The Rising Darkness (A LotR Fanfiction): Part One: Fellowship of the Ring

Chapter 2: Escaping from Captivity Often Means Someone's Going to get Hurt

I put some music in the media section that I thought would go great with this chapter. Next chapter will hopefully have a picture of the hobbits. Enjoy! Disclaimer: I own none of the Lord of the Rings characters or places, but I do own Leoferad, Ferdel, Deio, and Dahlia.

Deio and Dahlia followed me as we ran from the growing blaze that I made to distract the rogues, each one holding hands so I could pull them forward with my good arm. Shouts went up and we hid as men began to run towards the fire with sloshing buckets of water. My left arm was burning with pain from the dagger and I was starting to wonder if it was poisoned or not, though I doubted it was. We sneaked towards the watchtower as fast as we could, hiding here and there, and trying to stay out of trouble.

Reaching the watchtower, we heard an unearthly screech that stabbed my heart with fear. What is that?, was my first thought. The hobbits plugged their ears in terror and wouldn't move so I had to drag them to keep them moving. We ran into it in time to hear another screech, this time followed by a man crying out in pain. Leaving the poor hobbits in a doorway, I ran to a barred in area and watched in horror at the scene before me.

A rider, dressed in black, was seated on a demonic-like horse with a bloody sword in it's hands, and I froze in place. the thing on the mounts back, whatever it was, reeked of death, fear, and terror, making me unable to move. I saw Strider on the other side of the barred wall desperately trying to get into the area through a gate door. I wondered for a moment why he would be so desperate to get even near that Black Rider, until I saw the man on the ground.

It had to have been that other Ranger Strider had told me about as he rescued me, they wore about the same garb, except that the man was definitely wounded. The man was holding his left side and scooting towards the opposite wall, and by watching him as curious and intensely as I was, I failed to notice that the Black Rider had turned its horse my way until he yelled at me, "Look out, lady!"

I looked up just in time to cry out; the Black Rider's horse's face was right in front of me, blocked only by the iron bars. It was the last thing I saw before I passed out, either from blood loss or pure fear.

(Strider's POV)

The young archer's eyes went wide with fear at the sight of the wraith so close before falling in a dead faint, but I was thankful that Ferdel had at least warned the girl. I could see the two hobbits she had rescued staring at her in shock from the doorway she had left them in. The fire that had started had reached the watchtower and it's glow frightened the wraith's mount, which reared up and whinnied loudly. I looked down at Ferdel, the young man grimacing in pain from the wound in his side.

Hold on, Ferdel, my thoughts screamed as I yanked at the iron door, the stubborn thing finally swinging back on its rusty hinges. Grabbing the nearest torch I rushed up to the Ringwraith and scared its horse off before anyone else got injured. The female hobbit, seeing the danger mostly passed, ran over to the archer and started inspecting the wound. I looked back down at Ferdel, who was covering his side and grimacing in pain. He looked up at me, a painful smile that tore at my heart, and spoke to me in a pained voice as I helped him sit up,

"Well, I think I'm going to make it, ow. It wasn't a Morgul blade at least. Just some, ow, bandages, and some rest and I'll be fit as a new fiddle, ow. The young lady needs more help than I do; I can take care of myself, ow." I smiled and handed him some bandages, because I knew he knew how to treat injuries. I had taught him as Lord Elrond of Rivendell had taught me, but the young lady I had found unexpectedly while searching for the looked like she would need more help than Ferdel. I walked briskly over and kicked the other door open. The two little hobbits looked up at me, their matching green eyes brimming with tears of fear and worry, and the female spoke up,

"Will Leoferad be alright, Mr. Ranger?" I grinned at them, knelt down, and looked at the archer's shoulder, a serious look on my face. She hadn't stopped bleeding, but the area didn't look pale or clammy, which was a good sign, I looked back up at the hobbits, grinning again,

"She'll be alright, but first I have to bandage the wound, can you two help my friend? We need to leave now and I need him to be able to at least be able to walk." Two pairs of green eyes brightened up at my news and the hobbits ran over to where Ferdel was standing up and leaning on the wall, wrapping the bandage tightly around his waist, and asked him if he needed help in eager and shy voices. He looked down at them and smiled,

"Okay. Can you two hold my hands so I can try to walk? Yeah like that." The two young hobbits grasped his hands and helped him limp forward. I looked back down at Leoferad, quickly bandaged her shoulder, and picked her up, surprised at how light she was. Turning to the small group, I looked at Ferdel, who was staring at Leoferad as if he recognized her from somewhere, but couldn't believe his eyes.

I'll ask him about it later, I thought to myself as we moved as quickly as we could to the protection of the forest. The nearest village was Archet, but I wasn't going to risk walking that far yet with the state of our wounded. We'd camp at a safe place I knew was near here, and then once we were there, I could look for some more athelas for Leoferad.