If this is a Dream....
By: Lady Elaine
Authors Note: Ok, so this theme has already been taken by re.vik and Silivin, but what the hell. I always meant to right one like this but they beat me to it, so I decided to write it any way. The characters in this fic that get dropped into Middle Earth are based on me and my friends, though I changed their names. The only name I can't take credit for is 'Becky,' I got the name from the sister of one of my friends, the other ones I got out of the blue. So enjoy!
********
Chapter one: "Falling Into Dreams"
The first rays of dawn's light played over the grassy hills of the seemingly quiet countryside. Dewdrops still clung to the petals of the newly blooming spring flowers, and danced rainbows playfully on the wind as sunlight filtered through them. A single cricket, perched at the base of a particularly large dandelion, continued to play his nightly melody for the sun who was slowly crawling out of her blanket of clouds to smile down a the start of a beautiful Spring morning.
Suddenly the air seemed to pulse and vibrate violently, causing the tranquility of the moment to be dashed in a single thrill of panic. The cricket ceased his music and scurried down into the undergrowth; the sun poked her head back beneath her blankets as a nightmarish hole ripped through the sky and dropped seven ghastly figures to the ground in a heap.
**********
From the very bottom of a pile of strange looking humans, a muffled groan erupted and escalated into a high-pitched, annoyed voice; "Urg, get off me you great big oafs, I can't breath!"
A second voice issued forth from somewhere near the first, "Get off yourself, fatass, your knee is digging into my face!"
"I can't, someone's lying on my back!"
The once peaceful morning erupted into angry and confused shouts as the seven teens untangled themselves from one another.
The first one on his feet glanced up at his surroundings and his jaw dropped. "Where the hell are we?!"
At his words the others ceased their movements and looked around. There were now seven gaping mouths as the teens sat staring at the unfamiliar land that, only a moment ago, had not been here.
Finally, another of the seven bewildered friends stood and walked over to the first. She followed his gaze out to the horizon and scanned the hilltop that she saw there. "How did we get here Kevin?" she asked, barely holding in the excitement that had been bubbling up inside her since she realized that they weren't at school anymore.
"I have no idea," Kevin replied in wonderment, and maybe a little fear.
Just then, there was a sound of something whizzing by, followed by a scream from one of the girls behind them. The two turned and ran over to her, "What happened, Cass?"
The girl, Cassandra, Cass for short, of about 18, pointed fearfully at on arrow quivering in the ground near her feet.
"Oh shit, Becky, where the hell did it come from?" Kevin asked, turning white with fear and confusion. But before she had time to answer, another volley of arrows came flying over their heads. Without thinking, Becky shouted over panicked screams, "Everyone get down! We're being attacked!"
The reaction she got was quicker than she had expected, all seven teens lay flat on their stomachs behind the tiny hill that they had luckily landed beside.
"What do you mean we're being attacked?" someone yelled, "Who's attacking us and where in God's name are we?"
Becky took control, "Shut-up Scott! Everyone just stay calm, who cares how we got here or where we are, right now we need to worry about what's out there and how we're going to get away!"
"But, Becky, what is out there?"
Becky turned to the girl who had spoken, "I don't know, Ginny, but I'll go have a look."
Kevin looked concerned, "Is that such a good idea? What if they see you and shoot you?"
"Don't worry, I'll just take a quick look and come right back. Besides, they may be the good guys and think we're like poachers or something. Stay here, I'll be back in a sec."
Carefully she broke away from the rest of the group and began to crawl slowly up the hill that hid them. When she reached the top she raised her head just enough to peer out at her attackers. She pulled back swiftly as an arrow whizzed by her ear. But it was no matter, she had accomplished what she had set out to do, she had seen the enemy. She had only had a quick glance, but there could be no doubt! Her heart leaped with an emotion that was a mix of fear and overwhelming excitement. She crawled back to her friends.
"Well, what did you see?" asked another girl, Jess, when Becky returned.
But Becky wasn't listening, her eyes were wide and shining with unbelief, "Kevin," she said at last, "do you remember reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy by Tolkien?"
Kevin looked confused, "Yes, but Becky,"
Beck held up a hand, "No, just listen. You remember the orcs?" He nodded. "Well, you will never believe what is gathered on the other side of that hill!"
Kevin's jaw dropped, "You're kidding! Orcs? Becky, what are you trying to pull?"
Becky smiled, "It's true, my friend, I don't know how it happened, but I have this feeling, something I've been sensing since we got here, that this place feels familiar. I could not place it before, but now there is no doubt; somehow we have been sucked into Middle Earth, right at the edge of an orc camp!" Unable to control her excitement for another moment, Becky laughed out loud, "This is so cool!"
The last member of the group, one who had remained silent, whether out of shock or fear, spoke out at last, "What the hell are you two talking about!" he yelled, only to be shushed by all six friends.
Becky turned and smiled at him, "Orcs, Derek, real live, stinky, smelly, nasty, down right evil orcs! Haven't any of you ever read Tolkien's books?
Five heads shook in unison.
Cassandra looked panicky, "You mean we've been thrown into a mad-up world with evil orc things trying to kill us and we don't even know how we got here?! This is crazy, we're all gonna be stuck in this world forever and I didn't even bring my brush!"
"Oh for God's sake, Cass," Jess said, "if you haven't noticed, we are in a life and death situation here and all you can think about is your brush!?
Becky intervened, "All right, all right, everyone just chill out, I think I have an idea. Derek, I need your shirt, you're the only one with a white one, take it off and give it to me."
"But-"
"Just do it! Don't ask questions, trust me!"
With reluctance Derek pulled off his shirt and handed it over. (Authors note: don't freak people! He has an under shirt!)
Becky plucked an arrow out of the ground and plunged it through the shirt, ripping a large hole in the center.
"Hey, hey, hey, that was my good shirt!" Derek yelled.
"Oh come off it, Derek, this might save out lives," Becky retorted.
"What's it for?" asked Ginny, the youngest of the group.
Becky smiled, "Surrender flag," she stated, "They might not kill us if we show them we're harmless; we'll go from there."
"Are you sure that's gonna work?" Kevin asked, "I mean, what if they kill us anyway, they are orcs you know; God, I can't believe I'm saying this!"
"Well, we'll never know if we don't try, will we? I'll go and wave this around a bit and see what happens."
With that Becky started up the hill once again. Derek leaned over to Kevin, "Since when did she become so brave?"
Kevin shrugged, "Since she was sucked into a situation that she had always dreamed about being in," he said, and watched Becky ascend the hill.
On the hilltop, Becky was waving the flag furiously above her head while, at the same time, trying to stay out of sight. At first nothing happened and she thought it might be working. All of the sudden a volley of arrows appeared out of nowhere, flying over the hill to burry themselves all around her. She cried out in pain and shock as one arrow found it's mark in the arm that help up flag. The force of the impact threw her backwards and she tumbled down into the shocked arms of her friends.
"The Bastards shot me!" she squeaked when she was sitting at the bottom of the hill.
"Jesus, Becky, are you ok?" Scott asked.
"Does it LOOK like I'm ok, blockhead?" she hissed through her teeth as she leaned her back against the hillside, "Shit, that hurt like a bitch!"
Derek knelt beside her and gazed in horror at the arrow buried deep in her forearm. "What do we do?" he asked.
Becky Grimaced as she shifted her arm to a different position, "It's quite simple really," she said, trying to sound more confident that she felt, "I read about this kind of stuff all the time. All you do is break off one end of the arrow, point or feathers, it doesn't matter, then pull it out. Wait! Not yet, grab the arrow as close as you can to my arm with your other hand so you don't jar my arm quite so much, understand?"
He nodded.
"Good, so get going, don't be afraid to hurt me, believe me, it hurts quite enough already. Go ahead."
Becky closed her eyes and clenched her teeth as she felt Derek's hands do as she had instructed. She heard the snap of the wooden shaft and sucked in her breath sharply as the vibrations ran down the arrow and through her arm. She opened her eyes and for a moment her vision was dark and she felt as though she might pass out. But after a while the pain subsided and her vision returned to normal.
She found herself breathing hard and sweating as if she had been running. Six pairs of concerned eyes looked at her anxiously; she smiled, "I'm ok, just blacked out for a minute. Now, let me do the rest."
They backed off and Becky grabbed the feathered end of the arrow that had not been broken. She set her jaw, bracing herself for pain, and pulled. The arrow came out slowly and soon it was free from her arm. She tossed it aside and looked up, Derek was ready with the shirt Becky had used for the flag, and wrapped it tightly around the wound.
Becky looked up at him and smiled, "Thank you, Dr. Mann," she said, remembering how he always said he couldn't wait to become a doctor so people could call him that. He smiled back and pantomimed writing on a clipboard, "Now, that will be 150 dollars Miss Laurence."
Becky hit him playfully, "Rip off!" she stated, and they all laughed.
"Well, what do we do now, boss?" Scott asked, smiling mischievously.
Becky thought for a moment, "Well," she said, "I guess we could-"
"Shh!" Kevin held up a hand, "do you hear that?"
They listened.
Becky was the first to recognize the sound, "Horses," she said, "do you think-"
"You can never be too careful," Kevin said, helping her to her feet.
Suddenly Scott stood and pointed, "There, look," he said. Everyone looked. There was only a single horseman riding fast toward them.
Becky plucked another arrow from the soil and brandished it menacingly at the approaching rider. "Hi! Who goes there!" she called.
The horse slowed to a walk and stopped a few yards away from her. "I should be asking you the same question, lady," he said, "for you are standing at the very borders to the land of the Lady Galadrial of the Golden Wood and Lord Celeborn, and no man, nor woman, may enter here without their permission." He paused to observe their numbers and their present state, "But for now we seem to have a common enemy, I see you are wounded, tell me, how did you come to be stranded here with no weapons and no provisions?"
Becky lowered her measly weapon and bowed, "Forgive my, my lord, I took you for the enemy. But let us leave out tale for another day, for, as you can see, we have much bigger problems on out hands, and they are all waiting for us over that hill."
The elf smiled kindly, "Ah yes, so they are, you are right my lady, one thing at a time." He dismounted and walked over to her, "I an Haldir, captain of the elves of Lothlorien," he said, bowing. "Who do I have the pleasure of meeting?"
Becky blushed, Haldir was much cuter than she had imagined him to be, and she was unused to being spoken to in such a way. "My name is Rebecca," she said, "and these are my friends, Kevin, Derek, Ginny, Scott, Jess and Cassandra."
The elf bowed again, "Good to know you all," he said. "Well then, Lady Rebecca, let us see what we can do about your orc problem." With that the handsome elf walked over to his horse and retrieved a small horn that hung from the saddle horn. Turning in the direction in which he had come, Haldir blew three short blasts. The sound rang out over the hillside and in no time at all, elves came pouring out of the golden wood on the horizon in masse.
Haldir turned and smiled at Becky, "Well, see you after the battle, m'lady!" With that the elf leaped onto his horse and galloped over the hill with a shout. Behind him, nearly a hundred elves thundered after him. Some armed with bows and quivers packed with arrows, others with swords and daggers.
However, for all their bulk and stupidity, orcs are powerful fighters and fairly decent archers. So as the first elves poured over the hilltop, at least half a dozen were cut down by flying arrows.
In the confusion, an elf voice called out loud and clear, "Quickly, get as close as you can so they will not be able to use their arrows, force them to hand-to-hand combat!"
When the chaos cleared from the hill, Becky picked herself off the ground, where she had flung herself when the elf army cannonballed by, and crawled to the top of it. She gazed down in wonderment and shock at the raging battle below. She was joined there by her friends and for a while they all watched the scene in silence.
"I'm going down there."
Everyone started at the blunt statement and looked at Becky in surprise.
"Oh no you're not," Scott stated with finality.
"And who are you to stop me?" she said, glaring menacingly at him.
"Becky, you can't, you're hurt, you'll be killed if you go down there!" Derek pleaded.
The girl turned on him angrily, "Just like those elves are being killed right now?! Do you expect me to just sit here on my ass and watch while they're being slaughtered down there? I'm going to help our friends, if you cowards want to stay here, fine, I'll go alone!"
Kevin looked at her with concern, but he knew in his heart that he could not stop her, "Becky, It's not our fight."
Becky sighed, "I know, but this is something I have to do. I don't expect ya'll to understand, but you can't stop me from doing this."
Kevin nodded and placed a restraining hand on Scott's shoulder as he tried to do just that.
Becky picked up a sword from a fallen elf and stalked deliberately down the hill. "Just be careful!" Kevin called after her.
"I can't believe you're just letting her go like that!" Scott said, shoving Kevin's hand away.
"We wouldn't be her friends if we didn't" Kevin replied, "for some reason she needs to prove something to herself and she needs to do it alone. Hey, what are you doing?"
Scott had walked over to the body of an elf and relieved him of his bow, "Well, as long as we're up here, one of us might as well try to help." He tested the string on the bow, "Hmm, nice and tight, this'll shoot far."
"Do you know how to use that thing?" Ginny asked.
"Well of course I do!"
Cass snorted.
"What!? I do!"
"Uh huh."
"Humph, what d'you know, grouchy!" Scott sat down on the hill with the bow, watching the battle rage on.
By: Lady Elaine
Authors Note: Ok, so this theme has already been taken by re.vik and Silivin, but what the hell. I always meant to right one like this but they beat me to it, so I decided to write it any way. The characters in this fic that get dropped into Middle Earth are based on me and my friends, though I changed their names. The only name I can't take credit for is 'Becky,' I got the name from the sister of one of my friends, the other ones I got out of the blue. So enjoy!
********
Chapter one: "Falling Into Dreams"
The first rays of dawn's light played over the grassy hills of the seemingly quiet countryside. Dewdrops still clung to the petals of the newly blooming spring flowers, and danced rainbows playfully on the wind as sunlight filtered through them. A single cricket, perched at the base of a particularly large dandelion, continued to play his nightly melody for the sun who was slowly crawling out of her blanket of clouds to smile down a the start of a beautiful Spring morning.
Suddenly the air seemed to pulse and vibrate violently, causing the tranquility of the moment to be dashed in a single thrill of panic. The cricket ceased his music and scurried down into the undergrowth; the sun poked her head back beneath her blankets as a nightmarish hole ripped through the sky and dropped seven ghastly figures to the ground in a heap.
**********
From the very bottom of a pile of strange looking humans, a muffled groan erupted and escalated into a high-pitched, annoyed voice; "Urg, get off me you great big oafs, I can't breath!"
A second voice issued forth from somewhere near the first, "Get off yourself, fatass, your knee is digging into my face!"
"I can't, someone's lying on my back!"
The once peaceful morning erupted into angry and confused shouts as the seven teens untangled themselves from one another.
The first one on his feet glanced up at his surroundings and his jaw dropped. "Where the hell are we?!"
At his words the others ceased their movements and looked around. There were now seven gaping mouths as the teens sat staring at the unfamiliar land that, only a moment ago, had not been here.
Finally, another of the seven bewildered friends stood and walked over to the first. She followed his gaze out to the horizon and scanned the hilltop that she saw there. "How did we get here Kevin?" she asked, barely holding in the excitement that had been bubbling up inside her since she realized that they weren't at school anymore.
"I have no idea," Kevin replied in wonderment, and maybe a little fear.
Just then, there was a sound of something whizzing by, followed by a scream from one of the girls behind them. The two turned and ran over to her, "What happened, Cass?"
The girl, Cassandra, Cass for short, of about 18, pointed fearfully at on arrow quivering in the ground near her feet.
"Oh shit, Becky, where the hell did it come from?" Kevin asked, turning white with fear and confusion. But before she had time to answer, another volley of arrows came flying over their heads. Without thinking, Becky shouted over panicked screams, "Everyone get down! We're being attacked!"
The reaction she got was quicker than she had expected, all seven teens lay flat on their stomachs behind the tiny hill that they had luckily landed beside.
"What do you mean we're being attacked?" someone yelled, "Who's attacking us and where in God's name are we?"
Becky took control, "Shut-up Scott! Everyone just stay calm, who cares how we got here or where we are, right now we need to worry about what's out there and how we're going to get away!"
"But, Becky, what is out there?"
Becky turned to the girl who had spoken, "I don't know, Ginny, but I'll go have a look."
Kevin looked concerned, "Is that such a good idea? What if they see you and shoot you?"
"Don't worry, I'll just take a quick look and come right back. Besides, they may be the good guys and think we're like poachers or something. Stay here, I'll be back in a sec."
Carefully she broke away from the rest of the group and began to crawl slowly up the hill that hid them. When she reached the top she raised her head just enough to peer out at her attackers. She pulled back swiftly as an arrow whizzed by her ear. But it was no matter, she had accomplished what she had set out to do, she had seen the enemy. She had only had a quick glance, but there could be no doubt! Her heart leaped with an emotion that was a mix of fear and overwhelming excitement. She crawled back to her friends.
"Well, what did you see?" asked another girl, Jess, when Becky returned.
But Becky wasn't listening, her eyes were wide and shining with unbelief, "Kevin," she said at last, "do you remember reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy by Tolkien?"
Kevin looked confused, "Yes, but Becky,"
Beck held up a hand, "No, just listen. You remember the orcs?" He nodded. "Well, you will never believe what is gathered on the other side of that hill!"
Kevin's jaw dropped, "You're kidding! Orcs? Becky, what are you trying to pull?"
Becky smiled, "It's true, my friend, I don't know how it happened, but I have this feeling, something I've been sensing since we got here, that this place feels familiar. I could not place it before, but now there is no doubt; somehow we have been sucked into Middle Earth, right at the edge of an orc camp!" Unable to control her excitement for another moment, Becky laughed out loud, "This is so cool!"
The last member of the group, one who had remained silent, whether out of shock or fear, spoke out at last, "What the hell are you two talking about!" he yelled, only to be shushed by all six friends.
Becky turned and smiled at him, "Orcs, Derek, real live, stinky, smelly, nasty, down right evil orcs! Haven't any of you ever read Tolkien's books?
Five heads shook in unison.
Cassandra looked panicky, "You mean we've been thrown into a mad-up world with evil orc things trying to kill us and we don't even know how we got here?! This is crazy, we're all gonna be stuck in this world forever and I didn't even bring my brush!"
"Oh for God's sake, Cass," Jess said, "if you haven't noticed, we are in a life and death situation here and all you can think about is your brush!?
Becky intervened, "All right, all right, everyone just chill out, I think I have an idea. Derek, I need your shirt, you're the only one with a white one, take it off and give it to me."
"But-"
"Just do it! Don't ask questions, trust me!"
With reluctance Derek pulled off his shirt and handed it over. (Authors note: don't freak people! He has an under shirt!)
Becky plucked an arrow out of the ground and plunged it through the shirt, ripping a large hole in the center.
"Hey, hey, hey, that was my good shirt!" Derek yelled.
"Oh come off it, Derek, this might save out lives," Becky retorted.
"What's it for?" asked Ginny, the youngest of the group.
Becky smiled, "Surrender flag," she stated, "They might not kill us if we show them we're harmless; we'll go from there."
"Are you sure that's gonna work?" Kevin asked, "I mean, what if they kill us anyway, they are orcs you know; God, I can't believe I'm saying this!"
"Well, we'll never know if we don't try, will we? I'll go and wave this around a bit and see what happens."
With that Becky started up the hill once again. Derek leaned over to Kevin, "Since when did she become so brave?"
Kevin shrugged, "Since she was sucked into a situation that she had always dreamed about being in," he said, and watched Becky ascend the hill.
On the hilltop, Becky was waving the flag furiously above her head while, at the same time, trying to stay out of sight. At first nothing happened and she thought it might be working. All of the sudden a volley of arrows appeared out of nowhere, flying over the hill to burry themselves all around her. She cried out in pain and shock as one arrow found it's mark in the arm that help up flag. The force of the impact threw her backwards and she tumbled down into the shocked arms of her friends.
"The Bastards shot me!" she squeaked when she was sitting at the bottom of the hill.
"Jesus, Becky, are you ok?" Scott asked.
"Does it LOOK like I'm ok, blockhead?" she hissed through her teeth as she leaned her back against the hillside, "Shit, that hurt like a bitch!"
Derek knelt beside her and gazed in horror at the arrow buried deep in her forearm. "What do we do?" he asked.
Becky Grimaced as she shifted her arm to a different position, "It's quite simple really," she said, trying to sound more confident that she felt, "I read about this kind of stuff all the time. All you do is break off one end of the arrow, point or feathers, it doesn't matter, then pull it out. Wait! Not yet, grab the arrow as close as you can to my arm with your other hand so you don't jar my arm quite so much, understand?"
He nodded.
"Good, so get going, don't be afraid to hurt me, believe me, it hurts quite enough already. Go ahead."
Becky closed her eyes and clenched her teeth as she felt Derek's hands do as she had instructed. She heard the snap of the wooden shaft and sucked in her breath sharply as the vibrations ran down the arrow and through her arm. She opened her eyes and for a moment her vision was dark and she felt as though she might pass out. But after a while the pain subsided and her vision returned to normal.
She found herself breathing hard and sweating as if she had been running. Six pairs of concerned eyes looked at her anxiously; she smiled, "I'm ok, just blacked out for a minute. Now, let me do the rest."
They backed off and Becky grabbed the feathered end of the arrow that had not been broken. She set her jaw, bracing herself for pain, and pulled. The arrow came out slowly and soon it was free from her arm. She tossed it aside and looked up, Derek was ready with the shirt Becky had used for the flag, and wrapped it tightly around the wound.
Becky looked up at him and smiled, "Thank you, Dr. Mann," she said, remembering how he always said he couldn't wait to become a doctor so people could call him that. He smiled back and pantomimed writing on a clipboard, "Now, that will be 150 dollars Miss Laurence."
Becky hit him playfully, "Rip off!" she stated, and they all laughed.
"Well, what do we do now, boss?" Scott asked, smiling mischievously.
Becky thought for a moment, "Well," she said, "I guess we could-"
"Shh!" Kevin held up a hand, "do you hear that?"
They listened.
Becky was the first to recognize the sound, "Horses," she said, "do you think-"
"You can never be too careful," Kevin said, helping her to her feet.
Suddenly Scott stood and pointed, "There, look," he said. Everyone looked. There was only a single horseman riding fast toward them.
Becky plucked another arrow from the soil and brandished it menacingly at the approaching rider. "Hi! Who goes there!" she called.
The horse slowed to a walk and stopped a few yards away from her. "I should be asking you the same question, lady," he said, "for you are standing at the very borders to the land of the Lady Galadrial of the Golden Wood and Lord Celeborn, and no man, nor woman, may enter here without their permission." He paused to observe their numbers and their present state, "But for now we seem to have a common enemy, I see you are wounded, tell me, how did you come to be stranded here with no weapons and no provisions?"
Becky lowered her measly weapon and bowed, "Forgive my, my lord, I took you for the enemy. But let us leave out tale for another day, for, as you can see, we have much bigger problems on out hands, and they are all waiting for us over that hill."
The elf smiled kindly, "Ah yes, so they are, you are right my lady, one thing at a time." He dismounted and walked over to her, "I an Haldir, captain of the elves of Lothlorien," he said, bowing. "Who do I have the pleasure of meeting?"
Becky blushed, Haldir was much cuter than she had imagined him to be, and she was unused to being spoken to in such a way. "My name is Rebecca," she said, "and these are my friends, Kevin, Derek, Ginny, Scott, Jess and Cassandra."
The elf bowed again, "Good to know you all," he said. "Well then, Lady Rebecca, let us see what we can do about your orc problem." With that the handsome elf walked over to his horse and retrieved a small horn that hung from the saddle horn. Turning in the direction in which he had come, Haldir blew three short blasts. The sound rang out over the hillside and in no time at all, elves came pouring out of the golden wood on the horizon in masse.
Haldir turned and smiled at Becky, "Well, see you after the battle, m'lady!" With that the elf leaped onto his horse and galloped over the hill with a shout. Behind him, nearly a hundred elves thundered after him. Some armed with bows and quivers packed with arrows, others with swords and daggers.
However, for all their bulk and stupidity, orcs are powerful fighters and fairly decent archers. So as the first elves poured over the hilltop, at least half a dozen were cut down by flying arrows.
In the confusion, an elf voice called out loud and clear, "Quickly, get as close as you can so they will not be able to use their arrows, force them to hand-to-hand combat!"
When the chaos cleared from the hill, Becky picked herself off the ground, where she had flung herself when the elf army cannonballed by, and crawled to the top of it. She gazed down in wonderment and shock at the raging battle below. She was joined there by her friends and for a while they all watched the scene in silence.
"I'm going down there."
Everyone started at the blunt statement and looked at Becky in surprise.
"Oh no you're not," Scott stated with finality.
"And who are you to stop me?" she said, glaring menacingly at him.
"Becky, you can't, you're hurt, you'll be killed if you go down there!" Derek pleaded.
The girl turned on him angrily, "Just like those elves are being killed right now?! Do you expect me to just sit here on my ass and watch while they're being slaughtered down there? I'm going to help our friends, if you cowards want to stay here, fine, I'll go alone!"
Kevin looked at her with concern, but he knew in his heart that he could not stop her, "Becky, It's not our fight."
Becky sighed, "I know, but this is something I have to do. I don't expect ya'll to understand, but you can't stop me from doing this."
Kevin nodded and placed a restraining hand on Scott's shoulder as he tried to do just that.
Becky picked up a sword from a fallen elf and stalked deliberately down the hill. "Just be careful!" Kevin called after her.
"I can't believe you're just letting her go like that!" Scott said, shoving Kevin's hand away.
"We wouldn't be her friends if we didn't" Kevin replied, "for some reason she needs to prove something to herself and she needs to do it alone. Hey, what are you doing?"
Scott had walked over to the body of an elf and relieved him of his bow, "Well, as long as we're up here, one of us might as well try to help." He tested the string on the bow, "Hmm, nice and tight, this'll shoot far."
"Do you know how to use that thing?" Ginny asked.
"Well of course I do!"
Cass snorted.
"What!? I do!"
"Uh huh."
"Humph, what d'you know, grouchy!" Scott sat down on the hill with the bow, watching the battle rage on.