These Lovely Scars (Lord of the Rings Fanfic)

The Fighting Uruk-hai

I must have fallen asleep. We are no longer in the forest by the river, but in an open, grassy area between a tiny cavern of boulders. Looking down, I almost squeal in disgust. I am riding on the back of some Orc-like creature with ink black skin, yellowed teeth, and heavy armour. I reach for my sword, only for my hand to come back empty. Oh yeah, I lost both my sword and my bow back by the river. I remember our defeat by the river, Boromir's valiant death, and the Orc-creatures carrying Merry, Pippin, and me off. Speaking of which, where are they?

They are not riding on the backs of any of the creatures in front of me. Craning my stiff neck, I see Pippin on the creature behind me, and Merry on the creature beside him. Merry has a deep cut running along his left eye brow, and dried blood is plastered to his face. "Are you guys okay?" I whisper.

"We're fine. Are you okay?" Pippin asks. "You've been sleeping for a while."

"Really?" It doesn't seem like I've missed much. "How long?"

"One day." Merry replies. "We were starting to worry."

I don't reply. All I can think about is the fellowship, and what has become of it. Where did Frodo and Sam go? And where is Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli? Will they come to rescue us? And why are we here in the first place - what are we to these creatures, and why didn't they capture the others as well? I try to formulate a plan for us to escape. If only one of us had some sort of weapon...ah ha!

"Adrianne?" Merry's voice cuts into my thoughts. "Are you okay?"

I put one finger to my lips, and slowly begin to reach for the rusty blade at the Orc-thing's belt. Luckily, they are too busy running to take notice of the affairs of their captives. Once my fingers skim the hilt of the blade, I jerk it up quickly and slice the Orc-creatures head of before he can even notice that his blade was missing. I fall as he falls, and black blood spurts onto the ground. Several Orc-creatures notice, and they roar angrily. One charges at me, and I slide the blade right through him. I get ready to kill the one carrying Pippin -

And then I'm knocked to the ground. One of the Orc-creatures stands over me with a blade raised over his head. He's about to drive the rusty point into my stomach, when the leader Orc-creature (I know, such fabulous names) smacks the blade right out of his hand. Huh?

"No," he growls. "Master wants them alive."

"But she killed two of us!" One protests.

"Yeah," chimes in another one. "She has to pay."

"And she will. Five lashes when the sun goes down." Says the lead creature. Five lashes? Frustration boils inside of me. I've only made things worse.

"Five? That's not enough!" Says one of the Orc-creatures. "Make it ten!"

"Alive and unspoiled. By the looks of it, this weakling will die if she's given more than five lashes." Says the lead. The others laugh, and I clench my teeth. What does he mean, weakling? Wasn't I the one who just singlehandedly took out two of his men?

"Hey! Don't talk to her like that!" Pippin shouts in my defense. I know he only means well, but he shouldn't have spoken out like that. I don't want him to get hurt too.

The lead Orc-creature turns to Pippin, who shrinks away with big eyes, all confidence gone. "You want some lashes too?" Pippin shakes his head violently. "Then KEEP YER MOUTH SHUT!" The others laugh and move on. Another Orc-creature (honestly, I wonder what they actually are!) throws me roughly over his shoulder since I killed my old creature, and we're off again. I literally just did nothing to help us.

• ⧫ • ⧫ •

At dusk, the pack stops, and the three of us are torn from the creatures' backs and thrown roughly to the ground. After a day of being tossed around like a rag, my neck is stiff and my shoulder sore. I wonder if Merry and Pippin ache as much as I do, or if my Orc-creature was extra rough with me because I killed two of his friends.