehow managed to get back to the front of Arod and all the horses slowed down to a trot.

"Won't the orcs catch up to us?" Sam asked.

"No. Only the ones that were on foot are left and chances are they retreated." Legolas said.

Soon day turned into night and it became dark. Aliya looked up at the sky. Clouds were covering the stars. The only thing in the sky that could be seen was the moon. It provided a nice glow down on the land.

Aliya laid her cheek on Legolas' back. She closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the wind blowing through the trees and the sound of the horses and soon she was sound asleep.