The Girl and the Orc 2

Fire Wood

     I rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands, we had been walking for a while and I was getting tired. Elrond had told us about a important Uruk camp, just outside of a village that was raided a few months ago. He had even shown the three of us the exact location by pointing on an old map.
     "This is the camp. Do you think you can do this?"
       I nodded at Elrond, "Yeah. What's the worst that could happen?"
       Havish frowned, "We could get our heads blown off." 
       Bogwater laughed, "Or get impaled by an Orc spear."
       I shook my head at the two, "No. I won't let that happen." 
      "When should we go?" Havish questioned, staring down at the map.
      "Now," was Elrond's answer.
      

       So we did.

      That was several hours ago. We had left Rivendell by walking out of the gate, which, to my surprise, was the same one Frodo had just happened to walk out of a minute or two before us. The gravity of the situation finally dawned on me. If we don't do this, and with success, Frodo would be killed before he even made it to the Mount. That would mean trouble for the rest of  us, and for the whole world. I think Bogwater and Havish had also realized how dire this situation really was, because they were quiet the whole time we had been walking. Which was a great feat in itself, as Havish was usually constantly talking.
       We had finally come to a small clearing in the woods. It was a beautiful spot, with the sun shining through the trees and the wind gently blowing.
      "We should rest here for the night," Havish said, looking at me.
       I nodded, "Okay."
       The three of us sat down in the mushy grass, it must have just rained. I pulled out some Elven bread from my sack, the same one I had stolen from the old man at the village festival. That felt like a lifetime ago. I broke off a portion for each of us, and passed two of them to Bog and Havish. I bit into my own portion. It didn't have much taste, but apparently the stuff was supposed to fill you up for a while. We ate in silence. When I had finished mine, I wiped my hands on my pants and stood up. "I'm going to go find some fire wood." 
       "One of us should go with you," Bogwater interjected.
       "I'll be fine," I waved him off, "I'll be gone five minutes, tops."
       "Alright, just be careful."
      "I'm always careful," I grinned playfully.
      Havish rolled his eyes and scoffed, "No you aren't."
      I shook my head with laughter as I went off deeper into the forest. I couldn't understand why they were all worried about me. It wasn't like these woods were dangerous or anything. They were just trees. I bent over and picked up a long stick, that one would be good for a fire. Oh! There was another one just a bit further. I hurried over to it and picked it up as well. I grinned to myself as I realized that there was a whole trail of sticks like that. My job would be done in a jiffy. I kept picking up the sticks, one by one, until it seemed I had gotten them all. I was at the end of the trail. I stood up and looked around at my surroundings, where was I? Furrowing my brows I took a few steps backwards, the forest had suddenly gotten dark. How long was I gone? How did it get dark already? A feeling of fear washed over me, this wasn't good. I had left my sack back with the others, my rock was in one of the pockets. I had no way to protect myself if anything should happen.
       Out of the corner of my eye I saw something move in the bushes a bit a ways from me. My heart stopped. "Whose there?" Had something, or someone, been following me?
       I thought I saw a pair of eyes, but in a flash they disappeared. Something was watching me!
      A pair of arms wrapped around me. I jumped and turned around. It was Bogwater. I gave a sigh of relief. "Oh, it's just you."
      "You're being awfully jumpy over a hug. You okay?"
      I nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine. You just startled me. What are you doing here?"
      "You were gone longer than five minutes, so I went to go look for you," he gave a sheepish grin.
       I laughed, "Oh."
       He pushed some strands of hair out of my face, "We should head back before Havish gets worried."
       "Yeah."
        Bog took my hand and lead me back through the forest. I looked back over my shoulder at the bush. Those eyes were there again. What was that? I shook it off and followed my friend back to where Havish was waiting in the clearing. Maybe lack of sleep was just making me see things.
       As soon as we got back to the clearing, I bent over and began to make a fire. Soon we had one. It wasn't very big, but it was good enough for the night. At least we would be warm. I sat down next to it, Bogwater sitting next to me, and Havish laying in the grass on the other side of the fire.
      "My feet hurt," Havish groaned.
        I laughed, "So do mine."
        "Mine too," Bogwater rubbed the souls of his feet. 
         I laid down in the grass, yawning, "This is just like when we were going to Rivendell for the first time."
       "Except now we have a decent fire," Havish remarked.
         I rolled my eyes at him, "Whatever."
          "Well," Havish yawned, "I'm going to sleep. You two kids best not stay up too late."
        "Goodnight," I laughed at him as he rolled over on his side. Pretty soon he was snoring loudly.
       Bogwater laid down next to me, "Hey, remember that story you told me when I was sick, about the bear and the cat and the goat?"
       "Yeah?"
        "Havish sure does sound like a goat when he snores."
         I had to stifle my laughter with my hand, as to not wake up the old man, "Oh my god, he does."
       The Uruk grinned, taking my hand in his, "You know, you snore sometimes too."
       I sat up, "I don't snore!"
       "Yes you do."
        I narrowed my eyes at him. "Yeah, well, you're bald, so."
        The Orc laughed, "What does that have to do with anything?"
        I shrugged, "I don't know!"
        He laughed again, "You're weird."
        "So are you, baldy."
        Bog pulled me back down next to him, wrapping his arms around me. "I'm still more beautiful than you though."
        "Whatever," I stuck my tongue out at him, resting my head on his chest.
         He stuck his tongue out back at me, while also crossing his eyes.
         I crossed my eyes at him back.
         "To be honest, you're actually pretty cute when you snore, so it's nothing to be ashamed about," Bog gave me a warm smile.
        "Don't make me slap you," I threatened.
        "I'm okay with that."
         I just shook my head at him, "Weirdo." 
         He grinned and gave my hand a tight squeeze, "Night, Rain."
         "Night."