Chapter 11: Orcs, Swords and Arrows
"Um . . . yes I do," Drogo's heart fell in disappointment. "We're about a few days away from Rivendell."
"Good," Aubrey watched him as he kept going, readjusting his bag more then usual, "Drogo, are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Aubrey could hear the disappointment in his voice, but couldn't think of a reason why he would feel that way from a simple question like the one she had just asked. The group soon stopped for a bathroom break between a grove and a couple of thick trees. The others hurried off into the bushes, but Aubrey and Drogo stayed behind with the pony since they didn't feel the need to go. Drogo looked at Aubrey and took a deep breath thinking on how to approach her.
"Aubrey, can I ask you something?"
"Always," Aubrey simply replied trying to preoccupy herself with a strap that seemed loose on the pony's side securing the tents once again.
"Do you feel anything when we are close to one another? Something that you can't ignore as it is deep in your soul?"
Now if this wasn't a flashing red light, Aubrey didn't know what was. She tried to keep her cheeks from blushing and dropped her head just in case she was. She also tried to reply in a strong voice, but it came out in a small weak shadow of what a voice should be, "Yes." Nothing seemed more pathetic to her in her whole life then that one syllable that came out of her mouth in that instance.
"What do you . . . think . . ." Drogo trailed off looking behind her.
"Drogo?"
"Shhh . . ." he checked his sword. It faintly showed a blue tint, "Dark is coming and so are the orcs."
The others ran back out of the bushes toward them. Faramir was the first to yell out of all of them, "Drogo! Orcs are surrounding the place."
The sun set behind the mountains and orcs became to climb out from their hiding places. "Hobbits . . ."
"This can't be good," Aubrey watched them run toward her.
The six of them were surrounded by orcs. Drogo stood strong in front of Aubrey, Sting glowing brightly in his hands. Faramir protected Kate and the other two looked around nervously holding their swords tightly in their grasps. Aubrey didn't know what to do, a lot of the orcs were too close to be shot at with an arrow and she didn't know how to use the sword or dagger too well.
One of the bigger orcs stepped forward, toward the group. Aubrey touched Drogo on the arm and stepped toward the orc. Drogo touched her to silently ask her what she was doing, but she reassured him with a soft smile off of her lips.
"Why hobbits in this wood? It isn't safe in the woods for hobbits," the orc said almost close enough to Aubrey that she could smell his awful stench again.
"We need passage, orc," Aubrey said harshly.
"Why leave so soon? We need dinner . . . and pretties," he reached toward the amulet, but his hand was hit by a blue shock radiating from the jewel. When the shock hit his hand he let out a little yelp of pain and retracted his hand.
"Well then we have a battle on our hands. We have no plans to be on the menu nor to give you my amulet," Aubrey tried to draw her sword but as she got it out she fumbled it a little too much then she would have liked. The orc before her laughed at her fetal attempts to even pick her sword's tip from the ground.
"What do mean to do with that, child? You can barely wield it, not to mention fight with it," the other orcs began to laugh at her. She couldn't take the taunting at her expense and dropped the sword. The orc before her looked up from the sword on the ground to see an arrow aimed straight at its head.
"Laugh at this," Aubrey said quietly. She let go of the arrow and let it fly through his forehead and nearly reach the other side. Aubrey strung another arrow as the other orcs looked at her and backed up in perfect range for a shot from the arrow.
"Listen to me, orcs. Step out of our way or end up like your leader."
"Stupid hobbit! There are twenty of us and six of you."
"Wow, you impress me. You can count," she pulled the arrow back and aimed for the orc that spoke, "I am Aubrey Cander, daughter of the legendary Sorion Cander. I will not fail in my mission to unite all of Middle Earth. I will be in power and all of you will be dead by the time I am done with you. So your demise can be sooner or later . . . it's your choice."
An orc began running forward and Aubrey shot him in the side of the chest, "Any other takers? The count is now nineteen to six."
"She cannot defeat us all!" all the orcs charged at the group.
"This should be fun," Drogo smiled at her as he took his place beside her holding Sting in his grasp.
"We can only enjoy it while it lasts," Aubrey let her arrows fly at every orc that made their way toward her.
One by one the orcs began to fall, breathing their last breaths on the damp ground. All the hobbits except Aubrey were using their swords to fend off the orcs. She tried to fend them off with arrows, jumping back sometimes to get a better lock on the on coming orcs. The nineteen soon started to dwindle down to six remaining.
"So, we're six to six," Aubrey pointed out, "Still want to fight?"
"They may not want to, but I do," Drogo said holding Sting tight in his grasp. He suddenly dropped his sword and held his side. He knelt on the ground still holding his side tight with pressure from his hand.
"Drogo!" Aubrey dropped her bow and ran over to his side.
One of the orcs tried to take this to their advantage and charged forward. Aubrey turned and stabbed the orc above her in an awkward fashion since she had never used a dagger before. The orc staggered back showing his wound to the others then fell to the ground as others did before him. The other orcs started to retreat and ran back into the wood.
Aubrey stood over the orc she had stabbed and hung the dagger straight over his heart. "Tell Suaron that he better like it in hell, because he isn't coming back," Aubrey jammed the dagger into the orc's chest and stood up. She wanted to hear the pain coming from the orc, but then again she wasn't sure why. She had never waited to hear a single living thing die, but this . . . this she wanted to see, wanted to hear, wanted to feel.
She cleaned off her dagger on the side of her dress and ran back over to Drogo.
"Drogo?" she looked at a wound that was made earlier in the fight, "Faramir, help me carry him to the pony."
Faramir slung Drogo's arm over his shoulder as Aubrey tried to disinfect the wound with some herbs that Frodo gave her before they left and dressed the wound after she was done. She put his other arm over her shoulder and took her place on the other side of Faramir.
"Thomas, if you can, try and get the arrows out of the orcs' bodies. We may be able to still use some of them later."
Thomas nodded and looked at the bodies that he would start with first. Faramir looked at Kat and Kate, "Be on the look out for more orcs, especially the ones who ran."
Aubrey tried to get Drogo to look at her by tilting his head up with her free hand and when he did look at her, his face was starting to pale and he could barely give her a small smile. She tried to position him better on her shoulder and looked up at her, "We need to move fast. We need to get him to Rivendell."
"But that's- urg," Thomas started struggling with an arrow jammed in an orc's body, "Rivendell is a few days away according to Drogo. We have to find another place to at least rest. Someplace closer, we will never make it if it is a few days away."
"I know . . . we have to think of someplace else," Aubrey thought to herself. Then it came to mind after so many of the Geography lessons started to flood into her mind, "Bree."
"What?"
"Bree, the city of Bree. It is only a little more up the forest path, we may be able to reach it by morning," Aubrey helped Faramir to get Drogo up on the pony, pushing some of the things into Kate and Kat's arms. "It is probably the only hope of help for Drogo right now."
The others nodded their heads and followed Aubrey. Thomas ran up to her side and handed her the arrows that he managed to salvage. As he handed them to her she noticed a gash on his arm. He looked at what she was looking at, covered it with his hand quickly and smiled at her, "Tis' but a scratch."
Aubrey gave a sympathetic smile and tried to keep a fast pace to make it to Bree.
***
Through the whole night both Faramir and Aubrey walked at either side of the pony to keep Drogo focused. Aubrey would catch Drogo's eyes once in a while and saw the pain written in his eyes. He tried to cover it up with a smirk, but she knew better then to fall for it.
After a few hours they had made it back to a road and followed it for a few miles until they came to wooden fence surrounding tall buildings that could be seen over the wood. The morning sun was barely peaking over the mountains. Aubrey asked Thomas to take her place beside Drogo and walked up to the door to knock.
"Yes?" a gruff voice asked on the other side of the sliding eyes hole.
"We need entry. My friend is badly hurt and needs medical attention immediately. Please," Aubrey pleaded to the man on the other side. He looked at the others and saw that both Kat and Kate were also pleading with their eyes.
"Come in," he opened the doors and let them in, and quickly closed the door behind them.
"Where can we find help for my friend?" Aubrey asked.
"There is a man in the third house over there that may be able to help," he pointed to a small corner house down the street.
"Thank you," Aubrey pulled on the pony and pushed through others to get to the door of the home. When she pulled on it she could not open it. It was locked and would not budge. "Oh no, he has to be here," Aubrey banged on the door hoping that if the man was asleep, he would wake up with the loud noise.
"Aubrey, look," Thomas pointed to a sign at the top of the window in the door.
Out to Prancing Pony.
"Just like a man," Kat said folding her arms over her chest.
"Well, man or not, we need him to help Drogo," she turned the pony toward the inn and rushed inside with Thomas and Faramir not far behind her with Drogo on their shoulders. Aubrey rushed up to the front desk and yelled up at the counter, "Excuse me! Our friend is in dire need of help."
"Well, hello young mistress- oh my," the innkeeper looked at the weak Drogo in his friend's hands. He went over to the other side of the desk to retrieve a man drinking from a small cup. The man came over and took one look.
"Let's get him into a bed," he grabbed Drogo and rushed up the stairs and into a hobbit room as described by the innkeeper.
Aubrey and the others were ordered out of the room as he got to work on Drogo's wound. The boys went back down the stairs to gather Kat and Kate who were still standing by the pony. Aubrey told them that she would take it to the stables toward the back and that they shouldn't worry. She tied the pony up out back and stood in the night air, staring at the fading stars melting into the morning light. For once, they brought neither comfort nor relaxation as they did so many nights and early mornings before.
She patted the pony, "Thank you. Sleep well, we may need you in a few hours time." She stepped back into the inn and joined the others at a table. Faramir was sitting beside Kate who was trying to comfort him and tell him it was going to be all right. Kat was looking around at all the people in the room, watching if any were staring at them. And it seemed as though Thomas was missing at the moment that she came in.
Aubrey looked at Thomas who had finally returned with a tall cup in his hands and gave him a disapproving look because she recognized the pint from the movie. He looked at her and smiled a big smile that a child would give their mother when they knew they were doing something wrong.
"Thomas Took you aren't drinking a pint of ale are you?" Aubrey asked crossing her arms over her chest.
"Of course not," Thomas said as though she had accused him of a terrible crime, "It is another type of beverage."
"What then is this beverage?"
"I'm not quite sure yet," he took a sip of it and then placed it back on the table, "Nope you were right, it is ale."
"Thomas!" Kate hit him over the head, took the pint and poured it down the drain by the bar stools.
"Nooo!" Thomas tried to save some in his hands, but no such luck. Aubrey snickered at Thomas's attempt to save the drink and looked up at the stairs. The man that was tending to Drogo had finally come down from the room. Aubrey patted Faramir's arm and they both ran toward him.
"How is he?" Aubrey asked concerned beyond relief.
"I tried to fix him up the best I could, but he needs more care then I can provide."
"Will he be alright for most of the morning? For a rest for the rest of us?" Faramir asked.
"I believe so, yes. But I would set out as soon as you could later today."
Aubrey nodded her head, "Can we see him?"
"Of course, miss. But no bothering him through out the day."
Aubrey again nodded her head and ran up the stairs and into the room with Faramir nipping at her ankles. They both opened the door and peered inside. Drogo was in a bed on one side of the room fast asleep. Faramir held on to Aubrey's shoulder and looked her in the eyes. He then turned and went down to get the others informed and ready for a rest.
She smiled and went to Drogo's side. The doctor left a chair next to the bed, which Aubrey quickly took. She looked at his face that still had some color, but still had less then what he had on the road. He started to stir in his sleep and reach out for something. He started to whisper into the dark room, barely lit with the early morning sun, "Aubrey . . ."
"Shh," Aubrey took his hand that was reaching out, "It's ok Drogo. I'm here, I'm not leaving. It's going to be alright, I promise." She wished that her voice sounded more confident, but it came out shaky and not at all like what she planned.
He still started to shift below the sheets and started to sweat. She took some water that was in a bowl next to the bed and soaked a torn piece of material with it and put it on his forehead, "Shh, Drogo. I'm here."
"Aubrey, I . . ."
"Shh," she kissed him on the forehead and it seemed to calm him. He stopped shifting under the covers and laid still. The others filed in the door and started to take the beds in the room.
Hours passed once again and Aubrey felt herself slipping into sleep. Faramir got up from his bed and tapped her on the shoulder, "Come on Aubrey you need your sleep."
"No, I want to stay up with him."
"Come on," he picked her up out of the chair and pushed her toward the empty bed next to Kate, "I'll stay up with him for a couple more hours. There are only a few hours till mid afternoon and you need your rest. You need to get us to Rivendell."
"Me?"
"Well, now that Drogo is out, you are the only one who studied with him and knows the way."
"Well, I better start remembering the maps."
"Yes, I bet you should, and rest. Now sleep, I will stay with my friend."
Aubrey nodded her head and fell into sleep when her head hit the pillow. Worrying constantly about Drogo and now trying to find her memories about Rivendell and the path they would need to take took a huge toll on her energy reserves. She couldn't focus on a single subject as many pictures floated in front of her eyes. Mental pictures of her mother, the amulet and Drogo filled her mind. Pictures of maps flew in front of her as she tried to focus on the right one. She struggled with in herself, if she had to sleep; she had to make herself dream of the right map, of the right way.
After what only seemed like a few minutes she felt someone pushing on her shoulder, "Aubrey, you need to wake up. It is nearing sundown."
Aubrey opened her eyes slowly, "What do you mean? I thought you were going to wake me up at mid afternoon."
A blurred version of Thomas stood in front of her, "Drogo needs to get to Rivendell. And the innkeeper, remembering Frodo as Mr. Underhill, gave us five more ponies to help get us to our destination faster."
"We all have ponies?"
"Yeah, let's get going. Drogo is packed and ready to go. Now you need to lead the way."
"All right, let's go," Aubrey got up and found her stuff already on the back of a pony, which Drogo was already on. "I thought you said we all had a pony, Thomas."
"Yeah, well, I miss counted," he said from atop his, "But now you can be sure that he won't fall."
"Uh huh," Aubrey got up on her pony behind Drogo and felt for the reigns. She grabbed a hold of them and started to urge her pony forward. She felt the immense heat coming from Drogo and without looking at him knew that they had to get to Rivendell fast.
"We cannot stop tonight. We have to keep riding hard until we hit Rivendell," Aubrey yelled back at the others. She heard no argue, just the pounding hooves on the forest ground.