Chapter 4: The Prancing Pony

They'd been going for a while before they finally landed. Shadow and Sonic got off the raft and Shadow looked around. He still had no idea where they were. Their surroundings looked the same as earlier to him. Not to mention, they'd been up all night, working their arms with those paddles. One of them was bound to need some sleep. They yawned and saw lights in the distance.

"That must be Bree," Sonic said, and looked to Shadow. "Come on; let's see if they have an inn that we can stay at."

Shadow started walking toward town with Sonic. Halfway there, he realized yet another problem. "How are we going to pay for it? I don't think our currency's going to work here."

Sonic frowned and pulled out his wallet, looking through the dollar bills. "You're right," he said, and put the wallet back in his quills. "We'll think of something."

Shadow nodded and the two went into Bree, going in the Prancing Pony. Sonic went up to the desk and saw a man behind the counter.

"Excuse me," he said. "We'd like to rent a room for the night."

Shadow stopped behind Sonic, looking around the room. There were a lot of people here, mostly drinking. that made him a little nervous. They shouldn't stay around drunk people for too long. He looked at the man behind the counter, who seemed to be having some difficulties deciding what to tell Sonic. Shadow shifted his weight as the man checked something in front of him.

Soon, the human looked up with a smile on his face. "There's one available, if you can afford it."

"Okay," Sonic said. "How much is it?"

The man gave the hedgehogs the price, which came to around twenty dollars. Shadow looked to Sonic. He was the one who said he'd figure something out. Sonic took out his wallet and handed the man the money. He nodded and gave them a key to their room. A few minutes later, the two went into the next room and sat down, but noticed someone was staring at them.

"Excuse me," Sonic asked the innkeeper. "Who is that man over there?"

"Aragorn," the innkeeper said. "I don't think you want to get involved with him."

Shadow looked at Sonic and sighed. He had been hoping they could've gotten some sleep. But if they'd just found Aragorn, then they'd have to talk to him. So long as it didn't lead to Sonic getting stabbed in the shoulder, he'd be fine.

"I'll go talk to him," Sonic said. He stood up but slipped on a puddle of water. The ring was thrown from his hand as he fell on the ground, and it landed on his finger. He vanished instantly.

He stood up and looked around but his eyes widened as he saw Sauron. Sonic gasped and took off the ring, but was then grabbed by Aragorn. "Come with me," he said, and led Sonic upstairs.

Shadow was on his feet the moment Sonic had vanished. Anger flared up within him as he saw Aragorn grab sonic. He'd told Sonic he wasn't going to leave him, and he didn't intend to do it now. he followed them up the stairs and pushed the door open before it had a chance to fully close. Seeing Sonic all right, he calmed down. Hopefully, no one had noticed his sudden flare of emotion. He leveled a small glare at Aragorn.

"You could've just said something," Shadow said. "No need to grab him like that."

Aragorn looked at him and Sonic curiously. "Who are you two people?" He asked.

Sonic looked at Shadow, and then to Aragorn. "My name is Sonic," he said. "This is Shadow."

Aragorn continued to looked at them curiously. Shadow had his arms crossed, usual expression back in place.

"What are you doing with that ring?" Aragorn asked.

Sonic hesitated and glanced nervously at Shadow.

"We found it," Shadow lied. "Why? Is something wrong with it?"

"That is the One Ring," Aragorn said, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. "It is very evil, and must be destroyed. I can tell you are lying, so tell me the truth."

Shadow should've known he'd be able to tell.

"We took it," Shadow said. "From a hobbit living in the Shire." He looked at Sonic nervously. Should they tell him all of it?

Sonic looked at Shadow and nodded. "Tell him," he said.

"We were in a bookstore, and ran into each other. After talking for a few minutes, Sonic had picked up The Lord of the Rings. I took it from him, and found some kind of purple glowing oval. We wound up here, close to the Shire. There's only really one adventure to go on in this story. So we decided to follow it." Shadow looked at Sonic, who nodded again. "We took the ring, intending to bring it to Mordor and destroy it. But we couldn't do it by ourselves. We were intending to go to Rivendell, and see if the elves could help at all."

In the back of his mind, Shadow believed the human thought he was crazy.

Aragorn thought about it. "So, you are from another world?"

Sonic nodded. "Yes, from the planet Earth."

"I believe you. But if you intend to destroy the ring, we need to move. You could be in..."

Outside the inn, loud shrieks could be heard. Shadow grimaced. He really hated those things.

"If they stab you, I'm going to kill you," he told Sonic. The last thing he wanted was for Sonic to get stabbed and nearly die.

The hedgehogs ran from the room, following Aragorn's lead.

"What are they?" Sonic asked Aragorn as they ran into another room. He could hear the Nazgul enter the inn.

"They were men," he said. "Now, they are neither living nor dead. The power of the One Ring draws them to it." Aragorn looked at the two. "As you should know, they'll never stop hunting you."

The two hedgehogs looked at each other in fear and then back to Aragorn. They heard more angry shrieks and looked out the window to see the Nazgul ride away. Sonic sighed and lay on a bed, closing his eyes to rest. Shadow went to lay next to Sonic, but changed his mind. There was more than one bed in the room. Unless, of course, Aragorn wanted it.

"You going to use that?" he asked, pointing at the bed.

Aragorn shook his head. Shadow sighed in relief and threw himself onto the bed. In no time at all, he was drifting into sleep.