Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter. Hope you guys like this one.
Let's get to it.
Chapter 11- Pursuit
Jakan scans the horizon as he takes a swig of water from his canteen. He and the other four members of the Fellowship have been pursuing the Uruks that took Merry and Pippin for three days. Aragorn's tracking skills and the advanced tracking systems in Jakan's helmet had enabled them to remain on the Uruk's tail despite being very far behind them.
Jakan slides his helmet back onto his head and walks up to Aragorn, who is lying on the ground with his ear against the ground. "What have you got, Aragorn?" Jakan asks.
"Their pace has quickened. They must have caught our scent," Aragorn says, starting to stand up as he finishes.
"Then we have to hurry," Jakan says.
Aragorn nods and shouts, "Hurry!"
Behind the two of them, Legolas hurries to the top of a rock before turning his head around and calling to Gimli, "Come on, Gimli!"
Gimli, scrambling over the rocks in an effort to catch up, stops for a second to catch his breath and mutters to himself, "Three days and nights pursuit. No food. Little rest. No sign of our quarry but what bare rock can tell." He then spurs himself on.
Jakan waits up as Boromir hurries to catch up. After almost three days, despite the exertion Boromir has put himself through to keep up, Jakan's treatment has fully restored him to normal. He still tires a little easier than normal, but that is getting better.
"Come on, Boromir!" Jakan says to motivate his friend.
"I'm not planning to fall behind anytime soon, Jakan," Boromir says with a bit of a grin, and he and Jakan run to catch up with Aragorn.
Early in their pursuit of the Uruks, Jakan had proposed that he fly ahead with his jetpack to rescue Merry and Pippin. However, Aragorn was concerned about even Jakan's ability to fight that many Uruks alone, as well as whether or not Jakan would have enough fuel in his jetpack to get close enough, which both Aragorn and Jakan doubted. He was down to a little over half a tank of fuel in the jetpack.
The five members of the Fellowship race over the landscape, trying to close the distance between them and the Uruks.
A few hours later, as they are running through a narrow pass, Aragorn suddenly stops in his tracks and drops to one knee, reaching down and picking something up. It's one of the leaf shaped brooches attached to the cloaks that the Galadhrim gave them.
"Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall," Aragorn says, drawing Legolas' and Jakan's attention.
"They're leaving us a trail," Jakan says.
"More than that, they are less than a day ahead of us," Aragorn says, pushing himself onward again. Legolas and Jakan hurry to follow, with Boromir trying to keep up.
A clattering behind them draws their attention, and they see Gimli falling down the side of the pass.
"Come, Gimli! We're gaining on them!" Legolas calls back to the dwarf.
Gimli starts to run again, breathing heavily, as he calls out, "I'm wasted on cross country. We dwarves are natural sprinters! Very dangerous over short distances."
Jakan smirks at Gimli's comments as the team continues to run. Aragorn leads them out of the pass and up onto some rocks overlooking the pass. As Jakan climbs up onto the rocks, he sees a vast plain scattered with rocks spread out before him.
"Rohan. Home of the horse lords," Aragorn says. He pauses, then says, "There is something strange at work here. Some evil gives speed to these creatures. Sets its will against us."
They begin making their way down to the plain, Legolas hurrying ahead of the others. Aragorn calls ahead to him, "Legolas! What do your elf eyes see?"
"The Uruks turn north-east. They are taking the hobbits to Isengard!" Legolas calls back.
"Saruman," Aragorn mutters.
"We need to hurry. Saruman clearly is looking for the Ring, and doesn't know which hobbit has it. Even if Merry and Pippin don't have it, they'll still be done for if we don't recognize them," Jakan says.
"Agreed," Aragorn says before resuming running, Jakan and Boromir right behind him.
The Fellowship rests again that night, taking their longest rest so far since starting the pursuit. The sun has still not risen by the time they resume the pursuit.
A few hours in, the sun finally begins to rise. As the Fellowship reaches a ridge, Legolas pauses and says, "A red sun rises. Blood has been spilled this night." This statement sets a bit of an ominous tone among the Fellowship.
About an hour later, Aragorn stops the Fellowship on a ridge to again look for tracks. However, as he is scanning the ground, the sound of several horses whinnying echoes up towards them.
Aragorn straightens up a bit, then motions for them to hide. The five of them quickly take shelter behind some boulders.
Within moments, a formation of several hundred horses begins riding past them. The five members of the Fellowship remain hidden behind the boulders. However, as the last horses ride past, Aragorn steps out from behind the boulders. Cautiously, the others follow him as Aragorn shouts, "Riders of Rohan! What news from the Mark?"
As he says this, the lead rider holds up his spear, pointing it to the left. As one, the column of Rohirrim stops and turns, and begins riding back towards the five members of the Fellowship. As they come, Jakan removes his helmet so they can see he is human.
The Rohirrim surround the five of the Fellowship, moving very precisely and quickly. Jakan immediately knows that, despite the rag-tag look of some of them, they are a very well trained unit.
The Rohirrim surround them in a very tight circle, then lower their spears, pointing the weapons at them. Jakan's hand twitches slightly towards his blasters, but keeps himself from drawing them, not wanting to agitate things.
The circle parts slightly, allowing the leader to ride through and into the center of the circle. "What business does an Elf, three Men, and a Dwarf have in the Riddermark? Speak quickly!"
Boromir instantly recognizes the rider and steps forward. "Lord Eomer! It is me, Lord Boromir of Gondor!"
A number of the Rohirrim begin to mutter among themselves as they realize the son of the Steward of Gondor is among this group. Eomer himself curses himself for not recognizing Boromir straight away, especially given he had spent the previous summer in Gondor along with his cousin Theodred, and they had both gotten to know Boromir fairly well.
Eomer dismounts from his horse and removes his helmet. "My apologies, Lord Boromir, for not recognizing you right away," he says apologetically.
"No apologies needed, Lord Eomer. And I ask for your forgiveness for entering Rohan without the King's leave," Boromir says.
"Not a worry, Lord Boromir. You are more than welcome here in the Riddermark. Though, I must say that I am somewhat intrigued by your choice of travelling companions," Eomer says to Boromir.
"I will admit, they may seem and look strange. But you will never find a group of more honorable individuals in any realm of Middle-Earth," Boromir says firmly.
"If you vouch for their character, that is more than enough for me. However, I must say I am intrigued that you and your companions are all wearing Elven cloaks when only one of you is an Elf," Eomer says curiously.
"The cloaks were gifts from Lady of Lothlorien, where we spent a brief time to rest and lose a group of Orcs tailing us," Boromir says.
Eomer looks surprised. "You must have been truly desperate if you chose to enter the Golden Wood and risk encountering the Lady," he says with slight concern.
Jakan, out of the corner of his eye, sees Gimli looking angry. Hoping to avoid Gimli responding in anger and angering the Rohirrim, Jakan steps forward and says, "Your belief in the nature of the Golden Wood and it's lady is founded in false rumor, Lord Eomer. The Lady is the furthest thing from a witch you could imagine. I would advise you not to speak disparagingly about her, for there are those among our Fellowship who will fight to defend her honor."
Eomer looks at Jakan. "And who are you?" he demands.
"Jakan Shan of Mandalore. And I am not one to be taken lightly," Jakan responds.
Eomer looks confused and slightly irritated at Jakan's second statement, wondering if Jakan is challenging him. Boromir takes the opportunity to jump back into the conversation and says, "I apologize, Lord Eomer. Our group is very weary from our long pursuit and the battles we have been engaged in. But I assure you that all of us mean no ill will. We are all friends of Rohan and of King Theoden."
Eomer is quiet for a moment, then says, "Theoden no longer recognizes friend from foe. Not even his own kin."
"What do you mean, Lord Eomer?" Boromir asks.
"Saruman has poisoned the mind of the King and claimed lordship over these lands, Lord Boromir. My company is among those loyal to Rohan. For that, we are banished," Eomer says.
"What of your cousin? Prince Theodred?" Boromir asks.
"He was ambushed by Orcs. Last I saw of him, he was barely clinging to life," Eomer says.
He pauses, then says, "The White Wizard is cunning. He walks here and there, they say, as an old man, hooded and cloaked." He then glances at Jakan and says, "And everywhere his spies slip past our nets."
Jakan narrows his eyes. Hoping to avoid the Mandalorian lashing out at Eomer and the Rohirrim, Aragorn quickly steps in and says, "We are no spies. We track a party or Uruk-Hai westward across the plain. They've taken two of our friends captive."
Eomer is quiet for a few moments, then says, "The Uruks are destroyed. We slaughtered them during the night."
"But there were two hobbits. Did you see two hobbits with them?!" Gimli asks urgently.
"They would be small. Only children to your eyes," Aragorn elaborates.
Eomer is quiet for a few moments before he says, "We left none alive. We piled the carcasses and burned them." He points off in the distance, where a column of smoke can be seen rising from behind a ridge.
"Dead?" Gimli asks in disbelief.
"I am sorry," Eomer says.
Both the Fellowship and Rohirrim are quiet for a few moments, then Eomer whistles and calls, "Hasufeld! Arod! Derrin! Eodreng!"
Four horses are led forward. "May these horses bear you to better fortune than their former masters," Eomer says.
One Rohirrim leads the horse named Lodreng towards Jakan, who takes the reigns and pets the horse's nose a few times. Lodreng pushes his nose against Jakan's hand, making the Mandalorian smile a bit.
Boromir turns to Eomer, petting Derrin's neck, as he says, "Our humble thanks for your assistance Lord Eomer."
Eomer nods before climbing back on his horse. "I wish you and your companions luck in finding your missing friends. But do not trust to hope. It has forsaken these lands. We ride north!"
Eomer spurs his horse forward, and the rest of the Rohirrim spur their horses forward to follow Eomer, riding off towards the North.
The Fellowship quickly mount their horses, and begin riding over towards where the smoke that Eomer indicated is rising. Jakan takes a few moments to get the hang of it, but he is soon comfortable leading Lodreng after the other three horses.
They soon reach the site of the pyre. As they approach, they see an Uruk head mounted on a spear sticking out of the ground.
The Fellowship reign in their horses and slowly dismount.
Gimli begins searching the pyre while others look around for signs of the hobbits. After a minute, Gimli draws their attention as he pulls something out of the pyre. He holds the object up. "It's one of their wee belts," he says. Sure enough, it's one of the Elven belts given to Merry and Pippin in Lothlorien.
Aragorn turns away from Gimli, then kicks a fallen Uruk helmet and screams in anger as he falls to his knees.
"We failed them," Gimli says.
"Let's not go there just yet. For all we know, the Uruks could have disarmed them. That could have just been on one of the Uruks when it was killed," Jakan says. He then activates his helmet's tracking systems.
Scanning the ground, Jakan sees footprints. Pointing to them, Jakan says, "There. Hobbit footprints. Although it looks like they were followed."
Aragorn follows Jakan's pointing finger, standing up as he does so. Excitement begins to rise in him as he says, "The tracks lead away from the battle!"
Aragorn and Jakan follow the tracks, with Legolas, Gimli, and Boromir keeping close behind. Then, they come to the trees, and Aragorn stops, the rest of them stopping with him.
"Into Fangorn Forest," Aragorn finishes.
"Fangorn. What madness drove them in there?" Gimli asks rhetorically.
"What's so wrong about this forest?" Jakan asks.
"Even we Elves have avoided Fangorn for a number of years. It is told that many strange powers and creatures dwell in Fangorn," Legolas says.
"Well, either way, Merry and Pippin went in. So we will to," Jakan says.
"Agreed," Aragorn says before walking into the trees. Jakan follows, as do Boromir and Legolas. Gimli grumbles a bit about preferring rocks over trees before following them into the forest.
And, I'll end there. Hope you guys like this one.
Next chapter will be up within a week or so, hopefully. Until then, leave a review, and stay tuned!