~0~0~0~

Nothing much happened to Gorluk and Faroth since they had parted from Lady Galadriel in Lothlorien. As they had followed the Fellowship down the river, they succeeded in making themselves unseen. Most of the time, Gorluk and Faroth would stop to rest in the daytime, and then start off at night, not stopping until they caught sight of their boats. While they rode, they didn't speak very much. Gorluk was mostly bored, while Faroth stared over the side of the boat at the fish, trying to imagine what they tasted like. During the daytime when they were supposed to be resting, they would toss and turn, unable to fall asleep on the rocky banks. The river (to them) seemed endless; they had no idea when the Fellowship would stop travelling by water.

Finally on the fourth day of their drifting, during a night when the stars glittered and the moon hung overhead, Faroth had enough. "When will this journey by boat end?!" Faroth wailed. "For the past four days and nights we have had no sleep, hardily any food, and every time I get back onto this boat I get queasy! How long is this river anyways!?" Gorluk looked up from paddling and tried to think. After a few moments he finally said, "I don't know. I heard a few Orc scouts come as far as to this river sometimes, and they say that it goes and spreads into Rohan and Gondor…. Whatever those countries are. Others say that it goes all the way into the great sea, which is pretty far from here." He patted Faroth on the head. "It could be a while before we no longer need this boat."

Gorluk's words brought no comfort to the Warg (it most likely made him feel worse), but he fell silent. He stared up at the stars for a few minutes, then asked, "What was your life like before you were sent to spy in the misty mountains?" Gorluk flinched. "One thing at a time!" he laughed nervously, "Why do you ask that?" Faroth shrugged. "I just thought that a story could make this boat ride seem a bit shorter…. But I'm still curious. How were you able to lie low so that the other Orcs didn't know who you really were?"

Gorluk turned and stared at Faroth. "And who am I really?" he asked quietly. Faroth laughed. "You're still an Orc, Gorluk… but with a good heart. And that's all that matters!" Gorluk couldn't help but smile at that. He sighed and looked straight ahead down the river. "I'll tell you about my past… if you'll tell me yours," he said. Faroth shuffled his paws uncomfortably but nodded. "Ok… But you go first since I asked first!" he said.

The Orc sat back, cleared his throat, and began his story. "Like most Orcs, I was born in Mordor… I think. Either that, or I was born in Mirkwood in the last surviving Orc-colony near Dol-Guldur. Well, it's not so much as a colony; it's more like a camp, since it's a very small group. But more likely I was born in Mordor and just sent to Mirkwood at a very young age. Anyways, as an Orc-ling we were immediately taught to fight and to fend for ourselves. They tried to make us believe that fighting, lying, stealing, and cheating were the only keys to our survival. In some way, I always knew that what they told us was wrong, even though I didn't even know what was right. I tried to make myself as avoidable as possible; it was already pretty easy because of my unnaturally short height. When we became old enough to handle a weapon, we were assigned different jobs that some of us would do for the rest of our lives. The captain choose for me to do scouting, since he didn't pay much attention to my training anyways. During my years as a scout, I didn't do much. For me it was actually a pretty boring job, and yet again, it was better and safer than most. But I was constantly in fear of getting killed by my own comrades. They all understood that I was the weakest of them all, but they couldn't find a clear excuse to kill me. The only person that didn't need an excuse was the Captain. So for a long time, they all waited for me to do something that would upset the Captain. And of course, that day came when he caught me picking flowers…. And you know the rest."

Gorluk ended his story. Faroth gazed down at the water and was silent for a long time. But then his head shot up, and he asked, "But what about your family? You didn't say anything about them." Gorluk shrugged. "I don't need to. Orcs don't usually know that sort of thing. When we're born, we're immediately handed off to someone else who takes us to different training camps to be raised." Faroth gaped at him. "You seem to take that pretty well," he said. Gorluk stared darkly at the trees beside the river. "I was trained to," he muttered.

Gorluk looked back at Faroth and the darkness from his face disapeared. "Alright Faroth. Now it's your turn!" he grinned. If Faroth didn't have fur, Gorluk would've seen his face turn pale. "Oh, ahhhh…." He stammered. "I'm not sure if you would be interested to hear about me…. It's probably not as interesting as your story….." Gorluk laughed. "That's ok! I'm still all ears!"

Faroth stared straight ahead down the river but began to speak. "I can't really remember much from my time as a pup… My first memory was when I was found abandoned in the bushes by a small Warg pack from the north of the Misty Mountains. I was only a few hours old, but yet I can still remember when they found me. There were twenty of them that gathered around and debated for a long time what to do with me. Most of them wanted to leave me there to die since I was a runt and wouldn't be of much use, but a few of the females said that I should join them, if someone agreed to take care of me. Only one came forward to take me; an old, grey, female named Mithuial. Though blind she was, she was dearly respected in the pack for the wisdom that she gained in the long years of her life. She came up to me, sniffed me, and said that she could tell by my scent that I came from one of the Warg packs in the South. Right on the spot she named me 'Formen', meaning north, as a way to make me a part of them."

"And so, she raised me for the first five months of my life. Even though, naturally, most of the Wargs in the pack ignored me because I was an orphan, I can tell you right now that those were the BEST five months of my life because Mithuial was always with me. She taught me everything during the daytime; how to run, jump, chase rabbits, and even hunt. But at night, during starry nights like these, we would sit together in the grassy fields, and she would tell me many stories, most of which she made up on her own, until I would fall asleep. Back then, I thought that my life was perfect."

"But then, the fire came. It must have been started by the woodsmen from the valleys by accident, but it spread from tree to tree until it reached the foot of the mountains. During that time, my pack was asleep; except me. I was wide awake when I began to smell smoke and see flames off in the distance. When I nudged Mithuial and asked her what it was, she immediately jumped and let out a long howl to alert the others. It was only within moments after she howled that we all began to run. But the fire was faster than our speed; we were surrounded by flames within seconds. Amidst the chaos, I lost Mithuial and ran through the burning forests trying to find her and the rest of the pack. As I ran, a burning branch fell from a tree and hit me right on the nose, which burned my nose so bad that I lost my sense of smell almost immediately…. Permanently. I ran all through the night, yelping in pain, until I finally found a lake and jumped in. The next morning, all that was left of the forest was piles upon piles of ashes, but no sign of Mithuial. Right then, I had to accept that she and the pack most likely died in the fire."

"While I was searching for Mithuial in vain, another Warg pack showed up. They came from further north up the mountains, and had come down together to investigate the fire. I tried to ask them if they had seen Mithuial and my pack, but they shook their heads and said that I was the only Warg that they had seen all day. After I explained to them what happened, they whispered amongst themselves, then turned to me and asked if I could join them. I thought about it for a long time. Like the day I was born, I was lost, alone, abandoned. I was still young so I knew that I couldn't survive by myself, which is why I agreed to join them."

"When they took me to their dwelling, I realized right then my mistake. Like the Orcs, the young were trained to fight right after they were three months old. As they showed me around, I saw many Warg pups lying around in puddles of their own blood, most of them already dead. In that pack, only the strongest survived. After a few days of living among them, I finally ran away into the night, because I knew that I wouldn't be able to survive since I was a runt."

"I decided after my escape to head down towards the southern parts of the mountains, because I was hoping that I could find my true Warg pack. But I had no sense of direction; I may have accidentally gone east instead. On the third week of traveling, I came upon a small village filled with woodsmen at the feet of the mountains at night. As I stood there in the dark, unsure what to do next, I heard many howls as a large pack of Wargs ran down from the mountains and started to attack the settlement. As I watched them in shock, I realized that they had red eyes like mine and a few had light brown fur that was the same color as my fur. I stood there frozen as a group of them walked by. I was so excited that they could possibly be my real pack that I didn't notice the blood that dripped from their mouths and coated their chests. I faintly called out to them, and within seconds they formed a circle around me, with their fur bristling with hostility. They demanded to know from what pack I came from, and that they didn't accept outsiders so close to their territory. I tried to tell them that I wanted to join, but they only laughed and told me to beat it. Right as they were about to turn around and leave, something tickled my nose. I sniffed the air, and sneezed before shouting out 'Fire!' The other Wargs laughed, for they couldn't smell or see any fires at all. But then, I saw a flame leap up from the very top of the mountain; a fire that was five miles away. A few of the Wargs saw it and immediately ran to their Alpha. When they returned, they were led by a huge Warg, with immense claws and blood-red eyes. Many of the Wargs quickly explained to him how I had smelled a small fire up the mountain when no one else could, and that I was interested in joining them. They insisted that I could be a great use to them in tracking down villages inhabited by men. The Alpha listened for a while, then pointed his nose up as a signal for silence. All he did was turn to me, and gave me the slightest of nods, meaning I could join."

"And so, I became a tracker for that pack for a long time. Eventually they gave me the name 'Faroth' which meant hunter, but a few said that it was meant as a joke because I was terrible at hunting for food. I can't say that I was happy. For the longest time I was convinced that I had found my family, but the memory of Mithuial made me realize that she was closer to being my family than they could ever be."

"During the nights that I would track down villages for my pack to raid, I would mostly stand outside the towns as they did the pillaging. But one night, they insisted that I was ready to fight and kill alongside them; and that was the night I met you. On that night, when I was forced to attack you, you showed me something that no one had showed me in a very, very, very long time; pity and mercy. And so when morning came, and I saw nearly half of my pack laying in a dead heap, I realized that if I had died among them, the remaining number of Wargs wouldn't miss me. And tugged by my curiosity for you, I decided right then to leave that sorry excuse for a pack and follow you. And it's been nearly a month later, and look at how much my life has changed! I couldn't be happier!"

And so Faroth ended his story. Gorluk stared at him, wide-eyed, jaw dropped, completely frozen and still processing all that he had heard. But slowly, he dropped his paddle, leaned forward, and gave Faroth a big hug. "My life couldn't be better either," he sniffed, but eventually broke into many sobs. Faroth shifted his paws uncomfortably as his friend cried on his shoulder. "uhhh, Gorluk?" he stammered, "You can stop crying now….. We're about to pass by the fellowships' boats…."

"Oh, really?" Gorluk jumped up excitedly. Right in the distance they could both see their boats pulled up to shore. Gorluk quickly grabbed the paddle and rowed their way to the opposite shore. By the time morning came and the fellowship were preparing for another day of travel, Gorluk and Faroth were already hidden and surprisingly asleep.

~0~0~0~