Lost in the Fog…
Lisa Young; Typist: Sarah Martin (2006)
One day, Aragorn was leading the Fellowship through the woods, when a thick fog suddenly enveloped them. When the mist finally cleared, Aragorn did not recognize anything. He hadn't the slightest idea where they were, but decided not to mention it, in case he had just succeeded in getting everyone lost again. Legolas was the next to notice that something was wrong. He could always tell when the ranger was lost. Aragorn had a peculiar habit of glancing back every few seconds when he was lost. Legolas decided that he had best get the group headed in the right direction once again, rather than risk wandering aimlessly for hours.
"Aragorn!" he called. "Do you know where we are?"
"Um…not…uh…exactly…." Aragorn replied nervously.
"Maybe the fog threw you off," Legolas offered helpfully.
"We are lost?" muttered Gandalf. "Not again."
"Lost!" wailed Gimli dramatically. "Hopelessly lost! We shall perish in the wilderness! Wandering till the end of our days!"
"Um…Gimli?" Pippin started.
"Not now, Pippin," Gimli barked. "Can't you see I'm busy?"
"But, Gimli…" the hobbit tried again.
"Not now," Gimli said firmly, before continuing his emotional soliloquy. "Starvation will set in—one by one, we shall die slow, painful deaths! We'll—"
"Helpful comments only, Gimli," Legolas interposed forcefully, nodding toward Frodo, Sam and Merry, who were standing wide-eyed, looking rather pale.
"Sorry," Gimli said, then added in his most optimistic voice: "Look on the bright side—we may not live that long! This place is sure to be teeming with Orcs!"
"That is not helpful!" Legolas glared at Gimli. Suddenly, he felt a small tug on his shirt. Pippin was standing there.
"Legolas…I—"
"Don't worry, Pippin, we're not going to die."
"It's not that…it's—"
"Oh, the food. Don't worry, there is more than enough. Now, run along and let us do the worrying."
Legolas gave Pippin a light push toward the other Hobbits. He then sidled up to Gandalf to figure out the situation.
"Well," said Boromir, "we could not have traveled far into the fog, so if we backtrack, it won't take us long to get back into familiar territory. That is, if we weren't lost before…"
"No, we weren't!" snapped Aragorn irritably.
"You don't have to yell at me!" Boromir retorted. "It's not my fault we are lost!"
"I didn't see you volunteering to lead!"
"Listen, big-shot! Just because you're the 'True King of Gondor' doesn't mean—"
"Excuse me…" Pippin tried.
"—you can order me around!"
"Uh…Boromir?" Pippin tried again.
"Well!" Aragorn yelled back at Boromir. "I never!"
"No, you should never! Ever!"
"Aragorn?" Pippin was getting angry.
"If you want to, why don't you just leave?" Aragorn demanded.
"I think I will." Boromir turned to depart.
"WHY WON'T ANYONE LISTEN TO ME?" Pippin screamed at the top of his lungs.
Everyone turned shocked faces on him, immensely surprised by this outburst.
"All I wanted to do," Pippin continued, "was tell you that there is civilization right over there! But, would you listen? NO!"
The other Fellowship members were now looking beyond Pippin through the trees at a decent sized, surprisingly rectangular field covered in short, manicured grass and small, white flowers. On the far side of the field, they could make out some strange structures. All was quiet, and they were about to walk out of the woods to explore, when they heard a short, distant buzz. Subsequently, the joyful screams of children met their ears. Soon, the children could be heard climbing the hill that led to the field on the opposite side. When the kids reached the field, the first thing the Fellowship noticed was their odd clothing. It was brightly colored—every color they had ever seen, and then some! The children, it was quickly determined, were all human. At length, two adults came up to the field and stood at the top of the hill, talking.
It was soon decided that Aragorn, Boromir and the Hobbits would strike out across the field toward the adults. One of the adults was small and rather plump. Her hair was short and curled close to her head. The other was taller and had brown, shoulder-length hair. The kids, who had been playing an unfamiliar game in which a black and white checkered ball was kicked between a pair of cones placed on either side of the field, all stopped what they had been doing to stare.
Upon reaching the adults, Aragorn tried to gather information.
"Excuse me, Maam," he started, trying to ignore the inquisitive stares and bright clothing, "I was wondering where—"
He was cut off by the taller of the two women, who had just noticed the Hobbits.
"Well, hello there, boys!" she addressed them, obviously mistaking them for children. "Is this your daddy?" She turned to Aragorn. "Are these yours?"
"Actually, no—" Aragorn tried to explain.
"Oh, are they yours?" she asked, turning to Boromir.
"Well, you see—"
The shorter woman spoke up. "You must be here to register them for school."
The tall one jumped back in. "Oh, yes! Of course. Come with me." She took Merry and Frodo's hands and pulled them down the hill, giving them no chance to protest. Pippin, Sam, Aragorn and Boromir followed helplessly behind.
Back in the woods (which surrounded three sides of the field), the remaining members of the Fellowship followed as closely as they dared until they saw the Men and Hobbits disappear into a red brick building. The hill was open and went down until it met three buildings, two of which were identical. They were most definitely man-made, for they lacked the elegance of the Elves, but were built with too much care to be Dwarvish. The buildings, which were about twenty feet wide and sixty feet long, were constructed of wooden planks, which were painted a dull gray color. The other building was built of red bricks and good sized.
Legolas, Gandalf and Gimli slipped cautiously up to the back of the larger building, hoping to find out what was going on. Legolas and Gandalf checked the windows to see if they could locate their missing comrades (Gimli was too short to see in). The first five windows showed classrooms, but through the sixth, they could see Aragorn, Boromir and the Hobbits standing before a desk, where a sour looking woman was questioning them. Boromir and Aragorn didn't stand a chance; they had left their swords with the others. Then, the Hobbits were pulled off, and Boromir couldn't take it anymore. He raised his horn to his lips and blew a loud, sharp blast.
Legolas crashed through the window with the swords in hand. When the blades had been returned to the Men, Aragorn and Boromir charged into the hallway to reclaim the abducted Hobbits. The children had just come in from recess, and upon seeing two men with upraised swords and one (who they thought was a man) with a longbow charge out of the principal's office, they started screaming in terror. Gimli and Gandalf didn't help matters any. As the kids raced for the door, Gimli rushed in, axe upraised, with Gandalf close behind, wielding his glowing staff. The Fellowship searched desperately for the Hobbits, but to no avail. Before they could conduct a proper search, however, the police arrived. They confronted Gimli first.
"You're going to have to come with us," said one officer, aiming his pistol convincingly at the dwarf. "Just lower the axe and we'll take you to the car."
"How are you going to make me?" Gimli swung his axe menacingly. The officer discharged his pistol, blowing the blade off the axe.
Thanks to the police's superior weapons, they had soon apprehended Gimli, Gandalf, Aragorn and Boromir. Legolas had used his handy entrance as an exit. Once he was a good distance into the woods, he weighed his options. The Hobbits would be safe enough, he decided. No one at the school had any weapons, let alone any fighting ability. Therefore, he would track the others instead. Hopefully they weren't too far away. Before he did much, Legolas decided to obtain different clothes. He would need to blend in.
To Be Continued…