The fellowships have broken. Can Niphredil help Frodo as she promised him? Can Sauron find Niphredil or Legolas can save her as everyone hope? Can their newfound love save Niphredil? what if their roads separate?
"Come. May we find signs of our friends there." Said Aragorn and mounted Hasufel. Legolas and Niphredil take off their horses' saddles and reins. Niphredil chose Erina. She was light brown with a cream main. She reminded her of Lótë. She leaned her head on Erina's body. Her heart was so heavy. She felt a hand on hers and raised her head. Legolas was there. He took her hand. "Can you ride? Are you alright?"
Niphredil nodded. "I can. Let's go." She said and mounted Erina that was so happy that Niphredil was her rider.
They ride to the direction of the trails and soon they came to the eaves of the forest, and in an open glade among the first trees they found the place of the great burning: the ashes were still hot and smoking. They unmounted and began to search among the ashes. Suddenly Gimli found something between the bodies. It was one of the daggers that Lady Galadriel gave Merry and Pippin. "It's one of their wee daggers. We failed them." He said sadly. Niphredil took the dagger. It was covered by ash and dust, but had remained intact. Tears ran on her face again. Legolas came at her side and put his hand on her shoulder. she buried her face in his shoulder.
Aragorn shouted from frustration and fell to his knees. Then, he saw something on the ground. He touched the ground and a bitter smile came to his face. "A Hobbit lay here." He said and touched a place near it. "And the other."
The others went to his side. A new hope raised in Niphredil's heart.
Aragorn continued to read and parse the tracks. He went a little bit further. "They crawled. Their hands were bound." He said and stood on his feet and followed the traces with interest. He then found an Orc blade on the ground. Aragorn bent and picked up a piece of rope. "Their bonds were cut." He said with a raising hope. Niphredil's heart was now hammering in her chest. "They ran over here." Said Aragorn and quickened his pace. The others ran after him. "They were followed. Tracks lead away from the battle..." he raised his head and halted. His face dropped. "into Fangorn Forest." He said quietly.
"Fangorn? What madness drove them in there?" said Gimli.
The four stood there and looked at the menacing trees. "Come on. They are in the forest. They can be still alive. We must find them. It's just an old forest." Said Niphredil and ran into the forest. "Niphredil!" the others called her, but the trees blocked their voices. After a few seconds, she slowed down and looked around.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Everything seemed old there. Trees were covered with lichen and old leaves, but they were whispering to each other. It seemed they were happy to see an elf there. Niphredil could feel their spirits, old and sleepy with good wills and full of anger about something. But she could feel malice, ill and evil spirits from deep in the forest. She shivered. Suddenly she saw a flash of a picture in her mind like a piece of a memory. It was a tree, a tall tree but it somehow looked like a human with hands and legs and something like a beard on its face. The vision disappeared as fast as it had started.
