Although her fear was growing, Lúthien rode on, knowing full well she was in great danger of being spotted. She wasn't sure what she'd do if she was seen, but she hoped she could simply outride them. It wasn't long before she spotted the source of her fear. Even though it was night, the moon shone with enough light to allow her to see the approaching riders. Lúthien frowned. So they had been trailing her and her parents. They were clever murderers. They had kept their distance during the day, giving no indication that they were stalking her and her parents. Then when night fell, they closed the distance, attacking when she and her parents were vulnerable and unsuspecting in slumber. Lúthien found herself growing angry at how malicious and callous they were. Then she thought of her parents. She couldn't allow them to continue tracking her parents. Now that she wasn't with them, she couldn't warn them when danger was near. She would have regret her decision to leave them if it were not for the fact that she could lead the riders away from her parents' trail. She would expose herself to the riders, then lead them as far away as possible.

With a deep breath, she prepared for what she was about to do.

"We are going into danger, Gilleth. Let us hope we can be safe."

Gilleth's ears shifted back, as if she was taking in what Lúthien had said. Lúthien leaned forward as she and the riders drew closer to each other, pressing herself against the back of Gilleth's neck. She heard a few excited shouts from the riders. They spotted her. There was no backing out, now. Out of her fear seemed to grow a numb sense of inevitability. Her fear faded away, leaving an emptiness in its place. The knowledge that she must face what was to come, and the concern for her parents' safety filled the emptiness with a courage she hadn't known she possessed. With a new vigor, she spurred Gilleth on, dashing forward with a blatant disregard for the apparent danger she was in. She stopped Gilleth in plain sight of all of them, rearing her up on her hind legs. She made sure every rider saw her, and that every rider knew she was challenging them. Gilleth whinnied, as if excited by their shared audacity. Gilleth's fur shone iridescently in the light of the half moon, making horse and rider seem to glow.

Angry shouts rippled throughout the group of riders. Lúthien smirked. They knew she was challenging them, and they were angry about it, too. She was shocked to see the creatures they rode. Though it was dark, she still knew they were nothing she had ever seen. She had remembered her father's comment about how the riders' horses were not horses and the men who rode them were not men. She grimly wondered what she would see when morning came. They continued to charge forward, and she heard a command, most likely from their leader.

"Kill that elf! Do not let her escape!"

Lúthien was confused for only a moment before she remembered she was astride an elfin mare. So they thought she was an elf, eh? She smirked as she realized an elf challenging them was probably more insulting than some human girl. Her challenge most likely wouldn't have made the impact it did if they knew she was only a human, and she planned to take advantage of their mistake. She prompted Gilleth to run to the right. Her plan was simple. She would get around them, then continue her journey to Rivendel. They would pursue her for a while before giving up. Gilleth had incredible stamina, and could run for many hours with out tiring. By then, she would have made a good distance between her parents and the riders. She would lead them on as long as she could.

As she raced westward, the riders to her back, she heard something wiz by to her right side. Then another passed just overhead. She realized they were arrows. It was a good thing it was nighttime and none of them seemed to be very good archers, otherwise she'd be in a lot of trouble. She changed Gilleth's direction, heading in a northwesterly direction, making sure to keep the riders to her back. They hollered angrily, continuing to shower her with arrows. Lúthien was worried they might hit Gilleth, but so far all their arrows missed. As she changed her direction once more, heading north towards Rivendel, an arrow finally struck her. It nicked her right arm near the shoulder. She hissed in pain, realizing she had probably turned right into the arrow's path.

She touched it gingerly, looked at her bloody fingers, and grimaced. It didn't feel too bad, so it wasn't likely to be terminal, but it would most certainly need medical treatment. Her frown deepened as she realized the longer she lead the riders on, the longer her wound would go untreated. She had purposely paced Gilleth so that they were always just out of the riders' reach. Gilleth could outdistance them easily, but if she did, they'd give up on her and go after her parents. Her only choice was to risk infection, or risk her parents' capture. The choice was easy. She rode on.

Hours passed, and the riders hounded her relentlessly. She would have admired their determination were they not cold-hearted murderers. She had allowed herself the occasional glance back, trying to make out her pursuers. She knew for sure those were no horses, but she could not make anything out about the riders except that they were dressed in dark clothing and armed. Both of those fact were already obvious from the day before. She would soon find out for sure, though. The sun was beginning to rise. After the first sun's rays had illuminated the landscape, she looked back to see exactly what she was dealing with. What she saw was like nothing she had ever seen before. They were black, twisted creatures, riding atop horribly misshapen dogs. That was the only thing she could think to compare them to. No wonder her father had been so frightened.

With out realizing it, she had urged Gilleth to run faster, putting more distance between her and the riders. Recognizing her mistake, she slowed and looked back. The riders had stopped trailing her, and were not heading back to her parents. She had not given them enough time. They would not make it to Rohan with out being caught. Lúthien knew she needed to do something, but if she went back, obviously trying to get them to chase her, they'd know she was leading them on. She needed to do something, anything, to get them to chase her. She thought frantically for a moment before her hand fell to the hilt of her father's sword. She would attack them.

Fear surged through her again, before she pushed it back down. She stopped Gilleth and turned her around. Racing back towards the horrible creatures, she tried to stomach the queasy feeling inside her stomach. She had never hurt any living things, let alone kill. She might just do both, today, not considering she, herself, may die. She felt sick to her stomach, but she had no other choice. She wished she did. As the riders came back into view, she pulled the sword from its sheath. It was about 2 feet long from one tip of the blade to the other, and 3 inches wide along the base. It wasn't too heavy for her to wield. She tested it in her hand, getting used to its weight, all the while drawing closer to the riders. When she was almost in their hearing range, she spurred Gilleth on as fast as she could run. They raced directly into the center of the group as if both horse and rider had gone completely mad. A few of the riders noticed her just before she struck, barely having any chance to give any sort of warning.

She reached them, surging through the group, and striking out at anyone with in reach. The sickening feel of her sword cutting through flesh and striking against bone traveled through her arm from the sword. Lúthien tried to keep from vomiting. The dumbfounded group of riders scattered. Some riders she had injured cried out in pain, hunching over against their beasts. Others dropped to the ground, dead. Lúthien felt truly ill. She had killed a living creature this day. However, she had no time to reflect and mourn as she turned to charge back at them. She needed them to be following her northward, away from her parents. They were scrambling to draw their weapons. Most had already drawn their swords, but the archers were attempting to nock their arrows. Knowing she had no real swordsmanship skills, she knew her best chance of getting through was to attack the archers. The archers would also pose the most threat because of the fact that they could attack from a distance. Searching for her target, she found an opening, two archers who had yet to take aim. The two archers were far enough from the swordsmen that she could breeze by with out harm. Charging through, she struck them down.

The riders gave chase again, hollering curses at her back. Looking behind her, she saw an arrow heading straight for Gilleth's croup. With out thinking about what she was doing, she struck the arrow with her sword, effectively stopping it. Lúthien sighed with relief. She was extremely lucky she didn't miss. If she had, Gilleth may have been too injured to outrun the enraged riders. Then she would have really been in trouble. Now that their chase was renewed, it was only a matter of leading them on as long as possible, and then escaping before Gilleth became too tired to outrun them.

Hours more passed. Lúthien occasionally patted Gilleth and whispered kind words to her. While she rode, she thought of the events of that day. She had killed a living creature, many to be precise. Some died immediately, other would probably die from the wounds she inflicted. She was a murdered, no different from those she ran from. Then she shook that thought from her head. Those creatures killed for no reason. She killed to save lives. Though, if you kill life to preserve life, does it really change who you are? Does it make you a better person, a worse person, or does it not make a difference what type of a person you are at all? Thinking like this didn't help her to feel better about what she did. Though, what she did was necessary, she would still mourn for the lives she took when she was able. Even if they were malicious killers, they still were alive. She took something precious from them, and though they didn't deserve it, she would repent for their deaths.

Midday was only a few hours away, and Lúthien could tell Gilleth was tiring. Speeding Gilleth faster, she quickly put distance between her and the riders. One thought nagged at her. Now that she had killed some of their comrades, they might be more determined to catch her. They might not give up the chase, as she once thought. Even though they rode beasts, they were just as prone to fatigue. They would have to stop and rest. This gave her a little margin of time when Gilleth could rest and recover. Lúthien looked around. She recognized this land. It was just east of her village. Lúthien shuddered. She did not want to think about yesterday. It was hard to believe so many horrible things could happen in so little time.

Shaking her mind of troubling matters, she decided to stop at the Gwathlo, let Gilleth regain enough strength to cross it, then camp at its northern bank for the night. They reached the river's edge less than half an hour later. Lúthien could tell Gilleth was exhausted. She led her to the water's edge to drink while she went to search through the travel bag Gilleth carried. Lúthien's eyed widened as she noticed the arrow sticking out of the sac.

"That was certainly a close shot, Gilleth." Lúthien said, pulling the arrow out and tossing it down. She opened the bag to examine its contents. "Just my luck." She pulled out the dried meat her parents had packed and tossed it to the ground. She searched around for a minute more. "Not a single vegetable. This bag has my mother's clothes, too." She shrugged. "Oh well. They'll fit."

She noticed the horses' supplies in the bag and smiled. At least she got something good. After the running Gilleth did, today, she deserved a good grooming. A good grooming for herself sounded good at that point. She was dirty, sweaty, and bloody. Remembering her wound, she pulled the right side of her dress off of her shoulder. Seeing the wound, she grimaced in disgust. Lúthien silently hoped that it would look better after being washed. She knelt at the water's edge and began cupping water onto the cut with her hand. Her frown faded into a smile. It wasn't as bad as she thought, though it was infected. It was a clean cut, and with the proper care, would heal quickly.

She began to wash out her wound, squinting in pain. The infection made it hurt worse than it would have if she had treated it sooner. No matter. She knew what plants grew in this area, and that some helped to help infection. Tearing a clean looking strip from her dress, she wound it around the wound. She stood, stretching. She would have to find food for now, and perhaps the rest of the journey. She considered going back to her village to see if any of her garden survived, but quickly struck the idea from her mind. She would not be able to bear the carnage that she knew waited for her there. Banishing the thoughts of death and decay, she set out to forage. While Lúthien was away, Gilleth grazed, drank, and rested, regaining her strength for the next leg of their journey. She soon recovered much of her stamina.

It was well over an hour before Lúthien returned. She held the bottom of her dress to her chest, carrying a great deal of food. When she reached Gilleth, she opened the travel sac and began placing her find inside. When she had filled the emptied half of the food into the sac, she pulled out a fairly large cloth and closed the sac tight. She turned with a smile to Gilleth.

"The rest is for you, my dear friend. You were extraordinary today. Never, in all my life, could I imagine you were so brave." She said, laying the cloth on the ground with one hand while holding the food in the skirt of her dress with the other. When the cloth was laid on the ground, Lúthien spilled the contents of her dress onto it. "Eat all you please, however you see fit. You have earned all this and more."

Gilleth trotted over to the food, almost as if she held pride in every step. Remembering something, Lúthien reached to the food sharply, pulling back a spindly weed. She smiled sheepishly. "I almost forgot. This is for my wound. It would make you ill, my friend."
Gilleth snorted in response before lowering her head to feast. Lúthien pet her head and mane for a few minutes before rising to her feet. Walking to the riverbed, she plucked out 2 flat stones. Plucking the sparse leaves from the weed she held, she began grinding them between the rocks. When she had a fine paste, she unwrapped the cloth on her wound just enough to expose it. She dipped her finger into the paste and touched it to her wound. She sighed in relief as the throbbing pain of her wound faded away. A satisfied smile spread over her lovely face as a pleasantly warming tingle traveled through her arm from her shoulder to the tips of her fingers. She wrapped her wound once more

Lúthien drew the sword from the sheath around her petit waist and snorted it disgust. It was covered in orc blood. She washed it thoroughly in the river, washing away the metallic smell of blood. Strange, though, that the blood was a blue-grey color. Still carrying the sword in her hand, she walked east. She had seen a specific reed that floated well in water. If she wanted dry supplies, she would need to make a sort of raft to ferry the supplies across the river with. Those reeds were perfect for the job. Cutting about twenty to thirty reeds approximately 5 feet in length, she carried her bundle back to where Gilleth waited for her. She immediately set to work, placing them together as a raft. She stopped fussing with it when she was satisfied that it was good enough and would not sink under the weight of her supplies.

With a sigh of futility, she began cutting lengthy strips from her dress. It was already torn and ripped beyond repair, and she had no rope. Plus she would not be able to cross the river with her dress the way it was. The long skirt would wrap around her legs as she swam and drown her. It would be hard enough fighting the fairly swift current with out fighting her clothing as well. She began to twine the strips of her dress around the reeds, securing them together. When she was finished, she looked with satisfaction at her raft, and with dismay at her dress. Her skirt now rose well beyond her knees, reaching just above mid-thigh.

"It is a good things we ladies are the only ones present. I am positively indecent!" Lúthien laughed.

Gilleth nickered, evidently in on the humor of Lúthien's wardrobe. Lúthien put her hands to her hips and glared at Gilleth.

"I do not see why you would be laughing. You are naked!" Lúthien chided.

Gilleth simply continued to nicker. Lúthien's glare faded swiftly to be replaced with a grin. Lúthien grabbed Gilleth's lead and lifted the raft, bringing both to the water's edge.

"Come, my naked friend. We will make camp for the night once we reach the other side."

Gilleth snorted in response, rapping the ground with her hoof as if to show she was more than ready for the swim across.

Cerulean Sage

"Third chapter is done. I wanted to mention something I forgot in the last chapter. To picture Gilleth's eye markings, think of a raccoon's mask. It's sort of like that. I'm not really sure there's too much to discuss about this chapter. Everything is pretty much up front. Only thing I might want to mention is distance and timing. From the village just south of swanfleet, it's about 200 leagues to Rohan according to a scaled map of Middle Earth. 200 leagues maps out to be about 600 miles. At a pace of 15 miles per hours (so as not to drain the horses), traveling for 10 hours, they traveled about 150 miles. Those 10 hours do not include the rests they took. It was about midmorning when they fled, and late evening when they stopped. Lúthien woke from her dream about 3 in the morning. From around 3am to about 10am, she rode at a pace of 20 miles per hour, for about 7 hours. That equals out to be about 140 miles, plus the extra half hour or so of traveling to reach the Gwathlo. Her parents will continue to travel at a steady pace to Rohan. The extra 6 or so hours of traveling they did the night when the orcs came will help them reach Rohan in only 4 days, rather than 5.

Now there is at least a 300 mile distance between the orcs and Lúthien's parents. By nightfall, the distance will be even farther. Traveling at about 150 miles per day, they will reach safety before the orcs can catch up. I thought I'd mention this, because I will not talk about Aden and Edel's journey. Their journey is quite uneventful, so I don't plan to describe it in detail in the story. That is why I'm doing so, now. From the Gwathlo, it's about 600 miles to Rivendel.
In this chapter, I wanted to delve a bit into Lúthien's thoughts about death and killing. This is the first time she has had to truly face it. I wanted to show that she respected life and mourned death, but also that she's mature enough to be able to come to terms with death and having to kill. It shows greater character to be able to deal with troubling issues rather than dwell upon them, run from them, or lie to yourself about them. I want to show the strength of her character by showing how well she deals with the quickly changing events of her life. In the beginning, she tried to lie to herself about the drastic changes in her life, but found she couldn't. She could have run from the orcs and her fear, but faced them and the obvious danger for the sake of her parents. Dealing with her regrets instead of letting her guilt consume her makes her mentally capable of dealing with the situation she is in.

All in all, I am trying to portray her as a very capable person, able to adapt to whatever changes she experiences. I don't mean to make her seem emotionally detached. I don't think I develop her character as much as I'd like to. It's just that I'd rather describe what is happening around her rather than within her, at least for now. When the story reaches the point where it joins with the original LOTR storyline, I can spend more time developing her character rather than the surroundings, seeing as how most people know how everything goes.
One, final, comment. Review or I shall cry!"