Disclaimer: Ooh my favorite part. I get to ruin Peter Jackson's and the
heirs of J. R. R. Tolkien's fun. I will now announce it formally. I do not
own the Lord of the Rings. Ha. You can't sue me. I don't own it and I just
said so, so you can't sue me. Ha. In your face!!!!!
A/N: Well guess what another chapter. Yeah. It so much easier to write more since I have no homework and I have no school. I should probably go out and get more exercise but oh well. Shrew that. Shrew is my new word btw. It's supposed to be screw but my friend typed shrew by accident on MSN and now we use that. Oh yes and I'm also very pissed cuz some guy stole all my CDs. All 22 of em. And the worst part is, I know who it is. Or at least I saw him walk by our house 3 times. My friends and I are now thinking up ways to torture him. They are very gruesome.
Oookaaay enough of my life story. On the non real one. People I need reviews. If you read review. Even if it's only hi your story sucked, or in a much more pleasant way hi your story is great. Anyways I don't care what you write just please review *puppy dog eyes*. And remember imaginary candies full of sugar for all those who review. Well enjoy!!!!!! R&R!!!!!!!!!
Chapter 7
I had always had an eye for detail. Not relevant detail. Just pointless details that didn't really make any difference. For example, our socials had asked us to comment on a historic politician's face. Apparently it was to help us understand his motives or something. We were supposed to look mostly at his eyes (which I learned afterwards). The first thing I said was 'he has a pimple on his chin bone near his ear.' Everyone started laughing. I was so embarrassed. I hardly ever spoke again in class for fear of seeing the stupidly obscure pointless thing instead of the stupidly obvious relevant thing.
I guess this time it helped.
We had passes through a deep ditch on our march the night before. It was long and ran down from the mountain, a continuing valley. It was fairly deep. A normal sized person could stand in it and it would be up to the neck. We had stopped not far from the ditch at dawn.
No one was awake. They all slept today. Even Lara and Legolas who seemed not to need sleep, snored gently. I made a mental note to ask them about it. I didn't want to disturb them. They looked so peaceful with their eyes glazed over like they were. Wait a minute? That wasn't right. Their eyes weren't completely shut. I decided to let it go. Too many things in BW were far more weird than this; it wasn't something to dwell on.
I returned to the rock from which I had taken a brief respite to check on my sleeping companions. Apparently the watch duty was assigned to whomever didn't feel like sleeping that night. There was always someone.
I stood up on my perch to get a better view on my surroundings. Although I had been gazing at them all day, they had never really sunk in. My mind had been elsewhere, dwelling on the knowledge that there was no tap-your-shoes- three-times-and-say-there's-no-place-like-home way to get back to NW. The evening sun was waning away. I wondered when Gandalf had planned to start. I didn't want to wake the others up, fearing their wrath if they had not planned to leave at the normal time.
So I kept a vigilant watch through the evening. I strained my eyes to see through the semi-darkness of the approaching night. The shadows were lengthening and fading. The wind was biting but I kept on watching trying to ignore the chill.
I looked back at the ditch. I could swear the shadows were different. They were somehow different, darker. You see? Stupid details. Who notices when shadows are darker? I forced myself to look away but my thoughts kept returning to that. They were darker. I could've sworn to God (which really wasn't that big because I'm not religious and I don't believe in God) that those shadows had gotten darker.
The moon began to rise. I peered back at the ditch. The shadows were moving. Not much but I could tell that they were moving. Something was out there. Suddenly the wind began to get stronger, or perhaps just louder. It shrieked in my ears like the wails of the dead or undead. Horrible, screechy, demented wails like banshees tormented my ears. I took my eyes off the ditch for a moment. I looked back. Something was definitely moving, a big black mass, and it wasn't the trees.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Legolas," I whispered, shaking the elf. "Legolas wake up. I think there's something out there."
Instantly he was on his feet. "Wake the others," he told me.
I obeyed, glad that someone who could handle the situation was doing so. I woke everyone else up and told them what the situation was.
Aragorn, Gandalf and Lara went to consult with Legolas who was peering over one of the many boulders in our campsite. Gimli and Boromir remained with the hobbits who looked frightened. I went to cower with them. I wasn't feeling that brave or stubborn anymore. I wanted to go back to Rivendell where I was safe.
I climbed up a rock and flattened myself on the top, trying to get a better look at the shadowy darkness that I had seen. I knew it was there now. There was definite movement.
I caught a few snatches of conversation from Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas and Lara.
"What do you see Legolas?"
"Goblins," he replied, "and many. I do not how many for they still lie concealed within the shadow."
A loud howl split the night. It was more of a wail, but I recognized it. It was the same howl I had heard on the wind earlier in the night.
"Wolves." That was Aragorn.
"They will attack tonight I fear. We must leave at once," said Gandalf.
"We cannot run," said Aragorn. "They will catch us. We must fight. We have no other choice."
"I will not risk -." The rest of his sentence was cut off as another wail came from the wolves. I climbed down the rocks.
I was scared. Really scared. It was the first time that I had had the threat of open battle upon me. I was shocked that I wasn't already hyperventilating.
Aragorn, Legolas, Gandalf and Lara returned to the company shortly after me. We were going to run. Aragorn given in. He looked angry and annoyed, obviously brooding because his suggestion wasn't the one chosen.
"We leave now," said Gandalf. "Pick up your bags. We leave in ten minutes."
Lara went over to Gandalf.
"Do you think they know we're here?" she whispered, but the words were whipped back to me by the raging wind.
"Yes. I have no doubt that they know we're here," he replied. "I'm hoping we can leave without being seen. It will give us a bit of a head start."
It was a lot to hope on. We might have been able to get out without being seen but to escape entirely seemed almost impossible. We were on the top of a small rocky hill. We would be able to go down the opposite side and basically in the direction that we wanted to, but once we got to the next steeper much higher hill they would see us, if they didn't reach our campsite first. I was sure that we'd be much slower. We had packs and a burden pony.
We were all ready within the allotted time. Gandalf led us down the hill and into a wide flat valley. We power-walked, sometimes even jogging lightly. I was tired but I was too scared to notice.
We reached the base of the next rise and began climbing. The going was much slower. It was steep, rocky and the shale and scree was slippery. We made a lot of noise on the rocks, but it was covered up by the roaring howls.
Suddenly the wails got louder and more distressed. They had reached our camp. It was a race now. A game of cat and mouse. And we were the unlucky mice.
We had almost reached the top of the hill. Once we reached the top they would certainly see our shadows.
"They will see us," Lara said loudly, trying to be heard over the wails.
"Down," shouted Aragorn as we reached the top of the hill. We all flatten ourselves on the ground.
"We must hide,' said Sam. For once the hobbits were useful. And sensible.
We crawled along the plateau-like top of the ridge until we reached the other side. This side was even steeper, but we had to go down. It was slow going, as we inched down trying not to tumble down the steep incline. It would have been faster, but I doubted we would have been able to escape the goblins and wolves after. I failed to even notice how bizarre it was that goblins (who shouldn't have existed) and wolves were in the same army and trying to attack. It all just flew by now and I accepted it. The howls were real enough and I didn't want to stick around to see if the goblins were.
After what seemed like hours we reached the foot of the hill. We were in a deep tree-less ravine. The grasslands continued up the other side of the ravine, not ten feet away. I kept expecting to see our pursuers breach the top of the hill, but they never did.
We had come to a bit of indecision as to what we were going to do next.
"Which way shall we go," asked Gimli.
"We must hide," said Boromir.
"There is nowhere to hide. They would discover us soon," cried Aragorn.
"We must go a way they won't expect," cried Gandalf. "Let us go south east. If these are the minions of the dark lord or of Saurumon, they will expect us to be heading to the gap of Rohan."
We headed toward the forbidding mountains, always looking for a place to hide. The ravine was dark and deep, concealing us slightly better than the open territory.
We had been moving for about half an hour when, I looked back at the ridge for a moment. A moving shape breached the top. Then many others behind it. They had reached the top. They would see us soon.
"They've reached the top," I called to the front of the line. No one said anything, but the pace quickened.
We walked / ran for another long while. I could not have said how long but it seemed like at least three hours. I guessed that it was only about an hour. I was exhausted, past my physical limits, but I was too scared to pay attention to those. It was run or die.
Another half an hour brought us quite close to the mountains. There were many piles of rocks and debris lying around from previous rock slides or avalanches. They offered perfect hiding places.
"We will hide in one of those," said Gandalf pointing to the piles. I sighed gratefully and prepared to go to the one he had pointed out.
"No wait," said Lara. "We should perhaps press on a little bit. If they come this way they will expect us to hide here or in any place available. The farther we go, the less likely we are to be found."
I was prepared to kill her. She had just stolen my relief. I thought I would die. But I knew what she said made sense. The goblin things would expect us to hide as soon as possible because we would be tired out. If we went a little farther they might not look for us.
"I agree," said Legolas. I had just noticed that the two who didn't seem to ever tire were the ones that suggested going further.
And then Aragorn agreed, as did Boromir and eventually Gimli, Gandalf, Frodo and Sam (who probably only agreed because Frodo did). Merry, Pippin and I all wanted to stay here, figuring that we had traveled far enough so that the goblins wouldn't find us. We were out-voted though.
So we continued our run at the same grueling pace. We passed many good hiding spots, but none met the standards of Lara. She was determined to break me before we got to a 'good' hiding spot. My lungs felt like bursting. My heart was beating way too fast to avoid a heart attack. My legs were numb; I couldn't feel them anymore. No pain no nothing. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? Did your legs start to fall off when they became numb? I was going to die. I was definitely going to die.
Just as I thought I would collapse Lara pointed to a pile of rocks.
"We will go to those and look around," she informed us. Gandalf seemed to be happy to let her deal with carrying out her own plan.
We reached the spot within five minutes. I stopped, grateful that we had to go no further. I was about to enter the little cluster of rocks, but Lara had a different idea.
"We should go slightly further, just to that rock pile over there," she said.
"What?" I exclaimed irritably, though it didn't carry much defiance. I was too tired to argue, but I was going to do it if it meant getting out of another run. "Why?"
"This pile is the ideal hiding spot. The goblins will know that if they come across it. They will think we hid here and look for us in here. But if we hide somewhere that doesn't look like a hiding spot the chances of being found are much lessened."
"The lady makes a good point," said Aragorn. "We will go on to where she wishes."
It actually didn't take us that long to reach the spot that Lara had been talking about. It was really only a couple minutes away, which was another part of Lara's strategy. If we were close to a good hiding spot the goblins wouldn't think to check the poor hiding spots because they would assume we'd taken the best one.
The place Lara had chosen was small and cramped. We all squeezed in. We even managed to subdue Bill the pony and get him in as well. It was very uncomfortable but unlike most of the others I was lying flat on the ground and therefore able to stretch out.
Lara, Legolas and I were posted as a watch. Them because they had extremely keen eyes and ears and because they didn't need sleep, and me because I couldn't sleep. Despite our exhausting run I had way too much adrenaline to fall asleep. I didn't know how the others managed to sleep. We were being chased by things that by all rights shouldn't exist but did. Of course they were probably used to the idea that these things existed, and probably worse.
An hour passed and no one came. And yet another hour and nothing. I was beginning to feel cramped and very uncomfortable. Blood seemed to have stopped flowing to some part of my body that the others were lying on, particularly Aragorn and Boromir. I wanted to go out and stretch, but Lara forbade it. It saved my life.
Just as I was about to insist of letting me out, Legolas spoke up.
"I hear something," he whispered. "It's moving quickly and this way."
I abandoned all thoughts of leaving the hiding place. Now I could hear them as well. They were coming this way, and with them those terrible howls came.
They were coming. Hundreds of horrible, disgusting creatures. Their eyes were dilated to a point past human. They must have lived in the dark continuously to have those kinds of eyes. They were unclean and smelt terribly of blood. It covered their meager torn clothing. They reminded me slightly of very over-grown bugs. With them came wolves. The wolves actually looked like a crossbreed of badly treated attack dogs and small grizzlies. Saliva foamed from their mouth as they raced towards us carrying the goblins.
In our hideout no one moved. No one breathed. Everyone was frozen as they either watched or heard the enormous pack of goblins approaching. They were searching, but they were doing so carelessly, only briefly checking possible hiding spots.
"Dawn is near," Legolas, who was hair-raisingly close, whispered. "They are heading back to the mountains."
I didn't know how the goblins heading back to the mountains was a signal of dawn, but both of his statements were true. I looked at my watch (which I had neglected to take out of my bag until we reached the hide out and which surprisingly still worked. Well I guess it wasn't that surprising since the cell phone had worked). It was 6:30 am. He was right. It was almost dawn, but why did that affect the goblins returning to the mountains?
They had reached us. They were passing by us now, and many of them were searching. They would look at the pile of rocks, but they would never stop. We were well concealed. We had lain a grayish cloak that blended with the rocks over ourselves. They glanced at us and kept on going.
Finally they stopped coming and the last one past. For a long time everyone was still, then Legolas ventured to get out. Of course it seemed somewhat impossible since Aragorn and Frodo were lying on top on him, but somehow he managed to wriggle his way out. I rolled my eyes. It would have been much easier to simply tell them that it was safe to go out.
"It's safe," he called scanning the horizon. "Come out."
We climbed out of our hide out one by one, glad to be free of the cramped space. I stretched. I was so tired. I really wanted to sleep. I hadn't slept in over a day.
"More are coming," Legolas said. I jumped back in the hide out so fast that everyone started laughing at me. They obviously didn't seem concerned that the things we had just been running from were coming.
"How many?" asked Gandalf.
"Roughly a score," said Legolas. "It is difficult to tell. They are still far away."
"We will not wait in hiding for these," declared Boromir. "We can certainly defeat them if they number only one score."
"Yes," growled Gimli. "Let us fight this time."
"It would be better to simply meet them," said Aragorn. "We would lose less time than if we simply waited. We number eleven. We need not more than that to defeat these stragglers."
"Um," I piped up. "You number ten. Count me out."
"You will have to fight sometime," Gandalf told me. "It is inevitable on this journey."
"Yes well I'd like to delay that moment, and probably my death, for as long as possible," I drawled.
Gandalf shook his head.
"Even the peace loving hobbits who come from the Shire are braver than you," said Boromir, laughing.
"Well let them be. I prefer life."
So we continued walking, coming ever closer to the rapidly approaching goblins. I had suggested going around them but my suggestion had been turned down because apparently the most direct route towards wherever our destination was, was towards the goblins, or in their general direction.
As soon as we were within about five hundred meters of the goblins we stopped. I jumped into a small hiding place and sat cowering like a frightened mouse.
"Perhaps you need one of these," said Lara handing me a sword.
"I doubt I'll be able to use it," I declared, but I took it anyway.
"Yes I doubt you'll be able to use it as well but you probably will if you feel the need. Like if some goblins attack you," she drawled.
I ignored the insult. I was right, as was she. I could hardly hold the sword properly, despite how light it was, let alone use.
Fortunately as the two sides clashed, mine seemed to get the upper hand. This of course I could only guess because I refrained from looking out at the battle except to make sure that no goblins were coming towards me. My plan B (which was more or less my plan A since my original plan A was to fight with the sword) was to run.
I didn't have to resort to plan B. I didn't even have to resort to plan A. We, or I should say they, won quickly and easily. They were all awesome fighters, the hobbits less so then the others, but they were just as brave.
"You can come out now," said a voice. It was Merry. He was laughing at me.
"Thank you," I said holding my nose in the air and trying to retain as much dignity as possible. I avoided looking at the heap of dead bodies strewn about the ground. The smell was already overpowering.
"We travel by day now," said Gandalf. "It may increase our chance of being seen but it will keep the goblins from us."
"Why?" I asked
"Because goblins fear the light," said Aragorn. "During the day they hide within their mountain tunnels."
Even after that battle was won, we kept on going. We hiked for hours, but the pace was slower since we weren't fleeing for our lives.
Finally we stopped again at sunset among many piles of rocks. I flopped gratefully to the ground and was asleep within minutes, gladly surrendering the watch someone else tonight.
It had been a long day. I didn't need anymore like those, but I knew I was going to get them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Okay I know that was a very big distortion from the book and the movie, but I wanted something to scare April. Anyway I probably won't do anymore super distortions like that. I hope. I can't promise anything. Actually Helm's deep will be pretty distorted, but that's all can think of now. Well you know what to do now: REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A/N: Well guess what another chapter. Yeah. It so much easier to write more since I have no homework and I have no school. I should probably go out and get more exercise but oh well. Shrew that. Shrew is my new word btw. It's supposed to be screw but my friend typed shrew by accident on MSN and now we use that. Oh yes and I'm also very pissed cuz some guy stole all my CDs. All 22 of em. And the worst part is, I know who it is. Or at least I saw him walk by our house 3 times. My friends and I are now thinking up ways to torture him. They are very gruesome.
Oookaaay enough of my life story. On the non real one. People I need reviews. If you read review. Even if it's only hi your story sucked, or in a much more pleasant way hi your story is great. Anyways I don't care what you write just please review *puppy dog eyes*. And remember imaginary candies full of sugar for all those who review. Well enjoy!!!!!! R&R!!!!!!!!!
Chapter 7
I had always had an eye for detail. Not relevant detail. Just pointless details that didn't really make any difference. For example, our socials had asked us to comment on a historic politician's face. Apparently it was to help us understand his motives or something. We were supposed to look mostly at his eyes (which I learned afterwards). The first thing I said was 'he has a pimple on his chin bone near his ear.' Everyone started laughing. I was so embarrassed. I hardly ever spoke again in class for fear of seeing the stupidly obscure pointless thing instead of the stupidly obvious relevant thing.
I guess this time it helped.
We had passes through a deep ditch on our march the night before. It was long and ran down from the mountain, a continuing valley. It was fairly deep. A normal sized person could stand in it and it would be up to the neck. We had stopped not far from the ditch at dawn.
No one was awake. They all slept today. Even Lara and Legolas who seemed not to need sleep, snored gently. I made a mental note to ask them about it. I didn't want to disturb them. They looked so peaceful with their eyes glazed over like they were. Wait a minute? That wasn't right. Their eyes weren't completely shut. I decided to let it go. Too many things in BW were far more weird than this; it wasn't something to dwell on.
I returned to the rock from which I had taken a brief respite to check on my sleeping companions. Apparently the watch duty was assigned to whomever didn't feel like sleeping that night. There was always someone.
I stood up on my perch to get a better view on my surroundings. Although I had been gazing at them all day, they had never really sunk in. My mind had been elsewhere, dwelling on the knowledge that there was no tap-your-shoes- three-times-and-say-there's-no-place-like-home way to get back to NW. The evening sun was waning away. I wondered when Gandalf had planned to start. I didn't want to wake the others up, fearing their wrath if they had not planned to leave at the normal time.
So I kept a vigilant watch through the evening. I strained my eyes to see through the semi-darkness of the approaching night. The shadows were lengthening and fading. The wind was biting but I kept on watching trying to ignore the chill.
I looked back at the ditch. I could swear the shadows were different. They were somehow different, darker. You see? Stupid details. Who notices when shadows are darker? I forced myself to look away but my thoughts kept returning to that. They were darker. I could've sworn to God (which really wasn't that big because I'm not religious and I don't believe in God) that those shadows had gotten darker.
The moon began to rise. I peered back at the ditch. The shadows were moving. Not much but I could tell that they were moving. Something was out there. Suddenly the wind began to get stronger, or perhaps just louder. It shrieked in my ears like the wails of the dead or undead. Horrible, screechy, demented wails like banshees tormented my ears. I took my eyes off the ditch for a moment. I looked back. Something was definitely moving, a big black mass, and it wasn't the trees.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Legolas," I whispered, shaking the elf. "Legolas wake up. I think there's something out there."
Instantly he was on his feet. "Wake the others," he told me.
I obeyed, glad that someone who could handle the situation was doing so. I woke everyone else up and told them what the situation was.
Aragorn, Gandalf and Lara went to consult with Legolas who was peering over one of the many boulders in our campsite. Gimli and Boromir remained with the hobbits who looked frightened. I went to cower with them. I wasn't feeling that brave or stubborn anymore. I wanted to go back to Rivendell where I was safe.
I climbed up a rock and flattened myself on the top, trying to get a better look at the shadowy darkness that I had seen. I knew it was there now. There was definite movement.
I caught a few snatches of conversation from Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas and Lara.
"What do you see Legolas?"
"Goblins," he replied, "and many. I do not how many for they still lie concealed within the shadow."
A loud howl split the night. It was more of a wail, but I recognized it. It was the same howl I had heard on the wind earlier in the night.
"Wolves." That was Aragorn.
"They will attack tonight I fear. We must leave at once," said Gandalf.
"We cannot run," said Aragorn. "They will catch us. We must fight. We have no other choice."
"I will not risk -." The rest of his sentence was cut off as another wail came from the wolves. I climbed down the rocks.
I was scared. Really scared. It was the first time that I had had the threat of open battle upon me. I was shocked that I wasn't already hyperventilating.
Aragorn, Legolas, Gandalf and Lara returned to the company shortly after me. We were going to run. Aragorn given in. He looked angry and annoyed, obviously brooding because his suggestion wasn't the one chosen.
"We leave now," said Gandalf. "Pick up your bags. We leave in ten minutes."
Lara went over to Gandalf.
"Do you think they know we're here?" she whispered, but the words were whipped back to me by the raging wind.
"Yes. I have no doubt that they know we're here," he replied. "I'm hoping we can leave without being seen. It will give us a bit of a head start."
It was a lot to hope on. We might have been able to get out without being seen but to escape entirely seemed almost impossible. We were on the top of a small rocky hill. We would be able to go down the opposite side and basically in the direction that we wanted to, but once we got to the next steeper much higher hill they would see us, if they didn't reach our campsite first. I was sure that we'd be much slower. We had packs and a burden pony.
We were all ready within the allotted time. Gandalf led us down the hill and into a wide flat valley. We power-walked, sometimes even jogging lightly. I was tired but I was too scared to notice.
We reached the base of the next rise and began climbing. The going was much slower. It was steep, rocky and the shale and scree was slippery. We made a lot of noise on the rocks, but it was covered up by the roaring howls.
Suddenly the wails got louder and more distressed. They had reached our camp. It was a race now. A game of cat and mouse. And we were the unlucky mice.
We had almost reached the top of the hill. Once we reached the top they would certainly see our shadows.
"They will see us," Lara said loudly, trying to be heard over the wails.
"Down," shouted Aragorn as we reached the top of the hill. We all flatten ourselves on the ground.
"We must hide,' said Sam. For once the hobbits were useful. And sensible.
We crawled along the plateau-like top of the ridge until we reached the other side. This side was even steeper, but we had to go down. It was slow going, as we inched down trying not to tumble down the steep incline. It would have been faster, but I doubted we would have been able to escape the goblins and wolves after. I failed to even notice how bizarre it was that goblins (who shouldn't have existed) and wolves were in the same army and trying to attack. It all just flew by now and I accepted it. The howls were real enough and I didn't want to stick around to see if the goblins were.
After what seemed like hours we reached the foot of the hill. We were in a deep tree-less ravine. The grasslands continued up the other side of the ravine, not ten feet away. I kept expecting to see our pursuers breach the top of the hill, but they never did.
We had come to a bit of indecision as to what we were going to do next.
"Which way shall we go," asked Gimli.
"We must hide," said Boromir.
"There is nowhere to hide. They would discover us soon," cried Aragorn.
"We must go a way they won't expect," cried Gandalf. "Let us go south east. If these are the minions of the dark lord or of Saurumon, they will expect us to be heading to the gap of Rohan."
We headed toward the forbidding mountains, always looking for a place to hide. The ravine was dark and deep, concealing us slightly better than the open territory.
We had been moving for about half an hour when, I looked back at the ridge for a moment. A moving shape breached the top. Then many others behind it. They had reached the top. They would see us soon.
"They've reached the top," I called to the front of the line. No one said anything, but the pace quickened.
We walked / ran for another long while. I could not have said how long but it seemed like at least three hours. I guessed that it was only about an hour. I was exhausted, past my physical limits, but I was too scared to pay attention to those. It was run or die.
Another half an hour brought us quite close to the mountains. There were many piles of rocks and debris lying around from previous rock slides or avalanches. They offered perfect hiding places.
"We will hide in one of those," said Gandalf pointing to the piles. I sighed gratefully and prepared to go to the one he had pointed out.
"No wait," said Lara. "We should perhaps press on a little bit. If they come this way they will expect us to hide here or in any place available. The farther we go, the less likely we are to be found."
I was prepared to kill her. She had just stolen my relief. I thought I would die. But I knew what she said made sense. The goblin things would expect us to hide as soon as possible because we would be tired out. If we went a little farther they might not look for us.
"I agree," said Legolas. I had just noticed that the two who didn't seem to ever tire were the ones that suggested going further.
And then Aragorn agreed, as did Boromir and eventually Gimli, Gandalf, Frodo and Sam (who probably only agreed because Frodo did). Merry, Pippin and I all wanted to stay here, figuring that we had traveled far enough so that the goblins wouldn't find us. We were out-voted though.
So we continued our run at the same grueling pace. We passed many good hiding spots, but none met the standards of Lara. She was determined to break me before we got to a 'good' hiding spot. My lungs felt like bursting. My heart was beating way too fast to avoid a heart attack. My legs were numb; I couldn't feel them anymore. No pain no nothing. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? Did your legs start to fall off when they became numb? I was going to die. I was definitely going to die.
Just as I thought I would collapse Lara pointed to a pile of rocks.
"We will go to those and look around," she informed us. Gandalf seemed to be happy to let her deal with carrying out her own plan.
We reached the spot within five minutes. I stopped, grateful that we had to go no further. I was about to enter the little cluster of rocks, but Lara had a different idea.
"We should go slightly further, just to that rock pile over there," she said.
"What?" I exclaimed irritably, though it didn't carry much defiance. I was too tired to argue, but I was going to do it if it meant getting out of another run. "Why?"
"This pile is the ideal hiding spot. The goblins will know that if they come across it. They will think we hid here and look for us in here. But if we hide somewhere that doesn't look like a hiding spot the chances of being found are much lessened."
"The lady makes a good point," said Aragorn. "We will go on to where she wishes."
It actually didn't take us that long to reach the spot that Lara had been talking about. It was really only a couple minutes away, which was another part of Lara's strategy. If we were close to a good hiding spot the goblins wouldn't think to check the poor hiding spots because they would assume we'd taken the best one.
The place Lara had chosen was small and cramped. We all squeezed in. We even managed to subdue Bill the pony and get him in as well. It was very uncomfortable but unlike most of the others I was lying flat on the ground and therefore able to stretch out.
Lara, Legolas and I were posted as a watch. Them because they had extremely keen eyes and ears and because they didn't need sleep, and me because I couldn't sleep. Despite our exhausting run I had way too much adrenaline to fall asleep. I didn't know how the others managed to sleep. We were being chased by things that by all rights shouldn't exist but did. Of course they were probably used to the idea that these things existed, and probably worse.
An hour passed and no one came. And yet another hour and nothing. I was beginning to feel cramped and very uncomfortable. Blood seemed to have stopped flowing to some part of my body that the others were lying on, particularly Aragorn and Boromir. I wanted to go out and stretch, but Lara forbade it. It saved my life.
Just as I was about to insist of letting me out, Legolas spoke up.
"I hear something," he whispered. "It's moving quickly and this way."
I abandoned all thoughts of leaving the hiding place. Now I could hear them as well. They were coming this way, and with them those terrible howls came.
They were coming. Hundreds of horrible, disgusting creatures. Their eyes were dilated to a point past human. They must have lived in the dark continuously to have those kinds of eyes. They were unclean and smelt terribly of blood. It covered their meager torn clothing. They reminded me slightly of very over-grown bugs. With them came wolves. The wolves actually looked like a crossbreed of badly treated attack dogs and small grizzlies. Saliva foamed from their mouth as they raced towards us carrying the goblins.
In our hideout no one moved. No one breathed. Everyone was frozen as they either watched or heard the enormous pack of goblins approaching. They were searching, but they were doing so carelessly, only briefly checking possible hiding spots.
"Dawn is near," Legolas, who was hair-raisingly close, whispered. "They are heading back to the mountains."
I didn't know how the goblins heading back to the mountains was a signal of dawn, but both of his statements were true. I looked at my watch (which I had neglected to take out of my bag until we reached the hide out and which surprisingly still worked. Well I guess it wasn't that surprising since the cell phone had worked). It was 6:30 am. He was right. It was almost dawn, but why did that affect the goblins returning to the mountains?
They had reached us. They were passing by us now, and many of them were searching. They would look at the pile of rocks, but they would never stop. We were well concealed. We had lain a grayish cloak that blended with the rocks over ourselves. They glanced at us and kept on going.
Finally they stopped coming and the last one past. For a long time everyone was still, then Legolas ventured to get out. Of course it seemed somewhat impossible since Aragorn and Frodo were lying on top on him, but somehow he managed to wriggle his way out. I rolled my eyes. It would have been much easier to simply tell them that it was safe to go out.
"It's safe," he called scanning the horizon. "Come out."
We climbed out of our hide out one by one, glad to be free of the cramped space. I stretched. I was so tired. I really wanted to sleep. I hadn't slept in over a day.
"More are coming," Legolas said. I jumped back in the hide out so fast that everyone started laughing at me. They obviously didn't seem concerned that the things we had just been running from were coming.
"How many?" asked Gandalf.
"Roughly a score," said Legolas. "It is difficult to tell. They are still far away."
"We will not wait in hiding for these," declared Boromir. "We can certainly defeat them if they number only one score."
"Yes," growled Gimli. "Let us fight this time."
"It would be better to simply meet them," said Aragorn. "We would lose less time than if we simply waited. We number eleven. We need not more than that to defeat these stragglers."
"Um," I piped up. "You number ten. Count me out."
"You will have to fight sometime," Gandalf told me. "It is inevitable on this journey."
"Yes well I'd like to delay that moment, and probably my death, for as long as possible," I drawled.
Gandalf shook his head.
"Even the peace loving hobbits who come from the Shire are braver than you," said Boromir, laughing.
"Well let them be. I prefer life."
So we continued walking, coming ever closer to the rapidly approaching goblins. I had suggested going around them but my suggestion had been turned down because apparently the most direct route towards wherever our destination was, was towards the goblins, or in their general direction.
As soon as we were within about five hundred meters of the goblins we stopped. I jumped into a small hiding place and sat cowering like a frightened mouse.
"Perhaps you need one of these," said Lara handing me a sword.
"I doubt I'll be able to use it," I declared, but I took it anyway.
"Yes I doubt you'll be able to use it as well but you probably will if you feel the need. Like if some goblins attack you," she drawled.
I ignored the insult. I was right, as was she. I could hardly hold the sword properly, despite how light it was, let alone use.
Fortunately as the two sides clashed, mine seemed to get the upper hand. This of course I could only guess because I refrained from looking out at the battle except to make sure that no goblins were coming towards me. My plan B (which was more or less my plan A since my original plan A was to fight with the sword) was to run.
I didn't have to resort to plan B. I didn't even have to resort to plan A. We, or I should say they, won quickly and easily. They were all awesome fighters, the hobbits less so then the others, but they were just as brave.
"You can come out now," said a voice. It was Merry. He was laughing at me.
"Thank you," I said holding my nose in the air and trying to retain as much dignity as possible. I avoided looking at the heap of dead bodies strewn about the ground. The smell was already overpowering.
"We travel by day now," said Gandalf. "It may increase our chance of being seen but it will keep the goblins from us."
"Why?" I asked
"Because goblins fear the light," said Aragorn. "During the day they hide within their mountain tunnels."
Even after that battle was won, we kept on going. We hiked for hours, but the pace was slower since we weren't fleeing for our lives.
Finally we stopped again at sunset among many piles of rocks. I flopped gratefully to the ground and was asleep within minutes, gladly surrendering the watch someone else tonight.
It had been a long day. I didn't need anymore like those, but I knew I was going to get them.
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A/N: Okay I know that was a very big distortion from the book and the movie, but I wanted something to scare April. Anyway I probably won't do anymore super distortions like that. I hope. I can't promise anything. Actually Helm's deep will be pretty distorted, but that's all can think of now. Well you know what to do now: REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!