Setting out from the Lorien Commune wasn't really something I had looked forward. I mean all the singing and 'communing with Mother Earth' was preeetty weird, and let me tell you it felt even weirder after drinking a couple bottles their home-brew. But really compared with the violent streets of Moria, that farm was like some sort of hippy haven. For some time, I even managed to forget all the sadness that accompanied the memory of poor Mr. Gandalf, although Celeborn did say that the stuff we were smoking could sometimes result in a bit of amnesia...hmm.
It wasn't just me, Gimli got really into it - he even did some yoga! That could have had more to do with getting stretchy with Galadriel than any concern for his chakra. Even so, that doesn't explain why the tough old biker let Legolas braid flower's in his beard. The Commune really was starting to affect us all, though poor Boromir never really managed to relax like the rest of us. In fact, apart from him, I think we would have been quite content to stay for an awful lot longer than we did.
When the day did eventually come, I couldn't believe how generous the old hippies were. I mean fair enough, some of their 'special herb' and stuff, but three cars! Thats just pushing the boat out, so to speak. Probably something to do with their 'rejection of the material world', though this tactic might go some way to explain why the Commune was in such dire straits. Yes, one was a clapped out old VW bus, one a junky ex-Painter/Decorator's van and the other a rusting Micra but a car is still a car! Boromir took me and my cousins in the VW and drove as quick as he could out of the place, said it gave him the heebie-jeebies (I know he grew up at some fancy Manor, but jeez that guy really doesn't like things he's not used to). After many thanks, Aragorn followed us, rattling down the farm's dirt track in the tiny Micra.
Last of all, Gimli and Legolas followed in the painter's van (I only know that's what it was cos it still had the logo on the side). Later the biker said he was glad the rest of his gang hadn't seen him weep as they drove away. Luckily, Legolas was really understanding - didn't tease him at all. Actually those two seemed to get on a hell of a lot better after Lorien Commune, I guess it just took a while for them both to see past those silly prejudices they'd been clinging onto.
Anyway, we kept driving in convoy for quite a while till Boromir spotted a nice layby where we could stop for the night. We were all pretty tired and still close enough to the Commune to feel safe enough not to leave someone on look out. So we all just nodded off best we could in the car seats (at least that was warmer than sleeping rough like we had been doing before).
It must've been early morning still when I was woken by Pip's shout.
The old fear returned and I sat up with such a jerk I cricked my neck. My heart beat fit to break my ribs and I could feel the adrenaline coursing. It must be danger, an O.R.C gang? Or worse, Black Riders. I tumbled out the VW, which was empty apart from myself in a desperate search for my friends - had they been hijacked? Kidnapped? Again I heard a cry, although this time it sounded like Sam's voice. I ran towards the sound, which came from the other side of a stand of trees.
I burst through into clearing, remember at the last that I'd forgotten my knife and so would pretty useless in a fight. Fortunately, no violence was necessary. In fact, I had absolutely no time to react to the situation I found because at that moment I was hit smack in the face with a football.