Orc Hunting
The Company started out early that morning, moving the way towards Mordor. It actually seemed strangely convenient that this little chase wasn't really detracting from the group's travels. All except for Boromir, because he was heading to Gondor, but he was always ready to help a lady in distress. Eric was wishing he had his BB gun with him, and came to the realization that guns did not exist here.
'I don't know whether that is a blessing or not.' he thought to himself. The Fellowship moved along in silence, save for Pippin and Merry discussing how hungry they were. Eric decided it was about time he learned more about the place he may very well end up living in for the rest of his life.
"So, uh, where are we going?"
"The black land of Mordor." Aragorn answered.
"Which is…"
"Mordor is the strong hold for Sauron the dark Lord."
"Oh, like Darth Vader." Aragorn gave him a strange look.
"Darth Vader?"
"Yeah you know, dark lord of the Sith. Oh wait…" Eric remembered that Star Wars did not exist here. "That was a movie, never mind. So yeah, Sauron…dark lord…what's up with him?" Eric tried unsuccessfully to cover up his mistake. "I mean why are you guys going after him?" And thus started the retelling of the entire history of the Ring and Isuldur's Bane and just about every other story concerning the Ring. Eric, not having an exceptionably long attention span muttered to himself "Sorry I asked."
It seemed like forever since Allison had sat down. Her legs ached, and her feet were numb from the monotony of walking. Both her hands and ankles were bound, and she was surround by orcs. The sting of the whips they used when she failed to keep up with pace was the only thing that brought back the realization of life. She was walking in a daze, not able to remember much of anything except the beautiful release of being able to stop walking. They had been walking for two straight days, without more than a few hours of rest at the most. Allison was not sure she could keep things up.
"But then," she thought to herself, "what would I really be missing if I did stop?" she could not seem to answer the question, but did not stop nonetheless.
It was several hours into the morning on the third day since she had been captured that the orcs let her stop. They gave her some stale bread and just enough water to wet her lips. She curled up into a ball; not caring that it would only cramp up her muscles more. She listened, half-conscience, to what appeared to be an argument that broke out between the orcs.
"Do you know what the girl posses?" One asked.
"No and I do not questions what it is." said another.
"I heard she knows the future." said yet another.
"No one knows the future, snot-nose." said the first. "Except for the Lord."
"Yes, but she does." said the third.
"And what do you suggest we do with her knowledge?" Asked the first
"Be quite with your insolence!" yelled the second. He appeared to be someone as higher rank than the other two.
"Would you not want to know what happens to you?" Asked the third. Allison saw some opportunity to either confuse the orcs more or cause a rather nasty fight.
"I know what becomes of you, all of you." She said, uncurling herself from the ball. This intrigued the two of the three.
"Do not listen to her, she is only lying to you." said the one who appeared to be of a higher status.
"Am I? Would you like to know how you die?" she questioned.
"No. Be quite or I will slit your throat." He said drawing a nasty looking dagger. Allison decided not to push her luck and shut her mouth. But the other two were not satisfied.
"Our futures…" said one and he eyed Allison.
"I know…" She said but stopped before she could anything more because the first one gave her a dangerous look. But Allison was sure of what she had accomplished, and that was taint the minds of a few of the orcs, and that was all that was needed for insubordination.
Later that same night, the Fellowship still pressed on.
"I fear we walk and walk and do not get anywhere." Gimli said.
"Do not fear about where we are going, my dear Gimli, for we are most certainly going someplace, what I fear is what that place is." Aragorn said.
"How much father?" Eric asked.
"I do not know. We are in pursue of a band of orcs, they could be any distance away." Aragorn said.
"I'm hungry." Pippin said.
"That's not a surprise, you're always hungry." Frodo said.
"Yes, but now I'm really hungry."
"Oh and that makes a difference?"
"Yes, it does."
"Well, I fail to see how." Pippin thought about a come back to this for a few minutes but could not think of any meaningful retort to Frodo.
"I just am." He finally said, though it was a tad late and no one could remember what the comeback was for. Another silence fell over the group as they walked in the darkness. Eric really missed Allison, because he found it was almost useless to start a conversation with anyone here. He could never understand anything that Aragorn, Boromir or Legolas said, Gimli always tried to kill him and the Hobbits were just queer. Sam was always following around Frodo, and Eric began to wonder if they were just platonic friends or what. Pippin always went off on rants about how hungry he was, or talked about food which made Eric hungry. Merry was just too boring, he would constantly talk about his family and this and that river and this and that second cousin three times removed and so on. Frankly, Eric couldn't even remember any of their names to even start a conversation with. So he just walked on in silence and thought about all the things he would do when he went home.
It was the middle of the day the next morning when the Fellowship saw what appeared to be an orc fight up ahead. Legolas had spotted it awhile back, but now everyone could see it.
"They appear to be fighting." Aragorn said and Eric moaned at this rather self-evident comment.
"Thank you Captain Obvious." Eric muttered.
"What did you call me?" Aragorn asked and Eric shook his head,
"Nothing."
"Can you spot the Lady Allison?" Aragorn asked Legolas and he nodded.
"Yes, she is rather caught in the middle."
"Well then let's not waste our breath here, let's go get some orc heads!" Gimli said and with that the nine dashed off into the heat of the battle. The first thing, Eric did as try to find Allison. She had managed to drag herself somewhat away from the sword clashing, but she was huddled behind the dead body of an orc. Eric quickly found her and using the dagger Aragorn gave him, freed her from her bounds. He then quickly moved her to a spot that was out of the way in some brush. While Allison hide there, she thought to herself, 'it seems like this whole trip is just me hiding in a bunch of bushes'.
After a short while, they managed to fight off all of the orcs and successfully rescued Allison.
"How do you feel, Lady?" Aragorn asked, helping Allison stand to her feet. She gripped his arm tightly, because it was painful to stand and because her legs had cramped from walking so much and not resting or stretching properly. She forced herself to her feet, but began to wobble and promptly fell again; Aragorn caught her and helped her up. She rested her weight against him,
"I'm not sure I can stand." She said weakly.
"You need to rest indeed, but I do not think it safe to do so here." Aragorn said. He then lifted Allison up and carried her in his arms. "Legolas, led the way."
"Where are we of to? Back to Lórien?" The elf asked and Aragorn shook his head.
"No, we lost too much time already. We must just keep heading towards Mordor." At this Allison shrieked.
"No! We have to go to Lórien!"
"Why the urgency, Lady?" Aragorn asked.
"Well…" She thought about how to explain this properly, "first of all, I would like to ask the Lady of the Wood for help to get home. Second of all she gives Frodo something that he will need later" The Company looked around at each other unsure of how to deal with this.
"So you are saying if we do not go to Lórien Frodo will not get what he needs and it will effect his journey." Legolas said and Allison said
"It will kill him." Frodo and Sam gasped.
"Well then, I think we must go back to the woods." Sam said determined to keep his master safe.
"I agree with Sam. I will do anything to make sure Frodo is safe." Merry said and Pippin nodded enthusiastically. Aragorn sighed and said,
"Then we will go to Lórien."
