Eternally Bond

Change Of Plans

15. Change of Plans

Aragorn's feet basically flew across the open plains as he willed himself to run faster. He had never run this fast over such a distance before, but he still feared it would not be enough. He was running against a clock that was steadily ticking in their disadvantage and he had no idea how to change that.

Boromir's wound had made their small hunting party lose even more time now and Aragorn had, judging by the tracks, estimated they were more than a day behind the Uruks now. Two days ago, he had been unable to sense the scent of them, now Legolas could no longer see their forms on the distant horizon.

Every now and then the ranger glanced behind to see if the others were still close on his tail. Even in his heart he knew it did not matter, for he would hunt down the Uruks on his own if he had to. As it was, the blond elf was not far behind.

"Aragorn!" the elf shouted but the ranger didn't heed. Legolas tried again, "Aragorn, look to the sun!"

The man turned to the rising sun that shone like blood upon the heavens. He grimaced and sighed deeply before increasing his speed.

"A red sunrise can only mean one thing," Legolas called, and Aragorn knew exactly what the elf meant. Blood had spilt the previous night. A fear ripped his heart that the blood had been Arwen, Merry or Pippin's.

Aragorn shouted back to the elf, "Tell Gimli and Boromir to speed up!"

The elf did as instructed and a few silent seconds passed in which the two men ran side by side. From the corner of his eye, Aragorn suddenly noticed how the elf stopped and knelt to the ground.

"Aragorn!" the elf called again.

Aragorn sighed in agitation and stopped to turn back. An agitated question burned in his eyes, could they not hurry up instead of dawdling further? The blond elf looked up and the ranger could clearly see a worried frown upon his brow.

"What is it?" Aragorn called.

The elf picked up something dark from the ground and stood tall. Aragorn froze as he saw the thin object in the elf's pale hands. It was a black arrow. Without hesitation, the ranger hurried back to his friend's side to have a closer look. He pulled the arrow from Legolas's hands and inspected the tip. Less than two inches of the arrow's tip was covered in dried blood.

With a solemn tone the elf said the words Aragorn had dreaded, "It is elven blood."

Aragorn felt his heart constrict and had trouble breathing for a minute as he blinked back tears that threatened to spill over his well worn mask of strength.

Right at that moment, Gimli came tumbling out from behind a cliff behind them. The dwarf pushed himself from the grass, breathing heavily, and jogged over to the other two.

"I am merely pretending," he managed between breaths. "I... I can beat you any given day at running, but someone in our group has to make sure Boromir is still with us. I'm taking one for the team here, letting you have all the fun." He then spotted the arrow and muttered a low, "…Oh."

Boromir wasn't far behind the dwarf and soon came round the cliff to join their side. The man's face was pale and his breathing seemed pained but still he ran without complaining.

Aragorn hadn't even noticed the others arrive but when he finally turned his gaze from the arrow to look at the others, he seemed not surprised to find them all there.

"Come now," he said and his voice remained stiff. "We have lost a lot of time; we must be swift to regain it. Hurry!"

With those words the ranger sped away in full speed as he returned to following the Uruks' trail. The other three followed not far behind. All of their strength and stamina seemed to have had a dramatic increase as they tried to keep up with the worried ranger.