Fangorn

Involuntarily, I had to swallow. But I didn't get a chance to think about what would be the next thing to get me in its grasp, because at that moment I heard a cracking noise.

Aescrof, who up to now had his ears pointed forward attentively, put them back again. He stopped and threw his head up. I took the hint and slipped off his back as quickly as I could, my hand clasped tightly around the only dagger I still carried. In addition, I had a few arrows in the quiver on my back. I could also use them for defense in case of an emergency.

Another crack.

My heart leapt. I had to think of Merry and Pippin, who had been caught in a similar situation. How likely was it that one or more of the orcs had followed me into the woods?

High.

Very high.
Would I be able to defend myself against them? And what did they want from me? Kill me? Something inside me didn't believe that. They had me surrounded. And then they had paused. As if they were waiting for something... or someone. Only one of them had come rushing at me. Just one of them.

Yet another crack.

My hand closed tighter around the dagger.

And then I saw them: there were two of them. The orcs were sneaking through the underwood, making so much noise that even my grandmother, deaf on one ear, would have heard them.

I carefully took cover behind a tree, my hands so sweaty that the dagger almost slipped from my fingers. Aescrof had dropped to his knees and lay on the ground as if he knew we were less conspicuous that way. This animal had more wits than me. And obviously he trusted my defensive skills more than I did.

I swallowed.

Then Legolas' words came to my mind: If you are afraid to go into battle, you must know that all of us are. No one is free from fear. But being fearless does not mean the absence of fear, but rather not being paralyzed by it at the crucial moment. As if he had foreseen this situation.

With a deep breath, I accepted the pounding of my heart and the trembling of my fingers. I would not be able to stop it, but I had to act in spite of it.

For a moment longer, I stayed behind the tree before gathering my courage and giving myself a push.

The orcs hadn't spotted me yet, so that was good. Ducking, I crept behind some large stones in a semicircle around them. I had to manage to get behind them somehow, that was the only way I would be able to surprise them.

They hissed malice at each other in a language I had never heard before. It sounded dark and as if I didn't want to understand it at all. Still, I had to know what they were up to. I had to guess.

At that moment, I stepped on something that crushed under my feet with a loud crack. I froze to ice, but I knew they had heard it. And I knew I only had one more chance. So I took a swing and threw.

The dagger hit one of the orcs in the neck. He slumped down without any trouble. But the other one was warned now. He wheeled around and hissed at me. Before I could take cover again, he sprinted toward me in a strangely distorted motion. As fast as I could, I spun around and went running.

But I didn't get far. The creature was more agile than I thought. It caught up, I almost felt its touch on my skin. Then two claws grabbed my ankle.

With a yelp, I stumbled, sprawling to the ground. My head hit one of the large tree roots and I saw stars.

That gave the orc enough time to finally catch up to me. Two gasps and he was on top of me. His foul breath brushed across my cheek.

Disgusted, I turned my head away. My hand felt around for something, anything to defend myself with, but other than soft moss and some cones, I found absolutely nothing.

"Don't be afraid" The orc grinned at me, I couldn't help but stare at him. It seemed like he had to force his tongue to speak Westron. As if it disgusted him. "Come with me, kitty."

"I won't," I hissed.

He laughed, mocking me. Why didn't he kill me? Why did he just press me to the ground with one clawed hand like he was waiting for something? And then the scales fell from my eyes as I lay on the forest floor, barely able to breathe under the pressure bearing down on my chest: It had been no accident. The orcs had surrounded me because they wanted me alive.

This creature here did the same. Someone wanted to get their hands on me. And I had a hunch that once they had what they wanted, the promise of getting away with my life wouldn't last very long.

Shit.

My heartbeat sped up even faster as I realized that the creature wanted me as a hostage, and if I didn't free myself from it - who knew what would happen to me?

My fingers found something that felt solid and automatically grabbed it.

It was a stone.

And I didn't hesitate for a second.

The orc toppled away to the side, only one of his legs still half on me. I quickly pushed it away and got to my feet. But the creature was tougher than I thought, and as soon as I got up, it snatched at me again.

I stumbled backwards until I bumped into a tree trunk. The orc came after me, grabbed me by the throat and pressed me against the wood. He hissed. "Don't you ever do that again, kitty."

With a gurgle, I squirmed under the pressure of his grip. He was squeezing the air out of me; if he didn't stop soon, I would pass out. Stars danced at the edges of my field of vision, narrowing it until only a black tunnel remained, at the end of which the orc's distorted grimace was awaiting me.

Without warning, the pressure was removed from my neck. I slumped to my knees and sucked in the air.

One breath.

Two.

Then I had recovered enough to be aware of my surroundings enough to notice that the orc was no longer there. He had simply... disappeared.

I quickly struggled to my feet, spun around in a circle, unable to understand what had just happened, until the creature suddenly fell from the sky a few feet away from me.

And remained lying there.

What on earth?

"A human being in my forest," said a deep voice in my back. "I wonder what it wants here."