Lord of the Rings: An Outlaw's Redemption
…
Chapter 8: The Four Hunters
Traipsing along in a forced march, clad in dark leather armour, bearing the white hand of Saruman the White were the remainder of the Uruk-Hai who had attacked the Fellowship at Amon Hen. Strapped to the backs of two Uruks were Merry and Pippin. They had captured two of the Hobbits to bring to Saruman thinking that one of them possessed the Ring of Power.
Running down a ravine, the Uruk at the lead, suddenly halted, raising a fist in the air for the others to stop. One of the other Uruks spoke to him, "What is it? What do you smell?" he asked.
The Uruk took a deep sniff of the air and grunted, "Man flesh!"
The Uruks growled angrily, baring, and gnashing their teeth in fury. Pippin having overheard what was said felt hope bloom in his chest. "Aragorn!" he whispered.
"They picked up our trail!" one of the Uruks growled. "Let's go!" he ordered and the Uruks began to run faster, hoping to outrun their pursuers and reach Orthanc.
Thinking quickly, Pippin pulled at the Lothlorien leaf brooch attached to his cloak with his teeth. After pulling it free, he spat it at the ground before any of the Uruks could notice. The leaf brooch lay innocently in the ground, being pressed further into the dirt by the boots of the Uruks that ran over it.
…
Far off in the distance, Aragorn semi-lay on the ground, his eyes closed, and his ear pressed to the earth. Listening to the footsteps of the Uruk-Hai, the Dunédain ranger ascertained that the Uruks were now hurrying faster.
Standing beside the ranger was Arthur Morgan. The cowboy had the beginnings of a beard growing on his chin and cheeks and there were dark circles ringing his eyes indicating a lack of sleep, although he did not betray any exhaustion. "How far are they now?" Arthur asked Aragorn.
"Their pace has quickened," Aragorn answered as he opened his eyes and lifted his head from the ground to look at Arthur. "They must've caught our scent," he said, standing fully to his feet, Aragorn looked behind him and shouted, "Hurry!"
Coming up behind the two was Legolas, stopping to look back the elf prince shouted, "Come on, Gimli!"
Straggling behind them but doing his best to valiantly keep up was Gimli who was red in the face and panting for breath. Taking a moment to rest leaning on his axe, the dwarf said to himself, "Three days and nights pursuit… no food… nor rest. And no sign of our quarry but what bare rock can tell!" With that complaint made, Gimli ran after the others, hoping to catch up with them.
The Four Hunters ran across and over plains and rocks, doing their best to try and catch up with the Uruk-Hai and rescue Merry and Pippin from torment.
Slowing down into a ravine where tracks left behind by the Uruks lay, Arthur examined the ground. A small glint of gold caught the cowboy's eye and he bent down to pick up an Elven brooch in the shape of a leaf with silver veins in it.
"Found something!" Arthur exclaimed. Aragorn and Legolas looked at the brooch in Arthur's palm. "One of the brooches from the elf cloaks we got back in Lothlorien," the cowboy stated to the Dunédain and the Mirkwood prince.
"Not idly do the Leaves of Lórien fall," Aragorn remarked.
"I'm guessing either Merry or Pippin pulled off their brooch and left it for us to find," Arthur said. "It's what I'd do if I was captured and wanted my pals to rescue me," he added.
"So, they may yet be alive?" Legolas asked hopefully.
"Have to be," Arthur said. "Them Uruks have gotta be thinking that Merry or Pippin have got the Ring, don't they? I reckon them Uruk-Hai were given the order to bring the Halflings to whomever wants them alive," he reasoned.
"How far away do you think the Uruks are, Arthur?" Aragorn asked the cowboy.
"Eh, maybe a day or two ahead of us? We've made good time, considering we haven't stopped for anything," Arthur said. "But then again, they haven't stopped for anything either," he added grimly.
"I thought so too," Aragorn said nodding his head. "Come!"
Aragorn, Legolas, and Arthur then proceeded to follow the trail left behind by the Uruk-Hai. Tumbling down into the ravine with a clatter and clank of armour was Gimli who grunted and groaned as he reached the bottom.
"Come, Gimli! We're gaining on them!" Legolas shouted to the Dwarf.
Standing to his feet and running as fast as his legs could carry him, Gimli shouted back, "I'm wasted on cross-country! We dwarves are natural sprinters!" he blustered. "Very dangerous over short distances!" he added proudly.
"There's an idea!" Arthur laughed. "If you can't beat an army of dwarves, try to outrun 'em!" he joked.
Arthur's jest got a mirthful chuckle from Aragorn and Legolas had a wry smirk on his lips.
Gimli grunted, obviously not enjoying the jest. "Ooh, he's gonna pay for that!" he swore to himself.
…
The four hunters ran up over the hill and were soon met with the vast sweeping plains before them. Aragorn then spoke, "Rohan, home of the horse lords."
His eyes then narrowed in thought as he said, "There is something strange at work here. Some evil gives speed to these creatures, sets its will against us."
Legolas ran out ahead and looked to the horizon and Arthur called out to the elf prince, "Whaddya see out there?"
Legolas looked out ahead before answering Arthur's question. "The Uruks turn northeast. They're taking the Hobbits to Isengard!" the elf prince said in fear and anger.
"Saruman!" Aragorn cursed.
"Weren't he the one that caused that avalanche back in the mountains?" Arthur asked the Dunédain who nodded in reply.
"Be cautious of Saruman, he is an enormously powerful wizard," Aragorn cautioned the cowboy who nodded slowly and said, "Yeah, I'll be careful, but I'll bet that bastard ain't got anything I can't handle."
"I admire your confidence, Arthur," Aragorn said with a slight smile.
"Heh, yeah well, when you've been through some of the things I have, you'd be ready for anything," Arthur chuckled before he sighed. "I just hope those two kids are okay," he then said.
"Then we must press on and catch up to the Uruks before they reached Isengard," Aragorn replied.
…
Isengard. The Tower of Orthanc.
Saruman the White stood in his chamber, his eyes closed as he held his hand above the Palantir. In the crystal depths of the Palantir, a fiery eye burned unblinking, the Eye of Sauron.
"The world is changing. Who now has the strength to stand against the armies of Isengard and Mordor? To stand against the strength of Sauron and Saruman and the union of the Two Towers? Together, my lord, we shall rule this Middle-Earth," Saruman spoke in his mind to his master.
The surrounding landscape of Isengard had changed drastically in the last few months. The once lush verdant green gardens and trees had all been ripped from their roots, chopped and used to fuel the fires of industrial furnaces. Deep caverns were carved into the earth where orcs forged arms and armour, the sounds of hammers ringing and clanging against hot metal and the smell of molten iron poured into casts filled the air and great clouds of black smokes rose up from the caverns.
"The old world will burn in the fires of industry. The forests will fall. A new order will rise! We will drive the machine of war with the sword and the spear and the iron fists of the Orc! We have only to remove those who oppose us!"
Just a few hours ago, Saruman stood atop a balcony overseeing the production that was happening in the caverns. The White Wizard then spoke to his overseer. "I want them armed and ready to march within two weeks!" the fallen Wizard ordered.
"But my lord, there are too many!" protested the overseer. "We cannot arm them all in time! We don't have the means!"
"Build a dam, block the stream, work the furnaces night and day!" Saruman growled.
"We don't have enough fuel to feed the fires!"
Saruman looked out past the walls of Isengard and saw the numerous trees of Fangorn Forest. A cruel idea swept into the Wizard's mind. "The Forest of Fangorn lies at our doorstep. Burn it!" he commanded.
"Yesss," the overseer said with an evil grin.
A few hours later, Saruman was speaking with an envoy of the Wild Men of Dunland. Saruman had made promises and offers to the Wild Men of Dunland just days before. He had played on their anger and hatred of the Rohirrim whom many Dunlanders believed had stolen their lands and forced them into the hills.
"We will fight for you!" the envoy of Dunland said to Saruman.
"Swear it.
The envoy pulled out a jagged knife and cut the palm of his hand with it. Clenching his hand tightly and letting blood poured to the ground, the Dunlander said, "We will die… for Saruman!" he promised.
Later at night, Saruman stood amidst a throng of Dunlanders, giving them a speech to stir them into attacking Rohan. "The horsemen took your lands! They drove your people into the hills to scratch a living amongst rocks!" the corrupt wizard told them.
"Murderers!" one of the Dunlanders cried out in anger followed by voices and shouts of agreement.
"Take back the lands they stole from you! Burn every village!" Saruman commanded.
With triumphant yells of bloodlust at the thought of loot and slaughter, the Hillmen and Uruk-Hai charged off towards the lands of Rohan to loot, pillage and destroy every village they could see.
Back in the Tower of Orthanc, Saruman spoke to his master through the Palantir.
"It will begin in Rohan. Too long have these peasants stood against you. No more!"
The Eye of Sauron flared to life in the Palantir as the Dark Lord spoke to his servant.
"My servants tell me of One who has fought them. A Man armed with weapons this world has not seen before; weapons that shoot thunder."
Saruman raised an eyebrow. He did not wish to question his master, but felt it necessary to ask. "Who is this… Man?"
"A Man not of this world. Once a killer and a thief, but he now seeks redemption by aiding those who would thwart me."
"What do you command me to do?" Saruman asked.
"Create for me a beast that will kill this Man,"was Sauron's command.
"It will be done, my lord," Saruman said as the Eye of Sauron faded away. Saruman then left the room for his study. He had been studying from his books, grimoires and tomes of various species, looking for new ways to create new beasts of war to destroy the world of Men. He had already begun formulating ideas for a new kind of beast; something of the strength, height and stature of troll but the cunning cruelty of an Orc and the tenacity of his new Uruk-Hai.
Smiling to himself, the White Wizard took up a piece of parchment before taking up a quill, dipping the nib into a pot of ink and began to scribble onto the parchment.
…
The four hunters ran up the hill as the morning sun rose over the horizon. Rays of red and orange slowly filled the landscape causing Legolas to stop in his tracks and look at the sun.
"A red sun rises… blood had been spilled this night!" the elf prince said grimly.
"How can you tell?" Arthur asked him. "Just looks like a regular ol' sunsrise to me," he remarked.
"Blood. Blood in the air," Legolas replied to the cowboy's question.
Arthur took a sniff of the air around. He wrinkled his nose a little before rubbing it with his finger. Now that Legolas had mentioned blood in the air, Arthur could smell a faint faraway scent of fire and smoke and the even more faint smell of something burning. "Huh, now that you mention it, I think I can smell it too," he said.
"I smell nothing," Gimli said, clearly not understanding what Arthur or Legolas were getting at.
"There's a smell of smoke on the air, and something else too," Arthur told the dwarf. "You can't smell it?" he asked him. Gimli shook his head in response.
"Heh, well, suppose when we get closer you might be able to smell it like we can," Arthur chuckled. "C'mon, the Uruks can't be far ahead," he said.
It was light out by the time they reached a wide-open pathway when the sound of horses galloping alerted them. Aragorn pulled them back behind some boulders to hide just as a large group of horse-men, all armed and bearing a flying banner with a white horse on a green field rode past them. Arthur raised his Lancaster but Aragorn put a hand on the barrel, lowering it and shook his head at the cowboy who nodded in understanding.
Stepping out from behind the boulders, Aragorn called out to the riders. "Riders of Rohan! What news from the Mark?!" Almost immediately, the leader of the riders raised his spear wheeling his horse around and heading towards the four hunters. The riders surrounded the four in a tight circle, pointing their spears threateningly towards them.
"Seems these fellers ain't too friendly," Arthur muttered as his itchy trigger finger twitched to raise his gun and fire a couple of shots off at the riders.
Then the leader of the riders rode up to them. He wore much more elaborate armour in comparison to his men; the armour had more plate segments of red steel and his helmet had a tail of white horsehair trailing from the back of it. Two hard hazel-green eyes glared out from the helmet as their owner spoke to them.
"What business does an elf, two men and a dwarf have in the Riddermark? Speak quickly!"
Gimli levelled a glare at the rider and replied, "Give me your name, horsemaster, and I shall give ye mine."
The rider frowned distrustfully as he handed his spear to one of his men and got off his horse to walk up to Gimli.
"Might wanna watch that mouth of yours next time, if there is one," Arthur muttered to Gimli who didn't look perturbed at this.
"I would cut off your head, dwarf, if stood but a little higher from the ground!" the leader of the Riders of Rohan said.
Like lightning, Arthur drew his Schofield and aimed it at the man, pulling back the hammer with his thumb cocking it and he said, "I wouldn't recommend that, pretty boy! Not unless you want your head blown off!"
The other riders bristled, raising their spears at the four hunters. Aragorn stepped in-between Arthur and the horseman, lowering Arthur's gun before speaking to the horseman. "I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn. This is Gimli, son of Glóin, Legolas of the Woodland realm and Arthur Morgan," the Dunédain said making introductions. "We are friends of Rohan and Théoden, your king," he added.
The horsemen's leader spoke softly, mournfully. "Théoden no longer recognises friend from foe," he said taking off his helmet to reveal a handsome youth hardened by war and hardship with flowing blonde hair. "Not even his own kin," he added bitterly.
The Riders of Rohan then withdrew their spears from the group, seeing their leader acting politely with the four hunters.
"Saruman has poisoned the mind of the king and claimed lordship over these lands," the horseman said. "My company are those loyal to Rohan, and for that we were banished," he added.
Arthur was struck with memories of the last days of the Van der Linde gang; how Dutch always espoused loyalty to the gang and to each other. Yet in the final days of the gang, Dutch had begun show signs of paranoia and distrust towards the others, to Arthur especially while Micah cosied up to him, feeding his ego and encouraging him to do thing he would never have done. Arthur wondered if this was a similar case, but he hoped that it was not.
"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," the leader of the loyalists said in a whisper, his tone angry and distrustful.
"We ain't spies if that's what you're asking, friend," Arthur said to him. "We was tracking a group of Uruk-Hai. They got a pair of hobbits they captured. You seen them?" he asked.
"The Uruks are destroyed. We slaughtered them during the night," came the answer.
"But there were two hobbits! Did ya see two hobbits with them?!" Gimli demanded.
"They would be small. They would only look to be children in your eyes," Aragorn added.
"We left none alive. We piled the carcasses and burned them," the leader replied, pointing in a direction where smoke rose in the distance.
"You… killed them?" Arthur asked, his anger rising to boiling point. Breathing heavily, the cowboy spoke in a tense angry voice, "Gimme one good reason why I shouldn't shoot down right now!" he threatened. "Why didn't you tell your men to watch what they was doing?!" he demanded. "Those two kids were innocent!" he bellowed.
"I am sorry."
"Sorry?! Is that all you got to say?!" Arthur raged.
"If we had known there two hobbits among the Uruks, we would've been more careful," the leader said remorsefully. Gimli began to weep, and Legolas laid a comforting hand on the dwarf's shoulder.
The man then turned and whistled loudly. "Hasufel, Arod, Lei!" Three horses trotted up. "May these three serve you better than their previous masters. Farewell," the leader of the Loyalists said to the four hunters softly.
"Look for your friends, but do not trust to hope, for it is forsaken in these lands," the man said as he put on his helmet and mounted his horse. "We ride north!" he commanded his men and with that, they galloped off into the distance.
Arthur and the others watched as the Loyalists rode off. The cowboy sighed in anger, running a hand down his face and muttered, "If those two kids are dead, I'll hunt them bastards down to the ends of the earth!" he swore. Then Arthur felt something nudging his arm and he looked to see one of the horses given to them looking at him with calm brown eyes. The horse had a blonde mane and tail with dark brown almost black coat. Arthur smiled to himself slightly as he rubbed the horse's neck which earned with a soft whicker of approval from the horse.
"At least one good thing came from this," Arthur muttered. "What's your name, girl?" he asked as he rubbed the horse's nose with his palm. The horse huffed and snuffled into the cowboy's palm, giving little noises of contentment. Arthur then swung himself into the saddle, feeling more at home in a saddle than he did on foot.
"Come, let's go," Aragorn said as he swung himself onto his own horse while Legolas and Gimli shared the last. Once everyone was mounted, they rode off in the direction of the smoke.
…
Arthur's heart sank as he gazed upon the smoking pile of burnt or still burning carcasses. The rank stench of burning orc flesh assailed the gunslinger's nostrils, but he was more focussed on other things at the moment.
Gimli used the blade of his axe to sift through the burning pile and his search turned up a charred belt and dagger sheath. "It's one of their wee belts," the dwarf said in grief.
Legolas bowed his head and spoke in elvish, presumably a prayer for the departed Arthur thought. Aragorn let out his anger and grief by kicking a discarded helmet and roared in anger. Arthur pulled his hat off his head and placed it over his heart to mourn.
"We failed them," Gimli lamented unhappily.
Arthur then looked at the charred belt and sheath, the gears in his mind beginning to whir in thought. If there was a body, wouldn't there be a body attached to it, he wondered.
"Where's the body?" he asked out loud.
"Eh?" Gimli gawked at the cowboy who then said, "We found a belt and sheath belonging to one of them, so where's the body?"
Aragorn then looked at the ground and spoke up. "Arthur is right," he said as began to pick up tracks belonging to two pairs of hobbits. "A hobbit lay here, and the other… They crawled…" Aragorn began to follow the tracks. Arthur suddenly spotted a thick hempen rope nearby and held it up for Aragorn to see.
"Their hands were bound, then their bonds were cut," Aragorn surmised. "They ran over here," he said as he stood up and followed the tracks. "They were followed! The tracks lead away from the battle… into Fangorn Forest!" he declared as they came to where the trail led them to the fringe of the forest.
"Fangorn! What madness drove them in there?" Gimli asked as they gazed into the dark and dense woodlands.
Arthur gritted his teeth and said, "Well, c'mon, Merry and Pippin are in there somewhere! And I don't like the idea of going in this place anymore than you fellers do, but I'm going in. You coming or not?" Taking out his Lancaster and lifting the lever, cocking the hammer, the gunslinger strode into the forest of Fangorn. The others soon followed Arthur into the forest.
…
TO BE CONTINUED…
A/N: There! The eight chapter of this done and dusted! I apologise for making you all wait so long for an update. I don't have a good excuse, but I hope this makes up for the long wait.
Anyways, next chapter will be the group going into Fangorn to track down Merry and Pippin and they run into the White Wizard. Those of us who have watched the movies or read the books will know who I mean (c'mon, we've all watched the movies, let's not kid ourselves) and apart from that, that is all I have to say for this chapter.
In other news, I'm working on my Fallout/Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice & Fire/Elder Scrolls crossover, Beneath a Tattered Banner, I published a short prologue chapter and I'm still trying to decide which Fallout should be used and I've set up a voting poll for that on my profile, so feel free to cast your vote there.
And that's about it from me, so I'll just leave this here and see you all in the next one.
Be kind to one another,
Angry lil' elf.