The Strangers in Middle Earth

I do not own the rights to Lord of the Rings

AN: Hi there. Yep, your eyes don't deceive you. I have decided to re write the longest thing I've ever written. You see, I was unsatisfied with my first version as it had many problems and I feel that it could have been much better.

So, here is the improved version of The Stranger in Middle Earth. There won't be any major plot changes, well, there will be a few minor ones but it will still be compatible with Strangers No More.

Chapter One

Through the Portal

My name is John Harris. I was asked by our great king to write down this text to accompany other histories which have been written by others who saw those great events which transpired close to twenty years ago. This is my tale, of an outsider born in another world and brought here by some higher power. As I sit down at my table I look around my study and the clutter which I keep putting off cleaning up. Important documents litter my desk and are stacked up around the room. The whole room is a warm yellow from the fire place which keeps the study warm and the two candles on my desk. My ink well is full and five quills are on my desk next to it. Directly in front of me is the great leather bound book which I will use to write this text.

My tale begins in a country named England which exists in another world. The year was 1485AD in England, the precise date was August the twenty sixth of that year. I rode down a country road on my black war horse Julius with three others. We all had the same shade of black hair and all had a similar look. The oldest of our group was my uncle, James Harris. He was seventy seven, with hair longer than mine which was streaked with gray. He was also a little shorter than me but he was still a formidable fighter and tactician; he had served as a part of the War Council of King Richard. The next oldest was my cousin Markus. He was twenty eight and had had neatly combed hair. He was the most intelligent of my family but was never snooty about it. Instead my uncle, Markus' father, would often seek his advice. He was also the son and heir of his father's land and wealth. Then there was Rickard, Markus' younger brother by one year but he and I were the same age. His hair was sheared almost completely off, almost making him bald, and he had a fair amount of stubble covering his face. Each of us had a large sack on our backs which held our armour.

'Cheer up father,' said Rickard. 'You couldn't have known what Tudor would do.'

'I know Rickard. I know. I'm more annoyed at the humiliation they subjected King Richard's body to.'

'They call themselves noble,' I scoffed at our enemies. 'They spread lies about our King and they have overthrown him.'

'What will we do?' asked Markus.

'We get home and do all we can to be loyal to the new king,' my uncle answered him. 'Then the next time the House of York rises we'll be there to fight.'

'You never forgave them did you?' I asked him.

'The Lancastrians? Never. What they did to your father will pain me forever.'

None of us said a word. I never meant to provoke him with the memories of Tewksbury. We rode on in silence for a while but our eyes were fixed on the land around us. Eventually the road took us through a wood so we went down it and I found my hand drifting towards my sword, Alaric, more often than I would have liked.

THWAK

An arrow flew straight past my head and I drew my sword as a group of outlaws, armed with spears and bows, charged out of the trees at us.

'Christ!' Rickard shouted as he drew his falchion and swung down at an outlaw who got too close cleaving his head open.

'We have to go!' my uncle yelled and kicked his horse into a gallop.

The three of us did the same and we were charging down the road to get away. Julius threw me up and down as we escaped the enemy. An arrow flew past my head almost hitting me. In our hurry to get away we didn't pay attention to the dark patch in the air in front of us. I paid it no mind, assuming it was just a cloud of dust of my vision going against me. We rode straight through it. If we hadn't, I can only imagine how our lives may have been different. I can only imagine why destiny determined that we should go through. Either way my life was about to change forever.

When I rode through the patch of dark I and my horse were thrown into a swirling vortex of blue light. It was a tunnel that blasted me with freezing and boiling winds scolding me and cooking me alive. Julius screamed in panic but I could barely hear him. I clamped my eyes tight shut to not be blinded by the light.

Then it ended. Normal air touched my skin and I felt myself being thrown through the air. My eyes opened and I saw the cloudy sky as I crashed into the ground and my vision darkened.

...

Groggily my eyes opened and I had to snap them shut again as the sun smashed into them. I rolled over and shielded my eyes as I tried to open them again. This time I saw a large blur which I cleared after rubbing my eyes. This time I could clearly see rolling grass hills covered by boulders and the occasional rocky outcrop. Something prodded my back and I turned over to see Julius. He was prodding me with his hoof to try and wake me up.

'I'm alive,' I assured him. 'Everything's fine I promise you.'

Shakily I stood up and, after spending a moment getting my balance, I stepped up to my horse and patted him on his neck. Inspecting Julius I saw that he wasn't hurt but he had thrown a shoe. It wasn't too bad though; it wouldn't kill him. Surprisingly I had only suffered a few bruises which were nothing compared to some of my injuries like a large scar I sustained in a jousting accident. After a quick check of my supplies I saw that I still had my weapons and armour, all intact, and I had a little food. All I had to do was find a town and my family. I was sure it wouldn't be too hard. After I climbed onto Julius I looked around me as I tried to figure out where I was. Not too far away there were mountains, maybe a day's ride away, but it didn't look like anywhere near the place I had been. After a few moments I decided to head north.

After riding for just over an hour I had found nothing, no rode, no trail, no camp site and certainly no town.

'We're in trouble,' I muttered to Julius before taking a bite out of the small piece of bread I had and then put it back into a pouch at my belt.

Then I noticed something. It was just a faint something in the air but it was there. Smoke. Looking around me in every direction I saw some smoke rising into the sky, a little more than a mile away. My first thought was a campfire but I saw that there was too much smoke for that. I kicked Julius into a canter and we hurried towards the smoke. It didn't take long for me to reach it and, I found that my darkest suspicion had been confirmed. What was once a village had been devastated. Close to every house and barn had been set on fire, bodies littered the paths and bloodied weapons were still in their hands. The soldiers who had defended the village had met the worst fate, their heads had been cut off and stuck on spikes and their eyes had been gouged out. As Julius and I rode through the ruins I shook my head in disgust before dismounting near a large building that had once been a tavern. I needed answers and the tavern seemed like a good place to start. I took off my cloak, put on my mail shirt, as I didn't have the time to put on my plate armour, and drew my sword. The inside of the tavern was the same as the outside, devastated. The body of a young man was on the counter, his entrails had been torn out and cast across the room while two more headless bodies of soldiers were against the wall.

'Hello?' I cautiously asked, hoping that I'd find someone left alive.

A weak groan came from behind the counter and I rushed there to find a young woman who was bleeding badly through her chest, staining the front of her dress red.

'Christ,' I hissed and looked for something to help her with. There was towel on the counter that didn't look very dirty so I pressed it against the wound to halt the blood flow.

'The Wild Men,' she grunted. 'They killed everyone.'

'Don't talk,' I instructed her. 'Keep calm.'

'Go to Edoras,' she whimpered. 'Tell the King what happened.'

Just after she said that a cough tore through her body and blood trickled from her mouth. Her eyes went still and her head slumped forwards. I felt for a pulse even though I knew what had happened. She died. Out of respect I gently closed her eye lids and silently prayed that God would welcome her to Heaven.

After searching a few buildings that weren't aflame I found no one alive, only death. However, I did manage to find some food, in the form of cheese, bread, fruit and some salted mutton, as well as a bottle of mead. I also found a map that I expected would show me where I was in England, I suspected Cumbria or maybe Wales, but it instead showed me a land I had never seen before. I was in a place called Rohan apparently and the location of the village I was in, named Estras, was clearly marked, as was a place called Edoras. I suspected that if I wanted answers I would find them there. It would take at least two days to reach Edoras on Julius so I decided to waste no time.

On the early evening the next day I was riding as quickly as I could but I didn't want Julius to grow too tired. We had stopped at a small stream the night before so he could drink the water and I could get a few hours of sleep before we had to ride again. I had only stopped once and that was for a few moments when I ate. As the afternoon went on my thoughts turned to my cousins and uncle. I needed to know where they were and I thought about getting home to my uncles castle. So lost was I in the thoughts of home and good food that I almost didn't notice the scream that rang through the air. I halted Julius and listened. There it was again, a scream. It sounded like someone very young. Instantly I turned Julius to the source of the scream, it was on the other side of a hill, and sent my horse into a gallop. When I reached the top of my hill I saw a horse carrying two children, a girl and a boy, being chased by three warriors clad in furs and mail. Instinct took over so I drew my sword and sent Julius into a charge.

'Get to high ground!' I shouted at the children who did as I said.

I rode past the two of them and straight towards the three warriors. The first one I passed was not wearing a helmet so Alaric cleaved straight through his skull. The next foe was wearing a coat of plates and a conical helmet that managed to deflect my blow. The last one was armed with a massive axe and he stood his ground. He blocked my sword blow but he didn't expect Julius to attack him. My horse swung his massive hoof at the warrior's knee and broke it. When the warrior fell to the ground Julius finished him off with a stomp to the head.

'Coward!' a voice bellowed and I turned to see the heavily armoured warrior. 'You think you're better on that horse! I call you coward!' he then spat on the ground. 'Face me on your feet like a man!'

Normally I wouldn't have paid attention the taunts of an enemy but this time something compelled me to climb off of Julius and fight him on foot. I was armed with my sword, a war hammer that was on my belt and a poleaxe strapped to my saddle. He was armed with a massive cleaver and an axe was at his belt. Deciding to use Alaric and the hammer I got ready for the fight.

I stepped towards him, holding Alaric in both of my hands, and took in a deep breath. My foe charged me and swung his cleaver at my head. I ducked under it and side stepped my foe before swinging at him. He saw the blow coming though and pulled back so my sword only glanced off of his arm without breaking through the armour. He swung at me again and again but I dodged each blow. He swung again and this time I blocked it with my sword but I didn't anticipate the strength of his attack. My sword was thrown out of my hands and I almost stumbled to the ground but I steadied myself just in time. I had to end the fight there and then so I threw myself at the warrior, grappling him and knocking him to the ground. At last I unhooked my hammer, grabbed him around the neck and smashed my hammer into his face three times killing him. After taking a moment to wipe away the blood that had sprayed onto my face, I picked up my sword and walked back to Julius.

'Who are you?'

I turned around and saw the two children who had ridden back down towards me. It was the boy who asked the question.

'My name's John Harris,' I told him. 'I mean you no harm.'

'Why did you help us?' he asked me.

'Because I've seen enough innocents die. Why did they attack you?'

'They're Wild Men,' the girl answered me. 'It's what they do.'

'Wild Men,' I muttered. 'Where are you going?'

'Edoras,' the boy answered me. 'We have to get there to raise the alarm.'

I nodded my head at what they said.

'I'm going there as well. I'll make sure we'll get there safely.'

'How can I trust you?' the boy demanded, clearly he wasn't a fool.

In a response I reached around my neck and pulled out my crucifix on a chain. The boy looked at it indifferently.

'I swear in the name of Jesus Christ that I mean you two no harm.' The boy and girl shared a glance with each other. It looked to me as if they didn't know what I was taking about but it was apparently good enough for them. 'What are your names?'

'Eothain,' the boy answered me. 'This is my sister, Freda.'

'Then let's get going,' I said and we went back onto our journey to Edoras.

We rode through the night and into the following morning. The young children didn't say much but I could tell that they were growing weary. I gave them some of my food to keep them going and they accepted it happily. The morning after I had met them we at long last came to Edoras and I was surprised by what I found. Instead of a large walled city Edoras looked more like a large town with wooden walls and buildings. It was built on a tall hill and on the top of the hill was a hall. As I studied it I was reminded of the architecture of those who lived in England centuries ago that I learned about from my tutors when I was a child. Near the town I could see some burial mounds and standing by one of them were two men, one dressed in white robes and clutching a white staff. It didn't take long for this man to notice us, just as Eothain fell from his horse. As quickly as I could I picked him up and prayed that he was alright.
'What happened?'
I looked up from Eothain and saw the two men who had now ran over to us. The one who spoke was the man in white who I now realised was incredibly old.
'The Orc's,' Freda started, 'are coming to kill us.'