Thankfully Noelle and the hobbits had no more encounters with the Black Riders. For the next few days, they sailed down the Brandywine River until they traveled along the Great East Road to Bree. They had more or less walked on the side of the road rather than on it, but they definitely needed to follow something since even Merry and Pippin were getting less familiar with these lands.

At night they took round-the-clock, constant watches. Noelle had insisted on taking most of them, and had told the hobbits to wake her up immediately if they heard anything. That's how cautious she was being. Forget her high confidence. Now that she knew there were at least five Black Riders, she wasn't taking any chances.

By the time they finally made it to Bree, Noelle was beyond exhausted. She had had little to no sleep for the past week since the Black Riders had shown up.

It was raining and dark, and Noelle and the hobbits were soaked to the bone. They were at the edge of the forest, and could see the wooden gateway to Bree.

"Is the coast clear?" Noelle asked Frodo.

Frodo looked left, right and left as if they were waiting to cross the street. "Yes. Come on!"

They all hurried up to the gate, and Frodo pounded on the door. A smaller door that was at Noelle's eye level opened up. A scraggly old guy with missing teeth peered at her curiously. "What do you want?"

"We're headed for the Prancing Pony!" Frodo spoke up.

Noticing Frodo and the other hobbits for the first time, the old guy grabbed a lantern and opened the whole door. "Hobbits? Four hobbits? With a girl? What business brings you all to Bree?"

"We wish to stay at the Inn. Our business is our own," Frodo said.

The guy nodded. "Alright young sir. I meant no offense. It's my job to ask questions after nightfall," he said as the hobbits shuffled past him. "There's talk of strange folk abroad. Can't be too careful."

Noelle grabbed his arm as she passed him. "What 'strange folk?'" she asked with a frown.

The guy looked a little surprised. "There's been rumors of dark men on horses lurking around the forest. Several men spotted one not two days ago."

Well, the Black Riders definitely weren't her imagination or a ghost-story. Noelle nodded to the gatekeeper. "We'll be careful. Thanks."

"No problem, young miss."

Noelle peered ahead in the dark. The hobbits were trudging along the wet, stony road to the main village of Bree. "Wait up, guys!" she called, as she spotted Frodo almost getting run over by a horse-drawn wagon. She inwardly face-palmed.

Hobbits.

She was beginning to understand how Obi-wan felt now when he was with her, Anakin, and Ahsoka. She felt like she was babysitting, although Sam wasn't so bad. He was probably the most level-headed of the hobbits.

Suddenly out of nowhere, some fat guy eating a carrot burped loudly in front of Noelle's face. She gave him a dirty look.

"Excuse you," she said under her breath.

"Here it is!" Frodo said.

Noelle looked up above her head and saw the metal sign of a rearing horse hanging from the doorpost. Below it read "The Prancing Pony."

When they got inside, Noelle saw Merry and Pippin's faces light up- as if they were in a candy shop.

Oh boy. She shook her head.

Merry and Pippin were instantly at home, and The Prancing Pony definitely looked like a Merry-and-Pippin-type of place. People were eating, drinking, and laughing like they were at a bar. Noelle had been to a few bars on Coruscant before, so she knew what they were like. And The Prancing Pony was definitely more like a bar than an inn.

She pulled her hood off her head and started wringing her soaking wet hair. She exchanged a glance with Frodo as they looked around for someone to show them to their rooms. She decided to check the front desk when she spotted the brown leather book set on it.

Probably the guest list.

"Hello?" she called.

"Good evening, miss! Welcome to the Prancing Pony!" A man with brown, mutton-chop hair came over to the desk to greet them. "What brings you and... the little folk to Bree?" He peered questioningly at Frodo and the others.

"These are my friends Misters Underhill, Gamgee, Brandybuck, and Took. My name is Smith," Noelle explained cautiously. "We're also friends with Gandalf the Grey. Is he here?"

"Gandalf..." The man looked like he was struggling to remember something. "Ohhhh yes. I remember! Elderly chap! Big grey beard, pointy hat!"

Noelle smiled a bit. "Well, he's kind of hard to forget."

"Not seen him for six months."

"W-What?" Noelle got out in shock. She knew Gandalf was a busy guy, but he almost always was where he was supposed to be. If he wasn't, then something was wrong. She turned to the hobbits, who appeared equally surprised.

"What do we do now?" Sam asked.

Noelle was silent, and was trying her best not to break down and panic in front of everyone right now. She didn't know what they- no, what she was going to do.

There was no way she was going to be able to fight off five Black Riders by herself without Gandalf. And where were they going to go? Gandalf had told them to meet him in Bree, and he was nowhere to be seen. The only place she could think of going was Rivendell, but she didn't know how to get there.

And what about Gandalf? Was he ok?

Noelle wasn't paying a whole lot of attention as the innkeeper guy (whose name was apparently Barliman Butterbur) led them to be seated for a meal and a drink.

She mused over her options as she sat on the end of the table between Sam and Merry. Ultimately there weren't a whole lot of them.

They could stay here in Bree and wait for Gandalf, but they were probably waiting for the Black Riders as well. The gatekeeper had confirmed they were in the area.

Or they could keep going forward to somewhere and hope they didn't get ambushed by Black Riders in the middle of nowhere.

There wasn't any good option. Every choice was a bad choice.

Just then, Merry came back to the table with a big mug of beer almost ready to spill over.

"What's that?" Pippin asked.

"This my friend, is a pint."

"It comes in pints?" Pippin gasped. "I'm getting one!"

"You've had a whole half already!" Sam called after Pippin, who was practically already at the bar ordering a pint of ale.

Noelle shook her head. This explained why Merry and Pippin were constantly acting like a couple of nutcases.

She decided to pay attention to what was going on around her instead of her current dilemma. For the first time, she peered around the room, getting a better feel for her surroundings. There were definitely people here who couldn't be trusted, but Barliman Butterbur was a good guy, she mused. She had a good feeling about him.

Meanwhile in the corner by the fireplace was some hooded creep smoking a pipe. Noelle didn't have a bad feeling about him- but he stood out as strange. Sam had noticed him too.

"That fellow's done nothing but stare at you since we arrived," he said to Frodo.

Barliman Butterbur happened to be passing their table with a tray of food and Frodo stopped him. "Excuse me, that man in the corner, who is he?"

Butterbur bent down and lowered his voice. "He's one of them rangers. Dangerous folk they are- wandering the wilds. What his right name is, I've never heard, but around here, he's known as Strider."

Strider?

"If you'd like miss, I can show you to your room?"

It took Noelle a second to realize Butterbur was talking to her.

"Oh yes! Sure! I'm sorry!" She got up and followed Butterbur, who stopped in the kitchen for a second to put down his tray. He grabbed a ring of keys from a hook on the wall.

"I suspect you will stay in a different room than your hobbit-friends?" he asked.

"Uh..."

Noelle didn't think staying separately was a great idea, in case something happened, but the way Butterbur said it made her think she probably should. Two rooms probably wasn't a bad idea, she figured.

Plus she was exhausted. She didn't feel like dealing with drunk Merry and Pippin. Maybe she could just take one night to rest and not worry.

But the sick feeling in her stomach told her otherwise.

Butterbur left her alone in her room. The only light was a couple of candles near the window and the moonlight shining through it.

Noelle crossed the room and opened the window, feeling the cool, Fall breeze on her face. Suddenly she heard something. She sensed that someone was in the room with her.

She froze, and stepped backwards. She slowly closed the window.

Now she knew that someone was in the room, because she could feel someone's presence. She placed her hand on her sword handle. It was about halfway drawn when she pulled it out, whipped around, and clashed blades with a hooded and cloaked figure.