Chapter Twenty: The Parting of the Ways

DISCLAIMER: This chapter may or may not have been written under the influence of A Very Potter Musical and Cadbury chocolate.

Author's Note: Yes, the chapter title is stolen from a Doctor Who episode :)

Brief Recap: Adonnenniel is lost. Estela is running into the ensuing battle. Silly heroines.

Random Quote: "How can I know what I think till I see what I say?" ~EM Forster

Estela rushed through the bright landscape of the forest, her surroundings becoming a hazy blur. The noises from the battle could be heard loud and clear. The sound of swords clashing and unearthly screams reverberated distortedly through the forest. Estela felt fear clawing its way into her thoughts, sending adrenaline pounding through her bloodstream.

She reached the outskirts of the battle. It was even worse than it had been in Moria. There were at least one hundred plus Uruks, swarming through the forest and surrounding Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas in a rough circle of brandished weapons. Estela unsheathed Adonnenniel's sword in one swift motion, a feeling of sudden confidence immersing her. But before she could act on her rash impulse to join the heat of the battle, she heard a sudden thumping from behind her, and whirled around sharply. Two large creatures were rushing towards her, one much closer than the other. Estela stared at them fearfully, her resolve to fight vanishing on the spot. She stood utterly paralyzed, her grip on her weapon tightening.

It was only when one of the Uruk-hai raised his sword that she forced her body to respond. Trying to remember her training in Lothlorien, she raised her sword, and it met her opponents' with a mighty clang. He came at her again, fiercer this time, and she was unable to move out the way in time. His sword met her shoulder violently, and Estela cried out. Somehow, though, the pain jolted her into a sharper sense of the battle.

When he came at her again, this time she was ready. She dodged the blows, unable to go on the offensive, but each time she became more confident with her ability to survive each strike. Suddenly, Estela spotted a break in the monotony of the fight, and went on the offensive. Primal instinct took over her every action. For but a split second, a strange sensation swooped over her in the midst of the battle. She felt the sword become agile and quick in her hand, her movements fluid and certain, as if the weapon were an extension of her arm and not a separate entity.

It was an invigorating sensation, electrifying all her senses and turning her into something lethal and animalistic. By sheer luck and perhaps some meager amount of skill, she drove Adonnenniel's blade back and thrust it through her opponent. For a long moment, all she could do was stare open mouthed at the end of sword, protruding oddly from the creatures' neck. Slowly, she pulled the sword out, and he crumbled in a heap of armor and blood at her feet.

But then as soon as it had come, the invigorating feeling vanished, leaving her wits scattered once more. She was not ready for the next Uruk. She felt the pain in her arm more sharply now, and her limbs felt heavy. Her vision wavered. As he came at her, instead of standing her ground, she scrambled backwards with her sword dangling uselessly at her side. She felt her back hit something hard, and whirled around to see that she had cornered herself against a tree.

Two seconds passed, in which Estela fearfully watched the Uruk-hai advance, and then he was upon her. He grabbed her roughly by the neck, and thrust her against the tree. She screamed as her feet left the ground, and she felt fear so sharply invade all of her senses. She did not close her eyes as he raised his sword-

Suddenly, his grip on her loosened. Sensing this on some primal level, she frantically kicked out at him, and tried to pry his hands off of her neck. That was when she spotted the arrow protruding from the back of the creature's neck. As the creature fell to the ground, Estela fell with it and landed underneath it's dead body. She used what strength was left in her muscles to push it off of her.

She raised her head, looked around wildly, and saw Legolas standing over the Uruk-hai with a furious expression. He knelt down beside her. "Are you alright?"

She simply stared at him. Words wouldn't come. She felt completely shell shocked and frightened.

Legolas raised his voice. "Estela! Are you alright? Answer me at once, I must return to the battle!"

Slowly, she nodded her head.

Legolas stood up, and motioned sharply towards the Uruk that she had slain. "That was luck, Estela. Sheer luck. You should not have interfered in this fight!" He sounded absolutely furious.

Suddenly, he leaned over her and picked her up. Despite the anger in his voice, he did so carefully and gently. He walked quickly, and set her down a fair distance away from the battle.

"Stay here," he said fiercely. "Did you hear me? Stay here! I will return for you after we have finished."

She stared at him, wide eyed and shocked, and something in his expression softened. "I am glad you are not injured, Estela."

With that, he dashed lithely back through the trees and rejoined the battle.

Estela felt tears rise in her eyes. Why had she been so stupid? What idiotic impulse had prompted her to run into the middle of a fight? For all she knew, one of the others could have been killed because of her interference.

And then it dawned on her. She could have died. Easily. If Legolas hadn't arrived right when he had, she would be the one lying dead on the ground, not the Uruk-hai. With this realization came a strange feeling. She had never truly considered whether or not it was possible for her to die. Some part of her, however small, had thought that this whole experience was somehow unreal and that any moment she would wake up back home. Some part of her seemed to have thought that she and her sister were invincible. Now she knew that they weren't, and they could die just as easily as anyone else.

Thoughts of the Prophecy and the imminent danger Adonnenniel could be infiltrated her thoughts. Estela had no idea where her sister was. Suddenly, she felt angry at her sister. Why had she been so stupid? She wandered off without telling anyone. She didn't even think to bring her sword with her. If she had, she would be able to defend herself if something were to happen. Estela's thoughts turned darker. Adonnenniel could be lost, hurt, or even…No. Estela shook herself. She would not start thinking like that.

Time seemed to slow, and all the sounds emanating from the battle, the cries and clanging swords and twanging arrows, seemed to muffle into distortion and a semblance of silence. Even from afar, Estela was aware of the scent of blood thick in the air. As she watched the battle from a distance, she caught glimpses of Gimli crashing his axe with tremendous force on their enemies, and flashes of gold and green sending arrow after arrow into the scattered assembly of Uruk-hai. She saw Aragorn, his sword shining blindly bright. She wasn't sure how long she sat there for. It could have been mere seconds, minutes, or hours.

Suddenly, Estela remembered her arm. Somehow, amidst the adrenaline and heat of the battle, the pain in her arm had gone unnoticed until just now.

She hesitantly raised a hand to her shoulder to assess the damage. She expected to see blood seeping through the fabric of her dress and pouring down her arm, but as it turned out she was not even bleeding. The Uruk must have hit her with the blunt end of his sword. She tentatively applied pressure to her shoulder with her fingertips, and gasped in pain. Slowly, hesitantly, she brought her fingers to the back of her dress and unlaced it. It put strain on her muscles to do so, and her shoulder throbbed immoderately.

Slowly, she removed her arm inch by inch from the sleeve. Once she had, she closed her eyes for a moment instead of looking at the damage right away. She expected it to be a bruise, and when she opened her eyes she saw that she was correct. Except that this was no ordinary bruise. Upon first looking at it, she nearly flinched away. Already it had swelled to the size of several golf balls. It was a strange mishmash of colors…The inside where the force of the hit had been most concentrated was nearly a black color. The rest of the bruise was a dark purple and a sickly yellow color.

Somehow, looking at it magnified the pain. Estela winced as she maneuvered her arm back into the sleeve. When she tried to lace up the dress, starbursts of pain exploded along her arm when she tried to move it. After a while of struggling with it, she gave up and resigned to simply leaning against a nearby tree and wait for the battle to end.

Suddenly, with a horrible jolt, she remembered something. Boromir. Was it too late now? Her thoughts had been so sharply focused on her sister, that Boromir's predicament had all but slipped her mind. How could she have let that happen? Estela gritted her teeth angrily. He could be dead already, and she had done nothing.

Just as she was thinking this, she heard footsteps. She looked up to see Legolas and Gimli running in her direction.

Legolas reached her first. "Is everyone alright?" Estela asked as he knelt down beside her.

"Yes," he said grimly. "Though I fear for Boromir and the hobbits. Can you stand?"

In response, she stood up. "I'm fine," she told him.

He looked at her suspiciously, and she met his gaze levelly. "Turn around, Estela," he said.

"What?"

"Turn around," he repeated.

She eyed him warily, but did as he requested.

"Why is your dress unlaced?"

Estela mentally cursed. They didn't have time for tending to her injury right now. It was just a bruise.

She spoke quickly. "I have a bruise on my arm, Legolas. That's all. I unlaced my dress to assess the damage. I didn't lace it back up because I'm not the best at lacing up dresses, much less while my arm is aching. But we don't have time for this right now. We have to go." She turned around and started walking.

Before she could move further, Legolas grasped her lightly by her shoulders and spun her around. He deftly laced the back of her dress back up in five seconds flat.

Despite the situation, Estela gaped at him. "How did you do that?" Does he have experience with lacing up girls' dresses or something? she errantly thought.

As if sensing her thoughts, he spoke slowly. "There are similar laces on men's' clothing, Estela, except they are thicker and found on tunics or boots instead of dresses."

"Oh," she said. "Right. That makes sense."

Gimli appeared beside them, panting heavily.

"What are we waiting for?" he said gruffly. "Aragorn went that way!" he pointed to the left. "We must run!"

Estela locked eyes with Legolas for a fleeting second, and then they dashed off further into the forest.

The two small figures flew themselves at Adonnenniel. She shrieked and stumbled backwards, her arms flying to her face instinctively.

"It's alright, m'Lady, it's just us!" said a familiar voice. Adonnenniel looked down and saw that Merry and Pippin were standing beside her.

"Oh!" she said, startled. "I…I thought…What's going on?" she asked frantically. "I can hear shrieking and sword fighting."

"We're not quite sure," Merry said. "Frodo vanished, and then everyone else went off to look for him. We were just running away from the battle as Aragorn told us to. We've been searching for Frodo."

"Merry!" said Pippin suddenly. "Look!"

Frodo was darting down the steep hillside a little ways from the hollow they stood in. As they watched, Frodo stumbled and fell, then regained his balance and leaned heavily against a tree.

"Frodo!" Merry whispered urgently. Frodo's head snapped around, a strange combination of fear and guilt and sorrow etched on his features.

"Hide here, quick! Come on," Pippin urged.

Frodo looked at them piercingly, and then shook his head slowly, apologetically.

"What's he doing that for?" Adonnenniel asked, dumbfounded.

A look of dawning realization swept over Merry's face. "He's leaving," he said softly.

Suddenly, a small legion of Uruk-hai emerged from the forest. They were heading straight toward where Frodo hid. Adonnenniel could feel their footsteps rumbling deeply through the ground, echoing eerily through the trees. An intense desire to do something and not just stand by and watch swept over her.

"We have to distract them," she said to Merry and Pippin, boldness and keen energy sparkling in her eyes.

They understood what she meant immediately.

"Frodo, run!" called Merry, and then he leaped out of the hollow, closely followed by Pippin.

"Hey! Over here!" Pippin shouted, waving his hands in the air. Adonnenniel let out a brief sigh of relief as the monsters diverted their path from Frodo. But then she realized something crucial that she hadn't thought through before. Now the creatures were running toward her and the hobbits, and they were unarmed.

And then, by some stroke of miraculous luck, another figure leaped in front of her and the hobbits, shielding them from the oncoming attack. It was Boromir. He brandished his sword skillfully, bringing down a number of the monsters.

"Seize the Halflings and the human girl! Kill the rest!" rumbled a callous voice. Adonnenniel looked around wildly, and saw that another legion of Uruk-hai had appeared. The one that had spoken seemed even larger and fiercer than the rest. He stood atop the hollow, watching impassively as the other Uruk-hai attacked Boromir. Adonnenniel watched in horror as he slowly lifted his bow and took aim at Boromir. Her previous bravery had completely vanished. She felt faint and detached, as if this wasn't actually happening.

"Look out!" she screeched, but Boromir did not move. He stood between the Uruk-hai and Merry, Pippin, and Adonnenniel. If he were to move, they would be overcome.

"Run!" Boromir yelled at the hobbits and Adonnenniel, just as the Uruk-hai released his arrow. It struck Boromir in the chest, and Adonnenniel screamed. She stumbled backwards and began shaking uncontrollably. And then somehow, miraculously, Boromir stood up and resumed fighting once more. He continued fighting, but another arrow and then another brought him to his knees. Adonnenniel wanted to look away, but couldn't. She had never felt so afraid in her life.

The remaining Uruks rushed forward, and roughly grabbed the hobbits and Adonnenniel. "Boromir!" screamed Merry and Pippin.

Adonnenniel screeched and struggled blindly, trying to free herself from her captor's strong grip, but to no avail. She shrieked in pain as the Uruk-hai tightened his hold on her. She continued screaming, but it made no impact on the Uruks, and only made her throat dry and sore. She felt darkness pressing against her like a heavy weight. All this fear and violence and blood was just too much. She trembled weakly, and then passed out.

Gimli, Legolas, and Estela made their way to where Aragorn and Boromir were as quickly as they could, but it was not fast enough.

They appeared in the clearing just as Boromir breathed his last.

Estela felt tears gathering in her eyes, and let them fall freely. An overwhelming feeling of guilt immersed her. She started shaking, and Legolas placed his hand in hers comfortingly. She clutched his hand tightly, as if it were a lifeline that kept her from drowning in sadness and guilt. Boromir's death was entirely her fault. She had it within her power to prevent it from happening, but she had let him die. She suddenly realized how little she had spoken with him while they were in Lothlorien…If she had been paying closer attention to him, maybe there would have been something she could have done to prevent this…The guilt was overwhelming.

"They will look for his coming from the White Tower. But he will not return," Aragorn said solemnly.

Estela suddenly remembered her sister and the hobbits. "Where are the others?" she asked, wiping her eyes furiously and trying to sound composed. She already knew where the hobbits were, but asked for the sake of her sister.

"Merry and Pippin were taken. As was your sister." Aragorn's voice was sorrowful and helpless.

Estela was stunned. She had envisioned a thousand horrible scenarios, but this had not been among them. "Why would they have taken Adonnenniel instead of just killing her?"

"I think we can safely assume that word of yourself and your sister has reached Saruman by now. He has many spies, and I would be shocked if you accompanying us had escaped his notice. If he knows that you have knowledge of what is to come for Middle Earth, then that would be all the more reason for him to capture you or your sister and interrogate you for information," Aragorn said, looking at her levelly.

Estela didn't even flinch at his words. Instead of feeling shocked or sad or worried, all she felt was an intense urgency that swept over her like a powerful wave. Her thoughts became robotic and calculating, devoid of emotion. Emotion was weakness at a time like this. She would not let her feelings hinder her ability to think clearly.

"Then we must go after them," she said immediately.

"What about Frodo and Sam?" Gimli asked gruffly.

"They left," Aragorn told him.

"You mean not to follow them," Legolas stated. He looked at Aragorn curiously.

Aragorn sighed. "Frodo's fate is no longer in our hands. We can do no more for him."

"Then it has all been in vain. The Fellowship has failed." Gimli sounded tired and broken.

"No," Estela said forcefully. She glared fiercely at Gimli. "There is still much we can do. We must follow the Uruks that took Merry, Pippin, and my sister."

"Yes," Aragorn agreed, nodding. "We shall not abandon them to torment and death while we still have strength."

Estela's mind was racing, planning ahead. "We'll need to travel light."

Aragorn nodded. "Leave everything except necessities behind." The group shed their belongings on the ground, save for their weapons and their gifts from Galadriel.

"Let's hunt some Orc," Aragorn said grimly.

Without another word, they dashed off into the woods, following the Uruk-hai trail. Estela knew what was to come. They were to run and run and run for three days nonstop without resting. She prepared herself mentally for this, willing herself to shove all her emotions away for the time being. She wanted to be able to have sharp concentration and be able to physically keep up with the men.

As they ran and night began to fall, the forest surrounding them blurred into indistinct shapes like shadows rising from the earth, emitting swirls of mist that curled up toward the treetops. The sky merged into an inky blue, assuming a darkness that filtered distilled starlight as if through a veil. She noticed the others, especially Legolas, occasionally glancing sideways at her, as if doubtful of her abilities to run such a long distance. Estela gritted her teeth and ignored them.

The trees began to recede into the distance, making way for a changing landscape of rocky terrain covered with sporadic bursts of grass. Eventually, Estela lost track of time, and the running blurred into a dim monotony of lightly thudding footsteps and controlled breathing. All Estela was aware of was a resounding determination to help her sister. Urgency pulsed through her like the ticking of a clock, measuring every second her sister was in the hands of the Uruks.

Coming Up Next!

-The first chapter of the Two Towers part of the story!

It might take a while. I want to take a brief break from writing this story every single week so I can step back and decide for certain where I want it to go plot wise. I have a general idea, but I want to take a few weeks of from posting so I can write the ending of the story :)

Also, I want some time to delve into other writing projects for fanfiction….I am working on another Lord of the Rings one, this time with only canon characters. Do you remember a while back while they were still walking to Moria, and Estela and Boromir had a conversation about Boromir's mother? Way back when I wrote that, it got me thinking about how Finduilas had died. Tolkien never specifies it in the book. It's very ambiguous. The piece I'm working on gives her death a story.