I awoke again in the wee morning hours. I was quite pleased to find that I had full use of both my eyes and that someone had brought back my clothes. I unfolded my light blue, boot-cut Levi's with the hole in the right knee. But the hole I had worked so hard on perfecting was no longer there. It had been patched with some new material I wasn't familiar with. I was more worried though about the fact that someone had messed with my jeans. I loved those jeans. They were my 'go-anywhere, do-anything' pants.

"How dare they patch my pants!" I exclaimed. "A hole like that is the sign of perfect wear. It took me years to get it like that, and they just go and patch it! What's wrong with these people?"

I pulled them on underneath the dress I was wearing anyway. I then picked up my white T-shirt with the woman on a horse and Heaven on Earth message on it and put it on. It felt good to be back in my own clothes again. I also noticed, however, that my hooded sweatshirt was not there. Perhaps they found it too raggedy for any practical use, or perhaps it had gotten completely covered in blood after the branch hit my head. I decided not to worry about it; I had another spare denim shirt in my saddlebags.

Next, I turned to the problem of my hair. It only came down just pass my shoulders, but it bothered me when it was down. It got all puffy and staticky. I wanted nothing to do with it. I looked around for anything I could turn into a hair bond. There was a thick cord belt on the dress that I thought would work pretty well, so I pulled it off and tried to think of how to cut a small piece off.

"Dang it, if I just had that pocketknife," I grumbled. Then I remembered the spears in the corner of the room. I dashed over to them and started to saw at the rope on the point of one particularly sharp tip. Eventually a small piece frayed off. I tied a knot in it so it made a loop. I pulled my hair back and put it up into a large bun. Now I was left with a long piece of frayed rope. I felt slightly guilty at ripping off a piece of the dress that these people had kindly given me, but I re-looped the belt into the dress and hoped no one would notice. I had just finished folding the dress when Legolas walked in.

"Already up and prepared to leave?" he said, a little astonished.

"Of course," I replied matter-of-factly. "I'm quite use to getting up with the sun. This morning was no different than any other." Except that I'm rooming with an Elf and a dwarf in a place with no electricity or indoor plumbing, I added to myself.

"Then let us go down to the horses and set out with the rest of the city," he said, letting me through the doorway.

I was anxious to see just what kind of city this place was and when we got outside I was met with a scene out of the Middle Ages. There were hundreds of people all milling about, packing their bare essentials, strapping them to their backs; most of them looked like they hadn't had a bath in a year. I doubted that any of them had even heard of shampoo. Legolas led me to the stables where Fred was waiting for me. He looked cleaner than some of the people of the city, but he wasn't saddled.

"We did not saddle your horse," he explained, "for we are not familiar with such tack and we thought that you would much rather use some of your own than some you did not know."

"Thank you," I said as I began to saddle Fred with my Western pleasure saddle. Even though it was a pleasure saddle, I had packed with a couple of saddlebags and my rope for roping cattle. Once it was completely on, I pulled out my dark denim long-sleeved shirt from one of the bags, pulled it on, then mounted Fred.

"Okay, Elf-boy," I said, "lead the way."

"You seem incredibly stronger, seeing as just yesterday you could hardly walk and could only use one eye," he replied as he got on his horse with amazing ease.

"Ya, well. I heal quickly."

After that we set out on an awesome trek through the countryside to a place called Helm's Deep. There were mountains, plains, lakes and I thought that this wouldn't be such a bad place to live. As we walked I watched the so- called Elf, Legolas, with his long, flawless blond hair waving in the wind. And I couldn't help but think to myself, Dang, he's hot!

We rode for hours as Legolas filled me in on what was going on. Apparently there was some Dark Lord guy by the name of Sauron who was trying to take over the world by means of a magic gold ring. I wondered what kind of 'evil' a little bitty gold ring could have besides locking one in holy matrimony. In addition to that there was another 'bad' guy; a wizard in cahoots with Sauron, named Saruman, who was breeding some ghastly beasts called Uruk-Hai, to come and destroy Rohan. I kept getting Sauron and Saruman mixed up, greatly agitating Legolas, though I thought it should have been a quite common mistake, seeing as they were but one syllable different. I mean, take out the 'm' in Saruman, switch the 'u' and the 'r' and what do you get? Sauron!

Anyway, Legolas informed me of the dealings of this place called Middle- Earth, but when I asked what had become of this 'all-powerful' One Ring, he changed the subject, saying he needed to go check on things up ahead. He dismounted and walked quickly through the caravan.

"Well fine, then," I said after him. "I'll just wait here, shall I?"

All of the sudden there was a loud shout from up ahead. Aragorn came running up from behind a small knoll, yelling something I didn't understand, but made the hundreds of people scream in terror. The king, Theoden, ordered all 'riders' to come fight, while the civilians were to make for Helm's Deep. Wanting to know what was going on, and because I was a 'rider' myself, I stayed behind.

I held back at first, waiting to see what was going on. Then to my horror, large ugly wolf-like creatures with even uglier things riding them collided with the Riders of Rohan. I hadn't had much time to realize what was happening, and before I knew it the battle had spread out to encompass me as well. One of the giant wolf-things started to charge right at me; like a rampaging rhino. Thanks to Fred's incredible barrel-racing and cow- cutting skills, however, we twisted out of his way just in time. I couldn't help it, but it gave me an incredible rush. The wolf-creature quickly turned around and headed back towards me. It took maybe 3 steps before an arrow pierced its throat, cutting off his air and killing it. I was joined shortly by Legolas, who did not seemed pleased to see me.

"What are you doing here?" he cried. "You should be with the other women and children. You cannot fight, and you are still weak. You can not possibly hope to take on a fully-grown Warg! Go quickly! Make for Helm's Deep with the others!" he demanded. I met and held his gaze and said defiantly;

"No. I'm not going anywhere! I don't even know where Helm's Deep is! Besides, you didn't seriously think I'd let you have all the fun, did you? No way! I'm here, I'm staying, and I'm fighting. Deal with it." I had absolutely no idea what I was saying, but Legolas left me there to fend for myself.

My immediate thought was, What the @#%! am I doing here? My next was, how do I take one of these things out? I had no arrows, no sword or anything even remotely sharp. Then my eyes fell upon my rope, coiled neatly just above my knee. The wheels began to turn. I snatched it up and spurred Fred right at a wolf that had lost its rider, but was aiming at beheading Gimli all the same. After that instincts began to kick in. I circled the rope over my head and when I got within reach I let it fly. It sailed through the air in slow motion, looping itself directly around my target's neck. It pulled taught, snapped the wolf's neck and hurled it to the ground right before Gimli's feet. See, just like cattle-roping, I told myself.

Usually I didn't like the idea of killing living things, but these creatures were more like monsters than anything else. They felt evil and when I looked at them I was filled with bitter hatred and disgust.

I brought down another rather malicious looking one and its rider before it pounced on Aragorn. He did not see who did it but Legolas did. From across the field I saw him look at me in astonishment. It rather boosted my ego as I went over to the fell beast to retrieve my rope and Legolas gaped at me in awe. Eat your heart out, Fairy-boy, I thought as I smiled and waved at him.

In perhaps a half-hour or so the wolves called Wargs began to retreat and the Riders of Rohan to recoop. There was still one Warg left though. It was hanging around the outskirts of the battle, checking out fallen riders. I rode up behind it with a spear, but as I got closer I suddenly got an incredibly outrageous urge to jump on its back and ride that thing!

No, that would be just plain stupid, I told myself. But in the blink of an eye I had sailed from Fred's back to the Warg's and was riding it like a championship Bull Rider. It twisted and turned as I held on with every fiber of my being.

"What is she doing?" cried Gimli from afar.

"Yee-haw!" I yelled. "Ride 'em cowboy!"

I was thoroughly enjoying myself as I felt the beast begin to tire. I felt like I almost had the thing under control when Legolas came galloping up, shot it dead, then caught me as I fell.

"What in the world did you do that for?" I exclaimed. "I had him completely under control! You had no right to kill him like that!" I told Legolas bitterly.

"And just what did you think you were doing?" he asked in relpy. "You have been conscience little more than a day, still have wounds that are not fully healed, and are considerably weak. What right have you to pull a stunt like that?" I didn't answer. He had a point.

"Why didn't you just kill him?" asked a very beat up Aragorn.

"Because that would have been far too logical, wouldn't it?" I said smiling.

Legolas sat me down on my feet so I could mount my own trusty stead, but my knees buckled and I went crashing to the ground. My little 'cowboy' experience had completely drained me of any energy that I had had. Legolas dismounted and tried to help me back into my saddle. I ached all over.

"Not so cocky now, are you? Oh great lady Jay of the Sea," asked Gimli, chuckling. I could have said something extremely rude, but decided against it.

"Well that was fun," I said as we joined the others. "What's next?" * * * * * * * *



Hey everybody-I'm having trouble thinking of how to end this. I've got a few ideas, but I'm not sure what to do. One idea is to have multiple endings or to kill Sea Jay off then she wakes up back in Boise, or she just dies completely. Please send me your thoughts! I would greatly appreciate them! Thanks! -Elven Frog