Chapter 1-
-Rayel-
My body was jostled back and forth against a hard, armored body and my hands were bound around the neck of an Uruk. My head was pounding and my body ached. As my eyes adjusted to my surroundings, I was astounded to see that we were no longer on the Emyn Nuil border; we were somewhere else completely. The towering, mountain walls enclosed the Uruk herd and blocked out the environment and turning it into a foreign environment.
The scent of the Uruk warriors was revolting and made my stomach churn. My arm throbbed where the arrow had pierced me when the Urks had attacked us, seeking the Hobbits. Oh, no! The Hobbits! I scanned the Uruk-Hai warriors, trying to catch sight of my friends; hoping and praying that they were still alive.
"Rayel!" the sharp whisper came from off in the mass of sprinting Urk scum.
"Pippin!" I sighed in relief. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, but Merry isn't!" He nodded off to my left. I turned to see the second Hobbit dangling off the back of another Urk-Hai's back. His eyes were closed, his breathing shallow and a nasty gash was embedded across his forehead.
"Merry!" I cried urgently.
If I couldn't protect them earlier, I was most certainly going to protect them now!
"Merry!" Pippin joined in, but the Urk Merry was tied onto sped up and out of our sight.
Suddenly the leading Urk stopped and signaled the rest to do the same. Behind the boulders along the trail, another force of orcs revealed themselves. "You're late!" one of them hissed. "Our master grows impatient! He wants the Shire-rats now!"
My jaw tensed. Over my dead body! I wanted to scream, but I held my tongue. But for my sake, the lead Urk spoke for me. "I don't take orders from orc maggots."
The smaller orc hissed and the Urk growled back, "Sauruman will have his prize and then some!"
I drew in a shaky breath, exchanging a look with Pippin: I was the some.
"We will deliver them!" the Urk snapped, turning back into our line, ignoring the rude remarks from the Orc.
"Merry!" whispered Pippin again frantically. "Merry! Wake up!"
The Urk carrying the unconscious Hobbit had switched sides, placing Pippin in the middle with Merry to his right and me to his left.
Beside us, one of the armored Urks was guzzling away a wineskin, ignoring us. I saw the look in Pippin's eyes as he watched the Urk.
"No," I whispered. "Pippin don't-."
-But it was too late.
"My friend is sick," Pippin stated to the angry, hissing Urk. "He needs water... Please!" he pleaded.
"Sick is he?" the commanding Urk-Hai laughed. "Give him some medicine, boys!"
There was a cheer that ran through the monsters as the former Urk brought up his wineskin and shoved the bottle into Merry's open mouth. The black lquid pooled inside his mouth and I could hear him gagging and choking on the 'medicine'.
"Leave him alone!" I yelled, kicking the Urk I was daggling on.
"Stop it!" Pippin joined in.
The bottle was abruptly pulled away from the Hobbit's mouth and the Urks laughed menacingly. "Can't take his grog!" the commanding officer bellowed.
"Leave him alone!" Pippin cried.
"Why?" demanded the Urk, glowering down at him. "You want some?"
Pippin held his tongue.
"Then keep your mouth shut!" he regarded me. "Both of you!" he turned back to the front of the line.
"Merry?" Pippin turned to his friend.
Merry's eyes fluttered open, glancing at his friend and then at me. "'Ello, Pip, Rayel," his head sagged down.
"You're hurt!" I stated, wishing I could come to rescue or take his pain upon myself.
"I'm fine," Merry promised. "It was just an act."
"An act?" Pippin and I demanded.
"See?" Merry chuckled. "I even had you both fooled."
"You're lying," I whispered.
"Don't worry about me."
Before I could reply, the commander took note of his second in command and demanded: "What is it? What do you smell?"
The officer turned to us with haltered in his eyes. "Man flesh."
Shrieks of outrage traveled along the lines, but I wore a content smile and smirk. The Fellowship is coming for us!
"They've picked up our trail!" hissed the superior.
"Aragorn," whispered Pippin, turning to face me. "Your brother is coming."
I nodded. "Yes."
"Let's go!" the superior shouted, leading the army down the hill and into a grassy plain.
Pippin tore at his cape, pulling his Leaf pendant from the clasp and spitting it onto the trail. He was leaving a path for them to find us. Looking down I noticed my mother's ring on my finger and with a careful twist, I managed to knock the band into my hands and toss it off next to Pippin's charm.
"Legolas, please find me," I channeled my thoughts, hoping and praying that he would hear them.
As night fell, the Urks came to a stop and the Hobbits and I were thrown off our mounts and onto the ground. Pain erupted in my shoulder and I resisted the urge to cry out.
"We're not goin' no further!" one Urk panted. "'Til we've had a breather!"
"Get a fire going!" the commanding Urk ordered.
Darkness had enveloped us and covered the grassy valley in a blanket of mist and shadows. Before us was a looming, eerie forest and I shivered. Whatever was in that forest was not friendly. The orcs scuttled off into the trees to chop firewood and conveniently left us unattended.
"Merry!" whispered Pippin, inching his way to his friend's side.
I followed the pattern and slowly made my way to their side, cursing the Urks for binding my wrists so tightly. The skin was raw and bleeding and the rope frayed and cut into my skin.
"I think," wheezed Merry to his friend. "We may have made a mistake leaving the Shire, Pippin." They shared a smile and a small laugh.
"Are you alright?" I asked them both, studying their faces for any trace of dishonesty.
"We're fine," Pippin promised. "Are you?"
I shook my head. "Don't worry about me. I must apologize, for I fear this is my entire fault... I should've gotten you to safety when Boromir told me to and-."
"No, we weren't going to leave him anymore than you would," Merry smiled stubbornly. The gash across his head had dried now, but I feared that it might get infected.
We were quiet for a moment, absent-mindedly listening the sounds of the orcs chopping wood. A deep rumble ran through the forest and our blood ran cold. "What's making that noise?" Pippin whispered his eyes wide.
"It's the trees," Merry stated, and I turned to look at him in shock.
"What?" both Pippin and I asked, wide-eyed and frightened.
"Remember the old forests?" the Hobbit asked his cousin. "On the boarders of Buckland? The folks used to say that there was somethin' in the water that made the tree grow tall... and come alive."
My eyes widened, "What?"
"Alive?" Pippin asked, astonished.
"The trees could whisper," Merry continued. "Talk to each other, even move."
I opened my mouth to reply only to have my words drowned out by one of the Urk-hai. "I'm starvin'," he grumbled. "We ain't had nothin' but maggoty bread for three stinkin' days!"
"Yeah," agreed a sickly, pink vein-streaked orc. "Why can't we have some meat?" he turned to the Hobbits and me. "What about them? They're fresh!"
We glanced at each other nervously, with our wrists bound, there was no way we could escape them. I would die before I would let our captors eat my friends.
"They are not for eating!" protested the superior, grabbing the three of us by our arms and dragging us away from the ever inching forward army. I hissed in pain as he held onto my shoulder and forced us to stand.
"What about their legs?" asked a dark-skinned and blue eyed orc. His licked his lips and grinned. "They don't need those."
I looked down at my legs. "Actually, I'm rather fond of my legs," I whispered.
"Oh, they look tasty," the blue-eyed orc muttered, rushing toward me, only to be shoved backward by the superior Urk-hai.
"The prisoners go to Saruman!" he objected. "Live and unspoiled!"
Already a line of orcs and Urk-hai had assembled and I feared a battle was about take place. One side wanted to eat us, and the other wanted to deliver us to the White Wizard. Neither choices seemed favorable, but at the moment, a trip to visit the Wizard didn't seem so awful.
"Alive?" the blue-eyes orc demanded. "Why alive? Are they for good sport?" he licked his lips, studying me with over-eager eyes.
I reached for my Eregethian blades, only to be reminded that my hands were bound and my blades had been lost when we had been captured. It was a terrible loss, but at least I was alive.
"They have something, an Elvish weapon. The Master wants it for the war."
So that's why they didn't kill me, I thought. They think that because I'm an Elf I might have knowledge of this weapon.
"They think we have the Ring!" Pippin exclaimed to Merry.
"Shhh!" Merry hissed. "As soon as they find out we don't, we're dead!"
Suddenly I felt a drop of liquid against my neck and turned to see the vein-streaked orc behind me with his dagger. "Just a mouthful! A bit off the flank!" He leaned down to bite into my décolletage and I ducked, just as another blade crossed over me and severed the orc's head from his body.
"Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys!" the commander announced to the cheering army.
Suddenly the three of us were shoved aside, as the hungry enemies flocked to their fallen comrade. The terrible sounds of flesh being torn apart and the sickly stench of orc blood filled the air.
"Pippin! Rayel!" Merry caught our attention, nodding to the forest. "Let's go!"
We crawled our way across the grassy plain and had almost made it when suddenly; a heavy weight was placed on Pippin, causing him to cry out. I rolled over onto my back to see what had happened, only to gain a crushing pain on my chest. "Go on," he blue-eyed orc taunted, grabbing Pippin's cheeks and keeping his foot on me, restraining me from helping my friend. "Call for help, squeal! No one's gonna save you now!" he raised his dagger and leaned in to kill my friend.
"No!" I screamed.
Suddenly the orc screamed and fell to the ground, a spear in his back. The three of us looked up in astonishment as mysterious riders on horse-back rode into the camp, wielding weapons and slaying our captors. As the Riders faced the Orcs, the stampeding horses grew ever closer and despite our trying, we could get out of the way fast enough! A scream from Pippin caught my attention and I spotted him under the form of a great, rearing horse. "Pip!" I screamed in alarm, but he rolled out of the way just in time and inched his way back to my side.
"We need to free our bonds!" I cried urgently.
Pippin located the axe blade of a fallen captor and immediately started cutting the ropes from his wrists. He ran the bonds against the jagged blade until they had frayed enough for him to pull them off. "I'm free!" he cried, rushing to my side.
"No!" I shook my head. "Take care of Merry!"
He did not question me before rushing to his friend's side and untying his ropes. "Go!" I ordered. "Save yourselves!"
"What about you?" one of them demanded. "We won't leave you!"
"Go!" I yelled. "Please!"
They hesitated, if only for a moment, before turning and rushing away from the battle and into the forest. I watched them disappear and sighed in relief; they were safe.
Suddenly, I found my body thrown backward by the blow of an orc blade as it grazed across my chest. I cried out and my head met something jagged and sharp; and my world went black.
"Is that all of them?" Éomer demanded, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Are the orc-scum dead?"
"Yes, my lord," the woman answered. "None have survived."
"Good," the man nodded. "We will gather the bodies and burn them." He gestured to the abundance of bodies scattered across the battlefield.
The Riders dismounted, all helping their leader pile the bodies and gather the weapons and various other objects. "What do you think so many of them were doing so far from Saruman's keep?" the woman asked, tossing something into the mass.
"I am not sure, Lady Brendawyn," Éomer admitted.
"What's this?" the lady questioned, kneeling down beside one of the fallen bodies. "My Lord Éomer!" she exclaimed. "Look!" She brushed the coppery-colored hair back from the bodies face and gasped. "It's a girl!"
"No," announced the leader, investigating the body for himself. "It's an Elf."
Brendawyn's face drained of all color. "What would an Elleth be doing so far from the realm of our people?" she brought her blade the elleth's wrists, cutting the bonds that held her.
"She's bleeding!" Éomer announced, brushing his fingers against her chest, revealing the gash.
"It's shallow," the woman noted.
"Legolas," the barely-conscious elleth whispered. "Aragorn."
"What did she say?" Éomer demanded.
"Two names, my lord," Brendawyn replied. "I believe these men are searching for her."
The elleth coughed, her face wrinkled in pain. "Legolas, goheno nin." She whispered.
"What did she say?" the man inquired.
Brendawyn turned to her friend. "She asked him to forgive her." She looked down at the wounded girl. "Udulen an edraith angina... I'm here to save you."
The elleth's eyes fluttered open. "You speak to me in my own languge?"
The Rider leaned down over the girl and asked: "What's your name, miss, and where do you hail from?"
"Rayel from Rivendell," her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell into unconsciousness.
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Chapter one is up! Whoot-whoot! I'd love to hear what you think in the comments below! :)
goheno nin- I'm sorry.
elleth- Female elf
Udulen an edraith angina- I'm here to save you.