River of Stars

Chapter Fifteen

     They had to stitch Abis's side. He felt almost guilty when he screamed and flinched. Strider had to reassure him, softly and gently, that just because others are in pain doesn't mean that you can't be too. Abis could not really bring himself to believe him.
     Still, it was eventually over. And once it was, they held a proper funeral for Boromir.
They watched the boat that held Boromir's body go over the waterfall. As soon as Boromir was out of sight, Legolas dashed off back into the tree line. Only moments later, he ran back between Abis and Gimli, pushing another boat into the water in front of them.
"Hurry!" He said, obviously panicked. "Frodo and Sam have reached the eastern shore!"
He turned back to the rest of the group, realizing they had not moved. He deflated as he saw the sad and begrudging acceptance on their faces.
"You mean not to follow them?" Legolas asked softly. Abis closed his eyes tight as new tears well at the hurt in his friend's voice.
"Frodo's fate is no longer in our hands," Strider said simply.
Gimli pushed past Abis and stalked towards Strider, who stood slightly higher on the beach.
"Then it has all been in vain," he growled. "The Fellowship has failed."
Legolas too brushed past Abis, though considerably gentler, and finally Strider turned to face them. He put firm but reassuring hands on Gimli and Legolas's shoulders, reminding Abis of how his own father had spoken to him and his sister when he told them their mother had died.
"Not if we hold true to each other. We will not abandon Merry and Pippin to torment and death." He looked between them to Abis, still standing by the water. "Not while we have strength left."
He spun around then, shouting his instructions back as he did.
"Leave all that can be spared behind. We travel light. Let's hunt some orc."
Gimli and Legolas shared a look, the elf's uncertain and the dwarf's proud vindication.
"YES!" Gimli roared as he ran into the woods after Strider, laughing his deep dwarvish laugh.
Legolas looked back at Abis, a light, hopeful smile on his face. Abis took a deep, shaky breath, then nodded, smiling at the elf and wiping the tears from his face.
"We have friends to save," he said.
Legolas turned and ran after Strider and Gimli, Abis close on his heels.
     Frodo and Sam had gone on the Fellowship's original path, across the river and on to Mordor, but the second half of their journey would have to be one they took alone.
     What remained of the rest of the Fellowship, Strider, Legolas, Gimli, and Abis, were close on the trail of Merry and Pippin. Following the path of the orcs.

     "Their pace has quickened," Strider said, rising slowly from where he had his ear pressed to the ground. "They must have caught our scent. Hurry!"
     He shouted back the last word. The others started, running after him, up the steep hill which Legolas scaled like a deer. Effortlessly and quickly.
     He pulled Abis up by his arm then yelled down.
     "Come on, Gimli!"
     Abis spared a glimpse back at the dwarf, glaring up at them as he panted.
     "Three days and nights pursuit," he grumbled. "No food. No rest. No sign of our quarry, but what bare rock can tell."
     Abis could not help but agree with the dwarf. Of course they would keep going, but that did not mean the going was easy.
     "Come on my friend," Abis called to him as he started climbing again. "If we stop we may lose Merry and Pippin for good."
     Gimli grumbled something else that Abis could not hear, but accepted his hand to help himself up when the ranger offered it.
     They kept running over the land, now wide plains of dead grass and stones.
     Gimli and Abis began to lag behind, lacking the never giving stamina and speed that their elvish blood offered Strider and Legolas. He and Gimli would not be able to go like this much longer.
     Still, they kept running. Days already they had gone without stopping, and days more they would.
     Those with lesser senses, that is again to say Gimli and Abis, had not seen sign of the hobbits for some time. They had only the word of the other two to trust.
     Until they were in the shadow of a short jutting cliff, where the grass still lived, short and green.
     Ahead of them, Strider knelt very suddenly to the ground. Legolas stopped just in front of him, obviously as confused as both the others. Abis himself stumbled to a stop of his own some feet away, Gimli still lagging behind.
     "Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall," Strider said.
     Abis leaned against the wall of the cliff, wincing as the force tugged at the stitches in his side, running and otherwise.
     "Please Strider," he panted. "Don't make us decipher your riddles today."
     "They may yet be alive," Legolas said, looking at Abis with eyes wide and full of a new hope.
     "Less than a day ahead of us," Strider said, rising from where he knelt and again running ahead. "Come."
     Abis took a much more reluctant start after him, his entire body protesting as he pushed it further and further.
     He heard the definite clatter of Gimli, still in full armor, the poor man, rolling across the ground, tripped over something.
     "Come, Gimli! We're gaining on them!" Legolas shouted encouragingly, quickly passing Abis as he chased after Strider.
     "I'm wasted on cross-country!" Gimli yelled, picking himself up and starting running again. "We Dwarves are natural sprinters! Very dangerous over short distances!"
     Abis gave a short breath of a laugh at that, immediately broken by his next heavy step, but the company he kept did offer some levity to the exhausting journey and it's dire reason.

     Finally, just around the corner, they came to a more permanent rest. Still only for a few moments.
     "Rohan," Strider said, looking across the rolling hills of grass and rocks, greener on this side of the small cliff than the other. "Home of the Horse-Lords. There's something strange at work here. Some evil gives speed to these creatures. Sets its will against us."
     Legolas sprinted ahead, coming again to a stop only some yards away.
     "Legolas, what do your Elf-eyes see?" Strider called.
     "I'm pretty sure he just calls them eyes," Abis huffed.
     "The Uruks turn northeast. They're taking the Hobbits to Isengard!"
     "Saruman," Strider whispered.

https://youtu.be/uE-1RPDqJAY