Hi all! This is my first LOTR fic so here we go!

Also, if you know me from reading my OHSHC fics, I'm taking a break from those...but I hope you enjoy this one! I'm really happy with it!

Darkness…smells like mahogany. Yep, this seemed like the pace I needed to be.

…Hold on… My eyes shot open and I looked around to the wood surrounding me. It was very tight in the little box and breathing was hardly easy. Small lights flickered in through cracks of the wood and I could hear a muffled voice in the distance. I slammed my hands against the top of the box and began screaming for help which caused the voice to cease their discussion.

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!" I shouted over and over again as my hands splintered as I tried to escape.

Through the cracks of the box, I saw a shadow moving around my box. I heard the jangling of keys, a lock click, and my wooden prison was flung open!

"What the hell…" the girl muttered in shock.

She was one of those cute ginger girls, around seventeen. She had curly red hair, and her face was dotted with millions of freckles. I guess I could've seen worse when the top of my little box was opened.

"Oh thank God!" I gasped, wheezing in fresh air as I sat up.

I took a few moments to breathe when I noticed she just kept staring at me!

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"Y-y-y… You're supposed…" she stuttered in shock.

"I'm supposed to be what? I don't even know where I am or who I am," I chuckled.

"Dead! You were DEAD a few minutes ago!" she wailed, "How are you alive?!"

It was then that I realized, I was surrounded by coffins. Coffins were scattered all over the little room I was in and I had just popped out of one. Not to mention I realized I was stark naked! The girl shakily handed me a cloak which I thankfully covered myself with.

"I was dead?" I asked cautiously.

"Yes," she breathed in response, "Your body was hanging from the pillar in the town square. Your eyes were gouged out, nose slit, hair ripped out, and flinger nails gone,"

"…Well…thank you for that morbid description…" I muttered in shock then looked at her closely, "are you sure?"

"Yes! I wouldn't lie about something this!" she exclaimed then looked closely right back at me, "But your accent is strange and you have a lot of sass. Where do you hail from?"

"Hail from?" I asked then laughed, "I just woke up from being dead! I don't even know my own name!"

"Oh…you mean you don't remember anything?" she asked.

"No!" I repeated.

"Ok, I'll tell you everything I can tell about you," she said holding out a hand, "Come,"

I took the girl's hand and stepped out of my coffin, careful not to trip over any others.

"By the way, I'm Shalen," she said as she led me out of the room of dead people.

Shalen sat me down in her kitchen, lit a fire, and handed me a cup of tea. She still kept looking at me as if she was dreaming but anyone would if they saw a supposedly dead girl spring back to life! Then she sat down next to me and continued to study me as if to say 'are you sure you're not a ghost?'

"So, what do you know about me?" I asked, trying to get her attention.

"Oh!" Shalen gasped, snapping back into reality, "Right…Well, two days ago you came into town, you barely spoke a word to anyone except a stable boy who boarded your horse…"

"Wait, I had a horse?" I interrupted.

Shalen only nodded and continued, "Then you disappeared for a while until that night you broke into the governor's house. You were caught stealing his silver and…That's when they tortured and killed you. Your body hung in the town for another day before they let me take you down and prepare you for burial,"

At this, I just couldn't find what to say! Learning you were gruesomely tortured then hung is rather frightening and I was no exception.

"I did all that?" I finally asked in a terrified whisper.

"Yes,"

At that, I just felt shock take over and I blacked out.

MreeOOOOOw!

"Gah!" I screamed as I woke from the ground which I had collapsed.

By now, it was morning and it looked as if Shalen just left me lying on the ground from where I fainted the night before. I also noticed a black cat, meowing like a demon, dart past me and jump out a window.

"Oof!" I grunted as I felt a foot step on me.

"Oh, sorry…uh…dead girl…not sure what I should call you," came Shalen's voice.

I shakily stood to my feet, still trying to cover my body with the cloak she lent me. When I fainted before, I had expected to just wake up where I was supposed to be and remember who I was. I had half thought that the previous night was only a nightmare, the ones you dream when you've read too many horror books before bed.

"I'm trying to catch my cat," Shalen sighed, "Damn feline, I caught her nibbling at the corpse I got this morning and she's gotten off with its ear! Oh what am I worrying about, wait here, I'll get you clothes. By the end of today, you can have your horse and be out of here,"

"But I'm an outlaw right? I was caught stealing," I called as she left the room.

"Yes but I met with the sheriff this morning and he told me you've paid your price: death. You have clean slate from now on. I can't say that most people have that kind of opportunity," she called back from the other room.

That was very convenient! Shalen came back into the kitchen and handed me a tight fitting tunic and pants. They still left me with plenty of room to move around in of course, at least I wasn't stuck in a tattered dress like herself…no offence. Once I had squirmed into my new outfit, Shalen handed me a pair of weird looking gloves.

"The sheriff said you were wearing these. Sorry you had to use my clothes, apparently your torturers burnt your old ones," she said as I carefully took the gloves. They were strangely bulky, almost as if they weren't meant for my hands and they had some kind of metal inside them that was somewhat uncomfortable.

On one hand, it had engraved in it a strange pattern of symbols and other was no different.

"Do you not recognize it?" Shalen asked as I looked up from my gloves, "It's elvish,"

"What?" I asked, "What's elvish?"

"You don't even remember anything about your land, Middle Earth?" Shalen asked hopelessly.

"Middle Earth?" I said curiously, "Is that where we are?"

"Yes, there are elves here. The snobs think highly of themselves just because they're swifter and can live longer than the other races. Bastards are immortal until you kill them…" Shalen spat, for the first time showing spite.

"I take it you're not fond of them," I said.

"No but I can speak enough to translate what's written on each glove," she said, then held out her hands, "May I?"

I handed her the gloves and she studied them for a few moments.

"The left says 'tooth' and the other 'claw'," Shalen announced, "Or as pronounced in elvish, 'karka' and 'rakka',"

"Impressive," I mused, "Do you know any other languages?"

"A bit of Dwarvish," she giggled.

MREOOOW!

"Damnit, that's my cat!" Shalen shouted as she pointed out the window, "I should at least make an attempt to catch her,"

Something about that cat on the roof outside just compelled me. I felt as though the outside world was calling my name, saying 'come, use me as a resource'. My eyes darted from the window to the roof where the cat was perched and my feet began to move.

"What are you doing?" Shalen asked but it was too late.

I had bounded through open window and was scaling the house next door. Every jutting piece of wood was a step and ever sliver of ledge was a place to grab. I scrabbled up the wall and reached the top. Pouncing at Shalen's cat, it darted off and began jumping to the next roof!

"Come back, pussy!" I shouted playfully.

I heard gasps from below as I took a massive leap from one roof to the next, chasing the black feline through the town. Now it may have been my insane acrobatics or it was the fact that the town thought I was dead. Either way, I was attracting a lot of attention! Every second I came nearer and nearer to the sprinting cat, until it decided to throw me off. Shalen's cat made a quick turn and ran straight across a clothes line and onto another house too far for me to jump to.

"Wow!" I exclaimed as I faltered before the line.

I don't know… I thought. Could I make that?

I looked up to the cat. She was staring at me from across the line and seemed to be mocking me with her piercing green eyes.

"Yeah, I can make this," I smirked and took off across the line.

I was shaky at first but about midway to the other roof, I began to speed up, my feet balancing carefully and quickly on each bit of rope.

"Gotcha!" I screamed as I dove for the cat from the clothes line.

Except…the cat decided to leap away at the last second. I slid straight over the roof and the next thing I knew, I was falling! And this wasn't a little house either.

Just an introductory chapter to the world our mysterious main character has entered. Let me know if you like it!