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Disclaimer: Any recognizable characters and places associated with the Lord of the Rings are creations of J.R.R. Tolkien and property of Tolkien Enterprises. No money is being made off of this story, it is for entertainment only.
Chapter 10: The Darkening Horizon
“Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.”
~ George Bernard Shaw
****************
As the group pushed on even Haldan was beginning to sound like the other three men with their ragged breathing.
“How… much longer…?” the ranger asked between pants.
“Only a couple of hours now,” Aranel said easily.
The elf swept his gaze over at the four humans. Two looked as if they were ready to drop, one was turning blue, and the ranger was beginning to struggle. They would never keep this pace until the dawn. The elf stopped suddenly, startling the others.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Taren managed to wheeze.
“You have all done a noble job at out running the orcs until now and it was an honor to travel with you,” the elf answered kindly.
“You’re leaving us?” one man asked incredulously.
“You would just abandon us to the orcs now?” the second man asked angrily.
Aranel met the two men’s angry gaze and smiled warmly at them. The elf turned to Haldan and the ranger looked curiously at him. Aranel couldn’t be thinking what the ranger thought he was, could he? The elf was not that crazy.
“Lay low here and rest until the dawn. After the sun has risen make for the village their kin head for,” the elf instructed.
“You cannot possibly take on that group by yourself! Are you mad?” Haldan asked worriedly.
The elf smiled at the ranger.
“I do not have to fight them all. Just distract them until the dawn.”
“You cannot go alone, I won’t allow it!” Taren protested.
“Taren, listen to me. You have made a valiant effort to save your village and I do not want the act to turn into a valiant sacrifice. Those orcs will not slow down until the dawn and at this pace they will over take us. Thank you for your concern my friend, but you will not be able to keep up with the kind of close chase I intend to lead the orcs on.”
“But that it unfair. We were all in this together,” the human tried again.
“And we still are, but now the lives to be saved are yours and not those of your people.”
The elf turned back to Haldan.
“Take care of them, my friend. I have grown fond of your company over the last few days and with any luck we will meet again one day.”
Before the ranger could protest the elf disappeared with barely a whisper of sound.
“That reckless, protective fool,” the ranger muttered under his breath.
“You’re just going to let him go?” Taren asked.
“He asked me to stay here. What else would you have me do?”
“We will follow after him!” Taren said confidently.
“No, we would never keep pace.”
“We would not, but you could,” one of the other men suggested.
“Yes, we will manage on our own, go with your friend,” Taren said.
“I do not know if I could keep up with him either,” the ranger admitted.
“Will you not try?” Taren asked.
The ranger wanted to, they had no idea how much he wanted to. If the elf succeeded in distracting the orcs they would no longer be in harms way, but the elf would be in serious danger. The human was torn.
“Go, lad. We will be alright, even if we have to hide out,” Taren said placing a hand on he ranger’s shoulder.
“Very well, I will try, but if I cannot catch up to him I will be back to this area.”
The other three humans said their well wishes. Haldan simply nodded to the group and took off.
He hoped he was doing the right thing. Lucky for him none of the decisions on this adventure had been left to him and he prayed he was following the right path. Right or not, he was going to try.
****************
Unknown to Elrohir he had managed to hang on for a while before he slipped into unconsciousness and the three had left the orcs some distance behind. The horse tried to stop when it felt its rider falling, but it all happened too quickly and the dark-haired elf fell sideways off the horse at a full run. Aragorn called out in surprise and fear as he felt the elf slide from behind him. Elrohir limply hit the ground hard and the force rolled the elf a short distance, coming to an abrupt stop as he slammed into a tree. Even in the deep void of unconsciousness the elf groaned meekly when he hit the tree. The elf ended up face down on the ground with one arm under him.
Aethaenyn finished stopping and turned back to the fallen elf. He brought his head down and bumped the elf with his muzzle a few times. Elrohir did not move and the horse tried again. Aragorn had begun crying by now. The little one was afraid of being all alone in the woods after the orc attack, plus he was frightened his new friend might never get up. Ro had told him to hold onto the horse no matter what happened and the boy clenched the horse’s mane in his small hands. He had no idea what he was supposed to do now. The horse tried again and pawed the ground next to his master. Aethaenyn was an intelligent animal and he knew what his master wanted. To take the little human far away from here, so with a heavy heart the horse turned around and took off.
“Where’re we going?” Aragorn yelled and cried.
“No, go back. We forgot Ro, go back,” he shouted as he pulled on the reins in the same way his mommy did to stop Trithen.
Aethaenyn came to a nervous halt. The horse was already antsy with orcs about and now its master would not get up. All it could think of was obeying his elf’s final wish and getting the little human out of here.
“We have to go back,” Aragorn demanded in his small voice, “we have to get Ro.”
Aragorn was so afraid his small hands were shaking and his heart was racing. His breath came out in small gasps that were close to sobs. He hated being left alone and even he knew the horse would take him to safety and eventually to his mommy if he let it go on.
But through all of his fear, something welled up in that small, frightened child that night that would shape the course of the world someday.
Aragorn, son of Arathorn, future Chief of the Dunedain, grabbed hold of the reins and pulled on one side to turn the horse around.
“Ro is my friend and helped me. I’m going back. If you won’t take me, I’ll go by myself.”
Aethaenyn had never been around a little human before, but the horse found itself turning and kicked into a run back towards the fallen elf.
**************
Even with Gilraen’s help Elladan felt his body begin to tremble with fatigue. Not that it was much different than the shivering he was experiencing from being cold and wet. He glanced up at the sky through the narrow ravine opening and wished he could will the sun to rise faster. The awful numbing cold he had felt before Bree had been slowly spreading from his feet all the way up to his head and was now complete. The elf felt completely frozen.
Gilraen was shivering also, not as violently as her companion and she worried for the elf. She knew elves well enough to know something was not right. Elves did not feel the cold as much as the humans did, so why was her companion shivering like that? She guessed it was the elf’s injury. He was tired, bleeding, and wet, that must be it, right? At this moment she wished she knew even more of elves.
Gilraen gasped in surprise as the elf stumbled and fell again. His weight and her grasp pulled the woman down to the ground as well. Elladan landed trembling on all fours and stayed that way. Gilraen examined her friend. The elf’s breathing was rather shallow and his head was bowed. She reached out and swept some of the long dark hair behind the elf’s ear so she could see his face. The brief contact made her pause. She brought her hand back up and placed the back of it against the elf’s forehead.
“No wonder you are shivering so,” she said out loud, “you are burning with fever.”
Gilraen wanted to curse herself. She was supporting the elf and she had never felt how warm he was until now. Maybe that was why she was not as cold, she thought, the elf’s heat was keeping her warm. Her friend seemed to be very ill and she became even more worried. They had to get out of the open.
By this time Elladan was struggling to stay awake. This was it, he was at the end of what he could bear and knew it. A thick fog was settling over his mind again and thoughts were hard to come by.
Gilraen noticed Elladan starting to lean heavily on her and she became frightened. No, he could not pass out now! She would never be able to carry him. She looked frantically around at their surroundings, but she could not see very far. She would have to be close to the ravine wall to find anything. Gathering her nerve and her will she let go of the elf and moved in front of him.
“Elladan, I am going to go find someplace we may rest. Stay here,” she said more confident than she felt.
She was not sure if the elf had heard her, but she rose anyway and ran towards the ravine wall. She stumbled over rocks she could not see and slipped every once in a while. The woman did not give up, though. She ran to the wall and then ran along it. To her ultimate joy she came along a small cave, almost an outcropping really, and almost shouted in relief. It would do, she thought. Just as long as it got them out of sight until her companion was feeling better. She turned around and clumsily made her way back to where she left the elf. By the time she returned he was lying on his side with his eyes closed. Please, just a little longer, she silently pleaded.
Gilraen knelt down beside the elf and called his name. She received no response, so tried again. No, no, no, she mentally cried. The woman reached out and grabbed both his shoulders and shook.
A quiet voice threaded its way passed the haze in Elladan’s mind and he tried to open his eyes. The voice was familiar and it sounded almost panicked, so he tried harder.
Gilraen saw Elladan open his eyes slightly and she did cry out this time.
“I have found a place to rest. It is not far, come, you can make it.”
The elf’s fuzzy mind had no idea what the woman was talking about, but he felt her trying to get him to sit up and complied.
Gilraen was relieved beyond words that the elf was trying to move. He had a tough time of it and it took a lot of work on her part to get the elf to his feet. Once there the elf barely had enough strength to stand and he leaned on the woman heavily. She did not mind though, just as long as they made it there before he totally passed out. The two made their slow way towards Gilraen’s hiding place, step by step. For both of them it felt like an eternity and she had no idea how she managed it, but eventually she looked up and there it was.
“We are almost there, it is just a few more steps,” she said soothingly.
The woman had no idea if he even heard her for the elf did not respond. In fact Elladan did hear her and appreciated the words. It was just too difficult to speak.
With a sigh from Gilraen they made it inside and she led her companion to the back. As soon as they reached the back Elladan immediately collapsed to the ground. She knelt down by him and tried to make the elf more comfortable, but they really had nothing of the sort with them. A little moonlight trickled into the cave entrance affording the woman the faintest of light. That combined with the elf’s soft luminance made it fairly easy to see the prone figure. The elf’s fair face was ashen and withdrawn. She could easily see the fatigue in the elf’s features. What sickness could come on that rapidly? She wondered. After a moment of thought, realization set in. If she had stopped to compare her companion’s behavior to that of his brother and friend she would have noticed that he had been sick before he came here. Gilraen felt bad for her behavior. She had yelled at the elf on their first meeting, drug him along with her into this situation, and never noticed a thing that something was wrong.
Gilraen reached out and brushed the hair out of the elf’s face. At the touch Elladan opened glassy eyes to look up at the dark-haired woman.
“I am sorry, my friend,” she said quietly.
“For what?” Elladan managed to rasp out.
“For all of this. For not noticing. For not saying thank you.”
Elladan smiled at the woman before his eyes drifted shut again. Gilraen did not know why, but the thought of being alone in there was terrifying.
“Please stay awake,” she pleaded nervously.
To Gilraen her voice sounded small and timid in the dark.
Elladan tiredly opened his eyes again. The strength it took for this simple task was enormous, but the elf’s cloudy mind saw the need.
“I cannot…. I’m sorry… you will be…”
Before Elladan finished his eyes drifted shut again and no matter how much Gilraen called Elladan’s name, he would not wake.
Gilraen looked around the dark cave and hugged her knees to her chest. She was alone now, really alone. Her son was on his way to Rivendell and there would be no dark-haired elf to defend her now. She silently prayed to the Valar that all her companion needed was rest and then he would be fine. They would carry on then and make it to Rivendell and all would be fine, right? Right, she boldly told herself.
At least she hoped her words would turn out true.
***************
Haldan caught the sound of orc voices nearby and halted. He knelt down behind some nearby brush and listened. The voices did not sound excited or mad, so the elf must not have acted yet. Where was the crazy elf anyway? The ranger almost chuckled at himself. Here he was, kneeling down, hiding from orcs, while trying to catch an elf, of all beings, on foot. And he called the elf crazy!
“You look quite happy lurking behind the bushes. A pass time of yours?” a melodic voice whispered in the ranger’s ear.
The voice almost made Haldan jump in the air and call out, but the ranger sensibly bit his tongue. Although his heart was racing fast enough to jump right out of his chest.
“Damn elven sense of humor,” the ranger stuttered.
The ranger took a deep and calming breath as he looked over at Aranel’s amused face.
“Are you trying to scare me to death or do you just like seeing me jump?” the human asked dryly.
“I like seeing you jump, of course,” Aranel answered lightly.
“I thought you would follow me,” the golden-haired elf said somberly.
“Well, how could I not?” the ranger asked quietly.
Aranel smiled warmly at the human, yes, he definitely liked this one. The elf sighed. By the look in the human’s eyes there was no getting away from him. Very well.
“The group is heading for where Taren and the other two lie. We must draw the orcs away from the area,” the elf explained.
“All right, how exactly shall we do that?” Haldan asked quietly.
Aranel smiled at the ranger and the human noticed a strange glint in the blue eyes he had never before seen. Sweet Eru, he should have stayed with the others, the ranger complained to himself.
“Well, Master Human, we give them something else to follow,” the elf said lightly and quite loud.
Haldan’s eyes went wide as the elf stood up in plain sight.
“Why don’t you just light a torch to illuminate your sign that says ‘orcs, over here’?” Haldan asked dryly.
Despite his tone, the ranger found himself rising to stand beside the elf.
Aranel looked thoughtful for a moment.
“Not a bad idea actually. Do you think it will make us stand out more?” the elf asked innocently.
Haldan, playing along, rolled his eyes at the golden-haired elf.
“Oh, I say a single elf in the middle of a horde of orcs should do just fine without the light,” the human said as he crossed his arms.
“Do you think? We would not want them to miss us now,” the elf asked seriously.
While the two friends bantered orcs had indeed come upon them and stopped long enough to gawk at the sight. They wondered at their luck of running into an elf and human standing in plain sight in the middle of the woods and looking for all the world as if they were unaware of their situation. The orcs looked at each other and shrugged. Who could turn up the chance to torture an elf after all? Giving a collective whoop the band charged at the pair.
“See, I told you, you stood out enough as it is,” the ranger said as the first orcs stopped to gawk at them.
“I think you are right,” the elf responded.
“Should we run, you think?” Haldan asked as the orcs shouted and broke into a run.
“Yes, I think that advisable,” the elf answered calmly.
The elf and ranger took off into the night with the orcs behind them steering well clear of where the three humans lay hidden.
***************
From their position Taren and his two men heard the clamor the orcs made when they found the elf and ranger and sent all their hopes to the crazy pair.
**************
Ro.
Elrohir heard a groan and it took a long while before he realized it was he. Even in the blackness around him he could feel his head aching painfully and wondered what happened. His entire body felt like one long painful bruise and there were sharp flashes of pain coming from his left arm. What, by the Valar, happened?
Ro.
There it was again, he hadn’t imagined it after all. Someone was calling his name, well sort of. It was a nickname. A nickname someone had given to him.
Ro, get up!
Up. Up it said. The elf wanted to do anything but that. All he wanted to do was sink back down into the sweet inky blackness.
Ro.
But the voice sounded frightened. Who was frightened? That nickname… that small voice… they belonged to someone he was with, didn’t they? Aragorn, the name came to him from nowhere. It was Aragorn calling to him.
The realization caused two things in Elrohir. Memories flooded back of the orcs, him grabbing the little one, and then making it past. That meant… Aragorn was here and calling his name! Elrohir’s consciousness snapped back into reality with an almost sickening clarity and the elf reeled as he opened his eyes. He shut them immediately to let his stomach settle back down and then attempted the process a little more slowly.
As soon as he opened his eyes he heard a cry of relief from nearby and he realized he was lying face down on the ground. He blinked and looked up into Aragorn’s small, expectant face and tried to smile at the little one. He only managed a half way smile, but the youth seemed encouraged by it. Elrohir brought his free arm up to him and attempted to push himself into a sitting position. He managed to sit up, but one thing became quite clear to the elf.
His left arm was broken.
Elrohir leaned back against the tree he was up against and cradled his left arm. He looked up to see two sets of frightened eyes staring at him.
“You should have left, Aragorn. You are putting yourself in great danger,” Elrohir said calmly.
“We did, but we came back.”
“You came back?” the elf asked surprised.
Aragorn nodded his small head proudly.
“I had to. I couldn’t leave you. Now we can go together,” Aragorn explained as if it were obvious.
Elrohir just shook his head. You could not argue with that kind of simple logic after all.
“You are right,” he said lightly, “we will leave together.”
The elf stood slowly on shaky knees and called Aethaenyn to him. The horse walked over to its master and Elrohir dug through his bag with one hand. He could tell easily that it was his upper arm that was injured, which meant that his left arm would be virtuously useless until it healed, an injury that could be detrimental when alone and dealing with orcs. Sighing, he pulled out a piece of cloth and went about tying it into a sling. It would simply have to do for now until they got someplace safe.
“Come, little one,” Elrohir said while helping the child up with his good arm.
“And when we finally arrive home we shall have a talk about such brash behavior,” he said after mounting behind the boy.
It was a talk Elrohir somehow knew they were going to have many times.
************
Gilraen carefully peeked out of their hiding place and looked around. The way was clear, so she allowed herself to look up at the sky. The motes of bright light were radiant after staring at the dark confines of the cave and she relished in their gentle radiance. The moon had gone down which meant dawn was not far off. Could it be they would make it through the night without any further incident? She dearly hoped so. Elladan had been unconscious for hours now, and she was anxious to hear his calm voice again. Right now any voice would do. She had checked over the elf, like she had done most of the time in the cave, before venturing to the entrance. He had not moved, but she thought he looked better and less exhausted. They were both dry now and that probably helped a lot, too.
The only things that had survived the loss of Trithen and their unexpected swim in the river had been what were strapped around them. That totaled two water canteens and her bag of ruined food for Aragorn, which mentally cursing herself, she had forgotten to give him in her distress. She wished she had, for it did her little use now after being dunked in the water. One of the canteens was running low and she found this amazing after being taken underwater. She looked out into the dark, which had intensified with the disappearance of the moon, but could not see the river. She could, however, hear it. The cool water might help Elladan when he woke.
Deciding to venture to the river, Gilraen turned and walked over to the sleeping elf and gently drew the elven blade from the sheath. The dark-haired woman was so focused on her task that she never noticed the elf move in response to the sound and movement. She held the sword close to her chest praying there would be no reason to use it and slung the two canteens around her body. She slowly left the sheltering rocks and made her clumsy way over the slick rocks until she reached the waters edge. Shuddering at the memory of splashing down into the water the woman knelt down and filled the canteens. She was benighted before she finished, but she held her nerve.
Gilraen just finished slinging the canteens back on when she heard voices. Although she could not see very well, she could easily tell what creatures those voices belonged to. She had thought any voice would do, but this was not exactly what she had had in mind! The woman’s heart began to race and she froze, hoping they would not see her.
It was no use, she realized, as she heard the orcs call out viciously. If they found Elladan, an injured elf, now they would kill him or much worse.
Gilraen clutched the hilt of Elladan’s sword with both hands and prepared to meet the unseen charge. She had managed to take care of herself and Aragorn earlier this night.
Gilraen prayed to the Valar that her luck would hold.
************
In the wilds of Eriador, the lightless velvet curtain that swept the land just before the first pale reaches of the dawn descended over the land below.
And the morning deepened.
White tendrils of ghostly fog began to silently snake into the crevices and through the trees of the early morning gloom.
And the morning deepened.
On the darkening horizon, heavy clouds began to build in the unseen skyline bringing the threat of an early morning storm.
And the morning deepened.
Down in the benighted land the sound of clashing steel rang out from three different places.
And the morning deepened.
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More coming soon...