Misted Shadows

The End Of A Journey (14)

An arrow whizzed past my face and hit the rock wall beside me. More arrows started to launch at us and I ducked down. Legolas immediately started to fire back at the assailants. I could hear the moans of them dying, but I was still scared. An arrow impacted the boat just below my finger and I yelped in terror. Aragorn turned around like a rocket, making sure I was okay. I nodded my head and he continued to paddle furiously.

As we rushed down the river, the arrows continued but not as fast. We were outrunning them, but I knew eventually they would catch up to us. Once the arrows stopped, I breathed a sigh of relief but my relief didn't last long.

The instant I felt relieved, we made it to the rapids. We all slowed down, but all the bumpy rocks made me want to puke. We kept rocking back and forth and hitting every rock on the way down. I looked up and saw that the sun was starting to sink. How fast did time go by here?

In my mind, there was no way we were going to make it through this at night. We would have to stop somewhere. When I thought that I was thinking those words inside my head, I got a response from Aragorn saying that we would push through in order to get ahead of the enemy. I slightly blushed, but relayed the message down the line. I could tell that it made Boromir angry, but there was nothing else to do.

The night dragged on with endless bumps and sore arms. I could barely get any sleep and felt nauseous the entire time. The sun slowly rose into the skin, illuminating the path in front of us. I almost cried out with joy when I saw the end of the rapids, but held it in to not wake anyone.

Once we made it to the end, everyone took a deep breath and sighed. There would no longer be any constant bumping and sliding around. It was smooth sailing from here. As we cruised on, I could see something forming in the distance. We were almost to the Gates of Argonath.

I had pictured it in my mind, floating by the tall statues and marveling in their glory. To now see them in person would be a completely different experience. As we approached the tall statues, I itched to pull out my camera but didn't.

Aragorn said aloud, "My kin," when passing by them.

After we paddled past the statues, it was all downhill. I knew that we would soon dock just before the Falls of Rauros. We would be on foot from then on. I dreaded the events that were to take place next, but I pushed those horrible thoughts out of my head. We were going to change everything.

It didn't take long till we reached the waterfall. We all slowed to a stop and pushed the boats onto the shore. Thankfully the rush of water was not that loud, so I pulled Aragorn aside and talked about our plan.

We would allow Sam and Frodo to get away since they would be safe from here on out. We would also allow Pippin and Merry to be kidnapped since that led to a series of events that needed to happen. The very last thing we would do was save Boromir. He would not die this time or any other time so long as I lived.

Once we were done talking, Frodo wandered off by himself but instead of letting Boromir follow after him to gather wood I held him back and started a conversation with him. This would delay the next events to follow.

I could tell that Boromir knew something was up, but I tried to delay him as long as possible. Aragorn then said that he would check on Frodo and looked at me before walking into the forest behind us. As soon as he left, Boromir stood up and acted like he was going to follow but I grabbed his hand and told him to stay.

"Why are you holding me back? What plan do Aragorn and you have planned?" he asked impatiently.

I said quietly, "You have to believe me when I say that we are doing this to protect everyone. Just stay by me at all times. You have to trust me on this."