The Return to Innocence

Sequel to "The Road to Middle-earth"

A fan fiction by MushrooomsPTook

Disclaimer: I own nothing. You might as well say it owns me!

Concerning Melchior

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -Goethe

I charged at the giant, and I could clearly hear the unified screams of my companions behind me. As the enormous monster stepped in front of the sunlight, I discovered that he was the only giant that made an appearance. However, he was still one of our enemies, and the sooner we could overtake him, the sooner we could make our escape.

Marian took aim and released her first arrow. It soared sharply into the air toward the giant's forehead, but he shielded his eyes just in time, and caught the arrow between his thumb and forefinger, snapping it in two. Marian flashed a face of frustration and readied another arrow. As Alice and I came within striking range of the great giant, he let out a roar and stomped his foot into the ground, sending the two of us flying backward. Marian had also been knocked off her feet, and now the three of us scrambled to pull our wits together. But that was not enough to prevent me from readying my sword a second time. I glanced over at Marian, who nodded, and nocked an arrow to the string, sending it towards the giant's face a second time. Again, the enormous creature blocked it the same as before, and instead of going at our enemy from the same position, Alice and I went toward him from different angles. But at the last moment, the giant caught both of us up with a swipe of each hand.

The massive creature shook his fists, and our weapons fell from our limbs like leaves from a tree. Marian, still on solid ground, lurched forward aggressively and readied another arrow. But the giant sent another shockwave into the ground with his ginormous boot, and Marian toppled over. As she hurriedly tried to get to her feet, another attack was made with the giant's other boot. Marian lost her grip on her weaponry, and the giant took the opportunity to snatch her up in his massive fingers. Now, we were all trapped, right where we had been.

"There now, ya li'l maggots, tryin' to start trouble now, are we?" he boomed, looking pointedly first at Alice and Marian, then at me. He tightened his fists and I began coughing from the pain. "I'll teach ya a thing er two abou' mindin' yer manners."

"Let us go!" barked Marian with a raspy voice.

"Go? Oh, I'll le' ye go a'right. I'll le' ye go righ' inta the furnace!"

With that said, the giant began taking large strides off to carry us to what I guessed (and dreaded) to be a much worse place than the castle we were just in. I was confused to how such a brave attempt at a fight ended in defeat so quickly, and I began doing the next best thing anyone would do under the circumstances. I begged.

But Alice, whether by foolery or courage, reacted in a much different way. "Listen, you brute, you are going to let us go. But it won't be in any furnace or any other imprisonment."

The giant chuckled. "I don't think ya shrimps is in the righ' position ta be sayin' wha' I will 'n' won't do. Yer lives is abou' ta get much, much worse. I know they told ya we don't ea' yer kind no more, but some o' us is more o' the traditional type." The giant now began to sputter out chortles of grisly laughter. "...And I hate ta see good flesh go ta waste!"

Whilst stomping down the hallway and throwing back his head for the occasional laugh, one couldn't blame him for his ignorance of the situation that would soon follow. But during this time when he was in high spirits, I happened to look down at the floor just a couple of steps away from where we currently were, and I noticed something that looked similarly to a fishing line, though not as shiny, stretched from one side of the hallway to the other. Before I could even guess what it was, the giant's right leg came into contact with it, and the result was explosive. The clumsy buffoon let out a wail, and as he tripped, his descent to the ground was anything but graceful. The only thing that came remotely close as being classified as good was that the giant did a pretty decent job of keeping us secured in his fists as he took us down with him. It wasn't pleasant, however, because we were being swished around so violently that I felt my stomach turn more than once, and it reminded me of an extreme roller coaster ride.

Upon impact, the giant's fists loosened, and I was thrown about five yards before plummeting against the hard flat surface of the floor. Winded and bruised, though I was, the damage could have been a lot worse had it not been the armor that still protected me. In short, I was thankful to be alive. But I couldn't say the same for either Marian or Alice, and the monumental form of a recently fallen giant blocked my view of their whereabouts.

As for what specifically caused the catastrophe, the answer was right in front of me and beneath the giant's lower legs. What initially had appeared to be a fishing line was actually a rope, a very thin and fine rope of white threading, but its strength matched that of the giant now fallen, and it was still still very much intact.

As I began to sit up from my fall, I heard light footsteps approach me from behind. As I turned my head to identify the figure, my eyes met with the palm of a young but calloused hand. I looked up and my gaze was met with that of Tom Sawyer, and slung about his shoulder was the one pack we had journeyed through the mountains with.

My mouth gaped open. "Tom! You're alive..you're here!"

Tom smirked and took my hand forcefully as I was stricken with shock. "I'm happy to see ya too, 'Layna."

"How?"

Tom shrugged. "It's a long story."

I looked over my shoulder at the rope that lay beneath the giant. "You did this?"

Tom offered up a quiet chuckle. "I had help."

I gave him a baffled look when he began to coil up the white-threaded rope.

"Is that the same rope from before? The one you'd been threading?"

"In a way, yes," he replied.

Before long I heard two shrieks and running footsteps towards us. I turned around and greeted both Marian and Alice as they ran towards us.

As Alice greeted Tom with a tight embrace, Marian's approach couldn't have been any more different. "Where were you?" she demanded.

Tom slowly released Alice with concern in his eyes. "What're you talkin' about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that while you were about gallivanting who knows where, the rest of us were kidnapped. Where were you, giant hunter?!"

"Hey!" I snapped, stepping in between Marian and Tom. "Now's not the time for arguments. What matters is that we're here together now. We still need to find a way out of here."

Tom slung off the pack he'd been carrying and momentarily set it on the ground. "I think these migh' offer a little help. He proceeded to pull out a number of weapons, all of them being the ones that had been previously taken away. Among them was the knife that my father had given me."

"Little good those will do," huffed Marian. "These are giants, Thomas! If the weapons we had before offered no damage, what do you think these will do? We need magic."

"Well, Your Highness, then it's a good thing we got someone who can produce magic." Tom smirked and pulled Melchior's cane out of his bag.

Marian folded her arms across her chest while shifting her stance. "Do we?"

Tom lifted his eyes again and then appeared to suddenly realize that we were short one member. "Where's Melchior?" he asked.

"He was separated from us," answered Alice. "They're holding him in another room."

"Any chance we know where that room is?" Tom asked.

"It doesn't matter," I said quickly. "We don't need him anymore."

Marian looked at me sharply. "We could use his help."

I threw her intense glare back at her. "You're not really turning this into a conversation, are you? Do you not remember what we just discovered about him? The man is trying to take over your kingdom, Marian. Any more help from him could be just what he needs to make this a reality. If you ask me, the giants have done us a favor." I took my newly acquired weapons and began fastening them to me. "Now, Tom, if you would gladly show us the way out, we will be on our way."

But Marian was not giving up, and she quickly stepped in front of me as I turned to leave. "I made a contract with him," she pressed on, "and he with me. To break that contract now would make everything we've been through up to this futile."

"And what about your people? You have a duty to protect your kingdom, don't you? So what, Melchior's well-being is more important than theirs now?"

"I'm not justifying his intent, only that we have use for him. We still need him to get us to the Well. And now we have the advantage. We know of his plans, and now we can control the outcome."

I got right up in front of Marian's face. "We don't need him to show us where the Well is, Marian. We have the map. Have you forgotten that?"

Marian shook her head. "That's the whole reason he came with us, Alayna. The map doesn't show us everything. He's our guide; he's here to take us the quickest way, while getting us around messy situations."

"Oh—you mean like the one we're in now? Well, that's comforting. Look, the map shows us where the Well is. That's enough, don't you think? I think we can manage the messy situations on our own. That giant is out cold, but that could change at any moment. Melchior won't be a problem anymore if we leave him now."

"But..." began Marian softly. "Wouldn't that be the same as murder?"

"What happens when we leave is out of our hands, Marian."

Both Alice and Tom immediately took two steps away from me, Alice shielding her mouth with the palm of her hand. For several moments, I kept my gaze locked with her eyes, with no words passing between us. But the next minute, I suddenly came to realization of what I had said, and my stare softened before shifting my eyes to the ground. "That didn't come out the way I meant it to."

Marian frowned and shook her head. "No. I think it came out just the way you meant it."

Alice interrupted meekly by voicing herself. "I need to say something." She came up beside me and grasped my hand firmly. "Alayna, I don't trust Melchior anymore than you do, and it's certain that his actions demand a response, but I'm not sure if that response is ours to give. When I think back on the times during our adventures when we were overpowered by enemies, I realize that we can now show Melchior the one thing our enemies never showed us. Mercy."

"And we do as Marian said," added Tom. "Don't let 'im suspect we know an' keep our wits about us."

I stood shaking my head, but the other three looked at each other as if this was really going to happen. "So we're all in agreement then?" asked Marian.

"Not all of us," I muttered. "And besides, you don't know which room he's being held in, remember? How do you expect to find it without short of asking a giant?"

"Don't you mean we?" Marian demanded.

I shook my head. "I haven't agreed to anything."

Tom's eyebrows furrowed together tightly. "Well, we can' stand 'ere all day arguin'. If anyone hasn' noticed, we still 'ave a giant 'ere to reckon with."

"And more will return soon," added Alice.

"The poin' is there's too diff'rent arguments: to save Melchior 'er to go on an' leave 'im behind. We gotta agree on somethin'."

"Do we?" I asked.

In that moment there was an exchange of confused glances between the other three that oddly mirrored the state of our company, and no words were said for a long time.

"Alayna, we should stick together," Marian insisted.

"I'm not rescuing Melchior," I said, arms planted firmly against my chest. When Marian opened her mouth to rebut, I quickly interrupted. "And if you plan on rescuing him yourselves, I'm not staying in this company." My eyes briefly reviewed the glances I received, and I quickly continued. "I'll get to the Well myself. And anyone who doesn't want to go with Melchior can come with me."

Alice looked to the ground in confused. "Split up?"

I inhaled forcefully, tearing my eyes from Alice's. I bent down to retrieve the map from the pack Tom had, and watched Marian's eyes widen as I took a couple steps back, map in hand.

"What are you doing?" Marian demanded.

I shrugged. "You trust Melchior so much, I figure you won't be needing the map."

"Alayna, don't," Alice pleaded, eyes watering.

"Come with me, Alice." She glanced between Tom, Marian, and me indecisively. "Alice, come on." She shifted her eyes a while longer before meeting my expecting gaze and shaking her head. "Alice...?"

While her eyes gave me the response of sorrowful rejection, a sudden movement behind her caused my gaze to shift suddenly. The giant, who had been lying unconscious beneath the entrapment of Tom's rope, now was stirring awake. He grunted something incoherent and began to slowly rise from the floor. As he stood up, he cupped the side of his head with the palm of his hand and blinked his eyes several times before focusing them on us. In the meantime, we all took several steps away from the waking monster, fanning out as we did so. But the giant seemed to have realized at the moment what had happened, for he let out a bellowing roar and withdrew an enormous club from the very thick, black belt that hung loosely around his waist.

"Now's a very good time to show us the way out, Tom," I stuttered nervously.

The giant raised his club high overhead and right after Tom signaled us to follow him, the monstrous humanoid slammed the club into the ground. The tremendous vibrations that soon followed ripped through the earth below us and swept every one of us off our feet. This allowed the giant the opportunity to advance upon us, but the four of us dodged his enormous steps, using our size as an advantage to go under and through places outside of the giant's reach.

"This way!" called Tom as he sped ahead, waving his arm. "Hurry!"

"I'll get ya, yer l'il maggots!" bellowed the giant, thumping right behind us with huge strides. I imagined his initial run-in with Tom made him irritable, and our getting away from him only reignited his anger. We had turned a corner, whereupon we found ourselves in what appeared to be a Great Hall. Its size was bigger than any we had seen thus far, and in the far back of it, way up ahead in the direction Tom lead us, were two giant doors, making me believe that this was the entrance to this place. I would suspect it would be the exit if we were the size of our captors, but there was no one up to turn the enormous doorknob, or at least from what I could tell. And if we should happen to find a way up, the trouble would come when we would have to open the doors.

But then they did open. It would have seemed an easy escape, had it not been for the two giants that stood in the doorway. For it was the brutes themselves who swung the doors open. But that was not the real threat. The real threat was just behind them in the form of a third giant: the king of this wretched place, and the one who had ordered our capture.

"Quick!" shouted the previous giant who'd been chasing us. "They've escaped! Don't le'um leave!"

The king moved past his soldiers quickly, ordering them to seal the doors shut, and then opened his hands to catch us. But in the midst of the chaos, Tom halted to a hard stop, causing the rest of us to pile into him with a crash.

"Marian," he said, "gimme yer bow an' an arrow."
"Why?" she questioned.

"Just do it!" I ordered.

Without another word, Marian hastily disrobed herself of the bow and arrow. Meanwhile, Tom was busy uncoiling the rope and he took the weapon from Marian. He fasted the rope to the end of the arrow and nocked it to the bow.

"What are you doing?" asked Alice.

"You'll see..." he aimed at the wooden beamed overhead and pulled back on the arrow, "hopefully."

"Tom," I said, "It's going to take a lot more than that rope to bring down the ceiling."

"This ain't no ord'nary rope. Oh...and get ready ta run."

I watched nervously as the giants neared us from both directions and looked up to see the arrow pull the rope up and over the rafters high over head. There was a momentary pause where there was no arrow to be seen or rope. And then, there was a faint thud, and a large bundle of stuffed brown bags appeared on the other side of the rafters. Stuck to these bags was the arrow that followed it, and the rope that was still tied faithfully to it. As the bags began to fall, the other end of the rope was still held firmly between both of Tom's fists. Seeing his knuckles turn from pink to white, I caught onto his plan and sealed my hands just above his, and pulled back on the rope. Marian and Alice also placed their hands on the rope.

Meanwhile, the rest of the rope, still led by the brown bags, pierced by the arrow, went down with the bags until there was no more rope left to give. The pressure in the middle came down upon the beams overhead, eliciting several creaking and cracking sounds, the same sound wood makes when it's beginning to split. The giants halted their chase at the sound, and everyone lifted their heads to gaze up at the ceiling. Dust began to fall, first in a sprinkle, and then shortly thereafter as rain.

"Watch it!" shouted the giant king, but it was too late. There was a SNAP! and part of the structure overhead came tumbling down. The pile of brown bags resumed their descent and I dashed as far away from the oncoming disaster after hearing Tom's command to run. The problem was no one really knew which way to run, and so I lost sight of Alice and Tom just as the structure came down, and a great sea of white powder erupted into the air. Three of the giants were seen under the debris, but they were soon moving again at the sound of their king's screaming.

"ON YOUR FEET, YOU FOOLS!" he shouted. "DON'T LET THEM GET TO THE SPINDLER!"

After waving a hand in front of my face in order to clear the smoke and disrupted flour from my eyesight, I saw that Marian was not far from me. I ran to Marian and grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her after me. Thankfully there was still a lot of flour that hadn't settled to the ground yet, so we were fairly unseen from the giants for now. As for Tom and Alice's whereabouts, I didn't know. But I knew we needed to get as far away from the giants as we could.

"Fabian!" called out the giant king.

"Yes, my Lord!" replied the first giant we'd encountered that day.

"Head to where our captive is and make sure no one gets past the door. Rumble, you see to it that these main doors are blocked. Cobber, you stay and search the grounds with me. I don't want survivors this time. When you see those filthy peasants, kill them. Kill them all!"

Suddenly, Marian pulled me to a stop. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"Didn't you hear that?" she asked. "If we follow that giant, he'll lead us straight to Melchior."

"No, Marian," I said, shaking my head. "We can't."

She withdrew her wrist from my grip. "We need magic!"

Marian turned on her heel and began to run after the Giant Fabian. I shouted after her, but realized now that anything I said wouldn't change her mind, and that she was determined to find Melchior. But at that moment, Cobber must have spotted Marian for he said, "There's one, my Lord!" Not knowing what to do, I leapt onto the giant's foot and withdrew my sword. In a moment, I was hashing at the giant's skin with the blade, and the brute yowled, and reached down to swing at me. I jumped from his foot at the last second, and as I landed on the ground, I heard a sharp and long whistle from behind. The giant looked behind him, and on the other side of the pile of debris was Tom waving his arms overhead. Luckily, Alice stood close beside him.

"Alayna!" Tom shouted. "You and Marian go! I'll 'old 'em off!"

The giant ran in the direction of Tom, and I turned to see Marian still running after the first giant. I looked back and forth between her and Alice and Tom, not knowing where my heart was leading me to go. I didn't know why, but in a moment, I set off after Marian.

Next chapter: An attempt to rescue Melchior is made, but how he gets rescued will remain until the next chapter! :-D