So Much for Fellowship

Author's Note: All characters, proper names of locations, and events are accredited to the creative genius of J.R.R. Tolkien, to whose memory I bow deeply and offer homage.

Also, PLEASE remember that this is an Alternate Universe story, and therefore many details and events will be very different from “The Fellowship of the Ring” as presented by Tolkien in his trilogy or Peter Jackson in his films. Understand that this was done while I was in full possession of my mental capacities, and please do not flame me.




Legolas looked upon the one who had approached him with surprise. This individual, he had not expected.

Gimli stood about a foot away from the sharp tip of the arrow, his wide eyes staring down the length and meeting Legolas’s with no small amount of shock. He lifted both hands in a wary gesture of neutrality, as if afraid that his friend had gone mad and might think he meant to attack instead of merely stand there and hope the weapon was lowered. “Easy, lad,” he coaxed.

Legolas made his annoyance clear. His tone was tight as he snapped, “If you were trying to get yourself killed, Master Dwarf, sneaking up on me is a very effective way to go about it.”

“I made plenty of noise!” Gimli protested, his irritation becoming clear as well.

The Elf rolled his eyes, but carefully loosened his taut grip on the bowstring and removed the arrow. “I suspect so, as you have proven yourself incapable of being stealthy on more than one occasion. I do ask, however, that you never come upon me like that again.”

The Dwarf swallowed a scathing rebuttal, instead focusing on the biggest issue at hand. “Did you locate Aragorn and Boromir?”

“No,” the Elf replied, sounding and looking utterly miserable. “They were not here when I arrived, and I have seen no sign of either one.”

Gimli tried to be optimistic in spite of the sudden, irrational anxiety that came over him like a wave. “Boromir might be looking for the Hobbits.”

Legolas was dubious. “And what of Aragorn?”

Gimli shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. They had no reason yet, after all, to worry. Why fly into an all-out frenzy for what could very well be nothing? “Fool lad’s probably off gathering herbs.”

"Herbs," Legolas repeated incredulously.

“He’s a healer,” the Dwarf reminded him.

The Elf, for his part, was not nearly as casual. He appeared ready to explode. “Who is he going to heal, Gimli?! The injured Orcs?! Boromir?!” Helplessly, he gestured around them with both arms. “In case you failed to notice, there’s no one here!”

“Legolas, calm down.”

“Calm down?! Our friends are missing, and you’re telling me to ca—” He stopped suddenly as a knot twisted in his stomach. "Where are the Hobbits?"

Gimli thought for a moment. "Frodo had wandered off for a bit of peace, as I recall, and the others were beginning preparations for an early supper."

"Frodo had wandered..." Legolas looked around, suddenly nervous. “Where did he—” He stopped suddenly as a patch of brush relatively nearby rustled loudly. Legolas's sharp eyes narrowed as he drew his knives and watched the branches quivering.

He looked to Gimli, who gripped his axe and nodded grimly. Perhaps it was a wounded Orc, left behind so it wouldn't slow down the group. Or perhaps it was a simple forest creature.

One way to find out.



Silently and slowly, they crept forward and watched as it shook again. Gimli motioned to Legolas, and they hurried up to and parted the thick, tall undergrowth, simultaneously exposing a Hobbit each; Merry and Pippin were huddled close together on the ground, half-buried in leaves and looking up at them in relief.

“What were you two doing, hiding away like that?!” Gimli couldn’t help but scold. “You’re lucky we decided to look before we hacked you to pieces!”

“We’re sorry,” Pippin said quietly, “but we were afraid you’d do that very thing if we came out and surprised you.”

“Where are Aragorn and Boromir?” Legolas could not hold the question back another second.

“They…they left.” Merry frowned.

“After they tied up Aragorn,” Pippin added.

“They?” Gimli was perplexed. “Who are ‘they,’ Master Took?”

“Boromir and the Uruk-Hai.”

Legolas felt his stomach churn. Uruk-Hai!¬ He bowed his head for a moment and fought off a sudden, rather unusual wave of nausea. So Boromir secured the loyalty of Saruman’s company. How fortunate for us. He forced himself from his pessimistic thoughts and turned his full attention back to the current situation. “He was bound?” he asked, watching Pippin’s face closely. The youngest Hobbit trembled beneath the Elf’s hard stare. Legolas did not mean to be intimidating, of course, but he was obviously well-versed in the art of interrogation. “You saw the Uruk-Hai tie Aragorn’s limbs?”

“Y-Yes, I-I did.”

“Was Aragorn…” Legolas trailed off, and a pained expression crossed his fair features. “Was he…”

“Alive?” Merry supplied, his voice cracking just a bit. “I’m…not sure. He was shot.”

“Shot?!” In about two long strides, Legolas was upon Merry. He practically lifted the Hobbit off the ground as he grabbed him by the collar. Merry winced as the Elf’s stark blue eyes bore into his. “What happened? Who shot Aragorn? Where did he and Boromir go?” Legolas’s tone was demanding, but Merry was still too stunned by the Elf’s sudden, uncharacteristically rough movements to reply coherently. He stammered something unintelligible, and finally resorted to a wary shrug of his shoulders.

“Legolas!” Gimli barked. The Elf turned sharply, as if he had been startled out of deep thought. “Put the lad down. You’re frightening him.”

Sheepishly, Legolas offered Merry an apologetic look and released him gently. “My sincere apologies, Master Meriadoc.”

The Hobbit cleared his throat as he brushed himself off. “No harm done,” he answered casually, trying to sound like it hadn’t rattled him a bit.

Legolas’s patience was fading rapidly, but he struggled to keep himself composed this time. He hadn’t meant to scare Merry, but it was clear that he had, and he felt awful. So he took a slow breath, and asked quietly, “Can you recount what happened?”

“It all happened so fast, and I was trying to hide, so I didn’t see everything. I’m sorry, Legolas, Gimli, but I don’t know much. Perhaps Pippin saw more.” He looked to Pippin, who shook his head sadly. Merry sighed. “We were both too confused to keep up with it. I still don’t understand what happened, actually. I may not be of much use to you.”

“Do your best, lad,” Gimli prodded. Legolas was relieved to hear the tightness in his friend’s gruff voice; evidently, the Dwarf too was wound up with anticipation about what had happened to the men.

“We heard the horn, and came here to see what was going on. Boromir was just standing here, blowing on it as if his life depended on it, but the Orcs—“

Pippin cut in. “Uruks.”

Trying to hide his annoyance, Merry ignored his cousin and continued, “Well, they were just standing around with him. It was like they were waiting. Pippin and I just stayed here and tried to be as quiet as possible, because we didn’t know what Boromir was going to do or who he was trying to get the attention of in the first place. Then Strider showed up, and when he tried to fight them off, he was shot.”

“Who shot him?” Legolas asked for the second time.

“An Orc shot him.”

“A Uruk,” Pippin corrected again.

Merry rolled his eyes. “It’s the same thing, Pip.”

His cousin was insistent. “Uruks are bigger!”

“You heard Gandalf! They’re the same!”

“They are completely diff—” Pippin trailed off into silence when Legolas held up a hand, looking a bit frustrated.

“Then what happened?” It was Gimli who spoke this time.

Merry thought for a moment. “They picked up Strider and put him on a…” The proper term was eluding him, and he closed his eyes and pursed his lips a bit as if that might help him think of it.

“Litter,” Legolas supplied. He had dropped into a crouch and was rubbing his temples.

The Hobbit was relieved that one of the individuals present knew the correct word for the apparatus, but he felt a little ignorant for not knowing it himself. “Yes, a litter. Then they left.”

“You forgot the most important part, Merry!” Pippin chimed in, his brows knitted together. “You forgot to tell them that Boromir had the Ring!”

The Elf and the Dwarf now sported identical expressions of horrified disbelief. Legolas, who had more or less seen this coming, was the first of the two to regain the ability to speak. “Which way did they go?”

“They went that way.” Pippin pointed south.

Legolas turned in the direction Pippin had indicated, and there was murder in his eyes. He was beginning to entertain some pretty terrible fantasies about what he might do to Boromir if they ever caught up to him. “Directly that way?” he asked, and did not look pleased when Pippin nodded.

“South? They’re headed toward Mordor?” Gimli was confused. “Why would Boromir take the Ring to Sauron?”

Legolas shook his head. “Mordor is farther east. They’re headed toward Gondor.”

Gimli muttered a Dwarvish curse beneath his breath, beginning to pace in small circles. He was quickly putting the puzzle pieces together, and the picture so far did not look promising.



Suddenly, Legolas sprang to his feet. “Frodo! Sam!” Gimli looked up, his expression quickly shifting from startled to anxious. “Where are they?” Merry and Pippin winced and shrugged in perfect unison.

Everyone fell silent for a moment; then the Dwarf posited hopefully, “They might have gone back to camp, knowing we all would return there eventually.”

“I’m going back.” Legolas was already walking away. “We must find them.”

“Wait! We don’t know what’s out there!” Pippin’s protests were likely futile, but he felt the need to voice them anyway.

“They might need us,” Gimli replied. It was clear he was as determined to go back as Legolas, so Pippin sighed and gave up, looking to Merry with worried blue eyes. Merry bit his lip. They did not want to see any more Uruks for the time being, but it seemed their friends Frodo and Sam might need them.

“Hurry!” Legolas called over his shoulder, already beginning to run now through the trees. Gimli began to head that way too, not far behind the Elf. Merry and Pippin hesitated a moment, but then realized if they didn’t follow, they’d be alone. Frightened even more by that prospect, they hurried after the two warriors.



To be continued…