(Hi, I've left it for a while, I'm sorry, I've been preoccupied by my falling into Middle Earth fic, and my new fic Shadow of Evil, but as I have writers block on both of those I am going back to the stories that I haven't been on for a while. so here we have chapter 4 of Hunting Gollum, the one review that I had last time I checked my reviews will be answered at the end of this chapter. Anyone else who reviewed but whose review I haven't got I am very sorry.

Aragorn shivered in his sleep and pulled his cloak tighter around himself. After he had left Lothlorien he had been trailing Gollum along the river side, all had been going well until now.

Other than a run in with a very small group of orcs, and a similar run in with a slightly larger group of wargs he had not had any obstacles. Now however he had a problem, and one that he did not really know how to resolve. Well actually he knew exactly what he needed to do; he was just loathe to do it.

He was on the west side of the river and had arrived at the falls of Rauros, as he had expected the tracks stopped on the riverbank, confirming his growing suspicion of exactly where Gollum was going. That in itself was not a problem, since the problem of the Ring was down to his relatives, or so the ranger believed, he was determined to do whatever he could to help solve the problem. Even if that meant going to Mordor himself, after all he had been there once before and had survived.

No, the problem was crossing the river, he had no boat to use, he had refused the one offered to him by the elves because he hadn't wanted to miss any tracks that were on the land and so he had only one way of crossing the wide expanse of water. He would have to swim, and that was something that really didn't appeal to him.

He was good at swimming, but he knew that the current would be strong, and he didn't relish the idea of walking around in wet clothes for the rest of the day, nor did he want to get all of his supplies wet and he wasn't sure how he could prevent that.

He had decided to wait until the morning to cross the river, as he knew that he would have to and so was currently fast asleep, dreaming of drowning, a topic that did nothing to appease his apprehensive views on the next days activities. Finally however his dreams ended and he settled down to a much needed sleep.
~~~~~~~ The sun shone brightly the next day, its warming glow awakening the sleeping ranger. As he rose, yawning slightly he sent a silent prayer of thanks to Arien the Maiar of the sun.

//At least I should dry off quicker at this rate\\

He thought to himself as he got ready.

Aragorn searched through his pack, hoping to find what he was looking for. For once he was in luck, rolled up at the bottom was a square of waterproof oil cloth. He unfolded it and spread it out on the ground, and then he took everything that could have been damaged by the water out of the bag and laid them in the cloth. Next he stripped to the waist and put the clothes he had removed onto the cloth as well.

//That way I should at least have something dry to wear, even if the rest is wet\\

Tying the bundle up so that no water could get in he put it back into his rucksack and put the bag onto his back. Staring glumly out over the sparkling blue water he walked to the river bank, strode out into the water until he was waist deep, and then struck out strongly, shivering at the coldness of the water. The current was strong and seemed intent on dragging the man over the falls but Aragorn fought against, refusing to allow himself to be pulled over to his death.

Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity he felt sand at his fit again and he stood up, shaking the water out of his hair in a way that was scarily reminiscent of a dog. Walking unsteadily out of the river, he was rather worn out by the swim, he flopped down on the sandy bank, taking a swig of the wine that Aiwendil had given him and that he had been saving till now.

Aragorn laughed as he remembered once again the last time he had sampled the wine. He hadn't found it funny at the time, indeed just thinking about some of the injuries that had been the result of that night made him wince, but know he could definitely see the humour in it. He regretted having been anywhere near Arwen in his incapacitated state, he couldn't remember everything he had said to her, but from what he could recall it had been rather embarrassing and unfortunate. This was also confirmed by the fact that the lady in question had burst into hysterical giggles everytime she had seen him the next day, something that he found highly unnerving.

He had been swigging continuously while musing these thoughts, though he hadn't noticed the fact, and so when he looked down at the bottle he was a little surprised to find that he only had half left. He replaced the lid and put it back into his pack, taking out the waterproof package this time.

On opening it he saw to his relief that no water had seeped in and he got out one of the wafers of lembas and munched away at it. The waybread gave him strength almost immediately and he had eaten his full after the first half.

Next he took his shirt back out of the bag and replaced it, glad at the warmth it gave his body which, despite the hotness of the sun, had been shivering after its sojourn in the icy, flowing waters of the Anduin. That done he put his worn leather overcoat on over the top and was ready to set out once more.

Finding Gollum's track proved to be slightly difficult, some of them had been washed away by the rising of the river in a recent bout of rain but eventually he came across them completely by accident. Aragorn had been walking along the edge of the bank and had not noticed the large root, until he tripped over it that was. He was about to curse it for getting in the way until he realised that he had fallen right next to the unmistakable prints of his quarry.

At that point he had, rather to his embarrassment, (though he blamed the wine) dropped to his knees next to the root and started kissing it, praising the valar for the wonderfulness of said twig. Then, upon realising what he had been doing he got up rather hastily, looked around to make sure that nobody had seen him, something that wasn't very likely due to the fact that he was in an area that was deserted other than the birds, and had carried on following the tracks, eager to catch up on Gollum and end his tiring quest as quickly as possible.

(So there you have, Lady Arwen beware, you have a rival, watch out for tree roots, they may steal your man. Ok to the person who reviewed, I am sorry if I got your name wrong, I got a review for another story who had a similar name to yours, I cant remember if it was Gruffy or Grumpy who reviewed this story but I think it was the latter so I will address the reply to you.

Grumpy-Thank you for the review, I agree, Aragorn really has got the bad end of the deal. Even though he and Denethor never got on I still feel he would much rather be in Gondor than tracking a slimy horrible creature. Or better yet nin Lothlorien with Arwen, maybe he can visit her again when he has given Gollum to the elves of Mirkwood, we shall see.

Yet again anyone else who reviewed and I just didn't get it in time I apologise, I haven't got the internet at my house so I cant go online and check for reviews otherwise I would. Don't blame me, blame ada nin. Namarie mellyn.)