The Fellowship's Silvertongue. Part 2.

Welcome Back.

Fenoglio you fool! Did you even think about where I and the hobbits are headed?

I cursed under my breath. He probably thought it would be fun and exciting. Well, it definitely is not! 

"Rosa! You're awake!" Pippin almost shouted. Merry was unconscious on the other side of me.  

"Shh!" I hushed. 

"Where are they taking us?" Asked Pippin, in a lower volume. 

I could answer him quickly, but instead, I glanced around and looked ahead of the pack. I guessed we weren't far from Fangorn. 

"Isengard. They think we have the Ring," I responded.

Along with the stomping sound of Orcs running was the sound of glass clinking. I glanced down at my bag and my eyes widened. The medicines!

"Pippin, I have a plan," I spoke. "No matter what I do, do not panic. I'm going to pretend to be dead. They'll leave me behind and I'll get help. I don't doubt that Aragorn is searching for us." 

"Rosa, what if they don't believe it?" Pippin asked. "And what if they kill us when you're gone?" 

"They will believe it, and they won't kill you. They have been given orders to take you to their leader alive." I reassured him.

The pack of Orcs halted, and the leader began sniffing the air. This gave me the chance to get out the medicines. I slipped my hand down to my bag, the tops of the bottles were specially made so you could identify them, the sleeping one had a crescent moon, it was easily found. I took the top off with my mouth and took a sip of the liquid. I quickly put the lid back on and stuffed it in my bag. My brain began to feel foggy and empty. 

"Rosa?" Pippin whispered. 

"Shh." That was the last thing I said before my eyes closed and I slipped off the Orc's back.

~~

Rosa's limp body slipped off the Orc's back and hit the ground with a 'thump!'. The whole pack turned and looked at her with confused expressions. 

"What happened?!" The leader shouted, pushing his way past the others till he got to the young woman. 

"Is she dead?" One asked, bending down and checking her pulse. "I don't feel anything!" 

Pippin's face went pale and his blood ran cold. Had Galadriel said wrong about the liquid? Did it actually kill its victims?

"Can we eat her?!" An Orc asked. "We 'aven't a meal for days!"

"No!" The words slipped from Pippin's mouth. The Orcs turned to the halfling. "Y-you don't want to eat her!" 

"And why's that?" An Orc called out. 

"Because! Her kind is a disgusting thing that is a deadly poison! If you take one bite of her, you'll drop down dead! You can't even sniff their kind without falling ill!" A couple of Orcs covered their nostrils.

"She isn't the one we need!" The leader shouted. "Let's move!" 

The Orcs began running again. They would have run right over Rosa, but after what Pippin had said, they avoided her. Rosa lay stiff on the ground and did not wake until much later.

~

The ground began to shake. My eyes opened, and the sun was right on the horizon, it was only dawn. The ground shook even more rapidly. 

"What the hell?"

I sat up, only to see that riders on horses were coming my way. I yelped and rolled away from their path before the hooves of the horses crushed my skull. I stood up after they passed me, and then they began to turn back.