A/N: Wow! I'm glad to see that some more people are reading this, meaning Booklover Fanatic, Ithilien, Deana, Sila Ninque and a mysterious person called "lol"… heh anyways, here's the next chapter and we're back to Aragorn and Gimli. Oh and Tanwen, I didn't mention you because I knew where you were, I just wondered what happened to the ones I listed!
Chapter Ten
Many Escapes
Aragorn and Gimli were back on the road again, after finally being untied by the King of the Dead. Apparently they could choose when their hands would become materialistic as well as how they were to be summoned. "So what are we to do now? We are one elf short in which we have no clue where he is and we're stuck here, horseless, with a force that could very well save the people of Minas Tirith." Gimli asked, following up with a much needed sigh. Aragorn replied with a sigh of his own.
"Did you recognize any symbols those orcs might have borne?" Aragorn questioned.
"Nothing. They seemed to be unmarked".
"I did not see any insignia either. Were they just looking for a hostage? And if they were, why? But they seemed to single out Legolas. They wanted us out of the way… hence the reason they tied us to a tree. But that's the other thing that bothers me. Why didn't they kill us? They had no problem shooting Legolas" Aragorn pondered bitterly. Aragorn frowned in irritation as he remembered how they had carelessly beaten him and Gimli down and then gotten them out of the way so they could turn their wrath on Legolas. 'But why did they single him out?' he thought. "Wait, did you notice anything odd about their behavior?"
"You mean besides almost disregarding us?"
"Yes" Aragorn replied, his lips quirking. 'Gimli caught on to that too, at least I'm not imagining things'.
"Well after they er, that is to say…" Gimli stopped and thought of how to articulate his thoughts. He and Legolas had not been close when they had met; in fact they had hated each other and disrupted the council with their "opinions". But the hardships the Fellowship had endured forced them, everyone in fact, to come together and put their trust in each other. They had to or else there was no way you would survive by yourself. Funny how he and Legolas had seemed to release their grudges and made attempts to know each other around the time Boromir had died. For Boromir had become alienated from the Fellowship and felt the lure of the ring stronger. "Did you notice how they made a ring aorund him before that big one took his shot? They gave that orc space so he could do what they had come for, it seems. But I caught the look on his face and he appeared to be genuinely shocked when he hit his... mark". Gimli ground his teeth together and turned away from Aragorn to readjust something mid stride. Aragorn stopped as well but sat down a little further off, giving Gimli his space. They had been walking and running intermittently for some hours now and Aragorn was growing weary of the name "wingfoot". Gimli covered the short distance to the man and plopped himself down beside him.
"I agree with your description of the leader's action. I'm assuming he was the leader because of his size, as you know orcs usually don't take intelligence into account. But why would he be surprised when he hit his mark? Shouldn't he have been happy? Wait... the arrow pierced his chest, correct? Legolas was facing the other way when the orc took aim and turned just as the arrow was loosed. Suppose the orc was not aiming for something as vital as his chest? This theory would explain the surprise of the orc when he hit his chest and not his back..."
"...because an arrow to the back won't do as much damage as one to the chest! They did want a hostage after all. But it was a specific hostage they wanted, that's why we were viewed as mere obstacles" Gimli finished. The two sat for a few minutes solidifying this information in their minds. Aragorn gazed out at the barren plains in reverie. How had things fallen apart so? Frodo and Sam were off by themselves, with the fate of the middle earth resting on their diminutive shoulders. Pippin was with Gandalf in Minas Tirith, preparing for the battle that would test their strength of heart and body before the final battle. Merry was off with the Rohirrim in the care of the King of the Mark. Boromir was dead. He and Gimli were horseless, in the middle of the plains with a troupe of the undead. And now Legolas. Legolas was who knows where and who knows why and quite possibly, dead. Dead. His long time companion who swiftly soaked in a tough situation and dispatched the problem with knowledge and skill acquired over thousands of years. Usually silent, he preferred not to act rashly and jump about in agitation where as most men would have done so and criticised the elf for being strange behind his back. The term "elves" sparked bitter melancholy in Aragorn. He had been raised by elves and was more at home with them than men. But even though they were immortal, they were all doomed, every single one of them. Men would slowly force them out of Middle Earth and their time would be over. They were already leaving, but as new generations of men came into being there would be even less left of them and less knowledge of them. Sadness washed over him, knowing that eventually all elves would be "taken away", just as Legolas had. Elrond, Elladan, Elrohir... Arwen. Aragorn shook his head to clear the mournful thoughts from his mind. He had already come to terms with these circumstances a while ago, or had he really?
"Well, if you were stopping for my benefit I'm as rested as I'll ever be under these conditions laddie" Gimli stated, heaving himself up off the ground. Aragorn got up from the ground a little reluctantly, his sorrowful thoughts trying to drag him down to the ground again. Gimli brushed himself off hastily and peered into the distance, after seeing something out of the corner of his eye. "Did you see that?" Gimli asked tersely.
"See what?"
"I thought I saw something by that outcropping over there, by the river" Gimli said and pointed towards one of the rare raises of land in the distance.
"Let's go, and be ready for battle" Aragorn said, turning to the invisible dead soldiers behind him.
Turga threw himself on the ground, exhausted. He had gotten lost in that accursed forest, Fangorn, for a while, but he had luckily stumbled onto a swift running river winding through the forest. His limited tracking skills told him to follow it and that he did. Now he was in the open he was completely lost as he was turned around in the forest. "Wha' am I gonna do now anyways?" Turga questioned the silence. Not particularly caring anymore Turga stupidly decided to take a nap by the river, assuming no one would be around those parts. 'Stupid elves... I 'ate 'em! If it weren't fer 'em I'd never be in dis place..." Turga grumbled, contenting himself by settling on the ground as best he could. He had only been dreaming of slashing the throats of elves and dancing in pools of their blood for ten minutes or so, when he the metallic sound of weapons being drawn woke him. "Oi! Wat's goin' on!" he snarled and wildly flailed his arms and legs but was unable to move, due to the fact that a dwarf was sitting on his chest and quickly pinned his arms with surprising strength. "Arr git offa me! I ain't done nothin' wrong!" Turga whined. A man who lomed above him gave him a withering glare and brought his sword to his throat. Turga gulped.
"Who are you travelling with and why are you here?" the man demanded.
"I'm alone... I swear et!" Turga gurgled, the weight of Gimli crushing him.
"What are you doing?" Aragorn repeated, not killing him instantly because he might have known something about Legolas' whereabouts.
"Er... nothin'..."
"Oh, so you just decided to go for a nice stroll to the middle of nowhere one day, did yeh?" Gimli questioned sarcastically, pushing harder. Aragorn nodded his approval.
"Alrigh', alrigh'! I was with a bunch o' others, we were drawn to dis sorcerer who was preparin' fer a war or somethin'!" Turga half admitted.
"Sorcerer?" Aragorn asked, motioning for Gimli to let up a bit.
"Yeh, we were un'er 'is spell! He was drawin' all orcs tha' hadn't picked a group ta follow in theh war an' gettin' rid 'o 'em so he would 'ave less people ta deal with!" Turga explained. Aragorn paused. That certainly made sense. The sorcerer this orc was talking about would most definitely be Saruman, who had turned away from the true meaning of the maia and was now striving for power.
"So why aren't you dead?"
"I came ta my senses faster than theh rest 'o 'em an' I escaped through theh forest. I jist follered theh river out" Turga said, sweating and hoping his explaination would be passable. Aragorn motioned to Gimli to get off of him, and as he did he grabbed the small quivering orc by the neck.
"And you were the only one who escaped?" Aragron said in a flat tone, making sure that the orc knew what would happen to him if he was lieing. Turga's eyes bulged at the force being exerted on his neck.
"I... I swear!" he choked out.
"Alright. So you say you followed the river?" Aragorn questioned suspiciously. Turga nodded hurriedly. "Then you can follow it again". With that Aragorn hurled the whining orc into the swift river and unfortuneately for Turga the strong current was running back into the forest. The sounds of the gurlgling and howling orc was soon dissapted by the sound of the rushing water and the distance it had carried him. Gimli stared down the length of the water as far as he could see,making sure the water did it's job.
"Do you think that's where Legolas is? The 'sorcerer' he was mentioning must be that treacherous Saruman" Gimli reasoned.
"Yes, I think it was not just because of a wizard's spell he was out here" Aragorn agreed. "But we must continue to Minas Tirith, we have the force that could save them!" he argued with himself. Gimli was silent. 'What of Legolas? Are we to abandon him and assume he'll save himself?'. He wanted to pull his hair out in frustration.
"The fellowship was created to help Middle Earth, and that stubborn elf would be pretty angry at us if we went to retrieve him before we continued on our mission" Gimli grunted.
Aragorn did not turn west towards the potential prisoner Orthanc might have held and started jogging in the same direction once again. Gimli set his face grimly and followed Aragorn. An easy choice. Thousands of people he didn't know over his lifelong friend.
Gorlak could hear Grima stepping closer to him and calculated which step would be his last. "Filthy orcs…" Grima muttered under his breath. His last footfall landed close to the orc's back and Gorlak made his move. Twisting rapidly on his side, Gorlak seized the grungy man's boot and with a sharp flick of his wrist, pulled him off his feet. The man landed exhaled a loud "oof!" as his back slammed into the hard stone and he lay winded. Gorlak drew his knife and tried to spring to his feet, but his burn hadn't taken the jerky movement as well as he had hoped and he collapsed onto his knees. Gorlak's knife was thrown free of his grasp and went skittering across the floor in the process. Grima, who still lay on the floor, saw his opportunity and grasped at the weapon wildly. Catching the handle and recovering his breath, Grima drew himself up and lunged at the fallen orc. Gorlak rolled aside in time, but yelped in anger at the aggravation he had caused his burn. Grima meanwhile had fallen flat on his face in his attempt to gain the upper hand and this caused the knife to go flying once again. Gorlak caught it deftly and rose fully this time. Grima saw the blow coming and tried to turn away but didn't succeed fully and the blade was plunged into his shoulder. Grima screamed and clawed at the blade still sunk in his arm. Gorlak's laughing eyes stared into the man's watering grey eyes and cruelly twisted the blade. The result was desirable to Gorlak and he decided that the wizard must have heard something by now. Pulling the blade out, he wiped the dripping liquid on the writhing man's cloak. After hastily smashing several objects that looked important to spite the wizard, Gorlak ran out of the chamber in search of an exit from the fastness of the wily conjurer.
A/N: Well there was Aragorn and Gimli's opinions on things, finally! See how fast this chap came? nudge I have my creative spark back!
