Chapter Six

Over the next week, Aragorn son of Arathorn, heir to the throne, was brought time after time to the chief of the orcs. It had taken almost three days for the chief to believe Aragorn's cries of his not knowing why the elves were hated so much by the orcs. The next four days passed by slowly. He served as a slave, delivering vile smelling meats and liquids that smelt as though they had been ladled out of the rivers flowing out of Minas Morgul. He spent the rest of the day that he was not in the small chamber which held all this tasty food, as they had called it when Aragorn had made a face, or carrying in fresher meats and waters into the chamber, huddled on the ground of his cell.

The same small orc that had pulled his hair and taken him to the chief's chambers was the same that delivered his food twice a day, woke him, and followed him around while he was out of his cell. The food that Aragorn was given were the leftovers of the large meals that the chief ate. The food he ate was meat he had managed to pocket, for he was extremely gifted in the art of stealth, while carrying the fresh meats to the toxic chamber. However, the meats were raw and they made his stomach churn. He had no water either, and his parched tongue was beginning to swell.

The seventh day of his capture, Aragorn was again rudely awoken by the same rough pulling at his hair by the same orc.

"Wha-" Aragorn stifled a yawn, "what time is it?"

"Three in the morning." The orc replied, still tugging at the human's hair.

"Three in the morning?" Aragorn stood up slowly "may I ask for the reason of my being woken up in the dead of night?"

"We're at war!" the orc said, still tugging at the hair. "The chief whishes for you to participate in it."

Aragorn let his legs carry his body out of the cell. The orc dragged him through the already too familiar paths to the chief's chambers. Upon arrival, Aragorn let himself drop to the ground and bowed his head as he was forced to do before the presence of the chief. Through the slight shutting of his eyes as he struggled to stifle yet another yawn, he saw the chief hurriedly walking over to him and he felt himself being pushed back into a standing position. He blinked and looked down to see blood stained chain mail being slipped over his head. It was a little large on his frail torso and it seemed to drag his shoulders down away from his head. He shoved away the orcs who had gathered around him and snatched the gauntlets and the breast plate out of a pair of hands. He quickly snapped on the orc armor shooting death glares at any orc that dared to venture forth from the ring that had formed around him. The chief himself pressed a sword into his right hand, which he was opening and closing and refastening the gauntlets. Aragorn looked down at the sword that he had been given and ran a finger along the edge.

Nothing. Not even the slightest scratch appeared on his calloused thumb.

"Pray tell me the purpose of your giving me a blunt, flat piece of steal? What use is there in sending me out without a weapon worthy of fighting with?" Aragorn said before shoving his way through the ring of orcs, ignoring the narrowing eyes of the chief orc.

"Where do you think you are going, Snaga?" growled the chief.

"To whet this piece of junk you have given me." Aragorn called back over his shoulder. Soon, the sounds of metal scraping metal drifted through the halls and the rest of the orcs that were in the chamber filed out of the room.

----

After a few minutes, Aragorn found himself shuffling along the bridge again clad in the heavy orc armor. Upon his head sat a heavy steel helmet and in his hand was a now very sharp sword. He reluctantly walked up the stairs and out through the Dimrill Gate and into the deep blue early morning. Aragorn stood a few yards from the gate only a few orcs away from the chief. He watched his 'enemies' advance towards them.

He noticed that they used bow and arrow as well as blades. 'Elves?' Aragorn thought, 'what on earth are they doing here? And at this time of day?' The chief bellowed out what would be words of encouragement, had they not been insults and a series of swear words in the Black Speech. Aragorn continued to stare at the elves, who had a faint glow that surrounded them. Two out of the small group of elves caught Aragorn's eye, and he took of his helmet to get a better look at them. They seemed vaguely familiar but Aragorn could not place them. 'It must be this lack of food and water.' He said to himself convincingly. He watched the two elves a bit longer and soaked in the dark brown hair that was tied tightly in braids that were tied in the same fashion that his father tied his hair in. Their attire was a beautiful plum color. 'Just like the robes of Imladris.'

Imladris. Elrond. It suddenly dawned on him who these two elves were.

"Elladan! Elrohir!" Aragorn cried out, shouting as loud as he could over the shrieks and the dull thudding of orcs meeting the ground. The two elves ceased their movements and turned their heads in the direction of the gate, both of them sporting looks of utter confusion.

"What was that?" growled the chief orc, who was taking long strides towards the human.

"Just a... battle cry" Aragorn lied nervously, hoping that Elladan and Elrohir would come to his rescue as they had been doing for as long as he could remember.

"A battle cry?" said the orc, "those were names you shouted!"

"My forefathers' names." He said, urging his slow mind to wake up.

"I see." the chief said, "Well, you have certainly drawn their attention to you. I hope you're pleased with yourself." it added, grinning nastily. Indeed, Elladan and Elrohir were carving a path through the tide of orcs that had rushed at them. Aragorn dared not help them for the chief was still standing but a few feet away and could easily whip off his head if he rebelled against him, so he stood there as if he had been turned to stone.

After what seemed to be an age, Elladan finally reached him, Elrohir right behind him, his blade still at work. Elladan extended a hand and raised the human onto his steed.

"Get him!" the chief yelled, pointing an ugly finger in their direction. "Don't let him escape!"

"You have not anything better to do with me anyway," Aragorn called back as his brother galloped back through the path they had made earlier "you were planning to liberate yourself of my presence by giving me a weapon that was useless."

"When will the day come that we will no longer have to save you from some sort of danger, Estel?" asked the elder of the twins jokingly. They had galloped away from the Dimrill gate, leaving the other elves that had come with them to finish off.

"You had best get used to it," answered their younger brother, "it's a long way away."

"You make a fine orc," said Elrohir, eyeing Aragorn's armor, "a bit tall, however." Elladan laughed, but immediately closed his mouth as soon as he saw the glare Aragorn was giving him. There was a silence.

"What brought you to the gate of Moria?" Aragorn slipped into Elvish, breaking the silence.

"We were in Lothlórien. There were sightings of orcs along the border, so we rode with the Galadhrim."

"Lothlórien? What were you doing there?" Aragorn asked through a yawn.

"We were visiting our grandmother for a few days. Arwen was going back so we thought we might as well go with her." Elrohir replied with a shrug. Elrohir smiled knowingly as a twinkle came to Aragorn's eye as the human heard the name of his sister. All was quiet again as the two Eldar and the Edain rode on towards the obscure shape of the fringe of the forest.

"You know, Estel," said Elladan quietly, turning his head to face his human brother with a wicked grin on his face, "father is also in Lothlórien. He will not be pleased with this latest episode of your never ending troubles."

The End


So the story ends. This last chapters was fairly stupid, I know, but I had to end it sometime, didn't I?

grumpy: I love your reviews, grumpy :) well, he's gotten out of there, who knows what Elrond will do to him though...
purple-blue-flames: I'm sorry about all the delays, but I give you a reviewer's note with good news (:. Even though I haven't finished writing it up yet, I have begun posting Corruption. There's a URL below
dimathiel: lol, a revolt. That's a good one... I never actually thought about that. you're welcome about the layout, but get the scrollbars right. They seem to think hovering over a textarea is the same s hovering over a scrollbar. Hrmm…o.O
WickedFantasies: doo-dee-doo to you too :D. Spad was reading what was on your arm! Or is he such a anti-girl-power-ass who was raising his eyebrow at your 'abnormal' strength? :dances away: or are you suggesting you wrote such profanity on your arm yourself?

Thank you to all of my reviewers who have encouraged me to continue posting this story:
hannah, dimathiel, anmras, cherz, K-rock, grumpy, anonymus, purple-blue-flames, marsman, ben, soledad, down side up (I stole your idea of sides. Heh heh), entwater, bumper, robert.

This is my newest story: Corruption

Story ID: 1545095