To The End Of Her Days - A Fanfiction Sequel to The Lord of the Rings

Chapter 14 - Taken

 When Arwen came back to herself, she was so much pain she could barely think. She was riding on the back of an orc, her hands bound around his neck. She felt blood coming from a wound on the left side of her face. She was surrounded by hundreds of orcs fleeing from the battle. Their heavy footsteps on the open plain were as thunderous as the greatest of storms. They turned the thin layer of snow on the ground into icy mud as they ran. They ran so fast, it intensified her pain and she screamed.

"Shut-up, you dunghill rat!" shouted the orc that bore her, jerking her backwards, "or I'm gonna make you wish you had!"

Fearing what would happen if she screamed again, she tried to distract herself by remembering the events of the battle. She remembered shooting at the orcs with bow and arrow from the city's inmost wall, and killing many by sword once they got into the city. Then she remembered running through the city in panic, being hunted by a Warg, and being captured, but nothing else.

The pain in her head was getting worst, and when she remembered the events of the battle, the pain from the wounds of Warg also returned. When she could no longer tolerate the throbbing, she screamed again. The orc jerked her again, but this made the pain worst and she screamed a second time. Fear seized her heart in a way it have never done so before and she began to cry. This angered the orc and he asked for a halt. Once they had all finally halted, the others complained.

"Why are we stopping? This is totally uncalled for!"

"He won't quit his whining," The orc complained, "I don't want to carry the maggot anymore!" The orc threw her to the ground, and she landed on her side in the icy mud. She tried to sit up, but she was too weak from the pain. She cried hard, remembering Hallas shoving her to ground as a child, helpless and alone.

"Then how are we going to get them to him?" asked another, "This one's in no condition to walk! He'll slow us down!"

"Then why don't we make 'His Majesty' carry the halfling!" the first orc insisted, using the title in mockery. "Get him over here!"

Eldarion stumbled forward, wounded from the battle himself and weary from being forced to run at the same pace as all the orcs for days with little rest. Eldarion eyes widened when he saw Arwen, weak, wounded, and writhing in pain. They cut Eldarion's bounds and shoved him to the ground next to Arwen. He crawled over to her, pulled her still-bound hands around his neck, and stood up. He held her in an embrace as she continued to cry. The orcs laughed at them.

"Don't fall behind, 'your highness!' Now everyone move!"

The orcs began to run once again. Eldarion whispered in her ear, "It's alright, Arwen. I'm here now."

She cried for a long time, but at least she knew she was safe in Eldarion's arms. When she finally calmed down, Eldarion explained what happened to them.

"The archway gave out in the fire and your foot got trapped under the beam. I pulled you out, but your boot came off and they saw you were a hobbit. They started shouting, 'It's a halfling! Get the halfling!' We tried to run, but it was difficult to see where to run in the darkness before dawn. They sent a Warg after you and he tracked you all the way to the roof of a house, where he wounded your back. They finally captured you, and they took me when I tried to stop them. Gondor did win the battle, but there was great panic within the city when the orcs fled, probably because they saw that I had been taken hostage. I could see people on the city's wall in a state of panic watching us leave. Now, it has been five days since we left the White City. We will probably be in Mordor in about two days, but we will probably have further to travel once we pass the Black Gate."