Welcome back to Striding Leaves! Yes I am sorry this took so but it is the longest chapter so far.
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Chapter 3: A Shred of Sauron
A silence followed Legolas's shocking statement. A slight breeze rippled through the trees, rustling the leaves gently. The Hobbits unconsciously moved closer to Frodo and Gandalf.
"How long do we have?" Aragorn asked, breaking the silence. "How long, Legolas!" he shook the Elf by his shoulders.
"Ten, maybe, fifteen minutes before they find us." Legolas rubbed his forehead. "It is too hard to maintain a perimeter; they keep crashing through it whilst trying to find us."
"Gandalf, what do we do?" asked Pippin, sounding frightened. Gandalf sighed.
"Well, Gandalf?" asked Boromir with his hand on his sword hilt. "Do we fight to protect ourselves? Or do we flee like rabbits before the wolf?"
A high-pitched scream of an orc pierced the air, only to be answered by several more. Legolas shot to his feet.
"The scouts have found us," Legolas warned. "There is no more time."
"How is it these orcs and Nazgûl can seek us freely during the day?" Gimli growled in annoyance.
"Look about you, Master Dwarf," Gandalf explained. "Do you see how thickly woven the tree branches are? And the storm clouds still overhead ? No, here they are free to hunt us."
"Move into a circle," Aragorn ordered. "With the Hobbits in the middle. And pray the Nazgûl don't turn up to fight."
The Fellowship hastened to obey. Aragorn drew his sword and it seemed to glitter as he stood in a small patch of sunlight that had broken through both cloud and tree branch. Boromir, standing on Aragorn's right, had his sword out as did each of the Hobbits and Gandalf. Legolas had his twin Elvish knives in hand and Gimli was twirling his axe menacingly. Frodo's blade, Sting, and Gandalf's Glamdring each glowed with a fierce light.
"What kind of elf doesn't have a bow with him?" Gimli muttered under his breath.
"One who cannot take aim at an enemy," Legolas replied casually from across the circle. "Rest assured, Master Dwarf, I am quite proficient with my knives."
"Be quiet!" Gandalf admonished in a whisper.
They fell silent. Nothing could be heard but the soft sighing of the wind and the rustle of leaves. Legolas's head moved from left to right. He leaned in toward Aragorn, who was standing on his left.
"They have surrounded us," the Elf breathed. Aragorn nodded.
A twig snapped. And then another.
"Lean left, Dwarf!" Legolas shouted. Gimli automatically did so as an arrow narrowly missed his ear.
"Close shave," Gimli muttered.
And, at that moment, orcs began to pour into the clearing from all sides, shouting and waving their swords. The Fellowship stood their ground. But the orcs did not attack; instead they seemed to be waiting for something or, perhaps, someone.
The crowd parted and a single large orc stepped into the clearing. About a head taller than the surrounding orcs, this individual was clearly one of the Uruk-hai of Mordor, and certainly a force to be reckoned with. His yellow eyes narrowed cruelly.
"Well boys, looks like we got some snaga to fight today!" the orc's voice was low and guttural. Some of the smaller orcs laughed.
Legolas stiffened. "I know that voice," he muttered. "Racnak! I thought I recognised your stench," he called to the orc.
"Legolas, are you mad?" hissed Aragorn. Legolas shushed him. The orc peered at him for a moment then let out a great booming laugh.
"Little Ash!" Racnak's great shoulders shook. "I have not seen you in scores of years, not since you left us. Our Lord Sauron was most displeased." The uruk took a step forward. "Stand aside now, Ash, and I promise not to kill you."
Legolas raised his knives into an aggressive stance.
"Very well," Racnak rumbled. "Kill them all, except the littlest ones."
Within moments the clearing was chaos. The Fellowship slew many orcs, desperately rebuffing the attackers whilst trying to maintain their circle. But they were terribly outnumbered and soon they knew they would tire and the orcs would press on.
Aragorn and Boromir were working in tandem, their swords stained black with orc blood, never once letting up in their defence. About Gimli's feet were the severed heads of many an orc, his axe cutting down multiple orcs in one mighty swing. The Hobbits, while inexperienced in actual fights, bravely stabbed at any orcs that came near them, with Gandalf protecting them and killing the orcs that got too close. Legolas, too, proved that he was not to be counted as a hindrance. His long knives sliced through the orcs just as easily as Aragorn's sword, and he had no difficulty in taking out as many orcs as Gimli.
And then, just as swiftly as they had come, the orcs fled, all save Racnak. The Uruk-hai paused by the tree line and turned.
"Today you do not die by orc hands. You die by other," he said before vanishing into the trees with his fellow orc.
"Did we win?" Merry panted.
An eerie hiss interrupted Aragorn as he made to reply. A chill seemed to invade the air and it suddenly seemed that the light was dimmed. And from the shadows of the trees there stepped a Nazgûl. Its cloak rippled slightly in the light wind and its long sword was held in one armoured hand. The Fellowship stared in shock as the Nazgûl strode forward intent on Frodo. Frodo, reacting to the Nazgûl's presence, reached for the Ring. Stirred into action, the Fellowship stood in front of Frodo, save for the other Hobbits, who held onto Frodo in order to prevent him from reaching the Ring. The Nazgûl hissed in annoyance as yet another obstacle stood in front of it.
Legolas stood in front of the Fellowship, his hand upraised in the gesture for "stop". Strangely, the Nazgûl paused.
"Go back," Legolas commanded in a steady voice. "I will not let you near them."
The Nazgûl hissed again and then said something in the Black Speech of Mordor. Legolas grimaced, able as he was to understand the Speech.
"No," Legolas said, his expression fierce. "You cannot tempt me. Go back!"
The Nazgûl took a step forward.
"Go back!" Legolas commanded once more. But it was not in the Common Tongue that he said it. It was the Black Speech. Once unleashed, he could not stop the torrent of commands spilling from his lips in the Black Speech in order to repel the Nazgûl. The Nazgûl itself paused, seemingly startled, then turned and headed back into the trees.
The Fellowship stared in a mixture of horror and admiration. Legolas collapsed to the ground, quivering, words of the Black Speech still flowing.
"Legolas!" Frodo cried out, and made to run to Elf's side.
"No!" ordered Aragorn, holding the Hobbit back. "You must not speak to him or go near him now."
"Why?" asked Pippin, confused.
Before anyone could reply Legolas rose from the ground and faced the Fellowship. His eyes had turned from their normal icy-blue to a deep flaming red. His lips were pulled back in a frightening smile.
"Ash nazg," the Elf whispered then let out a terrible laugh that was not his own.
"Because he is possessed by a part of Sauron," said Gandalf in answer to Pippin's question. "For the moment he is no longer Legolas."