Chapter 9: To get to Bree
The Shire
Raphael pushed his way through tall maize as he walked through the large field. He soon came across a clear pathway, only to find that he was alone.
"Leo? Leo!" Raph questioned, panic beginning to rise in his voice. "Leo where are you?!"
Just then, Leonardo rounded the corner of the path, a slightly concerned look on his face. Raph sighed in relief, "I thought I lost you for second."
"What are you talking about?" Leo asked in confused at his brothers sudden panic.
"It something Splinter said." Raph clarified, walking towards Leo.
"What did he say?" Leo asked curiously.
Raph paused for a moment, "Don't you leave him, Raphael. And believe me, I don't mean to."
Leo simply smiled, "Raph, we're still in the Shire." He said reassuringly. "What could possibly go wrong?"
Almost immediately after he said that, two certain turtles came out of the of the cornfield, crashing into Leo and Raph, causing them to fall down. Leo looked up in surprise to see Michelangelo on top of him and also saw Donnatello on top of Raph.
"Oh! Hey guys!" Mikey said cheerfully. "Hey Donnie, look who it is!"
Donnie, seeing he was on top Raph, quickly got up. "Leo? Raph? What are you guys doing here?" He asked in surprise, walking over to Leo.
Raph shoved Donnie out of the way, "Get off of him!" He said, roughly pulling Mikey off of Leo. "You okay?" Raph asked, helping Leo up.
"I'm fine." Leo replied. "I think the better question is, what are you guys doing?" But before he could question his younger brothers further, Donnie and Mikey started to hurriedly put several vegetables into he and Raph's arms.
"Here, hold these." Donnie said, placing a few carrots and cabbages in Leo's hands.
"You've been into Farmer Maggots' crops!" Raph accused, recognizing how healthy and well grown the vegetables were.
They then heard loud barking and angry yelling coming a small distance away. They looked over the maize to see a large scythe held high above the corn coming towards them.
"Oi, you get back here! Wait till i get my hands on you trouble makers!" Farmer Maggot shouted angrily from a distance.
"C'mon! Let's go!" Donnie said, grabbing Leo by the shoulder and pushing him through the corn with Raph and Mikey quickly running after them. Raph quickly dropped the vegetables in his hands before going after the others.
"I don't get why he's so mad," Donnie said as they ran through the tall corn, "I mean, its just a couple of carrots!"
"And those cabbages and bags of potatoes that we took last week!" Mikey added, looking back from the front. "And the mushrooms from the week before! And-"
"Okay, I get it!" Donnie interrupted, irritated. "My point is, he's clearly overreacting!"
The Michelangelo then suddenly came out of the foliage, only to screech to a stop with yelp as he stood at the very edge of a steep hill overlooking a dirt road. He was just about to back away when Leo, Raph, and Donnie crashed into him, causing them to tumble roughly down the hill through thick bushes.
They soon reached the bottom of the hill and rolled onto the road, landing in pile of tangled green limbs as they were covered in dirt, leaves, scratches, and bruises.
"Oh, feels like we fell off a mountain." Mikey moaned. He then noticed his head was close to a small pile of manure. "Phew, that was close."
"You guys alright?" Leo asked as he sat up.
"I think something broken." Donatello groaned, reaching behind his shell and pulled out a broken carrot. "Oh."
Raphael was the first to get up as he glared at Donnie and Mikey. "What the heck were you morons thinking leading us off a cliff?!"
"First off, that was a hill, not a cliff." Donnie retorted a-matter-of-factly, getting up and brushing himself off. "Second, that was just a detour, a shortcut."
"Oh yeah? A shortcut to what?" Raph angrily questioned.
"Mushrooms!" Mikey exclaimed, getting up and rushing over to small patch of growing mushrooms.
As Mikey began picking out mushrooms and Raph and Donnie kept on arguing, Leo stood up, strolling down the road, looking back and forth down the road, as if he felt someone or something was coming.
"Guys, I think we should get off the road." Leonardo said, a hint of worry in voice. However, his statement was seemingly unheard as Mikey continued to stuff his bag with mushrooms and Raph and Donnie still argued.
Leo looked down the road again, but this time their was something... unsettling about it. Fog seemed to come in as leafs blowed in a swirling wind, but the most disturbing thing was that Leo could hear a loud foreboding screech coming from a distance, as if some wild banshee was coming towards them. What disturbed Leonardo even more was the presence that he felt, a presence of darkness, a presence of death.
"Get off the road!" Leo said, his voice now full of fear, finally catching his brothers attention. "Quick!"
Wasting no time, the four brothers rushed down into a ditch, hiding beneath a large tree root that stuck out from the ditch. From behind the tree came a big black horse. The horse snorted as it champed in place. The rider was a humanoid cat creature. The rider was tall, wearing a brown kasa hat on his head, tattered red robe, a belt with a foot symbol on it, and face mask which covered his face, revealing only blood red eyes which seemed to glow in the fog. Leo looked up through the tree roots, only to see the horse's fetid hooves as they stamped. The rider got off from his horse, peering over the tree root, sniffing almost like a dog. The Turtles shrank back in fear. Raphael covered Michelangelo's mouth before he could scream, his eyes wide and afraid. Donatello shivered, breathing as quietly as he could while Leonardo remained completely still, frozen with fear. One wrong move, and they were dead for sure. Leo drowned out all sounds as he subconsciously reaching for the Ring. As he did, the rider turned slowly his head, as if he had just a stick snap. Leo felt an overwhelming desire to put on the Ring, but quickly snapped out of his trance and put the Ring away. As the rider began to sniff the air again, Donnie flung the bag full of mushrooms to the other side of the tree. The rider screeched as he immediately whirled his head towards the sound.
Taking this moment of distraction to their advantage, the Turtles quickly came out from their hiding spot, making a mad dash to escape through the woods. After a few more minutes of running, they stopped to catch their breath.
"What was that?" Donnie panted, his eyes wide and afraid, as were the others. Leo didn't respond as he gazed at the Ring in his hand.
Whoever or whatever that thing was, it was after the Ring.
Night had arrived as the rider was still searching. Mist swirled largely in the woodland as the rider screeched in frustration as he continually searched for the Turtles.
Meanwhile, the Turtles quickly hustled through the woods, dodging and hiding behind trees.
"Anything?" Raphael inquired, peeking around a tree.
Leonardo looked around another tree, "Nothing." He said. "Coast is clear."
Michelangelo came up behind them, "Whats goin' on, dudes?" He panted, stumbling slightly.
"That guy was definitely looking for something," Donatello said with utter seriousness and a hint of worry as he walked up to Leo who turned to face him, "Or someone."
Before Leo could say anything, "Get down!" Mikey shouted/whispered. They all ducked down into the bushes, peeking through the leaves as the rider came to a stop at the top of a hill. The rider looked around before riding off.
"I have to get out of the Shire." Leo whispered to them. He then turned to Donnie. "Raph and I need to get to Bree."
Donnie nodded, understanding what they needed to do. "Right." He whispered back. "Bucklebury Ferry. Follow me." Leo nodded back.
The four brothers ran through the bushes as quietly as they could with Donnie at the lead, when suddenly, the rider came bursting out of the trees, screeching.
The Turtles yelped. "Run!" Mikey screamed as the rider tried to grab Leo. By some thing of luck, Leonardo had managed to dodge the the grab.
"Guys!" Donnie called out. "Come on! This way!"
They ran as fast as they could down the hill with Leo falling behind slightly as they ran like madmen through several trees and bushes, stumbling ever so slightly before reaching fence next to a river bank. On the river bank was a small jetty with a small wooden raft tied next to it. Beside the jetty was a small, seemingly empty cottage.
Raph, Donnie, and Mikey climbed over the fence, making a dash towards the jetty on the river.
"Raph! Get the rope!" Donatello told him, grabbing an oar and getting onto the raft.
"Right!" Raphael said as he began untying the rope holding the ferry raft to jetty. "Leo!"
Leonardo ran as quickly as his legs could carry him, climbing over the fence and running down the path towards the raft as the rider was getting close.
"Run, Leo!" Mikey called out, fearing for his big brother's life as the raft began to draft from the jetty.
"Leo, come on!" Donnie yelled as he tried to use the oar to hold the raft in place as long he could.
"Come on, Leo!" Raph yelled, also fearing for Leo's safety.
Leo ran faster, he could the rider catching up, he could hear the horse's snorting breath as he ran.
"You can do it, Leo!" Raph shouted. Leo took a few more steps at the near edge of the jetty before he jumped as far and as high as he could, narrowly landing on the drafting raft with his brothers as the rider came to screeching stop.
The rider once again screeched in frustration as the raft drifted off.
"How far to nearest crossing?" Leo asked as Raph and Mikey helped him up.
"Brandywine Bridge, about twenty miles from here." Donnie replied as began rowing with his oar.
"Then we'll have to make do." Leo said, brushing himself off. The four of them looked back at the jetty to see the rider turn around and ride off with two other riders by his side.
The Turtles were inwardly terrified at what had just occurred. But they couldn't worry about that, they had to get to Bree as fast as they could.
And there you go, folks! Can't wait for the next chapter! In case you haven't noticed, I'm trying to make these chapters a little longer now. So I hope you enjoy!
