As the sun rose over the treetops, I walked back to where Arwen and I had
slept. As I drew near, I saw Lindir sitting by Arwen's side. She was now
awake and talking to him. I smiled. She was finally talking to everyone.
She had finally accepted our help.
Lindir, Arwen and I walked back to camp together and when we got there, everyone was ready to go. We mounted our horses and then we set off towards the White City of Gondor.
(Later)
"I'm tired," I said as we finally stopped. We had rode for about 7 hours straight and my legs were killing me from only stopping once to water the horses for a minute.
"So am I," sighed Arwen. She walked over to a dry spot under a nearby tree and laid out her blanket. "It feels good to lie down." She sighed again. "Do you think that they are alright?" Arwen asked me as I sat down besides her.
"Well, we can hope," I replied. "We can pray that they will be strong and come back to us." Arwen and Lindir nodded.
"You know," Lindir said. "With all this riding that we are doing, we'll probably be there before the war even is ended."
I groaned. "Lindir! Don't remind us of riding!" I gently rubbed my lower back.
"Yes," Arwen said. "Not know, at least!"
"O, you're a bunch of girls." Lindir said. He leaned back against the tree and drew in a deep breathe of air. "Yes, You're going to be complaining horribly tomorrow! Poor me. I shall have to suffer such sounds as those of two maidens. I dread tomorrow."
Arwen and I looked at each other. Then we looked at Lindir, who had a look on his face like he had just beaten us in some big race, or something. I shook my head and smiled back.
"Lindir, you are the meanest escort on this entire journey! What will we do with such an escort, Arwen? You are a high maiden, you decide, m' lady," I smirked.
Arwen glanced at me and then caught on. "Yes," She said. "He is the meanest one. And they are escorting me to the White City." We looked at Lindir who wasn't very concerned, at least, not yet.
"O, yeah, and what are you two going to do about me? See? You are already complaining!" Lindir answered.
"Well," I began, only to be cut off by the thundering of hoof beats. Elrond and Celeborn came riding up, their horses panting for breath.
"Arwen," Elrond said. "My child, we must go back, now!"
Arwen looked stricken beside me, her face gone a deadly pale. "Why must we?" she whispered. Galadriel moved softly to her side and placed her hand on Arwen's head.
"Be still, everyone," the Lady said. Lindir and I sat breathlessly listening to the sounds around us. Elrond and Celeborn quietly got Arwen up and put her things back onto her horse. A cold breeze blew by all of a sudden. I opened my mouth but no sound came out. A dark shadow past above us. Everyone was trembling except for Galadriel.
"Hide, now, all of you," Galadriel's voice sounded in our heads and we quietly but quickly hide in the underbrush nearby. The shadow seemed to hesitate a moment and the dive down towards the ground. A screech sounded that was so shrill and terrifying that I bowed my head and covered my ears. The shadow then went straight up into the sky and headed to the East, towards Mordor.
"Elrond, Arwen, if you two are to reach Rivendell safely again, you must leave now, at once. Go over the Mountains, not by Isengard. Lindir, Anodien," Lindir and I looked up in surprise at Galadriel. She gazed back at us and said, "Both of you, go up ahead. Anodien knows a little about the area in which we are in right now. Listen to her advice, Lindir, and neither of you ever leave each other behind! Make straight for the City of Gondor, though I doubt that you will be greeted warmly there, it is safer than out in the open, were orcs and fouler things may roam once again. Beware of the Eye and the Nine who now have winged steeds! Celeborn and I are going back to Lorien until the time is right for us to come to leave. Namarrie."
Lindir and I watched in disbelief as all of our company vanished into the forest around us, going back to safer places. We were all alone with in three minutes. Lindir and I stared at each other. What were we going to do?
"I, uh, guess we should, move on now." Lindir said in a scratchy voice.
"Yes, I guess we should. Do we ride on until night fall then?" I answered.
"I.yes, I suppose.we should. Um, here, let's pack and then we'll leave right away, well, yeah, I guess I already kind of said that,"
Lindir was trying to be funny but I just didn't have the heart to laugh at the moment. We both were quiet for a while.
Lindir spoke softly. "They'll be ok Anodien, they will find their way. Now we must move on. Come on." He mounted his horse and waited for me to slowly climb onto Earendil and then we began the slow, yet steady way to Gondor.
Pippin: Why'd they have to go back and leave those other Elves behind?
Sam: Pippin! Haven't you even been reading any of her story??
Pippin: um, well, yeah, but I well, you know.
Frodo: It's all right Pippin. Just calm down. Sam won't bite off your head, well, unless I told him to.but I didn't! So, yeah.
Merry: Pippin, what he's trying to say is: Quite being such a blockhead and pay attention!
Pippin: I do to pay attention!
Merry:*under his breath* Yeah, right.
Pippin: Merry!
Merry: What?*gets slapped by Pippin* OW!*slaps Pippin back*
Me: Um.Sam, Frodo, lets just leave them alone for a while. I don't really wanna get hurt by two Hobbits who haven't had pipe weed for over a.well, a long time, I guess.
Sam: Yea, you are right, none of us have had a good smoke for a while. Do you have any pipe weed around?
Me: Uh.the only thing that I know of in the United States that is anywhere close to pipe weed is.well, weed (pot, whatever you want to call it)
Sam: Could you get us some??
Me:*laughs* Uh, Sam, you know what? It's like this, you see, well.weed is illegal in our country.
Sam: ILLEGAL??? Then what do you smoke??
Me: um, Sam, I don't smoke.anything.
Sam: Don't smoke? How come?? Merry, Pippin, me.why, even Mr. Frodo joins us for a good smoke sometimes.
Frodo: Sam, she just doesn't smoke. Please, drop it.
Me: thanks, Frodo.
Frodo:*beams* you're welcome!
Sam:*mutters to himself* doesn't smoke?? My, my.weed, illegal! What kind of place does she live in anyway!
As Lindir and I trudged along, we both were still confused and tiered. I yawned. Lindir looked over at me. He sighed.
"Great. What will we do now?" He muttered, dismounting his horse and looking at the small lake to the side of us.
"Well, as long as we are going to stop here, lets water the horses and then I want to take a bath! I'm filthy!" Lindir started at this and I quickly added, "Well, both of us must be hungry, um, you could hunt and then gather firewood. I'll be done by then and I'll help you, afterwards." I trailed off.
Lindir sighed and looked at the sky. "Alright, but make it a quick bath, I have a bad feeling about this place and like Celeborn.or was it Galadriel.well, one of the Great Persons of the Woods said that we shouldn't be separated long, foul things lurk around.well, you know, with the Nine on winged steeds now."
"I know, Lindir. I will be quick, now go! So that I can get started soon and then I'll be able to help you sooner! And don't get lost!" I yelled after him as he made his way slowly into the dark forest around us.
I took off my cloak and hood and laid them one the bank of the lake. I slipped off my light boots and tucked them under my cloak. I slipped out of my over-jacket, which buttoned up the front for a firmer fit. I unbuckled my belt and wrapped that around my knife and hid it and my bow and some arrows in the reeds. I lifted my riding dress over my head and then I just stood for a while and let the wind ripple my under-dress. The wind tugged at my hair, blowing it softly against my neck and the upper part of my back. I looked at the dark waters that slapped the banks lightly. I stepped into the water and let the cool water wash over my feet. Then I dove into the water. The water was colder than I had expected it to be, in fact, it was ice cold. But it was refreshing and it numbed my body to the pain of the long ride earlier that day. As I came up for a breath of air, the stillness of the entire woods shocked me. But I was enjoying the water so much that I didn't take any notice of the shadows passing in the forest, on the opposite side of the lake. I washed the mud caked to my legs and arms off and I tried to untangle my hair to at least let the water wash it naturally without any soap.
As I floated in the water close to the shore, a shadow, dark and cold passed over me, like a winter night springing upon you in the middle of a summer's day. I backed into the reeds and hid myself among them. This would hide me from what ever that was for a while; until it passed by. The shadow did pass; at least the one in the sky did. But the shadows all around the edge of the lake drew closer, as if to crush anything in its path. Then I heard it. The sound of hundreds of hurried footsteps falling on the forest floor. Night hid the orcs from the Sun and Her light. I saw the foul things hurrying along some path close to the lake and I sat there, hoping that they would pass by. And most of them did, with out a second glance at the lake. But one of the last parties of orcs stopped, and moved closer to the lake. There was a grunt and then I realized that they had seen my clothes.
The leader grunted for his group to follow and they did, about twenty of them. The rest just glanced at the clothes, shrugged and followed the other parties. I swallowed, hoping that they would do the same. But they didn't. One, carrying a torch, came close to the water and began looking for footprints. In the softest mud, close to the rippling waves, he found two footprints, and I knew that they were mine.
He got down on his hands and knees and sniffed around until jumping up and grunting out harsh words to the captain. Captain walked over and sniffed too. His eyes narrowed and he let out a shrill cry. I cowered in the reeds, with my hands over my ears.
He started yelling out orders to his company, in a language that at first I didn't recognize. As I listened though, I could make out enough that sounded like the Common Tongue that I could understand a little. 'Thank you, Mirthandir, for making me study!' I thought gratefully.
Captain yelled out a string of curses before shouting, "There are things lurking in the waters, or close to the waters that aren't on the Eye's Side." A scream of anger and fear rose. "Find it, and you with be rewarded!" A shout of pleasure went up. "But." Captain tried to continue but the company had begun to scatter and search the reeds and banks. Captain got angry and pulled out a sword. Sniffer, the orc that had showed Captain the footprints, raised his bow at Captain's grunt.
"You blasted fools!" He screeched. "Everyone of you, shut up and get back here!" Half of the orcs hurried back in fear. The others ignored him and kept on searching the banks. "Ah," Captain growled. "So, you choose to disobey me? The Eye put me in charge of you! You will pay for your lack of obedience!" With that, Captain and Sniffer jumped towards the others and killed every one of the orcs who hadn't come at the first call.
"Let THAT be a lesson to you scum!" Captain spat. "Now, the ten of you still alive, five go to the north bank and the others, come with me to the south. Gourbatgh!"
"Yes, sir," Sniffer said.
"Burn these disgusting clothes and then torch the reeds! We'll burn out anything that is hiding close to the waters banks."
As the others ran either north or south, Sniffer/Gourbatgh looked fearfully at the heap of clothes in front of him. He poked and sniffed at them for a while before finally lifting my over-jacket and put his torch under it. He laughed as the material began to burn and wasn't paying attention to how high the flame was rising. It burned his hand before he dropped my jacket on the ground, wailing and cursing over and over. After about five minutes of licking his wounded hand, he got enough courage to poke at my dress before dragging it over to the smoldering jacket and lighting them both up. Proud of himself he danced around the fire muttering hideous words and gurgling in his throat.
I looked sadly at my Elven cloak and hood, my boots peeking out from underneath them. My pack was on Earendil and Lindir had taken him away when I wanted to bathe. I wouldn't have any clothes to wear, save my under dress and to tell the truth, you could practically see right through the material.
Sniffer/Gourbatgh, delighted at himself, poked at my cloak. He sniffed at it longer than the other clothes, which were now just a smoldering heap. He reached out a hand to touch it, and as he did so, he pulled his hand back with a muffled cry. Sniffer/Gourbatgh took a stick and hooked my cloak(and hood with my boots wrapped inside) and then, looking nervously around, flung them into the water.
I slowly put my hand out towards the reeds nearer the bank and felt for my belt and weapons. As I drew them closer to me, I kept an eye on Sniffer/Gourbatgh. He was busy trying to burn down the reeds opposite of me. I closed my eyes, thankful that no one had seen me.yet.
"Huyfur!" screamed Sniffer/Gourbatgh. Captain came running down from the south. "What?" he sneered.
"The reeds don't burn well," Sniffer/Gourbatgh said, licking his gray, shapeless lips. "I think also, that the others would be getting hungry."
Captain/Huyfur snorted. "Eat the ones we killed earlier, and don't bother me with stupid questions again. If you find.anything, anything that is alive, then call me. I think that Elves may be lurking in the waters, or trees, or whatever the nasty things may hide in." Sniffer/Gourbatgh looked up, startled. Captain grunted and then called out a few harsh words in the Black Speech. The ten orcs that were left came rushing to the bank, eyeing the bodies of the dead orcs. Captain waved a hand and all of them started to rip apart the bodies, blood slipping out all over the ground. The smell of raw flesh burned in my nose and I hid my face from the hideous creatures.
(Later) The orcs had just left, leaving almost everything burnt and bloody. The small group of reeds in which I had hidden was one of the few the orcs had decided not to burn. I was chilled to the bone as I slowly rose to see if I could retrieve my cloak and hood from the bottom of the murky lake. My legs cramped as I stood up and my back ached from having stayed in the same position for a long time. I took a deep breath and then dove under the small waves and into the dark waters. It was now almost midnight, judging by the position of the moon, so the water was hard to see while underneath.
I felt my hands along the muddy bottoms of the lake, trying to feel the soft fabric of my cloak. I felt nothing but mud, stones and reed roots. Then I felt a hard sole of a boot. Grinning to myself, I found the other boot and my cloak. I found my hood entangled with a reed.
As I came up out of the water, I heard a soft, yet steady cry. Not one that put a shiver down your back and raise the hair on the back of your neck, but one that made you want to cry as well. I saw a bent shadow, its face burrowed deep into its arms. I drew my cloak around my shivering body and slipped my boots onto my feet. I took a step closer to the bent figure and stared at it hard.
"Elendili?" I whispered. The figure stiffen and its body shook harder, sobs escaping. "Are you an elendili?" I repeated. The figure glanced up, and froze, a look of horror and fear in it. "Can you not speak our tongue? Are you an Elf-friend?" I gazed at him and slowly put my hand out to him. His lips began to tremble and his hand came out of the folds of his cloak and he touched the tips of my fingers gently.
"Are you." he choked, "Are you a fea?"
I giggled. "No," I answered. "I am not a spirit, and if you're wondering, I am not dead either." The figure gripped my hand tightly and pulled me down to the ground.
"I thought." he stammered. "I thought that you were dead. O, Anodien, I'm sorry, they, the orcs, they killed your Earendil. I am sorry. I couldn't do anything or they would have killed me. I don't know where my horse, Thingol, is. I don't know.I'm so.I just don't know." Lindir's head rested on my lap and he cried.
"S-s-hhhh." I whispered. "It will be ok."
Lindir sat up and wiping his sleeve across his nose, he looked at me. "What happened to your clothes?" I looked over towards the pile of ashes. "The orcs burned them." I replied.
Lindir nodded. He picked up his saddlebag and looked through it. "here," he said, tossing me a shirt and a pair of pants. He turned his face away as I put the shirt on over my under-dress and slipped the pants on under my dress and tighten it all with my belt. I wrapped my cloak around me and then looked up at Lindir. He suddenly hugged me and when we pulled away, he smiled and said, "I don't know what I would have done if I had lost you, you're like a sister to me. Common." He slung the saddlebag over his shoulder and put his arm around my shoulder. Then, in the dead of night, we started out on foot to Gondor.
Lindir, Arwen and I walked back to camp together and when we got there, everyone was ready to go. We mounted our horses and then we set off towards the White City of Gondor.
(Later)
"I'm tired," I said as we finally stopped. We had rode for about 7 hours straight and my legs were killing me from only stopping once to water the horses for a minute.
"So am I," sighed Arwen. She walked over to a dry spot under a nearby tree and laid out her blanket. "It feels good to lie down." She sighed again. "Do you think that they are alright?" Arwen asked me as I sat down besides her.
"Well, we can hope," I replied. "We can pray that they will be strong and come back to us." Arwen and Lindir nodded.
"You know," Lindir said. "With all this riding that we are doing, we'll probably be there before the war even is ended."
I groaned. "Lindir! Don't remind us of riding!" I gently rubbed my lower back.
"Yes," Arwen said. "Not know, at least!"
"O, you're a bunch of girls." Lindir said. He leaned back against the tree and drew in a deep breathe of air. "Yes, You're going to be complaining horribly tomorrow! Poor me. I shall have to suffer such sounds as those of two maidens. I dread tomorrow."
Arwen and I looked at each other. Then we looked at Lindir, who had a look on his face like he had just beaten us in some big race, or something. I shook my head and smiled back.
"Lindir, you are the meanest escort on this entire journey! What will we do with such an escort, Arwen? You are a high maiden, you decide, m' lady," I smirked.
Arwen glanced at me and then caught on. "Yes," She said. "He is the meanest one. And they are escorting me to the White City." We looked at Lindir who wasn't very concerned, at least, not yet.
"O, yeah, and what are you two going to do about me? See? You are already complaining!" Lindir answered.
"Well," I began, only to be cut off by the thundering of hoof beats. Elrond and Celeborn came riding up, their horses panting for breath.
"Arwen," Elrond said. "My child, we must go back, now!"
Arwen looked stricken beside me, her face gone a deadly pale. "Why must we?" she whispered. Galadriel moved softly to her side and placed her hand on Arwen's head.
"Be still, everyone," the Lady said. Lindir and I sat breathlessly listening to the sounds around us. Elrond and Celeborn quietly got Arwen up and put her things back onto her horse. A cold breeze blew by all of a sudden. I opened my mouth but no sound came out. A dark shadow past above us. Everyone was trembling except for Galadriel.
"Hide, now, all of you," Galadriel's voice sounded in our heads and we quietly but quickly hide in the underbrush nearby. The shadow seemed to hesitate a moment and the dive down towards the ground. A screech sounded that was so shrill and terrifying that I bowed my head and covered my ears. The shadow then went straight up into the sky and headed to the East, towards Mordor.
"Elrond, Arwen, if you two are to reach Rivendell safely again, you must leave now, at once. Go over the Mountains, not by Isengard. Lindir, Anodien," Lindir and I looked up in surprise at Galadriel. She gazed back at us and said, "Both of you, go up ahead. Anodien knows a little about the area in which we are in right now. Listen to her advice, Lindir, and neither of you ever leave each other behind! Make straight for the City of Gondor, though I doubt that you will be greeted warmly there, it is safer than out in the open, were orcs and fouler things may roam once again. Beware of the Eye and the Nine who now have winged steeds! Celeborn and I are going back to Lorien until the time is right for us to come to leave. Namarrie."
Lindir and I watched in disbelief as all of our company vanished into the forest around us, going back to safer places. We were all alone with in three minutes. Lindir and I stared at each other. What were we going to do?
"I, uh, guess we should, move on now." Lindir said in a scratchy voice.
"Yes, I guess we should. Do we ride on until night fall then?" I answered.
"I.yes, I suppose.we should. Um, here, let's pack and then we'll leave right away, well, yeah, I guess I already kind of said that,"
Lindir was trying to be funny but I just didn't have the heart to laugh at the moment. We both were quiet for a while.
Lindir spoke softly. "They'll be ok Anodien, they will find their way. Now we must move on. Come on." He mounted his horse and waited for me to slowly climb onto Earendil and then we began the slow, yet steady way to Gondor.
Pippin: Why'd they have to go back and leave those other Elves behind?
Sam: Pippin! Haven't you even been reading any of her story??
Pippin: um, well, yeah, but I well, you know.
Frodo: It's all right Pippin. Just calm down. Sam won't bite off your head, well, unless I told him to.but I didn't! So, yeah.
Merry: Pippin, what he's trying to say is: Quite being such a blockhead and pay attention!
Pippin: I do to pay attention!
Merry:*under his breath* Yeah, right.
Pippin: Merry!
Merry: What?*gets slapped by Pippin* OW!*slaps Pippin back*
Me: Um.Sam, Frodo, lets just leave them alone for a while. I don't really wanna get hurt by two Hobbits who haven't had pipe weed for over a.well, a long time, I guess.
Sam: Yea, you are right, none of us have had a good smoke for a while. Do you have any pipe weed around?
Me: Uh.the only thing that I know of in the United States that is anywhere close to pipe weed is.well, weed (pot, whatever you want to call it)
Sam: Could you get us some??
Me:*laughs* Uh, Sam, you know what? It's like this, you see, well.weed is illegal in our country.
Sam: ILLEGAL??? Then what do you smoke??
Me: um, Sam, I don't smoke.anything.
Sam: Don't smoke? How come?? Merry, Pippin, me.why, even Mr. Frodo joins us for a good smoke sometimes.
Frodo: Sam, she just doesn't smoke. Please, drop it.
Me: thanks, Frodo.
Frodo:*beams* you're welcome!
Sam:*mutters to himself* doesn't smoke?? My, my.weed, illegal! What kind of place does she live in anyway!
As Lindir and I trudged along, we both were still confused and tiered. I yawned. Lindir looked over at me. He sighed.
"Great. What will we do now?" He muttered, dismounting his horse and looking at the small lake to the side of us.
"Well, as long as we are going to stop here, lets water the horses and then I want to take a bath! I'm filthy!" Lindir started at this and I quickly added, "Well, both of us must be hungry, um, you could hunt and then gather firewood. I'll be done by then and I'll help you, afterwards." I trailed off.
Lindir sighed and looked at the sky. "Alright, but make it a quick bath, I have a bad feeling about this place and like Celeborn.or was it Galadriel.well, one of the Great Persons of the Woods said that we shouldn't be separated long, foul things lurk around.well, you know, with the Nine on winged steeds now."
"I know, Lindir. I will be quick, now go! So that I can get started soon and then I'll be able to help you sooner! And don't get lost!" I yelled after him as he made his way slowly into the dark forest around us.
I took off my cloak and hood and laid them one the bank of the lake. I slipped off my light boots and tucked them under my cloak. I slipped out of my over-jacket, which buttoned up the front for a firmer fit. I unbuckled my belt and wrapped that around my knife and hid it and my bow and some arrows in the reeds. I lifted my riding dress over my head and then I just stood for a while and let the wind ripple my under-dress. The wind tugged at my hair, blowing it softly against my neck and the upper part of my back. I looked at the dark waters that slapped the banks lightly. I stepped into the water and let the cool water wash over my feet. Then I dove into the water. The water was colder than I had expected it to be, in fact, it was ice cold. But it was refreshing and it numbed my body to the pain of the long ride earlier that day. As I came up for a breath of air, the stillness of the entire woods shocked me. But I was enjoying the water so much that I didn't take any notice of the shadows passing in the forest, on the opposite side of the lake. I washed the mud caked to my legs and arms off and I tried to untangle my hair to at least let the water wash it naturally without any soap.
As I floated in the water close to the shore, a shadow, dark and cold passed over me, like a winter night springing upon you in the middle of a summer's day. I backed into the reeds and hid myself among them. This would hide me from what ever that was for a while; until it passed by. The shadow did pass; at least the one in the sky did. But the shadows all around the edge of the lake drew closer, as if to crush anything in its path. Then I heard it. The sound of hundreds of hurried footsteps falling on the forest floor. Night hid the orcs from the Sun and Her light. I saw the foul things hurrying along some path close to the lake and I sat there, hoping that they would pass by. And most of them did, with out a second glance at the lake. But one of the last parties of orcs stopped, and moved closer to the lake. There was a grunt and then I realized that they had seen my clothes.
The leader grunted for his group to follow and they did, about twenty of them. The rest just glanced at the clothes, shrugged and followed the other parties. I swallowed, hoping that they would do the same. But they didn't. One, carrying a torch, came close to the water and began looking for footprints. In the softest mud, close to the rippling waves, he found two footprints, and I knew that they were mine.
He got down on his hands and knees and sniffed around until jumping up and grunting out harsh words to the captain. Captain walked over and sniffed too. His eyes narrowed and he let out a shrill cry. I cowered in the reeds, with my hands over my ears.
He started yelling out orders to his company, in a language that at first I didn't recognize. As I listened though, I could make out enough that sounded like the Common Tongue that I could understand a little. 'Thank you, Mirthandir, for making me study!' I thought gratefully.
Captain yelled out a string of curses before shouting, "There are things lurking in the waters, or close to the waters that aren't on the Eye's Side." A scream of anger and fear rose. "Find it, and you with be rewarded!" A shout of pleasure went up. "But." Captain tried to continue but the company had begun to scatter and search the reeds and banks. Captain got angry and pulled out a sword. Sniffer, the orc that had showed Captain the footprints, raised his bow at Captain's grunt.
"You blasted fools!" He screeched. "Everyone of you, shut up and get back here!" Half of the orcs hurried back in fear. The others ignored him and kept on searching the banks. "Ah," Captain growled. "So, you choose to disobey me? The Eye put me in charge of you! You will pay for your lack of obedience!" With that, Captain and Sniffer jumped towards the others and killed every one of the orcs who hadn't come at the first call.
"Let THAT be a lesson to you scum!" Captain spat. "Now, the ten of you still alive, five go to the north bank and the others, come with me to the south. Gourbatgh!"
"Yes, sir," Sniffer said.
"Burn these disgusting clothes and then torch the reeds! We'll burn out anything that is hiding close to the waters banks."
As the others ran either north or south, Sniffer/Gourbatgh looked fearfully at the heap of clothes in front of him. He poked and sniffed at them for a while before finally lifting my over-jacket and put his torch under it. He laughed as the material began to burn and wasn't paying attention to how high the flame was rising. It burned his hand before he dropped my jacket on the ground, wailing and cursing over and over. After about five minutes of licking his wounded hand, he got enough courage to poke at my dress before dragging it over to the smoldering jacket and lighting them both up. Proud of himself he danced around the fire muttering hideous words and gurgling in his throat.
I looked sadly at my Elven cloak and hood, my boots peeking out from underneath them. My pack was on Earendil and Lindir had taken him away when I wanted to bathe. I wouldn't have any clothes to wear, save my under dress and to tell the truth, you could practically see right through the material.
Sniffer/Gourbatgh, delighted at himself, poked at my cloak. He sniffed at it longer than the other clothes, which were now just a smoldering heap. He reached out a hand to touch it, and as he did so, he pulled his hand back with a muffled cry. Sniffer/Gourbatgh took a stick and hooked my cloak(and hood with my boots wrapped inside) and then, looking nervously around, flung them into the water.
I slowly put my hand out towards the reeds nearer the bank and felt for my belt and weapons. As I drew them closer to me, I kept an eye on Sniffer/Gourbatgh. He was busy trying to burn down the reeds opposite of me. I closed my eyes, thankful that no one had seen me.yet.
"Huyfur!" screamed Sniffer/Gourbatgh. Captain came running down from the south. "What?" he sneered.
"The reeds don't burn well," Sniffer/Gourbatgh said, licking his gray, shapeless lips. "I think also, that the others would be getting hungry."
Captain/Huyfur snorted. "Eat the ones we killed earlier, and don't bother me with stupid questions again. If you find.anything, anything that is alive, then call me. I think that Elves may be lurking in the waters, or trees, or whatever the nasty things may hide in." Sniffer/Gourbatgh looked up, startled. Captain grunted and then called out a few harsh words in the Black Speech. The ten orcs that were left came rushing to the bank, eyeing the bodies of the dead orcs. Captain waved a hand and all of them started to rip apart the bodies, blood slipping out all over the ground. The smell of raw flesh burned in my nose and I hid my face from the hideous creatures.
(Later) The orcs had just left, leaving almost everything burnt and bloody. The small group of reeds in which I had hidden was one of the few the orcs had decided not to burn. I was chilled to the bone as I slowly rose to see if I could retrieve my cloak and hood from the bottom of the murky lake. My legs cramped as I stood up and my back ached from having stayed in the same position for a long time. I took a deep breath and then dove under the small waves and into the dark waters. It was now almost midnight, judging by the position of the moon, so the water was hard to see while underneath.
I felt my hands along the muddy bottoms of the lake, trying to feel the soft fabric of my cloak. I felt nothing but mud, stones and reed roots. Then I felt a hard sole of a boot. Grinning to myself, I found the other boot and my cloak. I found my hood entangled with a reed.
As I came up out of the water, I heard a soft, yet steady cry. Not one that put a shiver down your back and raise the hair on the back of your neck, but one that made you want to cry as well. I saw a bent shadow, its face burrowed deep into its arms. I drew my cloak around my shivering body and slipped my boots onto my feet. I took a step closer to the bent figure and stared at it hard.
"Elendili?" I whispered. The figure stiffen and its body shook harder, sobs escaping. "Are you an elendili?" I repeated. The figure glanced up, and froze, a look of horror and fear in it. "Can you not speak our tongue? Are you an Elf-friend?" I gazed at him and slowly put my hand out to him. His lips began to tremble and his hand came out of the folds of his cloak and he touched the tips of my fingers gently.
"Are you." he choked, "Are you a fea?"
I giggled. "No," I answered. "I am not a spirit, and if you're wondering, I am not dead either." The figure gripped my hand tightly and pulled me down to the ground.
"I thought." he stammered. "I thought that you were dead. O, Anodien, I'm sorry, they, the orcs, they killed your Earendil. I am sorry. I couldn't do anything or they would have killed me. I don't know where my horse, Thingol, is. I don't know.I'm so.I just don't know." Lindir's head rested on my lap and he cried.
"S-s-hhhh." I whispered. "It will be ok."
Lindir sat up and wiping his sleeve across his nose, he looked at me. "What happened to your clothes?" I looked over towards the pile of ashes. "The orcs burned them." I replied.
Lindir nodded. He picked up his saddlebag and looked through it. "here," he said, tossing me a shirt and a pair of pants. He turned his face away as I put the shirt on over my under-dress and slipped the pants on under my dress and tighten it all with my belt. I wrapped my cloak around me and then looked up at Lindir. He suddenly hugged me and when we pulled away, he smiled and said, "I don't know what I would have done if I had lost you, you're like a sister to me. Common." He slung the saddlebag over his shoulder and put his arm around my shoulder. Then, in the dead of night, we started out on foot to Gondor.