CHAPTER III
WOES OF TH E WOESES
After we broke up camp, which only took a few hours, Glorfindel took as many wounded soldiers as possible, while the rest came along with us. We then marched in our homeland woods, trying to get to our home of Menegroth. The forest outside of Menegroth is a very dangerous place, for Necromancer's agents storm the place, along with poisonous snakes, insects, and the kin of Ungoliant. However, we were trained in the arts of avoiding these creatures, although we never encounter them because we spend most of our time in Menegroth, which is guarded so that these creatures rarely cause any trouble.
However, the open woods are another story. Most of the soldiers had never been outside Menegroth (I don't know how someone like that can join the army), so they were scared at the though of a spider leaping out of the woods, which aren't that hard to kill. The greatest threat was the Haradrim and that female with the blades. We also looked out for Woodmen villages, but our search was dim.
"How much farther do we have to home?" asked one soldier.
"About three more days", I responded.
"Three days! I thought we were talking hours!"
"Okay, that's a little less than seventy-two hours. Can you handle that? If not, you belong in your home with your mother bringing you warm bowls of baby food while you play soldier with your friends. Would you like that? Or do you want to be a real soldier? It's not that hard."
"I'll stay here. I just want to get home and not have to fight."
"In war, you have to fight. We normally don't have to fight, but we're in a war. Wars are about fighting. I'm not trying to be mean, but if you don't want to fight, I'll have to make you resign. Are you alright with that?"
"Yes". I could tell he was all shaken up by my speech. I wasn't trying to be mean to him, but he didn't want to fight and he joined an army. However, his parents probably wanted him to carry the tradition or something similar, so I felt somewhat bad for him.
"Besides", I told him. "It'll probably be a few days before we fight again." A few seconds later, as if the Valar heard my words, Duinrama ran up to me all panicked.
"Sir", said Duinrama.
"What?" I asked.
"It's the Haradrim. I see them through the trees. One whispered that there's a village nearby."
"Everyone be silent", I said very quietly. Even though I said it quietly, everyone heard. I made the signal for 'grab your bows and an arrow', and everyone complied. I aimed the bow towards the trees where Duinrama said the Haradrim were. I aimed the arrow at the nearest soldier, and all my kin aimed to. I made the signal for 'I'll fire first and then you'll fire when I say so', and aimed at the nearest Haradrim. Once I had a clear shot I fired, and the arrow hit him square in the heart. Soon my other soldiers fired and several Haradrim fell. I then gave the 'fire at will' sign and everyone began to fire on the Haradrim. The Haradrim ran as fast as they could away from us, but they were no match for our bows.
"They're retreating", yelled a soldier. "We won!"
"They're not retreating", I said. "They're just running so they can get to the Woodman village faster and avoid our bows. Come! We must pursue!" I then gave the 'draw swords' signal and then ran through the trees to the path the Haradrim were taking. There were still some Haradrim left, so some of our soldiers started attacking the sword-wielding Haradrim. I ran as fast as I could to the village so that the Woodmen could be saved. Aralokë, who was ahead of me, threw a rock at a Haradrim who was on a horse, and caused the Haradrim to fall of. He then got onto the horse and began to fire arrows at the other horse-bearing Haradrim. I was proud of him somewhat, for he was one of my soldiers and just found a very crafty way to help us accomplish our goal. As the soldiers were still combating the few Haradrim, I raised my sword up high in the air.
"Leave them", I shouted. "We must go to the village." I then charged down the same path that Aralokë took and my army followed. A minute later, we came to a hill, and at the bottom of the hill there was a village. I'm sure the village would've been impressive at a different time, with it's hundreds of tents and several religious platforms, but this day it was a sickening sight, for nearly all of the tents were on fire and several tall, meek, lanky people were either running away from the Haradrim menace or facing them with their primitive weapons.
"CHARGE!" I yelled. Everyone then ran down the hill (except for Aralokë, who rode down the hill) and yelled to intimidate our dark-skinned enemies. My soldiers covered the campsite like the Flies of Mordor to a rotting Oliphaunt, slashing at all the enemy soldiers and giving the Woodmen time to escape. Aralokë's horse got his front leg got chopped off and was wailing madly, but he jumped off the horse and began to attack all the enemies around him. I was looking for a good fight when I found a young female covering her three children from a Haradrim soldier, who seemed to be very interested in the woman's body. I then ran as fast as I could up to the soldier and sliced off his head with one swift stroke. Several more soldiers came charging at me, so I grabbed my sword and swung it around. I deflected every strike that came at me and swung behind the soldiers, allowing me to stick my blade through their gut.
All the other soldiers seemed to be fighting this fight really well, except for Aralokë. He looked as if he had seen this battle before in a vision and knew what the outcome would be. Man, how those visions got to him. I don't know what magical potions he took from the healer's cabinet, but he sure seemed to know his fate. Maybe he was born like that. Maybe he made all the stories up. Maybe it was just a dream. Maybe he looks nervous because he's afraid to die. Maybe maybe maybe...
"LOOK OUT!" yelled a voice from afar. I leaped out of the way and saw that someone threw a large boulder at me. I decided to see what threw the boulder, and saw a large bear yelling out.
"IT'S THE BEAR! ", yelled one of the Haradrim in his native tongue. "RETREAT! " All the Haradrim then began to run as the bear ran up to them and slashed them, the woodmen blew blow darts at them, and my soldiers fired several volleys of arrows in their direction. Within seconds, the Haradrim were no longer a problem.
"What do we do about the bear?" asked Duinrama, who ran up to me.
"It's no ordinary bear", said one of the woodmen. "Watch". Then, like magic, the bear suddenly transformed into a tall, portly man. I then instantly recognized who the bear was. It was Beorn the Beoring, lord of the woods.
WOES OF TH E WOESES
After we broke up camp, which only took a few hours, Glorfindel took as many wounded soldiers as possible, while the rest came along with us. We then marched in our homeland woods, trying to get to our home of Menegroth. The forest outside of Menegroth is a very dangerous place, for Necromancer's agents storm the place, along with poisonous snakes, insects, and the kin of Ungoliant. However, we were trained in the arts of avoiding these creatures, although we never encounter them because we spend most of our time in Menegroth, which is guarded so that these creatures rarely cause any trouble.
However, the open woods are another story. Most of the soldiers had never been outside Menegroth (I don't know how someone like that can join the army), so they were scared at the though of a spider leaping out of the woods, which aren't that hard to kill. The greatest threat was the Haradrim and that female with the blades. We also looked out for Woodmen villages, but our search was dim.
"How much farther do we have to home?" asked one soldier.
"About three more days", I responded.
"Three days! I thought we were talking hours!"
"Okay, that's a little less than seventy-two hours. Can you handle that? If not, you belong in your home with your mother bringing you warm bowls of baby food while you play soldier with your friends. Would you like that? Or do you want to be a real soldier? It's not that hard."
"I'll stay here. I just want to get home and not have to fight."
"In war, you have to fight. We normally don't have to fight, but we're in a war. Wars are about fighting. I'm not trying to be mean, but if you don't want to fight, I'll have to make you resign. Are you alright with that?"
"Yes". I could tell he was all shaken up by my speech. I wasn't trying to be mean to him, but he didn't want to fight and he joined an army. However, his parents probably wanted him to carry the tradition or something similar, so I felt somewhat bad for him.
"Besides", I told him. "It'll probably be a few days before we fight again." A few seconds later, as if the Valar heard my words, Duinrama ran up to me all panicked.
"Sir", said Duinrama.
"What?" I asked.
"It's the Haradrim. I see them through the trees. One whispered that there's a village nearby."
"Everyone be silent", I said very quietly. Even though I said it quietly, everyone heard. I made the signal for 'grab your bows and an arrow', and everyone complied. I aimed the bow towards the trees where Duinrama said the Haradrim were. I aimed the arrow at the nearest soldier, and all my kin aimed to. I made the signal for 'I'll fire first and then you'll fire when I say so', and aimed at the nearest Haradrim. Once I had a clear shot I fired, and the arrow hit him square in the heart. Soon my other soldiers fired and several Haradrim fell. I then gave the 'fire at will' sign and everyone began to fire on the Haradrim. The Haradrim ran as fast as they could away from us, but they were no match for our bows.
"They're retreating", yelled a soldier. "We won!"
"They're not retreating", I said. "They're just running so they can get to the Woodman village faster and avoid our bows. Come! We must pursue!" I then gave the 'draw swords' signal and then ran through the trees to the path the Haradrim were taking. There were still some Haradrim left, so some of our soldiers started attacking the sword-wielding Haradrim. I ran as fast as I could to the village so that the Woodmen could be saved. Aralokë, who was ahead of me, threw a rock at a Haradrim who was on a horse, and caused the Haradrim to fall of. He then got onto the horse and began to fire arrows at the other horse-bearing Haradrim. I was proud of him somewhat, for he was one of my soldiers and just found a very crafty way to help us accomplish our goal. As the soldiers were still combating the few Haradrim, I raised my sword up high in the air.
"Leave them", I shouted. "We must go to the village." I then charged down the same path that Aralokë took and my army followed. A minute later, we came to a hill, and at the bottom of the hill there was a village. I'm sure the village would've been impressive at a different time, with it's hundreds of tents and several religious platforms, but this day it was a sickening sight, for nearly all of the tents were on fire and several tall, meek, lanky people were either running away from the Haradrim menace or facing them with their primitive weapons.
"CHARGE!" I yelled. Everyone then ran down the hill (except for Aralokë, who rode down the hill) and yelled to intimidate our dark-skinned enemies. My soldiers covered the campsite like the Flies of Mordor to a rotting Oliphaunt, slashing at all the enemy soldiers and giving the Woodmen time to escape. Aralokë's horse got his front leg got chopped off and was wailing madly, but he jumped off the horse and began to attack all the enemies around him. I was looking for a good fight when I found a young female covering her three children from a Haradrim soldier, who seemed to be very interested in the woman's body. I then ran as fast as I could up to the soldier and sliced off his head with one swift stroke. Several more soldiers came charging at me, so I grabbed my sword and swung it around. I deflected every strike that came at me and swung behind the soldiers, allowing me to stick my blade through their gut.
All the other soldiers seemed to be fighting this fight really well, except for Aralokë. He looked as if he had seen this battle before in a vision and knew what the outcome would be. Man, how those visions got to him. I don't know what magical potions he took from the healer's cabinet, but he sure seemed to know his fate. Maybe he was born like that. Maybe he made all the stories up. Maybe it was just a dream. Maybe he looks nervous because he's afraid to die. Maybe maybe maybe...
"LOOK OUT!" yelled a voice from afar. I leaped out of the way and saw that someone threw a large boulder at me. I decided to see what threw the boulder, and saw a large bear yelling out.
"IT'S THE BEAR! ", yelled one of the Haradrim in his native tongue. "RETREAT! " All the Haradrim then began to run as the bear ran up to them and slashed them, the woodmen blew blow darts at them, and my soldiers fired several volleys of arrows in their direction. Within seconds, the Haradrim were no longer a problem.
"What do we do about the bear?" asked Duinrama, who ran up to me.
"It's no ordinary bear", said one of the woodmen. "Watch". Then, like magic, the bear suddenly transformed into a tall, portly man. I then instantly recognized who the bear was. It was Beorn the Beoring, lord of the woods.