Disclaimer: I do not own anything from LOTR only the slight change in the plot and the OC.
Chapter 2: the riders of Rohan.
Ana
We ran through the night until the sun went up the next morning. Even if I was facing away from it I could still feel the heat from the slowly rising sun on my back. Legolas looks above my head to the sky. "A red sun rises. Blood has been spilt this night." He says looking back at me. Our eyes lock for a moment and I look away the blush already spreading across my face. But then what he says sinks in and the blush and whatever color I had in my face drains until it's an unattractive pale green. A whistle was heard to our fare right, Aragorn lead us behind some large rocks to hide from whom ever came our way.
The sound of horse hooves came closer and closer until a whole army of men galloped past us. Aragorn walked out and we fallowed after him. We stopped in the middle of the open ridge. "Riders of Rohan…what news from the mark?" Aragorn asks them. I watched uneasily as they turned their horses around and head back towards us. Aragorn and Legolas stepped in front of me, Gimli took the rear. They kept me solidly in the middle out of harm's way. Soon they surrounded us, they aimed their spears at us in a huge circle. My hand goes to my sword and just stays on the hilt. I watched them wearily. My heart pounding hard against my chest making me think the men of Rohan can hear it.
One with a horse like helmet rode into the middle. I knew that he was the leader in this group of men. I watched him as he got closer to Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, and I. "What business does an Elf, a man, a Dwarf, and a woman have in the Riddermark?" he demanded. None of us said anything for a minute. He got impatient. "Speak quickly!" he orders. He does it so quickly that it made me jump and gasp. Aragorn and Legolas glare at him. "Give me your name horse master, and I will give you mine." Gimli said as he places a firm hand on the small of my back calming me down. The horse mast dismounted from his horse and walked right up to Gimli.
"I would cut off your head, Dwarf…if it stood a little higher off the ground." He said to Gimli. It was full of threat and I was not the only one who disapproved of it. "You would be dead before your stroke fell." Legolas said aiming an arrow right at the master's head. Aragorn pushed the arrow away and Legolas grabbed me. "You arrogant son of a whore, He extends a line of communication and you threaten to kill him! Let me go, I'll give him the ass kicking he needs to learn those manners that no one ever bothered to teach him!" I scream in frustration. "Save it for when we catch up with the Orc mix breed not here." Legolas whispers into my ear. "Fine." I said and he releases me. Gimli looked up at me. "Do I even want to know what you said?" he asked. I shook my head no and returned my focus to the man in the horse helmet.
Aragorn after he gave me a warning look turned back to the man standing before us. "I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn, this is Gimli, son of Gloin, Legolas of the Woodland Realm, and this is my half- sister Ana, Daughter of Celeborn. We are friends of Rohan and of Théoden, your King." He told him. I continued to glare from my spot slightly behind Aragorn. "Théoden no longer recognizes friend from foe. Not even his own kin." He said as he removed his helmet. The men surrounding us removed their spears from our backs. "Saruman has poisoned the mind of the king…and claimed lordship of these lands. My company are those loyal to Rohan. And for that we are banished. The white Wizard is cunning, he walks here and there, they say …As an old man hooded and cloaked. And everywhere, his spies slip past our nets." He said looking at Legolas.
"We are no spies. We track a party of Uruk-hai westward across the plain." Aragorn told him. The man looked back at him, giving me a chance to move closer to Legolas. I leaned over his shoulder and put my lips near his ear."Who is that?" I asked him. I felt him give a tiny shiver. "Eomer, nephew to Théoden." He replied. I nodded and backed away watching Eomer. "They have taken two of our friend's captive." Aragorn said ignoring my and Legolas's conversation.
"The Uruks are destroyed. We slaughtered them during the night." Eomer told us. "They might have seen Merry and Pippin." I said. "But there were two Hobbits. Did you see two Hobbits with them?" Gimli asked Eomer. "They'd be small. Only children to your eyes." Aragorn described to him. Eomer shook his head. "We left none alive. We piled the carcasses and burned them." He told us pointing to a dark pillar of smoke from where they had come from. I let a small gasp free from my lips and then covered my mouth to keep from crying out. Though the tears have already began to gather in my eyes.
"Dead?" Gimli asked quietly to himself. I looked up to Eomer as if I wanted him to prove Gimli wrong. He looked back at me and nodded. Tears fell from my eyes and my body began to shake in repressed sobs. "I am sorry." He said. He turns and Whistles, "Hasufel! Arod!" he called. Two horses came forward and he handed the reins over to Legolas and Aragorn. "May these horses bear you to better fortune than their former masters." He said, then he turned and mounted his own horse. He looked back at us. "Farewell." He said, we bowed our heads to him. He rode away some but stopped, he turned. "Look for your friends, but do not trust to hope. It has forsaken these lands. We ride north!" he yells to his troop.
Legolas climbed onto the back of the white horse, I turned to help Gimli behind him as Aragorn mounted the brown horse. As soon as Gimli was on the horse safely I turned and took the hand that Aragorn had offered and mount behind him. We rode to the smoking pile, as we got closer I could start to smell the burned bodies. My nose scrunched up in revulsion. Once there Gimli jumped off from behind Legolas and goes over to the pile and begins to dig through it with his axe. Legolas dismounted as did Aragorn. I stayed on my horse and watched. Gimli paused and reached in the pile for something. He turned around and held the thing up. "It's one of their wee belts." He said.
I slid off the horse and walked towards him. He handed me the belt. Tears fell down my cheeks, I closed my eyes and forced myself to not think of them dead. They couldn't be dead, we came too far for them to be dead, and I refused to think of them as dead until we find their bodies. "They can't be dead." I whispered to myself. I could hear Legolas behind me doing a payer for the hobbits. I looked over and saw Aragorn kick a helmet and let out a yell of anger, as he lowered himself to the ground. I felt someone grab my hand and looked over to see that it was Gimli. "We have failed them." He said to me sadly.
The tears continued to roll down my cheeks as my body shook in quiet sobs. Legolas had finished hi prayer. I looked over and saw that Aragorn was inspecting the ground. I let go of Gimli's hand and walked over to him. "Aragorn, what is it? What is the ground telling you?" I asked him. He touched the indents on the ground. "A Hobbit lay here. And the other." He said as he touched the second indent. He leaned in closer to the ground, the hope began to rise in me again. "They crawled. Their hands were bound…" he said as we fallowed the trail with him. He picked up some rope. "Their bounds were cut." He said while looking around for foot prints in the ground. "They ran over here … they were fallowed." Aragorn said noticing a third much larger set of tracks. "Tracks lead away from the battle…into Fangorn Forest." Aragorn finished as we all stopped in front of it. "Fangorn? What madness drove them in their?" Gimli asked. I looked at him. "The only way we'll find out is to go in after them." I told him going into the forest myself.