Chapter 2
The Uruk-haiNight came upon the fellowship quickly that night, Aragorn wanted to keep going for as long as possible, to make up for time lost on the battle. Legolas led, for his elven eyes could see more than any of them. Aragorn held onto his shoulder and they formed a chain, Kay held onto Merry's hand. They walked on in silence, each of them were uneasy, feeling a disturbance in the air. Suddenly, Legolas stopped.
"Rach!" he hissed and dropped into a crouch. Aragorn crawled up beside him, and they whispered in elvish for a while. Kay, curious, joined them, motioning for the hobbits to stay with Gandalf and Boromir. She knelt on the other side of the elf, watching them speak back and forth in the strange musical language. Finally she could take it no more.
"Hey!" she whispered harshly. Both elf and man turned to the girl with surprised and slightly annoyed expressions on their faces. "What's going on?" she asked. Aragorn frowned.
"There is a band of Uruk-hai a head, creations of Sarumon. Gandalf told me of them, they are like orcs but can travel in sunlight, have more endurance and are much, MUCH stronger. They are undoubtedly hunting us. It is too risky to stay here, they may find us," he said. Then Legolas spoke his piece.
"But is is more dangerous to try and go around them, if we move they may scent us on the wind," said the elf. Kay frowned thinking; she looked over the bushes they were hiding behind to get a look at these Uruk-hai. What she saw made the girl freeze and her stomach did flip-flops. These were not like the orcs they had encountered earlier. These creatures were much larger and muscular. There was about thirty of them, some were crouched on the ground, violently rummaging through odds and ends, perhaps taken from a raid on a nearby village. Others used their horrible fangs to tear off pieces of meat, raw meat, and it didn't look like venison. Earlier Gandalf had taught her about the orcs and others of their like, about how they came to be and the things they do to people and other innocents.
Suddenly, a commotion among the Uruks caught her attention, as well as Aragorn's and Legolas'. Peering out from their hiding place, the three of them saw an argument between two of the creatures. The others backed one, and the other was alone. Kay strained to hear them, but soon the argument became loud enough for them all to hear.
"You heard what I said, Ungar, this is the last time!" the instigator growled. The other, named Ungar stood taller than him and he wielded a mighty broadsword. He just laughed.
"You are a fool, dung-face! This is what we were made for, killing and pillaging. We are the mightiest fighters, we shall bring the work to their knees," said Ungar. Then his eyes became dark, watching the other Uruk. "You should not question me, let alone question Sarumon or the Dark Lord. You will pay for your insolence." The other growled very low.
"I do not have to take orders from you, Ungar, nor anyone," he said. "I challenge you, Ungar!" he cried. Ungar roared and lunged at the other. They grappled for a while, then Ungar took out his sword. The challenger had no weapon but managed to keep away from the swinging blade, for the most part. Ungar stepped in close and stabbed the other in the shoulder. He feigned a stumble and Ungar roared with the thought of victory. Unfortunately, this took his attention away from the attacker. The unnamed Uruk lunged at Ungar, knocking him down, and his sword clattered away. Now, the attacker pummeled Ungar with fists.
The others stepped in, wrestling him off of their leader, knocking him around. The Uruk roared in rage, grabbing heads and smashing them together. He broke more than a few necks as well. But finally they overpowered him and he fell to the ground in an unconscious heap. Ungar stood over the fallen form, sneered down at him and kicked him in the side. He then said something in their guttural tongue and the part gathered their loot. The Uruk-hai left the clearing running off into the dark, perhaps off to the next raid.
*
The fight was over and the bodies of the dead Uruk-hai were left behind, the one that had challenged Ungar in the midst of them. The rest of the band moved on, and the Fellowship stepped out of their hiding place.
"They might have supplies we need," whispered Boromir to Aragorn, the Ranger nodded and they moved among the bodies. The hobbits stayed back with Gandalf, Gimli and Legolas watched for any attackers. Kay stepped among the bodies, moving to the mutineer laying face down in the mud. She knelt beside him, reaching out a hand to touch him.
"Kaylen! What are you doing? Get back here this instant!" Legolas called to her. She didn't listen to him and gently rolled the Uruk onto his back. She started when he groaned in pain, and recalled her hand. Immediately Aragorn was at her side, his sword unsheathed. He readied the blade to stab the Uruk through. Kay cried out and put herself between the blade and the monster.
"No! Leave him alone, Aragorn!" she said. The man, snarled at her.
"Get out of the way, Kay. He is an Uruk-hai, an enemy," he said. She shook her head.
"No, didn't you see anything? He doesn't want to do those things anymore, he went against the leader," she pleaded with him. "Please, give me – him – a chance, let me try and help him, we may find an ally here," she said. Aragorn frowned, looking behind the girl to the groaning Uruk.
"He is too hurt to do anything," he said. Kay smiled, and his eyes returned to her. "He may not even live, Kay, but if he does, he is your responsibility and at the first sign of trouble, I will kill him." Aragorn sheathed his sword.
"You wont regret it, Aragorn," she said, smiling up at him. "Help me drag him over into some cover," she asked. The man grabbed a great arm and Kay took the other, together they dragged the Great Orc over into the forest. They decided to make camp there for the night and Boromir built a fire. Frodo came up to Kay, who knelt beside the Uruk, examining him.
"Kay, are you sure this is a good idea?" he asked in a hushed voice. The girl turned to him, smiling.
"I know, you think I am being naive. But, well, I was always taught to give everyone a second chance, maybe he is looking for just that," she said, shrugging. Frodo smiled and nodded, patting her arm and returned to his friends, as far away from the Uruk-hai as they could get.
Kay bent over the huge, prone form, he had many cuts, bleeding a black blood, and a stab wound near his heart. Do they even have hearts? Kay shook the thought away. She used water from her canteen to wash the wounds, putting an ointment from Aragorn on the smaller cuts. Kay then used a needle and thread to stitch the worst of them, including the stab wound. The Uruk never awoke, if anything he calmed at her ministrations. She made a tea with some painkilling herbs Aragorn had given her, and dripped the liquid past the horrible lips.
When no one was looking, Kay used her knife and cut her palm, letting the blood run into the cup. She remembered something about how Orcs and such heal quicker with sustenance of blood. She knew that if the others knew, they would stop her, thinking she was insane. Maybe she was, but something inside her heart told her that she had to try and save this creature. Sitting at the large head, she lifted it and put the cup to his lips again. The Uruk stirred slightly at the taste of blood, his cruel eyes slitting open. Greedily he drank the blood down, his eyes locking onto Kay's. She started, seeing he was awake, but before she could say anything he drifted off again.
Kay sighed and settled down beside the creature, she covered him with her own blanket. Kay decided to stay up and watch over the Uruk, just incase there were any problems. The night went on without incident.