Sorry, sorry! I know its been a while again! Busy week. Ok so this chapter, just a heads up, is basically just them tracking the Uruk-hai and there wasn't a lot of room for any romance or hints at romance, but I tried to work little sneaks of it in when I could ;)
Aragorn pressed his ear to the ground, listening for the footsteps of the Uruks. Faintly he could hear the footsteps of the mosters, but they had seemed to quicken since the last time he checked. "Their pace has quickened, they must have caught our scent." he called back to his companions.
Legolas and Tauriel bounded up the rocky hill, eager to follow Aragorn. Legolas turned, calling back, "Come on Gimli."
Gimli struggled up the hill, "Three days and nights pursuit. No food, no rest, no sign of our quarry but what bare rock can tell." he complained, although he was far from giving up. All four of them were determind to find Merry and Pippin.
The four of them continued on, running over the grassy plains, before their path took them down the side of a hige rocky hill. As they followed a rough path down the hill, something caught Aragorn's eyes in the middle of the footsteps of one of the orcs. He knelt, and picked up the brooch. "Not idly do the leaves of Lothlorien fall." he said, as Legolas and Tauriel almost ran past him. The elves stopped, turning to the man and seeing what was in his hand.
"They may yet be alive," Tauriel said, with renewed hope.
"Less than a day ahead of us." Aragorn said, taking note of the trampled ground, the strands of dead grass not yet fully uncurled.
"Come Gimli, we are gaining on them," Legolas shouted, as the elves and man took off once more, and as Gimli fell from behind the rock and stumbled on behind them.
"I am wasted on cross country," he shouted back. "We dwarves are natural sprinters. Very dangerous over short distances."
Up ahead Legolas laughed and Tauriel smiled, the two of them glancing at each other, both glad for some humour in their urgent chase.
The four of them leapt up the boulder covered hillside, and came to look out over the green, but rocky terrain of Rohan.
"Rohan, home of the horse lords." Aragorn said. "There is something strange at work here. Some evil gives speed to these creatures, sets its will against us."
They continued on again, but paused after no more than a hundred metres, Legolas and Tauriel having bounded and leapt easily over the boulders had run ahead of aragorn and Gimli, and Aragorn shouted to them.
"What do your elf eyes see?"
The two looked out over the plains which were now even clearer to them from their new vantage point.
"The Uruks turn north east," Tauriel replied, her voice echoing off the rocks.
Legolas half turned and added, "They're taking the Hobbits to Isengard." It had to be, there was nothing else for miles in that direction.
Aragorn looked out over the plains, marvelling again at the sight of elves, it was far more advanced than even his own vision. But he didn't need any degree of sight to know what Isengard meant. "Saruman." he murmured.
Over seemingly unendless fields of rocks they ran, three in front and one dwarf lagging behind slightly. "Keep breathing, that's the key. Breath," said dwarf muttered, just before Tauriel pointed out "They run as if the very whips of their masters were behind them," but both elves took great comfort in the fact that they had finally gained enough distance to be able to see them as they reached the peaks of hills or stood upon the rocks.
Sunset, and then night both came and went, and as the sun rose, the sky was filled with a pink-red tint. "Red sun rises." Legolas said, "Blood has been spilt this night."
Tauriel felt a shiver run down her spine. She had awoken to too many red suns in her lifetime already, and she knew she would have to wake up to more. Aragorn knelt once more, looking down at the ground, but it was his ears that heard the warning of incoming horses, not his eyes. He quickly gestured to the rock, and the four dove behind it, as the thundering of the horses' hooves drew even closer, until they were running past them. Once again, Tauriel found herself pressed against Legolas and she wondered if she was doing this on purpose, no she would put it down to simply having been standing close to him when they jumped.
They quickly realised these were no enemy horses riding past them however, and Aragorn stood, the two of the elves and Gimli quickly following, exchanging glances as they did.
"Riders of Rohan, what news from the mark?" Aragorn called, and the horsemen urged their horses to turn surrounding the four of them in a tight circle, lowering their spears to be pointed directly at them.
A blonde haired rider urged his horse foward slightly and they turned to face him.
"What business does a man, a dwarf and two elves have in the Riddermark? SPeak quickly" he commanded.
"Tell me your name, Horse master and I will give you mine," Gimli replied defensivly, as Aragorn put a hand on his shoulder.
The man scowled, dismounting his horse and coming to stand closer to the company "I would cut off your head dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground" he mocked.
Legolas reacted quickly, drawing an arrow, pointing it at the horse-man. "You would die before your stroke fell." he said, threateningly, and Tauriel almost laughed at him defending a dwarf in such manner. This fellowship certainly had bought them together in odd ways.
But she quickly remembered the situation they were in, as the spears edged closer to her prince and she instinctivly also drew her bow, moving to stand closer to him. He glanced at her as she brushed against his arm, and nodded slightly to her.
But it seems their weapons would not be used at this time, as Aragorn pushed down Legolas bow. "I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn," he announced. "This is Gimli, son of Gloin and Legolas and Tauriel of the woodland realm. We are friends of Rohan, and of Theoden your King."
Both Legolas and Tauriel lowered their bows fully, standing back. Tauriel glanced at Legolas, curious to see if he would announce his own heritage, which she noticed Aragorn did not announce. She knew Thranduil's name was a dangerous name to throw around, it could both impress and annoy or anger people.
Legolas too, knew this and made no mention of his father, content to stand down and let Aragorn converse.
"Théoden no longer recognizes friend from foe" The horse-man said, removing his helmet.
"Not even his own kin." he said, as the riders surrounding them raised their spears. "Saruman has poisoned the mind of the King and claimed lordship over his 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, glancing back at the rest of the company, before looking back to Aragorn once he started speaking again.
"We are no spies, we track a party of Uruk-Hai westward across the plain. They have taken two of our friends captive." he explained.
"The Uruks are destroyed, we slaughtered them during the night." the rider replied.
"But there were two hobbits. Did you see two hobbits with them?" Gimli asked, almost desperatly.
"They would be small, only children to your eyes," Aragorn added.
"We left none alive, we piled the carcasses and burned them." was the reply, as he gestured to a cloud of billowing smoke.
"Dead?" Gimli gasped.
The horse-man nodded and offered a small condolence. "I am sorry."
Tauriel moved to put her hand on the dwarves shoulder. She knew Gimli had grown quite fond of the small hobbits during the first leg of their journey.
The rider whistled, "Hasufel, Arod" and two horses were bought forward. "May these horses bear you to better fortune than their former masters. Farewell." he said, adding "Look for your friends, but do not trust to hope. It is forsaken in these lands. We ride north!" he said and they rode off again, hooves thundering on the dry plains.
Legolas and Aragorn saddled the horses quickly, Gimli and Tauriel glancing at each other before Tauriel hopped up behind Legolas and Gimli behind Aragorn. Tauriel wrapped her arms around Legolas, knowing they would be riding fast towards where the slaughter happened.
The two horses took them speedily towards the burning pile of orc carcasses. Gimli jumped down and started rummaging through the remains of the bodies, while the others looked around the area surrounding the bodies.
"Its one of their wee belts," Gimli said, and the others turned to see him holding the remains of a dagger sheath still attatched to part of the belt.
"Hiro hyn hîdh ab 'wanath," Tauriel and Legolas murmured together, the phrase slipping easily off their tongues in elvish. They said the same thing after their soldiers fell before this quest.
Aragorn let out a cry of frustration, kicking an orc helmet, sending it rolling towards the edge of the tree-line. He fell to his knees with his head down.
Tauriel let a tear roll down her cheek, they were so innocent, young and free. They didn't deserve to die. Legolas reached down and took her hand, and the two stood, heads down as they mourned the death of their friends.
"We failed them," they barely heard Gimli mutter.
"A hobbit lat here, and the other." They did hear Aragorn say, but they didn't look up.
They did however look up at Aragorn's next words. "They crawled." He stood, walking forward, his eyes scanning the ground for more clues. "Their hands were bound. Their bonds were cut." he said, finding scraps of rope. "They ran over here, they were followed." he deduced, an increasing urgency in his voice.
"The tracks lead away from the battle!" Aragorn exclaimed, as the others came up behind him. They quickly ran along the tracks, but stopped as they realised just where they were leading. "Into Fangorn Forest." he finished.
"Fangorn? What madness drove them in there?" Gimli groaned, as the three of them looked into the dark green muddle of twisted trees.
As usual comment/review/ask questions - you guys keep me writing :) I promise more Tauriel/Legolas bits in future chapters - I know this one was a bit lacking.