Disclaimer: I am still trying to see, what happens if I don`t disclaim them….sorry this chapter is a little daft, I have to…gather some ends.
Chapter IV: The Story, part one.
"Okay then, let us for one crazy moment say that this is true…." Rory said and looked at the men gathered around her kitchen table. The two dwarfs and the elf were looking at awe at everything. They had been amazed that she had a water pump inside her house, and wondered what kind of sorcery had made the lights without flames.
"Tell us what happened" Alfred said, and looked at Rory daring her to say anything "and from the beginning" Rory added ignoring Alfred's warning.
"It was only months after the destruction of the One Ring" Legolas said and sighed, thinking back on more happy times. "Middle Earth was once against calm, and people were picking up their lives after the battles. Then one night a couple of moons ago, a strange light was seen in Angbad"
"Angbad?" Alfred asked and Legolas was about to explain when Rory suddenly rose. "I'll get John Howe's maps" she said and disappeared. A few minutes later she returned with a small green book and unfolded a large map of Middle Earth. Horizt, Noritz and Legolas stared at the map as it was a ruby and then Horizt whispered.
"What man created this?"
"John Howe"
"Who was he, has he ever been to Middle Earth?"
"Eh…Alfred?"
"Ohm…. yes, but let us not dwell with that"
Alfred scanned the map, and then soon what had to be Angbad, and then turned to Legolas urging him to continue. "It was in the First Age of Sun, that Morgoth, the Dark Enemy hid him self in the Pits of Angbad, and wrought his masterpieces of evil from flames and sorcery. His dark jewels of the Dark Enemy's genius were Great Worms" Legolas paused and saw the dark shadow that had appeared on the dwarf's faces.
"Worms" Rory asked and Horizt nodded. "Dragons"
Alfred whistled slowly. "Dragons ey, Smaug" he muttered and the dwarves looked at him with mixture of awe and curiosity. " You know our story, but not our land" Legolas said, and Alfred shook his head.
"What is your stories…history is for us…. fairytales"
"Fairytales?" Noritz asked puzzled. "Let us talk about that later, continue with your story Legolas" Rory said. She could not explain it but she had some how grown into what was happening around her. There was this tiny part of her that hoped, wanted, begged for this to be true. What part of her it was she didn`t know, but she knew it was a part that had been well hidden for a long time.
"It had been years since anybody had spotted a dragon, and Smaug was believed to be the last one, that was until a couple of moons ago," Legolas said. "With the strange lights, came also the dragons" he said and a sense of dread fell over his face.
"Villages were burned, people slaughter and war broke out. The people who wanted to fight the monster, the people who wanted to hide, and the people who wanted to do nothing"
Silence fell over the table as they all at around in deep seriousness. Rory blinked her eyes a couple of times as images began to flicker in her brain. It was not until her kettle started to chime, that the tension was broken. "Hum…anybody want any tea?" she asked and Alfred shook his head slowly.
"Sure you're not British, you are probably the only one in Blue Cove that drinks that wrenched stuff"
The words were harmless, but it struck deeper into her then Alfred realized. Rory tensed and she turned around and looked at her, her eyes blank with unshed tears, and Alfred quickly realized his mistake. The wounds were still fresh in her after her parents had told her she was adopted.
"Sorry" he muttered, and Rory shook her head and smiled sadly. "It`s alright, anybody want anything else to drink?"
" Some ale would be nice" Horizt and Noritz said in union and Rory shook her head. "Sorry, no can do, but try this" she said and placed a bottle of Coke on the table. The three strangers bent their heads and stared at the black liquid filled bottle, like it was the most extraordinary thing they had ever seen.
Hesitating Horizt grabbed the bottle, looked unsure at his brother who nodded slowly. They held their breath as Horizt put the bottle to his lips and slowly drank. A few minutes later he spite the Coke out, soaking Alfred who sat opposite of him. "What are you trying to do, poison me" he said and rose, grabbing his axe.
"Sorry" Rory said and quickly removed the bottle. "Try this then" she muttered and placed some apple juice on the table. Legolas grabbed the carton and sniffed it. "Fruit, in a box?" he said curiously and placed the carton at his lips and drank. The two dwarves looked at him, waiting for him to spit the drink out.
After he had emptied the carton he put it down and wiped his lips. "Truly a miracle drink" he said and smiled.
When they had all satisfied their thirst they sat once again around the table, and Legolas continued his story. "It was discovered that an evil wizard…" and Alfred muttered under his breath "is there any other kind" "…was behind it all".
"A council was called and it was decided that a party of seven would set out to Angbad, and try to locate the Dark Lords lair," Noritz said breaking in to the story. Horizt nodded eagerly and continued to tell that after weeks of walking they finally reached the Wizards lair, when they discovered that it was empty.
"Only four of seven remained, our friends were lost, and it seemed like we had traveled so far only to discover that the wizard was gone"
"To bad you couldn't have phone and checked that he was home" Alfred nodded and Rory hit him in the chest.
"So how did you end up here?" she asked when the silence got to heavy again. The dwarves and elf sighed deeply. "We were about to leave his lair, when our hafling friend, discovered a mirror, and that is the last thing we remember"
"A halfling, but were is he?" Alfred asked and Noritz sighed. "We have been trying to tell you this all morning, we know not were he is, and it worries us" Horizt grunted. "He his probably in some kind of trouble, who wanted to bring him along anyway?" "It doesn't matter, we cannot abandon him," Legolas said sternly and the dwarves sighed knowing, and hating that he was right.
"And this dark Lord, is the man?" Rory asked and brought out the newspaper. The three men nodded their head, and it looked Horizt was ready to attack the paper, when Alfred said calmly.
"Who saw the Presi…the wizard last?"
"Slaves we freed from his realm" Noritz shuddering when he thought about the people they had rescued from the darkness. Rory sighed again, she didn`t really know what to believe. "Alfred, can I talk with you for a sec?" she asked and before he could reply she grabbed his arm and dragged him into the living room.
"Crazy huh?" he asked when they were sure they could not hear them. "I'm not sure…. what if they are telling the truth?" Alfred looked at her stunned and then started to laugh. "You are kidding right, you can't honestly believe them?"
"God, you are starting to sound like David, humor me, what if it IS true" she didn`t realize how sharp her voice was and Alfred took a steep back and lifted his hands in sign of retreat. "Yeah, yeah, what if it IS true," he said slowly. "What do we do, walk over to the president and say. "Excuse me sir, but in Middle Earth you are a Dark wizard and your dragons are killing people….could you please stop"
Rory had to admit that when she heard it like that it sounded really idiotic. But she still could not explain this fire inside her that had suddenly started to burn. "Look, Alfred, I can't explain it, but I feel like…. this is true" she said slowly. Alfred sighed deeply and closed his eyes briefly and then said.
"You believe them, don`t you?"
She walked over to the window and stared out, even inside she could feel the cold wind wash around her. " It might sound crazy, but it was not long ago when we believed in fairytales" she said mostly to her self. She then turned around and asked. "What happened, when did we stop believe in Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy, in magic?"
"When we grew up" Alfred said slowly and walked over to her. "Then call me a child because I believe…. I may be fucked up…but right now I believe I have two dwarves and an elf prince in my kitchen"
"Maybe you are fucked up…. but then I am just as bad…because…I think I believe to" Alfred said slowly. She turned around. "You are not saying that, just to make me feel better?"
"Nope, I am saying that because I mean it"
Just then they heard a scream from the kitchen.
