I do not own the Lord of the Rings, nor its characters or places. I only own Mÿne.
Mÿne had walked for an hour around the road Aragorn and the rest would be but she hadn't found anything suspicious. Still, that wary feeling lingered. She wasn't planning on returning to the group yet before she had found out where that feeling came from. The path she was walking began to steepen. She had to pull herself up the hill with low branches from the trees, stepping over big stones. She could see Aragorn from her right side through the leaves of the trees, on the lower part of the hill, with Frodo and the other hobbits. They seemed fine, chatting their time away.
Mÿne looked up at the sky. It was getting dark but the night was still far away. It had to be some sort of storm that was coming upon them. She brightened up a bit, if someone was following them, they would be slowed down by the rain or had to stop because of it. Hunting down people would be a difficult task when their tracks would be washed away by rain. Then again, they were a slow group...
She suddenly stopped, feeling her heart almost bouncing out of her throat. She had heard rustling before her. With a quick glance at Aragorn beneath her, she took out her sword, picked up a little rock and threw it at whatever was hidden behind the bushes and stones before her. She heard the rock hit something soft and a stifled angry cry. Mÿne sneaked forward, sword at the ready when a creature jumped over the bushes and ran towards her, grabbing her feet and throwing her off her feet. Mÿne hit the ground with a smack, turned around and looked in a pair of big and angry blue eyes in a very ugly face, plastered by a few strands of hair. It was Gollum.
Mÿne backed away from his grabbing hands, picked up her sword and held it at him. He growled angrily.
"If you take one step towards me, I'll cut your throat. Why are you follwing us?" she said firmly. Gollum looked at her with a look that could have killed her but eventually fell back and turned around, to leave.
"Nosy woman wants to know what we want, precious... But we won't tell, no...Stupid men with stupid swords... We'll teach them sometimes... but not now, precious...Gollum! Gollum!" he mumbled and cought. He left, leaving Mÿne confused.
Then a thought struck Mÿne. Maybe she could ask what happened to him when he possessed the Ring. Why he became this...creature.
"Wait!" she yelled, but Gollum was already climbing over a big piece of white stone and disappeared from her sight. She putted her sword away and followed him over the boulder. She landed softly on her feet and ran down the hill, after the ugly creature. She jumped over bushes and stones, fell face forward and got up from the mud. She saw him crawling beneath a bush.
"Gollum!" she yelled, grabbing his foot. She pulled him from underneath the bush and held him against a tree, so he wouldn't escape. She places her free hand on his throat.
"You used to own the Ring, didn't you?" she asked, strengthen her grip.
"Yes..." he growled, "The precious was mine, until the Bagginses stole it from us! We hates them, precious, yes we do! Gollum, Gollum!" he said, coughing his own name.
"What happened? How did you become like this?" Mÿne demanded, knowing that being nice wouldn't do any good.
Gollum growled, "They cursed us...Hated us and threw us out of the village, precious, yes they did!" he spat angrily on the ground and wiggled in her grasp. She tried to put more pressure on his throat but he managed to get free and fled quickly into the forest.
Mÿne sighed, disappointed by the answers Gollum had given her. He had told her nothing. She could make up from the bits and pieces he'd said that the Ring had cast him out of his village. Did it bring bad luck then? She didn't know but that wary feeling had weared off. It was just Gollum following them. She turned around and walked back up the hill, feeling small drops of rain from the sky. In seconds rain was pouring over her and the hills. That and her slight trudging footsteps were the only sounds that could be heard.
She remembered the mud on her face, stood still and looked up at the sky. The rain washed her face clean and Mÿne continued her way back to the group, which would now be near the swamps of Weatherhills. It wouldn't be far from where she was, but it would be smarter to go on ahead and scout the area they would be going to. She turned around and climbed over the big boulder on her right.
The rain made the road slippery and muddy, so Mÿne walked at the sides of it, in the grass. She had put up her hood up and let her feet take her to the Wheathertop. The darkness was falling, letting little stars shine in the far distant. But there was something else shining in the distant. A small point of orange light. Mÿne squinted her eyes to see it, but it was vague and too far away. She doubted between checking it out or continuing her way to Wheatertop. She admitted that she was hungry, maybe it would be the camp of Aragorn of other travelers. On the other hand, whay if it was a camp of orcs or goblins? She chewed on her bottom lip while her stomach growled loudly. That settled it. She slid down the muddy hill and made her way through the dark and strongly scented bushes. She kept her ears and eyes open. She ducked when some birds flew up, scared that someone would notice her. She sneaked through the darkness, stopping at trees to see where she was going and hiding behind bushes.
Softly she heard mumbling. It didn't sound orcish or some sort so Mÿne crept closer. She could see a fire, built up from stones and twigs. Dark figures were being shaded by it. Mÿne squinted her eyes again to get a better look at the figures. They seemed to be wearing hoods, they're eyes glinting underneath it. Some pipes were lit. Suddenly Mÿne perked her head up. They were Rangers. She got up, pushed herself trough the bushes and putted down her hood. The Rangers got up quickly, drawing sword and arrows.
"Don't shoot. My name is Mÿne, I'm a Ranger from the North." Mÿne said calmly. The rangers dropped their weapons and one of them came forth.
"My name is Halbarad, come sit with us, friend. Are you hungry?" he said, gesturing to the camp they'd made. Mÿne joined them, sitting next to Halbarad and a man with wild blonde hair, hanging in curls from his face.
"Why are you alone? These are dark times you know..." Halbarad said, giving her a piece of bread. Mÿne took a big bite of it. It tasted so good after walking, climbing and running all the time. "I'm traveling towards Rivendell. I left with Strider, if you know him, but I went forward to scout the area." she said shortly. It was wise not to mention the Ring.
"Yes, I know Strider. I'm also of the North, and have met him once. He's a strong man so why do you need to scout the area for him?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow.
Mÿne swallowed and felt a sting of panic raise, "We need to give a safe passage." she said shortly. It wasn't a lie and she wouldn't give away her 'mission'. Perfect answer.
Halabard nodded and gestured to his group of men, existing of eight men. "We were hunting down some orc troups. They were traveling towards Fangorn forest... Strange don't you think?" he stopped for a second and looked at his men. "Something is stirring... Dark forces this far in the North, it's not natural, I'll tell you..." he looked around as if to think an orc would grab him from behind and drag him into the darkness of the forest.
The rest of the night they'd talked, played music, ate and sang. The fire was almost extinguished when they went to sleep. Mÿne could take one of the tent of Halbarad's men, he was on watch for the night. Mÿne had crawled into the tent, put the blankets around herself and drifted off to sleep.
