"..Then it is vital that she learns to. Sauron has already started to twist her mind." spoke Thranduil to the wizard in a hushed tone, who was leaning on his staff thoughtfully.
"It did not come unexpected," stated Gandalf calmly.
"We knew he would strike, but not this soon! She is not prepared for this." argued the elf.
"Not yet she is not, but she is half maia, do not underestimate her potential." stated Gandalf leaving no place for argument. The elf opened his mouth to speak but closed it again.
"We need to leave now, the sun is already up." Legolas walked into the room. The three men looked at the small figure curled up in the armchair, only head sticking out from under the covers.
"Wake up Isil" called a voice invading her peaceful sleep.
"Eh? No, g-go away.." she responded sleepily waving away who ever was trying to get her up.
"Isil, you need to wake up!" they called more persistently this time. "If you don't get up now we shall leave you here!"
"Five more minutes" she whined pulling the blanket over her head. Half asleep she heard an exasperated sigh and a second later her warm blanket was pulled off of her with a great force and refusing to let it go, she tumbled to the floor with it.
"I'M UP! I'M UP!" she yelled, bolting up right. She looked around disoriented, as the elf headed for the door.
"We will be waiting for you outside." he stated and left her alone in the room.
"Nice." she mumbled and pushed herself off the floor. She ran a brush through her hair absent-mindedly and brushed her teeth in a rush. Her backpack was in another room so she ran in to get it before she left. Deciding that her clothes was still fresh enough to wear today, she didn't change and ran downstairs tossing the keys to the bar keeper.
"Have a rocking day!" she yelled as she pushed the door open leaving the man with a puzzled look on his face.
The three men were standing outside, their backs to Isil when she exited the inn. She stared at the sky in wonder seeing the sun was barely up and the sky was covered in bright pink clouds. She haven't seen sunrise in a long while since she always slept in. Hearing her footsteps, Gandalf turned around and faced her with a smile.
"Good morning!"
"Mornin'"
"Did you sleep well?"
"Well I had a weird dream about a burning eyeball and then a psycho chased me down the hallway so I had to hang out with this guy," she gestured towards Thranduil who looked gloomy, "but other than that it was okay." she finished smiling brightly. The wizard observed her for a moment curiously.
"Alright then! If you all are ready to go, we must leave at once!" he spoke and the four of them walked towards the large gate.
"Lets roll." ordered Isil and started walking down the path confidently, when they exited the village.
"If you wish to 'roll', I suggest you roll in the right direction at least." she heard a sarcastic voice of the elf behind her. She turned around without losing her cool and strode the opposite way.
"I knew that!" she chimed and he rolled his eyes as she moved past him.
They took the East-West Road that would lead them to the Last Bridge. It was a risky path, but they would get to Mirkwood faster that way. It's been an hour since they left Bree when Isil gasped at a sudden realization. "OH MY GOD"
"What's the matter?" questioned Legolas with concern.
"W-we.. We forgot Eric.." she stuttered running a hand through her hair. "WE FORGOT ERIC AT THE INN!" she yelped in horror.
The four of them stopped dead in their tracks, wide eyed. They completely forgot about the boy in the hurry. Since nobody really payed attention to him except Isil, it was an easy mistake to make.
"We can't turn back now." stated Thranduil.
"What do you mean? We can't just leave him there!" exclaimed Isil outraged by his indifference. "He doesn't know anything about this world except from what I told him, but he probably already forgot half of it! He wasn't even suppose to come. Oh no.. It's all my fault." she said helplessly. "I brought him here!"
"If you did not bring him along, he would have been killed by the orcs." remarked Gandalf "But Thranduil is right. The servants of Mordor are already searching for you. We cannot risk it and go back for him." he added.
"There must be something we could do!" inquired Legolas seeing how brokenhearted the girl looked.
Gandalf thought for a moment and finally made a decision."I will send a message to an old friend of mine. He will look after him until you can be reunited."
"Okay" she said weakly and they continued their journey towards the Last Bridge in silence. That give her time to think about all the wrong decisions she made. She trusted strangers, got her friend nearly killed and then left him at some sketchy place on his own. If she didn't call him in the first place this wouldn't have happened! Eric would be home, safe, playing his xbox, watching 'drive angry' for a hundredth time or even smoking pot right now. Instead he is all alone, with no money, stuck in a world he doesn't belong in and it's all on her...
The road was long and Isil just started to realize how hungry she was. She wondered if wizards and elves even eat and if they know that she needs to at some point.. She hadn't eaten a thing since home, which was the reason why she got drunk off of two beers. The memory of last night were coming back to her. She made friends with the dwarves and then danced and sang on top of a table.. Well she can check that off her bucket list.
She wondered if the snobby elf actually looked for Eric like she asked him too. It was highly unlikely, being a king and all that.. It wasn't his job to babysit him, but he could at least try and be a decent human being. With that she glared at his back and failed to see the sneaky rock that came out of nowhere, causing her to trip and fall in the most ungraceful way. The elf heard her and turned his head around to see her laying flat on the ground, face down.
"What are you doing?" he questioned her dryly.
"I'm obviously hugging the floor." she responded sarcastically, her voice muffled by the grass that was up her nose.
"I am certain it is extremely grateful for your affection." he remarked, then grasped her upper arm and pulled her to her feet in one swift motion.
"Thanks" she grunted dusting off bits of grass from her clothes. He nodded and continued to walk and she followed sheepishly, staring at the ground.
Meanwhile at the Prancing Pony...
The inn was half empty. The only people there was the bar keeper who was polishing glasses with a stained cloth and a couple of dwarves who were smoking pipes. One of them noticed a pair of legs that were sticking out from under a table. The dwarf leaned back to get a better look when a hand reached out a grabbed a chair for support and a boy with ruffled hair and a sleepy face popped up a second later.
"Where am I" he asked looking lost.
"Yer at The Prancing Pony kid" answered one of the dwarves with a long black beard and a scar across his large nose, after blowing a ring of smoke.
"The Prancing Pony? Riiiight I remember now.." he groaned lifting himself off the floor and pulled up a chair. His messy hair was hanging over his red eyes and he ran a hand through it to get it out of his tired face. He looked up at the dwarves who were observing him warily.
"Have you guys seen a girl here? Long hair, kinda short?" he asked them.
The dwarves exchanged glances before the one with red beard responded. "There was a human girl here! She sang strange songs to us. Her name was Isil if I remember correctly."
"Yeah! That's her!" he exclaimed happily.
"Yes, she left a couple of hours ago with a wizard and two elves." he added and other dwarves nodded in agreement.
"WHAT?!" he yelped jumping on his feet and ran for the door nearly tripping over multiple chairs on the way. "Goddammit Isil!"
It was around 4:00 pm when the massive clouds covered the sky, shielding the sun and the heavy rain started to pour down on the four travelers. Gandalf wrapped his cloak tighter around himself, Legolas and Thranduil seemed to not be affected by the weather at all. The strong wind began to blow as if trying to knock Isil off her feet, who in an attempt to keep her hair dry, held her backpack above her head. It seemed like if the wind blew a little hard, it would pick her up and carry her away like a dandelion seed. She struggled to keep up with the three man and started to jog so that she wouldn't fall too far behind.
"Are you alright Isil?" yelled Gandalf over the strong wind.
"I'm good!" she yelled back even though she felt like she could collapse any second now. Another current of wind blew causing her hair to whip the elf beside her in the face. She turned around and snorted with laughter as the mighty king battled with her hair, trying to get it out of his mouth. He noticed it and glared at her while Legolas watched the scene with amusement.
"Sorry, it has a will of it's own." she said while attempting to tucking her hair in her sweater. The elf didn't respond and kept walking.
Soon they approached ruins and decided to wait for the weather to calm down. It was good news for Isil because at that point her eyes were watering, and she felt like her skin was covered in a thin layer of frost. When they found a shelter with a roof, Isil exhaled in relief and crawled into the hiding feeling like a wet rat. The backpack didn't do much to keep her hair dry and her clothes was soaking. She didn't picture adventure to be like this.. While she was shaking in the corner, her teeth clattering like one of those wind-up toys, Legolas found some dry roots that were laying around, and Gandalf made fire with his magic making Isil wish she could do magic too right now and use it to dry herself. What was the point of her having 'powers' if she couldn't use them for her own advantage?
She looked through her backpack and saw that everything that was laying on top was wet.
"fuckin great.." she muttered to herself. How was she suppose to even dry her stuff here? Her taser was thankfully undamaged and she placed it in her pocket. She found another sweater she had in there, so she put it on, desperate to keep herself warm. The fire that Gandalf made didn't do much to her from where she was sitting, so she inched closer to it, stretching her hands out. Once she felt better, she looked through the opening in their shelter and watched as the rain poured down, creating muddy puddles outside.
She always loved storms. Rain, thunder and lightning seemed far more exciting than plain blue sky and sunshine. That was back when she had a home where she could be safe and secure under a warm blanket with a cup of hot tea. Right now she didn't have the access to that kind of comfort. She was so far from home, in this strange world, with people she barely knew. Her life changed so drastically so fast. It wouldn't get better from here she knew it. The nightmare she had last night meant something. Thranduil said she has to learn to block these things out, which means it will keep coming back until she learns to control her dreams somehow. That thought made her shudder.
Isil leaned against the stone wall and held her sweater tighter around herself. She would have done anything to have Eric with her right now. Even though he was an airhead and wouldn't provide her with word of wisdom right now, he was something familiar, which was good enough for her.
