Hi! This time I got a review within three hours! I'm sitting here with my mouth hanging open staring at the screen in astonishment. I'm so happy!
This chapter might be a bit of a disappointment for some. I'm not sure if anything is humorous enough (I don't know, I've read it so many times I'm kinda sick of it), but don't – and never – despair! For there will be another chapter soon! And all the readers will rejoice and never…Ahem. I'll shut up now.
ArwenEvenstar83: Quit smiling wistfully at me. It's too hard to refuse when you do that. All of your names are wonderful, and if you keep reviewing I'll make you an OC – with your permission that is. You're a gem; you do realize that, don't you? Now that you've asked me to post it, no one else will have enough time to review! I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow (or until I've enough reviews)… :) ...I have enough reviews! I'll just answer them and then post the update. Moving on…
Fk306 animelover: Wow. You don't say much do you? Thanks for reading, though:)
Laureloth: You're special too! You get a double review like someone else did before! Keep reading!
Laureloth: Good! Suggestions! Things I love! It's okay to forget, I forget things all the time…what was I saying again? Something about…darn! I forgot! And since you asked a question I have to answer…but it'll be a spoiler…only a little one, though… Gandalf is NOT fooled, as you'll see when the others find him again. She'll tell…eventually. :)
Nasuada Moon: Another short one…You think it's cool & funny? Good, I'm trying to stick some humour in it somewhere…but everything a story should be? Umm…not quite yet. Stories need to be finished, & this one's not even close. Great compliment, though! Hmm…everything a story should be…that has a nice ring to it… :)
Da Evil BEAN: Yay! Movie script!…heh, heh…I'm grinning sheepishly coz if I'd followed Mr. Lord of M-E Tolkien's book it would've confused tons of people that hadn't read it. So yeah, I'm doing this for my readers, and you'd better all be thankful! Liz…hey! I have a cousin called Liz! You're elvish name is beautiful! I love it as I do all Quenya names! Update soon? This soon enough:)
One last thing people! Rosalie/Víralairë uses one bad colourful word in this chapter. ONLY one! I'm putting this little warning here so I don't get in trouble for not warning you people.
Disclaimer: Right. I don't own the lovely stuff that belongs to other people. I do own stuff that belongs to me.
To Be A Girl In Middle-EarthChapter 4: In which I'm a lot of opposite things, I hate rain and I blank out…again
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"Frodo!" exclaimed the Hobbit that had landed on top of Frodo.
"That's his name, Pippin, now get up," I said, offering him my hand.
"Merry, It's Frodo!" the Hobbit said as I pulled him to his feet.
"You just said that, Pippin," Merry told his friend as he got up also.
Farmer Maggot's dogs began to bark, and I heard the farmer's voice yelling at us. Or at least, in our general direction. Both Pippin and Merry froze with their arms full of freshly picked vegetables.
"I think you should run," I advised. All four of them wasted no time, and in a flash they were gone. I found my arms full of Maggot's crops. Crud. I swore as I dropped them and raced after the others.
"Why's he so upset? It's only a couple of carrots," I heard Merry saying.
"And some cabbages," Pippin added. "Oh! And those bags of potatoes we left here last week, and then the mushrooms the week before…"
"Yes Pippin!" Merry interrupted. "My point is, he's clearly overreacting."
Running as they were and not looking where they were going, it's not surprising that when I caught up to them I found that they had fallen down a bank and landed in a heap at the bottom. I slid down nimbly, landed beside them and helped them all up but not before Pippin had seen the mushrooms growing in a clump at the side of the road.
"Mushrooms!" he yelled (well, what else do you call out when you've found some?), running over to them and beginning to shove them enthusiastically into a small sack. Merry, however, dusted himself off and began to thank me, then stopped.
"You're the lady who told Gandalf to take us to the kitchens, aren't you?" he asked suspiciously.
"What? Didn't you have fun being punished for taking Gandalf's best firework?" I teased. Merry surprised me by grinning impishly.
"Actually, after we accidentally-on-purpose broke some of the best dishes, they were relieved to see us go," he said, completely unembarrassed. I had to smile.
Sam, meanwhile, was anxiously looking around.
"Lady Víralairë," he asked, "where's Frodo?"
"I'm not a lady! And how should I know where that fool of a Hobbit is?" I snapped. I regretted it instantly when I remembered which part of the plot we were up to.
"Crap. We should find Frodo and a hiding place quickly." The three Hobbits ignored me completely until Frodo showed up and repeated my words. This time they listened, much to my annoyance.
If there's anything at all that I learnt from Middle-Earth, it's that huddled behind a tree root in dirt that's infested with creepy-crawlies, squashed in amongst four Hobbits is not anyone's idea of fun.
In any case, at least we were out of sight of those creepy black riders. Merry and Pippin didn't seem too concerned, until they heard the heavy footfalls of the rider's horse approaching as if it was searching for something… which it was.
I glanced quickly a Frodo and saw him fumbling in his pocket. His eyes were glazed and it looked as if he didn't realize what he was doing. Right, I thought. He's either in terrible shock or he's going to take something out of that pocket…or both. I looked up and my heart skipped a beat.
Towering above me was the foulest and ugliest face I had ever seen.
I was lucky it was hidden behind a thick black hood, so I didn't actually see it. It was a plus that we were hidden from its line of sight. I don't even know if it can see, I reminded myself, my eyes wide.
The thing sniffed the air, which was pretty disturbing. I managed to look at Frodo, and to my horror he had taken out the Ring and was a moment away from slipping it on his finger.
I saw one of the other Hobbits throw the sack of mushrooms to distract the rider, and then my vision clouded.
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It felt as if I was walking on cloud and stone at the same time. Surrounded by ice and fire I felt both light and heavy. This is stupid, I said to myself. An instant later I was catapulted out of the dream-thingy and…
…Into the rain. Lovely.
I swore. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately. I blinked rapidly as I tried to adjust to my surroundings. It was dark, I was surrounded by billions of trees, three Hobbits were crouched on the ground just in front of me and an urgent-looking Pippin was tugging at my sleeve.
"Come, lady, you have to hide. Those riders are following us. Come away from the nasty riders. Come on now." He was talking to me as you would a two-year-old.
"Why are you talking to me like that?" I growled as I knelt in the dirt behind a large log. In spite of my angry tone, the halflings looked visibly relieved.
"You've been acting strange ever since we got away from that first black rider, my lady," Pippin explained hurriedly. "We don't know what was wrong, but you have been in a kind of trance, and –"
"Shut up!" I hissed, cutting off his explanation. A cold feeling of dread had just washed over me. It was the feeling I got whenever I saw one of the Black Riders in the movies. I heard hooves, looked up and felt my breath catch. There, outlined by the moon, was a silhouette of a figure I wish I'd never seen. I swore again, then looked up with determination.
I may've just been out of action for a few hours, but now I was wide-awake and with a distinct feeling of 'if I don't do something I'm going to end up dead and so is everybody else'.
"Those things are hunting for you, Frodo," I whispered urgently. "You need to get out of the Shire, and fast." He gulped, but nodded.
"We can take the Bucklebury ferry," Merry toned in, also in a whisper. "Follow me."
We all got up and ran, putting all our faith in Merry. I thought that was stupid, but it worked out all right in the movie, so why shouldn't it work now? We ran, and ran, and ran, and ran, and jumped over a low fence, and ran some more. I was petrified that we'd stumble across another Black Rider, but surprisingly we didn't. Not everything was turning out like the movie. My hopes were beginning to rise until…
The constant pattering of our feet was suddenly shot through with a high-pitched shrieky-howly sound. We were nearly at the ferry, but I could feel and hear the galloping of hooves about three or four metres behind us. I don't know how they'd caught up to us so fast, but they damn well aren't going to get any closer, I told myself. All my thoughts were bent on that one thing, until Frodo tripped.
"Frodo, you idiot!" I yelled, hauled him up and pushed him in front of me. The Hobbit managed to stumble again into a jerky run. The other three had already boarded the ferry, and were frantically unraveling the ropes from the stumps on the pier. Thanks for waiting, I thought dryly as Frodo jumped aboard. I followed him quickly (only slipping enough to dampen the soles of my shoes, thankfully) and I soon found myself being hugged in relief by my companions. What the Hell? I stared at them like they were half-mad.
"Can you get off me please?" I asked weakly. They all mumbled an apology and I disentangled myself from their grasps. Glancing at the shore, I saw that the horses were beginning to make their way into the water. My eyes widened with shock, and with out knowing exactly why, I flicked my hand in their direction.
"Lar!" I shouted. The horses suddenly seemed to hit an invisible barrier. They reared up and backed out of the water. I blinked.
Okay…that was really weird, I thought to myself. A glance at the Hobbits told me they had noticed nothing. Thank God! How much longer would their trust hold if they saw me do random stuff like that? I wondered. I don't even know what happened… I continued to puzzle over the puzzling occurrence until we arrived at the other side of the Brandywine River.
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I cursed the rain under my breath as we stood outside the gate at Bree. Frodo knocked, and a grizzled face appeared in an opening in the door above us and looked around, trying to see who was there.
"Oi! We're down here, stupid!" I shouted. The man started with surprise and then a second opening appeared, this time much lower.
"What do you want?" the man growled angrily.
"Just shut up and let us in!" I said loudly. It wasn't very polite, but the rain had made me irritable. Frodo frowned at me and said to the man:
"We're heading for the Prancing Pony."
The door opened and the gatekeeper held up a lantern so that it shined over our faces. I withdrew my face quickly into my hood, hiding behind my curtain of hair. There would be unwanted talk if a girl that looked like an Elf suddenly appeared in Bree.
"Hobbits! Four Hobbits!" the man exclaimed and squinted in my direction. "And a lady! What business brings you to Bree?"
"We wish to stay at the inn. Our business is our own," Frodo said hurriedly.
"All right, young sir, I meant no offence – it's my job to ask questions after nightfall," he grumbled, opening the door to let us in. "There's talk of strange folk abroad…can't be too careful."
If he was going to open it anyway, couldn't he have done it sooner? I thought as I stepped over the threshold, sighing with relief. We were finally here. I could eat, I could wash myself, I could get out of the rain and I could sleep! Wonderful!
We made it to the Prancing Pony without being trampled too much by the crowd. After I yelled at a few people to get them out of our way everyone seemed to avoid us.
Great. I thought bitterly. I must be scarier than I think.
Pushing open the inn's door we were met with a good blast of noise and light. Walking up to the counter, Frodo asked the man behind it (Mr. Butterbur) if he could tell Gandalf that we had arrived. When Mr. Butterbur said that he hadn't seen Gandalf for a long while, the Hobbits looked at each other with surprise. I looked around for a dark hooded figure to reassure myself that Aragorn was nearby. Unfortunately, most of the people in the Prancing Pony (including myself) were wearing hoods. Damn.
"Let's find a table and get something to drink," I heard Frodo say, so I followed him at sat down at the place they'd decided on.
"We'll be fine, Frodo," I said, patting him on the back. He grunted a reply and didn't say much until we were given our drinks. I took a quick sniff of the contents of my mug and grimaced.
"Ugh. What is this?" I asked Pippin, who was sitting beside me. The halfling had already drained his mug. He then held it aloft and proclaimed:
"Butterbur's finest beer!" Pippin looked at me and asked hopefully, "Are you going to drink yours?"
"No."
I pushed it towards him and he grabbed it, thanking me quickly. I shuddered. Back at Bag End, I had been glad that Gandalf had refused the wine that was offered to me. For one thing, it made me sick to drink any form of alcohol (I had sometimes taken a sip from my parents' glasses and each time I became violently ill). The other reason was… I shook my head to clear it. I couldn't bear thinking about it. It was too awful.
(A/N: readers, you will find out the other reason later on…)
I watched as Pippin and Merry got up and went over to the bar – most likely for more drinks.
"I hope they don't loosen their tongues enough to blab your real name Mister Underhill." I looked at Frodo meaningfully. He ignored me, staring off into space until Sam elbowed him sharply.
"That fellow's done nothing but stare at us since we arrived," he said. He pointed to a figure smoking a pipe by the fire. Aragorn! I thought gleefully. I knew he was in here somewhere!
Frodo called Butterbur over and asked about the-man-he-didn't-yet-know-was-Aragorn. After a lot of explaining, the innkeeper said that the man, who was a Ranger, was called Strider in Bree. I asked him for something to eat he nodded and left to get it. I sat back to wait and stared at the ceiling.
I blinked. Something had just happened to my vision, but it was gone now… no… there it was again! What the…? I sat up swiftly as my eyes blurred. I felt dizzy, like I was going to be sick or something.
"Sam…Frodo…" I whispered urgently.
"What, my lady?" Sam asked in a worried voice. And then, just as suddenly as it had come, the feeling disappeared. I blinked again, coming to the conclusion that I must be a bit sleepy. I rubbed my temples gently and noticed Frodo and Sam looking at me.
"Nothing's wrong, Sam," I said to answer his question. "I'm just tired, is all." I looked over at Aragorn again. I could feel his eyes watching us. It was very unnerving, so I decided to stare back at him just because it gave me something to do.
A moment passed and the Rangersat up suddenly: I became aware of an overly loud discussion that was taking place over at the bar. And to say the least, I knew now that Pippin and Merry would make great angry principals – their voices could've been heard in Rivendell.
Crap…Well, I did warn Frodo… I thought as the said Hobbit ran over to his companions and pulled them away from the crowd that had gathered. After he knocked Pippin over, he tripped over one of the men's feet and fell on his back, his hand outstretched to the ceiling. I froze as the ring turned somersaults in the air and came down over his finger. I heard gasps from around the inn and turned to Sam as Frodo vanished.
I saw the shocked expression on his face and then I felt the wave of dizziness again.
I lost consciousness.
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Waking in a dark room, I found myself lying beside a fire that had sizzled down to barely a few flames. I looked up to where the ceiling should've been, but instead it was blocked out by a man's shadowed face bent over mine. I screamed and struck out at it. The man backed away in shock and raised his hands in defense. In the dim glow from the fire, I realized who he was.
"Shit!" I shouted. "Aragorn, you don't have to scare me like that!" Oops, I thought weakly. I called him by his name…I'm not supposed to know…
"It is a poor thanks that you give to your healer by swearing at them, my lady," the Ranger said, smiling faintly.
Good. He hasn't noticed.
"My healer?" I asked in a puzzled voice.
"You were struck down by that fever again, my lady," Frodo's voice came out of the shadows. "Strider brought you out of it before it could take much of a hold on you."
"Erm…he did? Thank goodness for that. I didn't feel like being left behind because I was sick –" I quickly cupped a hand over my mouth, realizing I might've said too much. What if the Ranger hadn't offered to take them to Rivendell yet? But thankfully Aragorn didn't seem to notice.
"We will not leave you behind, lady," Frodo put in. "While you were helping Sam get ready Gandalf told me he wanted to see you again about something… important. That means we're bringing you along."
My stomach sank to the floor. So much for the whole trust thing, I thought miserably.
"What's been happening while I was asleep?" I asked Frodo.
"Strider told me who he was and that he knows about the Ring," the Hobbit explained. "He advised us to hide here instead of sleeping in our own room tonight after I told him we were being followed. Then he carried you in here and woke you out of sickness with his herbs." Frodo gestured towards a small pouch lying in Aragorn's lap. When it seemed that he was finished, I looked around the room I was in.
I saw that we were well away from where the Hobbits had originally chosen to sleep in the inn. Sam, Merry and Pippin were asleep – sardined together in their sleeping gear on the stone floor – Frodo was awake, and Aragorn was keeping watch for… My thoughts trailed off and I shuddered.
"Ara–Strider," I began, "we were being chased by those horrible Black Riders, and –" I stopped short as I heard hooves on the cobblestones outside and hissed, "Is that them?"
The Ranger nodded slowly. I swore under my breath. A few moments later the Hobbits formerly asleep woke with a start. Pippin sat up so quickly he accidentally knocked his head against the wall.
"I bet that hurt," I said. The Hobbit scowled at me as he rubbed the back of his skull, then stiffened as the piercing screams of the Black Riders sent chills down his spine; it affected all of us in the same way – except Aragorn. I don't know what he was made out of, but it was obviously something stronger than sixteen-year-old girl. I covered my ears in a useless attempt to keep the noise out of my head.
After the sound had ceased, I gazed into space as Aragorn gave the explanation of the Nazgûl. After who knows how long I blinked, a touch on my hand startling me out of my thoughts. Aragorn took his hand away.
"We leave at dawn, my lady," he said softly. "You'd better get some rest."
Great, I thought. Another early start. I'm going to be so tired by the time we get to Rivendell.
"Where do I sleep?" I asked with a yawn. The Ranger gestured towards a bundle of blankets in the corner. I crawled over to them and threw myself ungracefully upon them. I scarcely noticed that the other Hobbits were already asleep. As I lay back I noticed Aragorn staring sleeplessly out the window.
"You're keeping watch?" I asked incredulously.
"Yes, my lady," he answered.
"All night?"
"Yes."
"You're crazy," I said, frowned and added, "and don't you start with the 'my lady' thing too, Ranger."
Aragorn turned towards me, his gray eyes searching my face.
"What do you ask that I call you? The halflings didn't think to give me your name," he said. Well that was a surprise – and also something I hadn't thought much about. Getting rid of the lady bit had come first.
My name…
My thoughts arrived at one conclusion and I turned to Aragorn who still happened to belooking at me.
"Call me Víra," I replied firmly.
Well, there you have it! I hope it wasn't too boring! Next chappie will be up by the end of the weekend – I hope. Assignments are starting to flock in from all directions and my desk is covered in homework… ah well, life is full of unwanted schoolwork. R & R:)