I. Runaway

            I had to keep going, I could not stop. Stopping meant defeat and capture for me. I did not want to be in the hands of anyone anymore, I wanted to be free. I wanted to live somewhere in peace without a creep of worry in the back of my mind that someone would come searching for me.

            Of course, I could wish for freedom all I wanted, it was not the same as actually receiving it.

            I was lucky I had managed to make it this far, though I had no idea where I was. I had no map on me, and I did not know the land as well as I should have, being that, for a while now, I had been doing nothing but traveling. I did not do so because I wanted to, it was because I was forced to.

            Even now, as I was alone, roaming the lands of Middle-earth, I was forced to move. I could not let them find me again; I would find no peace or kindness with them. What I craved most right now was a fresh, kind face that would take me to the nearest city, help me recover, and hopefully hide me well enough so that they would never find me again.

            Even though the journey should not have tired me, it did. Being alone, tired, hungry, and thirsty did not make the venture any better. If anything, these things made it worse. I desperately hoped for the sight of a city close by—all I had been stuck with for a while now had been the view of mountains in the distance. I looked to my right to see my large companions in the distance. At times, I had considered heading for them to see if there was civilization there and, if I was extremely lucky, a source of food and water.

            My stomach rumbled at me for the fourth time today, and it was just hitting high noon. My arms hugged my torso immediately, wishing it could find something to quiet it. I had not eaten in days; the same could be said for drinking anything. I once considered digging up grass and eating dirt—I became that frantic. If I did not find anything soon, I would die in the middle of nowhere.

            I shuddered at the thought. Though I had lived a long life, as Elves do, I still felt as though I had plenty of years ahead of me. I could not remember the last time I had seen anything that did not involve angry Men shouting, cursing, or attacking innocents or animals. I could not remember the last time I did not hear news of bad things going on, or did not hear a grueling story that gave me nightmares that same night.

I lived many years being surrounded by darkness and evil. I felt as though that period swallowed up the majority of my life. Sometimes the evil times became so prominent in my mind that I started to forget the perks in my life before the evil came into it.

This was the downside to being immortal: you saw many things over the years, heard things, experienced things, whether good or bad. Thinking about it, I had seen, heard, and experienced more horrible things that decent ones.

            It was a funny thing, being immortal, yet there were still ways I could die. I could be killed, or I could simply give up the will to live and let death claim me. Right now, I knew the latter would happen soon enough. I could not do much to care for myself at this point with no food, no water, and no form of help.

I stumbled, falling onto my knees, hunching over. Nappy, blonde hair became blinders on both sides of my face. My lower lip quivered, I closed my eyes. This was happening more often, me curling into a ball and sobbing. Crying was a common thing for me now, as I had done it for so many years.  

It was nice to not hear insults thrown at me as I cried. It was nice to be alone, though at the same time it hurt to be by myself. I was more vulnerable than ever.

Past my sobbing, I heard something faint. I swallowed the last few sobs to listen. Though it sounded distant, I would recognize the sound anywhere: hoof beats.

 I paled, popping my eyes open. One of them had found me. They had finally caught up to me. I was as good as dead no matter what at this point. Whether death took me or they took me, my time here in Middle-earth was about to end.

Still, the least I could do was try to buy myself some time by running. My brain wondered what the point was when I could not outrun a horse. It was a natural response, to flee from whatever was coming after me.

I pulled myself together, forcing my legs to sprint. I felt like I was pushing my limits, yet I made minimal progress. I felt like I was running in water with the way I was moving. The hooves were gaining quicker than I had anticipated. Soon enough, they would reach me. I would be caught. Maybe if I was lucky, my death would be here. Maybe one of them would kill me themselves, saving me the pain of being murdered by all of them.

Oh, who was I kidding? They had no ounce of mercy in their bodies. They would not know the emotion if it bit them in the behind.

I was an easy target. I had nothing to defend myself with, and I knew from many past experiences that I could not best them when it came to physical encounters.

My head pounded fiercely, making me groan slightly. My vision was spinning. I staggered to one side, keeling over. I hit the ground harshly, landing on my forearm first. Fretting, I crawled along the ground even though I knew there was no point.

The hooves were practically on top of me now. I gave up, throwing my arms over my head, tucking my head to the ground. The hooves stopped. I did not dare lift up my head, I knew what awaited me should I look: death.

The horse’s labored panting was interrupted by the soft dismount of its rider. My heart thudded in my chest anxiously. I knew my end was coming. I quivered where I cowered. Just kill me while I am like this, I pleaded. I do not want this to be dragged out even though it most likely will be.

“Are you alright, miss?” a careful voice asked.

My brows came together. Since when was I ever referred to as ‘miss’? The names I knew were ‘girl,’ ‘Elf,’ ‘babe,’ and ‘sweetheart,’ though the names were not said with sweetness. This new pet name did not sound like it dripped malice in any way. Still, it could be an act, I pondered.

“Miss?” the voice asked again. I did not pick up my head.

I yelped and sprung alive when a hand touched my shoulder. I had a pratfall; my vision swam dangerously, showing me doubles of a figure before me. As the doubles advanced on me, I scooted back, my light blue eyes wide in fear.

“Easy,” said the doubles, which were now converging into one person. “Settle down, miss.”

My chest heaved rapidly, my heart would not calm down. As the doubles finally blended into one, my eyes were met with a young Man. He was not what I expected; he was not one of them. Well, he did not appear to look like one of them.His stringy hair fell to his shoulders in dark blond locks, his brown eyes showed endless concern for me. Concern? Since when had any Man’s eyes showed concern for me?

I was beginning to think that this young Man here meant me no harm. Still, I was very wary, still inclined to believe my theory about him being one of them.

“I won’t hurt you.” I snorted in response. How could I believe a word that came out of his mouth? “Are you lost?”

Cautiously, I bobbed my head, my eyes never leaving the young Man.

“Do you know where you’re headed?”

To this, I shook my head. I did not know where I was to begin with.

“You seem pretty spooked. What’s happened to you?”

If only I was brave enough to tell him the things I had gone through. I could not find it in me to divulge my past to a Man I barely knew.

“Listen, you are in the middle of nowhere right now,” the young Man told me. “And you look like you need some help. I’m sure my steed can carry one more.”

I gave the Man a you-do-not-dare kind of look despite how frightened and confused I was at the moment.

“You must have gone through something terrible if you aren’t opening up to me. Usually strangers never stop talking to me.” The Man chuckled to himself. “I’m heading to the White City, which is roughly a little over a day from where we are currently. I can take you there.”

My ears perked up at this news. The White City—wherever that was—was my ticket to getting help!

“I see that caught your interest,” the Man noted. “Come with me, I’ll give you a leg up, and I’ll take you with me. What do you say?”

Despite this Man being a total stranger to me, I slowly nodded. The young Man smiled, and then ambled over to me. He tried to help me up, but I gently pushed him away. Slowly, I got to my feet. I looked at the young Man’s steed. He was beautiful with his gray coloring and darker coloring along his legs.

I took maybe ten steps before my legs collapsed under me. The young Man was at the ready to catch me before I face planted in the grass.

“You’re really bad,” he muttered under his breath. “I know you will protest, but you won’t make it on the horse in your weak state.”

            Swiftly, the young Man pulled me into his arms. My mind immediately protested the contact, as his firm grip reminded me of their harsh grips, but my body was too worn out to do anything about it. My mind was also starting to fall asleep on me.

            “Stay awake a little longer, miss, just until I get you in the saddle,” the Man urged me. He lugged me over to his gray steed, where, with a small effort from me, he got me sitting up in the saddle. He quickly threw himself in behind me.

            My body sagged against his, my head rested on his shoulder; I was too tired to care about anything at this point. My mind was now attached to the small hope of me being in a place far away from them.

            “Hopefully I can get you to the city in less than a day, you might only have that much time left in your state,” the Man continued to talk to himself. “I know there will be people there that can help you.”

            I heard the Man kick his horse once. His companion shot forward, hooves thundering against the earth. The rhythm lulled me to sleep.

            I prayed that I would wake up instead of remaining in an endless slumber. 

**Not what you expected, huh? This story will be unlike any of the LOTR fan fictions that you see here on Wattpad. It may seem a bit slow in the beginning...or it may not. I promise things pick up in this story quite quickly.