(sorry, all, if this one is a bit short. It's nearly 2am and I wanted to
get a little more done so this is a teaser for now. I hope you like it!)
**************************
It seems wrong, somehow...
This thought ran continually through Merry's mind as the two hobbits ran for their lives from the swarm of dark-skinned beasts that hunted them. In this midst of terror and panic, the whole situation seemed unreal to the young hobbit. These orc-ish beings looked like something out of a fevered nightmare, bred by an evil darkness. An yet here they were, in the broad daylight, as if the day didn't care what would happen to them once these things got their hands on them.
Along side of him, poor Pippin gasped for breath as the two twisted and turned in hopes of eluding these demon-like beings in the slalom of trees, but their pursuers were not to be shaken from their trail. With each passing moment, the army was gaining upon them. A tree root twisted Merry's feet under him painfully, but the whispered feel of razor-like claws on his back pushed him past his pain and fueled him to run.
But Pippin was not so fortunate. With a cry, Pippin fell, tripped by the same branch that had tangled Merry.
"Pippin!" Merry cried, turning to reach a hand towards to his friend. Yet his compassion would cost them their freedom as the hoard of uruk-hai closed on them in that moment. Two brawny soldiers hauled them both to their feet and the terrified hobbits found themselves staring into the yellow eyes of their captors.
"Leave them alive!" one of them barked. "The wizard wants them brought back whole."
Gasping for breath, the two hobbits shared a glance. In that moment, they weren't sure what was worse, dying by the hands of these creatures, or facing whatever this wizard had in store for them. Desperate for their freedom, Merry and Pippin began to struggle, biting, punching and kicking any body part they could find. One uruk-hai who held onto Pippin roared as the hobbit's foot connected sharply with his groin and the young hobbit found himself slammed face first into the muddy ground for his trouble.
"We don't need them both!" the wounded uruk-hai snapped, hauling the reeling hobbit to eye level.
"The wizard wants them unspoiled!" the captain rebuked.
The uruk-hai leader's order bounced off of the creature like a wave upon a shore. The soldier gripped Pippin by the throat with one hand and clutched the hobbit's arm in the other. "He can survive on one arm," the uruk-hai hissed, gripping both neck and arm and pulling. Merry screamed his friend's name as Pippin felt his arm being torn from its socket.
A war cry split the air as a brandished sword cleaved through flesh and bone. Suddenly Pippin fell to the ground as the uruk-hai's body fell to one side of him, its severed head to his other. Boromir continued his assault, his sword gleaming in the midday sun as he fought like a man possessed. Before Merry's captor could turn to defend himself, his arm was cleaved from his body and Merry grabbed Pippin and ran.
"After them!!" the leader howled, taking up his sword to face Boromir head on. Five stood off against the warrior as four more took off after the two hobbits. The man fought well, but just barely managed to keep himself safe as the assault from the five uruk-hai weakened his sword arm and one managed to nick his shoulder, drawing blood. Boromir recoiled and turned to find a sword descending upon him. He closed his eyes and threw up his hands as a meager defense as the warrior braced himself for the attack.
Suddenly, the sword halted in its deadly path and Boromir looked through the shield of his arms to find an arrow pierced through the eye of his would-be killer. The warrior allowed himself but one exhale of relief before he continued his assault. Now, the fight was much more matched as Legolas's arrows took out two more.
Now only the leader stood before them, his comrades littering the ground with their corpses. Boromir and Legolas, now side by side, advanced upon him.
"Who are you?" Boromir growled, his blood smeared blade held before him. Both man and elf slowly approached the leader, but the uruk-hai merely snarled at the question, its sword held at the ready. The creature had made it clear that it would see death before answering his questions.
"Who sent you?" the warrior asked, louder and more vehemently. Yet they were met by the same insurgent glare. The uruk-hai's gaze was shifting between elf and man, deciding which it would attack first, when the creature suddenly stared at a point between the two warriors and that evil snarl melted into a menacing grin.
A small noise in a distance behind Legolas warned the elf only too late as a crude black arrow split the distance and thudded into the man's chest. "Boromir!"
The man's breath caught in his chest as a line of fire cut through his chest. His eyes opened wide in excruciating pain as they slowly looked down to see the bloody tip of the arrow protruding from his chest.
Time itself seemed to slow infinitely as the elf whirled to face the new attacker, cursing himself for being so unaware. In a smooth motion he brought up his elven blades to rush the uruk-hai in the trees but his attack was cut short as the broad side of a crude sword slammed against the side of his head, sending him reeling to the ground with a cry of pain.
Boromir barely registered the attack upon the elf or the threat of being pinched between the two uruk-hai as his whole world seem to shrink to nothing more than the pain in his chest and the blood in his lungs. Sounds around him muted into white noise as the only sound in his head was that of his heart's beat slowing. He turned to try to help the barely conscious elf but another arrow split the air and pierced his stomach.
Legolas struggled to clear the blackness from his vision, horrified at the attack. The elf barely managed to raise his head when two vise-like hands seized him by the shoulders and hauled him to standing. He fought in vain to escape, but the uruk-hai's grip was relentless and held him rooted to the spot to watch the horror play before him.
The uruk-hai assassin grinned as he watched the warrior slump to his knees, choking as he gasped for breath from the blood pooling in his pierced lungs. He strolled to the restrained elf and grabbed his chin with bruising strength. "Watch," he hissed, hatred evident in his vile voice, "what will happen to all those who oppose the Dark Lord."
Legolas watched in abject horror as the uruk-hai assassin picked up the leader's crude sword and approached the dying warrior. Panic lent the elf strength as he struggled against his captor but he could not free himself. He watched, helpless, as Boromir slowly raised his head to look his killer in the eye. The fear was gone from the man's face, and while his dying body was leeched of life, his eyes gleamed pure and strong as he stared the uruk- hai down.
For a long moment, no one moved. Then the assassin shoved the blade through the warrior's heart and Boromir fell to the ground, never to get up again.
"NOOO!!!!"
Legolas heart was racing in his chest and the elf barely registered that the throat-tearing scream had been his until the assassin turned and backhanded him so harshly that it nearly broke his captor's hold on him. A second uruk-hai joined the scene and grabbed the elf by one arm while his captor gripped the other with one hand and covered the elf's mouth harshly with the other. The assassin approached the bound and gagged elf, picking up one of Legolas's silver blade to hold the tip at the elf's throat. "Vile elf!" the uruk-hai hissed in his ear. "How I will love mutilating your kind when we take the havens!" The tip of the blade bit into the elf's pale, smooth skin, drawing forth a bead of crimson blood. And for the first time in all his two thousand years, Legolas contemplated his own imminent death.
"We have them!" a new voice broke into the scene, halting the press of the blade. Around the assassin, Legolas watched with a sinking heart as more uruk-hai entered the glade, holding captive Aragorn, Gimli, Merry, Pippin, Sam, and Frodo.
The assassin turned from the elf to face the soldiers. "Have you found the ring?"
Frodo's captor lifted his hand and from it dangled the gold band upon the humble chain. Legolas's breath seized in his throat.
Grinning in victory, the assassin moved forward and took the chain from the uruk-hai. Slowly, the assassin lifted his hand to stare at the gold band, transfixed by its power. A low growl rumbled in the uruk-hai's chest as the golden gleam reflected in its yellow eyes. The assassin no longer seemed to know where it was, so lost was it in the world that the ring seemed to take him to. He raised his black claw to slip the dangling ring upon his finger. "Such power," it hissed, "would make me stronger than Sauron himself."
Frodo jerked in his captor's hold with a cry as the ring's voice grew steadily in his mind. "It shares its power not!" the hobbit screamed, "It brings nothing but torture to he who wears it!"
The hobbit's warning seemed to draw the uruk-hai from the ring's spell as he looked upon Frodo with interest.
Lost in his panic, the hobbit continued. "It mutilated the last being to hold it, it will surely do the same to you!"
"...torture..." the assassin echoed, lost in a memory, his gaze shifting from the ring to the captive elf. Slowly he stepped towards Legolas. "...mutilated..."
For a moment the elf was still, until the assassin was so close that he could see the malice burning in the creature's eyes and realization dawned upon him. Legolas struggled against his captors in absolute fear.
"Give me the elf's hand," the assassin ordered.
It seems wrong, somehow...
This thought ran continually through Merry's mind as the two hobbits ran for their lives from the swarm of dark-skinned beasts that hunted them. In this midst of terror and panic, the whole situation seemed unreal to the young hobbit. These orc-ish beings looked like something out of a fevered nightmare, bred by an evil darkness. An yet here they were, in the broad daylight, as if the day didn't care what would happen to them once these things got their hands on them.
Along side of him, poor Pippin gasped for breath as the two twisted and turned in hopes of eluding these demon-like beings in the slalom of trees, but their pursuers were not to be shaken from their trail. With each passing moment, the army was gaining upon them. A tree root twisted Merry's feet under him painfully, but the whispered feel of razor-like claws on his back pushed him past his pain and fueled him to run.
But Pippin was not so fortunate. With a cry, Pippin fell, tripped by the same branch that had tangled Merry.
"Pippin!" Merry cried, turning to reach a hand towards to his friend. Yet his compassion would cost them their freedom as the hoard of uruk-hai closed on them in that moment. Two brawny soldiers hauled them both to their feet and the terrified hobbits found themselves staring into the yellow eyes of their captors.
"Leave them alive!" one of them barked. "The wizard wants them brought back whole."
Gasping for breath, the two hobbits shared a glance. In that moment, they weren't sure what was worse, dying by the hands of these creatures, or facing whatever this wizard had in store for them. Desperate for their freedom, Merry and Pippin began to struggle, biting, punching and kicking any body part they could find. One uruk-hai who held onto Pippin roared as the hobbit's foot connected sharply with his groin and the young hobbit found himself slammed face first into the muddy ground for his trouble.
"We don't need them both!" the wounded uruk-hai snapped, hauling the reeling hobbit to eye level.
"The wizard wants them unspoiled!" the captain rebuked.
The uruk-hai leader's order bounced off of the creature like a wave upon a shore. The soldier gripped Pippin by the throat with one hand and clutched the hobbit's arm in the other. "He can survive on one arm," the uruk-hai hissed, gripping both neck and arm and pulling. Merry screamed his friend's name as Pippin felt his arm being torn from its socket.
A war cry split the air as a brandished sword cleaved through flesh and bone. Suddenly Pippin fell to the ground as the uruk-hai's body fell to one side of him, its severed head to his other. Boromir continued his assault, his sword gleaming in the midday sun as he fought like a man possessed. Before Merry's captor could turn to defend himself, his arm was cleaved from his body and Merry grabbed Pippin and ran.
"After them!!" the leader howled, taking up his sword to face Boromir head on. Five stood off against the warrior as four more took off after the two hobbits. The man fought well, but just barely managed to keep himself safe as the assault from the five uruk-hai weakened his sword arm and one managed to nick his shoulder, drawing blood. Boromir recoiled and turned to find a sword descending upon him. He closed his eyes and threw up his hands as a meager defense as the warrior braced himself for the attack.
Suddenly, the sword halted in its deadly path and Boromir looked through the shield of his arms to find an arrow pierced through the eye of his would-be killer. The warrior allowed himself but one exhale of relief before he continued his assault. Now, the fight was much more matched as Legolas's arrows took out two more.
Now only the leader stood before them, his comrades littering the ground with their corpses. Boromir and Legolas, now side by side, advanced upon him.
"Who are you?" Boromir growled, his blood smeared blade held before him. Both man and elf slowly approached the leader, but the uruk-hai merely snarled at the question, its sword held at the ready. The creature had made it clear that it would see death before answering his questions.
"Who sent you?" the warrior asked, louder and more vehemently. Yet they were met by the same insurgent glare. The uruk-hai's gaze was shifting between elf and man, deciding which it would attack first, when the creature suddenly stared at a point between the two warriors and that evil snarl melted into a menacing grin.
A small noise in a distance behind Legolas warned the elf only too late as a crude black arrow split the distance and thudded into the man's chest. "Boromir!"
The man's breath caught in his chest as a line of fire cut through his chest. His eyes opened wide in excruciating pain as they slowly looked down to see the bloody tip of the arrow protruding from his chest.
Time itself seemed to slow infinitely as the elf whirled to face the new attacker, cursing himself for being so unaware. In a smooth motion he brought up his elven blades to rush the uruk-hai in the trees but his attack was cut short as the broad side of a crude sword slammed against the side of his head, sending him reeling to the ground with a cry of pain.
Boromir barely registered the attack upon the elf or the threat of being pinched between the two uruk-hai as his whole world seem to shrink to nothing more than the pain in his chest and the blood in his lungs. Sounds around him muted into white noise as the only sound in his head was that of his heart's beat slowing. He turned to try to help the barely conscious elf but another arrow split the air and pierced his stomach.
Legolas struggled to clear the blackness from his vision, horrified at the attack. The elf barely managed to raise his head when two vise-like hands seized him by the shoulders and hauled him to standing. He fought in vain to escape, but the uruk-hai's grip was relentless and held him rooted to the spot to watch the horror play before him.
The uruk-hai assassin grinned as he watched the warrior slump to his knees, choking as he gasped for breath from the blood pooling in his pierced lungs. He strolled to the restrained elf and grabbed his chin with bruising strength. "Watch," he hissed, hatred evident in his vile voice, "what will happen to all those who oppose the Dark Lord."
Legolas watched in abject horror as the uruk-hai assassin picked up the leader's crude sword and approached the dying warrior. Panic lent the elf strength as he struggled against his captor but he could not free himself. He watched, helpless, as Boromir slowly raised his head to look his killer in the eye. The fear was gone from the man's face, and while his dying body was leeched of life, his eyes gleamed pure and strong as he stared the uruk- hai down.
For a long moment, no one moved. Then the assassin shoved the blade through the warrior's heart and Boromir fell to the ground, never to get up again.
"NOOO!!!!"
Legolas heart was racing in his chest and the elf barely registered that the throat-tearing scream had been his until the assassin turned and backhanded him so harshly that it nearly broke his captor's hold on him. A second uruk-hai joined the scene and grabbed the elf by one arm while his captor gripped the other with one hand and covered the elf's mouth harshly with the other. The assassin approached the bound and gagged elf, picking up one of Legolas's silver blade to hold the tip at the elf's throat. "Vile elf!" the uruk-hai hissed in his ear. "How I will love mutilating your kind when we take the havens!" The tip of the blade bit into the elf's pale, smooth skin, drawing forth a bead of crimson blood. And for the first time in all his two thousand years, Legolas contemplated his own imminent death.
"We have them!" a new voice broke into the scene, halting the press of the blade. Around the assassin, Legolas watched with a sinking heart as more uruk-hai entered the glade, holding captive Aragorn, Gimli, Merry, Pippin, Sam, and Frodo.
The assassin turned from the elf to face the soldiers. "Have you found the ring?"
Frodo's captor lifted his hand and from it dangled the gold band upon the humble chain. Legolas's breath seized in his throat.
Grinning in victory, the assassin moved forward and took the chain from the uruk-hai. Slowly, the assassin lifted his hand to stare at the gold band, transfixed by its power. A low growl rumbled in the uruk-hai's chest as the golden gleam reflected in its yellow eyes. The assassin no longer seemed to know where it was, so lost was it in the world that the ring seemed to take him to. He raised his black claw to slip the dangling ring upon his finger. "Such power," it hissed, "would make me stronger than Sauron himself."
Frodo jerked in his captor's hold with a cry as the ring's voice grew steadily in his mind. "It shares its power not!" the hobbit screamed, "It brings nothing but torture to he who wears it!"
The hobbit's warning seemed to draw the uruk-hai from the ring's spell as he looked upon Frodo with interest.
Lost in his panic, the hobbit continued. "It mutilated the last being to hold it, it will surely do the same to you!"
"...torture..." the assassin echoed, lost in a memory, his gaze shifting from the ring to the captive elf. Slowly he stepped towards Legolas. "...mutilated..."
For a moment the elf was still, until the assassin was so close that he could see the malice burning in the creature's eyes and realization dawned upon him. Legolas struggled against his captors in absolute fear.
"Give me the elf's hand," the assassin ordered.
