DISCLAIMER: No, I do not own any piece of the wonderful world that Tolkien named Middle-Earth. None of the characters places or names. Anything you recognize is not mine. All elvish (mainly sindarin) is from the site The council of Elrond. Don't steal my original characters, if you want to use them, ask first.

Saving Mirkwood

Chapter I

The she-elf was exhausted. As her legs kept running, dragging along the ground like they usually didn't do, breaking twigs, kicking up dirt and the dead leaves, she was very close to giving up.

She had been running for a good two days, with only water to drink, no food supply at all. The reason was closing in behind her, a pack orcs, armoured to their teeth, ready to kill. She heard them well now, their grunts and yells had come considerably closer the last hours.

She had been spotted by the devilish creatures evening, two days ago. Now evening was coming to the forest yet again. Even elves, who are born with much more strength than man, run tried at some point. For our friend, that point was long gone.

With a look of complete and utter desperation, she stopped. The slope started going upwards, and no matter how much she wanted, her legs refused to carry her up and over the hill.

She turned, and gazed into the trees. She would not have more than a few minutes before the orcs were upon her.

"400 meters away," she guessed, and undid her bow from her pack. She kneeled, partly covered by a tree. It would give her cover, at least for a while.

"100 meters," she guessed. She notched an arrow and stood up, leaning her back against the tree. A quick prayer to the Valar flew over her lips as the hammering of ironclad feet trampling the forest floor closed in on her.

OOO

"If you close your eyes now, all the long years of your life will be utterly spent," she muttered to herself as she watched the starry sky. She lay beside a small fire, her broken bow, laying some feet away. The throbbing pain from her thigh was not enough to keep her awake.

"So tired, so tired," whispered a little voice in her ear, before she saw or heard no more.

A/N: This will be my strangest story up to this day. The trick is to never expect anything!