Brothers In Arms: A Middle Earth Story

Chapter 5: The Burning of Ithilien

The smell of smoke awoke me from the light sleep I had fallen into despite my best efforts. I glanced over at the campfire, expecting it to be the source of the pungent odor. 

My eyes widened in shock when I saw that this wasn't the case at all. Instead, devouring flames leapt from bough to bough, and the entire forest was alight in a pale orange glow. The trees popped and cracked as the flames consumed them, threatening to fall at any minute. 

"Wake up!" I shouted hoarsely, immediately choking on the smoke that was beginning to surround us. 

Thorondir was the first to stir, leaping into action almost immediately. He shook the others awake, each of them responding with varying degrees of surprise at our predicament. 

"How'd it start??" Thorondir asked as he came to my side. The flames reflected in his sky-blue eyes, dancing to and fro like a writhing serpent. 

I shrugged, still bewildered by the sudden fire myself. "It couldn't have been the campfire," I pointed out, motioning to the dying embers. 

"I suppose it doesn't matter," the archer replied grimly. "We need to get out of here, quick." 

Aerel let out an exclamation as she pointed out into the night. "Look!" 

My heartbeat quickened in fear as I followed her gaze. Dark figures moved to and fro just out of the light of the flames. There were too many to count. 

Thorondir fired an arrow into the night, and a cry of pain almost immediately followed. The figures stirred, but still stayed just out of sight in the murky darkness beyond.

"We're outnumbered," I observed, trying to stay calm for the others. "We need to escape." 

"How?" Ohtar grimaced, running a finger along the blade of his axe. "The flames are all around us." 

"This is no work of nature," Eradan murmured, his eyes narrowed. "They mean to burn us out." 

With a sudden realization I knew he was right. Some of the silhouettes held torches, and the fire only seemed to close in about us instead of further out toward them. 

"Captain?" Thorondir quavered, his expression fearful. "What do we do?" 

I cleared my throat, licking my dry lips as the smoke-flavored air tingled my senses. "There's nothing for it," I said after a moment. "We'll have to get through somehow." 

"Are you mad?" My brother gasped. "They're surrounding us too! Even if we make it past the fire, we'll have a hundred angry Southrons at our throats." 

I felt my anger begin to flare up like the fire around us. "And what? Are we supposed to just wait until we burn?" 

"I didn't say that!" Eradan snapped back. "But I'm not about to charge through a forest fire to fight a horde of angry-"

"Enough!" Ohtar shouted suddenly, his voice deep and commanding. Eradan flinched, and I set my jaw angrily. "We only have one choice. Arguing about how stupid it is is completely pointless." 

"I have to agree with the robber," Uirion nodded measuredly, though the last word was spoken with a slight hint of derision. "We might die if we do what Turin suggests... But we will certainly die if we don't." 

Eradan slowly gave me a nod of concession and I returned it with a faint smile, turning to scan the pitch darkness beyond the fire...

And suddenly I saw him. 

The eyes of the Slaver's Son glowed in the roaring flames, his features distorted and monstrous in the waves of heat that emanated from them. He looked then like some ancient diety, evil and twisted, awaiting human sacrifices in the hungry fire. He met my gaze then, his white teeth baring in a primal grin like a ravenous beast.