Fading Light

Running Out Of Time

Aragorn led them further east away from the Misty Mountains. He wished that he could have them head for Rivendell, the elves would notice the orcs in their lands and come to rescue them.

But Aragorn was still too weak to travel through those mountains on foot. His only hope was to keep these orcs thinking that he was doing what they wanted while trying to come up with an escape plan.

Aragorn was at the front of the group surrounded by a few orcs. The leader was walking a few feet behind him, keeping an iron grip on Legolas' arm as they walked.

Aragorn knew that the leader wasn't taking any chances with his prisoner. The other orcs were constantly eyeing Legolas, they wouldn't wait for much longer, they wanted the elf.

Their leader assured them that they would all get a chance at him, but Aragorn knew that the leader had no intention of "sharing" his prize.

For the moment Legolas was safe, but the moment the leader called Aragorn's bluff it would be over for his friend.

I'm not going to let you be killed Legolas. Not this way, and not at the hands of these monsters.

Aragorn had sworn to keep Legolas safe and that was what he was going to do. He still couldn't believe that Legolas had known his identity for all these years.

I didn't tell him because I was trying to protect him. Yet here he is in danger because of me and he'd already known the truth.
Aragorn nearly laughed at the irony.

The sun was beginning to set behind the mountains and Aragorn was exausted. He hadn't been given a chance to recover from his injuries and his strength was failing him.

"I need to rest."
He called out to the leader.
The orcs ceased walking except for the leader who stalked over to Aragorn with Legolas in tow.

"What's the matter human? Are you not feeling well?"
Aragorn kept a straight face as he looked the orc in the eye.
"If your orcs hadn't tortured me then I could go longer. I am injured, sore, and tired. If I do not rest I will die and you will not get what you seek."

The orcs looked expectantly at their leader, hoping that he would punish the human for speaking that way to him, but to their disapointment he only laughed.

"Very well, we will camp here for the night. But we're leaving at dawn so get all the rest you can."

The leader walked off while shouting orders to his orcs. Legolas managed to catch Aragorn's eye as he passed him and whispered, "Remember our promise."

Aragorn nodded and watched as his friend was dragged over to the other side of the orc camp. There were only five orcs near Aragorn, watching him to make sure that he didn't try to escape.

Aragorn clenched his fists and glared in the leader's direction.
He hadn't bothered to tie him up or even leave him with a large number of orcs.

He assumed that Aragorn wouldn't leave without the elf or do anything to get him killed and he was right.

Aragorn settled himself onto the ground and tried to get comfortable. He knew that Legolas was expecting Aragorn to keep his promise and he had every intention of doing so.

The only problem though was that Aragorn was coming up with pleanty of reasons to stay.

For one thing his injuries would prevent him from running very far, if he tried to get past the few orcs that guarded him he would only be caught again.

He had to bide his time and wait for the right opportunity to get both himself and Legolas out of there.

An orc stomped over to them and tossed what looked like a waterskin over to one of the orcs.