Beauty and the Warg
Chapter Two: Warg Attack
A/N: Thank you to my two wonderful reviewers! Disneychic89- Oh what the heck, here's a whole box of cookies for you! Thanks for reviewing! Nightspore- That was kind of my intention. No offense to Mary-Sue authors, but I just can't see how you can write a serious "girl falls into ME" story. Glad you liked the beginning!
Disclaimer: Lord of the Rings and all related characters, settings, events, etc. belong to J.R.R. Tolkien and New Line Cinemas. Beauty and the Beast belongs to Disney and their associates. The Broadway play belongs to… well, someone who is not me. I make no money from this venture.
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Wendy groaned, rolling from her side onto her back. The bright white light was gone, replaced by a dull red glow. She blinked a few times, trying to wake herself up so she could figure out where in the world she was. When her eyes adjusted to the light, she was able to see quite clearly, so she sat up and had a look around.
If she didn't know better, Wendy would have sworn she was in the middle of Hell. But that didn't make sense. Wendy had always been a pretty good person, or so she had believed. She went to church on a fairly regular basis, stayed away from drugs, avoided alcohol for the most part, and didn't partake in (m)any sinful activities. Why should she be in Hell? But the evidence was right there in front of her eyes –everything was black and looked as though it had been crafted by the hands of demons. She seemed to be far underground, yet if she peered upward she could barely glimpse a small patch of blue sky.
The sound of metal clanking against metal met her ears, making her cringe and close her eyes again. Her head was pounding painfully, and the dull roar in here was not helping. It sounded like fires were consuming the place, and the heat made sweat roll off her. She wondered vaguely if her car had exploded and she was going to die a fiery death, alone and scared.
But then she realized she wasn't inside a car. There was no leather upholstery, rubber floor mats, or thick glass window shield. No motor purring reassuringly or ROTK soundtrack soothing her nerves. A roar, like that of a lion or tiger or bear (oh my!), made her jump. She turned around quickly, feeling oddly clumsy and encumbered, and found herself staring into the face of a creature straight from her nightmares.
It was a Warg, one of the huge, shaggy, fearsome wolves from Tolkien's books that ate townspeople and allied themselves with goblins and would probably find the taste of little girl quite enjoyable.
Wendy did the only thing that seemed natural –she screamed bloody murder.
Except, when she opened her mouth, what came out was a far cry from the shrill scream most girls are blessed with. Instead, she heard herself let out a roar not unlike the Warg's. Shocked, she snapped her mouth shut quickly, and was surprised to feel more power in that 'snap' than made sense. She ran her tongue over her teeth and felt the points of fangs.
With eyes wide with horror, Wendy lifted up one of her hands before her face. It was no longer smooth and hairless. What she saw before her could only be described as a paw –large and claw-tipped and padded thickly on the underside. Looking down, she did not see a feminine shape covered tastefully with attractive clothes from the boutique near her house. Instead, she saw a huge animal's body, covered with thick fur of both dark and light brown. Instead of her two long shapely legs she had worked so hard for, she saw four thick, hairy legs. Worst of all, there was nothing on her that was "womanly" in any way.
After a moment of staring in shocked silence at her new body, Wendy screamed –er, roared– again in horror and outrage. The Warg in front of her stared at her quizzically.
"What's your problem?" he growled. Wendy looked at him in surprise.
"I didn't know Wargs spoke English," she said.
"Whaddya mean? Did ye go stupid when ye hit yer head there?" the Warg asked.
Wendy realized that was she was hearing wasn't "speaking" as we would recognize it. Wargs seemed to communicate with various growls, snuffles, barks, and roars. The translation was heard inside Wendy's mind, and when she spoke, she only heard her own voice inside her head. The other Warg heard her own growls, barks, etc.
"Uh, sorry, I guess I was just a little confused. So what's happening?" Wendy asked. She had begun to notice that she far from being alone in this place. There were many other Wargs rooting about in the dirt, no doubt trying to find a discarded bone or perhaps a forgotten bit of meat. There were also goblins, huge warrior goblins. These Orcs were strapping some sort of saddle onto the backs of the other Wargs.
"Gettin' ready for battle," the other Warg growled. "There's some filthy Men nearby that the Master wants us to get rid of."
Suddenly one of the Orcs approached Wendy. He threw a small saddle over her back and slipped a crude bridle over her head. Then he quickly leapt onto her back, jerking painfully on the bit in her mouth.
"Let's ride!" one Orc yelled. He seemed to be the leader. As soon as all the Orcs were mounted on a Warg, the Wargs galloped out of Isenguard, over the plains, towards battle.
Meanwhile, across the plains, a tall, fair Elf known as Legolas stood looking over the land from his perch on a boulder. Something was amiss. He could not shake the feeling that evil was approaching.
Two of King Théoden's Riders rode ahead of the company. Their horses balked, sensing some unseen terror. Suddenly, from the ledge above, an Orc riding a Warg attacked. One of the Riders fell, and the Warg made quick work of putting an end to his pain. The other Rider drew his sword, shouting a warning to the people behind him.
Legolas quickly drew his bow, leaping down from the boulder he stood upon. An arrow flew with deadly accuracy, lodging itself in the Orc's back. The Orc fell and the Warg ran off. Legolas slit the Orc's throat, yelling back to Aragorn, who had come to see what the commotion was.
"A scout!"
Aragorn turned and ran back to tell the King. Everything after that happened very quickly. Eowyn, the king's niece, was ordered to lead the women and children on to Helm's Deep. The Rohirrim warriors rode on to meet the army of Wargs head on. Legolas' arrows were already flying until Gimli, on Arod, caught up. Legolas mounted and rode at the front of the line with Théoden and Aragorn at his side.
Many Orcs and their horrid mounts fell under sword, axe, and arrow. Yet many brave Riders of Rohan also fell. Legolas tried not to let himself think about anything but the battle at hand. He ignored the tortured yells of his comrades-in-arms as the crooked swords of these demons of Isenguard slashed at them. Legolas slew many with both his bow and his twin knives. His horse was brave and true and did not flinch at being so close to these Wargs, allowing Legolas to ride up from behind and kill the Orcs before they could kill one of his friends.
The minutes spent in battle flew by. Soon there were few Wargs left, and most of the Orcs lay fatally wounded or dead on the ground. Any Orc still mounted fled quickly back to Isenguard in defeat. The Riders of Rohan had prevailed, but at great cost.
Legolas' last arrow killed an Orc as it charged straight at him. As soon as the Orc fell, the Warg it rode skidded to a stop, only a few feet away from Legolas. He drew his knives, preparing to kill this beast without a second thought.
But as he ran towards the Warg, something in its eyes made Legolas stop. The Warg made a pathetic sort of whiny sound, like a caged animal wishing to be freed. For the first time in his many long years as a warrior, Legolas faltered. His knives stopped short of lodging themselves in the Warg's hide.
Ignoring the ugly, hideous face, Legolas stared at the Warg's jet black eyes. In the few other Warg eyes he had been close enough to see, there burned a fire of pure hatred. But these eyes were soft and pleading, almost as if the Warg was saying, "Please. Please, I need to live."
No blood dripped from this Warg's face. Legolas had the feeling that this was not one that had caused his fellow warriors any pain, and indeed did not wish to. But if he did not kill this animal, another would, so what would be the point in leaving it alive?
Legolas raised his knives again, ready to deal the killing blow. But the Warg whined again, cringing in fear. Legolas lowered his knives.
"Pretend you are dead. Do not move. If you cause any harm to any of the warriors allied with me, I will bring you a swift death. But if you remain here, unmoving, I will return for you," Legolas whispered. The Warg nodded with understanding and rolled over as if dead. Legolas ran off to help with the last few struggles going on.
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