Rise (Lord of the Rings)

31 - The White Wizard

Despite it being day, Fangorn Forest did not look any livelier than it did yesterday. However, it didn't look more frightening either, and that was a good sign—it meant that I was beginning to accept my unfamiliar surroundings.

Like always, Aragorn led the hunt, Gimli and I brought up the rear. We seemed to be, once again, the only creatures making noise in the forest. The forest had to be inhabited with creatures; I found the idea of an animal-less forest impossible.

As Legolas and Aragorn slowly broke apart from Gimli and me, I noticed Gimli had found something on a leaf of a nearby plant. I was tempted to call the others, to stop them and bring them over to us, but I decided to not.

"What did you find?" I pressed the Dwarf, trying to see past his hulking figure. I nudged him in the side so he scooted over. There was some kind of black liquid coated on a few plant leaves. My head tilted, curious. "What is it?"

Without a word, Gimli dipped his gloved fingers into the black liquid and put them to his mouth. I nearly gagged as he licked the unknown black liquid off his glove. Ew. I guess that's one way to get to the bottom of things.

A few short seconds after tasting the unknown liquid, Gimli spat it out. I jumped back, away from the projectile.

"Well?" I pressed.

"Orc blood," Gimli reported.

Merry and Pippin had been followed into this forest by something—that's what we had managed to gather from what the battlefield had provided for us. Now we knew what had tracked them. We had to be getting closer by discovering the Orc blood, though Gimli taste-testing it hadn't been necessary. I could have lived without seeing it.

"We better keep moving before we lose them," I told Gimli, trying to push the image out of my mind.

Legolas and Aragorn hadn't gotten far; Gimli and I caught up with them fairly quickly. The path we were following took a small decline. We encountered a small stream with damp ground around it. Moss coated the rocks near the stream. The tracks we were following led us up the stream.

Aragorn stopped, kneeling down to examine something. While we took a breather, a small breeze blew in. Any other time I would have welcomed the breeze but not here in Fangorn Forest. The wind gave me a chill.

"These are strange tracks," I heard Aragorn mutter to himself. Curious as to what he found, I joined him. My brows came together over my eyes. The tracks were strange indeed. They looked too big to belong to Merry, Pippin, or the Orc that had followed them in here. What could possibly live here in the forest that would leave such a print in the ground?

"The air is so close in here," Gimli murmured.

"This forest is old," Legolas explained. "Very old. Full of memory...and anger."

I threw the Elf an odd look. I would truly never understand Legolas; I knew that from the moment that I met him. Since when did he become one with nature and know what the forest had dealt with? If that was possible, did Elves possess that ability?

I would never understand any of my fellow Fellowship members, minus a few exceptions.
Groaning echoed in the air around us. Gimli had his ax in both hands, ready for a fight, though there was fear in the Dwarf's eyes. Even though my heart spiked at the unusual noise, my body was calm. There was no immediate danger yet, so there was no reason to have my weapon out like Gimli. Aragorn and Legolas listened as well, no weapons bared.