Orcish Revenge
Chapter 3 - Old Friends
After six days of riding with only 14 hours on sleep, they finally came to the gates of Moria. The hobbits dismounted and walked down the path with Faramir and two riders. They came upon a dwarf sitting with his back to the path. He seemed to be half asleep.
'Excuse me, master Dwarf!' Pippin sang out. 'We're looking for Gimli, son of Gloin. Have you seen him around?'
The Dwarf sat up straight, but did not turn around. 'Aye, I've seen 'im!' He said grufly 'Excuse me for not turn'n round but I'm no' a pretty sight. Stupid, putrid Orcs!' He spat on the ground after this last word.
'It is not a problem, Master Dwarf. Could you tell us where Gimli is?' Said Merry.
'Ah! How many of you are there? Hmm. Can't le' too many in, can I!'
'Three Hobbits, one Man of Gondor and two men of Rohan' Replied Merry.
'Hobbits? Hobbits…' The dwarf trailed off into a number of unrecognisable mumblings. 'Ah! Hobbits! Yes, you Hobbits may go in! And you too Faramir? I s'pose so. In you go! I'll talk to youse two, I spose'
The hobbits went in wondering how the dwarf knew it was Faramir. Faramir followed seemingly untroubled. Inside Dwarves were rushing around doing their own jobs and not getting in the way of any one of their own.
A cry of joy came from a stout Dwarf at the top of a flight of stone steps. 'Merry! Pippin! Sam! God bless you! You came back here, why? To see me I hope! Come in, come in. Welcome to the new Moria! We don't mean to stay more than a month or two, but we have to get back what those filthy goblins took!' They hurried up the steps to join Gimli. He led them along to a small room. They all sat down around a table.
'It's good to see you again, Gimli! We were going to Edoras, but when we heard you were here, we had to come and visit!' Merry said happily.
'Have you seen Legolas? The Riders said that he helped in all this' Pippin asked, gesturing around at the caverns of Moria.
'Yes! But we didn't get a chance to even say one word. In fact I only saw him when he shot a goblin through the neck when it was inches away from giving my beard a trim!' Gimli cried.
Gimli then proceeded to tell them all about how they'd called out the goblins to fight from both sides. 'They were scared and confused. But they were Orcs so they came out all the same, and they were slaughtered!' Gimli laughed, 'But they got smart then they waited until nightfall, then they swarmed out quietly. They fired volleys of arrows into our camps, splitting us up and killing our warriors! Then the Archers of Mirkwood came from above the Orcs, I guess they'd gone around the mountains and come across to be above the gate. Anyway, the Orcs weren't prepared for this. They fell to the archers' arrows. And then we marched in, followed by the Elves. We marched in and cut through the Orcs like a freshly tempered knife through a fine cheese! Hah!' Then he explained how the men of Dale and the Rohirrim had broken in and cut through the thinly spread Goblins that weren't on their side. 'Now we're collecting what we can and sealing this place off forever!' He concluded.
Soon Gimli had told all he could and decided that he was ready to leave Moria once and for all. They passed out of the solid stone gates, collected their belongings, and mounted their horses. They then waited patiently for Gimli to get all he wanted and borrow a horse from the Rohirrim. Soon Gimli came out to join them carrying three sacks. He loaded them up on a horse and jumped upon it's back.
'I have grown to love these fine beasts. Never again will I hesitate to ride upon one!' Gimli cried, urging the horse into a gallop. The others followed closely.
After a few days they came upon the Isen river. It flowed quite smoothly, as it had many years ago, before Saruman's Dam was constructed.
'I wonder if Treebeard is still at Isengard' Pippin said to Merry and Gimli.
Before Merry or Gimli could respond to this, a shout came from the head of the column of Riders. Many horses darted around until their masters calmed them. Loud voices came down the river.
'Riders of Rohan! Do not get in our way! Return to your fields! Cross the Isen and go home!' the voices called. The riders didn't move.
'We will not take orders from cowards that do not show themselves!' The leader called back turning this way and that in his saddle, defiance in his voice.
'Do not argue!' The voices bellowed 'We have been sent to get these travellers, and if we must kill all you riders to do so, we shall do it!'
Faramir rode to the head of the column and spoke to the leader in a tongue unknown by any of the hobbits nor the dwarf. Soon the riders rode off shouting 'To Edoras! To Éomer, King!' And they were gone.
Faramir dismounted and led his horse back to the hobbits. They stood and waited for a moment. The horses' thunderous hooves finally fading from hearing.
'At last we have found you; Masters Merry, Pippin and Sam! Long we have waited and looked. But at last you have emerged from The Shire!' One voice called joyfully, 'Now ride with us, though I regret you shan't see us till you are safe inside Orthanc, Isengard!'
They rode along the Isen for many hours until at last they could see Orthanc clearly before them. Many trees, real trees, not Ents, were around Isengard, growing on and around the remnants of the walls. They rode inside the circle and were greeted by many young, strong looking men. Men of Gondor possibly, though they looked strangely different somehow.
'Greetings Lord Faramir! Long have I wished to see you once more, when you rode fast and hard I saw you, over the Isen and into Arnor and out of sight! Now you have returned with Hobbits and a Dwarf!' A man came up to them and took their horses from them and another led them to the door of Orthanc. A cold draught came from within. Sam hesitated to step onto the stairs. The man that led them turned aside and chuckled. The door opened. Someone stepped out. His face was covered by his hooded cloak. He drew his hood back and the hobbits gasped…
Revised version - Some slight additions and modifications, fixed spelling and grammar etc. No changes to the story, just an improvement on the writing.