I don't own nothin'. (Éomer above.)
---
Rin began his regular routine of hopping out of the boat, grabbing onto all three, and dragging them to the shore with everyone else still aboard, all while the rest of the fellowship looked on in mild amusement.
"We cross the lake at nightfall. Hide the boats and continue on foot. We approach Mordor from the north." Aragorn told them as he put his pack down.
"Oh, yes?! It's just a simple matter of finding our way through Emyn Muil? An impassable labyrinth of razor sharp rocks! And after that, it gets even better!" Gimli declared much to the Hobbit's (and Rin's) alarm. "Festering, stinking marshlands far as the eye can see!"
Why do I ever listen to you Kuro.
The cat swiped at his face.
"That is our road. I suggest you take some rest and recover your strength Master Dwarf."
"Recover my...?! Grrrrrr." Gimli turned his back on the Ranger, muttering. Rin sniggered.
"We should leave now." Legolas argued.
"No. Orcs patrol the eastern shore. We must wait for the cover of darkness."
"It is not the eastern shore that worries me. A shadow and a threat has been growing in my mind. Something draws near... I can feel it!"
Rin bit his lip before nodding. "I can too."
"Where's Boromir?" Kuro asked in his mind.
A split second later Merry asked, "Where's Frodo?"
Rin's eyes widened and he took off into the forest line, Kuro growing to a larger size to search too.
He realized that he had overshot slightly when he heard the clash of battle behind him. He spun and ran back in time to see-
He growled and jumped, unsheathing his sword, which quickly found itself in the back of the monster. It growled and turned to him, crossbow having misfired, and swiped even as it's body was being consumed by flame.
Rin lept back from the unexpected swing, pulling out the Kurikara sword and swinging it wildly at another one of the monsters. The battle went on for only a minute or so, Rin completely obliterating the orcs out of anger. He stumbled back to the boats, where Aragorn and Boromir were. Rin saw with regret that Boromir had an arrow wound in his sword arm, probably from the Orc that Rin had tackled.
"Where's Frodo?" He panted out softly, winded from the battle. Boromir just shook his head. "I am such a fool."
Aragorn turned to Rin, and was about to speak when Rin caught sight of Sam and Frodo, nearly ¾ of the way across the river.
Rin looked at the ranger. "They're leaving, shouldn't we follow?"
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Legolas and Gimli enter the area.
Aragorn shook his head. "Frodo's fate is no longer in our hands."
Rin's eyes widened.
He wanted to argue. He wanted to argue so badly.
"He's right, you know."
... I know.
He did. He wasn't the smartest person out there, but he had seen it. The tired wariness that had developed in Frodo's eyes. He didn't know if it was the Ring, or the Nazgûl's wound, or just the situation, but if Aragorn said that the Hobbit had to go ... then he would listen.
He slumped his shoulders in defeat.
Gimli spoke up. "Then it has all been in vain...the fellowship has failed."
Aragorn straightened. "Not if we hold true to each other. We will not abandon Merry and Pippin to torment and death, not while we have strength left."
Rin felt panic swell in his chest. "Merry and Pippin?"
Boromir looked at him, grief in his eyes. "They were taken by the remaining horde."
He felt his tail escape his shirt and swish around agitatedly as he clenched his fists.
I didn't know there were any left.
Aragorn pulled a hunting knife out of his pack and strapped it to his belt."Leave all that can be spared behind..." Rin saw a steely glint enter the Ranger's eyes. "We travel light. Let's hunt some Orc."
Rin smirked and sheathed the Kurikara sword as Gimli cheered.
---
Rin ran behind Aragorn, stopping when the Ranger knelt to evaluate the trail. "Their pace has quickened." He looked up. "They must have caught our scent. Hurry!" Aragorn began to run again, but Rin stopped when he heard Legolas call for Gimli. He ran back to the dwarf while the group continued moving. "Do you want to ride Kuro?"
"I am not a pack mule, Rin."
The dwarf narrowed his eyes and denied the offer. Rin shrugged and continued running, his pace evening out so that he was behind Legolas and in front of the Dwarf.
---
So, ten minutes later, Gimli was seated on Kuro's back. "Dwarves were not made to ride cats!" He bellowed as Kuro pranced along.
---
They paused as they reached the top of a hill, looking down at the plains below.
"Rohan. Home of the horse-lords. There is something strange at work here. Some evil gives speed to these creatures, sets its will against us." Aragorn spoke, and Boromir nodded his agreement.
Rin squinted at the horizon as Legolas ran forward and gazed off to the distance.
"Legolas, what do your Elf-eyes see?"
Kuro giggled.
Rin ignored the cat.
"The Uruks turn northeast. They're taking the Hobbits to Isengard!"
Kuro?
"Evil wizard, Rin." The cat demon rolled its eyes in exasperation.
Aragorn looked grim. "Saruman."
---
"Keep breathing! That's the key! Breath! Ho!" Gimli huffed as they trailed the Orcs, Kuro having gotten tired a few hours ago.
Rin kept running, ignoring the pit of anxiety that had formed in his stomach.
---
"A red sun rises. Blood has been spilled this night." Rin felt his anxiety increase at the elf's words.
The smell of smoke reached Rin, although he ignored it when he could not determine its origin.
A rumble of hooves was his first clue to the advancing rider's. They quickly moved to hide behind some boulders as the horses leapt overhead.
Rin bit his lip. Okay, this is actually really cool.
When the horses had finished passing overhead Aragorn called out, "Riders of Rohan, what news from the Mark?"
He gulped as they were surrounded. Less cool.
"What business do two Elves, two Men and a Dwarf have in the Riddermark? Speak quickly!" The half-demon groaned internally and fluffed the hair around his ears.
"Give me your name, Horsemaster, and I shall give you mine." Gimli called.
The rider slid smoothly off his horse. "I would cut off your head, Dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground."
Rin growled loudly, reaching for Kurikara. The horses reacted badly to him, nickering and attempting to back away.
"You would die before your stroke fell." Legolas said, and Rin only then noticed that the elf had drawn his bow with such speed that he had failed to notice the movement.
Rin unsheathed his sword as they were quickly surrounded by spearheads.
Aragorn laid a hand on Legolas's arm. "I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn, and this is Boromir, son of Denethor," There were some murmurs at this, "This is Gimli, son of Gloin, Legolas of the Woodland Realm, and Rin son of-" he glanced at the demon momentarily, "Okumura."
That works.
"We are friends of Rohan and of Théoden, your King."
The leader of the men removed his helmet. "Théoden no longer recognizes friend from foe. Not even his own kin."
Oof.
"Saruman has poisoned the mind of the king 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."
Aragorn nodded. "We are not spies. We track a party of Uruk-hai westward across the plain. They've taken two of our friends captive."
The next words uttered stopped Rin's heart. "The Uruks are destroyed. We slaughtered
them during the night."
no.
Boromir spoke next, desperation seeping into his voice. "But there were two Hobbits. Did you see two Hobbits with them?"
"They would be small – only children to your eyes." Aragorn added.
"We left none alive. We piled the carcasses and burned them." The rider pointed to smoke, the same smoke that Rin had smelt before, drifting into the sky in the distance.
"Dead?" He echoed.
The man nodded. "I am sorry."
His shoulders slumped, and he closed his eyes. He felt Legolas lay a hand on his shoulder in comfort. Kuro mewled from his bag.
He opened his eyes when he heard the riders departing after leaving them with three horses, all that could be spared. Kuro enlarged and was quickly claimed by Gimli, who had decided that he preferred the cat to a horse. (Rin later suspected it was because the dwarf was thrilled to travel faster than everyone else.)
Legolas offered him a hand and he took it, easily vaulting onto the horse behind the elf, and they rode towards the smoke in the distance.
When they arrived, they began searching through the piles urgently. The smell of smoke had intensified, and become mixed with the smell of burnt flesh.
Gimli pulled something out of the pile. "It's one of their wee belts."
Rin stumbled away slightly to lose the contents of his stomach.
-"May they find peace in death." Legolas said softly.
Aragorn kicked a helmet and yelled in anguish, the cry all the louder to Rin's sensitive ears. Kuro was now sobbing, big tears running down the cat sidhe's face as it yowled.
The half-demon stood up, slightly lightheaded as he heard Aragorn say, "A hobbit lay here, and the other."
He looked to see the Ranger kneeling as he had done when he was tracking the Orcs earlier.
"They crawled..." Kuro stopped yowling, and the group gave their full attention to Aragorn.
"Their hands were bound..." he held up a piece of charred rope, "...Their bonds were cut..."
Rin felt a small ember of hope in his stomach, and the remainders of the fellowship followed the Ranger as he tracked the hobbits.
"...They ran over here. They were followed...the tracks lead away from the battle...", Aragorn broke into a run and the four followed. "...into Fangorn Forest."
---
Well, hopefully that makes up for Chapter 7's patheticness in length. Less so in quality, this is crap. Poor Rin, he just doesn't get why everyone assumes he's an elf. Also, I am never getting angry at an author for poor character development again, it's so freaking difficult.