Chapter Five
Gimli's poor legs ached. They had made no progress on the strange orcs on the whole three days they had been running for, and now Gimli was getting tired. His legs ached, and his back ached, and his heart ached for the poor young hobbits, whom at one stage had been driven like cattle for a short while. Whether there was any hope for the young ones' lives Gimli doubted. But what choice did he have but to keep running? Running, running, running.
"I'm wasted on cross country. Three days we've run no rest! We dwarves are natural sprinters!" Gimli grumbled as he followed Legolas and Aragorn.
Suddenly Aragorn stopped. He pressed his head to the ground. Then he stood up grimly.
"Their pace has quickened." He stated briefly. "Come quickly."
Gimli sighed. Then the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
He turned to see a hobbit size figure hurtle towards him, almost as fast as Legolas' arrows.
"Ah!" he cried. "Legolas!"
Aragorn and Legolas whirled around in panic, and Legolas instinctively shot an arrow at the body. If it had been any slower its chest would have been pierced, but it was so fast the arrow missed by a millimetre. Ello skidded to a halt in front of them with her eyes wide open and her palms face up and empty in front of them.
"Don't attack me, please!" her voice rose in pitch when she saw Aragorn's hand on his sword. I'm trying to help you, not murder you." She sighed, flipping her hair back
"Who are you? What do you-" Aragorn commanded.
"My name is Ellora, but I like to be called Ello. Lady Galadriel sent me to help you. I come from- from another world called Earth, where there is nothing but Men, and Birds of the sky, Beasts of the land and Fish from the sea. No magic. Magic was myth. But I fell through the pavement and landed here. So I may as well make myself useful."
"What help do you have for us? And what are you? And why should we believe a word you say...another world is impossible?" Legolas cried.
"I have information, and according to Lady Galadriel I am a leiveia."
Legolas gasped softly, but Aragorn shook his head. "I don't believe you."
"Let me show you something." Ello mused, and without waiting for a reply, she removed from her bag one of the few electronic devices that she had; a portable DVD player. She slipped in a disc showing the second half of The Fellowship of the Ring and slipped it in.
The trio remained silent as Ello quietly explained what was happening.
"This is called a movie, and I believe you are among the only souls on Middle Earth who have witnessed it. This I saw at my home and that is how I know your names, Legolas, Aragorn and Gimli. Before this, another disc shows every important event from Bilbo Baggins' 111t h birthday, until Rivendell, and this is the same for Rivendell to three days ago-"
"That's you Aragorn, Legolas! There's Gandalf, Boromir- the hobbits! There's me!" Gimli blubbered.
Ello nodded and closed the player, turning it off. "It was lucky there are cameras at Isenguard. I saw some of Saruman's order's to the Uruk-hai."
"Uruk-hai? These orcs that travel by daylight, and are bigger, stronger?" Legolas inquired, truly intrigued.
"Yep. It will please you that his orders are to keep the hobbits alive, unspoiled. They are safe, until they reach Isenguard, but I don't think they're having much fun. We should be moving, and don't look at me like that Aragorn. That is, if you will have me along I will follow you. I will not tier easily" Ello kept her cross country results to herself
"If you answer my question." Aragorn pondered as they began running. "Do you know which hobbits have been taken?"
"Just Merry and Pippin; Frodo got away, and Sam went with him." Ello smiled widely. "I was with them until ten/fifteen minutes ago."
"Impossible." Scoffed Gimli, at the same time as Aragorn said "Where are they!"
Ello looked down as her face fell. "My guess is forty leagues or so away. I was wishing I could find away to get here to you and, the rocks split…"
"We will talk about this later, let us go, swiftly." Aragorn remembered the old legends of the leiveian powers
Another night they ran, and soon they were facing open fields.
"The sun raises red." Deliberated Legolas. Then he frowned. "Blood has been spilled this night."
Suddenly, Ello fell, and her eyes glassed over, staring into space. Her companions yelled and shook her, but her body was as solid as the rock beneath their feet. Then her body relaxed and her eyes flickered shut. She groaned at sat up, but when she opened her eyes they were fearful.
"I saw something. It was something that happened in the night." She breathed.
Aragorn's eyes narrowed. "I have heard of the visions of the leiveia. Say more. What did you see? Pippin, Merry?"
She nodded, and spoke slowly as she tried to remember. "There were orcs. Orcs and Uruk-hai, and so many of them. There were horses, and Men, many Men, and shouting. The Uruk-hai and Orcs were losing. I saw Pippin. Merry was at his side. No one saw them. A horse-reared above Pippin. And-"She shuddered. "Then it all went black."
"This is ill news indeed." Gimli mumbled.
"There is still hope." Said Legolas through gritted teeth. "He may have rolled away. We must hope. Can you run?" He asked Ello in concern.
"I'm fine." She said dismissively as she scrambled to her feet.
"I agree with Legolas. Look, we enter Rohan." Aragorn said. Ello had been keeping up better than he thought she would. Somehow she had wrapped herself as tightly round their fingers as she had the hobbits' before them. "I used to be friendly with the king there, but these are ill times. We must take care."
They were running over a hill when Legolas cried; "Take cover!" Ello dove behind a large rock and the others followed suit, Gimli last, just in time as thunderous hooves clashed over the hill.
"I'm sorry! I should have been looking above rather than at the mud! Let Aragorn sort the tracks, Legolas you fool!" he muttered.
Legolas and Gimli stiffened and Ello's hand was clamped over her mouth, but Aragorn relaxed a degree.
"Rohirrim." He muttered. Then he turned to his companions. "They should be peaceable, but they know not of your kind Ello, nor would it be wise to enlighten them in case of the spreading of old tales where the leiveian people are enemies of men. Chance is they heard the stories as I did, but now…Legolas." With that he strode behind they last rider onto the hill and called out to the riders that passed. "Riders of Rohan! What news from the West?" The riders wheeled around and charged at Aragorn
Legolas and Gimli led Ello to Aragorn's side and Legolas spoke to her out of the corner of his mouth, so she could only just hear him. "Pretend to be an elf child, you say you can act? Act as a small child, yes; Men of this time know little of the elves as it is. They will not pick on details, if indeed Aragorn is friend to them."
Ello opened her eyes wide and pressed her suddenly shaking body against Legolas' leg, pretending to grip his arm hard. He almost grinned "Perfect." She flashed a weak smile back up at him, and then focused on looking small and vulnerable.
Within seconds the foursome found themselves surrounded, with two dozen spears pointed at their heads. The tallest rider rode forward; he was a sturdy looking man, with the same long golden hair all the riders shared, of decent looks, and his helmet had a white horse tail flowing from it.
"Who are you, and what business do you have in Rohan!" he cried.
"I am called Strider." Said Aragorn. "But my real name is Aragorn, son of Arathorn, and I have come from the North."
The man leapt of his horse and handed his spear to another who dismounted with him. Then he held his spear close to Aragorn's chest, though Aragorn did not flinch. Ello whimpered convincingly, though whether it was acting or not, Legolas was unsure.
"We have travelled on foot for four days from Tol Branidir, as you see us."
"But that is forty and five leagues away from here!" The man cried. "Strider indeed! If what you say is true, then Wingfoot would be a more suitable name for you, son of Arathorn. Even the little one, from Tol Branidir?" he cried incredulously.
"She only ran part the way." Aragorn said no more on the matter, and the man did not ponder on what he saw as the least threatening of the four.
"And your other companions, who are they?" The man persisted.
Before Aragorn could open his mouth Gimli had put his in action. "Give me your name, horse-master, and I shall give you mine."
The man scowled. "I would cut off your head master dwarf, if it stood but higher from the ground."
Immediately Legolas drew his bow and aimed an arrow at the man's head, ignoring Ello's restraining hand. "You would die before your blade fell." He said, as the man lifted his sword.
"Stop! Your pardon, Rider, but if you will listen, you will understand why you have angered them. Legolas, lower your bow." Aragorn cried. Glowering, Legolas did as he was bidden, and instead he put his arm around Ello, knowing that is what he would do to a child of any good creature at that time.
"These are Gimli, son of the Dwarf Glóin, and the elves Legolas and Ellora of the woodland realm." Aragorn explained.
"Then I am Éomer son of Éomund, and I am a lord of Rohan. I serve under King Théoden. However, you have not answered my question. What are you doing in these lands?"
This time Ello spoke for the first time. "We are tracking a band of Uruk-hai east across these lands. They hold two of our friends as captives." Her voice was barely more than a whisper, and as Éomer properly regarded her for the first time he stared at her big blue eyes brimmed with tears, and he felt a strange impulse to help this child, be she child of Man, Elf or even Dwarf.
"We slaughtered to uruk-hai in the night." Éomer claimed with slight confusion.
"Hobbits, did you see two hobbits with them?" Gimli cried desperately.
"They would small, only children to your eyes!" Aragorn threw in.
Éomer shook his head regretfully. "I do not believe so, but we left none alive. We piled the carcasses and burned them." He indicated to pillar of smoke in the East.
"Dead?" Gimli choked, as Ello's fingers dug deep into Legolas' arm. He gently straightened out her fingers and squeezed her hand tightly, trying to reassure himself, as well as her.
Aragorn remained frozen, but Legolas soon found his tongue. "Your men would slay innocents? Elves would never slaughter children, and even if you stayed long enough to see they were not children, you would soon learn they are young and innocent nevertheless!"
"Calm yourself, Master Elf. I am certain none of my men would purposely slaughter the young or innocent as you say, but it was dark, and still so when the corpses were burned. I am sorry. Hope is lost in such times as these."
He clapped his hands and three empty horses were brought forward. "May you bide better fortune than their former masters."
"Dwarves don't ride the horses of Men." Gimli grumbled, still offended by Éomer's comments.
"Come, my friend, would you rather run by their sides? You may ride with me, and as the horses are too big for her, Ello may ride with Aragorn, if that is well with him." Legolas cried and Aragorn nodded and mounted the first horse, pulling Ello up behind him. She buried her face into his back in an attempt to hide her tears, now trailing slowly down her cheeks.
"Look for your friends. Chance is they escaped. But do not dare to hope." Éomer murmured.