Disclaimer-All Tolkien characters do not belong to me. I'm only borrowing them.
The sounds of the hunters were not far behind her. She could hear their raucous laughter. How did she ever get herself into this mess? She had needed a job and the innkeeper had been kindly to her, even though she was a stranger. It had been ill fated from the start. She had to fend off every drunken sod that came there. She made matters worse by refusing one man in particular and now he and his comrades were in pursuit.
Her breath was coming in hitches and it felt like a knife stabbing into her side. She was close to collapsing when she saw the river. Maybe if she could cross it, she would be able to hide. Using her last bit of strength, she burst out of the cover of the trees and into the river. Her feet threw water up, and the droplets catching the sun like diamonds thrown into the air. A mist was wrapping itself in the trees ahead of her, if only she could make that far shore, she would be safe, hidden among the dense trees of the dark forest.
But, she heard the men behind her and the evil sound of a knife being thrown at her back. It caught her in her left shoulder and the force of it knocked her knocked her down and it was several moments before she could stagger to her knees. In a panic she screamed, "Oh if there is anyone who can hear me, please help me! I beg you!" She struggled to her feet despite the knife protruding from her back and began toward the far shore.
"There's no one to hear your screams, wench, except for me and my friends, how about letting us help you, eh?" He laughed mockingly. Desperate she turned to face them, determined to fight with what little strength she had left.
Suddenly an arrow whistled through the air past her head and thumped into the heart of the speaker. His companions saw their leader fall face first into the river and they began backing away from their attacker. Fear was etched on their faces and she heard another arrow whistle pass. It caught the closest man to her in the throat and the last man began crying and pleading in gibberish, his tongue possessed by fear. Finally one word came from him, "Mercy".
The archer laughed bitterly behind her and asked "Mercy? What do you know of mercy?"
"I will leave the girl alone. I won't bother her again.", the man pleaded.
She turned slightly, still keeping her attacker in full view but now she could see the archer just out of the corner of her eye.
Her rescuer told him calmly, "I care not about the girl, I kill because you dare enter my lands." The archer shrugged a hood from his head and the man's face twisted in horror at what he saw. The third arrow flew from the bow and went neatly through his heart.
She stood in shock waiting for the man behind her to approach her, but she heard no sound. Slowly she turned. No one was there.
Weakened by her wound, she carefully made her way to the nearest shore line. This side of the river was lined with dark trees and the mist curled around them like a lover's arms.
Leaning against a tree thick with moss from thousands of years of growth, she regained her breath. She began walking into the dense forest not caring where she went, only aware of the pain in her back and knowledge that she would die soon.
Suddenly she was staring at an arrow pointed right at her face. "Leave or die. Did you not see what I did to your pursuers?"
Wearily she answered, "Save your fletching archer, for I am already dying. Or show me the mercy you withheld from them and kill me now."
She could barely make out his face, hidden as it was by the deep hood, yet she saw him flick a glance at the blood that was now dripping down her arm and fingers onto the ground below. Yet before he could answer or decide, she fell to the ground at his feet.