"I am very sure that master Elrond will not be so happy to see us again."
Pippin said half jokingly, as his horse gave a whinny. "Just like last
time, we brought Orcs on our trail."
"Better than last time." Merry gave him a sideway glance. "We had black riders last time."
"Good point. But this time, the Orcs were just as bad, if not worse, than the black riders."
"Will you two give it a rest?!" Sam whispered menacingly in their direction, pointing at Frodo, who was lying underneath the shade of an oak tree. "Master Frodo here is trying to sleep!"
"Oh quit worrying over him, you are not his mother." Pippin tossed Sam an apple. Sam glared at him, but dug into the apple all the same. Then, the sound of galloping hooves came.
"Oh, I suppose that means no lunch for us." Merry said grumpily, and collected up the provision, as Gandalf, riding on Shadowfax, came out of the woods, hurrying towards them.
"They are catching up!" Gandalf shouted as soon as he was within the hearing range of the four hobbits. "Get onto your horses! We leave . now!"
"But Gandalf, you must be quiet and give it a rest!" Merry mocked amusedly at him. "Mister Frodo here is trying to sleep!" Then, he gave a cry "Ow!" as a half-eaten apple hit him from the back of his head. "Samwise Gamgee! That really hurts!"
"Well you deserved it." Merry could hear Sam mutter under his breath as he helped Frodo (who was half-asleep) onto the horse. With a sleepy "Thanks." Frodo turned his horse around and followed after Gandalf who was already riding in the direction of Rivendell.
Giving a hard kick to his horse, Merry rode on at top speed after Frodo, Sam and Gandalf, followed closely by Pippin, who was chewing on a pear, and swaying dangerously on the horse because he was now holding onto the rein with only one hand. Orcs loomed out suddenly from the left, forcing the whole company to make a sharp right turn. Pippin turned his horse, almost fell off, learnt his lesson, and gave up on the pear, tossing it with all his strength at one of the Orcs. It hit the closest one square in the face, and some of the juice probably got into its eyes, because with a sharp scream, it reared its horse off course in a haphazard fashion, and fell off almost immediately. Seeing this, Sam regretfully noted that he wish he could have saved his apple for this cause.
Even though the situation was rough, Frodo managed to give a laugh. "You know ." he said. "Traveling is never boring with the three of you together, with." He did not get to finish his sentence. A rapier flew so dangerously close to his eyes that he thought for a moment they had. Closing his eyes and screaming, Frodo lifted his left hand to rub on his eyes, but his left hand is unfortunately hooked onto the rein, so his horse reared up and made a sharp left turn, which blocked an Orc directly in its path. With not enough time to react, the Orc pulled in sharply, too sharply for the horse to take. The horse whinnied loudly and fell sideways, and a cry immediately issued from the Orc's mouth. His leg was crushed under the weight of the horse. "Hey.I'm not blind!" Frodo shouted, amazed, as he opened his eyes, but by this time, several Orcs which had managed very fast horses had caught up with him and encircled him, their swords raised.
"Gandalf!" Merry heard Sam cried, looking back at Frodo. "Master Frodo is trapped! Use your blinding spell again!"
"Close your eyes, Frodo!" Gandalf cried as he raised his staff, and Merry closed his tightly, and even through his closed eyes he could feel an amazing flash of light, while he reeled his horse around and galloped blindly at the direction of the Orcs. When he opened his eyes, the Orcs were all closing in on Frodo. They did not have to see him to kill him, they had him circled.
With amazing speed, Merry reached the circle, picked a spot between two Orcs, and knocked them off the horse. "This way Frodo!"
Frodo led his horse between the two horses with no riders. One of the next Orcs jabbed his swords blindly in this direction, hoping to catch Frodo in the chest. Merry went up and knocked the sword straight off its hand. After all, sight is an amazing advantage, especially when your opponent is blind. Frodo broke through the ring, spurring his horse on as fast as possible, as they hurtled towards the rest of the company. The rest of the Orcs turned in the direction of the sound of their hooves, and randomly chased after them, banging into each other occasionally in their haste. Some of them were going in completely wrong directions.
"Ah I sure am glad that they don't have as accurate hearing as the elves." Pippin sighed as they made it out of eye sight of the Orcs, and they could already hear the running water of the river that surrounds Rivendell. "I heard that the elves are so accurate with their bow and arrow, and their hearing is so acute, that they could aim and claim their targets in the darkness."
"Do you think Legolas can?" Frodo asked unnecessarily.
"He can." Merry confirmed. "He has better hearing than normal elves."
And the river was in sight. The seemingly shallow river had more traps and depth than anyone could see. Gandalf led them to the crossing. The Orcs were not far behind, the sounds of their hooves could be heard dimly under the sounds of the rushing waters.
"What can the elves do to prevent the Orcs from crossing the river?" Merry asked, worried. "Last time lady Arwen was here, but this time. and we heard that the Orcs, the new breed, had obtained their own magic."
"Only few selected Orcs of the new breed were given magic, the rest of them were just normal. Seeing the fact that we were not attacked with magic on our way here, I would say that they do not possess magic." Gandalf shaded his eyes from the sunlight and looked in the direction of the Orcs. "And if my magic does not fail me, some of the elves should be here to help us any moment now."
As he finished his sentence, two parties appeared almost simultaneously. The first one were the party of Orcs on the opposing shore, and almost immediately afterwards, a party of elves behind the company. These elves made no sound in their arrival, to Merry, it was as if they had just melted out of the trees.
"Cross the river if you dare, half-breeds!" One of the elves shouted. With a grunt as a reply, the Orcs gave a guttural shout and rode into the river altogether.
"Not a very good idea." Merry muttered under his breath, as he heard the elves start to chant. As their chanting grew louder, the earth began to shake. The Orcs stopped dead in their tracks in the middle of the river, and looked both sides, confused. Another stupid decision. Merry thought. Then, the water appeared, a tidal wave of white foam and mountain water, rushing towards the Orcs so fast they did not have time to react.
"I would have expected something new out of these elves ." Pippin whispered to Merry as they watched the Orcs being swept away with the flood of water. "Nothing too impressive, obviously, we have seen this before."
"We have, but they have not." Merry whispered back, quite entertained. "Next time, when they probably will not fall for the same trick again, the elves will develop something new."
"Mithrandir." The elves said respectfully to Gandalf, and gave a small bow. Then, to Frodo and Sam, "Ring bearers." and a nod. Turning to Merry and Pippin, they also gave a nod and said "Knight of Gondor, Rider of Rohan."
Merry proudly lifted his head and gave a nod back while Pippin gloated and basked in pride at the acknowledgement.
"Please follow us and come this way." The elves gestured towards the woods. He tossed an involuntary look at Frodo's hand, which was missing a finger. Merry noted the look, and it brought so much memories. A wave of sadness washed over him as he remembered the glorious king whom died in the battle, then he remembered Lady Eowyn, beautiful and proud, and smiled.
"Why, you are certainly expressive today." Pippin pointed out as they walked in deeper into the woods. "First, you had an alert expression, and then it turned to a sorrowful one, then immediately to a smile."
If you could only follow my thoughts. Merry thought, looking at his best companion with a sense of deep attachment. They had spent most of their life together, saw the Ents together, slaughtered Orcs together, and conquered Isengard together. The trust between them two were unbreakable now, as is the friendship. "I am being driven crazy with concern for our.other companions. Imagine, turning up at the Prancing Pony but meeting up with Orcs."
"Well, knight, no need to worry." The elf in the lead replied, and Merry was surprised that he had overheard their conversation. "Last night a messenger arrived from Lothlorien. they are under the care of Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn, blessed be their name."
"I have heard . strange rumors regarding Lothlorien." Gandalf muttered testily, tossing a sideway glance at the leading elf, who slowed down his pace, and returned Gandalf's look with an inspecting look.
"How come you never told us of the rumor?" Pippin asked quickly, looking up indignantly. Frodo was looking at Gandalf with a worried expression and Sam momentarily glared at Pippin before returning his gaze back onto Gandalf. Merry was also very curious but held back his tongue, since Pippin did the asking for him. Then . "And what were the rumors?"
"Tooks are the nosiest hobbits all around Shire." Gandalf said half to himself with a deep chuckle, and then proceeded to the problem. "I have heard . that Lothlorien was . overtaken, by Orcs."
Merry gasped, and so did the rest of the company but Pippin, who did not take it seriously at all, since it was just "rumors". But the head elf froze on the spot, and the elf behind him almost crashed right into him if not for the fact that he also froze at Gandalf's words.
"And what do you know of the situation, Mithrandir?" The elf asked quietly, turning around to face him.
Gandalf's face darkened. "So the rumors are true."
Pippin's smile slid right off his face as it was replaced by an open mouth. "No! It cannot be! Lothlorien is full of your kind, it cannot . it ."
Nobody manage to hide their surprise this time. Gandalf bit his lips and looked at the elf, as if he could be lying. Frodo's head drooped as he looked down at his feet, thinking. Sam's jaws dropped to a most unattractive position, he did not even notice. Merry himself was quite surprised, he certainly did not expect something of this sort to happen. It was as possible as seeing a dragon in the sky, because for all they know, dragons did not exist. Pippin had stopped considering it as "just rumors" now, as he fingered his sword lightly and tipped his head sideways deep in thought.
"What proof do you have of this?" Frodo suddenly spoke up, surprising everyone. "You have said that Strider and company is under the care of Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn, but are they in Lothlorien?"
"No, they are currently positioned in woods next to Lothlorien. The population of Lothlorien makes it hard for them to mobilize too far." The elf replied, looking directly into Frodo's eyes, as if he could see something there. "We have sent our people there as messengers, to check on the situation. They left yesterday at twilight, they should be returning tomorrow morning."
"Is a war coming?" Sam asked. Everyone looked up at his unexpected question, as well as shocked by his sharp observation.
"No. Yes. Who can tell?" One of the elves gave a slight shrug. "As far as we know, there is still at least a period of peaceful times ahead. Darkness roams but it had not yet came to our doorsteps."
"How did the Orcs manage to take over Lothlorien? How did they even get through the border?" Merry asked, suddenly suspicious.
"The Orcs have developed a strong magic of their own." The leading elf replied, sounding tired and worn at the same time. "Afterwards it was found out that they had managed to slaughter all the sentries on the edge of the forest and somehow got past the notice of Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn."
"This is worse than the time of the journey of the ring!" Pippin said to no one in particular. Nobody responded, but Merry was sure that they were all agreeing silently. They walked in silence afterwards, no one spoke a word, but Merry had the impression that they were all thinking of the same thing. Deep in thought, the company trudged through the sun lit forest, which seemed strangely noisy, with the chirping of the birds and the wind rustling the leaves.
"Welcome to Rivendell." The leading elf suddenly said as they came upon the front gate of the elves' dwelling.
Elrond was rushing out of Rivendell to greet them. He looked no older than the last time they saw him, his grace did not change a bit.
"Welcome, my friends." He said as the entire company came into his view. "I see that you have already heard of the grim news. But your arrival is a joyous event. Amidst the grieving let us celebrate your arrival, and then discuss the future plans."
"Still has his way with words, I see." Merry said off the side of his mouth to Pippin, who nodded solemnly, trying to hide his amusement.
Frodo looked around Rivendell, remembering old times. Elrond was going to leave for the West with his people, but the recent situations made them stay in middle earth. After Arwen's marriage, they were on the verge of leaving until Aragorn was chased out of his throne. Then, it became serious. In the light of the emergency, Elrond and his people stayed despite their will to go and watched every situation with an alert eye.
Suddenly, an elf came running out of the woods towards the company. The head elf looked up, apparently alarmed, to say the least.
"Grave news, my friends!" The elf said as he came to a sudden stop in front of the company. For a second, an image of Aragorn captured, of Legolas and Gimli dead, appeared in Merry's head, but he pushed it away, knowing that it could not be that bad.
"The father of Legolas, Thranduil, was murdered!" He said in a rush, as the woods fell quiet around him.
Gasps rose from not only the companions but the elves, also. A low murmur rose from the company.
"Does Legolas know of this news?" Pippin asked above the loud buzzing.
"Not yet, my friend, but we will send messengers to Lothlorien to inform him of this . sad news." The elf replied, with a gesture for them to keep walking deeper into the woods. "I would be surprised if he did not find out by the time our messenger gets there.
"How will poor mister Legolas react to this?" Sam muttered to himself, while Frodo simply looked like he was brooding in his own gloom. Merry looked around at the disconcerted companions and wondered what possibly could have happened that day.
"Who did it?" He inquired in his loudest voice, hoping that the elf who brought the news could catch his question. "And how?"
"Master Thranduil was shot by a poisonous arrow, while riding to Mirkwood." The elf responded immediately, though the next part of his answer caused a considerable pause in the conversation. "It was a human arrow, bearing the sign of the knights of Gondor."
"Knights of Gondor!" Merry could not prevent himself from muttering that out loud, while the rest of the companions fell silent to this news.
"But we as knights have strict orders to stay within Gondoran borders!" Pippin piped up quite loudly. "Me and Merry are perhaps the only two riders of Gondor who were allowed to be wandering outside of Gondor!"
"We have considered that order." The elf said darkly. "But if it was not a Gondoran who shot the arrow but someone else who shot an arrow at master Thranduil bearing the mark of Gondor . It could not have been an elf. We do not shoot a member of our own kind, it is in our nature."
"I would not accuse the dwarves either, they tend to not wander so far from their mountains." Gandalf suddenly contributed to the conversation.
"That leaves ." Sam's sentence left a lot of room for thoughts. Unfortunately, there is only one group left unconsidered.
"Orcs!" Merry suddenly realized and shouted out, then, feeling embarrassed that he had shouted so loudly, he quieted and looked around for the others' reactions.
"Why would Orcs be aiming for master Thranduil?" Sam asked, perplexed. "They have already overtaken Lothlorien, why would they . ?"
"A war." Gandalf replied, half to himself. "Don't you see? Why would they need to start a war, If they could create enough tension for us to fight amongst ourselves."
"Better than last time." Merry gave him a sideway glance. "We had black riders last time."
"Good point. But this time, the Orcs were just as bad, if not worse, than the black riders."
"Will you two give it a rest?!" Sam whispered menacingly in their direction, pointing at Frodo, who was lying underneath the shade of an oak tree. "Master Frodo here is trying to sleep!"
"Oh quit worrying over him, you are not his mother." Pippin tossed Sam an apple. Sam glared at him, but dug into the apple all the same. Then, the sound of galloping hooves came.
"Oh, I suppose that means no lunch for us." Merry said grumpily, and collected up the provision, as Gandalf, riding on Shadowfax, came out of the woods, hurrying towards them.
"They are catching up!" Gandalf shouted as soon as he was within the hearing range of the four hobbits. "Get onto your horses! We leave . now!"
"But Gandalf, you must be quiet and give it a rest!" Merry mocked amusedly at him. "Mister Frodo here is trying to sleep!" Then, he gave a cry "Ow!" as a half-eaten apple hit him from the back of his head. "Samwise Gamgee! That really hurts!"
"Well you deserved it." Merry could hear Sam mutter under his breath as he helped Frodo (who was half-asleep) onto the horse. With a sleepy "Thanks." Frodo turned his horse around and followed after Gandalf who was already riding in the direction of Rivendell.
Giving a hard kick to his horse, Merry rode on at top speed after Frodo, Sam and Gandalf, followed closely by Pippin, who was chewing on a pear, and swaying dangerously on the horse because he was now holding onto the rein with only one hand. Orcs loomed out suddenly from the left, forcing the whole company to make a sharp right turn. Pippin turned his horse, almost fell off, learnt his lesson, and gave up on the pear, tossing it with all his strength at one of the Orcs. It hit the closest one square in the face, and some of the juice probably got into its eyes, because with a sharp scream, it reared its horse off course in a haphazard fashion, and fell off almost immediately. Seeing this, Sam regretfully noted that he wish he could have saved his apple for this cause.
Even though the situation was rough, Frodo managed to give a laugh. "You know ." he said. "Traveling is never boring with the three of you together, with." He did not get to finish his sentence. A rapier flew so dangerously close to his eyes that he thought for a moment they had. Closing his eyes and screaming, Frodo lifted his left hand to rub on his eyes, but his left hand is unfortunately hooked onto the rein, so his horse reared up and made a sharp left turn, which blocked an Orc directly in its path. With not enough time to react, the Orc pulled in sharply, too sharply for the horse to take. The horse whinnied loudly and fell sideways, and a cry immediately issued from the Orc's mouth. His leg was crushed under the weight of the horse. "Hey.I'm not blind!" Frodo shouted, amazed, as he opened his eyes, but by this time, several Orcs which had managed very fast horses had caught up with him and encircled him, their swords raised.
"Gandalf!" Merry heard Sam cried, looking back at Frodo. "Master Frodo is trapped! Use your blinding spell again!"
"Close your eyes, Frodo!" Gandalf cried as he raised his staff, and Merry closed his tightly, and even through his closed eyes he could feel an amazing flash of light, while he reeled his horse around and galloped blindly at the direction of the Orcs. When he opened his eyes, the Orcs were all closing in on Frodo. They did not have to see him to kill him, they had him circled.
With amazing speed, Merry reached the circle, picked a spot between two Orcs, and knocked them off the horse. "This way Frodo!"
Frodo led his horse between the two horses with no riders. One of the next Orcs jabbed his swords blindly in this direction, hoping to catch Frodo in the chest. Merry went up and knocked the sword straight off its hand. After all, sight is an amazing advantage, especially when your opponent is blind. Frodo broke through the ring, spurring his horse on as fast as possible, as they hurtled towards the rest of the company. The rest of the Orcs turned in the direction of the sound of their hooves, and randomly chased after them, banging into each other occasionally in their haste. Some of them were going in completely wrong directions.
"Ah I sure am glad that they don't have as accurate hearing as the elves." Pippin sighed as they made it out of eye sight of the Orcs, and they could already hear the running water of the river that surrounds Rivendell. "I heard that the elves are so accurate with their bow and arrow, and their hearing is so acute, that they could aim and claim their targets in the darkness."
"Do you think Legolas can?" Frodo asked unnecessarily.
"He can." Merry confirmed. "He has better hearing than normal elves."
And the river was in sight. The seemingly shallow river had more traps and depth than anyone could see. Gandalf led them to the crossing. The Orcs were not far behind, the sounds of their hooves could be heard dimly under the sounds of the rushing waters.
"What can the elves do to prevent the Orcs from crossing the river?" Merry asked, worried. "Last time lady Arwen was here, but this time. and we heard that the Orcs, the new breed, had obtained their own magic."
"Only few selected Orcs of the new breed were given magic, the rest of them were just normal. Seeing the fact that we were not attacked with magic on our way here, I would say that they do not possess magic." Gandalf shaded his eyes from the sunlight and looked in the direction of the Orcs. "And if my magic does not fail me, some of the elves should be here to help us any moment now."
As he finished his sentence, two parties appeared almost simultaneously. The first one were the party of Orcs on the opposing shore, and almost immediately afterwards, a party of elves behind the company. These elves made no sound in their arrival, to Merry, it was as if they had just melted out of the trees.
"Cross the river if you dare, half-breeds!" One of the elves shouted. With a grunt as a reply, the Orcs gave a guttural shout and rode into the river altogether.
"Not a very good idea." Merry muttered under his breath, as he heard the elves start to chant. As their chanting grew louder, the earth began to shake. The Orcs stopped dead in their tracks in the middle of the river, and looked both sides, confused. Another stupid decision. Merry thought. Then, the water appeared, a tidal wave of white foam and mountain water, rushing towards the Orcs so fast they did not have time to react.
"I would have expected something new out of these elves ." Pippin whispered to Merry as they watched the Orcs being swept away with the flood of water. "Nothing too impressive, obviously, we have seen this before."
"We have, but they have not." Merry whispered back, quite entertained. "Next time, when they probably will not fall for the same trick again, the elves will develop something new."
"Mithrandir." The elves said respectfully to Gandalf, and gave a small bow. Then, to Frodo and Sam, "Ring bearers." and a nod. Turning to Merry and Pippin, they also gave a nod and said "Knight of Gondor, Rider of Rohan."
Merry proudly lifted his head and gave a nod back while Pippin gloated and basked in pride at the acknowledgement.
"Please follow us and come this way." The elves gestured towards the woods. He tossed an involuntary look at Frodo's hand, which was missing a finger. Merry noted the look, and it brought so much memories. A wave of sadness washed over him as he remembered the glorious king whom died in the battle, then he remembered Lady Eowyn, beautiful and proud, and smiled.
"Why, you are certainly expressive today." Pippin pointed out as they walked in deeper into the woods. "First, you had an alert expression, and then it turned to a sorrowful one, then immediately to a smile."
If you could only follow my thoughts. Merry thought, looking at his best companion with a sense of deep attachment. They had spent most of their life together, saw the Ents together, slaughtered Orcs together, and conquered Isengard together. The trust between them two were unbreakable now, as is the friendship. "I am being driven crazy with concern for our.other companions. Imagine, turning up at the Prancing Pony but meeting up with Orcs."
"Well, knight, no need to worry." The elf in the lead replied, and Merry was surprised that he had overheard their conversation. "Last night a messenger arrived from Lothlorien. they are under the care of Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn, blessed be their name."
"I have heard . strange rumors regarding Lothlorien." Gandalf muttered testily, tossing a sideway glance at the leading elf, who slowed down his pace, and returned Gandalf's look with an inspecting look.
"How come you never told us of the rumor?" Pippin asked quickly, looking up indignantly. Frodo was looking at Gandalf with a worried expression and Sam momentarily glared at Pippin before returning his gaze back onto Gandalf. Merry was also very curious but held back his tongue, since Pippin did the asking for him. Then . "And what were the rumors?"
"Tooks are the nosiest hobbits all around Shire." Gandalf said half to himself with a deep chuckle, and then proceeded to the problem. "I have heard . that Lothlorien was . overtaken, by Orcs."
Merry gasped, and so did the rest of the company but Pippin, who did not take it seriously at all, since it was just "rumors". But the head elf froze on the spot, and the elf behind him almost crashed right into him if not for the fact that he also froze at Gandalf's words.
"And what do you know of the situation, Mithrandir?" The elf asked quietly, turning around to face him.
Gandalf's face darkened. "So the rumors are true."
Pippin's smile slid right off his face as it was replaced by an open mouth. "No! It cannot be! Lothlorien is full of your kind, it cannot . it ."
Nobody manage to hide their surprise this time. Gandalf bit his lips and looked at the elf, as if he could be lying. Frodo's head drooped as he looked down at his feet, thinking. Sam's jaws dropped to a most unattractive position, he did not even notice. Merry himself was quite surprised, he certainly did not expect something of this sort to happen. It was as possible as seeing a dragon in the sky, because for all they know, dragons did not exist. Pippin had stopped considering it as "just rumors" now, as he fingered his sword lightly and tipped his head sideways deep in thought.
"What proof do you have of this?" Frodo suddenly spoke up, surprising everyone. "You have said that Strider and company is under the care of Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn, but are they in Lothlorien?"
"No, they are currently positioned in woods next to Lothlorien. The population of Lothlorien makes it hard for them to mobilize too far." The elf replied, looking directly into Frodo's eyes, as if he could see something there. "We have sent our people there as messengers, to check on the situation. They left yesterday at twilight, they should be returning tomorrow morning."
"Is a war coming?" Sam asked. Everyone looked up at his unexpected question, as well as shocked by his sharp observation.
"No. Yes. Who can tell?" One of the elves gave a slight shrug. "As far as we know, there is still at least a period of peaceful times ahead. Darkness roams but it had not yet came to our doorsteps."
"How did the Orcs manage to take over Lothlorien? How did they even get through the border?" Merry asked, suddenly suspicious.
"The Orcs have developed a strong magic of their own." The leading elf replied, sounding tired and worn at the same time. "Afterwards it was found out that they had managed to slaughter all the sentries on the edge of the forest and somehow got past the notice of Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn."
"This is worse than the time of the journey of the ring!" Pippin said to no one in particular. Nobody responded, but Merry was sure that they were all agreeing silently. They walked in silence afterwards, no one spoke a word, but Merry had the impression that they were all thinking of the same thing. Deep in thought, the company trudged through the sun lit forest, which seemed strangely noisy, with the chirping of the birds and the wind rustling the leaves.
"Welcome to Rivendell." The leading elf suddenly said as they came upon the front gate of the elves' dwelling.
Elrond was rushing out of Rivendell to greet them. He looked no older than the last time they saw him, his grace did not change a bit.
"Welcome, my friends." He said as the entire company came into his view. "I see that you have already heard of the grim news. But your arrival is a joyous event. Amidst the grieving let us celebrate your arrival, and then discuss the future plans."
"Still has his way with words, I see." Merry said off the side of his mouth to Pippin, who nodded solemnly, trying to hide his amusement.
Frodo looked around Rivendell, remembering old times. Elrond was going to leave for the West with his people, but the recent situations made them stay in middle earth. After Arwen's marriage, they were on the verge of leaving until Aragorn was chased out of his throne. Then, it became serious. In the light of the emergency, Elrond and his people stayed despite their will to go and watched every situation with an alert eye.
Suddenly, an elf came running out of the woods towards the company. The head elf looked up, apparently alarmed, to say the least.
"Grave news, my friends!" The elf said as he came to a sudden stop in front of the company. For a second, an image of Aragorn captured, of Legolas and Gimli dead, appeared in Merry's head, but he pushed it away, knowing that it could not be that bad.
"The father of Legolas, Thranduil, was murdered!" He said in a rush, as the woods fell quiet around him.
Gasps rose from not only the companions but the elves, also. A low murmur rose from the company.
"Does Legolas know of this news?" Pippin asked above the loud buzzing.
"Not yet, my friend, but we will send messengers to Lothlorien to inform him of this . sad news." The elf replied, with a gesture for them to keep walking deeper into the woods. "I would be surprised if he did not find out by the time our messenger gets there.
"How will poor mister Legolas react to this?" Sam muttered to himself, while Frodo simply looked like he was brooding in his own gloom. Merry looked around at the disconcerted companions and wondered what possibly could have happened that day.
"Who did it?" He inquired in his loudest voice, hoping that the elf who brought the news could catch his question. "And how?"
"Master Thranduil was shot by a poisonous arrow, while riding to Mirkwood." The elf responded immediately, though the next part of his answer caused a considerable pause in the conversation. "It was a human arrow, bearing the sign of the knights of Gondor."
"Knights of Gondor!" Merry could not prevent himself from muttering that out loud, while the rest of the companions fell silent to this news.
"But we as knights have strict orders to stay within Gondoran borders!" Pippin piped up quite loudly. "Me and Merry are perhaps the only two riders of Gondor who were allowed to be wandering outside of Gondor!"
"We have considered that order." The elf said darkly. "But if it was not a Gondoran who shot the arrow but someone else who shot an arrow at master Thranduil bearing the mark of Gondor . It could not have been an elf. We do not shoot a member of our own kind, it is in our nature."
"I would not accuse the dwarves either, they tend to not wander so far from their mountains." Gandalf suddenly contributed to the conversation.
"That leaves ." Sam's sentence left a lot of room for thoughts. Unfortunately, there is only one group left unconsidered.
"Orcs!" Merry suddenly realized and shouted out, then, feeling embarrassed that he had shouted so loudly, he quieted and looked around for the others' reactions.
"Why would Orcs be aiming for master Thranduil?" Sam asked, perplexed. "They have already overtaken Lothlorien, why would they . ?"
"A war." Gandalf replied, half to himself. "Don't you see? Why would they need to start a war, If they could create enough tension for us to fight amongst ourselves."