We mounted the horses and rode toward the burning corpses as fast as we could. When we got there, the fire was no longer burning, but it was still smoking. The head of one Uruk had a pole driven through it and into the ground. Gimli looked through the piles, and he found one of the Hobbits’ scabbards.
“One of their wee belts,” he said.
One tear fell down my cheek and streamed off my chin. Legolas and Atashanay were praying in Elvish. Aragorn was angry. He kicked a helmet and swore really loudly. Atashanay covered her sensitive Elf ears. Aragorn sank to the ground.
Gimli said, “We failed them.” I put my hand on his shoulder. Then I noticed Aragorn. He was playing in the grass! Why he was, I did not figure out until he said, “A Hobbit lay here.”
I sighed, “Showoff…”
He crawled over to the next flat patch. “And the other.” He followed a small trail. “They crawled. Their hands were bound.” He found part of a piece of rope. “Their bonds were cut.” He got up, and he began to run. We followed him. “They were followed.” He looked up. “The tracks lead away from the battle—into Fangorn Forest.” He sighed. We were standing at the edge of a line of trees.
Gimli looked up. “Fangorn,” he whispered. “What madness drove me there?”
I was overjoyed that there was a chance the Hobbits remained alive. Merry and Pippin would not be forgotten. Now I began to think about Eomer. Banished! On what charges? Obeying the laws of the land? I’d wanted to go, but who would have kept Legolas and Atashanay decent? Who would be the one cracking all the jokes? Making Aragorn keep his head? I missed Eomer more than ever before because I had only seen him for maybe ten minutes. Being apart made me yearn to see him again. Now I wished Merry and Pippin had taken a road to the Shire. And this made me wonder how Frodo and Sam were coming along. Were they almost to Orodruin? Had they been captured?
That night we made camp on the outskirt of the Forest. I think Legolas kept watch. I don’t remember anyone else doing so. I hardly slept. I don’t think anyone got much sleep, actually. I think they were excited that Merry and Pippin were alive somewhere deep inside Fangorn.
The next day, we journeyed inside. Reluctantly, for most of us; actually two-fifths of us (me and Gimli). “I guess now’s not the time to say I have to use the bush,” Gimli said.
Atashanay giggled. “Take your pick,” I said. “There’s plenty everywhere.” Legolas covered his mouth to muffle his hysteric laugh. Aragorn rolled his eyes. It was times like those I missed Boromir. He always had something funny to say when we were younger, but in his older years, he was as serious as Sauron wanting the One Ring.
We spent most of the day searching for the Hobbits when Legolas stopped us. “The White Wizard,” he said. We turned around and saw a dazzling white light, and in the midst of it all, a figure clothed in grey.
“It cannot be,” whispered Aragorn.
It could be. And it was. Gandalf Greyhame stood before us. He had come back from defeating the Balrog. He said after he cast it down on the mountain, he was naked. Atashanay and I quietly snickered. He led us to Edoras, the palace of Theoden. There, Gandalf cast Saruman the Traitor out of Theoden’s body. Sadly, Theoden learned that his son, and heir to the Rohirrim throne, had died. I didn’t know Theodred, but I knew his cousin Eowyn. She wept at the funeral.
Later that same day, two children rode to the palace on horseback. They were weary, but still had the strength to report that the outside villages were being overrun. Theoden decided to make one final stand, and he sent his people to the great fortress of Helm’s Deep.
Gandalf went to gather the cavalry: Eomer and his horsemen of the Mark. Aragorn had tamed some horse whose name was something like Beago, or somewhat… Atashanay and Legolas were out on their own for a while, unbeknownst to Aragorn. Aragorn hit it off with Eowyn. They liked each other…a lot. I just hoped Aragorn had not forgotten about Arwen, his Evenstar. As for Gimli and me, we smoked, drank, and were merry. We got a little too happy though. Apparently, someone told me, I danced for Theoden…creepy… Now I know what happens when I drink more than five mugs of ale…
The next day at noon, the castle was bustling with people leaving. It was in the midst of all this that Atashanay and I had a swordfight. “You fight well, young one,” I said afterwards. “But you have more to learn yet.”
“You are great yourself,” she allowed. “I’ve never seen a technique like that.”
“It’s a mixture of the Gondor style with a little Elven and Dunedan technique. Supposedly, it confuses the enemy.”
“Well it confused me.”
We marched for Helm’s Deep.
The refugees camped by a creek. Eowyn made some really nasty stew. She wandered up the hill where Aragorn was sitting. So I occupied myself by smoking and reading a dragon-slayer’s story. Finally Eowyn came down the hill. She looked violated. “You’re a Dunedan,” she said to me before she walked by, “a Ranger of Arnor.”
I nodded, my gaze shifting up to Aragorn sitting at the crown of the hill. He looked a little green tinged. Eowyn must have stood over him while he ate her stew, like a mother watching her child eat something they obviously didn’t like, but ate anyway for fear of beating.
I kept watch over the refugees while Aragorn slept. My only company was DreamCatcher, my horse. He and I shared a flagon of ale. I have a drinking problem, okay.
The next day we trudged on. Suddenly, Gamling and Hama rode ahead of everyone else. Legolas’s keen eyes searched the cliffs above us. Legolas drew his knives. “A scout,” Legolas yelled.
“What is it?” called Theoden.
“WARGS!” yelled Aragorn.
“All riders!” Theoden said.
I drew my sword and rode forward just as the Wargs and their orc riders came pouring down the hill. We fought hard. When it was all over, we called for Aragorn. He was nowhere to be found. “Aragorn!” I called in vain.
Legolas turned around, to face a dying orc. Gimli held his axe over the orc’s head. “Tell me what happened and I will ease your passing,” he growled.
“He dead,” the orc coughed. “He took a little tumble off the cliff.”
Theoden ran to the cliff’s edge while Legolas grabbed the orc and said, “You lie!” The orc died and Legolas pulled something from its hand. It was the necklace that Lady Arwen had given Aragorn before we left Rivendell. He joined Theoden and me at the edge of the cliff. Soon Gimli and Atashanay arrived. We peered over. Nothing but murky brown water. Gamling came up the hill. “Get the wounded on horses. The wolves of Isengard will return. Leave the dead,” Theoden commanded. Legolas turned, his eyes searching the King’s. I turned, sinking to the ground. My brother was gone. The Line of Kings was ended. I was the last true Dunedan of Isildur’s heritage. I could not control the sobs. Theoden pulled me to my feet.
“Leave me,” I said. “I’ll find my way.”
“No, come,” Theoden said. “The War is not over yet. We need your sword arm. You mustn’t linger in a field of misery and sadness. He was a good man. He would want you to on and help us.”
“You don’t know how much he meant to me. He wasn’t just my brother. Since I was sixteen, he’s been more like my father.”
Atashanay grabbed my hand. She, too, was crying. “Come,” she said.