Return Of The Shadow

Chapter 20: Found

They walked in silence for days. They had no food and no water. None of them would admit it, but they were growing weaker by the second.

Faramir was dying of thirst, Boromir stumbled over the sand, and Legolas was exhausted.

The mountains they traveled to never seemed to get any closer, and the black mountains of Mordor never left the sight of Legolas.

Boromir watched as Legolas suddenly tensed.

"What is it?" Boromir asked weakly.

Legolas shuddered as he said, "Haradrim."

Boromir and Faramir froze. Not Haradrim, they wouldn't be able to escape or fight them off in their state.

"How many?" Faramir asked.

"Too many..." Legolas took a step forward and stumbled. He fell to his knees and then onto his hands.

Faramir went towards him and was followed by Boromir.

"Legolas! You have to get up! You can't give up now!" Faramir begged.

Boromir knew his brothers words were useless. He could clearly see that the all of the elf's energy was spent. He was done, he couldn't fight anymore.

Faramir wouldn't give up on him. He tried to help the elf to his feet but it was no use. Legolas had slipped out of consciousness, they couldn't rely on him now.

Boromir looked around them, his gaze swept over a sand dune and caught a brief glimpse of a Haradrim before it disappeared.

"We have to move Faramir."

"We can't leave him!"

"We have no choice!"

Boromir grabbed his brother and hauled him to his feet. Faramir didn't bother to struggle. As Boromir continued to drag him he welcomed the sleep that had also claimed Legolas.

Boromir couldn't carry him, he didn't have the strength. He collapsed next to his brother. He was too weak. He lay down on the sand, trying to fight off the blissful sleep that called to him.

They couldn't have come so far just to be killed by Haradrim. Boromir heard their footsteps on the sand, they were running towards them. Boromir watched as they surrounded him, he wanted to fight, he wanted to do anything that would free him from this new fate, but he could do nothing.

As the men leaned over their helpless forms Boromir closed his eyes and welcomed the darkness.

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The men inspected the bodies. They were tall men dressed in brown clothes. They wore black cloths around their faces, letting only their eyes show.

They had swords and black boots. Their leader watched as his men inspected the bodies.

"Are they alive?" he asked.

One of the men looked up at his leader.

"Barely. They will not last for much longer."

"Where do you think they came from?" Another man asked. "Surely they didn't come from Mordor?"

The leader shook his head.

"We don't know. Right now we have to focus on bringing them to camp. We can question them when they awake."

One of the men shouted from a few feet away.

They ran over to him and saw that he was kneeling beside another body.

"What is it?" the leader asked.

The man looked at him in shock, "It's an elf."

"Impossible!"

He knelt down and looked for himself, "I don't believe it."

He stood up and ordered his men, "Get them on the horses!"

They obeyed without hesitation. They carried them to their horses that waited nearby.

Once they were all mounted they rode off into the desert.

End of Part 1