Aragorn: 17 years old

Aragorn had entered Mirkwood with Tarish at his side. The forest was much different from the one back in Rivendell. This forest was gloomy and dark. It made Aragorn's heart feel heavy and made him want to lay down and sleep. All he was feeling was probably what Elrond had warned him about.

After about an hour of wondering through the woods blindly he stopped in his tracks as he heard a twig crack from behind him. He turned around slowly and scanned the trees around him. Tarish neighed loudly and lifted on his hind legs. Aragorn wondered if the forest could affect a horse.

Aragorn took a step towards the noise he heard and assumed it was an animal or insect. He kept walking. He looked down to his feet and felt like he was walking backwards. His head was spinning out of control and he couldn't think straight anymore. All around him was tree after tree and they all looked the same.

Soon Aragorn came to a river. His first thought was "water!" But as he rushed over to the water, he remembered what Elrond had told him about it. He had said it would make him fall asleep for a long while. Aragorn's throat was so dry and it was hard not to reach out and drink the water.

He directed Tarish away from the water and kept walking on and on. Aragorn sat down on a nearby boulder to rest for a while and think about what to do.

"We are lost, Tarish. I am sorry," Aragorn whispered and bowed his head in shame.

Tarish grunted in response and nudged Aragorn's arm. At first, he only smiled and pat the horse's snout. But the horse kept bumping into Aragorn's arm.

"What?" Aragorn asked feeling a little annoyed and tired.

Tarish stepped back a little ways and snorted. Aragorn stood up and watched his loyal horse confused. Tarish turned around and started trotting through the dense forest.

"Wait, come back!" Aragorn said and ran after his horse on wobbly legs.

Tarish trotted faster as he jumped over rocks and logs. Aragorn followed behind thinking he had nothing better to do. Tarish stopped once he got to a large tree and started smelling the air. Aragorn watched him closely, but did not smell anything out of sorts.

He looked to the ground, which made him even more dizzy. He crouched down and studied the ground. The dirt was covered in boot prints and hoof marks.

"Do you smell Elrond?" Aragorn asked Tarish, "Or Arwen?"

Tarish continued smelling the air and then the ground in response. Aragorn cleared his head the best he could and moved in front of Tarish. He walked a little ways as he studied the ground. He continued to follow wherever he saw prints on the ground. Suddenly the marks on the ground stopped as the ground turned to stone.

Aragorn crouched down to feel the stone. It was cold and hard as normal stone would be. He looked up and could not believe what he saw.

"That's it!" Aragorn practically shouted, "It must be! Dol Guldur?"

Tarish neighed and stopped beside his owner. Aragorn was looking straight at a horrid looking castle out in the distance. The castle looked as if it use to be a wonderful place, but got broken down somehow. It was just the ruins now.

Maybe from a battle long ago?

The remains of the castle were tall, broken slabs of black stone sky high. The place sat on a tall hill about a half mile away. All the trees were dead around the fortress and there was no green in sight except for behind Aragorn in the magic forest of Mirkwood.

Aragorn could see no Elves in sight which he thought strange. They should have been here by now. He had obviously taken a longer time than the Elves.

There was another sound from behind that Aragorn heard and he spun around. He hadn't gotten the chance to turn around fully before he was seized from the back and lifted off the ground and onto another horse.

A/N: Whoah! What happened?! You will find out soon! :D

Happy birthday John Rys-Davies! (5-5-17)