SEEKING REFUGE

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings. It belongs to Tolkien. Although Tony, Rebecca, Grettal Wayside, and Hillander are my characters.

Authors' note: This is my first Lord of The Rings fanfiction. This is not a mary sue in any shape, form, or fashion. Please read and review!

Chapter 1

"You'll never be anything! YOU ARE USELESS!" An angry voice screamed at her. An eleven year old girl cowered away in fear and doing so merely evoked her stepfather to strike her. A loud, resonating slap echoed around the dirty, ramshackle hut that her family called home. She fell to the floor in a heap, crying. Her little brother, only five years of age, was cringing in a corner watching the scene wide eyed with tears streaking down his chubby little cheeks. His tears left little rivulets that cleaned away the grime that caked his face. Her mother began shouting at him to leave her alone.

Tony, her little brother crawled over to her and held on to her tightly. He whispered softly in her ear, "Becka, I'm scared." He began to sob into her tangled, filth ridden, ebony hair.

Her family farmed for a living outside the town of Bree in middle earth. Unfortunately, the land had recently experienced a horrible drought that caused her family's small plot of crops to be completely devastated. They were on the verge of starvation.

Her stepfather had never treated her kindly. A steady pattern of abuse was steadily building. He blamed Rebecca and her mother for all of his misfortunes even though none of it was their fault. Every day he would scream at them and constantly degrade them, treating them lower than dirt. Like animals, he made them sleep on the floor with only a little straw for a bed and forced them to work in the field alongside him. If she or her mother did not complete a task on time or performed it incorrectly, he would beat them in front of her baby brother Tony. It seemed as of late, that he delighted in their pain and suffering.

Evil was spreading across the land like a wildfire and it seemed to have consumed her stepfather entirely. She was afraid of him and tried to stay away from him as much as possible. She spent time with her best friend Grettal Wayside whenever she could get away from home. Grettal was a hobbit girl that lived a few miles away, also dwelling near the settlement of Bree. It was from her friend that she heard the most wonderful stories from. They were stories of dragons, elves, dwarves, and the newly heard of evil that was beginning to reemerge after the long war of ages past. She oftentimes took Tony with her for fear that some evil deed would befall him if she were to leave him in the clutches of Hillander, her stepfather.

The screaming fight between her mother and stepfather abruptly ended. He glared daggers at her mother's retreating form and then turned back towards her. His eyes blazed with fury and hate. He was seething with unbridled anger and a strong sense of evil practically oozed from him in dark waves.

"Get out of my sight! And take the little beggar with you," he spat.

She clambered awkwardly to her feet and clasped her brother's hand tightly within her own before hastening out of the makeshift door. They ran for a ways before looking back to assure that they were safe and weren't being followed. They then walked in silence the rest of the way to Grettal's house.

Grettal met them at the front door and they ambled off towards their secret hideaway which was a makeshift tent at the base of a tree. It was located at the bottom of the hill where Grettal lived and was sitting near a small muddied little lake. Unfortunately, this small lake was their source of water for bathing, drinking, cooking, and washing clothes.

They settled themselves down inside the makeshift tent in a semicircle and Grettal began a new story. This story was the newest one that Rebecca and Tony had heard thus far. It was about the elves that lived in a faraway place where the air was clean, the water was pure, and the trees were the lushest green ever seen. The elves were immortal and the fairest race in all of middle earth. They had powers that no one else possessed, powers of healing and of foresight. They could tell if you were sensing the truth or not. And they were from what Grettal described, very close to nature. Rumor had it that they could smell you from miles away and that the trees were their friends and would whisper secrets to them.

The tale continued long into the afternoon until dusk was nearly upon them. Rebecca and Tony thanked Grettal for the tale and wished her farewell before starting the long trek back home.

The sun had almost disappeared over the horizon and darkness seeped over the land. One by one, the stars above twinkled to life and the night time creatures took up their evening calls.

Tony clung onto her hand a little more tightly than before. He was afraid of the dark although he never truly admitted it. Admitting ones fears aloud to the world and within earshot of her stepfather was a dangerous thing to do. Rebecca learned this the hard way only years before. When she was seven she admitted aloud that she was afraid of spiders. Her stepfather that same night made sure that a big one found its way into her bed and forced her to kill it despite her pleas. After that frightful incident she put on a brave face and made it appear that she wasn't afraid of them any more, or anything for that matter. He left her alone soon after.

As they neared their home, screaming drifted to them upon the wind. Only there were no words. The screaming intensified and echoed down the little dirt lane. Rebecca got off of the road and she and her brother crouched in the bushes not too far from the house. It was her mother screaming. It was frightful and pain filled. She and her brother covered their ears and began to shake with a fright of their own. Then as suddenly as it began, the screaming was abruptly cut off.

The makeshift door was splintered to pieces as a body crashed through it and rolled lifelessly into the grass. Rebecca covered her brothers' eyes and whispered in his ear for him to keep still and absolutely quiet. She was shaking and was afraid that the very refuge of the bushes would give her away with all of the rustling she was making. She saw her stepfather stagger out of the house with a knife. It was glistening in the starlight. He tossed it aside before kicking the body on the way down the lane towards Bree.

Fortunately, they were not noticed and the rustling in the bushes was mistaken for the soft, warm summer night's breeze that drifted through the country side.

To be continued…