A Burden

It was early the next day when the chase finally ended. Over the hills, the thundering steps of many horses could be heard.

After only a moment, the Riders rode from over the hill the four were climbing and straight past them.

“Riders of Rohan!” Aragorn bellowed. “What news from the Mark?”

At the front of the horses, a man, presumably their leader, signaled for the others to turn.

“I do not think that they will welcome us as friends, Aragorn,” Raina whispered, but did not remove her gaze from the Riders.

The four of them were quickly surrounded by the horses, and after a moment, a hundred spears pointed at their faces. Raina jumped back into Legolas, her eyes wide with fear and shock.

"What business does an Elf, a Man, a Dwarf and a girl have in the Riddermark?" The leader asked. Everyone looked to Aragorn, unsure of what to say or whether to trust themselves to speak.

“Speak quickly!”

"Give me your name, horsemaster, and I shall give you mine,” Gimli said like a smartass. Raina closed her eyes and her jaw locked. They were all going to die because of the Dwarf, she thought to herself. Aragorn laid a hand on Gimli’s shoulder to keep him from saying anything more.

The leader dropped off his horse and approached to four. Raina instinctively curled herself around Legolas as he wrapped an arm around her protectively. "I would cut off your head — Dwarf — if it stood but a little higher from the ground,” the man said with a smirk.

With this Legolas took his arm off Raina and notched an arrow at the Man.

“You would die before your blow fell.”

Raina bit her lip and flinched as spears got even closer, some touching her neck threateningly. She raised her head to avoid the weapon, and Legolas spun around to face her with wide eyes. He opened his mouth to say something else stupid, but she raised her arm and pushed his bow down. Raina could practically hear the thoughts of the Riders as they wondered why the Elf Prince was so protective over a little girl like herself.

The spears inched away from Raina after that, and awaited orders from the leader.

"I'm Aragorn, son of Arathorn,” Strider said calmly, trying to keep the attention away from the girl.

"This is Gimli, son of Glóin, and Legolas, from the Woodland realm.”

The leader nodded to Raina. “And her?”

Raina cleared her throat as she glared at the man. “Raina Maethoriel of the Shire.”

There was another murmur of curiosity from the Riders, but the leader silenced them as Aragorn spoke.

"We are friends of Rohan and of Théoden, your king."

"Théoden no longer recognizes friend from foe,” the leader said, and removed his helmet.

"Not even his own kin."

With this, all the spears were lifted from the four and Raina let out her held breath.

“Saruman has poisoned the mind of the king and claimed lordship over the lands. My company is those loyal to Rohan. And for that, we were banished.”

There was another pause. “The White Wizard is cunning. He walks here and there, they say, as an old man, hooded and cloaked,” the man looked over at the two Elves, as they stood together. “And everywhere his spies slip past our nets.”

“We are not spies!” Raina cried as she felt the Riders muscles tense for their weapons once more. Her face turned red as she glanced around out of nervousness because of all the attention drawn to herself. “We are simply looking for our friends.”

“We track a band of Uruk-Hai westward across the plains. They have taken two of our friends captive,” Aragorn clarified, looking at the leader in the eye.

"The Uruks are destroyed. We slaughtered them during the night." Raina’s face paled and she clutched Legolas’ chest for support.