Another chapter, I'm on another role! When I get outa a slump, I get outa a slump, eh? Haha. Lookie dat! Lolz, well, on to the next chapter, Good night!

~Hoshiko

Battles in Rohan

'I must admit… these lands are strange to me.' Froin said while they stopped for a moment on the countryside. 'Where have we landed?'

'We are now in the country of Rohan. Sense the War of the Ring they have flourished rather well. They have a great supply of horses, and they have a worthy king.' Aradraen explained, and Froin nodded.

'What house is in rule here?'

'That I can not tell you, for I do not know.'

 'Let us hope there is not another ruler along with this one this time.' She grumbled, and Aradraen looked to the ground.

'Now is not the time to ponder that, for the orcs have not stopped, on with the hunt!' she cried, and sprinted off into woods, the other two following. They ran for another day with out stop or food and at the end of the day they came upon a trampled part of the ground. Here were scraps of food, and the grass seemed to be almost torn apart.

'They laid here recently, the ground has been greatly unsettled.' Aradraen said, and Relnik nodded.

'The fair grounds of Rohan have not seen this abuse for a great time.' Relnik said sadly. 'Which means they are new here. That is a good sign.' He said and the others nodded.

'We have had no rest for… three days…' Froin breathed, leaning on a tree for support. 'Though the endurance of Dwarves is great, even the Uruk-hai had to rest!' she said, and Relnik nodded.

'Yes, even I am extremely tired.' He said, and Aradraen sighed.

'All right, we may rest, it would be safer to travel at night, any way.' She said, and Froin plopped down on the ground.

'Thank you.' She said, and almost instantly fell asleep. Even Relnik laid himself down on the ground, and slept in the elvish fashion. They did so until night fell, for Aradraen refused to sleep, and she woke them.

'Come along, now, we have rested more than I would have preferred. Onwards!' she cried, and sprinted off. The two taller ones took the lead, and by the start of the next day Froin was lagging behind quite a bit.

'I am not built for long-distance running!' she said, and they came to a hill. While she stumbled up to them, Relnik looked across the fields. 'Can you see them?'

'Their feet have traveled here, yes, for the grasses have been trampled down.'

'How do we know that the hobbits are still living? They could have been killed and dumped in the brushes many miles past!' Froin said, it seemed her hope was fading.

'Perhaps… they would have left something to show us they are still living.' Relnik offered, and Aradraen remembered what Pippin had done last time.

'Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall…' she muttered, and looked down at their trail. 'They seemed to have stopped here for a brief moment… the signs are as Elessar had described… if they did anything close to- aha!' she cried, and practically jumped on a spot in the ground. Froin and Relnik had started to wonder if she had gone mad. She came up, however, with the brooch that held their elven cloaks together.

'This is the proof we need. The last time that an elven brooch was dropped in Rohan was when Pippin desired to tell Elessar that he and Merry were still living. They are alive yet!' she said, and Froin nodded.

'Yes, that is luck, and if it isn't call me a male!' she said and Relnik looked closely at the brooch.

'We should take all luck that comes to us.' He said, and Aradraen nodded.

'Yes, luck or no luck it is a blessing! Continue we must, for my hope is renewed!' she said, and started off again. Froin sighed, took a deep breath and started off again, following the two other beings. As she ran, she took out one of the lembas she had left and took a large bite out of it, eating as she ran.

'I thank the Lady for these lembas, she knows not how much they help.' She said, and kept running, gaining some ground and catching up with the other two. They ran for the rest of the day, through out the night, and the next time they stopped to rest, it was early morning.

'The sky… it looks angry…' Aradraen said, staring hard at it. 'Lest my eyes deceive me, there was a battle somewhere near here tonight. The signs are as they were an age ago… we are falling into the same fate!' she said, frustration in her voice.

'Laurel, that would mean they are still living. Besides, I do not think fates would be exactly the same, for the herders of the trees have not been seen by anyone for thousands of years. They could very well be all right now, but what would happen to them after that? My hope is fading again, my sister…' he said and Froin nodded.

'We cannot loose hope, though I see your point of view. We must keep going, it is their only hope.' She said, and they found that Aradraen had pressed her ear against the ground. 'Aradraen, my lass-'

'Sh! I must see how far they are.' She said, and she stayed for a great while. The other two did not move, for fear she would loose her patient, and she rose minutes later. 'They have not been here for more than a day.' She said, and looked to the south of them. 'Yet I do not hear their foot-step's either… there is only the sound of hooves… not more than five beasts, but hooves all the same. Come, we do not know to whom they belong.' She said, and they hurried off into some of the underbrush. Sure enough, there were a band of at least five horses.

The riders were clad in armor, and helmets, carrying a flag of a brown horse head. The background was of deep blue, and the flag was lined in golden cloth. On their armor was the coat of arms of the great house of Eorl. Under their helmets could clearly be seen dark strawberry-blonde hair and the each held a spear. They stopped and turned when Aradraen was about to call out to them. After a moment the trampling of more beasts could be heard, and quickly there came orcs riding wargs. The orcs out-numbered the horses two to one, and after a moment of standing off, one of the wargs jump at a horse and near killed it. This made the others go, and before the Three Hunter's eyes a battle broke out.

'Should we help?' Relnik asked, and Froin growled.

'Weather we should or not, I am!' she said, and jumped up from the underbrush, killing the nearest orc. Relnik quickly joined in, and Aradraen had not choice but to help. With the help of the Hunters the battle did not last long, and when it was over Froin was the last to kill a warg.

'That'll teach you. Now- oh…' she said, and backed up into Relnik and Aradraen. The warriors of Rohan had them surrounded, spears ready to attack. One of the Riders looked at them and pointed his spear at them.

'Who are you? What is your business in Rohan? Are you friend or foe?' He asked quickly, and Froin cleared her throat looking at the beasts she had just helped kill.

'I am Aradraen of the Dunedain, the elf is Relnik, son of Relnohen, and the dwarf is Froin, daughter of Loin.' She explained, but the look on the man's face told them he did not believe them.

'Dwarves and elves exist in children's tails only. They have disappeared since the third age, none have been seen in Rohan for thousands of years.' He said, and Froin nodded.

'Oh, really. Than I am simply a short man, and he is simply a tall man. Well, if you thought that you would be terribly wrong, for I am a female.' She said, and he raised an eyebrow. 'Doesn't our dress tell you we are not of your race?'

'The dwarves have recently receded back to their mining homes and the elves into their forests. They are real though, I promise you on my life.' She said, and a tone in her voice made his expression change. The tones of Aradraen were nothing to question.

'Maybe they have. I am sorry, but Rohan have recently been under terrible strain. The king is being controlled, if you will.' He said, and put his hand up, the spears being put down.

'By his councilor?'

'No! By his very own son. They man has been spoiled all his life, and his father does everything to his interest. He is getting anything out of his father now, and his thoughts are of evil. The kingdom is falling apart.' The man said, and took off his helmet. 'I am Eothan, son of Eotarn. The king is my uncle, and I am tired of my cousin's meddling in his affairs. It is of little hope, now, for nothing can persuade my uncle out of it. It has gone on too long. Now, what was your business here?'

'We are following a group of orcs, like the ones you were just in battle. They were Uruk-hai, and have captured friends of ours, hobbits, halflings. If I'm correct, they have not been seen in this country for a great time, either.' Aradraen said, and Eothan nodded.

'You are correct, they have not, and I have not seen them. We killed a large group of orcs early this morning, but it was dark, and we could not judge if they were orc or not. As far as we know, there were none that were left alive.'

'Are you sure? They are short lads, no taller than I, and they…' but she did not finish, because he just shook his head.

'I am sorry.' He said, and Relnik bowed his head.

'Where are they now?' he said, his voice clear and smooth. It was easy to tell he was not of mankind. 'What have you done with the ones you have killed?'

'Their bodies have been burned, you are welcome to go search, but I am afraid you will find them dead. It is over in that direction.' He said, and the anger in Aradraen's face could clearly be seen.

'We will go search, then. Come along.' She said, and they were about to leave when Eothan heaved a sigh.

'I feel responsible…' he said quickly, and whistled. Two horses then came, one as black as night and the other brown as a chestnut. 'These are the horses of two of our men that were killed. They were the only ones, I am sorry I do not have three. Take them, for we are not in need of them.' He said and Aradraen bowed her head.

'Thank you. We will keep them well.' She said, and Eothan nodded.

'Yes, I apologize again. Ride on!' he cried, and the Riders of Rohan turn their horses, running off. Aradraen mounted the black horse, and Relnik his, but when he motioned for Froin to get on she backed up.

'I will not!' she said, and he looked at her.

'Why not?'

'A dwarf, riding a great horse like that? I would be thrown off, surely!' she said, and Relnik laughed.

'Come along, Froin my friend, I will not let you fall.' He said, and she nodded.

'I will walk.'

'You will fall behind, and have to do long-distance running.' Relnik said, and Froin thought of it for a minute. After a second she sighed.

'Fine. I will ride.' She said, and with Relnik's help she mounted the horse, steadying herself with him.

'If you grip too hard I will throw you off.'

'Do not tell me that.' She said, and they started riding. She tensed quite a bit when they did, but she did not fall off. They made it to the pile of burning bodies, and they saw that it was true, they had killed nearly all the orcs. After inspecting the pile of orcs, Aradraen looked at the tracks.

'There are no bondage cut, no hobbit tracks, nothing!' she said, and from the pile Relnik pulled out a long-knife, like none an orc would carry.

'Terry's knife from Greenwood…' Froin said, she and Relnik bowing their heads. Aradraen looked at it, fire in her eyes. In a fit of rage she kicked a helmet, and fell to her knee's screaming.

'Curse on you!' She cried, beating the ground, 'Curse on you, AND ALL OF ORC-KIND!' Relnik went over and comforted his sister. 'We have failed them…' she said, and Froin shook her head.

'There was nothing we could do.' She said, and Relnik nodded.

'We must move on, now.'

'We fight for them…' Aradraen said, and stood. 'We will fight for them until our deaths!' She said, and mounted her horse. 'We will go to this king and his son, with persuasion, perhaps Rohan's rule will turn for the better.'

'Where is the capital city?' Relnik asked after helping Froin onto the back of the horse.

'It is south west from here, and named Edoras.'

'Not all names change.' Froin said, and Aradraen nodded, turning her horse.

'No, not all names change with time.' She said, 'it is two day's ride from here, come along, I can not stand that pile of bodies any longer.' She said, and they rode off in the direction of the city of Rohan.