A/N:

First off; SO SO SO SORRY for taking so long but it truly was not my fault. There was this whole thing with my sister and basically I had my Internet cut off for something I was not involved in at all. So blame my idiotic stepfather, or whomever you want, really, but here is Chappy 4! After some review answers, of course. Gotta keep the people happy. : D

Reviews, Etc.; Thank you for all your wonderful reviews!

Cailean: Thanks for taking the time to give me some CC. I'll address your points as you ordered them. 1. Uh, yea, I probably would, but that's just me. And Arenius is the last name, so no real choice of it for them. Plus, have you seen what those movie stars are naming their kids nowadays? I mean seriously, Pilot Inspektor! Psychos... 2. They said the story became legend and myth. I'm going to use some literary license here and say Nob's family passed the story down.
3. Um...Kay.
4. Fixed that, thanks for pointing that out & sorry it took so long (for reasons described above)

Mangolady: Thank you muchly! Yes, I checked pretty much everything out in my one-volume copy to make sure every 2 plus 2 equaled 4, so to say, although some parts involving cannons in this 4th chapter (and in future chapters) are entirely made up. But isn't that the POINT of writing? Of course, humor positively MUST be added, yes. Mostly in her laughing at people.

Everybody else: Keep reading, keep reviewing if you do, or start if you don't (or don't, no matter to me), and thanks for your time!

Chapter 4: Acquaintance

The next morning, Nob did indeed wake me before ten-thirty, and I was very grateful. I get lazy when I sleep too long, and the next task I had planed for myself was not one for laziness. First, I'd pay the Traitor-bastard a little visit... And then maybe see what Ol' Theoden was up to lately. Theoden was the king of Rohan, another country in Middle Earth. I hadn't been to Rohan in a while anyway, and I loved their countryside, so peaceful and calm. And, as I've said, I love horses.
As I ate my breakfast, I realized that "ally" wasn't a good term for what Saruman was to Sauron. I mulled over it a bit, and decided that "minion" was a better describer. But he was still and always a Traitor-bastard.
You know how sometimes you dream something, then forget it, but then clues throughout the day make you remember it? That's what happened to me that day. For some reason, a squirrel crossing the trail in front of me made me remember part of it for an instant; a hobbit, similar to Bilbo in looks, but much younger and with brown hair, and a distant voice telling me that I "would meet this being". I had an odd feeling that that had been most of my dream, or many things very similar to it. Such feeling was proven true when I heard the call of a hawk in the distance and remembered a dwarf, young by tell of his beard (which was brown), and the same voice saying the same thing. The same thing was repeated over and over again with different people each time (I guess you could call them people) until I had a small "collection" of them that I supposedly would meet, if .this dream was at all premonitory. They included the dwarf, the hobbit, three other hobbits, an elf, a wizard I recognized, and two men. One was faintly familiar, like I'd seen his relative (I probably had, I'd seen nearly everyone's relative). The other was Strider. The wizard was one I'd heard called a variety of different names, the most commonly used being Mithrandir and Gandalf the Grey. Butterbur liked him well enough, said he was a good man and all, but this Gandalf came often to Isengard (were Traitor-bastard lived). Not a good thing. Maybe.
The rest of that day, and on for at least six days passed rather uneventfully. I had no more odd dreams or anything. It was almost too uneventful. Almost.
After the sixth day his damned tower came into view, and by the seventh, I was almost regretting having come. But the eighth day brought me close enough to clearly see the door, and who should be there but Gangle-man (for such I had begun to call T-B's henchman). He was carrying something very round and quite large, big enough so that it just fit the cradle of his arm, wrapped in a black cloth. He seemed both repulsed and enthralled by it. He looked around, not seeing me hidden in the near trees (dumb git), and knocked on the door. It opened, seemingly by itself, and allowed him entrance. After the door closed and I deemed that there was nothing more to see, I climbed across the treetops 'til I found a place out of eyeshot of the entrance to the tower. I jumped down from the tree there. You'd think I'd look at the ground first, wouldn't you? I landed on someone. Aren't I brilliant? I jumped up, drawing my saber, the person I'd landed on did the same with his bow, making me think, "Mexican stand-off." I almost laughed, but then caught a glimpse of his armor under his big, thick cloak (it was still cold, only March), and my eyebrows shot up.
"A Gondorian? This far north? What the hell're you doing?" I inquired, thinking he looked familiar.
"Scouting this bastard, what else? Just because Gondor's farther south doesn't mean we're as blind as Theoden is," he replied curtly. "And if I may ask, who are you and what are you doing here"
"Stop stealing my conspiracy theory, Damnit!" I said, then burst out laughing. "Joking, sorry. I'm doing the same as you." I sheathed my saber and held out my hand. "Korialimay Arenius, assassin by trade, very picky"
The man laughed as well and shook my hand. "Faramir, Captain of Gondor, slightly relieved"
I nodded toward his pack; "You have any food on you? I'd be willing to pay for it. It's just that this little visit' took longer than I had expected and I have only bread left besides water"
"We seem to each be in luck. I have much food and no bread," he said with an odd little smirk on his face. "Coincidence, you think"
I shook my head. "No such thing, least not for me. Everything happens the way it's supposed to, especially like it does"
"An odd theory"
"I have many of those, but that one's not mine. I book I read as a child said largely the same thing. Even had a word for it, called it ka'. It was a make-believe book, but that part of it did make sense." I was talking about a series by famous author Stephen King, and thinking that ka wasn't the only thing is those books that now made sense to me. Everything about other worlds (did not they have tobacco here?), and time being a face on the water (how those years had passed like minutes...), and even everything about the world going...what was it again?
"Nineteen," I muttered. "Fucked up and nineteen"
"What?" Faramir spoke, slamming me back to the here and now.
"Nothing," I said. "Just talking to myself I guess. Do that a lot"
"The best do," he replied, sounding almost apologetic. "I hear it's a sign of many things on one's mind." I smirked at that; how true it was, how true it was.