𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 | 𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐑

Chapter 19

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My companions are not so agreeable at the moment, Aragorn has spoken little since Éomer left us to our luck, he has been more distant. I know he blames himself, it does not surprise me that he thinks to shoulder all the responsibility when very little of it is actually to do with him at all. I cannot help him if I do not know what he is thinking, but he has been more reticent since even before the Orc attack. In Lothlórien it was plain to see how deeply Gandalf's loss affected him, affected us, even those who knew the Wizard little were shattered by it. It crushed my spirit and brought doubts to my mind.

The sun is low in the sky and the forest is close at hand when we finally find the Orcs. The glade still smokes from the burning and the air is acrid and heavy in my lungs. The Orc carcasses are burned to ash but their weapons lie near, piled high, a grimacing goblin head impaled upon a stake set in front of the hoard.

Aragorn and I dropped to the ground and he leads the horse to an earthen mound nearby, this must be where the fallen Riders have been buried. We leave the horses there and search the glade. The field of battle is a mass of mired footprints and hoof marks, trampled grass and blood, slicked turf. I find no traces of our Hobbits.

Gimli started to go through the pile and pulled out a charred belt. "It's one of their little belts." Legolas and I lowered our heads. "Hiro hyn hîdh ab wanath." The elf whispered. Aragorn kicked at an orc helmet and yelled as if physically injured as he fell to his knees. "We failed them..." The dwarf whispered, and I took in the view of the Fangorn forest.

'(Y/N)...!'

I shook my head, the same voice echoing in my head like a mantra. It seemed so familiar, but it was so far away, in the distance, so desperate for help. "A Hobbit lay here, and the other." I heard Aragorn whisper. "They crawled... Their hands were bound." I almost fell on my knees, noticing a broken rope on the ground. "Aragorn...!" The three of them came to me in an instant, staring at the broken rope in my hand. "Their bonds were cut." I whispered and Aragorn kept following tracks. "They ran over here... And were followed."

"The tracks lead away from the battle!" I glanced at the forest, the others beside me. "Into... Fangorn Forest." I sighed, we looked up into the very dense forest. "Fangorn! What madness drove them in there?"

I heard a loud scream from behind us, a high-pitched sound coming with darkness in its hand. How could I forget that sound? The sound of the enemy's most terrible servants. The ones that cried with the voices of death. From that moment on, everything seems to come to a halt, Gimli and Aragorn pushed me into the forest, where its big, dense trees won't let us be seen.