A/N: On time, yet again. Actually, before the scheduled day! So proud of myself! :B
Review replies:
DORK DOG: Just saying sorry coz I know you don't like swearing but there is swearing in this chapter… u_u;
Guest: Yes, you may have all the action figures! :D Sorry for making you stay up till 3am, but I'm glad you like this story :3
breeeeeeeeeeena: Yes, Aiden is secretly Percy. CONSPIRACYYY
Fun stuff. Hope you enjoy this instalment of the fanfiction that just keeps on happening.
…..
[12th March, T.A. 3019]
"Have we got everything?" Olivia pressed, as Phillip swung a pack over his shoulder and glanced about the room.
"Yeah, yeah," he replied, hand momentarily grazing his pants pocket, lightly feeling the hard, L-shaped metal resting against his thigh. Just to make sure it was still there. It made no difference he had already checked about seven times already. Precaution could never be a vice.
"Okay, so do we have…" Olivia paused for effect, raising her hand before bringing it down again on her other hand for emphasis, "Maps?"
"Yes," Phillip confirmed.
"Blankets?" Down came the hand, once more.
"Yes,"
"Canteens?" And again.
"Yes,"
"Is there water in the canteens?" One could hear the gunshots being fired every time the hand went down.
"Yes,"
"Food," Bang, "Because that," Bang, "Is vital," Bang bang.
"Yes, although we'll be collecting some more when we go downstairs,"
"Good. Okay," Olivia relaxed a little, before suddenly raising her hand again, "Wait; gun?"
"Yes," Phillip's hand instinctively reached for his pocket once more.
"Okay," Olivia relaxed once more, "I think we're set,"
"Finally," Phillip breathed, rolling his eyes.
Olivia raised her eyebrows at him, "Well, we've got to make sure we're prepared, you know. We could easily like, die or something on this trip."
"Yeah, yeah," Phillip replied.
Olivia sighed, moving past him and opening the door, "Well, let's go collect that food from downstairs,"
When they entered the kitchen Barliman was there, washing a couple of tankards from some of the later patrons from the previous night. As they entered he turned and smiled at them.
Phillip watched as he spoke to Olivia in Westron, and she replied, smiling back, and offering him the New Zealand coins. There was a small argument, out of politeness, which Barliman eventually lost, taking the coins that were offered to him. Phillip wasn't sure how much use they could honestly be to him, but perhaps the metal substance of which they were made of could be of value.
Eventually, after much discussion of which Phillip could not understand, Barliman took a package from the bench to the left, neatly wrapped in cloth, which Phillip immediately understood to be the food supplies they had been coming down to receive. He passed it to Olivia, and she appeared to thank him graciously, before finally she turned to Phillip and said, in English, "Okay, we're going now,"
She turned to Barliman and seemed to thank him one last time, and he smiled at her and said something—the conversation seemed to stretch on and on, and Phillip became rather bored, considering he didn't even know what it was about. Finally, Olivia gestured towards him that they were actually leaving, before turning to wave Barliman goodbye. Phillip did the same.
They made their way out of the kitchen. Olivia stopped and knelt, swinging her pack from her shoulder and unzipping it to stuff the package inside.
"What's in it?" Phillip asked.
"I don't know," Olivia said, standing, "I would check, but… I can't really be bothered. Plus, we should probably get going."
"Okay," Phillip said, adjusting his pack on his shoulders.
There was a moment of silence and their eyes met and it was almost as if they were asking each other who was going to take the first step. It lasted for about half a minute, and it was Olivia who finally said, "Okay, well, let's go," and moved towards the door.
As they walked through it, Phillip felt an odd sensation. Like that perhaps half a year ago, another like him had walked this path, taken this step, began this journey.
It gave him hope. They walked out into the sunlight.
…..
[9th March, T.A. 3019]
Julia let out a sigh as they continued trekking, moving across the barren lands of brown. There seemed to be no end; no end to the stretches of grassless dirt, the eerie slopes rising and falling in the distance, the unsettling lack of movement.
There was something about the whole place that was arcane; yet the longer they spent wandering the plains the more the arcane feel seemed to be faux. It was just empty; no secrets to tell, nothing to hide. Just deserted, sterile, forsaken.
This was the third day. The third day of walking in the Brown Lands; the fifth day of walking in general. Julia had to admit, they were making significant progress with their early starts, late finishes, and long days of trudging along, footsteps becoming inconsequential as they counted the miles in their heads. One, three, six.
It was still gruelling work—and the lands in which they were situated didn't help. Julia did up a button on her coat and sighed once more. She only hoped there was something at the end of all this. Something worth it. She was beginning to worry that if they didn't try to complete this task, there would be consequences. Consequences like devastation, consumption, destruction. And them swallowed up along with it.
Julia bit her lip. Sometimes she hated being alone with only her own thoughts for company. Glancing up, she saw Damien up ahead, walking alone.
She hadn't really spoken to the man—not properly, and never on this journey, she realized. It didn't seem like a bad idea to, however, which is what she thought as she moved towards him, speed walking to catch up.
"Hi," she said, joining in at his stride.
He glanced up, "Oh, hi,"
There was an awkward pause. "So," Julia said, "How's your life been?"
"Oh, pretty good," Damien replied, almost jokingly, "Just walking to Rhun,"
"Really? Me too," Julia joked.
When this didn't amount to any substantial conversation, she spoke again, "So… son of the dream guy,"
"Yeah," Damien said, "Lorien. Or Irmo. It probably doesn't matter what you call him, actually."
"Yeah," Julia nodded, "Lola was telling me that Este and Lorien were married. Which I guess kinda makes us brother and sister,"
Damien looked at her, and then laughed, "Really? Okay then."
Then he added, "Sister,"
Julia laughed.
Silence fell upon the pair for a long time. A length of time that quickly became awkward, and Julia searched for something else to say. This place really did steal conversation—there was literally nothing interesting to conceivably comment on.
Her eyes flickered up and she noticed Lola walking with Tran and Ginny a little ways ahead. They were talking and laughing, but she was silent.
"Hey…" she suddenly said, turning to Damien, "You know… when you rescued Lola from that dream?"
Damien visibly stiffened up, "You mean the sleep paralysis?"
"Yeah," she said, "I was just wondering… when you did that, could you see what was happening in her head? Like, what she was dreaming about?"
"Uh," Damien said, "Sort of. I was never actually within the dream, so I didn't experience exactly what she did, but I could feel some things, kind of."
"Like what?" Julia pressed.
"Why?" Damien asked.
"She sort of wouldn't tell us what she had dreamt about," Julia admitted, "So I was wondering if you knew. I guess… I sort of get the feeling she's hiding something from us. I mean, me and Ginny and Tran. Like there's something she's keeping to herself."
They both looked up at where the woman in question was walking, twenty metres ahead. She had engaged now in the conversation with Tran and Ginny, but still seemed a little reserved.
"Well, I sort of saw darkness, a lot of darkness," Damien spoke, not looking away from Lola, "And heard a voice, but I didn't hear what it was saying. And I could feel a lot of fear, and it wasn't mine."
"Oh," Julia said.
They walked in silence for a long time. Finally, Julia spoke again.
"Do you think it has something to do with her Valar parent?"
Damien shrugged, "Maybe," was all he said. And then, "Probably,"
Julia glanced at him, and then off into the distance. There was a line of darkness on the horizon, coming from the south.
"What's that?" she asked, pointing.
Damien looked up at where she had gestured, "What? Oh. I'd say just a trick of the light, or something."
But when Julia looked back at the horizon, a sick feeling began to grow in the pit of her stomach. Maybe it was just a trick of the light. But that didn't stop the feeling from gnawing at her for the rest of the day.
…
[12th March, T.A. 3019]
"So," Olivia said, unfolding the map, "Where do we go?"
Phillip glanced around, before looking over the woman's shoulder at the faded parchment with the foreign lines they were supposed to somehow transpose into coherent directions. "Um…"
"Well, we've just come out of Bree," Olivia gestured behind her, "So… we could go through Combe, follow the road through to Archet…"
"And then if we keep going through Chetwood," Phillip pointed out, "We'll have a direct path out of Bree-land, and we can keep going East to Rivendell."
"Yeah," Olivia said, folding the map up and looking up at him, "Good job,"
"Thanks," Phillip said.
They turned to where the path continued, and far in the distance the outline of a village could be seen. Not too far; yet so far away…
"I…" Olivia trailed off, "…am so tired already."
"Same," Phillip gave out a little half laugh.
There was silence, before Phillip spoke again, "Can we take a break?"
"No," Olivia said, "Let's get to Combe first. We've hardly walked far at all,"
Phillip groaned. "I feel like I'm so unfit…"
Olivia laughed. "Same,"
Without another word, they set off in the direction of the village. The path underneath them had diminished from a cobblestone road to a dirt trail, defined by where the ground became grasslands. Phillip hitched his pack up on his shoulders, breathing in deeply. The air seemed a lot cleaner here; unlike it was on Earth.
Phillip's shoes hit the trail methodically, pad, pad, pad, as they walked. The sun was shining, Combe was getting closer, and the gun bounced at his side.
…..
[9th March, T.A. 3019]
In the long, languid darkness a small fire burnt like a tiny sun, stealing the air and spinning it into warmth. Around it the exhausted travellers sat, talking quietly, eating small portions of Rohirrim waybread and dried meat, sipping at rationed water.
The fire itself was smaller than usual—everything had become rationed as they had travelled through the Brown Lands. For lack of flora to supply adequate firewood, they had had to use up the small amount they had collected from before the Anduin crossing.
This, however, was the last of it. Alatar's fire crystals would probably last them until they came across wood once more, but they would have to use them wisely and sparingly. (Aiden had suggested they just huddle around Ginny's hair, but most didn't see that as particularly effective.) As for now, they warmed themselves on the tiny campfire and pretended it comforted them in the slightest.
"Ginny, can you please pass the canteen?" Julia asked, holding out her hand.
Ginny, who had just taken her sip, shook it. "There's not a lot left," she warned, passing it over.
Julia bit her lip, before taking it and uncorking the top. It did feel scarily light. Lifting it up to her lips, she took her single sip, and it was empty. Cursing internally, she swallowed, trying to moisten her throat. The water had been severely limited per person for the last three days, and it was beginning to have an effect on all of them, save perhaps Belegil.
"How many canteens do we have left?" she asked, lowering the now empty one.
"Fifteen," Alatar said immediately.
Julia paused, and then rephrased, "How many full canteens do we have left?"
"Two," Alatar replied, shifting his sitting position.
"Holy…" Lola blinked.
"Yes," Alatar agreed, "This is a most unfortunate situation. I fear I may have miscalculated; even if we still had the canteen that was lost in the Anduin, it seems we still wouldn't have enough,"
Julia looked downward. She still felt guilty about losing the canteen; no matter whether or not it would have made a difference to their current situation.
"So… what are we going to do?" Ginny asked.
There was a pause, before Alatar finally responded, "I do not yet know. I have been pondering on it; and I will ponder on it still. There must be a solution, it is simply eluding me."
There was silence for a long time. Julia stared into the flames. Running out of water fast, with no conceivable way of collecting more. And she somewhat doubted Alatar had some sort of magic crystals that created water. This wasn't good. How long had they been travelling, three days? And they weren't even halfway across the Brown Lands…
The sound of Lola's voice broke her away from her thoughts, "Hey, Aiden and Damien, you guys haven't told us about your 'falling into Middle Earth' experience yet,"
"Huh?" Aiden frowned.
"Oh yeah," Ginny grinned, "Your falling in Middle Earth experience. You know, what happened when you first woke up in Middle Earth."
"Oh, like, when we first got here?" Aiden glanced at Damien, who nodded, "Oh, yeah, that was interesting…"
"You completely freaked out," Damien recalled, laughing.
"No I didn't!" Aiden protested.
"You did,"
"Didn't,"
"Okay, so, you see," Damien grinned, "So I'm sleeping, or unconscious, or whatever, and I wake up to Aiden like, full out screaming at me, and he used the weirdest phrase… dammit, I can't remember what it was…"
"Well, I mean, I'd just woken up sitting somewhere in fucking Edoras, come on," Aiden said.
"I can't remember what he said," Damien said regretfully, "Anyway, so he was like yelling at me, and I woke up, and was like 'hey where are we' and he said, 'we're in fucking Edoras you cunt', and I said, 'oh', and he had this mental breakdown,"
"Did not,"
"He did, and it was hilarious," Damien paused, "Well, hilarious in hindsight. It wasn't that funny at the time. He just kind of collapsed on the ground and completely freaked out."
"I didn't freak out," Aiden said, "And… even if I did, I had a good reason to. You were the weird one who just kind of accepted it,"
"Well, if you have no control over something, there's no use collapsing on the ground and crying about it," Damien shrugged, "But anyway, luckily we were in a relatively unpopulated area, because Aiden's shrieking only attracted one person, which was Hilda,"
"Yeah, she sort of asked what we were doing, and so we told her our story," Aiden said, "And so she took us to her house, and we lived there ever since,"
"Yeah," Damien agreed, "She sort of took us under her care, and helped us find our way around in Edoras."
"Oh," Julia said, "Sounds… interesting,"
"What about your guys' dreams?" Ginny asked, "Did you guys have dreams? That involved a baby?"
Aiden took a sidelong glance at Damien, "Oh yes, now it's this guy's turn to have a story told about him freaking the fuck out,"
"No!" Damien snapped.
Silence fell upon the group, seven pairs of eyes all fixated on the young man. Damien shifted uncomfortably, eyes trained downwards. "I mean… it wasn't like that…" he trailed off.
There was a pause, before Alatar suddenly spoke, "I feel this story should wait for another night. We are all weary, and sleep should be had."
They make short work of removing their blankets from their packs and setting themselves up for the night. There was silence. Not one person said goodnight.
And, one by one, sleep stole them.
…..
A/N: Yeeep that's it, that's all of the words there are. That's all the words I could muster. Now I must muster some more for the next chapter. ('Must muster'? Are they derived from the same root word? :/)
Next chapter is pretty dramatic, I think some crazy conflict goes down, so you can look forward to that…
Anyways, hope you enjoyed, please leave a review. :)
