𝙀𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 | 𝓛𝓸𝓻𝓭 𝓞𝓯 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓡𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼 𝔁 𝓢𝓽𝓪𝓻 𝓦𝓪𝓻𝓼

|5|

Dead bodies were lying around the remains of Ithiima. The worst thing was, that they had their lifeless, yet full of fear, eyes open, staring straight at Aragorn, BB-8, Poe and Rey.

The tents in which these people, or creatures, lived inside, were burning.

"Who did this?" Rey asked, horrified.

Aragorn kneeled down in front of the dead body of a man and pulled out the arrow that stuck out of his chest. He quickly examined it. "Nazgul," he spat after a few seconds, biting his lip in anger.

"Nazgul?" She had never heard of 'orcish scum before'.

"The name for the ringwraiths in Black Tongue," Poe said.

"So they killed everyone here?"

"Yes. Everyone. . . They were all probably trying to fight those black figures. And ended up like this. There's nothing really to fight in this part of the desert so I guess they weren't too good at fighting."

"They were probably trying to use fire to kill the ringwraiths. But they may have accidentally burned Ithiima down to the ground." He pointed out to dead body of a young man, two meters ahead of them. "He had been holding the torch. But he was killed by one of them his torch fell and that's how it began, most likely."

"Maybe we should burn the bodies," Rey proposed.

"We don't have time for that. The fate of Middle-Earth is in our hands. We have to hurry or we will fail everyone."

~~~

The desert slowly turned into wide grasslands. The further their speeder carried them, the greener the grass turned and the more plants appeared in their sight.

Rey stared at the grass in awe. She never imagined that there could be so much green in this world. She heard of trees, but she never saw them and tried to imagine what would they look like. Or rivers? Or mountains covered in snow that was supposed to look like cold, white sand.

"We can stop now," Aragorn told Poe.

Poe stopped the speeder and sighed in exhaustion.

They hopped off the speeder and Aragorn started examining the territory around them.

"Why did you tell me to stop?" Poe asked him.

"I'll tell you in a second. . ." he replied. Then he turned to Rey. "Rey, could you hand me Poe's quadnoculars, please?"

Rey nodded, taking off the quadnoculars and handing them to Aragorn. He looked through them and after a moment, he said; "About three miles away, there's the forest. We'll head towards Bree. Maybe Maz will help Rey find a way home. . . Poe, would you be able to make this speeder go a different way on its own?"

"Yes, I would. . . But why?"

"I want to mislead the ringwraiths. They'll think that we went west."

". . . So should I go and do it now?"

"Yes. Just let me take off BB-8, our things and we'll be able to go."

Rey took BB-8 off the speeder while Aragorn took their things.

"Who's Maz?" Rey asked Aragorn.

"She's an old friend of mine. She'll help you. . . if she thinks it's the right thing to do."

"So she might not help me?"

"Yes. She only helps people if she thinks that what they're trying to do, is right. She might not help you if she thinks that returning to Jakku is a silly thing. I personally think it is."

"But I have to get ho-"

"For how long have you been waiting for your family to come back, Rey?"

"I - I don't know."

"BB-8 told me that your home has only one bed. It's not a family home. Rey, come north with me and Poe and start a new life."

"Jakku is my home. I have to go back."

"I'm not going to stop you. . . But I hope you'll know which is the righter decision."

"Umm. . . Can I ask you a question?"

"Yes. Ask."

"How many trees are there in the world?"

Aragorn burst out into laughter. "You've never seen a single tree?"

"No," Rey answered, deeply confused by his amusement. "Why is it so funny?"

"There are as many trees as there are hairs on your body. Who knows, maybe even more."

"What do they look like?. . . I mean - I know the basic description but-"

"It's hard to describe if I have no idea what basic description do you mean. But maybe you should wait and you'll find out very soon."

"Soon isn't always what it's supposed to mean."

"Some people wait all their lives. To the soon can be twenty years. To people who have everything in lightspeed, soon is only a click. . . Soon never has a date. . . But the soon I mean, is a few hours. If we walk fast. . .  By the way, I should've given this to you, earlier." Aragorn handed Rey a blaster pistol.

She took and started examining it. "Why are you giving it to me?"

"We can't always defend you, you know," he chuckled.

~~~

Aragorn carried BB-8 as they ran through the grasslands, so the droid wouldn't make a visible trail behind them. They ran as fast as they could in hope to get to the forest before the ringwraiths might see them from afar. They tried not to stand on any branch of a bush, to not leave a sign of their whereabouts for the enemy.

The sky was covered with a layer of light gray clouds, but everything around seemed to be very bright as if the sky was cloudless.

"Do you think they will see us from afar?" Rey asked Poe and Aragorn, trying her best to catch her breath.

Aragorn glanced back again to make sure that they weren't followed. "Probably," he responded and kept on running.

Rey could run faster but she had to wait for Poe and Aragorn, for Poe didn't have to run a lot during his life since he was a pilot and Aragorn had to carry BB-8 who wasn't the lightest.