Too Far Gone

Chapter 18

I kicked Baleu's sides, urging her to go. She screeched and reared once again as she turned, dashing to the left.

The Orcs snarled and began hurdling towards us.

I did not wield a bow and arrow, it was not my piece, much too on the side of Elvish tradition than should like. A sword was not nearly sufficiently long enough to touch the the Orc nor Warg.

I thrust my weakened legs into her sturdy sides as her hooves already came in firm contact with the path. The creatures growled and grunted close behind. Baleu's shocked state sent her flying through the forests of green. I saw her eyes drowning in fear. It pained me to see her in such a place. I leaned forward on her as to allow her back be free of weight.

The Orc screeched in its native tongue; flinging curses through the trees. I peered over my right shoulder and caught the sight of the foul Warg's eyes glowing bright in the night.

My eyes shot back forward as Baleu continued to dash and another distinct pain coursed within the darkness of my veins. The adrenaline numbed it intensely and I looked ahead again: a ravine lay between us and the path.

Baleu reared up into the night air, kicking her hooves up and throwing me off. The Orc rounded the last corner and appeared out of thick brush covering it.

Baleu screamed, leaving an echo fluttering through the dark. Her legs unsteady as she desperately searched the woods for a way. I shot up from the dirt below me, grabbed her and reached for Arvendel as the the Orc neared and bolted. I steadied her temporarily. I pushed off of the ground, nearing the already close creature when an arrow pierced the Warg's head, it had been sprinting so rapidly that even in its death it tumbled from the force and was thrown off of the edge unto the ground below, in the steep, deathly ravine. It nearly caught Baleu as it lifelessly stumbled down. I pulled her out of the way with such force as to nearly cause her balance to be impaled.

I shot back to the Orc I'd nearly forgotten of to see it still merely recovering from the fall. I launched towards it and implanted my sword into its shoulder blade before holding it there to ensure its death, then lifting my right leg and kicking it off, leaving it tumbling backwards once again.

My chest fell heavily with every breath and I looked upon the bearer of the bow and hands that had killed the creature. It was Déoden.

He stepped, with a proud, sturdy foot, out of the thick brush and into the light of the moon.

"What, may I ask, are you doing out here?" Déoden inquired assertively, raising an eyebrow.

"I must travel upon Ered Luin." I replied, placing my hood back upon my head, knowing I appearing grim and haggard.

"And why is this?" He stepped closer.

"My life depends upon it."

His facial expression mixed with confusion and assertion. "What for?" He questioned. "At this time within the day? That is quite, arrogant, do you not think?"

"How so?" I inquired, annoyed with his smug tone.

He eerily walked up to me, he was a great deed taller than I. I looked upon him from below my hood with an expression of slight anger.

"Are you not aware this time of the night is dangerous, or perhaps are you just too ignorant to acknowledge it?" He smirked.

"Oh that I am." I growled sarcastically "But you, Déoden, are out here upon this time as well. What is the meaning of this childish hypocrisy?"

Another shape stepped from the brush behind Déoden. Éoden.

"He was merely worried we would lose one of our best hunters to the cruelty of Middle Earth's nights." Éoden taunted his younger brother as he patted his shoulder.