Some She's Shorter Than
Disclaimer: I most certainly do not own LOTR. In fact, I am probably slandering Tolkien's work by writing this. But I just love it so much, please forgive me. Also, I wrote it so I could just kind of add Laura in as one of the characters and not make her the hero of middle-earth, because that would totally ruin the plot. So I tried to avoid making her stand out as much as possible.
A/N: This is a sequel to my previous fanfic, SOME SHE'S TALLER THAN. I know that title isn't that good, but it's the first thing that popped into my head and it's nice and easy to remember that the two belong together.
Default Chapter
"The Uruks headed Northeast! They're taking the Hobbits to Isengard!" Legolas informed Laura and Aragorn.
Isengard? That was where that wizard Saruman lived. She'd heard Gandalf tell her this, though she'd never seen Saruman. He was Sauron's puppet since he couldn't take a human form. He was responsible for those Uruk Hai inhabiting Middle-earth and trying to take over. And apparently he knew that a Hobbit possessed the Ring. What was going to happen to Merry and Pippin?
They had been tracking the two for three days now. Not long ago, Aragorn had come across a pin that one of them had cleverly thought to drop behind so they knew they were on the right trail. Laura was very grateful that she'd had all that Jedi training, or else the cross country practice would be mighty impossible. They were forced to stop at night for the uncertainty that they might lose the trail if they tried to continue on in the dark. So each day, they became even farther behind.
And Aragorn was a beast at tracking already. All he had to do was put his ear to the ground and he could hear where the Uruk Hai were headed. And Legolas could see until forever and a day ahead of them. She felt like she had nothing on these two, yet she didn't seem to hinder them at all. In fact, they were more than content to have her along since she could easily keep up with them.
On the third day of their tracking, they encountered what Aragorn called the Riders of Rohan, or the Rohirrim. The three had finally stopped, and she was sitting on the ground, trying to find some energy to move on in the blazing heat that seemed to be centered on them. Aragorn stood up quickly, announcing that they were coming. Legolas pulled Laura to her feet so that they could hide behind a set of rocks.
She watched tiredly as thousands of men on horses rode by them. She leaned so that most of her weight was on a rock, to avoid passing out. The horses were deafening as so many rode by, and she closed her eyes and clenched her teeth to ease the ringing in her ears. When they were past, Aragorn bravely stepped out and shouted "Riders of Rohan, what news of the Mark!"
She and Legolas followed him, and were surrounded by all of them in a few more seconds. Spears pointed at them from all directions. Legolas put his hand on Laura's shoulder as the horsemen closed in. Some sort of leader came forward. It looked like he had a horse's tail coming out of his helmet.
"What business do an Elf, a Man and a Dwarf have in Rohan?" he demanded.
"Uhm, excuse me? I'm not a Dwarf for your information, horseboy," she spat, being already irritated as it was. Aragorn put his arm between them.
"I am Aragorn son of Arathorn. This is Laura of the Jedi and Legolas of the woodland realm. We are tracking a group of Uruk Hai that headed across the plains."
He explained their mission and the leader took his helmet off. He had long, orange-brown hair, and was very cute. He introduced himself as Eomer, son of Eomund. He and his men had been banished from Rohan by the king, who was taken over by Saruman. Again with that damned wizard! What was his deal?
Aragorn mentioned to Eomer that they were tracking two Hobbits, and he said something that caught her attention. They had slaughtered some Uruks last night.
"Did you see two Hobbits?" she asked anxiously.
He looked down for a moment. "We…left none alive," he said. She held her breath. Legolas muttered something in Elvish and looked just as sick as she felt. Dead? Merry and Pippin? They never even had a chance. There was no way they were dead, she would know. Wouldn't she? Was she that close to them yet?
Eomer whistled and three horses appeared. Her mood changed dramatically as she saw that one of the three was Epona. "Epona!" she cried as she took the reins and the horse nuzzled her. "Oh Epona, how are you?" she asked happily as the two parties departed with a warning that hope was forsaken in the lands.
They rode to a smoking pile of Orcs. She was very disgusted by the Uruk head that was jammed onto the end of a stake, but quickly recovered and started digging through the bodies. It was sickening, but she wanted to reassure herself that she would not find Hobbit corpses in this pile. Her hopes were crushed when she found a small knife in the pile.
"Oh no, it's one of the blades that Lady Galadriel gave each of them," she said sadly. She sat back and held the little sheath in her hands.
Aragorn kicked a helmet, screaming in frustration. He fell to his knees as Legolas again said a prayer in Elvish with his hand over his heart. Laura felt her heart sink. Pippin? And Merry? They didn't know what they were getting themselves into, and were mercilessly killed by an army that couldn't have known. She put a strand of fallen hair behind her ears and looked up. What was that forest that lurked ahead of them? It was dense and twisted, and looked like no sunlight had ever shown in it.
Aragorn felt the ground beside him and talked gently, like he was reminiscing. "A Hobbit lay here, and another next to him." He went on to describe that they'd been bound, and got a little excited when he found their bindings left behind. He described their footprints and where they were running to and everything.
"That is way cool. You should get paid for doing this," she said as he led them to the edge of that creepy-looking forest. "Are they in there?" she asked.
Legolas nodded. "That is Fangorn Forest. It is very old, and very dangerous. Stay close to me." She nodded quickly. She just wanted to see what was in there that was so dangerous. Who knew a place without electricity and running water could be so full of danger and adventure?
They slowly made their way into the forest with Aragorn painstakingly surveying the area around them. He knelt on the ground where it looked like a big footprint was. "These tracks are strange," he said.
