Beorn and the Shieldmaiden

"Orcs? I hardly think so. In all the years I've traveled this caravan route I've never―"

"Guards! Do something! I've got an entire season's worth of merchandise here. I'll be ruined!"

 .

 The forest was silent and dark. Tears blurred her eyes as she crashed through the underbrush. Branches whipped her face and tore at her traveling dress. Her boots slipped on leaves and roots. By now, she couldn't see the camp fires of the caravan anymore. She didn't know this part of the Anduin Valley; she had never traveled this far from Rohan before.

She was the only creature in the forest making noise. Her breath came in deep despairing sobs. She staggered to a stop, bending over with her hands on her thighs, gasping for breath. With an effort she quieted her breathing, and the silence in the forest was complete.

 .

 "Go, Grimwyn. Run!" Her uncle drew his sword with one hand. With the other, he shoved her hard toward the silent black forest.

She staggered back a few steps, clutching at his arm. "No! I won't leave you!"

"Go!"

Instead, Grimwyn dove for her bedroll to search for her dagger.

 .

 The forest was quiet. Now that she'd stopped running she didn't know how to get back. Black shapes flittered around the dark trunks of trees. Squirrels? Birds? It was too dark to see. Then she heard a snuffling sound, a hound scenting its quarry. The harsh sounds of black speech followed. Her heart leaped into her throat. The wargs had her scent and they would run her down.

Desperately, she looked around. The trees grew tall in these woods, their lowest limbs too high for her to reach even if she'd thought to escape pursuit by climbing. A small stream flowed nearby and she splashed quickly up its narrow length, hoping the ankle-deep water would be enough to confuse the trail. She climbed over a hollow log, once the trunk of a mighty tree, which had fallen across the stream.

Suddenly, a huge roar rent the night, so loud and close it made her jump. She fought to think, fought against the tide of terror that was threatening to sweep her away. Hide hide hide.

 .

 A merchant from Gondor shouted, "Kill them, you fool! What am I paying you for?"

His question was never answered -- a bright fountain of blood erupted from his throat as an orc scimitar sheared through his neck.

Warm droplets spattered Grimwyn's face. She brandished her dagger.

Pointed teeth glinted in the firelight as a giant, pale-skinned orc grinned at her. He raised his scimitar again.

She ran.

 .

 Hide hide hide.

Wargs bayed, crashing down the hill. A beast roared on her other side. She was trapped. There was no time to be squeamish, no time to think about creepy crawly things that might live inside the decaying wood. She gritted her teeth and crept inside, tucking her legs in close so she couldn't be seen.

She had only a second to hear the hiss and to feel the pain of the snake's bite on her arm. A shock, followed by a chill like ice-water, and then she felt nothing at all.

 

ooOOOoo

He pulled her out of the tree trunk by one limp wet ankle. Cold she was, her cinnamon-colored skin faded almost to gray and her long ebony hair tangled with leaves and bits of bark. Her forearm bore an ugly purple swelling, oval-shaped around the twin fang marks of the tree viper whose nest she had disturbed. She was near death, but maybe...