East of Rohan.
Amon Hen Mountains.
The orange light group in the sky sank to the west.
The cold wind at dusk raged across the land.
When time completely passes through late autumn, we enter the coldest winter of the year.
The whole world has become extremely cold and desolate.
evening.
Under the dim sky.
Four figures of different heights were running quickly along a dry river.
These four are naturally the four members of the expedition team, Morgan Gandalf and the dwarf Gimli of Legolas.
Three days ago.
Start next to the forest not far from Lalos Falls.
In order to save the two young hobbits, Merry and Pippin, who were captured, the four-person team followed the orcs' movements and followed closely behind them.
The front of the team.
Legolas quickly rushed up to a boulder and looked into the distance along the direction of the curving dry river.
"there?"
Morgan stood not far behind Legolas and asked loudly while looking at Legolas who was observing.
The eyes of elves are different from those of mortals.
Although Morgan knew a little about it before, he didn't feel very special about it.
But now, in the past few days, I have seen the miraculous performance of Legolas' pathfinding.
It made him feel that the elves' eyes were indeed different.
No, it was the eyes of Legolas, Prince of Mirkwood, that were different.
Legolas was still observing the road ahead.
Morgan stood behind him, and as soon as he stretched out his hand, a large water bag filled with water appeared in his hand.
After opening the bottle cap, Morgan took the big water bag and poured it into his mouth.
"Gulu gulu..."
The big water bag flattened at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Gandalf stepped forward and stopped beside Morgan.
"call..."
After a while, Morgan finally put down the big water bag in his hand, burped, and then reached out and handed the water bag to Gandalf, who was waiting beside him: "Here..."
Gandalf took the water bag without hesitation and started drinking.
In the past three days, the water in Gandalf's Gimli has been used the fastest, and the water he brought with him has been drunk long ago.
Legolas seemed to need much less water than the other three companions, and there was actually a lot left in the water bag he brought with him.
At this time, Legolas turned back, pointed in the distance and loudly said: "Still over there, they haven't left this dry river yet."
After saying that, he took off the water bag hanging in the bag on his back and drank.
Morgan took the water bag from Gandalf, turned to look at the dwarf Gimli who was holding his knees with his hands and panting not far behind him and shouted: "Go on."
As he said that, he casually threw the remaining half of the water bag back.
Jinli took the water bag, immediately opened the mouth of the bottle, and drank heavily.
Because he drank too quickly, water spilled from the corner of Gimli's mouth until his beard was almost soaked, and then he put down the water bag.
There is not much water left in the water bag.
Satisfied, Jinli wiped the water stains from his mouth, casually hung the water bag on his waist, and walked towards the two people in front.
"Let's go..."
"Are Merry and Pippin still waiting for us?"
Morgan said and immediately strode forward.
Soon, he came to Legolas, who was putting away his exquisite water bag.
"How about, how far are we from those orcs?"
Morgan said, also following Legolas' gaze and looking far ahead.
But apart from only a few traces of the orcs' movement, nothing else could be seen.
The wind is too strong here.
It's easy to cover up the traces and scent of those orcs.
Legolas is different.
Not only can you clearly find the direction of the orcs' actions.
And as long as the distance is not too far, he can even calculate how long it will take to catch up with the opponent.
"If the speed of the orcs remains unchanged and our speed remains unchanged, it should only take us one day to see each other."
Legolas said looking at Morgan.
"I'm not sure about Essinger's orc speed, but our speed can definitely be guaranteed."
"Right Gimli?"
Morgan said, looking at the dwarf who was still panting and walking behind him and asked with a smile.
"Of course, dwarves have always had good endurance and speed."
Gimli, who followed Gandalf, immediately answered without any doubt.
"Let's go, we can't rest for too long..."
At this time, Gandalf came over and said, "Those two little guys are still waiting for us..."
Take a break.
The four-person team continued on the road.
Sunrise and sunset.
The moon rises and the moon sets.
There is no time to rest even at night.
The team of four ran wildly into the night, striding towards the darkness.
...
Essinger.
Inside the high circular wall.
In the huge underground gap, flames shot into the sky, thick smoke billowed, and the roar of machines was everywhere.
The old garden with birds and green trees has long disappeared.
What replaced it was flames, thick smoke, killing, and a large and dense army of strong orcs.
The upper floors of the majestic Stone Tower of Orthanc.
In the solemn hall made of black marble.
Saruman, a wizard in white robes, is receiving an unexpected visitor.
He is tall, has a weathered face, and wears a mix of slightly old leather armor and steel mail armor. It can be clearly seen that the other person's living conditions are by no means wealthy.
However, at this time, except for Saruman, the other existences in Isengard were half-orcs and strong orcs, and there were almost no other free races.
But the person standing in front of Saruman's stone throne was clearly a human being.
But this human being in front of him is not simple.
Because he is one of the leaders of the Dark Barbarians.
Because he heard the reason why Saruman wanted to attack his enemy Rohan, he came here specifically to pledge his allegiance in order to gain enough benefits in the next war against Rohan.
Having said that, I will briefly mention it here.
Since the First Age, humanity has been divided into two groups.
One group joined the free races to help the elves fight against the Dark Lord, and eventually learned a lot of knowledge and various crafts from the elves.
The other branch is loyal to the forces of the Dark Lord of the Rings and becomes the opponent's minions, specifically dealing with other free races on the righteous side.
In front of him, standing in front of Saruman, was the Dunlander (also known as the Dunlander) he represented.
At this point it's the latter.
Because of his hatred against the Kingdom of Rohan, he could not rely on his own strength to deal with them.
So naturally there was a plan to join the more powerful Saruman.
"On behalf of all the people under my command, I am willing to be loyal to you and willing to fight for you!"
The middle-aged Dunlund leader stood in front of Saruman and spoke solemnly.
Even though he guessed the purpose of the guy in front of him coming to see him, when he actually heard what the other person said, Saruman immediately became extremely happy and excited.
But Saruman's acting skills have always been very good. He looked at the other party with a calm face and said without any fluctuation in his tone: "Loyalty is more than just words. I need your oath!"
The leader of the Black Barbarian Land was obviously prepared for this. He immediately pulled out the dagger from his waist and started making gestures on the other palm.
The blood oath has always been the highest and most solemn oath for the Dunlund people. Saruman, who knows something about the Dunlund people, knows it very well.
When the blood fell from his palm, the middle-aged leader held the blood and the dagger and saluted respectfully to Saruman: "From now on, I will continue to fight for Saruman until I die!"
Seeing the other party's actions and vows, Saruman was extremely satisfied.
However, he heard clearly what the other party just said, and then asked in a cold voice: "What do you mean, do you think there are still objections to joining me in your tribe?"
"I dare not hide it from my master, there is indeed..."
The middle-aged leader immediately answered and called himself one of Saruman's subordinates.
"Then take me and see who dares to resist Isengard's orders and Saruman's orders!"
Hearing different voices, Saruman immediately spoke coldly.
Soon, the white-robed wizard Saruman, with the leader of the Dark Barbarian Land behind him, and an army of strong orc warriors, headed out of the Essinger Circular Square.
...
Rohan.
The most important city "Edoras" Royal City is located at the foot of the White Mountains.
The palace of the kings of Rohan: Meduseld (also known as the "Golden Palace") is located at the highest point of the entire royal city.
At this time, in the brightly lit, spacious and luxurious palace hall.
A middle-aged man wearing luxurious royal robes and a golden crown, with a rickety figure, pale face and dull eyes, was sitting curled up on the throne in the center of the hall.
Not far in front of him.
There were two people standing at this time.
A tall human man with a sword on his waist, armor and armor.
The other one is a girl with beautiful long golden hair, tall figure, fair skin, beautiful blue eyes, and elegant temperament.
Curling up on the throne is the current king of the Kingdom of Rohan, "Théoden".
The tall man standing in front of him not far away is the Marshal of the Guards and Banners of the Kingdom of Rohan and the son of the sister of King Théoden of Rohan, that is, his nephew "Eomer".
Next to Éomer, a beautiful girl with long golden hair, fair skin, elegant temperament, and a perfect figure outlined by a tight dress is called "Eowyn".
Éowyn is the niece of Théoden, King of Rohan, and the biological sister of Éomer.
"Your Majesty, your son is seriously injured now..."
Éowyn spoke softly, and Éomer immediately answered: "Théojed was ambushed, and it was the orcs who did it."
The two brothers and sisters finished speaking.
I saw my uncle in front of me, the once extremely wise King of Rohan, but now he could only sit on the throne with his eyes blank, silent, like a zombie.
"Your Majesty, if we cannot defend our territory..."
Seeing his uncle's face dull, as if he had not heard what he and his sister said, Éomer was dissatisfied, but had no choice but to speak again in a deep voice: "Sooner or later, all our territory will be taken away by Saruman. !”
The heavy words fell.
At this time, a sudden voice suddenly came out.
"Nonsense..."
Accompanied by the appearance of this voice.
Another man with an unusually pale complexion, a temperament as gloomy as a poisonous snake, and wearing a black robe came out.
"The white-robed wizard Saruman has been our ally for a long time. How could he plunder our land?"
The man in black robe refuted Éomer's words and walked into the hall with a gloomy expression.
King Théoden, who was curled up on the throne, felt as if he was seeing his closest relative and someone to rely on when he saw the man in black robes. He immediately said feebly: "Grima..."
"Grima..."
Grima: Nicknamed "Tongue", he is ostensibly the chief advisor to King Théoden of Rohan. But in fact, Saruman, who was secretly serving Isengard, informed him and disrupted the government of Rohan, but he has always won the trust of King Théoden.
Éomer withdrew his eyes from Grima, the traitor and traitor, took a deep breath, continued to look at his uncle and said solemnly: "Orcs are rampant in our land, killing wantonly, and no one can stop them... ."
"And, I found evidence..."
Éomer said as he casually threw a steel breastplate hidden behind him in front of King Théoden's throne.
It is a piece of armor with the mark of the white palm.
"What else do you have to say, Grima?"
Éomer looked coldly at the black-robed viper squatting in front of the throne and asked coldly.
Grima's expression changed after being slapped in the face, but he quickly reacted. He looked at Éomer and said, "You know your uncle is worried about you, and you still bother him with these things?"
"Worried about me?" Éomer asked.
"Of course, I'm worried that you only think about having a war with Saruman all day long, and you only think about leading Rohan into the abyss of a war of destruction."
Grima, hiding in the shadows, stared at Éomer coldly with his bloodless viper eyes and said coldly: "You traitor with impure motives!"
"Am I a traitor?"
Hearing this word, at this moment, Éomer's heart was instantly swallowed up by endless anger. He finally couldn't bear it anymore, strode forward, grabbed Grima's chest, and said hatefully: "You are the one It's Grima the traitor!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Éomer threw the Grima in his hand.
The moment he took action, Éomer had realized something was wrong, but he couldn't help it anymore.
But he didn't have time to think about it.
The sound of rapid footsteps immediately came from outside the hall.
The four guards rushed in quickly and caught Éomer who was not resisting.
Grima slowly stood up, spit out blood, and then took out a bright yellow paper roll from his arms.
Opening the scroll, Grima took the expulsion order stamped with King Théoden's seal, walked up to Éomer, and mocked: "From today on, you will be expelled from all the territories of Rohan. Never set foot in Rohan again..."
...
East of Rohan.
A team of four, Morgan Gandalf and Legolas Kingli, were running fast through the continuous dry river.
"Quick, this way!"
"Those orcs accelerated, maybe they discovered us..."
Legolas ran quickly at the front of the team and kept talking.
At this time, Morgan, who was following behind, suddenly saw a green leaf button that had been trampled into the sand on the ground.
"Lórien's leaves don't fall for no reason..."
Morgan looked at the leaf pin in his hand, which was the pin on the elf cloak given to everyone in the expedition by Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel of Lothlorien. He knew it very well.
"Indeed, they might still be alive."
Gandalf, who arrived behind, looked at the green pin leaf in Morgan's hand and spoke in a deep voice.
"There is still hope, speed up..."
The two looked at each other and saw this meaning in each other's eyes.
Time passed slowly.
When the orange sunset in the western sky sets again.
The world fell into darkness.
Morgan's four-person team finally saw from a distance the large black orcs surrounding the burning bonfire next to the forest ahead.
