Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. Any. Of. Tolkien's. Characters. *Sniff*
A/N: Well hello there! Ooo how I love you all for your reviews. Except. . . I'm confused. I got 10 reviews on Chapter 17, and then this last chapter I didn't even get half that much. Umm. . . What happened?! Eeh, no biggie. I liked the ones I got. You people seem to have appreciated the chapter that Caitlin got all to herself. Yeah, she's definitely grown a lot since the beginning of this tale; no more snotty, bratty, immature little girl wanting to go home so badly. She's matured. And now she's crazy for the elf prince. What a basket case she is!
And Elli's back! *throws confetti* You finally get to find out what happened to her! Woot! Gosh though, I had such a hard time writing this chapter! I don't know how to be cruel! Ugh.well, I won't keep you waiting. Read on lovelies!
ELLI'S POV
"And stay there, you lousy-no-good-arm-biting-little-rodent. I'ma sick of yer shenanigans! That rag'll keep yer trap shut for the night, so's that ya shan't bite any more of us 'ere arms! Now, stay put ya half-pint!"
I had tried yelling some curses back at him, but it came out muffled by the long piece of white cloth that had been roped into my mouth. Merry and Pippin were being held over by the warm fire on this chilly night. I, on the other hand, had bitten the grunting hog that carried me. He in turn dropped me, grabbed his aching shoulder, and gave me a good hard kick in the gut. Later he then decided that it was safer to close my mouth with a rag and carry me by the coils of rope that once again, had been wrapped around my stomach and arms.
Of course, it also had to be one of the orcs who had previously caught me, so his treatment towards me was part resentment of the fact that I was familiar with escape. He loathed me for it. And so he was extra brutal and careful of me. Lovely, really.
Merry had a huge bleeding scrape atop his head. Pippin had a few bruises, but they were getting royal treatment compared to me. I didn't hate them; I couldn't anyway. They seemed to pity me a bit. I could tell by the sneers they gave the uruks, and the way they twitched every time one of them touched me in painful ways. What wonderful hobbit lads. They would be even more wonderful if they could figure out how to get us out of this mess.
It was the second night of our kidnapping. I had been treated horribly since the minute these creeps grabbed us from Amon Hen and ran like bats out of hell. I'd been poked, prodded, kicked, spit at, thrown around, pinched, tickled, and even licked. They wanted to find out if I was eatable. I'd had enough of this treatment, but there really was nothing I could do about it. So I just sat in the dark all alone with only the smelly rag over my mouth to keep me company.
"Don't touch them halflings! They are not for eatin'! They are not to be spoiled with!" growled one of the uruks to another tinier one.
He only squeaked and then backed away. I couldn't tell what they were eating, but it looked horrid and they obviously wanted something better to eat. I prayed they wouldn't lay any more tongues on me. I had no desire to be gobbled up for some uruk-hai's dinner.
I felt my head start to lull to the side, an obvious sign of sleep deprivation. I couldn't fall asleep just yet though. I wanted food, it didn't matter what. And if I fell asleep, they wouldn't put any food in front of me. So I kept my eyes open, pinching the side of my thighs so as to keep my eyelids from drooping. It worked for a while, but I soon forgot. And I suffered a night without any meals.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
My stomach woke me up this time. Yesterday morning it had been a hard yank on my hair.
I felt empty and faint from lack of food, but there was nothing I could do about it now. I could suffice to eating grass, but I doubt it tasted good. I didn't notice anything remotely tasty looking around me, and so I just scanned the scenery around me instead.
Merry and Pippin were still dozing, and half dozen of the uruks were already milling around and awake. There had to be about thirty or forty of these jerks. Some of them were just huge, these big muscular beasts with crappy armor and knotty hair. Some of them were ordinary orcs out of Mordor, skinny things compared with the bulk of the creatures Saruman created.
I looked away from the few uruk-hai that happened to be awake and spanned the never-ending landscape. All I saw was rolling hills and boulders. I figured we were in northern Rohan. Maybe we'd find Éomer dude and his group of horsy men. I noticed the Mountains to our right, and guessed that we were just south of the Misty Mountains. This conclusion didn't help me much, since I hadn't seen a map of middle-earth in a long time. But I assumed we were near enough to Fangorn.
Would the three of us even escape into Fangorn and be taken in my Treebeard? Would we find Gandalf in Fangorn? Would Gandalf even come back? He had to! This story would end in disaster if Gandalf didn't come back! Sighing out loud, I could only hope for the best.
"Hey! You! Come 'ere and quit fiddlin' wit those them ashes!"
I whirled around to see Merry and Pippin prodding the remainder of last nights fire with a stick they'd found. Only their hands were tied in rope, bound in front of them. I looked down at the rope coils that wrapped around my middle. What luck those lads had.
One of the uruks went over and picked up Merry and Pippin, and placed them closer to the rest of the group. It seemed they had forgotten about me for the moment. Most of the uruks were awake now with the rising of the sun. I lay on my back and stared at the cloud shapes, watching them move slowly across my view. My thoughts meandered over to what had happened to us. Not that I hadn't endlessly thought about all this; we'd had a long hike by now, and I wasn't permitted to say anything. I still had the damn dishrag in my mouth.
Was Boromir alive? Was Caitlin ok? Was the story going to be horribly altered? I didn't know anymore! I should have listened to Elrond back in Rivendell, when he warned me about this. He'd mentioned all sorts of danger and mishaps and alterations, and I merely waved my hand in his face and said we'd be fine. I should have just let the Fellowship go on their merry way without us girls and not made any changes. But then Boromir would have ended up dead. And Frodo would be in pain when he returned. Not like I could change that part anymore; he was heading the other direction into Mordor. Hopefully Gollum didn't give him much trouble in my new and altered version. What was I saying? It's like I had just magically become Tolkien!
"Up outta yer daydreams halfling!" someone shouted as he grabbed the ropes and hauled me off the ground. I didn't even have a moment to get my bearings straight, because in the next instant I was flying through the air, being thrown to another uruk to have carry me for the day.
Once I was caught, we headed west at full speed in the morning light. Of course, my luck sucked, and after being thrown over the shoulders of the uruk-hai who carried me, I ended up hitting my head on his battle helmet and conked myself out for a few hours.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Stay!" the brute screamed at me. That was what I heard when I woke up. It was close to evening, and the sun was somewhat low in the west before us. I was thrown off the uruks shoulders and onto the ground, quiet harshly I might add. I'd get worse treatment later, no doubt.
I really didn't know where we were now. And it was getting dark now, so I couldn't try to figure it out anyway. It was coming onto our third night, and as I looked around, I noticed we were on the skirts of a forest.
Wait. . . A forest?
Could it be? Was that. . . Fangorn?! Oh god I hoped so! Now, if only I could get free!
Merry and Pippin were once again close to the fire that was in the midst of being started. I could see the outlines of their faces in the small lick of yellow flame. They were frightened and probably worried about themselves and me. I wanted to crawl over to them, so reassure them that things would turn out ok again. I didn't have an opportunity though.
"So," said one of the big burly uruks coming over to me. "We have 'ere a small halfling, aye? And what kinda trouble have ye been giving us? Biting and stomping and hitting. You grimy rascal, I'd like to ring your filthy neck!" And with that he lifted my tiny frame off the ground by grabbing me around the neck. I saw his face, and realized with some glee that it was the one I had escaped from on my first kidnapping. This guy though, he didn't look so gleeful about that scratch.
I couldn't speak. He was attempting to choke me. I could see the firelight dancing in his beady black eyes, and they glowed with inner rage. His hand was bigger than my whole head. I normally would have marveled at somebody of this size, but not when they were angry and trying to kill me.
"Put that down!" another uruk screamed. "They are not to be spoiled, eaten, or harmed! That is the job of the white hand!"
He loosened his grip. I could still feel his knuckles on my trachea though. But I was at least able to breath now.
But the brute wouldn't hear of letting me off that easily. "This 'ere descended of rats was the one who escaped before from us! This 'ere halflin' deserves every bit o' pain we be givin' her!"
The uruk that was defending me suddenly yanked at my hair. "Put this hobbit down! No harm will be done to these rascals by our 'ere hands! That's the job of the White Wizard, and we won't be goin' and disobeying orders!"
The first one left go of my neck. The second one held onto my hair a second longer and then threw my over to sit with Merry and Pippin. And I do mean he literally threw me over to them by my hair. I landed at their feet with a hard thud on my right shoulder, and they quickly grabbed me under the arms and hoisted my closer to them.
"This nonsense of pickin' on this little halflin' lass will stop now!" The one who grabbed my hair yelled to the others. Pointing a black, gnarly finger at me. "Keep these three together, ya hear me! No more torture will be done by us," he growled throatily, giving an evil grin the three of us. I feared for my life, and wedged myself further between Merry and Pippin. The three of us were really scared now.
There was no reason to be that frightened though, because a second later a long spear came hurling across the sky and landed in the back of the uruk who wanted me dead for the scratch I'd given him. He fell face first into the damp earth with a small grunt and remained dead and motionless.
I whirled my head around at the heavy thundering of horse hooves, feeling the ground beneath me start to quiver and noticing that the sky was becoming alive with the sight of arrows. Shouts rang out, and some of them I didn't understand. The uruks were running mad, clueless as to what was going on around the. They appeared bewildered, frightened themselves, and I wanted to laugh at them. But Merry and Pippin had suddenly found a discarded knife upon the ground and had cut our bounds loose. They both jumped up and then each of them grabbed one of my hands and lifted me up off the ground.
An arrow went whizzing past my ear and landed in the neck of one of the burly uruks. Black blood gushed forth from the lethal wound, and having no time to scream his pain, he fell lifeless to the ground. Another arrow landed near my feet in the earth, and it was then that Merry and Pippin turned and let me away.
The sight around me shocked me. I tried to figure out if this was the Rohirrim, with Éomer and his trusty horsemen coming to save the day. If that was so, then us three hobbits had to hightail it into the woods of Fangorn.
Which way was the forest? I though I saw it off to our left, but the hobbit lads were leading me the other way. I yanked on Merry's arm, and pointed at the trees I saw.
"We have to escape into Fangorn Forest!" I screamed. "It's what is supposed to happen, and I don't intend to change this part!"
Merry looked at Pippin, and then they relented, turning to the way I had pointed, and dodging arrows the aimed to kill the uruks around us. They were falling dead all around us, their black blood staining the earth. Some of them were slaughtered with swords upon their necks, and their giant heads lolled about upon the grass. Merry kicked one out of our way, and continued running towards the forest, hoping to escape the massacre upon its borders.
I ducked beneath a horses belly and followed close behind Merry and Pippin. More than half the uruks were dead by now, the large group of horsemen having done their job right. The smell of their death filled the night air, their gushy black blood spilled everywhere, their tongues hanging from their newly fresh corpses. I wanted to puke, my stomach churning and my gut twisted in disgust. But I trudged on behind the hobbit lads. I forced my stomach to become an iron casing. I didn't want to look at the gory scene around me.
Arrows continued there descend into the uruks muscled bodies, flying here and there through the night sky. I could see the outline of trees ahead of us. We kept running, unable to stop, not wanting to be added to the list of carcasses that littered the once green ground.
I suddenly heard a shriek of anguish right behind me, and turned to find Pippin on his knees with an arrow sticking out of his arm near his elbow. Blood flowed a little from the wound, his face was twisted in pain, and his hand clutched at his wounded arm. Merry came up next to me, and we both fell to the ground beside Pippin. Pippin was crying a little from the pain, and trying to hide it. A single tear shined on his dirt stained cheek, but I hadn't the time to wipe it away. As quickly as we could, we hoisted Pippin off the ground and placed one of his arms across our shoulders. I was on his left side, and held onto his arm that had the arrow poking out of it. I didn't have the chance to attend to it now, so I just followed Merry's lead and led him away towards the borders Fangorn.
CAITLIN'S POV
I'd seen smoke. Legolas saw it too. And Aragorn trusted the elven vision so we ran to where we saw the smoke.
It wasn't a long run, because the smoke wasn't as far as I thought it was. It was just up and over many hills. Legolas and I were ahead of the others, scouting out anything our elven intelligence could make out. He was of course, uber special and could decipher a lot more than I could. I was merely a beginner.
It was fairly early in the morning when we saw the pile of.. . well, the pile that was burning. I wasn't quite sure what it was. I stared a moment, silently standing beside Legolas, when he whirled his head around and looked south. I glanced at him in alarm, but then I heard what made him jump. Horse hooves. Were they the hooves of friend or enemy? They were just over the hill; I could see the dirt lightly billowing into the sky from where they ran.
Aragorn, Boromir and Gimli had caught up with us by now. They too looked south, and as we stared, we saw a whole parade of horsemen come barreling over the horizon. They wore armor, and some of them carried spears. Their helmets glowed in the morning sun, some gold glinting off their shields.
I saw that Aragorn had placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. It made me worried then, because I had been hoping these horse dudes were just Éomer and his group of horsemen. Maybe Aragorn was just being cautious.
They still rode closer, slowing the horses to a trot when they came within a good distance of us. I could make out the leader, a strong, blonde haired young guy, kinda cute too. But who knew, maybe he was crazy in this version, and he'd try to kill the five of us.
God, I hope not.
They were surrounding us now. I had my back to Legolas. Aragorn and the others had done the same. We weren't afraid of them, we just weren't sure if they would harm us or not. Only if we looked threatening would they aim to kill. Well, weren't we're too threatening. . . Only strange looking. It's not every day you see two elves, two men, and a fat dwarf roaming the free lands of Middle-earth!
"What business do you five have in the Riddermark? Speak quickly strangers!" I glanced at the speaker to see that it was indeed Éomer. Who else would have spoken with such dignity?
"We track a band of uruk-hai that have taken three of our friends captive. Two hobbit lads and a hobbit lass there were. We saw smoke, and came to see for ourselves where it came from. We mean no harm to Rohan or it's people." I turned to look at Aragorn now, wondering if that was indeed the kingliness coming out of him. I'd never heard him speak like that before!
"We slaughtered the uruks last night, and burned the bodies," Éomer remarked. "That was the smoke you saw. But before I tell you that we saw no others with them, may I ask what a hobbit is?"
"A small creature, only a child to your eyes. Short, curly hair; they are just little people."
At this Éomer bowed his head in even more grief. "No. . . I do not remember seeing such folk as that. If they did happen to have been counted among the dead, they are burned now. I am sorry."
"They cannot be dead!" I screamed, taking a step forward towards Éomer. He held onto his spear a little tighter, pointing it at me as if I were going to attack. "Elli knew this story, she would figure a way out! She would save herself and Merry and Pippin. I do not believe they are dead and burned to nothing!"
"Caitlin," spoke Legolas, coming up behind me and placing a hand on my shoulder. "No, you would know their fate better than we. Where were they originally supposed to go?"
I turned around, and it was then that I saw the woods. A questioning look came upon my face. Legolas noticed it, but said nothing. I stared ahead into the trees a moment, trying to figure out for myself if what I was looking at was Fangorn forest.
"Is that Fangorn?" I asked the elf prince, not taking my eyes off the trees.
He nodded. "Yes, it is."
"Then they are in there," I said.
(A/N: Oufh! Another wonderful chapter done! Review and tell me what you think! Much love to you all!)
A/N: Well hello there! Ooo how I love you all for your reviews. Except. . . I'm confused. I got 10 reviews on Chapter 17, and then this last chapter I didn't even get half that much. Umm. . . What happened?! Eeh, no biggie. I liked the ones I got. You people seem to have appreciated the chapter that Caitlin got all to herself. Yeah, she's definitely grown a lot since the beginning of this tale; no more snotty, bratty, immature little girl wanting to go home so badly. She's matured. And now she's crazy for the elf prince. What a basket case she is!
And Elli's back! *throws confetti* You finally get to find out what happened to her! Woot! Gosh though, I had such a hard time writing this chapter! I don't know how to be cruel! Ugh.well, I won't keep you waiting. Read on lovelies!
ELLI'S POV
"And stay there, you lousy-no-good-arm-biting-little-rodent. I'ma sick of yer shenanigans! That rag'll keep yer trap shut for the night, so's that ya shan't bite any more of us 'ere arms! Now, stay put ya half-pint!"
I had tried yelling some curses back at him, but it came out muffled by the long piece of white cloth that had been roped into my mouth. Merry and Pippin were being held over by the warm fire on this chilly night. I, on the other hand, had bitten the grunting hog that carried me. He in turn dropped me, grabbed his aching shoulder, and gave me a good hard kick in the gut. Later he then decided that it was safer to close my mouth with a rag and carry me by the coils of rope that once again, had been wrapped around my stomach and arms.
Of course, it also had to be one of the orcs who had previously caught me, so his treatment towards me was part resentment of the fact that I was familiar with escape. He loathed me for it. And so he was extra brutal and careful of me. Lovely, really.
Merry had a huge bleeding scrape atop his head. Pippin had a few bruises, but they were getting royal treatment compared to me. I didn't hate them; I couldn't anyway. They seemed to pity me a bit. I could tell by the sneers they gave the uruks, and the way they twitched every time one of them touched me in painful ways. What wonderful hobbit lads. They would be even more wonderful if they could figure out how to get us out of this mess.
It was the second night of our kidnapping. I had been treated horribly since the minute these creeps grabbed us from Amon Hen and ran like bats out of hell. I'd been poked, prodded, kicked, spit at, thrown around, pinched, tickled, and even licked. They wanted to find out if I was eatable. I'd had enough of this treatment, but there really was nothing I could do about it. So I just sat in the dark all alone with only the smelly rag over my mouth to keep me company.
"Don't touch them halflings! They are not for eatin'! They are not to be spoiled with!" growled one of the uruks to another tinier one.
He only squeaked and then backed away. I couldn't tell what they were eating, but it looked horrid and they obviously wanted something better to eat. I prayed they wouldn't lay any more tongues on me. I had no desire to be gobbled up for some uruk-hai's dinner.
I felt my head start to lull to the side, an obvious sign of sleep deprivation. I couldn't fall asleep just yet though. I wanted food, it didn't matter what. And if I fell asleep, they wouldn't put any food in front of me. So I kept my eyes open, pinching the side of my thighs so as to keep my eyelids from drooping. It worked for a while, but I soon forgot. And I suffered a night without any meals.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
My stomach woke me up this time. Yesterday morning it had been a hard yank on my hair.
I felt empty and faint from lack of food, but there was nothing I could do about it now. I could suffice to eating grass, but I doubt it tasted good. I didn't notice anything remotely tasty looking around me, and so I just scanned the scenery around me instead.
Merry and Pippin were still dozing, and half dozen of the uruks were already milling around and awake. There had to be about thirty or forty of these jerks. Some of them were just huge, these big muscular beasts with crappy armor and knotty hair. Some of them were ordinary orcs out of Mordor, skinny things compared with the bulk of the creatures Saruman created.
I looked away from the few uruk-hai that happened to be awake and spanned the never-ending landscape. All I saw was rolling hills and boulders. I figured we were in northern Rohan. Maybe we'd find Éomer dude and his group of horsy men. I noticed the Mountains to our right, and guessed that we were just south of the Misty Mountains. This conclusion didn't help me much, since I hadn't seen a map of middle-earth in a long time. But I assumed we were near enough to Fangorn.
Would the three of us even escape into Fangorn and be taken in my Treebeard? Would we find Gandalf in Fangorn? Would Gandalf even come back? He had to! This story would end in disaster if Gandalf didn't come back! Sighing out loud, I could only hope for the best.
"Hey! You! Come 'ere and quit fiddlin' wit those them ashes!"
I whirled around to see Merry and Pippin prodding the remainder of last nights fire with a stick they'd found. Only their hands were tied in rope, bound in front of them. I looked down at the rope coils that wrapped around my middle. What luck those lads had.
One of the uruks went over and picked up Merry and Pippin, and placed them closer to the rest of the group. It seemed they had forgotten about me for the moment. Most of the uruks were awake now with the rising of the sun. I lay on my back and stared at the cloud shapes, watching them move slowly across my view. My thoughts meandered over to what had happened to us. Not that I hadn't endlessly thought about all this; we'd had a long hike by now, and I wasn't permitted to say anything. I still had the damn dishrag in my mouth.
Was Boromir alive? Was Caitlin ok? Was the story going to be horribly altered? I didn't know anymore! I should have listened to Elrond back in Rivendell, when he warned me about this. He'd mentioned all sorts of danger and mishaps and alterations, and I merely waved my hand in his face and said we'd be fine. I should have just let the Fellowship go on their merry way without us girls and not made any changes. But then Boromir would have ended up dead. And Frodo would be in pain when he returned. Not like I could change that part anymore; he was heading the other direction into Mordor. Hopefully Gollum didn't give him much trouble in my new and altered version. What was I saying? It's like I had just magically become Tolkien!
"Up outta yer daydreams halfling!" someone shouted as he grabbed the ropes and hauled me off the ground. I didn't even have a moment to get my bearings straight, because in the next instant I was flying through the air, being thrown to another uruk to have carry me for the day.
Once I was caught, we headed west at full speed in the morning light. Of course, my luck sucked, and after being thrown over the shoulders of the uruk-hai who carried me, I ended up hitting my head on his battle helmet and conked myself out for a few hours.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Stay!" the brute screamed at me. That was what I heard when I woke up. It was close to evening, and the sun was somewhat low in the west before us. I was thrown off the uruks shoulders and onto the ground, quiet harshly I might add. I'd get worse treatment later, no doubt.
I really didn't know where we were now. And it was getting dark now, so I couldn't try to figure it out anyway. It was coming onto our third night, and as I looked around, I noticed we were on the skirts of a forest.
Wait. . . A forest?
Could it be? Was that. . . Fangorn?! Oh god I hoped so! Now, if only I could get free!
Merry and Pippin were once again close to the fire that was in the midst of being started. I could see the outlines of their faces in the small lick of yellow flame. They were frightened and probably worried about themselves and me. I wanted to crawl over to them, so reassure them that things would turn out ok again. I didn't have an opportunity though.
"So," said one of the big burly uruks coming over to me. "We have 'ere a small halfling, aye? And what kinda trouble have ye been giving us? Biting and stomping and hitting. You grimy rascal, I'd like to ring your filthy neck!" And with that he lifted my tiny frame off the ground by grabbing me around the neck. I saw his face, and realized with some glee that it was the one I had escaped from on my first kidnapping. This guy though, he didn't look so gleeful about that scratch.
I couldn't speak. He was attempting to choke me. I could see the firelight dancing in his beady black eyes, and they glowed with inner rage. His hand was bigger than my whole head. I normally would have marveled at somebody of this size, but not when they were angry and trying to kill me.
"Put that down!" another uruk screamed. "They are not to be spoiled, eaten, or harmed! That is the job of the white hand!"
He loosened his grip. I could still feel his knuckles on my trachea though. But I was at least able to breath now.
But the brute wouldn't hear of letting me off that easily. "This 'ere descended of rats was the one who escaped before from us! This 'ere halflin' deserves every bit o' pain we be givin' her!"
The uruk that was defending me suddenly yanked at my hair. "Put this hobbit down! No harm will be done to these rascals by our 'ere hands! That's the job of the White Wizard, and we won't be goin' and disobeying orders!"
The first one left go of my neck. The second one held onto my hair a second longer and then threw my over to sit with Merry and Pippin. And I do mean he literally threw me over to them by my hair. I landed at their feet with a hard thud on my right shoulder, and they quickly grabbed me under the arms and hoisted my closer to them.
"This nonsense of pickin' on this little halflin' lass will stop now!" The one who grabbed my hair yelled to the others. Pointing a black, gnarly finger at me. "Keep these three together, ya hear me! No more torture will be done by us," he growled throatily, giving an evil grin the three of us. I feared for my life, and wedged myself further between Merry and Pippin. The three of us were really scared now.
There was no reason to be that frightened though, because a second later a long spear came hurling across the sky and landed in the back of the uruk who wanted me dead for the scratch I'd given him. He fell face first into the damp earth with a small grunt and remained dead and motionless.
I whirled my head around at the heavy thundering of horse hooves, feeling the ground beneath me start to quiver and noticing that the sky was becoming alive with the sight of arrows. Shouts rang out, and some of them I didn't understand. The uruks were running mad, clueless as to what was going on around the. They appeared bewildered, frightened themselves, and I wanted to laugh at them. But Merry and Pippin had suddenly found a discarded knife upon the ground and had cut our bounds loose. They both jumped up and then each of them grabbed one of my hands and lifted me up off the ground.
An arrow went whizzing past my ear and landed in the neck of one of the burly uruks. Black blood gushed forth from the lethal wound, and having no time to scream his pain, he fell lifeless to the ground. Another arrow landed near my feet in the earth, and it was then that Merry and Pippin turned and let me away.
The sight around me shocked me. I tried to figure out if this was the Rohirrim, with Éomer and his trusty horsemen coming to save the day. If that was so, then us three hobbits had to hightail it into the woods of Fangorn.
Which way was the forest? I though I saw it off to our left, but the hobbit lads were leading me the other way. I yanked on Merry's arm, and pointed at the trees I saw.
"We have to escape into Fangorn Forest!" I screamed. "It's what is supposed to happen, and I don't intend to change this part!"
Merry looked at Pippin, and then they relented, turning to the way I had pointed, and dodging arrows the aimed to kill the uruks around us. They were falling dead all around us, their black blood staining the earth. Some of them were slaughtered with swords upon their necks, and their giant heads lolled about upon the grass. Merry kicked one out of our way, and continued running towards the forest, hoping to escape the massacre upon its borders.
I ducked beneath a horses belly and followed close behind Merry and Pippin. More than half the uruks were dead by now, the large group of horsemen having done their job right. The smell of their death filled the night air, their gushy black blood spilled everywhere, their tongues hanging from their newly fresh corpses. I wanted to puke, my stomach churning and my gut twisted in disgust. But I trudged on behind the hobbit lads. I forced my stomach to become an iron casing. I didn't want to look at the gory scene around me.
Arrows continued there descend into the uruks muscled bodies, flying here and there through the night sky. I could see the outline of trees ahead of us. We kept running, unable to stop, not wanting to be added to the list of carcasses that littered the once green ground.
I suddenly heard a shriek of anguish right behind me, and turned to find Pippin on his knees with an arrow sticking out of his arm near his elbow. Blood flowed a little from the wound, his face was twisted in pain, and his hand clutched at his wounded arm. Merry came up next to me, and we both fell to the ground beside Pippin. Pippin was crying a little from the pain, and trying to hide it. A single tear shined on his dirt stained cheek, but I hadn't the time to wipe it away. As quickly as we could, we hoisted Pippin off the ground and placed one of his arms across our shoulders. I was on his left side, and held onto his arm that had the arrow poking out of it. I didn't have the chance to attend to it now, so I just followed Merry's lead and led him away towards the borders Fangorn.
CAITLIN'S POV
I'd seen smoke. Legolas saw it too. And Aragorn trusted the elven vision so we ran to where we saw the smoke.
It wasn't a long run, because the smoke wasn't as far as I thought it was. It was just up and over many hills. Legolas and I were ahead of the others, scouting out anything our elven intelligence could make out. He was of course, uber special and could decipher a lot more than I could. I was merely a beginner.
It was fairly early in the morning when we saw the pile of.. . well, the pile that was burning. I wasn't quite sure what it was. I stared a moment, silently standing beside Legolas, when he whirled his head around and looked south. I glanced at him in alarm, but then I heard what made him jump. Horse hooves. Were they the hooves of friend or enemy? They were just over the hill; I could see the dirt lightly billowing into the sky from where they ran.
Aragorn, Boromir and Gimli had caught up with us by now. They too looked south, and as we stared, we saw a whole parade of horsemen come barreling over the horizon. They wore armor, and some of them carried spears. Their helmets glowed in the morning sun, some gold glinting off their shields.
I saw that Aragorn had placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. It made me worried then, because I had been hoping these horse dudes were just Éomer and his group of horsemen. Maybe Aragorn was just being cautious.
They still rode closer, slowing the horses to a trot when they came within a good distance of us. I could make out the leader, a strong, blonde haired young guy, kinda cute too. But who knew, maybe he was crazy in this version, and he'd try to kill the five of us.
God, I hope not.
They were surrounding us now. I had my back to Legolas. Aragorn and the others had done the same. We weren't afraid of them, we just weren't sure if they would harm us or not. Only if we looked threatening would they aim to kill. Well, weren't we're too threatening. . . Only strange looking. It's not every day you see two elves, two men, and a fat dwarf roaming the free lands of Middle-earth!
"What business do you five have in the Riddermark? Speak quickly strangers!" I glanced at the speaker to see that it was indeed Éomer. Who else would have spoken with such dignity?
"We track a band of uruk-hai that have taken three of our friends captive. Two hobbit lads and a hobbit lass there were. We saw smoke, and came to see for ourselves where it came from. We mean no harm to Rohan or it's people." I turned to look at Aragorn now, wondering if that was indeed the kingliness coming out of him. I'd never heard him speak like that before!
"We slaughtered the uruks last night, and burned the bodies," Éomer remarked. "That was the smoke you saw. But before I tell you that we saw no others with them, may I ask what a hobbit is?"
"A small creature, only a child to your eyes. Short, curly hair; they are just little people."
At this Éomer bowed his head in even more grief. "No. . . I do not remember seeing such folk as that. If they did happen to have been counted among the dead, they are burned now. I am sorry."
"They cannot be dead!" I screamed, taking a step forward towards Éomer. He held onto his spear a little tighter, pointing it at me as if I were going to attack. "Elli knew this story, she would figure a way out! She would save herself and Merry and Pippin. I do not believe they are dead and burned to nothing!"
"Caitlin," spoke Legolas, coming up behind me and placing a hand on my shoulder. "No, you would know their fate better than we. Where were they originally supposed to go?"
I turned around, and it was then that I saw the woods. A questioning look came upon my face. Legolas noticed it, but said nothing. I stared ahead into the trees a moment, trying to figure out for myself if what I was looking at was Fangorn forest.
"Is that Fangorn?" I asked the elf prince, not taking my eyes off the trees.
He nodded. "Yes, it is."
"Then they are in there," I said.
(A/N: Oufh! Another wonderful chapter done! Review and tell me what you think! Much love to you all!)