Chapter Fifteen – Catastrophe and Confrontation

"Thank valor, he's stopped," said Estriel, dismounting Meg.

"If he didn't take a break sooner or later, I swear I would have strangled someone!" exclaimed Jenna, being helped off Thorne by Darayne.

"I do not think that it is because of himself that he is resting, but because of the creature," said Darayne.

"Whatever. If we get a rest, I ain't complaining," said Estriel, sitting on a tree stump.

"By the way, guys," said Jenna, sitting on the ground and munching on a slightly over-ripe apple. "Does anyone else think that we should have a plan, in case Aragorn finds us out?"

"What do you mean?" asked Estriel.

"Like, if he catches us, what do we say, or, if we see him coming – who hides the packs and stuff…"

"It is a good idea to be prepared," agreed Darayne.

Estriel nodded.

"Okay," began Jenna, getting up and starting to pace. "So, if he asks us why we're following him, we say…"

"You followed us first!" yelled Estriel.

"Oh, real mature, Es! What's next, I'm gonna tell Gandalf on you?!"

"No, maybe, I'm gonna tell the big flamey eye on you!"

"I'm not sure I understand…" began Darayne.

"Never mind…she's trying to be funny. Honestly, one comedy gig at the Pony and she thinks she's so…Ow!"

Estriel kicked Jenna from her tree stump. Perfect shin height.

"Well, anyway… I guess we just have to try and reason with him," said Estriel.

"He is not an easy man to reason with," said Darayne.

"Well, we'll just have to try," said Jenna, firmly, rubbing her leg. "Next – what if we see or hear him coming? I'll hide the packs, sleeping bags and other stuff, and you two hide the horses."

"Hide the horses?" said Estriel. "Where exactly, up a tree?"

"I don't know, just find somewhere…"

"What about ourselves?" asked Darayne.

"We should go up a tree!" said Estriel. Jenna was about to laugh when she saw that Estriel was, in fact, being serious.

"Up a tree?"

"It does make sense," said Darayne. "I do not think that he would look for us there."

"But all the same – up a tree?"

"It's so cunning!" said Estriel defensively. "So ingenious! So…elflike!"

"Fine," sighed Jenna.

And it was agreed.

Aragorn carried on, and the three followed. They reached the forest edge by nightfall, like Darayne had predicted, however he chose to stay inside it for that night. They slept well, and awoke to a quick breakfast. The girls had just finished getting changed when Darayne came bursting through the trees.

"He's coming!" he whispered.

"What?" yelled the girls.

"Sssssshhhhh!" hissed Darayne.

"Activate the plan! Activate the plan!" whispered Jenna, already starting to drag the packs behind a large tree.

The other two leapt into action, Estriel took Meg, and Darayne took Thorne, and they secured them behind a hefty bush. (Estriel whispered to them both to stay quiet.)

Meanwhile, Jenna had dragged their packs and sleeping bags behind the tree and was now covering them with dried leaves. She had just finished when Darayne and Estriel came over.

"What now?" she hissed.

"Tree!" exclaimed Estriel.

Estriel and Darayne climbed two of the nearest trees without any difficulty. Jenna however…was having problems.

"Jen, what's wrong?" whispered Estriel.

"I can't climb trees!" she said, looking panicked.

"I realised you didn't like the plan. I didn't realise you were incapable of carrying out the plan! Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"Well, I didn't want to sound lame!" said Jenna, gesturing to Darayne in a close by tree.

Estriel rolled her eyes and was conjuring a witty comment when she heard footsteps, and realised that there was no time for sarcasm. So, she reached down and helped Jenna up into the branches of the tree. Jenna held on for dear life as Aragorn appeared beneath them.

He looked around him, but thankfully not above him. Jenna and Estriel were barely breathing in case they made a single sound which alerted him to them.

Then, Strider bent down and picked something up. He examined it for a few moments, and then turned around, leaving the object in his hands visible to the girls.

It was a bright pink hairbrush.

Estriel shot a death stare at Jenna. Jenna mouthed "Sorry!" and winced slightly.

Suddenly, Jenna lost her balance, and fell on top of Estriel, who managed to grab hold of something before she fell out of the tree. Jenna caught a branch just in time, and the two froze – staring at each other in horror, eyes wide. Maybe he'll think it's just a really, really big bird, thought Jenna optimistically.

However, no such luck. Aragorn went over to the tree, whose leaves were still swaying slightly, and looked up into it.

"I know that you are up there!" he called. "Come down here this instance or face my wrath!"

Jenna looked at Estriel, who nodded, and the two slowly descended to face the man at the bottom.

"You!" exclaimed Aragorn.

"Yes," said Estriel.

"Hi," Jenna waved.

"What are you doing here? I told you to stay away from me!"

The two girls were speechless, until…

"You followed us first!"

"Estriel, shut up!"

"Have you been following me since Bree?" asked Aragorn.

"Technically…yes," said Jenna.

"So you have been tracking my every movement, watching me, without my consent?"

"It's not like that," said Estriel, recovering from her lame comeback.

"Besides the fact that you have been dishonest, you have been insolent! Two maidens, travelling in these parts alone? Unaccompanied? Unprotected?"

"They are not unaccompanied, nor unprotected" said Darayne, jumping down from the tree.

Aragorn spun around.

"You have them thinking that you will protect them?" he growled. "How foolish of them to believe your lies,"

"They are not lies," hissed Darayne.

Aragorn drew closer, and as he went for his sword, Jenna rushed over and stood in front of Darayne.

"No! You mustn't hurt him! He is no more at fault here than we are. We're sorry that we followed you without asking, really, we are, but can't we solve this by maybe talking, instead of using swords?"

It was a valiant effort, it's true, but Aragorn was past reasoning.

"Get out of my way, girl," he spat.

"No! We're not going to let you hurt him! Right, Es?"

"Um, well…" said Estriel, eyeing up the size of Aragorn's sword. She knew that she'd be the one that would end up being chopped in half if this went all wrong…Jenna had an annoyingly uncanny knack for escaping harm in the nick of time.

"Es!"

"Um, no, I guess not," she said reluctantly, stepping next to Jenna.

"Do you recall what I said to you in Bree? That if I saw him again I could not be responsible for my actions? You agreed to that, now you must honour your words and step aside," said Strider.

"No," said Jenna, speaking for her. "We are not going to let you hurt our friend."

Aragorn did not know what to do. He was not going to harm two seemingly innocent maidens, but his hatred for Darayne was rising, and he was almost shaking with anger.

"No, Jenna, you must let me face him," said Darayne, stepping out from behind the two girls.

"Oh, finally, he chooses to face me," said Aragorn.

The two men observed each other.

The two girls weren't sure who hated who more, but they were pretty confident that this couldn't end well.

"Where have you been hiding, Darayne?" sneered Aragorn. "So like Darath. Unwilling to face justice, unwilling to admit his wrongdoings…"

"Do not speak of him that way!" roared Darayne. "You know nothing of him! You, the heir of Isildur, caring of no-one but yourself!"

"You will shut your mouth, boy!"

The girls had the sinking feeling that Aragorn was about to go for his sword, when something rather strange happened.

They…froze, stood still like statues, not moving or breathing. Something weird was going on.

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