Thank you for your review, Autore Kozoma. Here is another installment.
Playing Tag with Orcs
Anomen moved steadily east through the trees in the direction of the Misty Mountains. The temperature dropped as the day drew to its close, but during his stay at Rivendell Anomen had grown strong and was not bothered by the chill in the air. He had had little to eat in the days prior to his arrival at Elrond's Hall, but he had been making up for that each night at the Lord's table; and the hours spent running, wrestling, riding, and shooting in the company of Elrond and Elladan had strengthened his muscles and improved his stamina, which had begun to flag by the time of his encounter with Mithrandir in the woods of Imladris.
Arwen, however, was not so lucky. She was only a little elfling, after all, and became chilled much more quickly than Anomen, who, though also an elfling, was nevertheless a much older and larger one. Arwen was shivering even before the sun set, and once its warmth was gone, her jaw began to ache as she clenched her teeth together to stop them from chattering so violently. She longed to stop and huddle at the foot of a tree, but dimly she sensed that she had better keep moving. And so she stumbled on, still moving away from the Hall in a straight line.
Anomen, with wood skill that Arwen lacked, was able to find shelter after the setting of the sun and so chose not to move on. He looked about until he found a hollow in a tree, into which he crawled, pulling leaves and branches after him until he was quite snug. He would have been completely comfortable were it not for the ache in his head. He had been trying for hours to ignore the words of the trees, which had grown from whispers to moans to shouts to shrieks. He had never experienced anything like the pain that came from stubbornly trying to block out these insistent voices. "They're Imladris trees," Anomen declared to himself. "I won't listen to them!" At last he drifted off into an uneasy sleep.
Arwen kept on moving steadily throughout the night, hugging herself to keep warm and from time to time stopping to stamp her feet until she could again feel her toes. By dawn she was stumbling and swaying, but she was resolute. Once Arwen fixed her mind upon something, she could not be swayed, and she had fixed her mind upon finding her beloved Nomie! This was a character trait that her brothers and father had found both admirable and vexing. Now it stood her in good stead, for, having traveled through the night, she was indeed near to Anomen's hiding place.
Anomen awoke, crawled out of the hollow, stood, and stretched his cramped limbs. Then he set about looking for food and water. During his month in Rivendell, he had learned to recognize several edible plants that had not been familiar to him in Greenwood, so, even in this cold season, he did not fear that he would be unable to locate roots and nuts sufficient for his survival. After a short time scouring the undergrowth, he did indeed collect enough for a breakfast, meager but adequate, and he satisfied his thirst at a creek. Then he began to move eastward again. The trees were beginning to thin, so he knew he could not be far from the border of Imladris. He was anxious to put he forest behind him. As soon as he had stirred, the trees had begun clamoring again, and the ache in his head, which had subsided during the night, awoke once again. Anomen found that the pain was making him move more and more slowly. The closer he came to the border of Imladris, the slower he seemed to travel.
In the end that was a good thing, for if Anomen, heedless as he was, had been moving quickly, he might have stumbled into the middle of the Orcs camping just within the fringe of the forest. He had been just about to cross from one tree to the next when he spotted the Orcs sprawled about on the ground directly beneath him. Fortunately most Orcs lack the capacity to think in more than two-dimensions, so no eyes were raised into the tree. Moreover, it was daylight, so most of the Orcs were sleeping. Still, as Anomen scrambled back to hide himself on the far side of the trunk, he scraped a fragment of bark from the branch, which fell into the open mouth of a dozing Orc.
"Hrrrgh," gagged the Orc, who, sitting up, spit the bark into his hand and stared at it. "Where'd this come from?"
"From the tree, idiot. Where else would bark come from?" snarled one of his companions.
The Orc raised his eyes and glared at the branch above him. "So what's it doing down here? Bark belongs on trees. Skin belongs on Orcs. You don't see pieces of my skin hopping off and landing in someone's mouth."
"Yeah, well, if yeh don't shut up, a piece of yer skin might be cut off and land in someone's mouth," grumbled another Orc, who didn't appreciate being roused from his dream, which had been very satisfying, involving as it did crushing and smashing and slashing.
"Shut up the lot of yeh," growled their leader. "Yeh never heard of squirrels? Bunch of mine Orcs, yeh are. Yeh'd think yeh'd never seen a tree before."
After a considerable amount of snarling and grumbling and poking and jabbing, the camp settled down again, leaving a lone Orc on watch. Anomen began to breathe more easily as he considered what to do. He had no doubt that he could circle around this camp and so continue his journey. But should he? Did Elrond and Glorfindel know about this band of Orcs? Anomen hadn't seen any sign that elvish scouts had searched this part of the forest any time recently. After all, reasoned Anomen, the patrols couldn't be everywhere at once. Likely this Orcish band had hitherto gone undiscovered—if it had been detected, surely by now elvish warriors would have rudely interrupted the Orcs' little nap! Anomen also wondered where this band was heading and what the Orcs were planning. The band of Orcs was not large enough for a frontal assault on Rivendell, but it was rather a large company for scouting alone. Did these Orcs plan to mount a raid, targeting one of the smaller bands of Elves that from time to time set out on trading or diplomatic missions? Anomen made up his mind. He must return to Rivendell in order to warn Elrond of the presence of these Orcs.
As soon as Anomen reached that decision, the shrieking trees fell silent. Then, very softly, he heard a murmur, "Look out for her; look out for the little one." Almost simultaneously, he heard a rustling in the undergrowth below. Peering down, he was horrified to see Arwen looking up at him, smiling, her mouth open as if she were about to hail him. "Shhhh," he whispered urgently. "Don't move; don't make a sound."
Mercifully, Arwen nodded and quietly sat down at the base of the tree. Apparently she thought this was a game; had she not, no doubt her innate stubbornness would have prompted her to shout and stamp her feet. Realizing this, Anomen said softly, "I am going to be very silly and make a great deal of noise. When I do, you jump up and run back the way you came. I will chase after you and catch you. Run very fast, so I cannot catch you too easily. Do you understand?"
Delighted, Arwen nodded vigorously. Reassured, Anomen crept away from the trunk, balancing on the branch above the sleeping Orcs. With his feet, he kicked off several pieces of bark, which landed on the faces and in the hair of the Orcs.
"Yrrrgh-ugh-umf," snarled and coughed at least six of the creatures. One of the bewildered Orcs stared up at the tree and caught sight of Anomen.
"What's that!? What's that there up th'tree!?"
"I'm a squirrel," shouted Anomen. "Can't you tell, you miserable mine Orc!? I'm a squirrel!"
All the Orcs were awake now and glowering at Anomen. Out of the corner of his eye, Anomen saw Arwen scurrying away.
"A squirrel, eh," bellowed the leader. "We skin squirrels and eat'em for dinner. After 'im boys! Choicest morsel goes to the one who knocks the rat off that branch."
Anomen dodged a shower of missiles—the Orcs threw everything from rocks and sticks to frying pans and kettles—and danced lightly back behind the shelter of the trunk. The Orcs swarmed around the base of the tree, but Anomen didn't care; he took off running along a branch and leaped to the next tree. The Orcs tried to keep up, craning their necks as they tried to spot him in the canopy, but although they caught an occasional glimpse of him, after a time he evaded them altogether. The Orcs, exceedingly hungry after all this exercise, were forced to return disappointed to their camp. Anomen was now free to go off in pursuit of Arwen, who was still merrily scrambling through the woods.
TBC