As a result of putting one of my stories on hiatus, this one will be replacing it. I know, another Hobbit/LOTR fanfic, but that's what my mind has been centered around lately. But I'm really excited to be getting around to writing this! Also, this first chapter and maybe the next one will be in our world, planet Earth. But I won't tell you quite yet when, where, or how the girls will be transported to Middle Earth.
I know this might be a bit cliché, by the way. But I love these types of stories, and I hope you do as well. Please, no hate comments on how this story was written a million times and is just a repeat of other stories you have read… I will try as hard as I can to make sure this will be different from other fanfics, but I can't help how you feel.
A smile lit the girls face as she turned in a circle, admiring the forest around her. She had always found the woods much more relaxing than the city, rather than the other girls she knew in college. Her cloak shielded her from any hunters that roamed the woods, although the bag on her back and the quiver filled with arrows should warn anyone that she was in fact, not an animal. She could hear something in the background, but wasn't properly paying attention. The chirping of the birds and the wind blowing through the trees always took over all her senses, blocking any other noise out.
"Samantha, listen to me!" A sharp voice got her attention, making her turn back around to her friend. A blush covered the Samantha's cheeks and her friend laughed, the reprimanding tone to her voice gone. "Don't worry, I've gotten used to you getting lost in the smells and sights of the forest. But we need to set up camp before it gets dark." A sigh escaped Sam's lips, and she looked down. The moment had been perfect for taking out her sketch pad and drawing the roaring waterfall with the sun glinting through the trees… But even Sam knew that a drawing could not replace the light once it was nighttime.
"What about above the waterfall? There's a clearing up there, and it's fairly hidden." Sam suggested, noting the trees surrounding the clearing in almost a blockade of sorts. It was right above the waterfall, leading to only a few entrances for possible predators. Her friend, Sierra, nodded in agreement and they began the trek up the hill. Using the sides of their feet and practically running up the steep incline at times, a burning in her calf muscles began to form. But still, they both persevered and in the end, the view was most definitely worth it. "Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?" The smile was still present on Sam's face, not blemished by the effort of hiking up the hill. This trip had been their fifth anniversary of hiking together. Ever since they were fifteen, they had been camping and hiking together. So the climb up the hill did nothing to damage their energy.
"Definitely never seen anything like this, even in all of our five years. You want to set up tents, or a fire first?" The sun had begun to go down, a red light washing over all the trees and creating a glow in the water as it just barely reached the rushing rapids of the river that cut off their camp from the other side of the woods.
"You set up the tent and I get the wood for the fire. The sun is going down, and we really should get a fire going quickly." Sam decided for the both of them, knowing the answer had been mutually considered. Besides, Sam was the quickest at getting kindling and wood while Sierra was better at setting up the tent. So as Sierra dropped her bag on the ground, pulling out the tent bag and tarp at the same time, Sam burst like a rocket into the woods. Her knife was strapped to her hip and another pocket knife was in her boot, just in case. While her father had recommended getting a gun, she always carried her bow instead. Sam had never gotten used to the feeling of one and weight like Sierra had.
A soft mewling from the underbrush. The cries of some young animal, obviously just a pup or cub of some sort. But it wasn't a bear… A mountain lion cub, perhaps? Sam dropped her kindling and wood, drawing her bow and nocking an arrow. She moved quietly and carefully, noting the twigs littered about the place as if a struggle had taken place. As she got closer, the stench of iron was heavy in the air along with death. But in the midst of death, she could hear the mewling now clearer than before. Sam's eyes widened at the mountain lion corpse and wolf corpse, each other's jaws locked around their necks forever. But it was the sight of the cub and pup in the brush that made Sam shocked. The mountain lion had been a male, so it shocked Sam for there to be a cub there. The two cuddled together for warmth, both young enough to be weaned but still too innocent to know the ways of the world.
Her heart leaped and it pained Sam to walk away. So after scouting the area to make sure there were no more predators about, she put away the arrow and sheathed the bow against her back. The cub and pup were looking at her with surprise in their eyes, but merely snuggled into her as she picked them up. Sam's eyes softened and she looked over to the pile of kindling, now almost forgotten. But the sun's light was nearly lost, and it would be a waste to leave the kindling. While she had already created a pretty big pile at the camp before finding the two little ones. She sighed, and shifted the wolf pup into the other arm with the cub before leaning down and picking up as much wood as she could.
Sierra anchored the last stake into the ground, hammering it down with as much force as she could. The last thing they needed was to lose their tent in the woods. The sun had now dropped though, leaving the campsite lit by the little moonlight that filtered between the trees. So she grabbed her fire starter and brought it to the kindling in the little pit that had been formed, most likely by a fallen tree that had been ripped from the ground. It instantly began to spread, the heat making Sierra step back a few feet. The campsite began to light up slowly, but the wood that Sam had collected previously was thankfully well enough away from the fire. But as a twig snapped, she whipped around, pulling out her gun and pointing it in the direction of the stick.
Sam stared ahead, frozen in fear while half wincing at the sound. She had tried so hard to be quiet, and hated loud noises. The crackling of the fire bathed the campsite as the only noise that could be heard for miles.
"Okay, I know I have two baby top predators in my arms, but I don't think that pointing a gun in my direction is quite an effective way to make me abandon them. Not that I would anytime soon." Sam spoke near silently, a tone to her voice that was hard for Sierra to decipher. She sighed, shaking her head as she put away the gun. A smile was dancing on her lips as she saw the two baby animals, two that could potentially kill them both when they grow up. Only Sam would rescue them.
"Not that I think you would. Come into the light, let's see them. Drop the wood in the pile and bring out the squirrels you shot earlier. We can determine then how badly of a state they're in." Sierra answered, barely raising her voice over the clearing. Sam smiled, dropping the wood to the side and sliding the hunting bag off of her shoulder as she walked over. The bag was dropping unceremoniously onto a rock, allowing Sam to shift the pup back into her left arm. Sierra shook her head once more with a smile while looking at the pups.
"Seems like they're being weaned off of their mother's milk, so they're pretty healthy and young. But they're getting dehydrated and hungry, so they need something to eat. Especially the cub, he's a bit older. But the pup, she's younger and seemed to have fed recently." Sierra determined, looking over the two. They sat still on my lap, refusing to leave me. "They also seem to be pretty attached to you!" Sierra noted, laughing at the way they shrunk into me when Sierra got close. But I pushed them forward slightly, and with a weary look to me, they leaned into Sierra's hand, the cub purring slightly and the pup growling lowly with joy, both unable to fully express their happiness.
And unbeknownst to the two girls, enemies from a different land began pour into the woods. And from another end of the woods, saviors entered the woods with a determination to get to their kin in time and protect them from the armies of enemies entering the new world.
