Lord Of The Rings Fan Fiction ❯ The Rifleman ❯ The Girl From Gondor ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

do not own Lord of the Rings or any of it’s characters
I do ,however, own all OC’s that appear


Rochben slowly opened his eyes, sat up and looked around. He was sore, real sore, but he seemed to be alive. He suddenly realized that he was lying on a blanket and that there was a campfire, numerous supplies and a horse. Rochben gingerly pushed himself up off the ground. He heard what sounded like a struggle in the distance. He snatched up his rifle and ran in the direction of the struggle.

As he drew close he slid to a stop when he saw it appeared to be just someone practicing with a standard straight sword. Rochben looked closer and saw that it was actually a young woman around his age, about 20 years old. She had short, unkept, dirty blonde hair about shoulder length. He finally got a look at her face and was suddenly taken aback. She was very pretty. He just stood there watching her move gracefully for a few minutes until she suddenly noticed that he was watching.

Her face turned bright red. “How long have you been there?” She asked in a slightly frustrated tone

“Just a few minutes, your very good you know.”

“Whatever….” She replied dismissively, bumping into Rochben hard as she walked by him.

“What’s your problem?!”

“Oh I don’t have a problem!” she yelled, spinning around angrily. “I’m perfectly happy looking after a complete idiot who feels he has the need to throw himself off a cliff!”

“I didn’t have a choice! I was being chased!”

“BY WHO?! Bandits?! There are no bandits out here! There’s nothing out here but hobbits, woodsman, and drunks!! I don’t even know why I’m out here!” Tears were now starting to well up in her eyes. “I was at the top of my class! I was a better fighter, a better archer and a better strategist then anyone else in my regiment! And what do they decide to do with me?! They send me on a scouting mission to the middle of NOWHERE!! So yes, I do have a problem! But it’s none of your business!” With that being said she stormed back to the camp.

Rochben was surprised. He hadn’t expected that. He walked back to the camp deep in thought. As he approached the camp he saw that the girl was angrily stuffing supplies into a bag and lashing it to the back of the horse.

“How about you help me get to Rivendel?” he asked bluntly.
She paused for a moment then went back to what she was doing. “Why should I do that?”

“It’ll be dangerous.”

She paused again and this time turned to face Rochben. “Why would it be dangerous?”

“I’ll tell you this, you were right about my pursuers not being bandits. They were a whole lot worse then bandits”

She cocked her head to one side with interest. “Who were they?”

“Not who, what. Nine of ’em, all dressed in black cloaks and hoods, all riding black horses, all armed with long swords.”

“Why would they be chasing you?”

“I have information that could drastically change the face of your world forever.”

She gave him a quizzical look. “Your kidding right?”

Rochben gave her the most serious look he could manage. “Do I look like I’m kidding?”

She nodded slowly. “Alright, I’ll go with you to Rivendel, but first I want you to tell me what this information is.”

Rochben sat her down and explained everything that had happened to him in the last few days. He told her about the One Ring, Gandalf, and his roll in the trip, even about how he got his name.

“The One Ring? I’d heard stories but I didn’t think they were true…” she said with a look of deep thought on her face. “You have to pull your weight though, okay?”

“Just as long as we make good time”

“Okay good. If we leave now we can make Rivendel in a couple of days. Take that pack there okay?” She started leading the supply-laden horse through the woods as Rochben picked up the pack and threw it around his shoulder and picked up his rifle in his other hand. He then suddenly remember something.

“I just realized I don’t know your name.”

“Does that really matter?”

“I told you my name didn’t I? Besides we’re friends aren’t we?”
She blushed slightly “Yeah sure, whatever. It’s Miira”

Rochben started walking beside her. “Miira huh? Where ya from Miira?”

“Gondor.” She replied flatly

“Gondor?” Rochben remembered looking at a map of Middle Earth in Frodo and seeing the word “Gondor” Painted in the lower right hand corner. The area they were currently in would have been the top left hand corner of the map. “You really are a long way from home.”

“Ya think?” She said sarcastically.

Rochben smiled lightly, this was gonna be a long two days.

On the second day of the trip they stopped to do a little hunting. They spotted a deer from the top of a hill and Miira began to take out her bow but Rochben put up his hand.

“I’ll take this.” he said, taking out his rifle.

“What’re you gonna do Rochben? Run it down and beat it to death?” Miira stated sarcastically.

“Just watch okay?” Rochben smiled. Miira hadn’t seen him use his rifle yet, she must have thought it was a simple club with little metal bits on it. She was about to learn otherwise.

Rochben lined up his shot and pulled the trigger. The accompanying loud bang noise that fallowed surprised Miira so much that she fell over backwards and let out a small yelp. Rochben started to laugh loudly.

“That’s not funny!” Miira shouted from the ground in extreme agitation.

“Your right it’s not funny at all” Said Rochben, still laughing. He grabbed her hand and pulled her off the ground. She rose up and her face stopped mere inches away from his. Both their eyes widened in surprise at their sudden proximity but neither of them moved away. Rochben had never actually looked at Miira’s eyes before. They were a deep emerald green that he felt himself getting more and more lost in the longer he stared into her them.

Miira finally broke the painfully awkward moment. “We should go get that deer before a wolf comes and drags it off.” She said airily, still staring into his eyes.

“Yeah your right” Rochben responded lightly.

They broke their respective gazes and walked down to the deer and carried it back to the camp to cook it on a fire. The deer meat made for a good meal. The two travelers sat quietly for awhile until Miira once again broke the silence.

“We’ll get to Rivendel sometime tomorrow at around noon”

“Good good”

“So what’s up with that weapon of yours? Is it some kind of super bow?”

“I thought you might ask about it eventually.” He picked up his rifle and held it out in front of him. “It’s an Enfield .303 Bolt Action Rifle. It fires these rounds here” Rochben pulled a clip from his bag and handed it to Miira.

She made a face as she held it up in front of her. “You mean these little bits of metal killed that deer?”

“It travels way faster then any arrow. Does more damage too. Didn’t do a damn thing to those riders though, just kind of put them off balance from the impact.”

“The way you describe them makes them sound horrifying….”

“They are, they do this terrible scream that doesn’t even sound like anything from this world.”

Just then a ghostly scream penetrated the woods and the two travelers faces both turned an identical colour of white.

“And it sounds just like that.”

Miira jumped up and sliced the ropes holding the supplies to horse and jumped on the saddle. “We have to go. Now!.”

“No arguments here!” Rochben jumped on the saddle behind her

She spurred the horse forward and they sped through the forest. The scream sounded again, it was closer this time. Rochben pulled out his rifle and began to look out for the riders. They were clear for a while until they passed a large tree on their right. Rochben had taken note of the tree because a rider seemingly materialized from behind it.

“Look out!” Rochben yelled as he ducked and pushed Miira’s head down as a blade sailed over their heads. He gripped his rifle in both hands and rammed the rifle butt into the riders face causing him to veer off. Rochben heard hoofs to his left and brought the rifle sights up to his eyes and spotted the approaching rider. He fired off two shot keeping the rider away from them. The riders appeared and attacked one by one but Rochben managed to hold them off. This went on for several hours as they drew closer and closer to Rivendel. The travelers broke out of the forest into a field. In front of them was a rickety old bridge crossing a ravine. The ravine looked long and the bridge appeared to be the only way to cross the ravine for miles.

“There there! Cross that bridge!”

“No actually I was thinking I might try to jump across the gap!”

“Oh you’re hilarious!”

Rochben could hear one of the riders approaching from behind. He hooked his ankles up with Miira‘s, leaned back upside down and lifted up his rifle as they began to cross the bridge. He took careful aim and waited for the perfect moment

“What are you waiting for?! Shoot him!” Miira yelled impatiently

“I’m trying to concentrate!” Rochben growled back. He pulled the trigger and the bullet hit the horse squire in the front leg causing it to collapse forward breaking through the weakened bridge boards. Rochben and Miira made it across the bridge just in time and turned around to see the entire bridge break up and fall into the ravine, taking the rider with it. The other riders skidded to a stop just in front of the ravine and began screeching menacingly.

“Give it a rest you freaks.” Rochben sighed “Lets get out of here.”

“Sounds good to me.” Replied Miira, noticeably fatigued.

“You sound really tired, you wanna switch?”

“Yeah that sounds like a good idea.” She said, lazily sliding off the saddle. “Just keep following the road and you should be fine” Rochben scooted forward in the saddle and helped Miira get up behind him and tied his rifle to the side of the saddle with the strap. He was surprised when he felt her arms wrap around his waist, making his face turn bright red.

“Don’t get any ideas Mr. Smooth” she said making a face at him. “This is just so I don’t fall off.”

“Right, I knew that…”

Had Rochben looked back at that moment he would have seen Miira’s face turn a light shade of red as she leaned her head on his back and close her eyes. Rochben, still blushing, spurred the horse forward to a light trot and continued up the rode as the rising sun filtered through the trees ahead of them.