Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own any of the character, places, names, or anything associated with the works of J.R.R Tolkien or the Lord of the Rings (books or movie, whatever). My characters are Anita, Leila, and Arlandria and that is all.
Author's Note: For those of you familiar with the written works of the Lord of the Rings, you will notice that I have kept certain elements from the books and meshed them together with things unique to the movies for the sake of the story. Probably the most important being the time line, which is hard to distinguish in the movies. So if you are wondering where on earth or how I came up with this timetable, I am trying to stay true to Tolkiens original expanse of time from the books.
Chapter 38: Zi-Zi's Journey
It happened in a flash, so fast that a passerby would have missed it with a blink. As Anita and the goblin locked eyes and their shock subsided simultaneously, they reacted in the same instant. The goblin opened his mouth to call to the rest of his scouting party; but before he even had the opportunity to take a breath Anita's free hand had found the hilt of her dagger. A sound never left its mouth, it never had a chance before the dagger was freed from its sheath and plunged deep into the goblin's soft temple. As soon as her blade punctured the brain, the creature in her grip convulsed once before going limp and slipping from her grip to crumple on the ground.
Ani's mouth hung open in surprise at her own knee jerk reaction to the threat. If it wasn't for the dagger dripping black blood in her hand, she would have made herself believe the orc was cut down by some act of God. It made her feel empowered at how well she had handled herself, but also sick to her stomach at how easily killing this soldier had been. Dark blood was pooling around her feet, oozing rapidly from the deep hole she had put in the creature's skull. Should she hide the body and risk wasting more time? Where there as one orc there were always more, they never scouted alone. To leave the evidence out in the open would surely alert any others in the area to her presence, but time was already very much against her.
Breaking her out of her trance, the sound of another nearby goblin calling out made the decision for her. No doubt that goblin was calling for the one that lay dead at her feet, and when it didn't get an answer…. Ani didn't need any further encouragement to get herself moving. Sparing more in the way of caution now, the dark elf trod lightly through the labyrinth of rocks and boulders; stopping every few minutes to listen for any other patrolling orcs. She couldn't have made it any more than ten yards before she was alerted to the sound of voices. If they could even be called voices. The sounds were gritty, the words slurred and barely distinguishable, full of hisses and grunts. Peeking around the side of the boulder than concealed her form, the girl spied roughly ten fully armored orcs gathered around a crudely constructed fire. They weren't looking in her direction, they were too focused on the discussion between themselves, if she was careful and silent as the grave she stood a chance of sneaking past them undetected.
Barely had Anita resolved to tip-toe past the party of guards than a high pitched shriek could be heard back in the direction she had just come from. She thumped her head solidly against the rock she hid behind and rolled her eyes. That was no doubt the scream of one orc finding the dead unconcealed body of another orc. She mouthed a curse as she heard feet shuffling in her direction. In less than a second her hiding spot was going to be found out, and no amount of training or luck would help her in a ten against one fight. Ani waited until she saw a shadow flicker in the poor light offered by the now untended fire. The sound of metal against alerted her to how close the orc was, and she took a breath to steady her shaking hand which still held her dagger tightly, her other hand reaching for her throwing knives.
When the orc was close enough she could hear its labored mouth-breathing, she stepped out of her hiding space right into their path. Her right arm swung the dagger, slashing across the orc's throat, spewing blood like a geyser. Spying a second orc barely a foot behind the first one, her left hand threw the knife it gripped; a perfect throw which arched gracefully in the air before striking true in the orc's eye. The first orc crashed to the ground, choking on his own blood and bile, but the second one let out a terrible scream of pain as it fell to its knees while clawing at the tiny knife protruding from its eye socket. Anita cursed to know she hadn't thrown her knife hard enough for it to puncture the eye and strike the brain in the same blow. The orc continued to wail loud enough to wake the dead, but Ani didn't stick around to listen; she spun on her heels and disappeared into the maze of boulders, lamenting the loss of one of her knives.
Darting between the rocks as she continued down the gradual slope, Ani prayed to avoid any more confrontation. The night was hastening on, and the little bit of moon overhead would only make it more difficult to navigate her way while remaining alert to threats, and she really didn't want to stop before making it to the Lorien border. Dropping over a short cliff, Anita pressed her back against a particularly large rock and listened. She could still hear the sounds of the orcs stumbling about looking for her, but they weren't close enough to cause a worry. With a small sigh Ani turned her attention to her destination, only perhaps a few miles left to go before she was hopefully safe. The rock she was leaning against was unnaturally warm though, making her loathe to leave the spot. Before she could stop to marvel and wonder at why this one rock was still so warm when all around it had gone cold with the night, the boulder lurched forward. Anita was caught off guard by the movement and fell backward into the dirt.
The elf gasped as she smacked the ground, too shocked by the fact that such a large boulder had moved so freely to realize what a vulnerable state she was in lying in the dirt. Staring up at the stars that were starting to shine through the black sky, Ani hadn't moved a muscle when a set of eyes was suddenly looking back at hers. Eyes that were in a very large head… attached to a very large body….a nine foot tall body that was looming over her.
"Oh fu.." The curse hadn't even left her mouth when the troll's roar cut her off, jarring her bones and making her teeth rattle with the force and proximity of it. Anita rolled to her feet and took off running without a backward glance. Desperately she sheathed her dagger as she dashed blindly between the rocks. The troll had been wearing minimal armor similar in look to what the orc soldiers had on; Anita had very little (exactly zero) experience with trolls, much less armored ones that were allied with orcs. She certainly wasn't going to push her luck. The feel of the earth vibrating and the sound of rocks crashing and breaking behind her let her know the troll was pursuing her. The constant need to change direction around the looming stones made it impossible for the elf to work up any real speed, leaving her barely a ten pace lead on the creature.
Sharply turning a corner, Ani heard a loud crash and felt little pieces of rock rain down on her. She wasn't going to turn around and check, but she was near positive that the troll had just lobbed a rocked at her hoping to knock her down. The troll let out a terrifying roar behind her when it missed, making the elleth's feet pound the ground faster as she fled. A second large rock zipped past her face, missing her by less than hand's width, the air rustling her hair as it flew past. It smashed into another boulder just ahead of the girl, as she put a hand up to cover her face from the rubble that pelted her. She slipped through a tiny space between two massive stones, hoping to deter the troll from pursuing, but to no avail as she heard, as much as felt, the rocks be smashed to pebbles behind her. Almost there, she could see the end of this crazy maze of rocks and stones, and then a flat plateau beyond where she could run for her life.
There was a whistle as one more rock flew through the air, aiming for her. It missed her clearly, colliding with a boulder to her right and exploding into smaller missiles. One large piece of the broken whole hit home, the shrapnel hit Anita in the shoulder with the force of a major league baseball bat being swung. The girl cried out in intense pain when the rock struck her, pitching her forward and sending her sprawling. Gravel and pebbles bit into her palms and chin as she scraped across the ground. The taste of blood filled her mouth when she had bitten her tongue in the fall, her knees too stung with the force of impact. Ani pushed herself up far enough to look over her shoulder at the oncoming troll, who had lost none of its momentum. It would be on her in seconds if she didn't get up.
Get Up! Get up you fool and flee!
Glorfindel's voice resonated in her head, causing her to push up onto her feet and stagger on. His voice kept yelling in her head for her to run, and it was the only force that spurned her forward in spite of her injuries. The ground vibrated and she knew the troll was close, too close. Her feet moved automatically- right, left, right, left, keeping up a steady rhythm that increased in speed until she was sprinting. The pain radiating in her arm was making it difficult to focus on putting one foot in front of the other as she felt the troll drawing near. Her shoulder both burned and throbbed at the same time, she wished the troll had the decency to just rip the thing off her instead of leaving her with a useless arm. It was making it difficult to balance as she raced toward the tree line. But she ran, she ran like she had never run before. Mostly because this time her life really did depend on it.
Hurtling across the flat plateau, the maze of rocks well behind her now, Anita could see a cliff coming up which dropped to a grassy plain below…and then a short sprint to safety. The elves guarding Lorien's border surely could see her, and her pursuer, by now. Ani just hoped they viewed the troll as a bigger threat than she was and chose to shoot it instead of her. Barreling towards the edge of the precipice, the dark haired girl didn't even bother to slow down before launching herself over the edge. The drop was about twenty five feet, normally no big deal for her when all her appendages were working. But with the pain in her arm blurring her focus and throwing her off balance, the girl's landing was less than graceful. She tried to land on her feet and keep running, but her legs betrayed her, collapsing under her when she hit the earth, Anita's only choice was to roll forward and land hard on the already injured shoulder. A loud whimper escaped her lips when a whole new level of pain coursed up to arm to her neck and down to her fingers.
Clawing her way back up to her feet, the elf half walked half stumbled her way to the tree line. So close, she was so close. Ani didn't look back to see if the troll had followed her, she zeroed in on the goal in front of her and forced her body to bend to her will and keep moving forward. Crossing the tree line, a sense of relief flooded her body and she crumpled to the ground with no strength left to stand. The grass that tickled her nose smelled sweet as she lay prostrate on the earth, waiting for the guards to come. She had no doubt that the elves had seen her, Lothlorien had the best protected border in all of Middle Earth, there was no way they hadn't seen her. Her fingers were splayed out in the dirt, showing she had no weapon and was no threat, despite that having her arm in that position made it burn all the worse.
It only took a few minutes before she felt, rather than heard, their presence. The sound of bowstrings being drawn taut reinforced the sensation that she was no longer alone, but she dared not move a muscle to look at those standing with her.
"Declare yourself." A masculine voice demanded above her prone form.
Anita adjusted slightly so the ground didn't muffle her words, and silently she was thankful her voice did not waiver when she spoke, "I am Anita from Rivendell, Daughter of Elladan born of the House of Elrond. I seek refuge within Lothlorien."
There was a stretched moment of tense silence before she received her answer, "Elladan's child was born less than half a century ago, therefor what you claim cannot be true."
"Ask your Marchwarden, Haldir, he knows me." This got their attention. There was a whispered exchange between several voices.
"Take her weapons and get her up." The same voice from before commanded, and as soon as the order was given she felt her dagger leave it's sheathe at her side.
"I have knives as well, on the front of my belt." Lothlorien's borders were so well protected because their guards were suspicious of everyone, very much following the 'shoot first ask questions later' methodology. That being the case, Ani thought it best to be honest up front and show she was on their team. Hands grabbed her arms and hauled her to a standing position, and she had to fight not to grimace at the rough way her shoulder was handled. Once she was standing, the remaining throwing knives she had were taken from her, and Ani got a good look at the guards who surrounded her. All together there were eight guards in the group, six males and two females. Two of the burlier elves, if elves could even be called such a thing, currently gripped her arms, holding her in place; making both fight and flight impossible if she wished to do either. The elf she assumed had first addressed her stood in front of her now, sizing her up from head to toe. After a long bit of being scrutinized by the older elf, he pulled from his belt a short strip of thick leather with a buckle on it, a device which Anita recognized as it was the Elvish rendition of shackles.
The thought of her hands being bound and locked paralyzed her with fear, an emotion she was certain was written all over her face. Reason disappeared in that moment as she tried to argue a case for her innocence. "I am no criminal. I am a lone elleth whose weapons you have taken…I am no threat to you." She tried to hide her hands behind her back, a task which proved difficult since her arms were still being held by two guards.
"If you are friend you have nothing to fear."
"If you are an honorable man you would not bind a lady's hands!" It was the wrong thing to say. If they hadn't been suspicious of her before, then her refusal to obey their commands was only making them more so of the situation. Fighting them on this point would only serve to hinder her progression, or worse get her thrown back outside the borders where her dear friends with the rocks was waiting for her. Anita sighed in resignation, knowing she was stuck. "At least do me the honor of having my hands bound in front of me?"
It was a small thing, but it made the girl feel less helpless and at their mercy with her hands where she could see them. And it was a small enough concession that the Elves in front of her agreed. Crossing her hands wrist over wrist, she allowed the guard to wrap the leather strap around her hands before buckling it tight. Ani wouldn't have been able to wriggle free of the contraption even with the rest of her lifetime to do so. The guards that held her arms didn't loosen their grip on her, even with her hands bound together, as they led her through the winding trails deeper into the woods. As the scant glimpses of the land outside Lorien eventually stopped altogether, the air grew exponentially more humid and the sounds of the forest grew louder around her. Intruders would be hard pressed to survive in this domain, with no sun in the sky nor stars overhead, one would walk around in circles for hours and never know the difference.
After an hour of silently being marched through an area that the girl had no familiarity with, Ani made a failed attempt at starting a conversation with the guard who walked in front of her, the obvious captain of the group, whose name she still didn't know. "Soooo, where we headed?"
It was the first thing she had said to him the whole time she had been in their possession, but his tone when he replied was weary and borderline irritated, " We are on a path to Caras Galadhon, where you will be presented to the Lord and Lady of the Wood. It is there where it shall be determined if you are friend or foe."
"You know just for fun…let's say I'm foe."
The guard captain halted the procession to turn and looked at her, the closest approximation to a smirk that he could muster was on his face. There was a hint of mirth in his voice as he sneered at her, "If you are foe then you will be cut down where you stand."
Anita turned her head up to look at the heavy canopy of leaves and branches that bore down on her, praying quietly that for once in her life she would make an amiable first impression, instead of what she was normally tagged as; abrasive and crude. "Oh well good, glad we cleared that up."
The escorts that had her by the arms pulled her forward, the attempt at conversation quashed thoroughly, and the group continued on feeling much more like a death march as they took her to her judgment.
Zi-Zi's Journey – Lindsey Stirling