Hope - A Lord Of The Rings Chronicle

I'll Miss You

Aragorn mutters in elvish.
"Nae..." he sighs. I stand up, placing Gal on my shoulders and checking my sword. I pick up the Steward's shield, and grip it tightly, he'll need this.
"We need to find them. Now." Aragorn says
"Gimli you go with Legolas. West. Merry and Pippin North. Sam. South. Raina East. With me."

I nod, following the Ranger up the slope and further into the forest. Despite my lack in cross country, I still make sure to do my best to keep up with the Ranger. At last, we come up a hill with to a high structure on the cliff edge. A stairway is in its centre, with two stone eagles on top. Aragorn looks at me peculiarly as he approaches the hyperventilating hobbit who was hiding near it.
"Frodo?" He asks him
Frodo looks at the both of us, startled and questioning
"Huh?" He blinks, regaining sense "It has taken Boromir."
"Where is the Ring?" Aragorn asks him
Frodo begins to scramble backward, afraid of him.
"Stay away!" He shouts at us. I follow him upward until we are directly next to the stairs.
"I swore to protect you!" Aragorn insists
"Can you protect me from yourself?!"
He holds the Ring out toward Aragorn.
"Would you destroy it?"

Aragorn, enthralled, slowly begins to approach the Ring. I know it'a calling to him, whispering the distant name of his past, 'Elessar.'

He reaches out toward the Ring, and closes Frodo's hand over it and places it at the hobbit's chest.
"I would have gone with you to the end, into the very fires of Mordor."
"I know." He says smiling sadly "Look after the others, especially Sam. He will not understand."
Aragorn nods, before turning to me.
"Will you go with him?"
There it is. The moment I've been waiting for. My sole purpose. To traverse the plains of Mordor. Am I ready? Heck yeah! But is it what Gandalf would've done? Still, at the sight of Frodo's helpless face, I can't help but say yes.

"Yes," I move toward Frodo, smiling sadly. "To the end."
Sensing something we can't, Aragorn stands up and draws out his sword. Frodo does too. Sting glows in the daylight. Panic sets in as I  hear the thunderous boots quaking off the ground.
"Go, Frodo, Raina. Run. Run!" Aragon cries

I take the lead, softly signalling to the hobbit. I bend down and Frodo vlambers onto my back. Rising upward, I whisper to him
"I'll carry you as far as I can."
"Go!" The Ranger

And then we carter off.

☆☆☆☆

As soon as he sees Raina and the hobbit begin to disappear from sight, the Ranger makes his way out from the ruins to find a troop of Uruk-hai.

Aragorn readies himself, advancing calmly, the sword touching his forehead. The Uruks make their way, and he strikes. The Ranger is able to cut several down, but there is too many. They begin to force up the stairs.

☆☆☆☆

Sam meanwhile was searching frantically in the woods for Frodo, running the through the tree, shoving branches out of the way.
"Mr Frodo?!"

☆☆☆☆

Back at the cliff, the head Uruk, Lurtz shouted
"Find the Halflings! Find the girl! Yaggh! Find the Halflings! Find the girl!"
Aragorn looked behind him worriedly as Uruks sped down the same path Raina and Frodo took a view moments ago.
"Elendil!" He whispered to himself

Thankfully, Legolas and Gimli appeared from the behind the ruin. They join the fight quickly, Legolas shooting several Uruk-hai and Gimlil landing fair blows with his faithful axe.

All the while, the elf's eyes are searching for Raina. Something tells him that she's in trouble, and so is Frodo.
"Aragorn! Go!" He shouts to his friend.

☆☆☆☆

Raina was struggling, panting heavily against the weight of the small hobbit against her back. She almost flew forward for the second time. Frodo was clutching at her neck tightly, and although he wasnt doing anything, he was panting with fear.
"Shoot!" Raina kissed her teeth as she twisted her ankle. She stopped abruptly.
"What's wrong?" Frodo asked
"Nothing." Raina said, lifting him up and steadying her grip "Come on."
She had heard the footsteps behind them, and knew that it was no longer up to Aragorn, but to her and her alone to secure Frodo's safety.

So she ran diligently, breaths chasing, her chest beginning to throb with the pain of effort. At the sound of boots thundering, Raina picks up her pace.  Her boots fly through the trees Frodo's head ducked against mine to shield him from the onslaught of branches. He clutches at Raina desperately as they sailed down a steep hill, kicking leaves out of their way. Raina's conscience was plaguing her, she eremembered what Gandald said, right before he died. She remembered what he wanted her to do, and no matter how much her heart thought against it, this time she had to listen to her head.

"Frodo, I'm not going with you."
"What?!"

As they neared a tree to hide behind,  Raina suddenly loses control and the two tumble down the hill.

"Aah!" Frodo cries, falling a few feet next to it. She recovers quicker than him and hauls him behind the tree next to her, panting heavily.
"What do you mean you're not coming with me?" He coughs

Across the other side, Merry and Pippin lie hiding behind some fallen logs.
"Frodo! Raina!" A sharp whisper cries. He shares a look with Raina before peering round the tree trunk.
"Frodo! Raina!" Merry cries again

"Hide here! " Pippin whispers "Quick! Come on!"
Frodo shares another look with
Raina. She nods reassuringly. He shakes his head at the two.

Pippin looked to Merry in frantic confusion.
"What're they doin'?" He asked him. But Merry already knew the answer. "They're leavin'." He answered
"No!" Pippin attempts to run after the two
"Pippin!" He runs after his friend, right into the path of the ongoing Uruk-hai.
Merry says quietly "Run, you two! Go!"

Frodo looks haunted, staring back at the two in disbelief, while Raina was already scrambling upward.
"Frodo, you may never understand this, but just know that I made a promise to Gandalf." She squeezed his shoulder quietly, and Frodo held her arm lightly "Just know...you are everything you need and more Frodo Baggins."
She kissed his head quickly
"I'll miss you."

Raina stepped out into the clearing, where the Uruk-hai where gaining on the hobbits.
"Come on you slow pokes, my grandmother could run better than that!" She yelled cupping her hands, then waited for a second. "Now." She screamed at the hobbits, and they began to run. After a minute, she slowed her pace down a fraction, if only to see if the Uruks were too close.

"Stay in front of me." Raina unsheathed Galad.

"It's working!" Pippin said to Merry excitedly
"I know its working!" Merry replied "Run!"

☆☆☆☆
At the hilltop, Legolas, Aragorn and Gimli were still fighting the troop. Eager to find his way back to Raina, Legolas fought desperately. In one fell swoop, he stabs an Uruk with a bow and shot at another with it. Gimli fights bravely with his axe, and Aragorn defends himself against a cunning attack, stabbing an Uruk in his back.

☆☆☆☆
Merry, Pippin and Raina ran across a stone bridge. Once they reached the end, they stopped, cornered in. The Uruks were coming for them - from in front and behind. They stood motionless as the first one charged, raising his bsttleaxe. But, much different and nobler from when he tried to take the Ring from Frodo, the steward of Gondor came charging in. He knocked the beast back and killed him with his own weapon. He hurls a dagger at another as more close in. Raina sheathed her sword, for she knew she could get more of them by shooting. She fired two arrows, watching the Uruks go down
"Merry, Pippin, get your daggers ready!" She told them from over her shoulder, tring to keep up with the quick succession of new Uruk-hai replacing fallen ones.

Legolas killed Uruk after Uruk, his tally shooting upward. With not only Frodo motivating him, but his beloved, it was not hard to see that he was desperate. In fact, he managed to save Aragorn another from an Uruk that had closed in on him

But then, three loud horn blasts are heard.
"The Horn of Gondor!" He shouted. Boromir must be in trouble. But then he realised. Raina. She could be with him.
"Boromir!" Aragorn said. He runs down the slope at the sound, but another barrack of Uruks stand between him and his goal. Legolas and Gimili joined him. They would slaughter them all.

☆☆☆☆
Back at the bridge, Boromir kills two more foes, and Merry and Pippin help by stabbing some orcs. He knew it was only a mattrr of time until they were overrun, and  shouted to the others, "Run! Run!"

Lurtz, the Uruk-hai leader walks into view, but Boromir continues to fight on. Merry and Poppin defend themselves, throwing rocks at their assailants. Lurtz aims a black-fletched boss, his orange teeth scrunched up. He shoots.

But the arrow doesn't hit Boromir. It hits Raina.