Chapter 6

Willow held onto Aragorn as they galloped away. No words were spoken as they rode throughout the afternoon. Soon they were covered in darkness, the air became colder, and the stars twinkled down on them. They rode throughout the night and as the sun came up Aragorn finally announced that they were to rest and would continue their journey before dawn the next day.

Willow wondered where they were exactly, as she hopped down feeling sore and stiff from the long ride. Her legs fell under her balance, Aragorn managed to catch the girl before she fell face first onto the grass. Aragorn went to unpack the bag, and tossed Willow some water.

'Aragorn…'

'Out in the wild I am Strider, remember it and use it.' Confusion was evident on Willows face.

She went on, 'Strider, where are we going?'

He stopped what he was doing and looked at Willow, and carefully formed his next words, 'We are going to meet a Hobbit. I will explain it in more detail once we are safe.'

'Are we in danger?' Willow knew she would always be in danger while her enemy drew breath, but she wanted to know if there were other dangers that she should be looking out for.

He replied simply, 'Yes.'

'Will you not explain?'

'Not yet.' At that moment she saw something in Aragorn, she saw a look of worry, he was scared. No not scared, nervous.

She dared to speak again, 'you are nervous. You should know not to hide feelings from someone who has perfected that skill.'

Aragorn strolled up to Willow and grabbed her arm and looked her in the eye, with a coldness edge in his voice, he replied, 'you are not so cleaver at hiding your feelings. You are not so hard to read in my eyes. Do not tell me not to hide away, when you do a poor job at it yourself. All you see is concern. I do not deny, I am concerned, I see more than you care to admit and know.' Willow pulled her arm out of his grip.

Aragorn knew that to a normal person they would think that Willow was heartless and tough, but to him she was scared and alone. The signs were there. He could read them, though she did not make it easy he'd give her.

She covered her face well showing no emotions, and asked coldly, 'will you tell me what a Hobbit is?'

Aragorn sighed and replied, 'A hobbit is friendly in nature, they know nothing of the outside world, and they look to be children in our eyes. They are very trusting and care not for people's pasts, if you treat them well they will treat you well. Simple.'

A million questions raced through Willows mind, but after having been scolded by Aragorn she felt un-easy and a little ashamed at telling him he was nervous. They spent the night resting. Aragorn suggested that she get some sleep but Willow could find no rest, she did not want to appear weak in her sleep.

As dawn approached Willow sat up and knew by the look on Aragorn's face that something was very wrong, 'We are being watched aren't we?'

'Yes, we need to be careful. Come we must make haste.' He quickly pulled her up onto the horse who she now knew him as Ashfield, and rode away.

That night the two riders stopped both not keen on stopping but had to for the horse's sake. They did not wish to stop for long. They gave the horse some apples and water. Willow was keen to leave but when she asked Aragorn had said that Ashfield needs to rest up.

'Who are the ones that follow us?' she asked.

'The Dark Riders that is one name they are called. They are not after us just yet'. He replied.

'What do you mean, yet?' she asked.

'Exactly what I said. Rest now,' He said ending their talk. Stubborn ranger she thought as she settled into a light slumber.

Her light slumber was disturbed a few hours later when she heard what sounded like swords clashing. Willow jumped up, her warrior self-coming to life. Aragorn was fighting, fighting her demons.

'NO,' she screamed. If anything happened to Aragorn because of her she knew she would not be able to forgive herself. He was not a bad person he was trained to hunt and kill and to trust only those he felt he could trust.

Willow ran towards Aragorn and jumped on the shoulders of the blood thirsty ninja. Snapping his head would be easy and that was what she had intended to do; however, the other two slammed into her back pushing her over the ninjas shoulders the other one was waiting for her to fall as he kicked Willow down to the ground. Willow was blinded by pain, the taste of blood flooded her mouth. She had experience in fighting blindly in the darkness so this would not stop her. She kicked her legs up and jumped to her feet getting into the fighting stance, her brown eyes closed she went into her visions mind anticipating the next move. They started to move around her, they were playing with the girl.

Willow's eyes snapped open and quickly grabbed the long knives she had attached to her leg, holding them steady in one hand, while her other hand hid the star weapon. The first one came at her, his eyes were hungry. Aella glanced at Aragorn as he battled with one, she leap backwards, the second one did the same, she knew they were trying to block her and had to think fast. As the third one came, she jumped in the air and she kicked him flipping backwards, and out of the circle they had started too created.

They had the advantage of speed; Willow threw one of the stars hitting one in the leg, one down two to go. This was not about killing but to get out of this place and reach the Hobbit as fast as possible. The other two ran towards her as they jumped and flipped to avoid the stars, she quickly scouted the grounds and saw him fighting of orcs which had most likely heard the commotion, great just what we needed. She quickly threw the knives towards both ninjas one going straight in front the other going off to her right; she had managed to injure one, and then nothing. They had gone, as fast as the speed of light, Willow saw them cover in the shadows of the trees and the orc's had also backed off to.

Aragorn was by Willow's side in a matter of seconds, and pulling her up on Ashfield and said quickly, 'this was a distraction.'

Both were injured but they had no choice but to ignore it. Blood dripped out of Willow's mouth she would suffer from bruising but nothing she could not handle. Still she did not know why they were after the Hobbit but she knew this Hobbit would be in danger, especially if the Ninjas had now teamed up with those orc's.

Willows POV

As midday fell on the 6th day we finally made it to Bree, Aragorn got off the horse and pulled his hand towards mine.

'I do not ask for help,' I said bitterly.

He replied, 'I do not ask your permission.' He pulled me off the horse and put me down. Aragorn talked to a man who was watching us, and pointed to our horse. After a nod Aragorn came back.

'He is going to look after Ashfield. Come we must hurry.' Aragorn said walking off.

My legs felt shaky from having been riding for days on end. Aragorn strolled along the streets, I could barely keep up. He stopped in front of a door I looked up and it was the Prancing Pony.

Aragorn spoke, 'we will be safe here for a day or two, we were not followed. I will heal you and explain everything once we are inside.'

'I do not need to be healed, I am not injured, and I just want to know what is going on.'

'And you will, after I heal you,' he replied with a smirk.

We walked into the pub, it smelled of smoke and alcohol. I noticed a wood fire burning in the corner and smiled. I had always loved a fireplace with wood burning. I tore my eyes away and Aragorn led me upstairs following the man who I assumed worked there.

'Here is your room, one for you and this one is for the lass. If you require anything call for Nob, he will attend to whatever you need. I shall have some food ready for you weary looking travelers.' The man said in a gruff voice. Aragorn thanked the man, and Aragorn guided me into the room and pushed me into the chair.

'You could be a little gentler you know? By the way you're injured to.' I said. As he went towards the fireplace that was already burning wood.

'Nay I am not; it is your blood on me you are seeing. If you consent it I will rub this cream on your ribs they are not broken thankfully.' How did he know where I got injured?

'Fine,' I replied looking away.

'I would also like to make sure you are not injured anywhere else.' I said nothing as his gentle clean hands worked swiftly checking my legs, arms and making sure everything was in place. After he had done that he gently lifted up my top and rubbed some sort of cream onto my ribs, it felt warm and tingly.

Even after it was all rubbed in he kept massaging my ribs, if I was honest with myself and I hate myself for thinking it, but it felt so good to be cared for, I almost sighed in relief. Almost.

'I will make some tea that will help clean and sooth your mouth, while you go and wash yourself,' he said.

It was a nice relief to be sitting in front of a fire drinking warm tea, to me this was the perfect time for stories, 'will you tell me what is going on now?'

Aragorn placed his tea on the table and sighed, 'there have been rumours that the one ring has been found. Gandalf has sent word to Rivendell that a Hobbit is carrying this ring and is in grave danger.'

'A ring?' I asked.

'Yes, I will start from the beginning.' (AN – I will not write out the whole history of the ring as I will assume most of you know the story.)

I felt a chill down my spine after Aragorn had told me the story; I did not think I would be able to handle another war.

'Now will you tell me your story?' I had been so absorbed in his story that he took me off guard.

'My story?' I splattered out.

'Aye, it is not every day you meet a lady who is being hunted. Who are they and what do they want?' I sighed knowing the questions would be coming.

'It is a long story, one which I do not feel ready to talk about.'

'When you are ready I will listen.' He replied gently without taking his eyes off me.

'Where do I stand?' I needed to know, I felt like I was going crazy in this world.

He frowned and asked, 'What do you mean?'

I sighed this was going to be hard to explain, 'I get the impression that you are forced to like me, that you do not willingly like me. I will admit it has been a long time since I have had a friend and I…'

Aragorn moved closer and placed his hands on mine, 'and you what?'

'And I, I don't know what to do.' I said barley in a whisperer, I almost wondered if he had heard me.

'Well you seem to be doing something right, I do not hate you. I am confused about you, but I do not hate you.' Then he did something which I never dreamed would ever happen to me again, he opened his arms and pulled me into a hug.

It was an odd feeling; it felt so wrong that it may have possibly been so right.

'You should get some sleep. I am expecting the Hobbit to show up tomorrow night.' I closed my eyes not able to keep them open a second longer.

Oh how I wish I could have kept them opened, for I rather face the horrors in the real world, than in my sleep.

It was dark, and cold, so cold I could hardly breathe I heard screams, I smelt blood, I felt death. Someone grabbed me roughly and shoved me outside my bare feet now covered in blood from having walked on sharp stones. I let the tears swallow my face; I saw them all in black ordering people around, a large man sitting on top of a roof screamed out,

'IF YOU RESIST YOU WILL BE KILLED,'

There were so many people so many scared people, I ducked and fell to the ground, I was a coward I was young; I was too scared to stay and see what would happen. I saw a body and moved towards it and hid under the jacket. I stayed there until the streets were silent. A man moved swiftly through the night, picking up the jacket with the girl inside,

'Shh I will protect you,'

'What's going on?'

'Shh,'

I looked down and saw it was my father's jacket it had a stain on the sleeve; I tried to scream but was unable to. The man held me to his chest so I was unable to see anything else.

My eyes snapped opened, tears ran freely from my eyes, I was screaming out, and it took a while to see that someone was trying to comfort me.