I survived final exam week! Oh, and I graduated from college. So now I will have some more time to devote to finishing this multi-chapter beast that is this story.
So here we are. The beginning of the Two Towers events! I just want to let you all know that I had a difficult time writing the beginning of this chapter. Mostly due to the fact that I didn't want it to go to dark too fast. So I apologize if the beginning of this chapter is lacking somewhat.
Also I want to welcome the new readers and new followers of this story as well. I hope that you all will be sticking around to see how I end this story.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Hobbit or LOTR.
For most of the first day of their capture, Inara was unconscious. It was in the late in the evening hours when Inara finally woke up. Seeing the unknown surroundings, Inara realized that she and the two hobbits were being held captive by the Uruks. Being captured wasn't on Inara's wish list since she knew that her life, and the lives of the two hobbits, were now in danger. It was during the second day of captivity that Inara and the two hobbits began to formulate a plan to escape. However, that scheme would not be a success.
Lying on the ground, Inara was listening to Merry, who was informing Inara what all had happened after the battle and the events of Boromir's death. Even though Inara didn't really like Boromir, she had come to respect him during their travels.
After Merry finished telling Inara what all had happened, Inara and the two hobbits began to plot an escape plan. And when they tried to execute the plan, it failed. They had managed to free the ropes on their wrists. Yet, when they tried to free their ankles an Uruk had noticed them. This is when things took a turn for the worse for the three captives.
The Uruk shouted towards his fellow group mates as he moved quickly to where three were on the ground. Grabbing Inara by the hair, the Uruk begins to drag her away from the two hobbits.
"Let her go!" Merry shouts as he tries to go after the Uruk.
"Bring her back!" Pippin shouts while trying to follow after Merry.
Inara, for the most part is trying to put up a fight, while trying to free her hair from the Uruks' hold.
"You fucking bastard." Inara growls breathlessly at the Uruk. "Are you trying to rip the scalp off of my head? Because you are doing a piss poor job of it. Now let go!"
Inara, while clawing her fingernails into the Uruks' hand that is holding her hair, is starting to become very angry with the whole situation. But just as she feels the Uruk come to a halt, a large fist lands a blow on her stomach. The pain from the blow causes Inara to gasp for breath.
"Leave her alone." Merry's voice calls out. "It was my idea. Not hers. If you're going to hurt anyone, let it be the one who is responsible. Me."
The Uruks, never before seeing a volunteer for a beating, aren't sure what to do. But the leader of the Uruks says something which causes the group to become excited.
"Merry!" Pippin calls out before being taken to where Inara is now curled up on the ground.
As the night goes on, Pippin and Inara are helpless as they hear their friend cry out during the beating from the Uruks. A beating that Inara knew should have been given to her.
In the daylight following the beating of Merry, the Uruks are moving swiftly through the half-grassland, half-rocky terrain. All three of their captives have been placed upon the backs of three separate Uruks. The only thing that keeps them from falling off is that the captives' hands are tied around the Uruks' necks.
Pippin, from the back of an Uruk, looks over his right shoulder to check on one of his fellow captives.
"Merry! Merry!" Pippin softly calls to the other hobbit. He is concerned about his friend, since Merry's face is very pale, sickly in color.
Inara, whose Uruk is to the right of Merry's, moves her head slightly to look past Merry. Her hair is wild with tangles and in her mouth is a gag cloth, which is tied at the back of her head. Her clothes are a bit torn up in the arms and legs as well. She too is worried about Merry and what possible injuries me may have sustained.
The Uruks come to a halt for a moment as their new leader stops for a moment. Not even a minute after they stop, a group of smaller Orcs and a few goblins come out from their hiding spots among the valley of rocks. The leader of the Uruks and the leader of the Orcs speak to each other in a language that Inara and Pippin don't understand.
As the two leaders speak, Merry lets out a moan and looks as if he is about to be sick. This has both Inara and Pippin worried. After their attempted escape, and Merry's beating, the leader of the Uruks had threatened to harm Inara. However, Merry had intervened after his beating. So the Uruk leader had hit Merry, leaving a small gash across Merry's right temple. Since taking that last hit, Merry had been in and out of consciousness.
"Merry!" Pippin calls out softly again. "Merry. Wake up!"
Hearing Merry let out another groan, Pippin notices an Uruk just behind Inara that is drinking something out of a flask.
"My friend is sick." Pippin calls to the Uruk. "He needs water. Please!"
The leader of the Uruks overhears Pippin calling out to Merry and has come to investigate. Hearing the worry in Pippin's voice, all of the Uruks, Orcs, and goblins are now watching to see what the Uruk leader will do. However, this Uruk isn't going to just help Merry without adding some torture to it.
"Sick, is he?" The leader says to Pippin before looking at the Uruk with the flask. "Give him some medicine, boys!"
The Uruk with the flask takes hold of Merry's chin and begins to dump the contents into the hobbits' mouth. This causes Merry to gag and choke, but it does rouse the hobbit out of his unconscious state.
Inara, just barely seeing what is happening, begins to wiggle violently in her restraints and tries to scream through her cloth gag. She doesn't want to see the young hobbit drown to death from the liquid in the flask.
"Stop it!" shouts Pippin as he too is worried that Merry might be choking from the dark liquid. "Leave him alone!"
The Uruk leader looks over at Pippin. "Why? You want some? Huh?" Seeing that Pippin isn't going to answer the Uruk continues to speak. "Then keep your mouth shut."
Inara, however, is still lashing about on the back of an Uruk and as she drives her heels hard into its stomach, the Uruk lets out a pain-filled wail.
This captures the leaders' attention and he moves towards the Uruk that has Inara on its back.
"And as for you." The leader says as he grabs a hand full of Inara's hair and yanks her head back. "I suggest you keep quiet too. Or I just might take you myself before giving you to Saruman."
Inara's eyes harden with anger and rage at the statement. However, in her peripheral vision she can see that Merry is now awake and softly talking to Pippin. But this sight soon disappears as the Uruk leader moves in close and proceeds to lick her left cheek slowly.
The other Uruks and Orcs let out grunts, snarls, and growls as their leader does this. They can all smell the two day old, bloodied up under cloth that she is still wearing under her clothes.
Another of the Uruk begins to sniff the air and speaks in Black Speech to the leader. This causes the leader to pull away from Inara. The two converse some more before the leader shouts something to the rest. Then the Uruks, the Orcs, and the goblins begin to move again.
"Inara?" Pippin calls past the now awake Merry. He had seen what the Uruk leader had done and was very worried for Inara's safety.
She gives him a wink, and if she didn't have the gag, she would have given him a smirk to go with it. She knows that something must have the Uruks worried for them to be moving again, and at a quicker pace too.
A few miles away...
A few miles behind the joined packs, Aragorn has his head pressed to the ground. Using his knowledge of tracking, he is trying to listen in to the movements. Finally, he hears the rumbling that is associated with the Uruks, but it is louder and much faster than before.
"Their pace has quickened." Aragorn says out loud. Lifting himself up off of the ground he continues to speak. "They must have caught our scent. Hurry!" Aragorn takes off running again in the hopes of catching up to the Uruks.
Not too far behind Aragorn, Legolas is moving quickly among the rocks that little the valley.
Next to him is Kelda, who has been worried about their friends since coming across the remains of the Uruk camp earlier that day. She had seen the blood marks on the ground and fear had begun to take hold of her since.
"Come on, Gimli. Kili." Legolas calls quickly as he and Kelda try to catch up to Aragorn.
Only a few paces away from Legolas and Kelda is Tauriel, who is waiting upon the top of a rock for the last two members of their group to catch up. Both dwarves are having a hard time keeping up with the fast pace that Aragorn has set for chasing after the Uruks.
"Three days and nights pursuit. No food. No rest." Gimli puffs out as he goes into another walking break from running in an attempt to catch his breath. "And no sign of our quarry, but what care rock can tell."
Kili is just a few feet in front of Gimli as he too tries to catch his breath. "Come on, Gimli. We need to keep up." Kili looks back at his cousin with a slight smirk on his face before pushing himself into a jog to reach where Tauriel waits for them.
Gimli lets out a growl at seeing his cousin's newfound burst of energy. Then he too tries to speed up his pace so that he isn't left behind. As he approaches where Tauriel is standing, he gives her a dirty look when he sees that she hasn't even broken a sweat yet.
"Come or we shall be left behind." Tauriel says to Kili and Gimli before sprinting away to where the others are headed.
The two dwarves let out a groan before following after the elleth.
The group keeps following the ridge line of the valley as they keep tracking the Uruk pack. This continues till late in the evening and soon Aragorn has the group stop suddenly in a small valley between two rock ridges. Something in the ground has caught Aragorn's eyes, and he bends down to further inspect the object. It is one of the green leaf broches that the hobbits were given by the elves of Lothlorien.
Being careful, Aragorn pulls it out from where it is embedded into the earth. "Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall."
Legolas and Kelda, who had jogged past Aragorn, come to a stop. Seeing the item in Aragorns' hand, Legolas moves towards him. "They may yet be alive."
"Less than a day ahead of us. Come." Aragorn says with renewed hope and begins to run yet again. He hadn't given up hope on the hobbits or Inara just yet. But with each passing day, he had wondered if that day would be the day that they would find their friends' remains.
"Come, Kelda. The hobbits are alive. We are gaining on the Uruks." Legolas says to Kelda. He has watched over her closely these past three days, and has noticed that she was starting to give up on them alive.
Kelda gives Legolas a brief smile before the sound of two dwarves stumbling and falling down the small decline of the rock ridge causes her smile to vanish. Looking towards the fallen dwarves, worry begins to take hold on her face.
"Adad? Are you alright?" Kelda asks as she hurries over to where Kili is trying to stand up.
"I'm fine." Kili says as he tries to hide the pain that is coursing through the old injury on his thigh. With all this running, the old injury has begun to throb in protest.
Tauriel, who was right behind the two dwarves, hurries over to Kili's side. "Are you injured, Kili?"
"Nah. It's just a muscle cramp. Nothing more." Kili replies with false bravado. He really doesn't want to be left behind now because of the old injury. Kili allows Tauriel and Kelda to help him up from the ground.
"Come. We're gaining on them!" Legolas calls out to the four of them as he starts to hurry after Aragorn.
"We're wasted on cross-country. We Dwarves are natural sprinters." Gimli says as he begins to push himself up off of the ground to run again. "Very dangerous over short distances."
Kili and Kelda both snort at Gimli's comments before starting to chase after the rest of the group with Tauriel bringing up the rear.
The group keeps running for about an hour or so as they keep tracking the Uruks. However, once they leave the rock ridged valley, Aragorn brings them to a halt. Aragorn surveys the large grasslands before him as the others finally catch up.
"Rohan." Aragorn says to the others. "Home of the Horse-lords."
"They were our allies at one time." Kili pants out as he catches his breath. "Broke our trade agreement. No reason. Just stopped sending supplies and such."
"There's something strange at work here." Aragorn says out loud. He is starting to wonder how the Uruks reached the lands of the Rohirrim so quickly. "Some evil gives speed to these creatures, and sets its will against us."
During the night, they begin to traverse through the last of the rocky hills. Kili, Gimli, and Kelda lead the group through the rocks with ease. Their night-vision is better than the others thanks to their dwarven heritages.
By morning, Legolas and Tauriel take the lead as they are reaching the end of the rocky terrain. Both elves move swiftly as the try to find an advantageous spot to see from. Legolas comes to a stop on a large part of a rock, while Tauriel is on another rock a few feet behind him.
"Legolas. What do you elven eyes see?" Aragorn asks as he continues to move through the rocks.
"The Uruks turn northeast." Tauriel replies before Legolas has the chance to.
"They are taking the Hobbits to Isengard." Legolas shouts to Aragorn.
"Lu akraditu!" Kili shouts as he follows Kelda down, taking the same path that Aragorn did moments before.
"Saruman." Aragorn says as he comes to a stop. His renewed hope in retrieving the hobbits and Inara is shrinking now that he knows where the Uruks are headed.
What Aragorn and the others don't know is that during the night Inara was spirited away from the Uruks. The Orcs which had met up with the Uruks previously were sent by Sauron to retrieve Inara. You see, Sauron isn't thrilled about Saruman fathering the body which he, Sauron, wants to inhabit. So Sauron is planning to use dark magic to force a child upon Inara himself, so that no one may challenge him or claim to be the father of Sauron.
A Rohan Village alongside a river...
The ground trembles beneath the villagers' feet as orcs come racing towards the venerable village. As the orcs grow closer, a woman is preparing a horse for her young children to flee the coming onslaught.
"Éothain! Éothain!" The light brownish, red-haired woman calls.
Hearing his mother calling to him, the boy hurries over to where a horse is saddled and waiting.
"You take your sister. You'll go faster with just two." The mother says to her son as she helps him get up and into the large saddle that once belonged to her own father.
"Come along, Freda." And older woman says as she brings her granddaughter to the waiting mother.
"Papa says Éothain must not ride Garulf." The little girl says to her mother and grandmother. She doesn't know what horrors are fast approaching. "He is too big for him."
The mother lifts her daughter up onto the saddle as the boy reaches down to help. He notices that his grandmother keeps looking from the scene before her and over her left shoulder towards the smoke that is building in the distance.
"Listen to me." The mother says to her children. "You must ride to Edoras and raise the alarm. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, Mama." The Éothain answers as he wraps an arm around his little sister.
"I don't want to leave. I don't want to go, Mama." Freda says as she reaches down towards her mother.
"You must, child." The old woman says to the girl. "You are the child of a Rohirrim rider and the great-grandchild of the Dragon Slayer. Do your duty. Now go!"
The old woman smacks the rear quarter of the horses' rump, which causes it to startle into a gallop. Both women watch the horse leave before the screams of the other villagers draw their attention. Seeing her daughter froze in fear, the old woman reaches into the fence stall and pulls out a spade and a rake. She shoves the rake into her daughter's hand.
"We will use these to defend ourselves with as we flee." The old woman begins to move as fast as she is able towards where the other villagers are fleeing to.
"What good will these be against orcs?" The mother asks as she follows the old woman.
"As long as you have something to wield against them we are safe." The old woman replies. "I remember when I was a child, watching a dwarf take on an orc with just his body. Even though he had no weapon, he still fought."
The mother shakes her head at the old woman's ramblings. "My own mother has gone senile." She whispers to herself as she continues to flee with the old woman.
Somewhere else in Rohan...
Along a darkened river bank there are dead bodies of orc and men littering along its shores. Even into the surrounding trees do the bodies of the dead lay on the ground. It is a gruesome and heartbreaking sight to behold to those who have never seen the carnage of war. And for the Riders of Rohan, this is becoming a normal sight to come across in their lands.
Their leader rides atop a white stallion as he and his band of riders come across the carnage. He pulls on the reigns of his horse to bring it to a stop. In the rain, he surveys the area.
"Théodred." The leader gasps out in worry. "Find the King's Son!"
Obeying their leader's command, the Riders remove themselves from their saddled horses, and they begin to search through the bodies of the dead for their prince. During the search, one Rider comes across a body that is dressed in elven clothes which is lying face down in the tree line. His curiosity gets the better of him and he rolls the so that it is no longer lying on its front. Once the body is on its back, he gently brushes the dark snarled up hair out of the face. It is then that the Rider realizes that he has found a woman, and that she is still alive with no see-able wounds on her.
"Lord!" The rider calls out to their leader.
Their leader moves quickly towards his fellow rider thinking that he has just found the King's son.
"Did you find him?" The leader comes to a stop when he sees that the rider has found a woman among the dead. "Is she dead?"
"No. She lives, my lord." The Rider answers back. "Shall we take her with us?"
The leader bends down to get a closer look at the woman. He notices that her lips are barely moving; so he leans in to see if he can hear what she is saying. She is repeating one word, and once the leader realizes what the word is, his eyes become big.
"We take her with us." The leader says before getting up to leave the other man with this woman. The one word has his mind racing to figure out how she got here. 'How did the Queen of Erebor get here?' The leader continues walking among the dead and approaches an older rider.
"What are Mordor Orcs doing here?"
"These Orcs aren't from Mordor." The leader says as he kicks the head of the single Uruk that lays next to his feet. He had seen the white hand mark on its helmet, but alas has jumped to conclusions about this group of Orcs. For the orcs were of Mordor, while the sing Uruk was tracking them to retrieve Inara from them.
"My Lord Éormer, over here!"
The leader, Éormer, rushes towards the rider who had called for him.
There, in the shallow waters of the river, is the person who the Riders were looking for. The rider and Éormer lift the young man up out of the water gently.
"He's alive." Éormer says in surprise. He wasn't expecting to find the young man still breathing. "Quickly. We must get him back to Edoras."
The Riders move quickly to get back onto their horses. Once Théodred is secured with Éormer on the white horse, the woman is also secured on a horse with the man who found her. Moving quickly, Éormer leads the Riders away from the river and back towards Edoras. They ride in haste over the plains of Rohan till they reach Edoras the next day in the afternoon.
"Bring the healer!" Éormer yells as he and one of the stable hands gently guide Théodred's limp body off of the horse. "Bring the woman too!"
Once off of the horse, Éormer carries the King's son towards the royal halls with a fellow Rider carrying the woman. Both men carry their precious cargo towards the infirmary, where they find beds to place the two bodies.
A healer arrives and immediately sees to Théodred's injuries after sending nearly everyone out of the room. The healer pushes Éormer out of the way so that he may attend to the prince's injuries.
Obliging the healer, Éormer moves away from the prince's bedside and makes his way over to where the woman lays. He still is finding it hard to believe that this woman knows the name of the former King Under the Mountain. Never being one for court gossip, Éormer finds it intriguing that for once the rumors were true. That the Queen of Erebor, though from the race of men, has aged very slowly over the years.
"Who is this?" the healer asks as he makes his way over to the woman.
"She is to be treated well." Éormer says to the healer. "She is of royalty." He doesn't want the healer, or anyone else to know that the woman is the Queen of Erebor.
Before the healer can question any further over the woman's identity, the sound of hurrying footsteps echo from the hallway. Knowing who it is that would be hurrying so, Éormer makes his way back over to Théodred's bedside. Not even a second later a blond, long-haired woman enters the infirmary.
"Théodred." She says softly once she reaches the man's bedside.
The man on the bed turns his head to towards the woman's voice, but other than that does nothing. This doesn't stop the woman from looking at his wounded abdomen. Seeing the mortal wound, she knows that he won't last much longer. She looks over at Éormer with a little fear in her eyes. This is something that neither of them were prepared for.
As she prepares to leave Théodred's bedside, Éormer reaches out to take hold of her arm. "Look, over there."
The woman turns her head to look at the bed of a woman, who the healer is now walking away from.
"Who is she, Éormer?" the blonde woman asks.
Both rise to leave Théodred's bedside and move towards the woman's. Once next to the bed, the blond woman looks at the other woman carefully. She hears Éormer lean closer so that he may speak in her ear without being overheard.
"Erebor." Éormer whispers to the woman.
The woman lets out a soft gasp as she realizes what Éormer has just told her. She turns to look him in the eyes before speaking to him softly.
"Their Queen?"
"I believe so, Éowyn. You need to send word to Erebor that she is here, without Grima finding out. Who knows what he would do to her if he were to know who she really is. Or if he knew she was here."
"I will do as you ask, brother, and she will be put under my care." Éowyn vows to her brother.
"Come. We must tell Uncle what has happened to Théodred." Éormer says to his sister. He waits for her to move away from the woman's bed before the two siblings head off to see their Uncle. Their King.
Little do the siblings know that by morning, one would be banished from Rohan. While the other, finds a fully awake Queen of Erebor in the infirmary.
Outskirts of Fangorn Forest...
Merry and Pippin are tossed down to the ground as the Uruks and a few Goblin stragglers take their rest for the night. The night before, another group of Goblins had decided to join up with the Uruks as they too were headed back to Isengard. Saruman had sent the Goblins to make sure that Inara was still alive while traveling with the Uruks. However, the Uruks had managed to lose Inara when the small group of Orcs had left their ranks.
"Merry." Pippin says as he squirms along the ground to reach the other hobbit.
"I think we might have made a mistake leaving the Shire, Pippin." Merry says in defeat.
Pippin gives Merry a sad look before changing the subject. "You think Inara is alright?"
"I hope so."
As the Uruks and Goblins start chopping away at the nearby trees, the hobbits begin to here groaning. Neither one is sure what to make of the noise.
"What's making that noise?" Pippin asks.
"It's the trees." Merry replies.
"What?"
"You remember the Old Forest on the borders of Buckland?" Merry asks Pippin. "Folks used to say there was something in the water that made the trees grow tall and come alive."
"Alive?"
"Trees could whisper, talk to each other, and even move."
Merry and Pippin look about themselves and notice that the Uruks and the Goblins have begun to argue among themselves. A large Uruk takes hold of both of them and lifts them up onto their feet. Then it is like all hell breaks loose as the Uruks and the Goblins start to argue even more. Finally one of the Goblins get too close to Merry and Pippin. Just as it is about to take a swipe at them, the leader of the Uruks cuts off the Goblin's head. This sends Uruks and Goblins into a frenzy as they rush in to cannibalize the dead Goblin's body.
"Pippin. Let's go." Merry tells Pippin before they crawl their way out of the frenzy.
Slowly they inch their way across the grass, heading for the forest. However, their escape is put on hold after a Goblin steps onto Pippins' back. The Goblin forces Pippin onto his back and threatens to kill him. However, spear comes out of nowhere and hits the Goblin's leg. This allows Pippin to escape from the Goblin.
Yet out of the darkness, Merry and Pippin hear neighing of horses and weapons clash as something, or someone, attacks the Uruks and Goblins.
"Pippin!" Merry calls out as the two hobbits stick together and watch as horses pass them by. But one of the horses charges towards them and all they can do is scream in terror.
As the dawn breaks across the lands of Rohan, the other members of the former Fellowship keep running to chase down the Uruks. But the red sun causes Legolas and Tauriel to stop and look at the sight.
"A red sun rises." Legolas says solemnly. "Blood has been spilled this night."
Tauriel gives him a knowing look that the two old friends used to give each other when something bad was about to happen. "Let us hope it is not our friends."
They continue on till about mid-morning, when Aragorn stops to check for fresh tracks. However, the neighing of horses is heard echoing across the land. This has everyone wondering who it is that is approaching. Following Aragorn's lead, the group moves to take shelter behind a very large boulder. Only a few minutes pass until the sight of large group of men on horseback rides past them.
Aragorn recognizes them and steps out from the groups' hiding place. The other follow his lead with their weapons in hand, but in a non-threatening hold.
"Riders of Rohan," Aragorn shouts. "what news from the Mark?"
The large group of horsemen turn round and begin to circle the group, inching closer to shrink the circle. Once the circle is small, to where Aragorn, Legolas, Kelda, Gimli, Kili, and Tauriel are nearly back to back with each other, a small path opens. Aragorn lifts his hands in surrender a horse approaches up from the path.
"What business do Elves, Dwarves, and a Man have in the Riddermark?" the man says from horseback. "Speak quickly!"
"Give me your name, horse-master, and I shall give you mine." Gimli replies in a cocky voice.
However this is not taken lightly by the Leader and he dismounts his from his horse to approach the group of trespassers. He moves towards Gimli and gives an insult.
"I would cut off your head, Dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground."
This angers Legolas and Tauriel. Both elves draw their bows with arrows notched. Kili, who is standing between Legolas and Tauriel, becomes angry and draws his own bow as well.
"You would die before your stroke fell." Tauriel growls out to the man. "For that Dwarf is kin to my husband."
Their actions cause all of the Riders to raise their spears in defense of their leader. However, it is Aragorn who defuses the situation by stepping between the two elves, dwarves, and man. All three lower their bows and arrows at seeing Aragorn step between them and the man.
"I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn." Aragorn says to the leader of the Riders. "This is Gimli, son of Gloin. Kili, Prince of Erebor. His wife, Tauriel of the Greenwood, and their daughter, Kelda. And Legolas of the Woodland Realm. We are friends of Rohan and of Théoden, your King."
"Théoden no longer recognizes friend from foe." The leader says to Aragorn. "Not even his own kin."
The man removes his helmet so that Aragorn and his group may see to who they speak to.
"Saruman has poisoned the kings' mind and claimed lordship over 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."
"We are no spies." Kili says to the man.
"We track a part of Uruk-hai westward across the plain." Aragorn says to the man. "They have taken three of our friends captive."
"Would one of them be a woman with dark hair?" the man asks.
"Yes." Kili says worriedly. "She is my uncles' wife and our queen."
"So I was right." The man says before looking at Kili's face. "She was found by us two days ago, and is currently in Edoras under the care of my sister."
Kili lets out a loud sigh of relief at hearing that Inara is no longer with the Uruks. Yet he is intrigued as to how exactly she got away.
"Other than her, we have not come across any others." The man says as he looks back to Aragorn. "As for the Uruks, we slaughtered them well into the night."
"But there were two Hobbits. Did you see two Hobbits with them?" Kelda asks the man.
"They would be small. Only children to your eyes." Aragorn says to Rider.
The man shakes his head. "We left none alive. We piled the carcasses and burned them." The Rider gestures towards where smoke can be seen rising form sever hills away.
"Dead?" Gimli says out loud, knowing that it is what everyone is thinking.
"No." Kelda says as tears begin to fill her eyes.
"I'm sorry." The man says to the group before letting out a loud whistle. "Hasufel! Arod!"
At his calls, two horses approach and the circle of men breaks open to allow the two horses to come forth. One of the horses is white, while the other is brown in color.
"May these horses bear you to better fortune than their former masters." The man says to Aragorn. "Farewell."
The man begins to walk back to where his own horse waits for him. After getting back into the saddle of his horse the man speaks to Aragorn.
"Look for your friends. But do not trust to hope. It has forsaken these lands." The man tells his company of Riders that they ride north before leaving Aragorn and what remains of the Fellowship.
As the Riders of Rohan leave the area, everyone is silent after hearing what the man said about their hobbit friends. Kili, however, is still relieved that Inara is alive, but he is concerned on if she is truly safe in Edoras.
"At least we know that Inara is alright. For now." Kili says out loud. "One less person to have to worry about."
"As long as she stays away from Mordor or Isengard, then she will be alright." Tauriel says to Kili as she places a hand on his shoulder. "However, if what the man says is true about Saruman taking lordship over Rohan, then perhaps we should go and retrieve Inara ourselves."
"So what do we do now?" Kelda asks in a soft voice. She brushes away the tears from her cheek with the back of her hand.
"We will see what became of Merry and Pippin. Then we shall fetch Inara." Kili says to Kelda as he lays a comforting hand on her back.
It takes only a few minutes for Kili to be placed upon the brown horse with Aragorn and Gimli with Legolas on the white one. Both Kelda and Tauriel decide to follow after them by running. The group heads off towards where the smoke rises several hills away.
As they approach the smoldering remains of the Uruks and Goblins, Kelda tries her best to keep from crying out in anguish. She turns away from the sight and finds herself pulled into an embrace by Tauriel.
Aragorn climbs down from his horse while Kili stays upon the horse, holding onto the reigns to keep it from running off. He approaches the pile cautiously, afraid that he may find the hobbits remains.
Gimli and Legolas have both climb down from their horse, and the dwarf starts to use his axe to search what is left of the pile of remains. After a half-hour search, Gimli comes across a piece of a belt from one of the hobbits. Very carefully, he picks it up out of the ash and bones.
"Find something?" Kili asks from atop of the brown horse. Being on the horse is helping ease the pain in his thigh, and he is not willing to come down only to aggravate the old wound.
Turning towards the others, Gimli hold up the belt piece before addressing the group. "It's one of their wee belts."
Kelda bursts into tears and is guided to kneel on the ground with Tauriel's help. While Legolas begins to speak softly in Sindarin. Kili, still on the horse, bows his head and whispers a vow of vengeance in Khuzdul.
Aragorn, however, takes out his anger on the helmet by kicking it with one hard kick. Then, he lets out a loud yell before sinking to the ground in defeat. Glancing to his left, Aragorn notices something in the grass and dirt that seems off. So he starts to inspect the ground more closely.
"A hobbit lay here." Aragorn says out loud as he touches the disturbed ground. "And the other." He rises from the ground and begins to notice that something isn't quite right.
"They crawled." Aragorn says as he begins to follow the trail. "Their hands were bound."
As Aragorn rises up from the ground to follow the trail everyone, except Kili, follows after him. Each one wondering what exactly Aragorn is doing. A few feet away, they watch as Aragorn pulls up a piece of rope from underneath the dead grass.
"Their bonds were cut. " Aragorn says as he begins to follow the soft imprints of the hobbit's feet in the ground. "They ran over here. And they were followed."
Aragorn keeps following the trail of footprints with new hope that the hobbits may still be alive. "The tracks lead away from the battle, and into Fangorn forest."
Everyone who were following Aragorn are standing with him just on the outside edges of the massive forest.
"Do we go in?" Kelda asks softly but with some fear in her voice.
"We go in." Aragorn says before heading into the Fangorn forest.
"Kili!" Tauriel shouts as the other four head into the forest. She watches as he approaches on horseback with the white horse following. "The hobbits went into the forests. Aragorn and the others have already entered."
"I think I will stay here with the horses." Kili says sheepishly to his wife.
"All this running has caused your old injury to act up again. Hasn't it?" Tauriel says as she comes towards the side of the brown horse. "You may be able to hide it from everyone else, but not from me."
Kili chuckles as Tauriel moves to help him down from the horse. "Of course. Why would I hide an ailment from such a beautiful healer such as yourself?"
Once on the ground, Kili allows Tauriel to look over the old injury. He watches as Tauriel rolls his pant leg up past the scar from the old wound. The scar itself is an angry dark red color instead of its normal white color. As Tauriel gently touches the scar, Kili takes in a sharp breath as pain sings through the scar area.
"You will need to allow it to rest." Tauriel says as she continues to gently examine the scar and the surrounding tissues.
"But we need to catch up to the others." Kili says as he tries to get up from his seated spot of the ground.
"They will be fine." Tauriel says sharply to Kili as she forces him back to sitting on the ground. "You and I will not be missed."
Kili gets a slight smirk on his face before replying. "You just want to get me alone. Don't you?"
Tauriel doesn't say anything as she pulls a few pieces of dried leaves out of one of the pouches on her belt. Carefully, she takes the small flask of water from its place on the belt. She pour a little bit of the water onto the leaves and rubs them together before placing the paste onto Kili's scar.
"Mi targê!" Kili growls out as the scar throbs from the weight of the paste on it.
"Stay still." Tauriel whispers softly as she tears away a piece of her green traveling top. Then she tears off another piece, this time longer and narrower than the other. The wider one she folds carefully and places it on top of the paste on Kili's thigh. Then she takes the long, narrow piece and begins to wrap it around his thigh.
"Thank you." Kili says through gritted teeth. The pain is just now starting to subside.
"You are welcome, Meleth Nin." Tauriel ties off the two ends so that they will keep the paste and its cover tightly in place. "We will rest here while the others discover what happened to Merry and Pippin."
Kili moves over a small amount till his back is resting against the trunk of a tree. Then he allows Tauriel to snuggle up alongside him while they wait.
"Kelda seems very close with the two hobbits." Kili says softly to Tauriel as one of his hands begin to play with a few strands of red hair.
"She does." Tauriel replies. "But it isn't what you think."
"Oh?"
"She worries about them because she promised Toril that she would keep an eye on them. When she was able to, of course. I don't think Kelda or Toril ever thought that Merry and Pippin were to join in a quest to destroy the One Ring."
Kili starts to chuckle softly as Tauriel looks at him with a confused look.
"What is it, Kili?"
"I am just finding it funny that both of our girls are looking for love from outside of their dwarven kin." He gives Tauriel a smile before continuing on. "You mean to say that you haven't noticed? Kelda has caught the eye of the blonde elf prince and from what I have overheard, an elf from Lothlorien as well. While Toril has her eye on one or both of the hobbits that we are trying to find. Ohh Tauriel. Our girls are following in our footsteps." Kili chuckles out the last part before placing a kiss onto Tauriel's forehead.
"You would not deny them this?" Tauriel asks Kili.
"Nah. They aren't in line for the throne, and if it is what makes them happy. So be it."
A bit of a short chapter, but it works. If I had kept going then this chapter would have turned into a 20,000 monster of a chapter. However, I wanted to break up the movie at certain parts so that I could add content to them.
Reviews are welcomed and cherished.
Selene
P.S. I hid two Easter Eggs in this chapter. See if you can find them.