Disclaimer: I do not own LOTR.

Author's Note: Thank you to all the people who favourited or followed, you all are awesome.

WinnieFawn: I'm so glad you found my story to fend off your boredom. I hope that you keep liking all the (many) Oc's that are going to make their appearances. Enjoy the chapter :)

Marie0907: Honestly I love the fact that you like this story. Aragorn was my favourite character in LOTR, can't help but make my Oc slightly similar to him. This is set almost two years before the fellowship of the ring. Hope you enjoy this chapter too :)

Narylfiel:...aaand she's off. Hope you like this chapter too :)

Scylla's revenge: Thank you :) I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as you did with the previous ones.

Enjoy! RR.

Chapter 6: Distraught.

Thirty-eight. Thirty-nine. Forty.

I squinted my eyes, leaning forward in the saddle. No, it was definitely thirty-nine.

"You will fall off of your saddle if you lean anymore, Miss." Èohere's voice startled me out of my reverie. Due to his sudden voice after hours of silence, I nearly fell off. Steading myself just barely, I squeezed the reins of the horse in an effort to regain my balance which resulted in an annoyed neigh from Barnaby, my grey stallion.

I looked up to see Èohere, once again lost in his own world. I sighed. It has been more than a few hours since we started off from Bree, the sun was already beginning to set in a magnificent art of pastel hues. It was quite a scene to behold. If there was one thing I loved about middle earth it was the purity of nature here. No pollution, factory residue, filth or foulness.

Initially, I had thought that Èohere would be a good company, but I soon realised that he preferred not to talk until it was absolutely necessary. When we started off it didn't matter too much. After all never in my home, had I ever ridden a horse. There was something absolutely calming about the slow passing of the beautiful nature as Barnaby galloped across the plains. But after a while, I had become bored and to fill up this uneasiness I had thought long and hard about Barnaby's name. It was a huge task as I had no idea what type of names you could give a horse, especially someone as bossy as him. I had come to the conclusion that Barnaby suited him, not taking into account the fact that I only had to choose from Beethoven, Maia and Barnaby, all of these I had names came from my knowledge of movies. That all had been almost three hours ago, it seemed. Now I had been counting the amount of pale hair Èohere's black stallion had. It was a fun task that is until Èohere had startled me with his undue wittiness and had shattered my world of careful calculations.

Many times I had been tempted to start a conversation but couldn't because I had no idea what to talk about. It wasn't like I could go 'Hey Èohere, quite a pleasant weather we have here' when it was so blazingly hot in the noon. I groaned inaudibly. At least he was gracious enough to let me tag along. If he didn't want to talk, I wasn't going to be annoying.

I shifted slightly on the saddle, feeling my inner thighs go sore. It was going to be so pleasant when I get off of the horse and wouldn't be able to walk unless I decide to act like a cartoon cowboy, the ones that always walk with their thighs open. I smirked at the mental image it was posing and imagines Eohere's reaction to such a sight. A chuckle escaped past my lips as I stared at his blonde mane knowing that he might be scarred for life.

. His cloak clad back was blurring as the night progressed. He had told me in his note that he was going to Rohan, wherein Rohan I wasn't exactly sure. Nor was I sure how long was the ride going to be. I sighed, keeping my mouth shut as the sun vanished and dark nothingness of night descended upon us.

"We shall stop here," Èohere said, coming to a stop near a small clearing. A narrow stream was flowing on one side, a small distance from the clearing. He swung down from his horse tying the reins on a low hanging branch and proceeded on with his work without even sparing a small glance at me. I was thankful though, maybe he won't see my ungraceful descent from Barnaby. My skill was already non-existent and with my legs sore from riding all day I wasn't sure how it will turn out. Peeking at Èohere, I sighed in relief as I saw him breaking a few branches for making a fire, his back towards me. I slid down from the horse, the only problem being, that it was not a pony but a large tall beast. As a result, I thumped on the ground face down. I humph-ed, scrambling to my feet and dusting my clothes free of dust. I winced slightly as my sore legs took on my whole weight. I walked over to the small clearing, wincing and groaning along the way. Èohere looked at me with an unbelieving gaze. He cleared his throat appearing shook. I was glad when he said nothing, my cheeks red with embarrassment.

I helped him where ever I could. We set up a fire, placed our bags near us and tied the reins of the horses a little nearer than previously. Èohere was about to go hunting for food when I took out the small provisions Raforta had packed for me. We enjoyed the bread and seasoned meat, a small voice in my head telling me that it will be a long long time before I taste her cooking ever again.

Later I was sitting by the fire when Èohere told me to sleep as we would start off again at daybreak. I didn't argue. The whole day of travel had made me drowsy. I placed a thick cloth that Raforta had packed to be used as the bed in the wilderness, on the floor. Covering myself with my cloak and using my bag as a pillow I fell into a tired sleep.

I was shaken awake even before dusk. I groaned, creaking my eyes open to see Èohere standing above me. I glared at him for a moment before getting up on my feet, muttering angrily in English. I had to do something about my morning grogginess lest I bust open a few skulls before digesting a sufficient amount of caffeine. Rubbing my eyes, I dragged myself over to the stream and washed my face and hands. The cool water tingling pleasantly on my face. I took a tiny piece of chew stick and chewed on it to get rid of the bad breath. Èohere was already assembling his things. I stayed by the stream for another moment, staring at the slowly emerging sun. "Miss Lane." I turned my neck slightly to see Èohere ready to get on his horse. I hurried across, folding my bed cloth and tying my cloak around my neck. I fixed my bag on the saddle. Now I needed to get on the horse. Èohere was staring at me amusedly with his eyebrows raised slightly. With no little difficulty, I got on the horse. Nearly throwing the bag off in my attempt. After gaining balance I looked up to see Èohere already moving.

"What about break-" I was silenced when he threw a piece of bread at me. Sighing slightly, I ate it without complaint. It wasn't like we were going to eat smoked meat and buttered toast in the wild. 'But my tea..." My face twisted in displeasure. 'This is what you get for wanting to be on the road so bad' the lazy comfort loving girl in me thought.

I looked at the silent back of Èohere again. I blinked my eyes, suddenly feeling drowsiness wash over me. Looked like it was going to be a quiet day again.

Just like that, days passed and before I knew it a whole week had gone by since we started on the road. There were a few small villages around the location of Bree. We passed near one such village but judging by the quiet it seemed as though it was mostly deserted. 'Perilous times' Èohere had said but how so I wasn't educated upon.

The view progressively changed from the few small farms to a plain grassland. If you looked closely enough peaks could be seen in the distance at our East. High peaks on our left. It was not short of a miracle to have this green lane between the two ranges. 'Could be fertile farmland' I mused but due to no traces of civilization this far South-East from Bree, it seemed as if no one was going to start his own farmhouse here. What will be the use, when they didn't even have trucks and load-bearing vehicles to trade their goods. After five days we had changed our direction to the East. I had observed the map I had on me and asked Èohere why we couldn't go through Isengard as the way looked less tough but he had just shaken his head. "Nay Miss," he had said lightly, one night, as he breathed another ring of smoke "Isengard is not a place where we can venture without protection." Protection really? What was this, the Game of bloody wars?. At my incredulous expression, he had given a slow laugh and repeated his key sentence. "Perilous times these are Miss Lane, no one knows when something evil shall befall them." I had scoffed then, he was amused by my blatant disbelief that these years were indeed dangerous ones but there was honesty in his eyes and a slight hint of seriousness that stopped me from voicing my disbelief.

Through the other days, Èohere had been quiet only speaking when necessary. About the third day, I had had enough and tried to strike up a conversation with him. The only thing I got out of him was the fact that the journey was about five months long, as he was in no particular hurry, and that his destination was a small village near the eastern border. Dunbourn, he had called it. His tone had masked the longing that flickered in his eyes for a fleeting moment. I wondered if he had a family or a lover there. I already knew for a fact that he wasn't your typical ranger. For once his name was of a Rohirrim man and the fact that he wanted to return to Rohan so badly was just another suggestion. Maybe he was once a ranger but settled in Rohan to live a plain life. But if he did why was he half the way across Middle-Earth in Bree. I shook myself out of these thoughts. Who Èohere was, I didn't know. There was no use pondering over someone I wasn't all that familiar with. Maybe he'll open up to me a few weeks later. Who knew what our travel would bring.

My thoughts shifted to the duration of travel again. Five months. Five months of waking up at dusk, of seldom bathing, of eating beef jerky and minimum meal. Five months away from civilization. I sighed. It was a choice I made and I had to deal with it.

We came across a small area where the stream flowed slightly sideways from the path. The ground around it looked solid enough. I didn't think much as we were about to pass it but Èohere stopped his stallion, Aspirin, and swung off the saddle. It was nothing short of a surprise for me when he said we'll camp there. The sun was not yet set, but would so in an hour or two. We could still have travelled a bit further. Even if I wanted to, I didn't question his decision. Nothing he had done till now left us astray. I swung down from the horse ungraciously. My swinging had gotten better but it still was clumsy. At least my thighs didn't become as sore anymore. It took us almost an hour to make the area suitable. Finding the firewood was a hectic job, especially when trees were as scarce as in this area. We had turned Eastward four days ago and had crossed the Mitheithel. The faint mists of the famous Misty mountains loomed in the distance. I placed the last of firewood on the pile as Èohere set to start a fire. I couldn't believe that it had taken us two hours of searching to find this little pile of flammable wood. Èohere had gone for hunting and returned a little more than an hour later with a dead rabbit. I was completely horrified when he sat down on an uprooted trunk and started skinning the animal. I had turned away sharply fighting the urge to vomit all the contents of my stomach. I walked to the small stream in an effort to cool down and didn't return until Èohere had started cooking the meat on the flame. I gave one last pitying look to the dead animal and sat myself down on a stone near the flame. Even though the days were hot there was still a slight chill in the air at night.

The meat cooked slowly and when it was done we began to eat. I had asked Èohere that I didn't want to eat the poor rabbit after seeing it skinned but he had given me a hard look "There is not much more Miss, I would not be carrying you half dead if you starve." After a long internal stubborn battle, I had given in to the growling of my stomach and had started eating, keeping my thoughts distracted. When we had finished, we cleared the supplies. After a short while, we were sitting silently by the flame, lost in our own little worlds.

I looked around to notice our surroundings. The night had already darkened and the slight shine of crescent moon was hidden by the few wispy clouds. Èohere was smoking his pipeweed again, his blue eyes glazed over and looking like sapphires in the shining light of the flame. I placed my head on my wrists sitting slouched as my gaze wandered over the area we were occupying. Something seemed sinister, something I couldn't quite describe. It didn't help matters that since we had been getting close to the mountains Èohere had become more alert. What really freaked me out was the fact that he checked the perimeter for almost an hour every night.

I was broken out of my reverie by the voice of Èohere. My eyes snapped to his and I found him staring at me patiently as if waiting for an answer. Had he asked me a question?

"What was it?" I asked, pleasantly surprised that he was making an effort to ensure conversation.

"I asked Miss about your past" My eyebrows shot up, "Even if you're not from this world yet I can not decide what was your family bearing." At my clueless expression, he added, "Were you a lady or not, I mean Miss."

I pondered over it for a moment, there weren't exactly any ladies or royalties in America and I wasn't sure of what to say. So I went for the only way out. By stalling.

"You didn't exactly tell me anything about you either, aside from your name that is." My tone light but there was a certain amount of honesty in my voice. He smirked slightly. "You get what you give," I said and his eyes crinkled slightly in good humour.

Thus we spent a few hours discussing our lives, most specifically Èohere's. He had caught onto the fact that I didn't know how to explain most of my world so he had left it. I was once again surprised when he started telling me about his own life, albeit it had been my at my curiosity but at least he was opening up. He spoke of his small village that got destroyed in orc raids. I had been confused at orcs. When I asked him his eyes had hardened and his jaw clenched at the mere thought of whatever these orcs were. 'Monsters,' He had said, stating that there was no other way to describe such beastly creatures. He told of the two rangers who came across him and healed him. He trained as one of them until he was told that in the home he had left when he was a mere child his father was considered one of the best generals. So had been his decision to start anew his adulthood in Rohan. I tried to imagine what it must be like to start again and again. It was suddenly clear why Èohere had decided to give me a chance, maybe he saw a bit of his past lost self in me.

I nodded slightly as Èohere got up to go patrolling. I wasn't sure why he did that. How big the parameter needed to be for just two people?. I stared at his back disappeared into the darkness.

'Better sleep' I thought, getting up from my spot. I groaned slightly as I stretched my arms. Blinking my eyes to decrease my drowsiness. I was setting up my bedding cloth when I heard heavy steps behind me. Was Èohere back already? It had just been ten minutes or so since he left and why was he making so much noise? He always moved like a cat.

"What-" I turned around when I realised that it was more than one pair of steps, three or four I would say.

What I saw made my blood run cold. I couldn't believe my eyes, my heartbeat quickened and my mind turned hazy.

Before me, were some of the most hideous looking creatures I had ever seen. Their body shape was mostly like humans but they were too filthy and grotesque to be men. Their mouths were slightly open to show fanged teeth. Their purplish ashen skin glowing in the flame. They looked at me as a lion would look at its prey. I could see the satisfaction on their faces as if they had found their latest game.

I backed up slightly, my mind racing. Èohere wasn't here. If he had gone as far as he had been going for the past two days then he'll return after an hour. Enough time for them to-

I gulped. I went blank. I didn't know what to do. Desperation built up inside me as they stepped closer. I couldn't run. Couldn't escape. Barely keeping myself from crying, I took a few steps backwards, my horrendously trembling legs nearly gave out beneath me. I did the only thing that seemed logical in my condition of distraught.

I screamed.

To be continued...