Author's Note: Sorry it took me a while to update this. Winter Break ended and I had to go back to school and then I got sick and I couldn't think straight (Also, my brother didn't help…he can be extremely annoying). Oh well…
The next morning dawned bright and cold. Gimli was the first one to get up, grumbling at the stiffness in his bones. He looked around him to find the Company lying in various places around the dead fire.
"Gandalf, get up! Morning has come and Forngor is gone." Gimli shook the wizard as gently as he could.
Gandalf rose, and sat up, pulling his staff to him. "The others. How are the others?"
The Dwarf scurried to the trees and returned with the Hobbits following him dazedly. "Frodo and the other Hobbits all have headaches." Gimli reported.
"It is like the morning after you have too much to drink." Pippin added.
Aragorn and Legolas were waking up slowly as the others drew near to them. "There is a pain in my shoulder that burns like fire." Aragorn groaned.
"The shape-shifter shot them." Gimli said.
"The woman, how is she?" Aragorn asked.
They turned, and saw the arrow in the woman's throat. Her skin was white and her eyes were wide open in a look of sudden pain.
"She is dead." Frodo said softly.
Legolas sighed as he struggled to sit up. "Why am I always shot by arrows?" he asked, wincing as the arrow in his collarbone shifted as he moved.
"Hold still, Legolas." Gandalf said, gently pushing the Elf back down. The wizard grabbed the arrow at its base and pulled it out.
Aragorn had already removed the arrow in his shoulder. Forngor had underestimated both the Elf and the Man, for as soon as the arrows had been fired, they had moved, causing the shape-shifter to miss slightly.
When the blood from both wounds had been staunched, the Fellowship buried the woman.
"Forngor will return no doubt. He means to finish us all." Frodo warned.
"Then we must go. But where?" Merry asked.
Legolas shook his head. "Not to Mirkwood, for I do not wish to lead such a creature there."
"Then we shall wander aimlessly, until he tires." Gimli said decisively.
"He will not tire. We must leave, yes, but we must also defeat him before he defeats us." Gandalf replied.
"And how do we do that?" Sam asked.
"Forngor will not tire in his search for us, but he cannot remain in another form for too long. If he changes forms too much, his natural body grows tired and weak." Aragorn said.
"We have to keep him occupied long enough so that he is weak enough to capture." Gandalf added.
"Hit and run, then." Gimli said shortly. "Sounds simple enough."
"Of course it's not." Pippin muttered, half to himself, half to Merry.
Gandalf heard the Hobbit's remark and turned to him, a soft smile on his aged face. "You're quite right, Pippin. It will be a hard task, but not impossible. We will best this shape-shifter and send him back to the far North."
"Then let us begin this game. For a game it is to me, a game of hide-and-seek and cat-and-mouse. And no Took ever shied away from a game, no sir!" Pippin proclaimed, before exploding with laughter at his bravado and then stopping abruptly as a pain shot through his head. "Oww, my head still hurts!"
At that sudden end to Pippin's merriment, the rest of the Company laughed. It was Legolas who brought them back to the shape-shifter.
"Then we should do what brave Master Took has suggested and begin this game of steel and wood."
"Yes, let us begin this game that will lead to our deaths." a mocking voice echoed. Forngor stood in a tree as himself, a plain gray Man-like creature with dead eyes.
"Do not worry, for whatever failure of a plan you have concocted was unheard. Alas, for Forngor did not arrive in time to hear it. But no plan or plot will do you any good, for all who flee from Forngor will fall." the shape-shifter called down to them. Before anyone could fire an arrow or even respond, Forngor became an eagle and flapped in the sky, huge wings beating slowly, almost painfully, it seemed.
"What did he not transform and kill us now?" Merry wondered.
"He is still weak. See the strain it takes for him to fly? Forngor speaks loudly, but his words are hollow for now." Aragorn pointed out the eagle's slow ascent.
"Then pray that we can keep him this weak." Frodo added, a hand going to the handle of his sword.