A/N: I feel some explanation is needed for this story.
First of all, I generally stay away from anything that remotely resembles 'girl falls into Middle Earth and falls in love with so and so'. In fact, I write for the PPC, and my job (or rather my characters' jobs) are to kill Mary Sues.
This is why this story is under another pen name. I ought to know better. But I have a bet going with my friend on me doing a self-insert… only conditions are that there has to be a romance. And in case you're wondering, it all started with my inability to finish anything I start writing. That's mainly what the bet is about. To be perfectly honest though, I've never gone through the Mary-Sue stage, and I've always sort of wondered about writing something along those lines. So it's a guilty pleasure sort of thing.
Anyway, what I'm going for here is that I don't know what I'm going for. So any advice is welcome. But if you plan on saying "LOL MARY SUE U RETRD!" I'll probably just laugh (and take it as a compliment, seeing as the main character is in fact me, and you would be implying that I'm perfect). But constructive criticism, even if it's harsh, will be gratefully accepted.
Oh, and any non-Tolkien plot device that's in here will be properly explained, I promise. No twenty-first ring forged in secret by Sauron and stolen by a half-elven princess with shining silver hair and violet eyes…
No.
Anything not in Lord of the Rings will eventually make proper sense. And quotation in another language near the bottom is not meant to be Elvish, so don't yell at me for butchering the Elvish language.
"You're a right mess you know."
The golden retriever grinned contentedly at the seventeen year old girl addressing him, his tongue lolling out. He didn't mind if he was covered in burrs. And mud. And leaves. And soaked with water.
Sarah rolled her eyes at him. It wasn't his fault of course. She generally ran about five miles a day with him, but today she had headed to the trail near their house so that he could run about without a leash. It had been her bright idea to bring a book (and a small bag with a thermos of iced tea), settle under a tree, and allow him to go wherever he liked. Not that he ever wandered far from her side; it was why she took him everywhere she went. Nonetheless, it obviously hadn't stopped him from getting every plant in the vicinity stuck in his coat.
She sighed, looking around. It was a beautiful day, one of the few really nice days left before winter. And now she had to return to Calculus and AP American Lit and other awful things. Absentmindedly, she looked down at the necklace her great-grandmother 'Granny' had sent her. Granny didn't have very much money, but she managed to find all sorts of interesting jewelry at flea markets and places like that. This necklace had arrived yesterday, but Sarah hadn't had a chance to look at it before now. It was apparently made and sold by a Native American woman, some sort of a good luck thing. It was pretty, a smooth green stone with etchings scratched into it. Sarah found herself pulling it off to examine it more closely.
To her astonishment, she began to read aloud, although she didn't recognise the characters or what it meant.
"Tanó hóxovéstavá."
She felt a sudden pull, as if her spirit was being torn away from her body. The book tucked under her arm fell to the ground, and suddenly afraid, she threw her arms around her dog. Everything was melting, she could hear drums in the distance, chanting. It was dark.
And then Silence.