When the Worlds Cross
By Heather and Jane
Disclaimer: Middle-Earth and its peoples belong to the great J.R.R. Tolkien. Mia, Rowan, and Randy belong to us. Any and all similarities to real life events/people are pure coincidence—unless they appear with permission (reason for this will come in a later chapter.)
Warning: spoilers ahead for Two Towers and then Return of the King!
Summary: The horses attack Mia, Rowan gets to fight, and Legolas worries.
Authors' Notes: co-written between Jane and Heather, two Lord of the Rings fans that are trying to keep true to the story. First part more movieverse than bookverse, but will soon go to bookverse. Credit to Heather's father and our friend Wesley as story consultants.
Notes: we quote Disney's Hercules, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (again), and Shrek (again) in this chapter, as well as keep up with the 'Smeagol' gag.
Shout outs to reviewers after chapter…
Chapter Ten
Trouble With Horses and Nazgul
~*~*~*~
While the 'gift of horses' was a kind and practical gesture from whoever was playing ringmaster with the girls' dreams (their money was on Gandalf, naturally), Rowan made Mia wait a moment while she checked the horses out. After declaring them perfectly normal, if a bit miffed at being inspected—
"Miffed?" Mia repeated.
"It's all in the faces."
—the girls were free to get a move on. Sort of. When Rowan turned around to start packing up the camp, Mia went to make friendly with the horses and nearly got her arm chomped off by the darker brown of the two. "Yikes!" she exclaimed, leaping back in alarm.
"What is it?" asked Rowan, sounding exasperated.
"This horse just tried to bite me!"
"Then go get the other one."
Mia backed away from the biting horse warily and tried to take the lighter brown horse's bridle. That worked not at all, since it flung its head back for a moment, only to snake back and actually get a hold of Mia's sleeve. Okay, Mia thought, glaring at the part of the horse that held her captive. I will be calm. Maybe they are not morning people. Maybe they only like girls that happen to own horses back home. She took a deep breath.
The darker brown horse nipped at the air by Mia's other elbow and she leapt back, her sleeve ripping a little. Not that it made any difference, since the other horse still had a good grip…
Okay, forget calm. I will not be calm! These horses think I'm breakfast! Or something like that…
"Rowan…"
Rowan turned around, ready to yell at Mia for taking forever, and stopped when she saw what had happened. Oh, dear. She stifled a smile, and asked innocently, "Is something wrong?"
"Rowan," Mia snarled. This just was not her morning. First they have a dream that was practical and yet freaky, then horses just show up, and then Rowan reveals herself to be a closet morning person? Yeah, that works out quite well for me, she thought grumpily. "Please do something about these guys—are they guys?"
"Girls, actually," Rowan replied.
"Right—please do something about these girls and I will take care of the packing." Mia looked at her sleeve, decided that a shirt was inconsequential, and ripped it free, running immediately thereafter. Rowan looked at her friend in amusement before going to see which of the horses was either nicer or more tolerant.
As it turned out, the darker one would probably be better for the girl with less riding experience, since the lighter horse was acting quite hyperactive that day. Rowan simply pointed, Mia grimaced slightly but nodded before handing over the bags. "So," Rowan said, trying not to laugh at the very funny sight of Mia standing far, far away from animals that she claimed to love. "You do have a map of the area, right?"
"Yeah, and no, it is not in my head," said Mia.
"I was not going to ask that."
"You were thinking about asking. I don't memorize maps, I memorize facts," said Mia, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, if we're on horseback, it should be a fairly quick trip to Mordor."
Rowan frowned in confusion. "I thought we were going after Gollum."
"Smeagol," Mia corrected her. "And we are. He will be going to Mordor, and no, this is not an excuse to see Frodo again. Well, it is, but as a side benefit," she defended herself when the slightly shorter girl gave her a look. "Stop looking at me like that. It's like this—the hobbits and Smeagol will be going south. We go south—to Mordor—we find Smeagol."
"Before or after our least favorite Nazgul idiot does?"
Finally approaching 'her' horse again, Mia said innocently, "Doesn't he have no sense of direction?"
"He can't follow a road map, if that's what you mean," said Rowan, before getting it. "Ah. He'll take a little longer…if he is—"
"Better safe than sorry. Yaah!"
Rowan rolled her eyes and mounted her horse while Mia struggled with getting fully upright. "I thought you said you'd done a little riding."
"Not with a horse that's—yah!" Mia held on for dear life as her horse bucked a little. "Trying to throw me off as if we're in some kind of rodeo!"
Too bad, because that would be hella funny, thought Rowan. She didn't say that, of course; Mia the Not a Morning Person wouldn't be extremely happy. She just said, "Let's get a move on…" She tapped lightly at her horse's sides and they started forward.
"Uh, Rowan?"
"Yeah?"
"Mordor would be that way?" said Mia, pointing in the opposite direction.
"I knew that," said Rowan defensively, turning the horse around and urging it to speed up. And ignoring Mia's laughter (and yelps) as the other girl caught up. "Stop yelping, it isn't that bumpy."
That got a glare, but the two girls fell silent (for once) as they headed to the south, at a fairly good pace that Rowan estimated would put them a day or two ahead of the hobbits and Gollum if they kept at said speed for a while. She glanced at Mia, and decided not to mention that travel breaks would only be when the horses needed them.
The girls were operating on a somewhat tight schedule, after all.
~*~*~*~
Three days later, the girls descended Emyn Muil and while happy, Mia felt a bit uneasy about their quick route across the countryside. She shouldn't have minded that they were reaching their goal so quickly…but there she was. Maybe it's the whole bit about how I thought that I'd slow us down, Mia thought ruefully, which she honestly had assumed. Her lack of riding experience had been remedied easily enough, provided that she remembered to hang onto her horse and make sure that it didn't try to throw her off.
"How are we time wise?" asked Rowan as they set up camp for the evening, not too far from Emyn Muil.
Mia glanced at the darkening sky and did some calculations. "Lessee, if this is…what, the thirtieth of February? Don't look at me like that—Middle-Earth calendar, not ours. Anyway. We're ahead of Frodo by a day, methinks. Too much?"
"We'll see. I meant when is he going to run into Gollum?"
"Smeagol. And unless we've thrown a serious monkey wrench into the gears of proper time, he should be meeting Smeagol around tomorrow or soon thereafter."
Rowan nodded, opening one of the packs that had been included on the horses' saddles—nothing more than extra camping equipment, which came in very handy at night. "Then we'll keep the same pace. You know, I think I could see Minas Mordor from here," she said cheerfully.
Mia looked up from her pack in surprise. "The tower? From here? Is that even possible?"
"Dunno, but I swear I saw it. Or Isengard."
"With towers that big, ya gotta wonder if they're compensating for something," Mia snorted.
"Sauron is!"
The girls snickered evilly for a moment before resuming preparations for the evening (and getting the horses to stop trying to take a piece out of Mia's hide). The sun hadn't quite set yet, which was just fine with them—until an odd shadow flew overhead. Mia glanced up, saw the same shadow against the sky, and motioned for Rowan to stop making a fire. Her friend frowned at her, about to ask what was wrong, but stopped when Mia pointed up. The shadow was swooping around again, looking eerily like the pictures accompanying the Bellerephon and Pegasus myth in some books.
Rowan looked over at Mia. 'Nazgul?' she mouthed, and Mia nodded, repeating that silently. Nazgul. What a wonderful way to end the day. At least we haven't been walking all day…
"What does it want?" Rowan whispered, already getting her bow out. She wore her quiver of arrows constantly (except when sleeping—then it was designated to surrogate teddy bear, of all things) but only picked up her bow if there was serious trouble. She had yet to use her sword.
Mia watched the shadow fly in widening circles, before muttering, "Looks like he's looking for something." And then the Nazgul-shadow began tightening the circles it was flying in. "And now it seems as if he's got a lockdown."
"Yeah, but for and on what?" Rowan asked.
The other girl shrugged slightly, and the two of them continued to watch the Nazgul-shadow, which was rapidly coming into focus as it swooped lower and lower to the ground in its circles. Something seemed incredibly off about the way the wraith was handling its flying horse, too. Rowan suddenly pointed. "Mia!"
"I know! I see!" Mia hissed, shocked beyond previous belief.
The girls had been prepared for this; they had even had discussions about what would happen if this sort of thing did happen. But that was idle planning and theory, not reality—which was still shocking. Their flying Nazgul-shadow was none other than Randy himself. He looked like he'd been through hell—or rather, looked like he had been living in hell and loved it.
This cannot go on—work, brain, work—and there we are. Mia glanced at her best friend. "Rowan, I've got an idea."
"Way ahead of you," said Rowan smugly as she took an arrow out of her quiver and nocked it in the bow.
Mia goggled. "Don't kill him!" she hissed, glancing up to make sure that Randy the Nazgul was still circling. Yep, still with the circles—wonder if wraiths get dizzy. "That's not what I meant!"
"Mia, he's a Nazgul," said Rowan, rolling her eyes. "What else should I do?"
"Finally, you use the correct term," Mia muttered, fumbling for her dagger. After getting it out, she made sure that there was just a problem with the sheath and not with the blade itself—once she'd made sure that Randy was still circling. He has to be getting dizzy. "Anyway, what if Randy is still in there…somewhere? We can't kill him!"
Rowan gave her another one of those 'you are crazy' looks, before starting to ask, "Why?" and then just giving up. "Oh, for the love of Pete." She proceeded to blunt the point of the arrow, muttering about how Mia's tolerance of Randy sometimes became just a bit too much. Yeah, yeah, I know, thought Mia. Randy was now a Nazgul. Nazgul were bad and creepy besides. But then again, the Nazgul can't be killed technically, can they? Food for thought. "How about I just knock him out of the air for a time?"
"Okay, that'll work," said Mia, giving the arrow a look. How exactly was that supposed to knock Randy the Nazgul out of the air?
Looking satisfied that she would at least get in some form of Randy-bashing, Rowan once again nocked the now-not-so-deadly arrow, aimed, and let it fly. Mia winced as Randy took the hit in the side. Then his flying steed reared up, not liking how its rider was behaving, and Randy fell to the ground about five meters away from the girls.
Ouch, was all Mia could think. "Oh, my God, you killed Randy."
"Did not."
"Sure looks like you did."
"Shut up, this is not South Park. Okay, so now what?" Rowan asked.
"Oh, my God. Do I have to think of everything, Rowan?" Mia hissed, looking annoyed.
Rowan just grinned at her briefly. "Well, considering that all you're good for here is the thinking…don't look at me like that," she ordered, looking back over at Randy. "We better do something before he gets up and catches his horse again."
Like he can get up? Mia thought in surprise. "Why don't we go see what happened to him first?" she asked.
"Okay," Rowan said as she pulled out the elf blade she'd been given in Lorien.
Mia gave the blade a wary look. "Do you really think you'll need that?"
"It's always better to be safe than sorry. And you're right behind me on this, right?"
"Oh, yes, of course," said Mia, getting up and following a good foot behind Rowan. "Of course, I refuse to be less than ten feet behind you…"
Thankfully, Rowan refrained from calling her friend a wuss.
The girls slowly proceeded towards the fallen form of Randy. He wasn't moving an inch and looked rather pale beneath the hood. Granted, that could have been thanks to his conversion to the Nazgul but neither of the girls was exactly sure. Rowan moved closer while Mia stayed back, and for a moment, either could have been the saner one of the situation.
"Rowan!" Mia hissed suddenly, realizing that there was a lack of breathing going on with Randy.
"What?"
"Did you kill him? And I'm being serious here!"
"No, I don't think I did. That was a blunted arrow, remember?" Mia did remember. "The fall might have but certainly not me." Rowan kicked his side.
"Uh, that might not be—"
Suddenly, Randy's arm reached out from under him. He grabbed Rowan's ankle, throwing her so she landed on her back, knocking the breath out of her lungs. Mia screamed as Rowan's sword skittered away from her.
At that moment, the flying steed landed fairly close by. Mia looked at it.
With lightening speed, Randy was on his feet and before Rowan could regain her breath, Randy was attacking again. This time he lunged at her neck, intent on choking the life out of her, but she had recovered by then. Rowan put her knees in the way of Randy's path and kicked out hard. This set Randy flying head over heels behind her. Just as fast, Rowan was up on her feet, wondering if she could distract him long enough to retrieve her sword.
Probably not. Randy was up and glaring at her, not saying a word. Not that she would have listened.
"Jeez, Randy, you're quite a work out," she mocked him. "Maybe we should do this again sometime." This of course infuriated him. He ran back at her, probably with slightly different yet still murderous intentions, but this time she was ready. Before he could stop himself, Rowan lifted her foot and kicked—right where it counts in males. Apparently, that was still a very sensitive spot to him. He was down, screeching in agony, and Rowan was running for her sword.
In the meantime, Mia had regained her senses and scared the flying horse away, a surprisingly easy thing to do with just a dagger. That's not going to last too long! she thought worriedly, and had run to pack up the few things they'd put down. Mia had realized as soon as the fight started that she would not be of any help to her friend and had tried to think of something useful to do. Which had been scare the flying horse away and get the regular horses loaded up.
Good plan, except Mia got two actual bites for her efforts. She didn't particularly care, since it would be a while before Randy's airborne method of travel would return. Not that I know how long 'a while' is right, now, but I do not care! Mia thought firmly, scrambling in her saddle as Randy howled.
Feeling pleased that her less-action-ready friend had managed to think on her feet, Rowan picked up her sword, bow, and quiver of arrows. Then she leapt into her saddle, Mia finally following suit (but a little slower, as the horse moved at the last minute). "Let's move!" Rowan yelled, kicking her horse's sides. The horse leapt off into a gallop.
"Oh, my God!" Mia muttered, her eyes wide, and heeled her horse too, clinging for dear life as it raced to catch up with its friend. "What did you do to him?"
"Kicked him."
Mia blinked. "Now there's an idea…"
The girls grinned at each other, before turning their eyes back to the darkening road, intent on getting as far away from Randy as humanly possible.
~*~*~*~
Elves that were Legolas' age were not supposed to blush very easily. And yet he found himself very close to giving away his slight embarrassment at asking a newly returned Gandalf if he knew what had happened to the Lothlorien bound youngest ex-Fellowship members. Did I just think that? The sarcastic one is influencing me far too much… Legolas then found himself wondering exactly which sarcastic one (as per to the fact that he'd noticed that the girls practically took turns mocking each other), and promptly ended that train of thought.
And Gandalf's response to the innocent question had been equally innocent—if one overlooked the amused twinkle in his eyes. "They will do well," were the wizard's exact words.
That I do not doubt, Legolas thought as he, Aragorn, Gimli, and Gandalf the White journeyed to Edoras. Between Rowan's battle skills and Mia's intellect, they do well enough in nearly everything—but where are they going? If he knew that much, he might feel a bit better about leaving two young human girls on their own. He reasoned that the girls might have been a little upset with him had he questioned their destination and plan for the coming days.
Though Legolas had hoped that what he had told Rowan would have been left not translated for a time. He had meant it—his heart would sing to see her again—but the gleeful look on Mia's face did not exactly bode well for Rowan taking the words at face value.
"You're thinking of those two girls, then?" Gimli asked suddenly.
Legolas looked at him sharply, and then over at their two companions to make sure they hadn't been overheard. No, but Gandalf was sure to guess later. "'Worrying' is a better way to describe what I am thinking," he told the dwarf.
"Mm. If that Regan girl keeps her head on straight, they'll get their task done," said Gimli absently.
"Task? They said they were going back to Lothlorien," said Legolas, puzzled.
Gimli gave him a look that said 'yes, and we said we were going to Mount Doom'. "Don't worry about them, elf. If they get lost or that one loses her head, they'll find a way out of it."
"Yes," said Legolas absently, thinking that if Mia were to have a hysterical reaction to anything at a time like this, things might turn out badly. He hoped Rowan would do the smart thing in that case—and not hit her over the head, he told himself silently when his humorous side showed a memory of that exact event.
Now Legolas worried about that being a too regular occurrence. I must think about something else…such as Gandalf's story. And why if anyone (besides two girls) suspected it might happen… That was food for thought, and kept him occupied long enough so that he forgot to worry about Mia and Rowan.
Until nightfall, anyway.
To Be Continued – in Chapter Eleven, in which their English teacher visits and the girls go a'marsh walking and mountain climbing. (They're having fun…)
Shout Outs…
Yavanna: thank you…is this soon enough?
greenfairie: thank you and…patience…
Sandman – thanks! We like to hear that our plot is going fairly well.
gaile – thank you again for your comments (and we like to think we have enough sarcasm to spare!). We'll get to reading the latest chapter of your story ASAP, 'kay?
Please leave all commentary, positive and negative, in a review to speed the posting of the next chapters!