Disclaimer: All characters, places, names, language and other, related to The Lord of the Rings belong to J.R.R Tolkien. The books used as resource and inspiration is: "The Lord of the Rings (illustrated by Alan Lee) published in 1991." "A guide to Tolkien" by David Day, "The Atlas of Middle earth" by Karen Wynn Fonstad. Any similarity to characters not related to the books is entirely coincidental. Any original characters belong to me.
Chapter I: The Prancing PonyShe took one last look over her shoulder, when she saw no one she took another step.
Her pulse quickened and her palms became clammy from sweat. Biting her lower lip in hesitation, she reached out her hand and, fast as lightning, snatched bread from the shelf.
She slowly started to walk towards the door, when suddenly a voice boomed.
"Stop the thief!"
Someone grabbed her arm and asked why she was in such a hurry. She didn`t answer and tried to wriggle her arm free. " I think…. you have something to hide, empty your pocket!" the man sneered and the grip around her arm tightened. She twisted her arm free, ignored the pain, and before anybody had time to do or say anything, dashed towards the door.
"Stop her!"
She made her way through the crowded street, knocking over people and steering away from horses and carts. She turned her head, for just a second to see if they were following her. She could see the man who had grabbed her in the store, and the shopkeeper. She turned a corner and continued down a small alleyway.
The alley led to a dead-end. Before she realized she had walked straight into a trap, the two men cashing, her caught her. The shopkeeper, who was a couple of pounds overweight, drank air in deep, ragged, gasps and bent over trying to catch his breath. The other man curled his hands in fists and glared at her.
"There you are…you dirty little street rat!"
She spun around her eyes seeking away out of the prison, but the two men blocked the only exit. They started to walk towards her. She backed up against the brick wall and felt the fear of a trapped animal. In the pits of her stomach panic stirred, and she covered her face with her hands.
The merchant smiled and reached out his hand to grab her by the collar, when a low growling sound appeared behind him.
The men turned around and faced a large gray dog, snarling and showing its fangs its claws scratching the ground. The men looked at each other not sure what to do; finally, the shopkeeper took a step in the dog's direction and waved his hands flatly.
"Shoo…Go away mutt"
The dog continued to growl and it approached them slowly, ears flat on its head and muscles tensed. The shopkeeper started to get a little nervous and he looked shifty-eyed at the other man. He swallowed deeply, raised his hands in defense, and started to mutter slowly and calmingly. Suddenly the dog leaped towards them, jaw open and teeth barred, ready to attack. Both the men screamed and dashed out of the alley. The dog followed and watched them disappear in the crowd.
She removed her hands from her face and smiled when she saw the ragged gray dog sitting in front of her, head tilted and eyes shining. She took a deep breath and walked over to the dog, petted its head and dug up some of the bread she had nicked from the store and handed it to the dog. "T quel" she whispered and sat down.
A cold wind washed over her, brining with it strange whispers and she shuddered. She stared at the bread, suddenly not hungry and tossed it away.
The Prancing Pony was the most popular tavern in Bree and each night it was always merry gatherings around the tables. She used to wait until darkness before she snuck inside through the back door. She usually hid in one of the darkest corner and rested near the heat of the fireplace.
This night however a man dressed in a long dark cloak sat in her usual spot. Now and then, the fizzling ember from his pipe lit up his dark eyes. She stared at him, trying to catch his gaze, but his eyes were wandering far beyond this tavern.
She hid in the shadow of the back door, thinking about what to do. She did not want to go back outside, the cold autumn wind whispered about winter, the sky had grown black, the stars had hid themselves behind the clouds, no longer gave her any console. There was a stirring in the earth, and she could not tell if it was for good or bad.
As the waiter walked past her, she grabbed one of the goblets he carried and took a small sip. She grimaced when she felt the sour flavor of mead and quickly wiped her mouth trying to get the taste away. She looked at the stranger again. He had the aura of a great man, of a man who had seen many things and were no longer surprised at the wonders of the world. She felt drawn to him, but at the same time, there was something boding about him. She could not explain why she feared him and why she wanted to follow him.
A wave of laughter ripped her out of her thoughts, she saw the bartender shake his head, and then he muttered something to the crowd. The main door opened, and the bartender walked towards the counter, ready to greet his new guests. She decided to sneak out again; maybe she could find some shelter in one of the stables.
"Look here a stray dog, do you have some kind of pest problem"
The sound of barking made her turn around and she saw that a man had grabbed T`quel by his neck and was holding him up in the air. The people around him laughed and T`quel whimpered in pain.
Her fists clenched. They dropped T`quel down on one of the tables and pinned him down, spread eagled, while somebody withdrew a knife. Without thinking, she yelled.
"Tampa tanya!" (Stop that!)
The laughter died down and the men who had been holding T`quel slowly let him go. She felt the eyes of everybody in the room stare at her and she swallowed deeply.
"Tula sinome" (Come here)T`quel jumped down from the table and scurried off to his master. She bent down and lifted him up in her arms, the uncomfortable silence still hung over the tavern. Their stares felt like cold rain and she shivered. She turned around and started to walk away, when she saw the dark cloaked stranger in the corner of her eye, he rose from his seat and walked away.
"What kind of dark tongue is that?" somebody suddenly shouted and murmur spread around in the small pub.
"She may be a witch or a sorceress …she has cursed us," another voice yelled and then for the second time that day, somebody roughly grabbed her arm. She tried to twist it free, but the man holding her was strong. She tried to kick him, but the man only squeezed her arm harder, she dropped the dog, and then tried to hit him with her free hand. Another man arrived, seized her free arm and twisted it. Pain ripped through her arm and eyes filled with water.
"Tampa" she cried. The crowd parted as the men dragged her towards a table in the middle of the room. She looked around and saw that T`quel was growling angrily and tried to bit one of the men in the foot, he kicked the dog and whimpering T`quel flew across the room, hit the wall and landed unconscious on the floor.
"Now evil harpy undo the curse you cast upon us," a gruff male voice ordered, she spit in his direction and he took a step back.
"Auta miquela Orqu" (Go kiss an orc) she growled and tried once more to kick one of the men holding her. The people started to murmur again, the grip around her arm tightened, and they threw her down on the table, she rose quickly and swung her arm hoping to hit anybody. They grabbed her arms, locked them and she stopped fighting.
She could feel their foul breath on her chin and she shivered slightly as one of their hands touched her bare skin in the base of her neck. "Undo the curse," somebody growled again, and she spit at him as well. He wasn`t so lucky and he wiped his eye and glared at her, as she stared at him shock.
"Amin hiraetha" ( I am sorry)
She said quickly, the people her seemed to grow taller; her vision blurred their voices blended to one deep snarl that chilled her bones. The man raised his hands to hit her, and she closed her eyes awaiting the blow. When nothing happened she opened her eyes and stared in fear at the man above her. His hands had stopped mid air, as if some invisible force was holding him back. She could see him struggle to free his hand; his was face red, a blood vein pumped angrily and droplets of sweat dripped down his forehead. The other men backed away, murmuring in fear. Suddenly, the man managed to free his hand, but before he could hit her, he flew backwards across the room and hit a table.
The tavern was silent, while the man struggled to his feet. He wiped blood away from his head and stared in fear at his own hand. Someone let out a scream, the hand had turned black, and the skin was wrinkled and moldy. It was the hand of a man long dead.
"She….she….."the man stuttered. She stared wide-eyed at hand and then looked down at her own hands expecting them to be the same. What had happened? The men stared at her, and suddenly somebody yelled."A Wright from the Barrows!"
"Get her!" They grabbed her arms.
"Stop it!"
The voice was strong and full of anger. Everybody turned around and saw that a man dressed in the black cloak had appeared. She could see that he was clenching his fists and his eyes were dark with rage. The men holding her loosened their grip briefly, before the man who she had hit, ordered them to grab her again.
"You can't tell me what I can and can not do," he barked.
"That is the man called Strider, you best do as he say Telon," somebody muttered and Telon furrowed his eyebrows
"Strider ey…it doesn't matter if you are king, she…." He was lost for words and raised his hand to show him. The hand had grown back to normal. Telon looked at it in fear and wonder. "she……..she spoke her dark tongue…."he tried.
Strider clenched his fists again and suppressed the urge to raise his sword.
"Do you not you see that she is an elf…. that was no dark tongue, but elven!" Strider said slowly, the men in bar gasped and quickly let her go, pushing her down on the floor. She didn`t stand up, put lay with her face down, hearing the men above her argue. She could still see the hand, feel the unknown force pushing him away from her. The voice grew stronger and more intense.
Suddenly they where interrupted of something happening at the bar. They all turned around and saw that a small man was running towards the counter, he suddenly tripped on someone's foot and fell back wards. Next, there was a gasp of shock running through the room, as the small man suddenly disappeared.
Please review, but no flamers. This is my first fiction and English is not my first language. Any help would be appreciated.