The Last Othellan

The Horse Lords

It was still dark on the planes of Rohan when, after two or so hours, I wondered over to the others and woke them up.

"What time is it?" Aragorn muttered wearily as I shook his shoulders.

"You've had around two hours sleep, but we have to carry on" I answered with a smile. He nodded grimly and we woke the others, running again into the darkness.

After a few more hours of running, the sun began to rise. It was an unusual colour of reddish-pink.

"A red sun rises" Legolas confirmed "Blood has been spilt this night".

I looked warily around at his words, but at that moment there came a strange, thunderous sound. A whinny accompanied the sound a second later, and I realised that it was the sound of hundreds of horses.

Aragorn gestured frantically to us, and we hid behind a rock just in time. The horses and their riders cantered past imposingly as we crouched on the dry floor. I saw Aragorn and Legolas glance quickly at each other, before Aragorn stood and walked out from our hiding place.

"What are you doing?" I hissed at him. Legolas turned to me and offered me a hand. With a sigh, I rolled my eyes and accepted it. He pulled me to my feet and I folowed him out to greet the riders.

"Riders of Rohan! What news from the Mark?" Aragorn shouted. The riders turned and rode back, until they had formed a great circle around the four of us. We were completely enclosed. I folded my arms automatically as one of the horses came closer. His rider glared imposingly at me from under a helmet, but Legolas dragged me away into the centre of our friends.

The four of us stood back to back as the riders frowned down from their horses at our group. They lowered their spears until they were mere inches from our faces, and I stood squarely, glaring up at them as their weapons almost poked me in the eye.

One of the riders, clearly the leader of their company, rode forwards until he was in front of us, and we turned to hear him speak. He had an abundance of dark blond hair under his helmet, from which a horse's tail flowed. The helmet itself was carved so that a horse's head protected the rider's nose.

"What business do two elves, a man and a dwarf have in the Riddermark? Speak quickly!" He demanded.

"Give me your name, horse master, and I shall give ya mine", Gimli answered quickly. I rolled my eyes.

The rider handed his spear to another and dismounted. I glared as he walked purposefully towards us. Aragorn lay a hand protectively on Gimli's shoulder.

"I would cut off your head, dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground" answered the rider disdainfully.

In an instant, Legolas had drawn his bow, an arrow pointing straight at the rider.

"You would die before your stroke fell!" he growled. The riders pushed their spears offensively close and it was all I could do to stop myself from drawing a dagger.

Aragorn pushed Legolas' bow down with a warning look, while Gimli looked on, shocked at the elf's sudden loyalty.

"I am Aragorn son of Arathorn. This is Gimli son of Gloin, Aúthiel of the elves and Legolas of the Woodland Realm" Stated Aragorn. I made no protest at his silence on where I was from. "We are friends of Rohan, and of Théoden your king"

"Théoden no longer recognises friend from foe, not even his own kin". The rider took off his helm to reveal wavy blond hair and a ruddy face. The riders lowered their spears as their leader removed his helmet.