Hope - A Lord Of The Rings Chronicle

A Very Angry Aredhrel

I run around the now flickering fire, with Biff on my left and Cran on my right. They get ready to pounce. I leap over the embers rolling onto the other side and right on top of the book as they bash headlong into one another.
"You idiot!" Biff complains.

They recover quickly and soon they and Skinner are cowering over me. They move to grab me.
My eyes spot something.
Wait. The book! I grab it from beneath me, and stand back.

"Stay back!" I shout "Or I'll...throw this in the fire!"
"You wouldn't." Skinner begins
"Try me." I breathe
He steps forward, and I take that as my opportunity, and throw the book backwards into the flames. They lick round it, the small flames caressing the pages, and all the orcs can do is sit and watch.

I smirk slightly, did they really think I would let them get away with such knowledge? Haha!
"What did you do that for?" Cran complained loudly
"You stupid, miserable little blighter!" Skinner spits, grabbing my shirt. "By the time we're done with you, you're going to be wishing you were never born."
Oh. Guess I didn't really think that through.
"Come here!" Biff replies, and I'm shoved along to him. Yanking my left arm, he slams me against a tree. Oooh. That's gonna leave a mark. He takes some more rope and begins to loop it round me.
"You will stay here like this until morning break. By dawn we set off to Saruman, and then you'll be sorry." He unsheathes a dagger and holds it at my neck "And if you try to run, or scream, or shout I'll rip your innards outward and throw them on the ground to see." He finished, smiling slightly.
Geezer. Creepy.
"And if you think I'm joking-" but he never finishes that sentence, because an arrow flies straight past his head and onto the trunk.

I scream sharply
"What the hec?!"
Skinner wrenches the arrow out of the trunk.
"What is it?" Asks Biff, afraid for the first time.
"Elves." He murmurs darkly
Biff's eyes recoil in fright, and I see him begin to hyperventilate. He turns around to Cran.
"Cran! Cran! Get the armour and the swords and the-

But he doesn't have time to finish his sentence, as Cran's life is ended with a single shot.
"No time for that." Skinner says, grabbing his sword from the ground.
"Get the girl."

Biff reacts quickly and begins to haul me away. No. I want the elves to reach us! No! I dig my heels into the ground writhing. Biff points his dagger at me and whispers coarsely.
"You'd be wise to remember what I said."
I gulp.
Biff keeps pushing me along toward the edge of the encampment, where their tents lay, but I hear quick footsteps through the grass, and know that the elves are gaining on us.
"Come on!" Skinner urges and Biff gives me a shove, pushing me to run faster.
"Can you not?!" I complain "Do you know how difficult it is to run with your hands tied behind your back?"
"Biff," Skinner stops quickly "Cut her bonds."
"What?" He stops by him, and ducks as more arrows head our way "Skinner-
"She ain't going no where. You've got your dagger, an' so have I, alright?"
"Yeah." He nods, before grabbing my hands and working at the bonds.

Once they're free, I want to rub and caress them, and check they're ok, but there's no time for that. Biff and Skinner both take one of my arms, and drag me forward, with Biff holding his dagger over my stomach in case I try any funny business.

We carry on, past rows and rows of trees. My heart begins to hammer, and my chest hurts with all the effort. Cross country was never my thing, I'm more of a natural sprinter, you know? But with a knife about two inches from my stomach, I really don't have much of a choice.

All the while we run, I can sense the elves gaining on us, the footsteps are harder, the hooves of horses louder, sometimes I think I see flashes of them through the trees.

And I'm proven correct. Out of nowhere, a elf with deep sunken cheekbones and hair the colour of a beaver, lifts up his arrow, and strikes Skinner on the shoulder. He gives a deep guttural cry of pain but quickly recomposes himself and continues onward.

I'm beginning to feel like that if I continue onward, I'll pass out for exhaustion. But it something else happens that I don't expect. Two arrows come to us from behind, and one hits Biff on the neck, and the other on the back of my leg.
"Aaagh!" I stumble onto the ground and bring Skinner down with me. It's all the elves need to catch up with us, and soon we'll be cornered in. But, Skinner, sensing his last chance, hurls his dagger toward an elf who was first on the scene, where and it lands straight in his heart.
"Aldon!" An elleth cries as he crumpled to the ground.

Seeing the moment of vulnerability, Skinner tears out of there, accompanied by the whimsy shooting of arrows. The whole circle is crowds round Aldon, whose eyes are now hollow, so different from when he shot at us a few moments ago. The elleth that cried his name just sits there rocking him, and even though it's not my fault, I can't but help feel a little bit guilty.
She whispers, which I presume to be Elvish, maybe a lament. Out of her misery, her eyes flicker upward to the rest of the group, and then on me, who's currently trying her very hardest not to die from an arrow wound. I know people say childbirth is the worst pain, but none of them have ever been shot with an arrow before! Gosh! Just keep breathing kid. Carefully, she moves her, I presume love, out of the way and charges at me. She hauls me upward, which as you can imagine, doesn't make me feel any better, and for the second time today, a dagger is at my neck.
"You!" She growls, and the look in her eyes makes me realise why the orcs don't cross the elves. "Aníron gen haded min noer Orodruin!"
"Because of you Aldon is dead!" She shakes me gruffly, and it takes everything within me to stop myself from crying. She sees the tears form and use that against me.
"Tears will not help you now. Now state your business, or I will not hesitate to finish what he started."

I look in her eyes, and can tell she's serious. No one else here has any sympathy, in fact all the elves on horseback and those on foot regard me with utter contempt.
"I-i-"
"Speak fool! Man i eneth lín?"
"I ain't no spy!" I finally cry out, breathing heavily from the pain. "And FYI I dont speak elvish, English only please."
"You're ain't spy huh?" She repeats and I nod desperately.
"You know what I think?" She smiles at me, before her face shifts to one of anger.
"I think that's a double negative you stupid woman. It means you area spy."
"I'm a teenager." I state matter of factly.
Her brow creases in confusion.
"What's a teen-
"Teenager." I repeat "you know, what you call those kids from the age of thirteen to eighteen."
"Why are you dressed like that?" She asks, referring to my jeans and t-shirts with sneakers
"Well, we can get technical about it and I can say because my limited allowance only allowed the cheapest things, or we can say because I'm not from here."
Tired of my nonchalant attitude, she squeezes my shirt tighter
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not from here. I'm not from Middle-Earth. Or Arda, whatever you call it."
"Aredhrel." The blonde turns to face a man who I presume to be the captain of the guard on horseback.
"We are wasting daylight. Let us leave her with the Lord Elrond. I'm sure he can find a suitable punishment for her."

I gulp at this. But maybe Elrond will have better chance of hearing me out then miss 'I've just lost my ex and I'm angry at everyone.'
"I still do not trust her. She could be a spy."
The captain's face begins to twist with impatience. His hair bobs slightly as he steadied his brown mare.
"All the more reason to. Let us not waste time on this fool." He says
"Hey!" I answer
He ignores me and carries on.
"Let us seek out the last orc, so we can avenge Aldon. Besides, if you continue to hold her like that she may bleed out to her death."
"Its no more than she deserves. Hû úgaun!" She directs that to me and I take that as some kind of insult.
"I know. But won't you like to know why Aldon was killed in the first place, this girl knows the answer, and if there is anyone who could get it out of her, its Elrond."
"I'd sooner leave her with Thranduil."
"Wouldn't we all?" He sighs "But her rotting away in a cell wouldn't do anything. Take her to the Lord Elrond. He has the gift of foresight. Maybe he's seen her future."

Aredhrel ponders over this for a second before nodding softly. She drops me on the ground, and it hurts so hard that I think she's broken my bottom (yes like Spongebob) turns to a male elf and commands:
"See to her injuries."