Just for kicks I decided to add a fourth. Enjoy!
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Mel's wrists shook slightly as she picked up the bottle and carefully tipped it into a large mug. The liquid mixed in with what was already there, giving it a strange almost muddy look. The now empty bottle was placed back in line where a lot of other bottles rested, various shapes and sizes, each one drained slightly of whatever its contents.
Mel examined the mixture within the large mug carefully, slowly picking up a spoon like thing and stirred the concoction in a precise manner.
Tapping the spoon like thing gently on the edge of the mug, she placed it down again and carefully eyed the slowly swirling liquid. Mel nodded, satisfied.
"Whats that?"
Mel jumped at the sudden question, nearly spilling the precious substance. She sighed, exasperated.
Charlie merely watched, curious.
"A bit jumpy aren't we" He commented. Mel pulled a face.
"I am not at all accustomed to have the wits literally scared out of me by some gym junkie look alike"
"Still about that Lurtz character?"
Mel shuddered.
"I guessed as much…..what's that for?" he nodded at the strange brew in her hand.
Mel glanced at it.
"This? This is for that nerve-racking encounter. it's a family recipe, good for three things. Hangovers, body jump starts and eating away stomach lining"
"Oh, enjoy then"
Mel lifted it up as if toasting.
"Cheers" She gulped down a mouthful, and promptly sprayed it out again, coughing and gagging.
Charlie wiped away some of the spray from his face with a sleeve.
"Oh how lovely" he grimaced.
Mel was much content with reaching up nothing, looking quit pale.
"What was in that?"
"Anything vaguely non poisonous in liquid form, including those eggs at the back of the food shelf"
Charlie winced, he had a more accurate idea of just how long they had been there.
"I wasn't so sure on the stability on that smoking purple stuff from Saruman's weird collection, so I only added a drop or two of that"
"You ARE crazy"
Mel plonked the mug onto the table again, unsure about what to do with the rest of it. Leaving it would be a good idea, and hope it doesn't grow intelligence.
"Yea, I figured as much since I got hear"
"And everyone so far is agreeing with you on that"
"Your sarcastic wit is indeed near impeccable". Charlie grinned at that statement, which was slightly unnerving when he had yellow crooked teeth. At least they weren't rotting like other peoples she had seen.
"Oh, by the way, about Lurtz, apparently one of his tasks set by Saruman while he's hear is to try and find you"
"Oh feck"
************************
Mel was not having a good day right now. Charlie was off to wherever orcs lived in this place (Mel suspected some ware beneath Isengard for some reason) fast asleep after Mel threatened him that he went to bed or faced the fist, either way leading the same outcome. Mel looked determined enough to succeed to, fighting skills be damned.
She had just remembered that her family recipe was banned in most states and for a good reason too, and trying it out in middle earth where nothing seemed to resemble Pepsi max in the least, though there was something tasting like, but not quite Dr pepper. That she found very odd.
Right now Mel was peering around corners uneasily, looking out for any suspicious things that resembled at all anything that could be hunting her. If anything would end up catching her finally, it probably would end up being that gym junkie look-alike. Needless to say she did NOT want to be caught, as a matter of principle and the fact that retribution she had learned to avoid. Retribution was not nice, dished out by a vengeful sibling or by an all powerful wizard it made no difference, except probably in the severity of the pain factor which was the part Mel hated the most.
The coast was clear.
Mel sighed with relief and hurried along, nodding to the occasional orc. They didn't seem that focused on actually turning her in, now that Mel thought of it, which was probably why she had stayed free so long. If they did really want to, she wouldn't of stood much of a chance. Oh what cheerful thoughts.
She ha the very uneasy feeling something bad was going to happen, something bad for her, not others. Something soon.
WHUMPH!
"Ugh….not again!"
Things really seemed to like running into Mel.
"Sorry" she apologised to the glaring orc, sidestepping out of his way quickly. The orc continued on, muttering something about pests.
Mel considered petty vengeance on him, but decided against it.
Something grasped her shoulder tight, something large and strong. Mel looked up and behind, face paling quickly.
"Eeep"
Lurtz didn't speak, instead he tugged her off her feet with a sudden jerk and pushed her forward. Mel cursed, she didn't know she'd be caught so quick. This would have been a record.
She was marched along forward, it was either that or forcefully moved forward in less pleasant terms. Three guesses at to which option she chose.
After recovering over the initial shock, Mel tried going left. She was quickly shoved back into line by her escort. Mel thought for a sec, and tried going right, only to have the same repeated accompanied by an annoyed growl. Mel tried going left again, getting as far as before . She was beginning to see a pattern hear.
Move left, stopped, shoved back in front.
Move right, stopped, shoved back in front.
Move left, Stopped, shoved back in front.
Move right, stopped, shoved back in front.
Regular as clockwork. Me was beginning to time it. The Uruk-hei (Thank you for the correction DeeSarrachi and Sadira-Black I owe you one! And the others who also commented. Great to know you's care enough) behind her didn't have to try anymore, instead just going on automatic. It became a routine.
Pause, reach arm out, shove back roughly.
Pause, reach arm out, shove back roughly.
Pause, reach arm out, hit nothing.
Mel had ducked under the timed arm, and ran passed back the way they came as fast as possible, giggling her high pitch giggle. It was drowned out by a god awful roar of rage.
Mel nearly screamed, running faster than previously thought possible. Fear of giant alien bodybuilders was a real motivator apparently.
********************
A lone orc walked mumbling to himself along the hallway. He didn't like being run into, not at all. The relative peaceful silence was shattered, the orc whirled around to see what was wrong.
"OUT THE WAY!"
WHUMPH!
The orc was bowled over after not heeding the advice given, having a total of three seconds to comply. Mel kept going, shouting back a hasty sorry as she skidded around a corner and disappeared out of sight. The orc had time to blink in surprise, before flying through the air again and colliding with the wall, Having been thrown aside by an angry lurtz for being in the way. This was just NOT his day today.
**************
Mel skidded through a doorway, glanced behind her, yelped, and proceeded to run faster. The Uruk-hei was still gaining fast.
She tried to back-pedal when she saw the gaping stairway leading down to the level below, then remembered who exactly was behind her.
Eagerly Mel ran and leaped into the air, the floor sloping downwards beneath her rapidly. She felt the breeze as claws tried to grab at her, tearing into the back of her shirt.
She let out a whoop of victory, she was out of reach! Her victory was short lived as gravity caught up with her at the worst possible time.
Mel saw the ground very far below, the very hard looking ground at that. She braced herself as it came closer rapidly, looking eager to break a few bones. She curled into a ball and closed her eyes.
"This is gunna hurt"
I'd like to point out in this point in time a rather funny thing. The drink Mel made earlier had in fact not grown any life forms, luckily, but it had been discovered by someone passing bye. Curiosity got the better of him and he tasted the strange liquid. This resulted in a rather funny dance from the victim as the properties in the cup did very strange things to people changing from species to species…actually he was flailing all over the place in panic and looked like he was choking to death, but all in all it still looked strange. This would concern the story a great deal less if it weren't for the fact that in panic he bolted from the room and ran downstairs to find something to wash the taste out of his mouth. Finding such relief he sighed and trundled back towards the stairs to go up again, wanting another look at that drink, only to be knocked flat on his arse and back as something large and 'heavy' collided with his chest.
On the plus side, Mel had found something safe to land on, even if it wasn't the feather mattress she was praying for.
Ml groaned and rolled to her feet, wondering why she could still move when everything felt broken. The orc that was lying dazed on the floor was thinking much the same thing. Mel recovered fastest, up on her feet and limping away fast for a hiding place, hobbling along as her body tried to realign itself.
CRACK!
Ah, now she could stand strait again. That helped greatly in her speed factor, and by the time Lurtz was barely a quarter way down the stairs, him deciding he wasn't loony enough to try and jump them like Mel had, she was already out of sight.
*****some time later************
The room was dark, light barely filtering in through the doorway as something large blocked the entrance, sniffing the air slightly.
It looked cluttered, full of odds and ends and covered in dust. Obviously nothing had been in hear for a while.
The massive figure sneezed slightly, irritated by the dust drifting through the air.
Nothing moved in the gloom, nothing stirred.
The figure growled to itself and stalked off loudly.
In the room, something twitched slightly, twitched again, before what looked like a hat stand of sorts covered by a blanket began to contort about in a most alarming manner. The blanket was thrown off to reveal a flustered looking Mel, gasping for air.
"Bloody hot under there"
She relaxed back against a bookshelf that obscured her mainly from view.
"Third time he nearly found me" That wasn't a comforting thought, not at all. Not when she had to stay statue still for what seemed like hours while the creep wandered about, especially not when that hiding place was in a laundry chest once. Mel guessed it was the laundry chest as it was full of clothes, dirty clothes.
She was nearly sick at the thought of it. She swore that he took so long just to deliberately keep her in there! She swore she would of died if she stayed in it any longer.
For now she was safe, safe-ish at least, but she knew she couldn't keep hiding forever.
I can bloody well try a stubborn part of Mel stated, but was quickly crushed by her logical side as it had pointed out the very many flaws in that idea.
She had to stop that freak somehow, but how? She wasn't getting tired of running or anything but by the way things were going sooner or later she would get caught.
That's when her mind remembered its extensive knowledge of movies, of the protection from home invasion kind. More specifically home alone.
Mel's eyes lit up as she began to examine in the room what would be useful, looking very much like a mad scientist. Oh she was gunna enjoy herself…and if she got caught at least it would be for a good reason, IF she got caught that is.
*******************
A few of the people wandering the tower at this time of day were slightly disturbed by the sounds of things being dragged about and stuff being assembled. The evil sounding chuckling that accompanied it wasn't at all reassuring and most avoided the area. They had learned the hard way about Mel's pranks, and by the sound of it this one was big.
The sound of something crashing to the ground with a squawk of 'MY FOOT' Followed by some vulgar swearing however brought chuckles to a few who heard.
It also drew the attention of someone else, he had heard for quite a while but had taken his sweet time in tracing the noises.
Mel looked slightly proud at the construction in the middle of the room. It was hard to tell what exactly it was, but it looked quite rickety and ready to fall at a moments notice. Its appearance was that of a giant magpies nest, full of junk and bits that no one really wanted to know how it got there and were quite surprised it managed to actually stand.
Mel suddenly noticed Lurtz in the room and eyeing her rather strange contraption.
He probably was rather surprised when she whipped out a paper bag , looking like she made it herself, and started breathing in to it very rapidly. He took a step towards her, Mel froze. He took another step, Mel stood behind her rickety contraption
The uruk-hei did not look impressed.
He easily side stepped the 'whatever' and stalked towards Mel. all too late he noticed her gleeful Cheshire cat grin that appeared for a brief second, Before his feet flew out from under him on the slippery wet floor.
Mel winced slightly as he fell. To give the guy his due, Lurtz did an impressive flip before landing on his back hard.
"Oooh, nice form, but a bit rough on the landing. You may have to settle for the bronze"
Lurtz answered with a roar of rage that sent Mel's teeth on edge. She 'eeped' to herself and ran down a hallway close to her, the one the Uruk-hei didn't come down.
Lurtz got to his feet, and promptly slipped again, this time doing the splits. Mel looked behind her at him, at the other end of the hall by now, and nearly was sick with laughter. The expression on his face was priceless.
Third time he was lucky, he didn't fall down. Out of the wet area, he stalked towards Mel, speeding up until it was a near dead run at the girl. He felt something tug at his legs and break, weak, small irritations. He glanced down at it quickly and saw string. String? Was she trying to trip him?
SPLAT!
The string triggered a catapult like system, sending a glob of…something at him. He ducked it easily and continued to chase Mel. Something else went flying at him, and another. Soon the air was thick with stuff being hurled at him. A heel of an old boot managed to clonk him one right in the head. He barely felt it and just ignored the flying objects.
Mel watched, open mouthed. It looked like a scene from Indiana Jones out there, with darts flying at him from all directions. Unfortunately these weren't poisonous, and the 'Jones' was cheating majorly by not getting bothered for being constantly hit by the stuff. And he didn't seem that keen on keeping the prize, more like beating it to a bloody unrecognisable pulp.
Mel was not keen in sticking around.
Damn, she tried so hard on that one too, even raiding the orcs laundry chest for some of those boots, which was why she was stuck in there hiding in the first place.
Mel skidded around a corner, did a few skipping steps for some strange reason, and continue to bolt for freedom.
Seconds later, Lurtz pounded around the corner after her. He reached out an arm, almost grabbing her shirt collar, but something made him pitch forward and slammed into the ground.
Mel whooped in delight, NOW she had tried to trip him, and succeeded, giving her precious moments in getting ahead again.
Lurtz bared his teeth at the ground, face still smashed into it. This was beginning to get repetitive, and vexing. He was starting to get the sneaking suspicion the floor had a thing for hurting him, but choose to ignore it.
Mel skidded to a stand still before she slammed face first into a jumble that was blocking the path. Up at her shoulder level was a largish hole through the obstruction to the other side. Without hesitation she crawled through it head first, feet disappearing just as The Uruk-hei made a grab at them. His efforts were rewarded with a left shoe that looked strikingly similar to that of Saruman's.
He puzzled over this for a moment, before trying to ram the barrier down with his shoulder, nearly sending it toppling down on the first hit.
Mel jumped and backed away from the pile she had painstakingly arranged, cursing her luck. Of course the giant heavy builder would try to ram it down, and not go through the hole. Had to use muscle instead of mind. Arrogant Jerk.
So much for the plan of disabling him by the glass on the floor.
"Oh you sadistic bastard Murphy!"
As if to reply, the pile of junk shuddered again, teetering over the edge. Gravity seemed to take its own sweet time in trying to topple it to the ground.
Mel decided to add a hand into the matter and ran at it, slamming into it and bouncing back off. It had the desired effect of tipping the pile back in the other direction, the danger of collapsing averted for now.
Mel got off the floor, and staying around only long enough to flick off the face that was peering through the hole, turned and ran.
The obstruction did not survive a third hit.
*************
Gandalf sat in the picturesque looking rivendell, looking out through a doorway into the valley below, mesmerised by the waterfall.
"there is a matter you wish to speak to me about Gandalf?"
"Ah, my dear friend. So good to see you. I have some strange news to say, concerning a matter at Isengard"
Elrond rose an eyebrow.
"Did we not already discuss the treachery of Saruman?"
"Indeed, but there is something else I have not mentioned up until now. It concerns a very strange child"
Thus Mel became known to the lord of rivendell, who was quite shocked, and not a little sceptical on some of the things about this person.
"You do not think this, child, might be apart of Isengard's treachery?"
"No, Saruman was quite mad before she arrived, though his mind wouldn't of improved much with her around. I do not believe she had any ill intent in her, other than childish pranks. Mel is but an innocent person caught up in events out of her control!"
" Your judgement on people is not often mistaken .If you believe it so, then so do I. But she is beyond our reach, we cannot hope to save her, not with where she is"
Gandalf did not at all look pleased about this, though he knew it to be so.
"I fear for her" he finally sighed, looking slightly downcast.
"Do not despair my friend, for if half the things you say are true, Mel can look after herself well enough"
***************
"Help" Mel squeaked, voice strangled slightly. She seemed to be on the receiving end of a slime covered, flour scattered, bruised and battered, thoroughly irked Uruk-hei, which was not the most desirable place to be health wise.
She had made a complete circle and was back in the room with her strange tower like thing, with Lurtz still on her tail. There was a moment there, where he had been locked in a storage room, where she was certain she had won. Then again, now she knew just how unreliable doors are to not being ripped off its hinges.
Now Mel was out of tricks to pull and looking rather nervous at the way Lurtz seemed to be twitching uncontrollably while stalking towards her. In complete and utter malice, he tore down the weird contraption in one tug, sending it falling. Mel dodged the falling debris, and a particularly heavy looking item hit the end of the table, sending the other end up. The drink that Mel had created went flying, soaring out the window and down into the caverns beneath the tower. It landed with a squish in the breeding pit, oozing out its contents. This had a particularly strange reaction to the sludge, sending it a bright, blinding fluro pink. Mel had indivertibly did something about the Uruk-hei problem quite by accident. She would have been proud had she known.
She suddenly noticed something.
"Hey, that's mine!" She pointed accusingly at the left shoe still in his hand. "Give it back!"
Lurtz growled, glaring.
"I'll kick your ass!"
The gorilla on steroids seemed to find this funny, smirking. He suddenly let loose with a flurry of punches, that if Mel hadn't jumped back out of reach, she would of surely found herself on the floor, wondering what happened to all of her teeth. One clenched fist impacted with the wall, sending chunks flying and leaving a sizable hole.
Mel gaped from the hole in the solid rock wall, to the sudden martial arts expert, who's fists still looked eager to hurt.
"LOOK! A chipmunk!" She pointed some ware behind the Uruk-hei. Lurtz turned to look, Mel kicked out. Let it be said that Mel, though one crappy ass fighter, was one heck of a ball kicker.
"Yoink!" Shoe reunited with its rightful owner, Mel skipped off happily
Mel thought the Lurtz hunting problem quite thoroughly dealt with, for the time being, and went off looking for some more fun, laughing her now well known gleeful laugh. All who heard knew someone, some ware, had come across Mel the wrong way, and were paying for it.
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