Laurelin became more popular in the company after her race with Eldarion. The soldiers began to acknowledge her existence more often than they had done previously.
They traveled two more days till they reached the Fangorn Forest. The foreboding rise of the trees abruptly stopped the company's steady pace. The trees were too thick for horses to ride through and even after the wood came the mountains that stood in the way. Laureling buried her head in Linad's honey colored coat, knowing that Prince Eldarion would have the horses sent away.
After studying maps and listening to the more experienced soldiers, Prince Eldarion stirred and walked back to his horse, "We can go no further with the horses," He said taking his bow that was strapped on the saddle, "I fear we must send the steeds home."
Laurelin buried her face in Linad's mane, "I believe that the spoiled prince is right," She whispered to Linad. The horse's ears perked at the sound of Laurelin's voice, "You must go back to Rohan and wait for me there. Do not worry, I shall return soon to fetch you," She said taking the soldiers pack from her horse and throwing it onto the ground, "Ride now Linad." She commanded with a heavy heart.
With a final glance back at her mistress, Linad galloped off with the other horses. Laurelin watched her fleeting form till she was lost to the horizon.
She glanced down at the saddle bag. She could not carry it all the way to Moria. Taking out the wooden bowl and tucking it away in her pocket, she fingered the elven dagger at her waist. Her quiver was already strapped onto her back with her bow wedged around it securely. It was all she needed.
"We'll need scouts to venture first, the fleetest of foot in our company." The Prince announced to the company as they gathered at the head of the forest. He named Rolen, himself and three other soldiers that Laurelin did not know. Laurelin felt her stomach lurch with annoyance. She was the smallest in the company and was quiet and swift. She looked over at Rolen with pleading eyes. She wanted to go so badly.
Prince Eldarion looked over at her with distaste, "She might be swift on horseback, but I do not know if she is just as fast while on foot,"
"Look at the lass, your highness. No armour, nothing to slow her down. Why, she should be the best choice for a scout." Answered Rolen.
Reluctantly the prince mentally agreed. He could not let his personal dislike for the girl get in the way of his judgment as a leader. "Morwen!" He shouted above the din of soldiers, "You will come as well."
Laurelin gave the prince a tight lipped smile, though her face ached to smile, "Yes sire!" She answered, her voice full and glad.
The Prince nodded grimly and turned to the group of chosen scouts as Laurelin approached.
"We shall split into two groups of three," The Prince stated, Laurelin standing beside Rolen, "Rolen, Morwen; you shall follow me to the east. The rest of you shall follow to the west after fifty counts upon our leave," Without warning, Eldarion sped off into the wood.
Surprised by the Prince's abrupt departure, Rolen soon followed with Laurelin in tow. They followed Eldarion with out a sound, leaping over roots, dodging low hanging branches and sidestepping moss eaten boulders. Fangorn forest had an ancient, green air that filled it like an autumn sun. However, despite the peaceful appearance of the wood, the trees seemed foreboding. Laurelin had never been in a forest this old before; it was quite a mystical and inexplicable experience.
Laurelin almost ran into the Prince when he stopped suddenly. He was still for a moment, silent and immobile as a man turned to stone, then he dropped to the ground and pressed his ear against the bed of pine needles.
"Something draws near, something..." He mumbled.
Laurelin looked over at Rolen who held the same tense expression as the prince.
Eldarion stood rigidly, "It's something heavy and evil; iron shod shoes. It's approaching swiftly." He leapt up onto a near by tree and climbed up onto one of it's branches. Drawing an arrow from his quiver, he motioned for Rolen and Laurelin to hide.
Rolen quickly ducked behind a large stump, but Laurelin stood frozen. The seriousness of the situation was the antithesis of her peaceful surroundings. She heard nothing; only the friendly whistle of a sparrow or the distant hum of a far off stream. Nothing else. Then the resonance of harsh laughter and cruel voices reached her ears, making her unable to breathe for the fright that pulsed through her body like adrenaline, cementing her feet to the forest floor.
"Get down!" Eldarion hissed sharply.
But Laurelin could not move. Just before the bulky figures of orcs immerged from the trees, Eldarion leapt from his perch and plummeted into Laurelin. He grabbed her by the shoulders and waist and rolled into a sheltered ditch, covered by pine branches.
Laurelin almost screamed, but Eldarion quickly covered her lips with a hand, mouthing to her to be quiet. She could not breathe, but when she saw the orcs come into the clearing she was glad of it. The frightening forms of the grotesque monsters left her inert with terror. They spoke in a strange tongue she could not understand. Eldarion and Laurelin lay motionless. Laurelin looked up at Eldarion. His face was overwrought and motionless. Laurelin closed her eyes, wishing to block out the orcs but their voices rang through the forest, disturbing its solitary, primeval calm. She waited for what seemed like eternity, till the orcs picked up their gleaming scimitars and left, defiling the wood with their muddy footprints.
Eldarion did not move, looking after the orcs. He seemed to have forgotten everything else and was deep in thought. Now with the orcs gone, Laurelin wish to breathe again. The dull weight of Eldarion's body still lay upon her, and his hand still was depressed hard across her mouth. Laurelin squealed softly into his hand, hoping he'd remember her. He looked down, back to reality and leaving his thoughts to the corridors of his mind. He smirked at her and lifted his hand.
"You were lucky, Morwen," His eyebrows arched, "You could have been beheaded by one of those cruel blades." with that he rolled off of her. Laurelin breathed in deeply and sat up in the little ditch.
"They are headed for Moria as well," Eldarion said, moving out of the ditch and looking back after the orc host.
"How do you know that?" Laurelin asked looking at him past the little grotto of tree branches.
Eldarion looked at her and held out his hand. Laurelin took it and emerged from the ditch, brushing pine needles from her clothes.
"They spoke of it. They are going there to try to defend the mines from the impending attack. They come from what used to be Mordor, until it fell." He answered picking up his discarded bow and arrow from under his perch tree.
"You understood them?" Laurelin's mouth dropped open in surprise.
Eldarion returned the arrow to his quiver and looked over at her with a quick smile,
"Aye," He said then quietly began to follow the horde of scum.
Laurelin looked over at Rolen. He shrugged and followed Eldarion. Laurelin gave an exasperated groan and followed him. May be there was more to the prince than what she had first thought.
"They should have been out of the forest by now," mumbled Eldarion, running his fingers through his thick long black hair nervously.
"May haps they were delayed, sire. It can happen in a forest of that size," Offered Rolen.
They were on the other side of the wood now, right between where the trees of Fangorn ended and the Misty Mountain's sheer cliffs began. There had been no sign of the rest of their company for almost five hours and the sun was being lost to the west. Laurelin sat on the thin grass, anxiously drumming her fingers on the hard soil. The foliage was not as thick here as it was in the woods or even on the fields of Rohan.
"They should have gotten here before us," Said Laurelin quietly.
"I recognize that Morwen, and I don't need some half grown maid telling me what I already know!" Eldarion snapped at Laurelin.
Laurelin glared at the prince's rigid uneasy figure hatefully as he stood peering into the woods. She loathed him.
The three stood still for a moment, just listening to the lonely wind that howled through the crevices of the nearby mountains. The very earth seemed to be moaning and the air that they breathed was thick with fear of the unknown. Something was not right.
"I'm going back into the forest to try to find them," Said Eldarion picking up his discarded sword and returning it to his sheath, "You two stay here and start a fire. Eat what you can find and wait for me." And with that, Eldarion ran off back into the darkening forest.
"We might as well follow orders and find some dinner and such," Said Rolen picking up his dagger after a moment.
"I'll start a fire," Laurelin volunteered.
"I'll go find us some supper. I'll see you in a few hours," He said picking up his dagger and walking off into the growing darkness.
Laurelin gathered some dead dry wood that lay around the area she had been told to stay in and started a small flame in the middle of them. Gimli, being a dwarf, had a natural talent at fire making. He had taught her the best techniques and at that moment she was very happy he had.
Rolen arrived in less than an hour, carrying two rabbits he had slain.
"Returning victorious I see," Laurelin said, trying to lift the somber mood.
"Aye lass, and we shall feast upon rabbit flesh till we burst," He answered with a smile, "Course leavin' some for our valiant captain," He added putting the rabbits by the now glowing fire.
Laurelin frowned, "Let him starve," She said kicking a spray of dirt onto the fire. The flames blazed in protest.
"Don't be sayin' that now lass. After He be savin' you this morning." Rolen said sternly.
"Probably did it to appease his own conscious." She muttered, taking out her dagger and beginning to skin one of the lifeless rabbits.
"Now Morwen, I know you and the prince have not been on the best of terms, but he's really not that bad," He said sitting by her and beginning to strip the remaining hare of it's pelt, "Now I be havin' a talk to the prince last night after you an' him had a little run in. I told him about you runnin' away from an arranged marriage an' he understood an' promised not to throw you out of the company until we returned to Rohan. Now is that not nice and just of the good prince?"
Laurelin harshly continued her occupation, tearing the fur from the deceased rabbit. Rolen gave a sad sigh and went silent.
They continued to skin and cook the rabbits without a word. They had not a cauldron or cooking pot to make a rabbit stew out of, so they skewered the animals onto Rolen's short spear he had brought with him and slowly roasted them over the fire. Even though they were hungry, they quietly decided to split one rabbit and leave the other for the prince for when he returned. It had been several hours since he had left.
After they ate, Rolen went to his pack and took out a white clay pipe.
"I'm going off to smoke," He said rummaging through his pack for some weed.
"Why don't you smoke here?" Laurelin asked fretfully. She did not like the idea of being left alone in this thick foreboding darkness.
"My father always told me that it twas never polite to smoke in front of women and children. Even though we be in the middle of nowhere I still refuse to compromise me ethics." He answered with a smile.
Laurelin grinned back uneasily and watched him disappear into the shadows.
The moon's muted light was smoky as thin wisps of a cloud passed in front of it. The stars looked cold, dim and very, very far away. The fire gave a little comfort, merrily popping and crackling despite the solemn attitude that swept over the land.
Laurelin was half asleep when she heard a sound that made her sit up fast and reach for her bow. Footsteps were running through the wood behind her. They seemed to slow, than stopped completely ending with a loud thump.
"Rolen?" Laurelin called out warily, "Rolen is that you?"
A weak groan drifted through the dark. Drawing an arrow from her quiver that lay on the ground beside her, she readied her bow with shaking hands and stood.
"Who ever it is, you had better not keep silent. I will stick you with a thousand arrows if you do not answer soon," She called out into the murky night.
Only silence answered.
She cautiously began to walk forward, her senses sharp and alert with fear. She entered the wood and looked about. Only the shadows of trees could be seen. A moan erupted close beside her. Laurelin shrieked and jumped. In the faint moon and starlight, she could make out a crumpled human form upon the ground. She saw Eldarion's gleaming silver sheath around the form's waist. Laurelin dropped to her feet beside the prince and turned him over. There was a terrible gash across his forehead and his eyes were closed. She put her ear to his chest and listened intently for a heartbeat. She could just make out a quiet beating. Relieved that he was alive, she sat him up and draped one of his arms around her shoulders. Struggling, she stood up, clinging to Eldarion's motionless body. He was very heavy and she could barely drag him, but somehow she got him to the fireside.
In the stronger light, she could see that he had many scratches upon his face, neck, and the unprotected parts of his shoulders. The cut on his head looked quite serious. She took the chain mail shirt off of him and put it on the ground next to the fire. The prince now looked less regal in only his shirt, leggings and boots. She filled her supper bowl with some water and ripped a bit of cloth from her tunic. It was very hard to tend to his wounds with menial doctoring skills and inadequate materials, but she bathed his forehead and the deeper scratches on his neck and shoulders and bound them the best she could. She ended up having to use her whole tunic, ripping it to shreds for bandages. She thought it no loss considering it was already torn. Soon though, the stinging cool fingers of the evening breeze found its way through the thin fabric of her shirt and she was soon shivering.
Rolen returned after she had finished tending to the prince. He looked in shock on Eldarion's unconscious body by the fire.
"What happened?" He asked going to the prince's side. Laurelin sat next to Eldarion, trembling with the night chill. She told him all that had happened since he had left.
"It looks like Prince Eldarion got himself into quite a scarp of some sort. Probably with some of those orcs." He said, putting his pipe back into his pack, "Well, I say we not trust this place and keep a guard tonight. Would not be safe not to."
"I'll take first guard," Said Laurelin looking at the prince. His breath seemed to come more easily now than it had when she had first found him.
"Alright then, if you wish." Rolen answered, lying down on the hard ground, "Wake me up in a couple of hours or till you can't keep your eyelids open anymore." He said and was almost immediately asleep.
Laurelin shook her head and wrapped her arms around her knees, trying to keep away the cold. The bright flames leapt like jagged knives, hot and cruel. Laurelin soon found herself transfixed by them and concentrated on their warmth, trying to stay awake.
A couple of hours passed uneventfully. She looked over at Rolen. He lay stretched out and snoring like a dwarf, louder even. She chuckled sleepily and looked back at the fire.
Soon its heat lulled her into a troubled slumber that shook her mind and racked her body. She could not remember what happened in her dreams when she awoke shivering. Cold sweat slid down her back. She had fallen over from her sitting position and now lay by the fire. She sat up quickly and looked around. The sky had not lightened to dawn's early gray but the moon had sunk into the Misty Mountains. The fire had almost died away.
She looked over at Rolen. He still lay in the same position sleeping and snoring. Throwing some more wood on the fire, she went over and roused him. He awoke snorting and mumbling, but understood enough that it was his turn to guard.
Laurelin curled up next to the flames once more and slept without dreams. She did not stir till dawn.