Defenders of Middle Earth: A Middle Earth Story(Book 3)

Chapter 14: The Road to Mithlond

The elves and their ranger companions rode long and hard, stopping only briefly to sleep and eat. Now they had entered the Shire, and the company had to travel more stealthily lest they draw attention to themselves. They first attempted to travel through the small forests that dotted the land, but when this proved impossible they decided to travel spread out along the road. This proved to be rather fruitless, for rangers were rare sights in the Shire, and elves even more so. But elves equipped for war... Well, it was all but unheard of in that lazy, green land. A young hobbit lass soon caught sight of them, and before long a crowd of inquisitive and rather restless hobbits had gathered along the side of the road, gawking at the mysterious travelers and murmuring excitedly among themselves.

"This is why I never travel on the road here," Flicker muttered as he cast annoyed glances at the hobbits.

"Are they always this... Excitable?" Glorfindel asked, his expression a comical mixture of confusion and surprise.

"No..." Caledorn replied. "But their lives are as dull as a squire's blade, so I imagine they find elvish knights a wonderful distraction from their work."

Taliel shook her head as a particularly fat old hobbit pointed at her and frowned. "I wish they'd at least pretend they had more important things to do. I feel like I'm in a parade."

Caledorn, who was at the lead of the group, abruptly stopped, forcing the rest of the company to halt as well. He wordlessly dismounted from his horse, drawing a collective gasp from the hobbits. As they looked on, the dark clad elf conspicuously reached for one of his daggers. With a cry the nearest hobbit fled, pushing his way through the crowd in blind fear. The other hobbits soon followed suit, pushing and shoving each other as they ran away as quickly as possible.

When the last hobbit had disappeared into the nearby corn fields, Caledorn turned to the company, and his usually unreadable face was transformed by a slight smirk.

"There's more than one way to deal with halflings," He said with a bow. The others in the company clapped at the elf's display, happy to be rid of the troublesome hobbits. Taliel and Glorfindel both laughed, merriment twinkling in their eyes.

"Did you see that first one run? The expression on his face was priceless!" Flicker exclaimed, drawing a collective laugh from the rangers.

"Well... If we were wanting to remain undetected, we've already failed," Taliel said after the laughing had died down.

"Aye, but at this point it doesn't really matter anyway," Flicker replied as the company continued on. "I'm sure the goblins know we're on our way, they would've had spies all along the road."

"Even in the Shire?" Glorfindel asked, slightly surprised at the indifference in Flicker's tone of voice.

"Even in the Shire," Flicker nodded. "After the massacre at Sarn Ford, there weren't many rangers left to protect the border. What men were left reported seeing goblin scouts in the Old Forest, and one even saw a strange looking Orc."

"Why 'strange-looking'?" Taliel asked. "I thought all orcs were despicable."

"This orc wore rags that covered his face, and he stood upright like a Man," Flicker replied. "We've had reports from our scouts of several such orcs, all strangely dressed and larger than most of their kind."

"Were they Uruks?" Glorfindel asked.

"No... At least, I don't think so," Flicker said, scratching his beard thoughtfully. "Uruks don't often travel this far west." He turned and looked at his men, his eyes suddenly gaining a mischievous twinkle. "Perhaps 'twas my uncle, he was quite an ugly brute of a man."