Chapter 10

The Riders of Rohan

Disclaimer: I don't own LOTR, or Harry Potter, or Kel or Neal.

Emily lay flat on her back, panting heavily. They had run for 3 hours straight, and while it was fine for an elf to endure, she felt that she was not yet ready to keep going. In other words, she never wanted to use her legs again. Itarilde and Harry were not faring much better. They all had gone uphill, downhill, climbed rocks, all without stopping for a breath.

Aragorn and Legolas watched the suffering adolescents and started whispering ferociously to each other.

"They're so young, we can't make them do this! Look at them, Estel!"

Aragorn sighed. "I know Legolas, but we have to keep going. Tired or not, they must keep up."

"Aragorn, they won't make it any further without killing themselves, and we can't carry them! It's all as well for you to say we have to keep going, but might I remind you that you are over 70 years older?"

"Well, what do you suggest we do then?"

Legolas looked down. "I don't know."

Suddenly Itarilde and Emily came up between them. Aragorn studied them carefully. They were drenched with sweat, even in this cold weather. Their faces were worn with fatigue, and both had scratched all over them from where tree branches had scraped them. Yet, somewhere, far into the brown well of their eyes, was a spark of determination, of hope to succeed and take on the hurdles ahead.

"We can keep going." Said Emily. "We won't hinder you."

"If you really-"

"No! interrupted Itarilde forcefully. "We haven't done anything useful so far, and the least we can do is not make this any worse. Besides," she said with a lopsided grin, "I have my pride."

Aragorn smiled. "All right, then. Let's get going."

They toiled on. It was torturous for the 3 teenagers, and even hard on the dwarf. A while later Aragorn called them to a halt. It was well into the night, and everyone was happy to stop.

"Look!" Legolas pointed to a small trail of orc-blood on the ground. It lead to 5 dead orcs, all killed gruesomely. Aragorn checked their tracks, and they set off again. Eventually dawn grew and the sun rose, and Harry realized that they had been running for the entire night. Suddenly, he tripped over a large rock. As he painfully peeled himself from the ground, something caught his eye. The newly-risen sun was reflecting off something in the dirt. It was an elven brooch of Lorien. Thinking it was his own, that he had dropped when he tripped, he picked it up. It was only then that he noticed he still had his on him. Then what-

"Aragorn!" he said wearily. Aragorn came over and inspected the brooch.

"They're still alive! March on, march on!"

They continued at a pace that was actually much faster than a march. It was nightfall when Aragorn finally allowed them to rest. Itarilde and Emily fell asleep at once, but Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli stayed awake, discussing their choice of routes. Harry sat a few feet away, tired, yet not really wanting to sleep. He took out Galadriel's glass ball and stared at it. It remained bright and clear, pure and shining. Then for a fleeting moment, the image changed, portraying a galloping white horse, painted onto a dark background. Then it disappeared, as quickly as it had come.

Great, he thought, just what I need: to be seeing illusions.

As it turned out, though, Harry was not seeing things, and if he had looked again, he would have seen the horse clearer than before, only this time it would have stayed.

They next morning they rose at dawn and continued their pursuit. Not half an hour after they had started, Legolas told everyone to stop. Wondering what was going on, and yet glad to halt, the other 5 obeyed.

"There are riders coming toward us." He announced. "One hundred and five in total, but no hobbits, and 5 empty saddles. They are 5 leagues away."

Aragorn sighed. "I fear we have failed out search. We'll just have to wait for them to come to us, and give us news."

Itarilde frowned. "Do you know them, Aragorn?"

"I have been among them." He answered, and would say no more.

"They approach." Legolas told them.

The riders stopped their mounts as they passed by, surrounding them, spears out and bows drawn.

"What new from the north, riders of Rohan?" Aragorn asked.

Harry gasped. The banners that the riders carried had the exact same design as he had seen in the glass ball last night. Now he took it out, and saw the horse, but now it was moving, not across a dark background, but on expanses of green fields, like the wind over the trees.

"Who are you, and what business do you have in this land?" one of the riders asked. He was the tallest and had real horsehair coming from the top of his helmet.

"I am Strider of the North." Aragorn replied calmly, not reacting to the spear pointed at his chest only scant inches away. "I am hunting orcs. But before we tell our tale, I would like to know whom you serve. Are you friend or foe of Sauron, the dark lord of Mordor?"

"You should not speak of the Dark one." The man said coldly, "And as for me, I am Eomer son of Eomund, the Third Marshal of Riddermark, and I serve only Theoden King, son of Thengel. Who are you, though? Who do you serve? And why do you hunt orcs?"

"I am Itarilde of Gondor, and we serve no man, but hunt the orcs because they have taken 4 of our companions." Itarilde said.

"Who are the others?"

"I am Legolas Greenleaf, Prince of Mirkwood. With me is Ioreth or Gondor, Gimli son of Gloin, and Olorin the Different, Gandalf the Grey's student."

Eomer's face darkened. "Gandalf the Grey is not welcome here. He took out most precious steed, Shadowfax, and when the horse was returned, he could not be handled."

Emily glared. "You hold a grudge against someone who lives no longer. Gandalf fell into darkness in the mines of Moria."

Aragorn broke up the tension. "Have you seen orcs passing by?"

"We have." Said Eomer." But they are destroyed. We have burned them."

"Have you seen our friends?"

"We have found none but orcs."

"Did you search the bodies?" Harry pressed. "Two of them are very small."

Eomer frowned. "We found no children."

Gimli protested. "They weren't children or dwarves. They were hobbits. Halflings."

Eomer shook his head and then sighed. "I will lend you 5 mounts. You may search for your friends. But when you have succeeded, or failed, you must bring them to Meduseld, the high house in Edoras, where Theoden sits."

Aragorn nodded. Then Eomer led a dark dappled-grey horse, at least 18 hands high, over to Aragorn. "This is Hasufel." Then he led a light grey horse to Legolas. "This is Arod. He is smaller than Hasufel, but well bear you well." Going over to Emily, he presented her with a palomino gelding. "His name is Estel, elvish for hope. I do not know who name him, but it is unusual to have a horse with an Elvish name in Edoras."

Aragorn smiled faintly, remembering all the years he had spent in Rivendell, and growing slightly homesick.

"We have 2 other horses bearing no names. They were found in the wild, then tamed by us, but we have never given any name to them." Eomer put the reins of a chestnut mare into Itarilde's hands. The horse had 4 socks and a star on her head. The star reminded Itarilde of Galadriel.

"I shall call you Galad." She whispered to the horse. (Galad is elvish for "light")

Eomer handed Harry a light grey mare, a shade darker than Arod. Then he noticed Gimli, standing rather uncomfortable beside Legolas.

"My dear dwarf, I'm afraid we have no spare mounts."

"I would much rather walk than be seated on the back of a horse." Was Gimli's reply.

Legolas shook his head. "Gimli, son of Gloin, you shall ride with me. Arod can bear us both."

"That's settled then." Eomer signaled to his men. "Remember to bring the horses back to Meduseld. I'm risking my own head, lending these horses to you, so do not fail me."

With that, he led his Riders away, galloping at breakneck speed over expanses of green fields, like the wind over the trees.

Harry jumped. Wasn't that what I saw in the glass ball? He wondered, What does this mean?

He then looked his mount over. She stood well over 16 hands high, not as tall as Hasufel, but still much taller than the horses they had ridden in Rivendell. He put his foot in the stirrup and tried to pull himself up by the mane, and failing. Aragorn placed Gimli in Arod's saddle before helping him. Everyone else had already mounted. Harry watched in amazement as Aragorn swung himself into the saddle with ease, despite the huge horse.

They rode off at a canter in the direction of the forest ahead of them, where Eomer and his men had burned the orcs.

"Itarilde. . ."

Itarilde turned in her saddle to look at Emily. "Yes?"

Emily was frowning. "I've just thought of something. Kel and Neal, they're trained knights. How could they get captured? They can fight off orcs like no tomorrow, and they wouldn't just allow the orcs to take them."

Itarilde's eyes widened. "Not unless they werebadly injuredor something. . ."

"Exactly."

With that thought in mind they rode even faster, hoping their friends had escaped the orcs before they were destroyed. A few hours later, they entered Fangorn forest and approached the pyre. A strong stench of burnt corpses assailed their nostrils. Emily's mouth dropped open as she saw the number of orcs that had been slaughtered. Aragorn started to search the ground for their tracks, but found no trace of their missing companions.

A rustle in the trees was heard behind them. Everyone turned, weapons ready. An old man stood in front of a tree.

"Can we do anything for you?" Aragorn asked him.

Then, slowly, right before their eyes, he vanished.

Legolas ran over to the spot where he had been standing a second ago. There was no trace of him.

"The horses!"

They all rushed to the clearing where they had left the horses. All of them were gone.

Aragorn sighed. "Well, we started on foot, and I guess we'll have to end on foot."

"Eomer's going to kill us." Said Itarilde.

"Actually, the King is going to kill him for lending us the horses." Corrected Emily.

"Either way, it'll take forever to get to Meduseld."

"Then we'd better get started right away." Aragorn told them.

And off they went again.

Black-raven3: Thank you for reviewing. I've been planning on editing some previous chapters for a while. Also (I don't mean to sound rude), instead of just bluntly stating "your writing is very poor," I would appreciate it if you could tell me how to improve it. Thanks!