Come What May

Chapter 2 - The Riders Of Rohan


Aragorn placed his ear against the cool hard mountain rocks and listen attentively to the sounds around him. The Elf, Dwarf and Man had continued their pursuit of the Uruk-hai and had not rested in days. They were tired, hungry and weary, yet they chose to go on tracking the band of Orcs who had taken Merry and Pippin captive.


"Their pace has quickened. They must have caught our scent." Aragorn said warily, to Legolas and Gimli who were beside themselves with worry. "We must hurry!"


Legolas wasted no time in heeding the Man's words. Aragorn already took off at a run and Legolas followed quickly determined to catch up. "Come on, Gimli!" He urged the Dwarf, who was having a hard time keeping up with them. Time was not on their side and they needed to be swift in their pursuit.


"Three days and nights, tracking those damn creatures," Gimli grumbled. "No food. No rest. And no sign of our quarry, but what bare rock can tell."


They continued onward, and at last Legolas caught up with the Man. "Aragorn?" he called out softly.


"What is it, Legolas? Are you hurt? Is something wrong with the baby?" The Man asked him all at once.


Legolas shook his head. "No. I'm fine and so is the baby. I was just wondering..."


"Yes?"


"Do you suppose we'll make it to the Hobbits in time?"


"I don't know," Aragorn said truthfully, "but we can only try." Legolas nodded his head and continued to run along side him.


Aragorn glanced sideways at the Elf, noting the way his friend held his small growing stomach protectively. It had been three days since he had learned that Legolas was with child, and he had tried his best to conceal this information from the Dwarf, going about as if nothing had happened. Though he doubted Gimli would ever speculate Legolas was pregnant. The Elf's cloaks did well to veil his condition from prying eyes of others. If Legolas had not confirmed that he was pregnant in his own words, Aragorn would have cast his suspicions aside and not believed it.


Suddenly, the Man stopped both his train of thoughts and his running altogether. He looked towards the ground, his eyes catching the sight of a Lórien leaf. "Not idly do the leaves of Lórien fall," he told the Elf standing at his side.


"They may yet be alive," Legolas said, hoping against all odds.


Aragorn looked to the front. "Less than a day ahead us, come." He stood and motioned for the others to follow as he took off running again. Gimli stumbled and fell down the mountainside. "Come, Gimli!" Legolas urged him. "We're gaining on them!" Gimli stood and followed.


"I 'm wasted on cross-country," Gimli said groggily. "We Dwarves are natural sprinters. Very dangerous over short distances." He continued to run, and with much effort caught up to his companions, who stood atop a cliff over-looking the plains of Rohan.


"Rohan. Home of the Horse-lords," Aragorn stated deep in thoughts. He paused allowing his eyes to gaze further. "There's something evil at work here. Some evil gives speed to these creatures. Sets its will against us."


Legolas climbed down from the rocks to stare ahead. "Legolas! What do your Elf-eyes see?" Aragorn asked urgently. There was a short pause before Legolas spoke.


"The Uruks turn northeast," said the Elf. "They are taking the Hobbits to Isengard."


"Saruman." Aragorn said the name icily.


"Keep breathing," Gimli told himself as they continued to run throughout the plains of Rohan. "That's the key. Breathe."


"They've run as if the very whips of their masters were behind them." Legolas said. He was alarmed and worried as to why the Uruks ran so hard. The sun had already begun to set and quickly night fell upon them. Elf, Man and Dwarf moved swiftly in the dark, until the dawn of day.


"A red sun rises," Legolas whispered quietly. "Blood has been spilled this night." Suddenly, the earth quaked underneath them, and Aragorn led them behind a large rock. They hid for a mere moment before stepping out in plain sight.


"Riders of Rohan," Aragorn shouted into the distance, "what news from the Mark?" With astonishing speed and skill, they checked their steeds, wheeled, and came charging round. Soon Legolas, Aragorn and Gimli found themselves in a ring of horsemen moving in a running circle, up the hill-slope behind them, and drawing ever inwards.


Without a word or cry, suddenly, the Riders halted. Thickets of spears pointed towards the three companions. Then one rode forward, a tall man, taller than all the rest. "What business does an Elf, a Man and a Dwarf have in the Riddermark?" he asked harshly. "Speak quickly!"


"Give me your name, horse-master, and I shall give you mine," answered Gimli.


The Rider leaped from his horse. He advanced on Gimli in a threatening manner. Aragorn placed a protective hand on his friend's shoulder. "I would cut off your head, Dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground," the Rider sneered.


Legolas fitted an arrow to his bow with hands that moved quicker than sight, and pointed it at the Man's head. "You would die before your stroke fell," he said, his tone hostile. Never anger a pregnant Elf, thought Aragorn briefly.


The other Riders raised their spears towards the Elf, and things might have gone ill, but Aragorn sprang between them, and lowered Legolas' hand. "I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn," he said composedly. "This is Gimli, son of Glóin and Legolas of the Woodland Realm." The Rider regarded the Elf with blazing eyes. "We are friends of Rohan and of Théoden, your King."


"Théoden no longer recognizes friend from foe. Not even his own kin," replied the Rider, while taking his helmet off. "I am Éomer son of Éomund, Third Marshal of the Riddermark. Saruman has poisoned the mind of the King and claimed lordship over these lands. My company are those loyal to Rohan. And for that, we are banished."


"The White Wizard is cunning," he carried on. "He walks here and there they say, as an old man hooded and cloaked. And everywhere, his spies slip past our nets."


"We are no spies," Aragorn interrupted him, when Éomer glared at Legolas. "We track a party of Uruk-hai westward across the plain. They've taken two of our friends captive."


"The Uruks are destroyed. We slaughtered them during the night," said Éomer.


"But there were two Hobbits," cried Gimli. "Did you see two Hobbits with them?"


"They would be small. Only children to your eyes." Aragorn added.


"We left none alive," Éomer said quietly. "We piled the carcasses and burned them."


"Dead?" Gimli asked quietly.


Éomer nodded his head. "I am sorry." Legolas remained motionless, unable to say or do anything but stare at the ground. He had failed first Boromir, and now Merry and Pippin.


Éomer whistled. "Hasufel! Arod!" He called out and a great dark-grey horse and a smaller and lighter one appeared before them. "May these horses bear you to better fortune, than their former masters. Farewell." He mounted his horse and looked gravely at the three companions.


"Look for your friends. But do not trust to hope," he advised them. "It is forsaken in these lands." Aragorn and Legolas shared a knowing look; they knew all too well of the of trickery of Saruman. He had constantly tried to prevent the Fellowship from accomplishing their tasks of taking the One Ring to Mordor.


"We ride north!" Éomer shouted, and as quickly as the Riders appeared, they left. When after a while Gimli looked back, the company of Éomer was already small and far away. Aragorn did not look back; instead he moved forward and placed a comforting hand on the Elf's shoulder.


Legolas looked up at the Man, and pulled Arod next to him. "We must go on," he said. "We cannot linger here." Aragorn nodded his head in agreement and reach for Hasufel.


"Come, Gimli, you shall ride with me," Legolas told the Dwarf. Gimli turned round and looked at his friend with uncertainty in his eyes. Legolas had the saddle and rein removed from Arod, which made the Dwarf doubt riding with him even more so. Sighing, he walked towards his two companions.


"I would sooner walk than sit on the back of any beast so great, free or begrudged," he said at last.


"But you must ride now, or you will hinder us," whispered Aragorn.


"A restive and wild horse he is," Gimli responded, and nodded his head towards Arod. "I will not mount on him."


"You need not be afraid, Gimli, I will not let you fall." Legolas said reassuringly, and leaped lightly up. Arod was tame and willing beneath him. "Trust me, friend."


Gimli reluctantly let Aragorn lift him up behind the Elf. He clung to him, not trusting the beast to hold him in place. Legolas tensed slightly; at the small tug of Gimli's hand on his tunic, which caused the thin material to bear down on his swollen belly. He waited with little patience for Aragorn to mount Hasufel, and they sped on their way. Before long, they came upon the burning bodies of the Uruks of which Éomer had spoken, their leader's head stood high above them on a pike.


Aragorn dismounted and surveyed the ground, while Legolas and Gimli followed him. Gimli wasted no time in searching through the pile. "It's one of their wee belts," he said, holding the small belt in his hand.


"Ahh!" Aragorn gave a loud cry, kicking a Uruk helmet on the ground and then dropping to his knees.


"We failed them," Gimli said miserably.


Legolas bowed his head in grief and looked at Aragorn curiously when the Man began to crawl on the ground. "A Hobbit lay here," Aragorn said, alert. "And the other."


"They crawled," he continued. Legolas followed him and Gimli followed Legolas.


"Their hands were bound." He surveyed the grass-covered ground before moving on.


"Their bonds were cut," Aragorn said, picking up a shredded piece of rope.


"They ran over here." He stood, and followed the tiny footsteps on the ground.


"They were followed," he said, observing the three different sets of footprints on the ground. Two of which belonged to the Hobbits and the other, an Orc.


"Tracks led away from the battle..." Aragorn shouted, and raced towards the eaves of Fangorn. "Into Fangorn Forest," he finished.


"Fangorn?" Gimli said in awe. "What madness drove them in there?" The three companions stared at the vast forest in wonder. Only one option presented itself to them. They would have to go through the endless, dark forest of Fangorn in hope of finding their friends. And that is exactly what they decided to do.


The horses were gone, and they could neither find nor catch them, so they decided to do without until they chose to return at their own free will.


"We must be swift," said Aragorn at last. "I think it was Saruman who has gone off with our horses or scared them away. Yet in the meantime, there is nothing that we can do but depart; we have yet a long road ahead of us." His companions nodded, and soon they entered the Forest of Fangorn unaware of the watchful eyes that had set themselves upon them.


TBC

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