Pippin must have fallen asleep, because he was jolted awake suddenly. His
hands were still tied behind him, but the bag had come off. The gag was
still in his mouth and his throat was painfully dry. He was on a horse,
perched in front of the saddle while a woman rode.
Looking around he saw there were many horses, and three others held prisoners as well as riders. Frodo, Merry and Sam, all bound as he was. Frodo was either asleep or unconscious, but the other two were awake. Merry gave him a look that was probably meant to be encouraging, but it was difficult to be sure since Merry was gagged as well.
Pippin looked round at the riders, a group of about a dozen men and women. He strained round to try and get a better look at the woman who rode behind him. She was middle-aged, flecks of grey running through her fair hair and fine lines around her eyes.
"You'll fall off if you keep shifting like that," she said in a surprisingly mild tone. Pippin looked at the other riders again. They were a strange mix. He saw features of Rohan on one young woman, whereas one looked like a man of Gondor. One even had the dark skin of the Southrons. Who were these people?
At least he was unharmed, and it didn't look like his friends had been hurt either. But what did they want with them?
He was still wondering that when Frodo woke. He struggled briefly, but then closed his eyes and an expression of despair lay on his features. Pippin hated seeing his friend like that, but Frodo had gone through worse things than any of them during the war, and he couldn't cope with this as well.
***
"Rasarl," a voice called, and the horse Aragorn was tied over came to a halt. He could hear voices holding a conversation, but he couldn't hear the words, probably not helped by the pounding in his head. He wished he could see so he could find out what was going on. Well, he really wished he wasn't a prisoner at all, but he'd settle for being able to see.
"Did you have any trouble with your charge?" the voice asked, closer now so Aragorn could make out the words.
"No." Aragorn thought it was the woman who had spoken to him before. "Did you?"
"No, we captured them quite easily." Them? These people had more prisoners?
"Get them on horses," the woman ordered, "The mistress wants them as quickly as possible."
"Get your hands off me!" Aragorn recognised that voice instantly, and something filtered through his blurred memory and foggy thoughts. Legolas and Gimli were supposed to be coming to Minas Tirith. Were they prisoners as well?
In a few minutes they were moving again. Aragorn's hands and feet were numb from the ropes and the pounding in his head seemed to increase with every step. He lifted his head up a little in the hope that it would ease his headache, when the horse took a bad step. Unprepared, Aragorn's head slammed down against the tough leather of the saddle, sending his senses reeling.
***
They stopped shortly after nightfall, the riders lowering their hobbit prisoners to the ground and making camp. They had cut across country and now met up with a road. From the direction he guessed it was the Greenway. That meant either he had been asleep for a long time or the horses were moving a lot faster than they appeared, and that must be great indeed.
One of the riders, a woman, came up to them and tied their feet quickly but securely. Pippin had long since lost sensation in his fingers from the tight ropes. They were left, bound and gagged, leaning against the truck of a mighty oak.
When the camp was finished, one of the men came up to the prisoners with a water bottle. One at a time he loosed the gags and lifted the bottle so they could drink. Pippin gulped down water gladly, the water soothing his dry throat. When the man turned away, he didn't bother replacing the gags.
"Are you alright, Mr Frodo?" Sam asked. Frodo nodded, though the expression on his face belied this action.
"What do they want with us?" Pippin asked.
"I don't know," Merry replied, "but I doubt it's a coincidence the four of us were chosen." They sat in silence for a while. When it became apparent that food wasn't going to be forthcoming, they each tried to sleep. A difficult task when one's hands were tied behind one's back.
Pippin lay awake uncomfortably for a long time, wondering what was going on, why they had been taken, and most often of all where they were being taken to.
***
"You said you'd be here for my birthday," a boy said grumpily as an old man robed in grey dismounted from his horse.
"I'm sorry, Estel," the man said, "I did intend to, but unfortunately some important business came up."
"So I'm not important," the boy said, scuffing the ground with the toe of his shoe.
"I never said that, Estel. There was just something pressing that required my attention."
"Aragorn?" The boy looked round in surprise, searching for the speaker, but the stable yard faded around him.
"Aragorn?"
Aragorn's eyes snapped open. For a moment he wondered where he was, then the pinching ropes and throbbing head reminded him.
"Legolas?"
"Ah, you're awake. I was worried they'd done some damage to that head of yours." That was another familiar voice.
"Gimli?" Aragorn groaned, "What's happening?"
"We don't know," Legolas said. Aragorn managed to lift his head slightly. The three of them were tied up and lying on the ground. Moving around them were people, probably human but it was dark so it was difficult to tell. One person was starting a fire.
"Where are we?"
"Somewhere north west of Minas Tirith we think," Legolas said.
"And where are we being taken?"
"I'll let you know as soon as we get there."
Aragorn closed his eyes hoping that it would help clear the throbbing pain in his temples and went over what they knew. Which was nothing.
"Apparently they work for someone called Lady Reyalla," he said, "have you ever heard of her?" Both Legolas and Gimli replied that they hadn't, which just annoyed Aragorn further since he knew he had. Until he figured out when he probably wasn't going to get any more answers. He couldn't even remember how he had been captured.
***
Three days they'd been travelling, riding hard down the north-south road. The rode at a gallop, yet only stopped at midday to eat and rest the horses. Even Pippin knew that horses normally required more rest than that.
The food the hobbits had been given was meagre by their standards and very plain, but it didn't look like the riders were being given any better. By keeping their ears open, the hobbits had learned that the woman in charge of this group was called Mariel, and that their capture had been ordered by another woman, Lady Reyalla. Unfortunately, that still gave them little idea of what was going on.
Near the eve of the third day, the group left the road and turned west. Pippin had a horrible suspicion they were nearing their destination. The feeling increased when the riders continued after nightfall, obviously hurrying to reach wherever it was they were going.
It was very dark when they did reach it, since the moon had now disappeared completely. A building of some sorts loomed up, a blacker shadow in the darkness. The riders passed through a gate, and Pippin had only a moment to glimpse a large courtyard before a bag was shoved over his head again.
He didn't know what was happening to the others or where he was being taken. Fear filled him, as hands steered him along. He tried to remember the route, the lefts and rights he had taken, but quickly got confused. After a while he was led down some stairs and then turned to his right. He struggled all the way, but couldn't get away from the tight grip on his shoulders.
At last they stopped. Pippin tried to calm his trembling. Whoever it was that had been guiding him cut the ropes around his wrists. For a moment he enjoy the blissful release, but his arms were yanked over his head and he was spun round at the same moment. He back pressed against a wall, as the hands fitted his own into cold, metal manacles.
Then the bag was removed, and Pippin got a look at the woman as she left him alone in a small cell. A heavy door slammed shut and Pippin could hear bolts being driven home. The cell was tiny, but that didn't matter since he wouldn't have been able to move around it even if it had been huge. The manacles around his wrists were fixed to a short chain that ran through a metal ring set into the wall above him, meaning that Pippin was forced to stand, his arms stretched over his head. At least the manacles weren't as tight as the ropes had been, but the position meant the blood supply would be slow to return to his fingers.
***
They hadn't bound him over the horse for the rest of the journey as they had the first day, which Aragorn was very glad about. The uncomfortable position made it difficult to breathe, and having his head hanging down increased the headaches plaguing him.
Thankfully, the throbbing in his head had passed, but he was still unable to remember how he had been captured. He had hoped the memory would return once his head cleared, but there was only a frightening blank.
Legolas was blaming himself for his and Gimli's capture, saying he should have heard these people. Aragorn told his friend it wasn't his fault, but secretly wondered how it was possible the elf hadn't heard. He knew from experience than even when a human was at his most silent, Legolas could hear. How he had failed to hear a whole band seemed impossible.
For two days hard ride, the three were placed sitting on horses, their hands bound to a loop of leather on the back of the saddle. A length of rope tied to each foot ran beneath the stomach of the horse.
Legolas had caused trouble with this arrangement from the first moment he could. A few whispered words and gentle kicks had sent his horse charging at their captors. To the amazement of the three prisoners, one of the women had given a sharp word of command, and the horse had stopped instantly. From then, neither his horse nor the ones ridden by Aragorn and Gimli had obeyed the commands of their riders, just following the others when they rode.
Aragorn watched as Legolas tried to get his horse to obey him so that they could break free, but that only achieved some punches in the stomach for Legolas. There was such a lot about this group that didn't make sense to Aragorn. How could they sneak up on an elf? How could humans have more influence over animals than an elf? And how did he know the name Reyalla?
When the group stopped for the night, the three prisoners were placed together again, bound hand and foot. When one of the men came over to them with food and water, they were forced to eat from his hands. Aragorn briefly considered refusing, but such stubbornness would be foolish. As long as they were being fed they would be strong enough to escape.
"Are you alright?" Aragorn asked Legolas quietly, as soon as the man had moved away a little.
"Of course," Legolas replied, "they didn't hit me very hard."
"I'm glad to hear it." They talked for a little, whispering quietly about plans to escape, each more impossible than the previous one. At last they slipped into slumber.
"You said you'd be here for my birthday," a boy said grumpily as an old man robed in grey dismounted from his horse.
"I'm sorry, Estel," the man said, "I did intend to, but unfortunately some important business came up."
"So I'm not important," the boy said, scuffing the ground with the toe of his shoe.
"I never said that, Estel. There was just something pressing that required my attention."
"More important than me?"
"Who said you weren't important, Estel?" Gandalf asked kindly.
Aragorn was yanked out of sleep by strong hands lifting him and dragging him to a ready horse. When the ropes around his ankles were cut so he could be placed in the saddle, he managed to get in a few good kicks.
Suddenly the world went dark. He couldn't see, and half a moment later he realised he couldn't hear. The pain from the ropes at his wrists was gone. Unfortunately, so was every other sensation of touch. In that moment of blind panic, he was aware only of his consciousness in a void.
When the world reappeared as suddenly as it had gone, the shock of his senses returning was more than a little disorientating. Once he'd calmed himself, he took stock of his situation. He was on the horse again, bound as before. Both Legolas and Gimli were looking at him worriedly. Aragorn himself felt more terrified than worried.
Each of his sense had been snatched away from him. Only for a brief moment, but if they could do this they would probably be able to do it for longer. As they began their journey, Aragorn wondered what sort of people they were, if they could control another's sense like that.
It was as he was thinking along those lines that another thought struck him. If they could block his senses, could they influence an elf's? Enough so that he didn't hear an enemy approaching?
***
Author's note: A couple of people commented that Legolas wouldn't have been caught unawares. I hope this clears up that little problem.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed, please keep it up.
Looking around he saw there were many horses, and three others held prisoners as well as riders. Frodo, Merry and Sam, all bound as he was. Frodo was either asleep or unconscious, but the other two were awake. Merry gave him a look that was probably meant to be encouraging, but it was difficult to be sure since Merry was gagged as well.
Pippin looked round at the riders, a group of about a dozen men and women. He strained round to try and get a better look at the woman who rode behind him. She was middle-aged, flecks of grey running through her fair hair and fine lines around her eyes.
"You'll fall off if you keep shifting like that," she said in a surprisingly mild tone. Pippin looked at the other riders again. They were a strange mix. He saw features of Rohan on one young woman, whereas one looked like a man of Gondor. One even had the dark skin of the Southrons. Who were these people?
At least he was unharmed, and it didn't look like his friends had been hurt either. But what did they want with them?
He was still wondering that when Frodo woke. He struggled briefly, but then closed his eyes and an expression of despair lay on his features. Pippin hated seeing his friend like that, but Frodo had gone through worse things than any of them during the war, and he couldn't cope with this as well.
***
"Rasarl," a voice called, and the horse Aragorn was tied over came to a halt. He could hear voices holding a conversation, but he couldn't hear the words, probably not helped by the pounding in his head. He wished he could see so he could find out what was going on. Well, he really wished he wasn't a prisoner at all, but he'd settle for being able to see.
"Did you have any trouble with your charge?" the voice asked, closer now so Aragorn could make out the words.
"No." Aragorn thought it was the woman who had spoken to him before. "Did you?"
"No, we captured them quite easily." Them? These people had more prisoners?
"Get them on horses," the woman ordered, "The mistress wants them as quickly as possible."
"Get your hands off me!" Aragorn recognised that voice instantly, and something filtered through his blurred memory and foggy thoughts. Legolas and Gimli were supposed to be coming to Minas Tirith. Were they prisoners as well?
In a few minutes they were moving again. Aragorn's hands and feet were numb from the ropes and the pounding in his head seemed to increase with every step. He lifted his head up a little in the hope that it would ease his headache, when the horse took a bad step. Unprepared, Aragorn's head slammed down against the tough leather of the saddle, sending his senses reeling.
***
They stopped shortly after nightfall, the riders lowering their hobbit prisoners to the ground and making camp. They had cut across country and now met up with a road. From the direction he guessed it was the Greenway. That meant either he had been asleep for a long time or the horses were moving a lot faster than they appeared, and that must be great indeed.
One of the riders, a woman, came up to them and tied their feet quickly but securely. Pippin had long since lost sensation in his fingers from the tight ropes. They were left, bound and gagged, leaning against the truck of a mighty oak.
When the camp was finished, one of the men came up to the prisoners with a water bottle. One at a time he loosed the gags and lifted the bottle so they could drink. Pippin gulped down water gladly, the water soothing his dry throat. When the man turned away, he didn't bother replacing the gags.
"Are you alright, Mr Frodo?" Sam asked. Frodo nodded, though the expression on his face belied this action.
"What do they want with us?" Pippin asked.
"I don't know," Merry replied, "but I doubt it's a coincidence the four of us were chosen." They sat in silence for a while. When it became apparent that food wasn't going to be forthcoming, they each tried to sleep. A difficult task when one's hands were tied behind one's back.
Pippin lay awake uncomfortably for a long time, wondering what was going on, why they had been taken, and most often of all where they were being taken to.
***
"You said you'd be here for my birthday," a boy said grumpily as an old man robed in grey dismounted from his horse.
"I'm sorry, Estel," the man said, "I did intend to, but unfortunately some important business came up."
"So I'm not important," the boy said, scuffing the ground with the toe of his shoe.
"I never said that, Estel. There was just something pressing that required my attention."
"Aragorn?" The boy looked round in surprise, searching for the speaker, but the stable yard faded around him.
"Aragorn?"
Aragorn's eyes snapped open. For a moment he wondered where he was, then the pinching ropes and throbbing head reminded him.
"Legolas?"
"Ah, you're awake. I was worried they'd done some damage to that head of yours." That was another familiar voice.
"Gimli?" Aragorn groaned, "What's happening?"
"We don't know," Legolas said. Aragorn managed to lift his head slightly. The three of them were tied up and lying on the ground. Moving around them were people, probably human but it was dark so it was difficult to tell. One person was starting a fire.
"Where are we?"
"Somewhere north west of Minas Tirith we think," Legolas said.
"And where are we being taken?"
"I'll let you know as soon as we get there."
Aragorn closed his eyes hoping that it would help clear the throbbing pain in his temples and went over what they knew. Which was nothing.
"Apparently they work for someone called Lady Reyalla," he said, "have you ever heard of her?" Both Legolas and Gimli replied that they hadn't, which just annoyed Aragorn further since he knew he had. Until he figured out when he probably wasn't going to get any more answers. He couldn't even remember how he had been captured.
***
Three days they'd been travelling, riding hard down the north-south road. The rode at a gallop, yet only stopped at midday to eat and rest the horses. Even Pippin knew that horses normally required more rest than that.
The food the hobbits had been given was meagre by their standards and very plain, but it didn't look like the riders were being given any better. By keeping their ears open, the hobbits had learned that the woman in charge of this group was called Mariel, and that their capture had been ordered by another woman, Lady Reyalla. Unfortunately, that still gave them little idea of what was going on.
Near the eve of the third day, the group left the road and turned west. Pippin had a horrible suspicion they were nearing their destination. The feeling increased when the riders continued after nightfall, obviously hurrying to reach wherever it was they were going.
It was very dark when they did reach it, since the moon had now disappeared completely. A building of some sorts loomed up, a blacker shadow in the darkness. The riders passed through a gate, and Pippin had only a moment to glimpse a large courtyard before a bag was shoved over his head again.
He didn't know what was happening to the others or where he was being taken. Fear filled him, as hands steered him along. He tried to remember the route, the lefts and rights he had taken, but quickly got confused. After a while he was led down some stairs and then turned to his right. He struggled all the way, but couldn't get away from the tight grip on his shoulders.
At last they stopped. Pippin tried to calm his trembling. Whoever it was that had been guiding him cut the ropes around his wrists. For a moment he enjoy the blissful release, but his arms were yanked over his head and he was spun round at the same moment. He back pressed against a wall, as the hands fitted his own into cold, metal manacles.
Then the bag was removed, and Pippin got a look at the woman as she left him alone in a small cell. A heavy door slammed shut and Pippin could hear bolts being driven home. The cell was tiny, but that didn't matter since he wouldn't have been able to move around it even if it had been huge. The manacles around his wrists were fixed to a short chain that ran through a metal ring set into the wall above him, meaning that Pippin was forced to stand, his arms stretched over his head. At least the manacles weren't as tight as the ropes had been, but the position meant the blood supply would be slow to return to his fingers.
***
They hadn't bound him over the horse for the rest of the journey as they had the first day, which Aragorn was very glad about. The uncomfortable position made it difficult to breathe, and having his head hanging down increased the headaches plaguing him.
Thankfully, the throbbing in his head had passed, but he was still unable to remember how he had been captured. He had hoped the memory would return once his head cleared, but there was only a frightening blank.
Legolas was blaming himself for his and Gimli's capture, saying he should have heard these people. Aragorn told his friend it wasn't his fault, but secretly wondered how it was possible the elf hadn't heard. He knew from experience than even when a human was at his most silent, Legolas could hear. How he had failed to hear a whole band seemed impossible.
For two days hard ride, the three were placed sitting on horses, their hands bound to a loop of leather on the back of the saddle. A length of rope tied to each foot ran beneath the stomach of the horse.
Legolas had caused trouble with this arrangement from the first moment he could. A few whispered words and gentle kicks had sent his horse charging at their captors. To the amazement of the three prisoners, one of the women had given a sharp word of command, and the horse had stopped instantly. From then, neither his horse nor the ones ridden by Aragorn and Gimli had obeyed the commands of their riders, just following the others when they rode.
Aragorn watched as Legolas tried to get his horse to obey him so that they could break free, but that only achieved some punches in the stomach for Legolas. There was such a lot about this group that didn't make sense to Aragorn. How could they sneak up on an elf? How could humans have more influence over animals than an elf? And how did he know the name Reyalla?
When the group stopped for the night, the three prisoners were placed together again, bound hand and foot. When one of the men came over to them with food and water, they were forced to eat from his hands. Aragorn briefly considered refusing, but such stubbornness would be foolish. As long as they were being fed they would be strong enough to escape.
"Are you alright?" Aragorn asked Legolas quietly, as soon as the man had moved away a little.
"Of course," Legolas replied, "they didn't hit me very hard."
"I'm glad to hear it." They talked for a little, whispering quietly about plans to escape, each more impossible than the previous one. At last they slipped into slumber.
"You said you'd be here for my birthday," a boy said grumpily as an old man robed in grey dismounted from his horse.
"I'm sorry, Estel," the man said, "I did intend to, but unfortunately some important business came up."
"So I'm not important," the boy said, scuffing the ground with the toe of his shoe.
"I never said that, Estel. There was just something pressing that required my attention."
"More important than me?"
"Who said you weren't important, Estel?" Gandalf asked kindly.
Aragorn was yanked out of sleep by strong hands lifting him and dragging him to a ready horse. When the ropes around his ankles were cut so he could be placed in the saddle, he managed to get in a few good kicks.
Suddenly the world went dark. He couldn't see, and half a moment later he realised he couldn't hear. The pain from the ropes at his wrists was gone. Unfortunately, so was every other sensation of touch. In that moment of blind panic, he was aware only of his consciousness in a void.
When the world reappeared as suddenly as it had gone, the shock of his senses returning was more than a little disorientating. Once he'd calmed himself, he took stock of his situation. He was on the horse again, bound as before. Both Legolas and Gimli were looking at him worriedly. Aragorn himself felt more terrified than worried.
Each of his sense had been snatched away from him. Only for a brief moment, but if they could do this they would probably be able to do it for longer. As they began their journey, Aragorn wondered what sort of people they were, if they could control another's sense like that.
It was as he was thinking along those lines that another thought struck him. If they could block his senses, could they influence an elf's? Enough so that he didn't hear an enemy approaching?
***
Author's note: A couple of people commented that Legolas wouldn't have been caught unawares. I hope this clears up that little problem.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed, please keep it up.
