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Chapter 5 – Orcs!
The next couple of days passed rather uneventfully, for which Legolas was thankful. They even made better progress than he had expected, and he started to regain hope that they would make it back in time.
Legolas smiled as he looked out toward the sunset. They were heading almost directly toward it, but at the rate they were going, that would not be true tomorrow. The colors still seemed blurry, but not like they had before. Apparently he was finally starting to get used to his new eyesight. He could not stop from wondering what other problems his mortality might cause, especially after sleeping so long the other night. He had been able to prevent that problem from happening again by simply not sleeping at all. But he realized that it would eventually catch up to him. He just hoped that would not happen until they had finished the quest.
His thoughts were broken as an arrow whizzed by his head. He gripped Arod's reins tighter. "Noro lim!" he exclaimed, urging his horse on faster. But the arrows kept coming. Legolas glanced back, and found the source to be a small group of five orcs. He immediately stopped Arod. He jumped off, quickly helped Gimli to follow, and loaded his bow. He pulled back the string, aimed, and fired. He scowled as the arrow slightly missed its target by hitting the orc slightly lower than he had intended. At least it still succeeded in killing the orc. Legolas strung another one, resolving to learn how to make up for his slight loss of sight when he finally had time.
Meanwhile, Gimli had charged toward the orcs, wielding his axe dangerously. The orcs sped up their shots in the hopes of defeating their enemies while they were still alive. Legolas let loose another arrow which imbedded itself in an orc's shoulder. It wasn't quite enough to kill it, but it would do for now. He pulled out another arrow as Gimli finally reached the orcs. They let out a last round of arrows, then fell dead with a few quick swipes of Gimli's axe.
Legolas put his arrow back in his quiver with relief as he turned to go back to Arod. He stopped in horror. Blood ran down Arod's leg, obviously from one of the orc's arrows. Legolas ran over to Arod and looked more closely at the wound. It did not seem to be too serious, but it was enough to slow them down significantly. He sat back and thought things over for a moment. He obviously couldn't make Arod go at the same rate all the way to Lothlorien and back to Minas Tirith. But they had no time to stop and wait for him to heal enough to do so. Legolas looked around at the surrounding scenery. They were about a day from Edoras by now. Arod could surely make it that far, and there he and Gimli could find another horse to borrow for the rest of the journey.
He stood up and patted Arod gently. "I am sorry," he said, "but it looks like you have to keep going for another day." Arod nuzzled Legolas as though he understood. Legolas smiled and turned to Gimli, who by this time was standing next to him. "It seems we must make a slight change of plans," he said. "We will need to stop by Edoras so Arod need not go the entire way."
Gimli looked at Arod's leg and nodded, then let Legolas lift him up onto the saddle. Legolas quickly followed and urged Arod to run as fast as he could.
Late the next morning, they finally entered Edoras. Legolas guided Arod to the stables, and leaving Gimli to watch Arod, he went back out into the city. All the men were gone from the city, making Legolas feel a little inconspicuous at first. But he ignored that feeling, and started looking around for someone he could talk to. At last, he spotted someone. "Milady!" he called out, hoping the woman he had addressed would stop. Fortunately, she did. He ran up to her. "Milady, I am sorry for stopping you like this, but I am in need of a horse. My own was injured some distance from here, and is now recovering in the stables."
She gave him a skeptical look. "I am afraid I cannot help you," she said. "Perhaps you should speak with someone at the stable your horse is in. I am sure you will find someone there."
"Thank you, milady," Legolas said with a smile, and hurried back to the stables. He had seen no one there the first time, but it was still worth a try. Perhaps he had simply overlooked whoever was there.
He stepped into the coolness of the stables. "Is anyone here?" he called.
At first there was no response. Then a young woman came in through a door in the back. "I am here," she said. "Were you in need of a horse?"
"Yes. I left my horse here. He is Arod, the one the dwarf is guarding."
The woman smiled. "I see. You wish to keep him here while you are in the city?"
"Actually, I am in need of more than that," he said. "I am on an urgent quest, but he has been injured along the way, and I have no time to wait for him to heal. I had hoped I could borrow a horse while Arod stays here. He could serve as my promise that I will return with the borrowed horse."
The woman looked the horse over and nodded. Arod was a fine horse, and it seemed more than fair to her. "I will agree to it then," she said. "I assume you would like a fast horse?"
"Yes, as fast as you can spare," Legolas said.
The woman went to a stall near the end of the stables and led out a chestnut horse. She deftly saddled and bridled him and led him over to Legolas. "This is Shadowflame," she said. "He is one of the fastest horses we have, and should serve you well."
"Thank you," Legolas said. He looked at Gimli. "We need to leave. We have wasted too much time already."
Gimli came over and climbed up onto Shadowflame with some assistance, and Legolas climbed up in front of him. "Once again, I thank you, lady," he said. He turned the horse out of the stables, and soon they were back on the Rohan plains, running to the north.