Chapter 17; The Mercy of Fangorn
We rode forward that day and after cantering for some time we picked up the speed to a gallop, and then to a run. Aragorn said nothing as he leaned low besides Brego's neck to watch the trail passing below the hooves of our horses. To be on a horse again was so replenishing, so great a feeling of renewal in my hope. As we ran, the wind in my face gave me such a surge of happiness and a high of courage that I pushed Hasufel faster. I don't know what it was that inclined me but perhaps the closeness of this horse and me. Once in a while I would look to my side at Legolas and Gimli riding upon Arod; I watched Legolas ride and his hair moving in the swift air. I laughed at myself as I thought girlishly, 'He looks like a girl.' I laughed out loud at this and looked at Legolas; he had heard my laughter and was smiling at me. I smiled even more as I thought, 'Oh, if he only knew…' I then saw Gimli give me a thumbs-up and call out, "Yes!" I smiled in return and looked back to the plains before me. As we approached where Èomer sent us, we passed single Orcs and Uruks lying fallen with feathered arrows sticking in their backs and throats.
At last as the afternoon dimmed we came to the eaves of the forest Fangorn and in an open glade among the first trees we found a great mound of burning and smoldering ash. A great pile of helms, mail, cloven shields, broken swords, bows, darts and other gear of war lay beside it. Closer to the river was newly raised earth and fifteen spears were planted about it. We dismounted and I looked for a place to tie my horse.
"Come Laura, the horses will not leave us." Aragorn said as he ran to the pile of burning Corpses and battle gear. I left the horse and went to Gimli's side as we shifted through the still hot ashes and the battle gear. I used my boot to move the hot swords and such when finally I heard Gimli make a grunt that declared he found something. We looked over at him and in his hand he held up a charred belt that belonged to either Merry or Pippin.
"It's one of their little belts." Gimli said; Legolas' face was suddenly sad and Aragorn was obviously heart broken. I looked between them in confusion…so they found a belt; the two hobbits were still in the forest why were they so upset?
"Hiro hyn hîdh ab 'wanath." Legolas said in his own tongue, as Aragorn kicked an Orc helmet and shouted out angrily. He fell to his knees and looked at the ground; I stood and looked at the charred pile of maimed and foul bodies. They didn't know that the hobbits were still alive; I must have been tired to a point of delirium to think that they knew that.
"We have failed them." Gimli said sadly as he stood from the ashes.
"We haven't," I said quickly, "They are still alive! I promise you!"
"The grieve is hard to bear Laura," Legolas said slowly, "do not give us false hopes to cling to." I looked to him and said,
"But it's not false, it's true! They are still alive!"
"How can that be so when here in my hands I hold their remains?" Gimli asked as he held the hobbit's belt.
"She speaks the truth." Aragorn's voice said strongly. We all slowly looked to Aragorn who squatted as he looked at the ground. "A Hobbit lay here," he began, "and the other…" he extended his hand over the grass as he looked closely. "They crawled…" Aragorn stood and followed the tracks that were invisible to me. Legolas, Gimli and I followed him as he moved. "Their hands were bound…" he then picked up a rough rope that was roughly cut. "Their bonds were cut…" he said as he dropped the rope back upon the ground. "They ran over here and were followed…the tracks lead away from the battle and into Fangorn forest." We stopped and looked through the tree line into the deep forest. I was intimidated by the dark trees of the forest; most of them gnarled, scarred, so large that two men could not stretch their arms around the trunks. Aragorn turned back to us and said,
"Let us not depart from this place yet, in any case we must here await the morning light."
"I agree." I said with a sigh, "I think a break from hunting our friends is much needed. I myself am very tired and have not slept in days."
"A good rest is needed by most in our company, we will make camp further on from this battle-field and begin again in the morning." So we made camp a few hundred yards away from where the burial spots were and set up beneath a large, spreading tree with huge brown leaves. Soon when night fell, the wind became colder and less friendly, and having only brought one blanket apiece was not substantial enough to keep warm, at least for Gimli and myself to keep warm. Together we shivered in the cold night air wishing for a fire.
"Let us light a fire!" Gimli said as his teeth chattered. "I care no longer for the danger. Let the Orcs come as thick as summer-moths around a candle!"
"If the hobbits are astray in the woods, it might draw them hither." Legolas added thoughtfully.
"And it might draw other things neither Orc nor Hobbit." Aragorn pointed. "We are near to the mountain-marches of the traitor Saruman. Also we are on the very edge of Fangorn, and it is perilous to touch the trees of that wood." We were silent as we realized that Aragorn was right, again. I shivered under my cloak and blanket then pointed out,
"Well, the Rohirrim burnt all those Orcs and used the wood from the trees, it was obvious! And once that was all over, they left here without a scratch, safe and sound. I'm sure if we only gather wood that has already fallen…" I replied; Gimli looked at me thankfully as Aragorn answered slowly,
"There were many, and they do not heed the wrath of Fangorn, for they come here seldom, and they do not go under the trees. But our paths are likely to lead us into the very forest itself. So have a care and cut no living wood." I smiled and stood,
"Thanks Aragorn, I'll go get some wood." I kept the blanket wrapped around me for warmth and began to walk away.
"Wait, do not go alone. Gimli, would you join her?" Aragorn said,
"I would but I am too stiff to move, as a matter of fact, I am too weary to move from this spot." Gimli replied quickly and I laughed,
"It's alright, I won't go into the forest or anything, just on the outside to pick up twigs and such."
"You still shouldn't go alone, we do not know what is in this forest. I will join you." Aragorn said and began to stand up.
"No, it is all right, I won't stray far, only enough to keep us all warm." Aragorn paused as I added, "Stay, Aragorn, stay and rest. I am willing to go." With that Aragorn nodded and sat back down as I grasped tightly onto my blanket as I walked away, trying to keep the bitter wind from touching me though it did little help.
Every once in a while I would see a twig, stick, or piece of bark lying on the ground, and as I walked further out I had accumulated a large armful of branches and bark and turned to go back to camp. The silence was soothing and allowed me time to think. I thought about the ride, about when I first saw the dead Orcs scattering the ground, and when I thought that Legolas looked like a girl. I smiled and shook my head as I laughed. 'That was great.' I thought to myself, 'But it was kind of mean wasn't it?' I silently took back my thought about that when in fact recently, Legolas had not been unkind to me, nor in fact said anything that was totally indifferent; which was a good step for him, he was now moving from blatant annoyance toward me to indifference. I approached the now darkened campsite to see the shadowy figures of Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas.
"Here it is." I said as I approached.
"Good!" Gimli said strongly as he stood took the wood from my arms and took it to a stone outlined fire ring that had already been made. "Come Laura, I will teach you the Dwarvish way of making fires! It never fails and lights twice as quick as man made ones." As I followed him to a spot that he had already cleared out for a fire and smiled waiting to hear the great recipe for "Dwarvish fires". "First you lay the wood like this; this part is key, for if you do not lay it right the flames will not get enough air and then what sort of grand fire would you have then? Nothing but a small spark if you were lucky." As Gimli mumbled instructions to spark this fire I looked to Aragorn who was relaxing against a log, then to Legolas who was looking into the deep of Fangorn then over the vastness of the plains of Rohirrim."Argh!" Gimli growled as the wood he had lay fell and extinguished the small flame he had started while sending a puff of ash into his face. He kicked the logs and sat on the ground angrily as he grumbled, "Something must be wrong with this rotten 'worm-wood!'" I laughed and played with the wood of the fire. "Next time I must fetch the wood myself, this wood is not good; I will find good wood to make our fire." Gimli said huffily then said to me pointedly, "You make your 'man' fires, it will suffice for now." I laughed at Gimli as he pulled out his pipe. Soon, with help from Aragorn, I had started a good fire that burned well. I sat back from the flames and cleared away the small rocks and twigs from around me so I could lay down to rest with my blanket. 'Finally, I can finally appreciate everything I ever learned from girl scouts', I thought as my eyes became heavy.
Before long Aragorn had lay down too to rest and only Legolas remained awake, watching the fire and remaining ever alert. My eyes were beginning to shut as I fell as I suddenly startled at the sound of Gimli springing up quickly. I opened my eyes and listened as I looked around me.
"Well, father, what can we do for you?" I heard Aragorn call. Gimli must have wakened him too; and Legolas, who never slept, had undoubtedly stirred Gimli. "Come and be warm if you are cold!" I sat up and looked at Aragorn as he spoke to the mystery man; Aragorn was already on his feet looking out into the darkness that lay beyond the reach of our firelight. For a moment I thought I saw an old man draped in grey with a staff and large hat, but the moment after I blinked he was gone. Then, from out on the plains, I heard the light pounding of hooves and the far off neighing and whinnying of horses. I looked out and in the pale light I saw the three horses galloping off, away from us on the plains.
"Ahh no!" I heard Gimli exclaim, "The horses! The horses!" I was immediately on my feet as was Legolas who ran after the horses calling them in his own tongue hoping to lure them back, but it was of no use. The horses sped into the distance quickly leaving us stunned and transportation less. Everything was quiet again as Aragorn sat down once more and Legolas walked back to camp. I sat down also, almost too tired to care about losing the horses…almost. I watched Legolas from the other side of the fire as he began to walk around always glancing about and when I could not see him from behind the flames I lay down as well. I looked up into the night then rolled onto my side as sleep finally overcame me, giving me much deserved rest.
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Hello everybody! I am very sorry about the gap between updates! I attended a huge convention for the last three days and finals are next week! YIKES!
Chapter 16 Review RepliesElora Nova: Thanks! Well I'm very glad to hear from you again! J
Kat L.: Thank you very much! I really appreciate you taking the time to write a review for my story!
Ms. Unknown: Hmm…I did take a slightly different way with this chapter…I was surprised that you noticed!
TriGemini: Well, that is coming soon! Like…next chapter? J
Llenya The Fair: All right! Well, I added you to the mailing list!
Kay50: Thanks! Thank you so much for you review! I really love hearing from new people.
Chicky Poo: Thanks! Well, you know I really tried to approach this Story with a Not Mary-sue aspect. And I really love Laura's character. Thank you so much for your compliment!
Lilian: Well thank you, and basically the newsletter is a source of just facts and information about the story. Actually next letter is going to have a teaser about the series. Just to let ya know, I added you to the list and if you wish to be taken off of it then, you can let me know any time you want!
