Chapter 2
Caroline P.O.V.
"Sophie!" I scream.
We had been separated in the very moment before the whirlwind died down, but that moment was all the wind needed to toss Sophie and her near unconscious body away from me. I started to fall towards the ground but for some reason Sophie was just floating there like she was being held in place by some invisible force, probably that stupid figure she kept going on about. Her body was soon far above my own which just kept falling.
I nearly collided with the ground when I was suddenly jerked back a hard pressure pressing into my abdomen. My head hit something and the world around me started to go all fuzzy as spots of darkness began to take over my vision. I turned my head to see, nothing. ' I'm not even going to know what saved me...' I think before I become limp, my sight completely black as the world around me became no more.
Blue...Soft...Light...Warm...Wait? How can it be warm when I was just in a frekin freezing storm? Storm? Sophie...
I jolt awake, eyes wide, and shoot up from my position lying in the dirt, only to be forced back down by a burning pain in my head and across my chest and stomach. Sophie is laying a few feet to my left behind a few rows of; Corn? Looking from my position on the ground I instantly know we are no longer anywhere near the camp grounds or the lake for that matter. All around us there's corn. A whole lot of corn. I try again to get up this time more slowly.
The corn is above my head by a few inches which means Sophie will be dwarfed by the towering vegetable, and jumping to see any way out is not an option with the pain going through my body right now. I try to dust off any dirt that may have stuck to my clothes while I was on the ground, only to realize I was soaking wet and the dirt that had stuck was now mud.
"Great." I grumble to myself, "Soaking wet, muddy, but at least I don't have to go looking for Sophie." I attempt to get the mud off my back and pain buds across my stomach again. Groaning I lift up the bottom of my hoodie and the tank top beneath it to see a long red mark running all across my stomach from the pain also in my chest I conclude that there's an identical blot of red there too.
"And now I have two giant welts from who knows where." I mutter then remember what had happed what seemed to be only minutes ago. 'Something saved me and left these marks, probably explains my head too.' Carefully I bring a hand to my forehead where I'm sure a nasty mark has formed; gingerly I apply pressure to it. 'It doesn't hurt too much so I probably don't have a concussion.'
I take a breath then let it go slowly, and walk over to Sophie's unconscious form.
"Hey, lazy butt get up." I drone.
She doesn't even stir, not even a little bit so I decide to go a little bigger with my attempt to wake her up. I tap my foot against her damp hoody covered shoulder hoping to bring her out of her slumber. When that doesn't work I resort to something truly shocking that I'm sure will wake her up. Taking extra caution due to my injured abdomen I crouch bedside her and bring my lips to her ear.
"Hey Sophie," I whisper, "Remember when I canceled our movie night last year? It was because won tickets to hang out with Chris Hemswort at a radio station interview."
I leaned back to see her eye lids flickering, "And we ate lobster, and it was delicious."
Her eyes opened fully at that, she then turned her head in the dirt to look at me, "You told me your neighbor's dog got hit by a car and you had to take it to the animal hospital."
I chuckled then pushed on my knees to help me stand up, "Well I only won one ticked and you are a sucker for sad animal stories."
The brunet girl stayed silent and chewed her bottom lip for a moment then got up from the puddle of mud pooled around her, "You better have gotten his signature for me or something, and I wish you had choked on that lobster."
I snickered and helped her flick mud from her pants and hoodie, "It was for your twentieth birthday, but the secrets out now so I guess I get to keep it."
She looked at me slightly panicked, "I have now forgotten everything that has just transpired in the past five minutes." She then seemed to register that we were no longer anywhere we recognized. "Um... Where are we?"
I shrugged, "No clue last I remember I was falling to my imminent death when something grabbed my around my stomach, after that I hit my head and pretty much blacked out."
Sophie nodded in agreement, "Same," she looked around like I had done when I first woke up then jumped up a little. "I can't see why don't you give it a try?"
Groaning a bit I lifted up my tops again to show Sophie the marks.
"What happened?" she gasped then reached out a hand to touch the mark.
Stepping back I slapped her hand away, "Don't touch it!"
"Oh sorry, what happened? You didn't have that when we were tying the canoes up."
"I think the, well, the whatever it was that saved us may have done a bit more harm than it meant to when it stopped me from becoming a forest floor pancake." I explain. "So I'm going to try to take it easy while these heal." I gesture to my stomach.
Sophie smiled, "That sounds like a plan to me. Walking it is then." She then looked around then landed on the sky her hand against her eyebrows to shield her eyes form the suns glare. "The sun rises in the east right?" I think for a second then nod, "And it looks like the sun is still rising, I don't know where we are but going west sounds better than anywhere else."
I give her a quizzical look, eyebrow raised and mouth scrunched, my hip popped out, "What makes west so great."
"We won't have to walk into the sun for a while."
I make a sound of agreement and shrug my shoulders, "Sounds like as good a plan as any, shall we?"
"We shall," We high-fived then started walking in the direction Sophie said was west.
We eventually walked right out of the corn field and found ourselves in a thin forest, if you could even call it that. It was more like a group of trees every once in a while with long patches of tall golden grass in-between. We also took our hoodies off to dry, they were still a bit damp but so were the rest of our clothes especially our jeans. But fortunately the mud had dried and once it did we dusted it off leaving little discolored patches all over our attire. Our conversations had also died down, there really wasn't too much to talk about after we covered the fact we were nowhere near Camp Shooster anymore for the billionth time. So far this little adventure we'd been swept up on was pretty boring and uneventful.
"Maybe west wasn't such a great idea..."Sophie suddenly muttered, her smile had faded hours ago.
"Why not?" I ask turning my head to look at her.
She seemed to gather her thought before saying, "We've been walking for hours and we haven't seen a single other person, and there hasn't even been sign that were even walking towards anything."
"Well we've walked too far to go back to that corn field and just wait I bet there's a road just over that hill so let just keep walking." I said trying to comfort my friend. She has quite the brain but always doubts it once something doesn't have an immediate result, then goes to trying to be an air headed girl trying to rely on her looks.
Sophie nods her smile renewed to its glowing glory, "Fine but if there isn't you have to give me that granola bar I know you still have in your hoodie pocket."
I grin, "You're on. It may be a bit soggy but you can have it."
That renewed out spirits and we walked a bit faster. The hill wasn't too far away and didn't take too long until we were about to crest it's top. I held my breath and glanced at Sophie, she was a bit further ahead of me and had a determined smile, clearly she really wanted there to be a road on the other side of that hill. Suddenly she stopped dead in her tracks right at the top.
"What is it?" I ask?
She didn't reply. I rolled my eyes and jogged the rest of the way up the hill. Once at the top I saw what Sophie had stopped for. A dirt path.
"Caroline. Have I ever told you how much I love your fake psychic ability's?" she asked turning her head to look at me.
"You could stand to mention it more." I say as I dig my hand though the hoodie pocket to get the granola bar. "Looks like I get to keep my granola bar."
I wave the granola bar around then with a flick of my wrist I toss it up and start down the hill to the path. Behind me I hear the familiar crinkling of the plastic being ripped and shoved back to reveal the delicious honey and oatmeal with almond bar of absolute delight. I almost regret giving it to Sophie; I mean I did win our little bet even if it was by pure luck. Ya I really want that granola bar now. Sighing, I make my way though the now almost cleanly cut green grass and stop beneath the shade of a towering oak tree atop a ledge around three feet above the path.
"Are we stopping?" Sophie asks from behind me nearly making me jump. I didn't even hear her walk up behind me, 'Maybe this head injury is worse than I thought if Ms. I-trip-over- a-crack-in-the-cement can sneak up on me without even meaning to.' My shoulders shiver at the thought, and I rub my hands along the length of both of my arms to get rid of the small bumps than now covered my skin.
"That may be for the best, and we are underneath a gorgeous tree so why not." I answered with a slight nod towards the inviting ground beneath the tree.
Sophie smiles and plops down between two of the trees roots that have grown out making a perfect spot for someone small like her to have a comfortable seat. I take up a spot to her right where the roots are a bit bumpier but not too much that they are intolerable and lay my hoodie out to cushion the ground bit more. Leaning back against the old trees richly barked trunk and lift up my tank top again to see that the red marks from earlier today had faded considerably. Relief washed over me and I close my eyes and took in a deep breath then let it go.
'This is nice, I can't remember the last time I just sat and just did nothing.' I allowed myself another few minutes of closed eyes before a low and gruff 'Ahem' interrupted my moment of relaxation.
'Oh no. I hope Max didn't get sucked into that whirlwind with us. Please let it not be Max...'
Slowly I open an eye, and then open the other to make sure what I was seeing was real.
Down on the worn dirt path was an old man smiling slightly dressed head to toe in draping grey robes that looked like he had just thrown them over his shoulders and decided to call it good. He had long white hair with strands of grey swept behind his broad shoulders. A long sweeping silvery beard graced his face and a pointy dull blue hat made him look as if he could be some great wizard from a fairy tale; complete with a damsel in distress held captive by an evil dragon. But his eyes were what really caught my attention, they were fairly dark in color, but gave me the impression that they could burst to life like a spark of fire at any given moment. In one hand was a gnarled brown walking stick that twisted around itself at the top to form a sort of elegant knot.
I cleared my throat and straightened up from my slumped position against the tree, "Um. Hello?" I said trying not to sound confused or startled but as soon as I answered his 'ahem' in the exact way I was trying to avoid I wanted to slap myself.
The grey robed man chuckled, his wide shoulders moving along with the rich sound coming from his mouth.
"Hello indeed my dear." He replied in the same gruff yet comforting voice, "A fine day to sit beneath the shade of a tree isn't it?"
"I guess so," I agreed, then quickly added, "But we're not staying long. Probably just a few more minutes"
"Oh?" He chirped, "Your friend seems to disagree with that." Then gave a nod to my left where Sophie was sitting.
I sat and stared at him for a moment then turned to see my long haired brunette friend who looked to be fast asleep; her face scrunched up against the bark with her shoulders drooping against the rest of her. 'Way to leave me hanging here with some old man Soph.'
"Well we were going to be on our way soon, but I guess sitting her isn't too awful." I shrugged.
The old man chuckled again then asked, "And where is it that you might be going?" he then raised a snowy eyebrow, "Surly not the Shire, there isn't a soul a human like you and your friend would know in a place where only hobbits are to be found. And Bree is in the opposite direction you've walked from."
'The Shire? Bree? Hobbits?! What the heck is this guy talking about?'
"U-um, I'm not sure," I stammered, "We were just kind of walking hoping to find somebody to ask where we were to be honest." My head sunk a bit and I cast my eyes down so I wouldn't have to look at his seemingly all-knowing gaze.
He then dropped a draping of worn grey fabric wrapped around his left arm and grasped the walking stick just below his other hand.
"You mean to tell me you've no idea where you and your friend are?" he asked, almost as if he had suddenly become quite concerned with mine and Sophie's predicament.
My mouth hung slightly open as I stared at this peculiar old man. 'What should I say? "No you old bat we were sucked into a frekin tornado by, according to Sophie, a mysterious shadow then saved ,if you could even call it that, by an equally mysterious something only to wake up in a corn field of all things and have been wandering through fields all day of course we don't know where we are!"'
"Yes." I blurted out before anything I had been thinking could escape my mind and come out of my mouth.
The old man didn't look surprised at all, but brought a hand to his face to methodically stroke his long silver beard as if in thought but he gave no hint as to what those thoughts may be. Not even a glint of shock shone in his eyes; instead he gave another warm smile that seemed to have something hidden behind it that, and returned his hand to the wooden stick.
"Wait. Why am I even telling you this? For all I know you could be some murder or a kidnapper of young and alone girls." I blurted then stood up to tower well over the man due to the ledge that above the path. That got a reaction out the old man; he almost looked offended and perhaps even a little angry. Beside me Sophie began to wake up from her nap her eyes fluttering open.
"Caroline? Why are you standing?" She asked as she combed through her hair with her fingers. She then noticed the bearded stranger. "Who's that?"
"A very good question." The man said before I could answer, his voice slightly raised, "I am Gandalf the Grey on of the five Istari, and never in all my years have I ever been accused of murder or kidnapping," he paused and looked at me as if to reassure me he was neither of those things then continued his voice softer than the bold one he had used just moments before, "And to answer the question as to where you two young women are you are currently on the eastern border of Hobbiton, which happens to be quite a lovely little town inside the Shire."
"So were in 'The Shire'" I ask bluntly, not really believing a word coming out of this man's mouth, who would when you have a name like Gandalf? "I've never heard of it. Which state is it in?"
Gandalf looked puzzled at my question, "Its state is one of happiness, and nowhere else in all of Middle Earth will you find a place like it." He stated quite eloquently
I huff out a breath, 'Is he serious?' "That. Is not what I meant."
I feel a hand on my wrist, "Care. Let's be nice to the only person we've come across in hours shall we?" she then turned to Gandalf, "You'll have to excuse whatever my friend Caroline here may have said, we've had an interesting couple hours recently and we're just trying to figure a few things out." Standing up fully Sophie walked to the edge of the meager ledge and hopped down it to stand in front of our new 'friend' her hoodie tucked into the crook of her arm.
"It would be my pleasure to answer any questions you may have to my fullest ability." He said giving a slight bow from his waist to Sophie.
She giggled slightly at the unusual gesture which made Gandalf chuckle. "Come on Care."
"I must insist we walk though, I was on my way to lead a company to a dear friend's house when I came across you two beneath this tree." He gestured to the leafy green tree with his walking stick, and began down the path Sophie right beside him.
Sighing I grabbed my now dirt ridden hoodie and decided to pull it on then followed Sophie's lead off the ledge and landed on the soft brown dirt. Jogging slightly I caught up to the odd duo and took a place to flank Gandalf, Sophie on his other side.
"Now where shall we begin?" he asked all signs of his slight anger now washed away in a warm smile.
"Well," Sophie started, "You mentioned the Shire?" Gandalf nodded. "Where exactly is the Shire?"
He thought for a moment before answering, "The Shire is the abiding place for a group of rather small people called hobbits." he began, "It lies far to the east of other civilizations such as Rohan and Gondor so many don't even know of their existence because they tend to stray from oursiders. But make no mistake hobbits are rather welcoming once they get to know you."
"Hobbits sound wonderful," Sophie commented, " And those other two, what are they?" she asked.
"Ah yes, Rohan is the land of the horse lords, they are people of the open fields where they can ride their great beasts of war to their hearts content. Practically becoming one with the wind if they urge their horses to truly run." The look in his eyes when he said that makes him look like he was fairly familiar to this 'Rohan'.
"Horses Soph, you'd fit right in there." I said with a smirk.
Sophie smiled, "Oh you know it! Even if they do make me sore and walk funny."
"You are a horse-woman?" Gandalf asked glancing at Spophie
"Ya," she said, "back where we're from I was the head of the trail rides at the summer camp where both Caroline and I worked."
"Well you would fit in quite well in their ranks then." He stated. "Strong women are the foundation of Rohan."
Sophie blushed a bit at his compliment, "No if you want a strong woman you'd have to go to Caroline she's the muscle of our little duo.
Gandalf then looked back to me and I glared back to Sophie, "Oh?" he asked.
"Sophie here is exaggerating, being able to drag canoes across a shore and draw back an arrow don't really count as being a 'strong woman'." I practically growl.
Gandalf raised an eyebrow from beneath the brim of his hat them hmmmd again.
"Okaaay then." Sophie said changing the subject back to 'Middle Earth', "What about the other one? Gone-something."
"Gondor," he corrected, "Its lands are vast and full of a rich history of rightful kings and at its heart lays the white city of Minas Tirith."
"Everything here sounds like a dream." Sophie commented.
"One far too good to be true." I mumbled still a little annoyed.
Apparently Gandalf heard me, "Oh believe me," he said gravely, "These lands have their dark spots as well. Mordor, Dulgur Dur, and the lands to the south, all are places you do not want to find yourself in."
The mood of the walk instantly darkened, as if Gandalf words had a physical impact on the world around us. Sophie looked down to stare at her moving feet, and I glanced to look at then green landscape to my right that suddenly became rather enthralling. Gandalf instantly picked up on our discomfort and let out wheeze of air.
"Well don't let the bad things in the world dampen the good, light will always conquer darkness." Gandalf crooned, "Now anymore questions?"
Sophie stayed silent then she shook her head, "I think I'm good for now. What about you Care?"
"How did we get here." I asked without hesitation making it sound more like a statement rather than a question.
Gandalf's mouth hung slightly open and he adjusted his pointy hat, "I've no answer to that question. It seems to be one that will answer its self in time."
"So you don't know?"
He paused again and let out a breath, "No I do not, but there are those who might."
"Well can we meet them? Then we can find a way to get back to where were from." I snap.
Gandalf turned to look at me, "Perhaps, if he allows it." he then swept up his draping grey robes around his left arm so he could take longer strides, "Now let us make haste we are just about to where the company I'm meeting should be."
Sophie merely smiled and picked up her pace to keep up with Gandalf, while I decided to hang back a bit to try and process what 'Gandaf the Grey' had just told us.
'So we're not even on Earth anymore? How can Sophie be so calm about all of this! She's probably freaking out on the inside. We are in some other world after all, that's not just something you are cool with!' I shook my head and ran a hand through my hair then flicked my pony tail again out of habit, 'Gandalf seems nice enough he has answered all of our questions we've had so far minus how we got here, but he did say there were people who might be able to tell us how we got here. But who is the guy who has to allow us to go?'
I sighed and rubbed my temples, "Whatever."
We only walked for about another ten minutes on the dirt path through the trees when we came to a downward slope. At the bottom of the gradual slope was a rather large heard of shaggy ponies in every color from brown with white spots to solid black. From the way Sophie perked up I could tell she was rather excited to see the creatures. Along with the ponies there was a group of short but burley children. Most of them were wearing coats of fur, large boots, and they all seemed to have, weapons? Swords at their hips numerous axes strung across the back of each one, one or two spears, and one seemed to be messing around with a sling shot.
'What are kids doing with ponies and weapons? Minus the sling shot that is not normal.' I though in shock, 'But then again what has been normal about this whole day?' I then ran to catch up with Sophie and Gandalf who had gotten quite a ways in front of me.
"Are those they guys you're leading to your friends house?" I asked my breath slightly hindered from the sudden burst of speed.
"Good of you to join us Caroline," Gandalf commented not even looking at me as he spoke, "And yes those are them, the dwarves of Erebor." He said with a grand air about his words.
"Dwarves?" I inquired.
"Ya Care real dwarves! If you'd been walking with us you'd have heard all about them. Apparently there's elves here too and other humans but they sound like us so nothing too exciting." Sophie clarified for me.
"Sounds wonderful." I mumbled. "Dwarves, elves, hobbits, what could possibly be next?" I say to the sky, Gandalf chuckled at that and I looked at him giving him an expression that clearly said 'there better not be anything more.'
Below us the 'dwarves' began waving frantically as if they thought we would pass right by them without stopping to lead them to Gandalf friend. But even from here I could see that some of them were quite confused as to why their guide had brought two girls along with him, non the less both Gandalf and Sophie waved back and I just folded my arms and kept walking.
"Well come along they've seen us and keeping a dwarf waiting isn't a very good idea even in the slightest." Gandalf said.
A/N: Well here's chapter 3! I would have gotten it up sooner if school hadn't decided to bombard me with a preposterous amount of disclosures to sign and an absurd amount of more supplies to buy. But I got it done non-the less! And they are finally in Middle Earth! YAY! the dwarves will have much bigger part in the next chapter obviously which I will try to get out as soon as I can while still keeping up with my school work. As always review so I can know what to do better and see how you feel about the story! Thanks for reading!
