The King's Daughter

Chapter 4

The ork bent over, sniffing the ground. He moved some leaves and branches and saw the remains of a fire pit.

“What is it? Did you find something?” An ork riding a wolf asked, his patience growing thin.

“The remains of a fire. They were here, last night. They must’ve left this morning.” The ork replied, standing up. He looked all over the ground, and saw horse tracks in the dirt, covered by some leaves.

“These tracks, they are only a few hours old.” He said again.

The wolf-riding ork smiled to himself. Now the girl and elf were only a few hours ahead of them. They could catch up to them easily.

“But that would be too easy” He mutter to himself.

Some orks turned to look at him, but he only shook his head.

“We are so close to them, but as we move to catch them, they move farther away. We will follow them, and hope that they keep this path. When they stop for the night, we will keep going until we find them.” He instructed.

The orks grunted in agreement, and they slowly started forward the same way that the other two had gone.

~~~

In only a few short hours, Legolas and Denali had reached the mountains of Moria. They had left the horse at the bottom of the mountain and began to climb the steep side of the mountain.

Although it had been over 10 years, Legolas still remembered that you had to go to top of the mountain to get to the entrance.

“So, how far is the entrance of Moria?” Denali asked. “Not that I’m complaining, I’m just curious.” She said quickly as an afterthought.

Legolas stopped to look back at her. She wasn’t far behind, and they had gone a fair bit up the mountain, but he could tell that she was getting tired.

“We have to go near the top of the mountain. There, we should be able to find a door. That door will bring us into Moria.”

“‘Should be able to?’” Denali said, stopping in her tracks.

“Don’t worry. We’ll find it.” He said, looking back at the mountain.

“If you want, we could stop for a few minutes. Let you catch your breath.” He suggested.

Denali was beside him now, her chest heaving slightly with exhaustion. She looked up the mountain as well. Then she looked back down the mountain, where they had come.

“No. If we stop, then we won’t want to go again. It’s better if we keep going, and then rest when we get there.” She said at last.

Legolas looked at her, a small smile playing about his lips. She sounded like Aragorn.

“Well said.”

Denali smiled back and nodded.

They started up the mountain again, and slowly they reached the top of the mountain. But up here, there were piles of snow that made it impossible to move faster. Legolas had Denali’s hand in his as the inched along a narrow ledge. It reminded him of the mountain that the Fellowship had climbed.

“Legolas! It’s too cold! I don’t think I’ll make it!” Denali yelled over the wind.

He looked back at her. They were exhausted, cold, and hungry, and it wasn’t long now that Denali would drop. Legolas knew that they were close. But it was hard to see in the billowing snow.

“We’re almost there, Denali. Just hold on for a bit longer.” He pulled her close and wrapped the cloak more securely around her shoulders, and then his arms around her, his back against the wall.