Orcish Sights

Slowly… slowly. Snap! "Jack!" I yelled, that thing has been a nuisance ever since I took it in! There goes my rabbit I wanted for dinner. I now had to rely on whatever I had left, and I'm pretty sure it was just some beetroots, rosemary and mint leaves. Not a great dinner if you'd ask me. I could try and steal from the orc camp that was holding Merry and Pippin hostage, but there were some problems with that.

1. They were cannibals and probably had no food

2. I could get caught and literally caught

3. Merry and Pippin could be punished if I do manage to steal some food.

So I had a makeshift beetroot soup with rosemary. It was okay but it only served two people (me and Jack, Aleece hunted on his own time) and that left me with a handful of mint leaves, I guess tomorrow was a hunting day.

I lay down to sleep, to rest my eyes for a moment. But I couldn't. It seemed that while tomorrow was a hunting day, today was a sleepless one. I had to go do something, so I packed up in case and went to the stream that the orc camped by (even monsters need water). I splashed myself with some water and stared at the crystal clear reflection.

The water was perfectly still. I saw a girl, blonde braid and green eyes staring back. I guess that when god created earth, he made humans have eyes that reflect who they were. My eyes showed a scared little girl who was making her way along this lonely road.

"Ruthelle… Ruthelle… have you forgotten me… Ruthelle…" Okay, that's creepy, I thought. I looked down at the river and saw my brother, Herman. His face was like it was when I left, wondering if I had to go, had to go camping with dad while he and his friends stayed home. And I remember, how my dad said "No Herman; today is not your day to be with me. Perhaps next weekend we will go fishing." And he gave me a sad smile and waved goodbye to the car.

I shook my thoughts like I was shaking him out. "Go away image."

"Image?" Herman scoffed, "I am not an image, silly Ruth, I am your brother."

"No you're not!" I growled, "You're a figment of my guilt."

"What guilt?" I knew he was trying to get me. Trying to make me say what I've been ignoring for so long.

"Why should I tell you; if you are the figment of my guilt, you'd know."

"But do you know?" He asked, "Do you truly know what you're running from?"

"Yes!" I watched as my hand flew across the water and the ripples washed away his image.

Then I felt the hand. My body tensed and my eyes slowly move to one side as to see who was grabbing my shoulder. Orc.

"Ello luv," he spat in this sickly voice.

I groped at my side for the dagger I almost always have at my side, until now. "Looking for something?" He grinned and held up my dagger. His face was worse than Jack's. Ages of mold and dirt covered his face and in some points it was either peeled or burnt to the bone. His eye sockets were white with a slit of a pupil, like a snake's. His hair a grimy mop and his grin twisted, like a dentist had gotten his revenge.

"I think I'll start with your fingers, you won't need them." The orc grinned. In a spark of randomness I dubbed him Peter, in all the stories I knew, the Peters were evil.

As he held up my hand, ew, I saw his groin was exposed. You could be Achilles the invincible and still, if a woman knees your groin with the amount of force I used, you'd keel over. My dagger slipped from his hand, went across my wrist and fell to the floor.

Screw the dagger, I ran like hell out of there. Thankfully I packed Aleece ahead of time, because he and Jack came charging out from the clearing I was camped and ran with me. Jack, my favorite thing, turned around and swiped at the Peter's leg to throw it off balance. I couldn't swing on top of Aleece while we were both running like the others could so that was out of the question.

Peter was gaining, so close I felt him tug on my braid and hiss.

Searing pain, that's what I felt. I looked at my side to see blood pouring out of it. My dagger stuck to a tree just a meter away and I knew that Peter threw it. Red, I could see red and knew I was done for. The trees whacked me and the bushes scraped my legs and arms with their thorns. I was bloody, bruised, in rags and in pain but I kept going until I got to the camp with Merry, Pippin and the other orcs.

Merry and Pippin were gone, Eomer and the Rohirrim were fighting and I collapsed, coughing up blood and my own tears. Why try to fight this, why not just die. My breathing was so heavy I felt as if I could inhale the entire atmosphere and it wouldn't be enough oxygen for my lungs.

The last thing I saw, even through the legs of Aleece's body that was shielding me from further harm, was a spear flying through the air and into Peter's skull. I knew I shouldn't have been happy, but I kind of was.

No wonder the Valar hated me.

This chapter was very fun to make because I get to use Jack in it some more. Also this shows that heroes get hurt and that it's good. I think either this chapter or the next is going to have something about loyalty (no... it's the next chapter). Anyway, thank this story's beta Tintcalad and wish her luck for the future (that way you people get more chapters). I'll be posting two other (short) chapters as well, in make up for the craziness that's been preventing me from writing. I do not own Lord of the Rings.