Shadow of Light (Uruk-Hai x She-Elf)

Zagalkrak

He spent some time training the men till a new group of men traded places with those he'd been working with, and he had to start all over again. It was close to dusk before Aragorn called a halt. "That's enough for today. Get some rest, we'll pick this up later." he said. The men nodded but didn't walk away till they had seen what became of the Uruk. Aragorn approached Ghash with the shackles, and he didn't argue, freely putting his arms out. As they pulled him back inside, leading him to the dungeon, the men were finally contented and thus dispersed.

Ghash didn't fight as they pushed him back into his cell, he simply walked in and sat upon the stone as they locked the door. He finally permitted himself a sigh. He was so tired... Training young whelps was one thing, but training them all day on no energy was quite another. He rested his face in his palm. This had better work... He wasn't comfortable enough around the men that all wanted him dead, to lie down, but he pressed his back against the icy, stone wall, and propped his leg up on the ledge. Damn, he was tired. And that hunger was starting to creep back up on him. He closed his eyes. He knew he wasn't going to sleep, but he would take at least resting his eyes. 

"Dani, come on!" she called back to her.

"My lady, it's the middle of the night!" she said as she ran to catch up.

"It's not that late, and we have to put some distance between us and the city." she said.

"But my lady, we've been walking for hours!" she argued.

She gave a sigh, "We'll stop and rest in another mile or so. But if they catch us, it's back to the city. And we may not have another opportunity." she said. Elayin paused for a moment, pulling her bag from her back. She pulled the dress from the pack, returning the bag to her shoulder.

"What are you doing, my lady?" asked Dani. Elayin backtracked a few steps heading a few paces east. There, she took the sleeve of the dress and tore it off. "My lady!" she exclaimed.

"Sorry, Dani, but I have to." she explained. Tearing a strip from the sleeve, she tied it to a branch. She did this again with another tree a few yards away, then she tore one last strip and tied it to an arrow which she shot a long way off, embedding in another tree. "That should do it, come on!" she said turning back to her path and racing away, forcing Dani to run after her groaning in exasperation. "Sorry, I had to get them off our scent." she explained as she ran.

"My lady... Just... get where we can stop..." she gasped.

"Can do!" It was a ways further till Dani finally proclaimed that unless wild horses were involved, she would go no further. Elayin finally relented, slowing her pace, she too had to admit that she was rather winded. "Yeah... Ok, we'll rest for the night..." she said, much to Dani's relief. "Alright so I'll keep first watch, you go ahead and sleep." she said, as she stood looking for a decent tree to sit in.

Reluctantly, he opened his eyes as he heard approaching footsteps. Aragorn stepped to the bars, peering questioningly at the yellow eyes that returned his gaze. "Was that to your satisfaction?" growled Ghash.

"That wasn't Uruk training." said Aragorn.

"No." Ghash answered, "But we both know they would not have survived my training, and neither would I."

"But that was training." said Aragorn.

"And what did you expect?" questioned Ghash with a raised brow.

"Honestly, I don't know. I didn't know enough to have expected anything. I still don't. All I know is that you don't care for any of the men of Rohan." he said.

"That is true." Ghash replied.

"Then why?" asked Aragorn. Ghash said nothing. "Why is that the one thing you won't tell?"

"Does it matter? That I shall aid you should be enough. If it is not, then simply conclude this arduous acquaintance. Otherwise, permit that I do my work." finished Ghash.  Aragorn was quiet for a moment, thinking to himself. Ghash was growing quite tired of people staring at him and peppering him with questions, but he could hardly complain. Aragorn was simply perplexed. Nothing related to this entire encounter made any sense, but he was doing what he said he would, so he supposed for the time being, till he turned on them, it didn't matter. His men were unprepared, and he supposed any port in a storm was better than nothing. 

Ghash, leaned his head back against the stone with a sigh as he looked into nothing. He had chosen to forget Aragorn, who was still watching the Uruk. He was too tired to care. It was this action that suddenly brought something to Aragorn's attention. He was silent for a time before turning from the cell and looking to the guard. "Get him some food." he said. The guard quietly nodded before walking away. Ghash Suddenly looked back to him in mixed surprise and relief. Aragorn said nothing more, only giving Ghash a final glance before he turned and walked away. 

"My lady, you're not really going to sleep up there are you?" Questioned Dani.

"Of course not." Said Elayin to the relief of her lady-in-waiting. "I'm going to keep watch up here." she explained, much to the grief of her lady-in-waiting. "You should sleep in the tree, it's safer."

"My lady, this is really too much!" she exclaimed.

"What?" asked Elayin.

"You can't sleep in the trees like a pigeon, and you can't stay awake all night watching for theoretical enemies in your condition!"

Elayin rolled her eyes. "Dani, the woods are simply too dangerous, and I'm more used to it. You need rest, I'm fine."

"My lady, even if it was possible to sleep on a branch, you shouldn't, what if you fall? You can't be so brash as when you were a girl, you now have a responsibility, and simply can't risk yourself." Dani urged.

"I'm fine, I've spent my whole life in and around trees, and I'd sooner risk the chance of falling before I'd risk being ambushed by wolves or orcs on ground level." Elayin reasoned.

"But my lady-"

"And I'll sleep tomorrow night, I'm fine. Remember, we aren't in the castle anymore, things aren't going to be ideal, or pleasant." 

She heaved a sigh. "Well, can we at least have a fire, it's freezing!" she said.

"Eh, sorry Dani, but we're just too close to Murkwood, they'd find us." she replied. Dani groaned and grumbled under her breath but said nothing. "Once we get far enough away, we can have a fire, and there aren't trees the whole way." Said Elayin as she tried to get comfortable, propping her legs up on the tree limb. Dani turned to the tree as if it were a great mountain to overcome. "Come up, there are plenty of good stable limbs." invited Elayin.

Furrowing her brows, and rubbing her hands together, she reached for a branch, grasped it, and heaved herself up! Or at least she tried. The most she managed was to wrap her arms around a low-hanging limb and to kick her feet about wildly, in an attempt to pull herself up. "Wait, you just push yourself up! Ok, try grabbing it with your feet. Yeah like that, wait no-" Said Elayin, in a desperate attempt to direct her. Elayin finally just offered the thrashing elf a hand, all while barely managing to suppress her laughter.

"You really need to get out of the castle more!" chuckled Elayin as Dani finally settled herself on a tree limb.

"Well, I guess I'll be out of the castle now..." grumbled Dani.

Elayin chuckled. "Don't worry, it won't be so bad the whole way, we'll just need to keep on the move for the first couple days." she said.

"I know, my lady. I'm fine." Dani replied.

"Go on, get some sleep, don't worry I'll wake you when it's time to go, or if you try to tumble out in your sleep." she said with a smile. Dani finally conceded, pulling her blanket from her pack and leaning back against the trunk. Elayin finally took a moment to relax, breathing a sigh of her own. Well, there she was again, sitting in the woods. But this time she was-... Well, not alone she supposed, Dani was there, but... Nevermind. She left home yet again with only a half-baked plan of desperation. What would her mother do when she found out? She could only hope that the note would help. Sorry, mother...

She shook herself, now wasn't the time to dwell on stuff like that, it would only bring her down, and she had a long journey ahead. She turned her gaze to the woods watching for anything amiss, and keeping her mind from all her choices and her losses.