Summary: What happened to the four wraiths that were not immediately chasing Frodo in the Fellowship of the Ring? Set before the Council of Elrond, for the characters that you did not see...
Four Wraiths Behind You:
Leave Taking and Pursuit:
"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost..."
Early the next morning, indeed before the sun had fully risen above the Misty Mountains, Aragorn was ready to depart.
"Must you go so soon?" Legolas asked sadly.
Dark times may have been fading from Mirkwood, with the banishment of the Necromancer from Dol Guldul, but there still hung a great threat over Middle-earth, one that Legolas would have preferred to not be a part of. But they were a part of it, and had to deal with the problems they were faced with.
Aragorn nodded slightly.
"I travel East to Bree, and perhaps beyond; but I have a feeling we'll be meeting again soon,"
"Tenna' ento lye omenta -
Until next we meet," Legolas returned and the two embraced before Aragorn mounted his horse.
"Noro Airahui, Noro lim,"
Airahui obeyed his new master, and the two sped away from the Kings halls and down Elf Path; ere they drew out of Elvish sight, Legolas began to climb the nearest tree to better his view of their path. Above the tree line the Misty Mountains rose higher than anything he could see to the East. The morning sun reflected off their peaks like water and momentarily blinded him as he stared out into the distance.
Aragorn would be fine, he decided, Valar he had seen more of Middle-earth than many Elves who could count hundreds of years behind them! He had to be fine...
To the South, down in the valley of Mirkwood, there rose another peak. Dol Guldur. Legolas sat for a time and wondered what really lay there now. It was still a much feared place, certainly home to some evil creatures and undoubtedly dangerous, but if Sauron was really gone, then what, Legolas pondered, what was there now. Clearly a few decades had not been enough to rid the forest of its evil.
"Banished indeed!" He sighed and climbed down. He had remembered Gollum...
It was nearly a two-day journey to the Old Ford, and Aragorn only stopped a few times for his horse's sake. He was thoroughly impressed with Airahui's endurance and hoped he hadn't put his companion through more than he could manage. The ranger did not even stop to meet with Beorn as he had wished to.
On the third day they crossed the Ford and approached the Ever-looming Mountain range.
"The high pass is no place for a horse," Aragorn sighed halting Airahui and sliding off his back. There was little to remove from Airahui, and after a few minutes he was burden free.
"Vanne aldamo naa Tel'Quessir-
Journey back to the Elves," Aragorn said softly, but Airahui was quite stubborn. Aragorn laughed, "like your masters no doubt... But you cannot journey through the mountains, Go! Or Legolas will be waiting for you!"
It had been a full week since Aragorn's departure from Mirkwood, and King Thranduil had taken much council with advisors and messengers on what the arrival of Gollum meant for the Woodelves. Legolas caught him after a particularly weary afternoon under the trees outside the gates to the Hall.
"Aaye Ada,"
"Mae govannen Legolas..."
The two stood quietly for a while and finally Thranduil began to walk, conferring with his son on recent events.
"Young minds," he began, "can often see that which the old cannot," He smiled,
"What troubles you?"
"This business with Isildurs bane..."
"You believe it to be true?"
"Do you not?" Thranduil replied. Trust his father to reply with a question!
"I did not expect you to accept it so readily, but as you ask… I believe there is more at work in this than 'co-incidences'."
"Oh?"
"Bilbo Baggins tale at the Battle of Five Armies, it does seem to fit now doesn't it."
Thranduil smiled. "Yes it does.
And what of Gollum?" He asked,
"That I am not so sure... I do not trust him, yet I do not think we should lock him away indefinitely, perhaps that is what drove him to become as he is..." Legolas said sullenly.
"I agree," Thranduil replied. Legolas was surprised; Gollum had done nothing but curse the King and his people. "His heart, though corrupt it may be, is faulted by the very thing he was sought for. I agreed to Mithrandir's request, to hold the creature here for as long as necessary and until we know all we can of the Ring, but I cannot hold its corruption against him. We are to ask him nothing of the Ring, not until we hear from those in the White Order, or your Edain companion," the King went on, noting Legolas' unusual friendship with the would-be, or rather should-be King of Gondor.
"It may not be up to us in the end Legolas," Thranduil concluded, "they may return with good or I fear ill tidings soon enough, but all we have to worry about it what to do now, and that is not such a bad thing. There is nothing we can ask of Gollum, save keeping him here, and in that we may yet be of some help."
Aragorn smiled to himself as he climbed high up into the Misty Mountains and looked back upon Mirkwood in the distance. It was but a days climb to the peak of the mountains and a downward climb to Rivendell. Taking a moments rest, Aragorn sat and pulled out a bag of rations he'd been saving since the forest. It was then that he tuned into sounds other than the breeze and occasional call of birds. Conversation, loud and unchecked.
"Not now..." he groaned. It was commonly known that Orcs, particularly Goblins roamed the Misty Mountains and he had no desire to meet any today. Rapidly setting off on his way, Aragorn shifted his course not up the mountains but along, Northwards away from the voices. There was little choice in the matter.
After a mere hour or so, Aragorn was thoroughly irritated at having gone so far out of his way. And the Goblins, having discovered that they were in fact Goblins, seemed to have no intention of turning back. He didn't think he'd been found out, and their course was likely to an Orc dwelling within the mountains, but if they didn't turn off, or he didn't find cover the two would very soon meet.
"Eru..." he muttered quietly, scratching his hands on the rocks as he climbed. It was to his dismay, that as he clung tightly to the rock face, a new group of voices became audible and were coming from the North.
He was trapped! There was nothing for it, it was either climb back down or attempt to finish what he started, and back wasn't an option at this point.
"Time is running out!" He told himself, "I must find Gandalf, soon!"
With that in mind, Aragorn attempted what was quite possibly the most reckless thing he had ever done in his life, and years later would count among the very highest of his reckless actions. He pulled himself up onto the rock to which he clung, leapt across a deep and quite wide crevasse and landed somewhat haphazardly on the other side of the fissure. But by then, the Goblins were aware of him.
"There!" They shouted, "Get him"
"Spy!"
"Ranger!"
"After him!"
And so it began...
Thanks to Grumpy, my first official review, and to Amunet for brilliantly opting to be my Beta! I thank you both :) the next chapter should be away soon, so hold on for a bit!
Also I have to thank Mebrieth big time for alerting me - chapters 2 and 3 were the same! It must have been when I uploaded them again, so thanks very much! And your review was very encouraging! Cola xx