Eric grimaced as he sunk to the ground. "That was the third giant killer dragonfly in five minutes! What I wouldn't give for a giant can of 'OFF' right now."
Diana leaned on her staff and sighed. "For once I actually agree with Eric." She looked over at Hank. "Are you sure Dungeon Master said the library was THIS way?"
Hank squinted into the distance and nodded. "He said it was to the south, near someplace called Mirobel."
Presto wiped his forehead with his hat. "At this rate, we'll never get there unless I can pull an Orkin man outta my hat."
"C'mon guys," Sheila tried her best to rally the troops. "According to what Dungeon Master said, we should almost be home. It can't be too much farther."
Eric snorted and fished a notebook out of his pocket. "Not necessarily, Sheila." He cleared his throat. "And I quote, 'Only in your journey to the Library at Tham Mirdain will you find the place that is both your home and not your home'. Whatever THAT means."
Bobby looked up through the trees surrounding their clearing and squinted at the high noon sun. "Which means we could actually be home right now, and not even know it?"
A buzzing noise ominously filled the meadow, and all six Young Ones quickly snapped to attention. "Not unless we're in Jurassic Park," Presto gulped.
Hank drew his energy bow as the group formed a circle, their backs facing each other. "Get ready guys, there may be more than one this time…"
An inhuman-sounding battle call echoed through the clearing, and the Young Ones were shocked to see a short, stout, heavily bearded man come crashing through the trees in front of them, chasing after what looked like a giant, animated twist of vines. A seemingly endless parade of the giant bugs was following behind him.
The group continued to watch, their mouths agape, as arrows whizzed out of nowhere, knocking each bug dead to the ground around the smaller man.
"Legolas!" the bearded man shouted as he hacked away at the vine creature with his axe. "Confound it, I told you those were MINE!"
A pair of haggard-looking men ran into the other side of the clearing, swiping away with swords at what looked to be a huge, demonic looking tree. One of the men flew across the clearing as the tree took a swipe at him with its branches. He fell, unmoving, as the other man continued to try and take the tree down.
Hank looked at his friends with urgency. "Come on, whoever they are, they need our help!"
The group jumped into action. Sheila raced over to the injured man and wrapped her cloak around them both as Hank fired a round of energy arrows into the tree's trunk. Diana leapt up onto a nearby holly tree's lower branch, waving her arms to distract the attacking tree as Bobby ran in from the other direction and slammed mightily into the tree's roots with his club.
"What should we do Eric?" Presto sputtered.
"I don't know, but this sure can't get any weirder," Eric said as he blocked one of the tree's branches with his shield.
Suddenly a wizened man stepped out of the trees, surrounded by what looked like 4 children. "Enough!" he cried, pointing a staff at the tree. Shouting some indecipherable words, the group had to shield their eyes as a bright light shot out of the staff and knocked the tree down. It fell with a deafening thud as the rest of the strangers gathered around the wizard.
Sheila pulled her cloak off of herself and the wounded man, who was now just beginning to try to stand up. A tall, lean man with long blond hair strode towards him and helped him to his feet, saying something in a language none of them understood.
Sheila, still crouching on the ground, looked up at him. "I think you're right, it was poison."
The tall blond man looked at her with an incredulous smile, dumbfounded. "You understand the speech of Elves?"
The other man who had been fighting the tree dusted himself off and regarded the young group. "And who may you all be, anyway? Spies of Sauron, I imagine?" he said in a teasing voice.
"Who?" Presto squeaked. He was still gazing adoringly at the older wizard.
"They are not spies," the wizard answered as he walked slowly towards the Young Ones. "You must be the ones I was foretold about."
"I'm sorry," Eric said impatiently. "And you are…?
"Eric!" Hank chided. He stepped towards the tall wizard. "I apologize for my friend."
"It is quite alright, and understandable at that," the older man responded. "One is quite apt to lose both their patience and manners in a place like Glad Ereg." He held out his hand for Hank to shake. "I believe this is how you make introductions where you come from? I am Gandalf the Grey, and these are my companions." The man nodded as he indicated each of his fellows. "Legolas the elf, Gimli the dwarf, and, " he indicated the smaller individuals who the group had first thought were children, "the hobbits Merry, Pippin, Frodo and Sam. The two of the world of Men are Aragorn and Boromir." The injured man and the one who had been fighting the tree both nodded at them in greeting.
One of the smaller people -- a hobbit -- tugged at Gandalf's sleeve. "Are you certain they can be trusted, Gandalf?"
"Yes Sam, I am certain of it. In fact," he said as he turned to look at the rest of his companions, "if I was told correctly, you are to be joining us on our journey south to the Redhorn Gate. Well, as far as Echad Dunann, in any case. We will have to stop there as well for supplies before we finish the next part of our journey. From there you can easily get to Mirobel and the place you seek."
The Young Ones stood with their mouths hanging open, incredulous. "How did you know all that?" Presto squeaked.
Gandalf walked up to Presto and put his hand on his shoulder, chuckling. "When one is not constrained by either space or time in the pursuit of knowledge, one can almost know too much."
Merry and Pippin had walked up to Diana and were staring at her in amazement. "Are you from the north?" Merry grinned.
"She looks like an angel, Merry," Pippin said dreamily.
"Uhm Pip, she's right here, she can HEAR you," Merry said.
Pippin turned bright red and looked down at his feet in embarrassment.
Diana tried to stifle an amused laugh as she regarded the two hobbits. "Not exactly the North….more like, well," she turned to look at her friends, "where ARE we from in regards to this place, anyway?"
"You do not know where you are?" Gandalf asked.
Hank shook his head. "We only know that our guide, the Dungeon Master, told us to go this way in order to find our home world."
Gandalf strode up to Hank and nodded. "Then you should most certainly accompany us," he said. "For I have much to tell you."