The Rising Darkness (A LotR Fanfiction): Part One: Fellowship of the Ring

Chapter 1: Saved by a Stranger

(Leoferad's POV)

Three days later...

"Wake up. Wake up, young one! We haven't a moment to lose!" I woke up with a start to a hushed whisper, sitting up in my cell. Everything hurt from the beatings I'd taken since my capture, I was lucky I was alive. I looked over and saw a man in a dark cloak finish unlocking the cell door, the guards dead on the ground. I jumped up and ran over as the door swung open, thanking my lucky stars. The stranger handed my weapons and cloak back to me and motioned for me to follow silently. 

"Who are you?" I whispered to him, and the man turned back around, his cowl revealing a scruffy but handsome face framed by thick brown locks. He replied in a hushed tone, 

"Call me Strider for now. I'm a Ranger, as is my friend who is holding off the guards at the gate." We rounded another corner and took out two more guards. 

"There are two Hobbits, not just you, here that need rescuing, one male and one female. You are a hunter, yes? I need you to find them and meet up with us by that watchtower," Strider pointed to a low tower not too far ahead. 

"The Hobbits will look like children, young, curly haired, and barefoot. Keep your hood up to conceal your identity and stay safe." I nodded and Strider headed towards the barracks, leaving me to choose where to search. 

I decided to head off in the opposite direction, towards a barred door, which was slightly open and leading towards another courtyard. As I approached it I heard a man laughing and a girl's voice pleading, 

"Let me go! I'm just a normal Brandybuck you idiot! Where's Deio? Ow, that hurt!" I rounded a corner and saw a man trying to shove a young girl with curly auburn hair, wait, that must be a Hobbit, into a dog cage. I quickly and silently drew my bow and an arrow and shot him before he could know what hit him. The hobbit was startled, but I let down my hood and smiled, whispering to her,

"It's alright, I'm here to help rescue you. You are a Hobbit right?" She nodded and I uncovered her mouth, which turned up in a merry smile, her bright green eyes shining. 

"I'm Dahlia Brandybuck, from Buckland on the borders of the Shire," the she-hobbit whispered, 

"We need to find my friend, Deio Took. He should be around here somewhere, and I have a faint idea of where he is, follow me." Dahlia led me to another hall door, the moon only halfway full giving an eerie light to the watchtower. I heard a young voice pleading and more voices laughing on the other side. I turned to her and motioned towards the wall,

"Stay here until I call for you. I don't want you getting hurt or recaptured." She nodded and I swung the door open, drawing my bow and shooting two of the guards, one of which I recognized as Pox, one of my capturers. Pain exploded in my left arm as something hit me, and I realized the one that had enjoyed torturing me, Dan I think his name was, had thrown a knife into my shoulder. He laughed as I dropped my bow, which had broken in half at the impact of the knife, and grabbed said knife, covered in my blood, out of my shoulder. 

Dan rushed at me with another dagger and I managed to block it with my hunting knife, which he would remember gave him a few cuts when I tried to prevent my capture a few days earlier. We battled like that, while Dahlia ran and untied Deio, even though I had said to stay where she was. I managed to knock Dan out, then gathered the two frightened hobbits and ran towards the watch tower.