The bright sun in the morning was too damn bright. Angel had to shut her eyes. After awhile, she opened them trying to let them adjust. When her eyes finally adapted, she saw Strider. Let me tell you something, that is not a bad sight in the morning.

Seeing that Angel was now awake, Strider asked her," Are you feeling rested?"

About to make a sarcastic remark, which was of course her style, she refrained. " I'm fine." She paused. " What do I call you anyway?"

Not turning to face her he replied," I'm called Strider by many."

She crinkled her nose. " What kinda name is 'Strider'? I didn't mean that in like, a rude way. I've just never heard a name like that before."

Before turning to her, he hid a smile. " My feelings are not hurt. And what shall I call you?"

" My name is Angel." She expected some glaring remark.

" Not at all what I expected."

She felt herself blush. " Wait a minute. 'Not what you expected'?"

" I meant no harm. You are a very strange woman. Your name does not seem to fit."

His simple statement bothered her. I'm strange. Look at his ass. Wait a minute. Why the hell did she care what this spaz said about her? She never cared what people thought. She learned not to do that a long time ago. That angered her a bit. She had not in a very long time, let herself be vulnerable to any form of attack. Though he was nothing like any man she had ever met before, he was still a man. She did not trust them. She can't remember ever trusting them. At least, not since her father. She and Lisa's father had not been a great person. He wasn't exactly what you would call a model father. Before he had left them, when Angel was six, life had been far too heavy for a child. Her father had been heavily into drugs, and had on many occasions, taken his anger out on them. He beat their mother severely a lot of times an also hurt the girls. She began to see, as she grew into adolescence, that her father had not been that different from many other men. They never treated her right. She never, never wanted to get married. Men just didn't sweep her off her feet like they did other women. That was that. She certainly would not turn into some dimwitted reject over the first set of muscles and penetrating eyes she saw.

" How did you and your sister come to be here?"

" I can't explain it."

He looked at her expectantly.

" I found a book. A strange book somewhere and I took it home to show my sister. We read from it. I don't know. We ended up here."

Hearing no response, she regretted saying anything. She definitely wouldn't make that mistake again.

" Are you human?"

" Yes." She turned her head." Sometimes too human."

" You puzzle me, woman."

Ok, she thought. What the hell was that all about? Is he bi polar?

" If you are human, then how do you possess magickal powers??"

" Magickal powers?" What the hell was this nut talking about?

" When I faced the Orcs-"

" Whoa. Whoa. First, we faced. Second, what the hell is an Orc?"

Acting as if she were bothering him far too much, which was bullshit under the circumstances.
" They were once a race of elves. The Dark Powers captured and tortured them making them terrible forms of life."

" Ok. That's wonderful. I think I'll tell that story to my grandkids."

" This is not a jest. The only joy of these creatures is pain for others. For the blood that flows within them is dark, evil, cold." He had his face within inches of hers. At the moment, she wanted to smack him. She felt a shiver run through her body. Was she afraid of him or the forms of life in this place? Did she finally see past the beauty of Middle Earth?

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