The Stranger in Middle Earth

I do not own the rights to the Lord of the Rings or any associated names and characters.

Chapter seven

Celebrations

The next evening the celebration for our victory was held in the Golden Hall. Everyone in Edoras was there. The Main Hall was filled with chairs and tables with hundreds of people. Rickard, Markus and I were sitting together at a table with filled mugs of beer which we weren't allowed to drink yet. Sitting with us were a few knights and some Rohirrim. I wasn't wearing any armour but still had Alaric with me, just in case.

'What are we waiting for?' Rickard asked me.

'For His Majesty,' Markus answered before I could, 'to make a toast and then we can get drunk.'

'I just hope you won't be as bad as last time,' I said to Rickard with a small laugh in my voice.

'I make no promises,' Rickard said loudly and everyone else on the table laughed.

Everyone then went silent when Theoden stepped up to the dais which his throne sat on. Standing alongside him were Eowyn and Eomer. Theoden lifted up a cup, signalling all of us to stand, and he then made his toast.

'Tonight we remember those who gave their lives in defence of this country. Hail the victorious dead!'

'HAIL!' everyone echoed and then we took a drink from our mugs.

After that the party began. We were all drinking and cheering. After ten minutes Rickard was drinking his third mug of beer and was still standing while I had only drank one. Food was served as well in the form of cheese, bread, cooked meat and some vegetables. I laughed at a joke that one of the knights told while I chewed a piece of meat. Music filled the hall from the minstrels playing their instruments while laughter echoed in every person's ears. After a while I stood up leaving Rickard and Markus to bicker about which of them is the better soldier. I was leaning against a pillar drinking some of my beer.

'John?' said a voice to my left which came from Father Harold. 'May I have a word?'

'Yes Father Harold,' I responded.

'Do you trust Gandalf?' he asked me.

'Yes,' I responded. 'Why do you ask?'

'Well,' he started, 'this is a new world for us and I want to know who I can trust.'

'As long as they don't support Sauron I think we can trust them.'

'I hope so John. Then there is the matter of what we do after the war is over.'

'My cousin Rickard would say that we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.'

'That's not a very good way to approach life,' Father Harold commented. 'There is also something you should know.'

'And that is?'

'There was a young lady looking for you.'

'Who?' I asked him.

'I'm not sure of her name. If I were you I'd just keep a look out.'

'I'll-keep that in mind.'

'I will see you later John.'

With that Father Harold walked away back into the crowd.

A few minutes later I was sitting next to a table where one of the knights was drunk and singing a song about Robin Hood, a folk hero from England. Everyone around him, myself included, was clapping their hands to make a rhythm. Soon a realized that someone was standing close by me. I turned around to see Sunniva standing there with a nervous look on her face.

'Can I talk to you?' she asked me.

'Of course,' I said to her in the most polite voice I could find and then I gestured to the empty chair next to me.

'No in private,' she firmly told me.

'Alright,' I said and then we walked to the main doors and outside to where I had spoken with Gandalf on my first day in Edoras.

'I just want to say sorry for what I said to you before the battle,' she told me which took me by surprise. 'I should have known that you would never have agreed to do to me what I said you could do.'

'You don't need to apologise,' I assured here. 'You were desperate and wanted to make sure your brother was safe.'

'Thank you John,' she said to me and smiled. 'Thank you for saving my brother I mean.'

'I was just doing the right thing. I know you would have done the same if you were there.'

'If I had a polearm I would have,' she said which caused us both to chuckle. 'Is it true that you and your companions are from another world? The Innkeeper was saying that he heard you and the others talking about another world last night in the Inn. Usually what he says is rubbish but I want to know if he's right for once.'

After a moment of silence I answered her.

'Yes it's true. We are from another world.'

For a second she looked at me with wide eyes filled with surprise.

'What's it like? Your home?'

I smiled at the memories which came through my mind.

'I lived in a country called England which is a part of a group of islands. It's a beautiful country with deep forests and tall mountains. I was raised by my uncle in his castle a few miles from a city called York.'

'What about your mother and father? Why didn't they raise you?'

'My parents died years ago. My father died in battle fourteen years ago. My mother died not long after that so my uncle adopted me.'

'I'm sorry,' she said with sympathy in her voice and a sense of knowing. 'My own parents are dead as well. My mother died a year ago. Father died in the Warg attack.'

I looked back at that battle. It was brutal and violent. So many men died there.

'I'm sorry,' I said to her.

Then sun had set by then and the stars were just visible but many were covered by thick clouds. I heard the doors behind us open and Markus walked up to me.

'Rickard's got himself into a drinking game. I'm not sure of you wanted to watch it.'

'I'll be right there,' I told him and Markus walked back inside.

'This should be entertaining,' Sunniva said to me and we walked back inside together. It didn't take us long to find Rickard at a table with Legolas, Gimli and Eomer.

'No pauses, no spills,' Eomer explained the rules.

'And no regurgitation,' Gimli added, earning a laugh from the Rohirrim. 'If you drink as good as your grandfather young Harris you might just win,' Gimli then said to Rickard.

'I'll do my best,' Rickard said although I could smell Ale on his breath already.

They began drinking while some of the Rohirrim bet money on who would win. I drank from my own mug while the three competitors slowly got more and more drunk. Gimli and Rickard furiously drank down mug after mug while Legolas approached it a little more calmly. Soon Rickard was leaning back in his chair drinking what must have been his seventh mug of the contest. Soon I heard Gimli comment about "hairy women" but what he meant I won't try to figure out.

'He cannot hold his ale,' Gimli said about Legolas when he himself fell over backwards gaining a cheer from the onlookers.

'I need to go and check up on Cenric,' Sunniva told me. 'I'll see you at the house tonight.'

'Of course,' I responded and she then walked away. I watched her for a few moments but my eyes were soon fixed on Rickard who was draining another mug.

'I won't lose,' he said with strong determination and then spilt the contents of the mug over his face hair and fell over.
Everyone cheered for Legolas who had won.

After that I joined a crowd around a table where two little people with pointed ears and large hairy feet were dancing and singing on a table while holding mugs of ale.

'Who are they?' I asked Gandalf who was nearby.

'They John Harris are named Merry and Pippin, Hobbits of the Shire. They were vital in the defeat of Saruman.'

'How so?' I asked him.

'They rallied an army in Fangorn Forest and led them in an attack on Isengard itself while Saruman's armies were at Helm's Deep.'

'Looking at them you wouldn't have thought so,' I commented.

'One thing you should know about Hobbits John is that they are always full of surprises.'

'I'll remember that Gandalf.'

'Gandalf,' it was my uncle this time. 'I see your enjoying yourself.'

'I certainly am James. I hope you are as well.'

'I am.'

'Just like your father James, you appear to be enjoy a good party.'

'Well if he lives with Dwarfs and all of Gimli's stories of Dwarvish feasts are true then that's to be expected,' I said to Gandalf.

'Yes John. The dwarves do enjoy their feasts. One Dwarf in Erebor is so large from food that he needs six other dwarfs to carry him.'

'I would very much hope to meet him when I journey to Erebor,' my uncle said to Gandalf.

'And I think that Rickard will enjoy Dwarven ale,' Gandalf added with a small smile.

'Well in that case,' I said while raising my mug, 'to Dwarven ale and Erebor.'
That was the last I can clearly remember of the party. I can vaguely remember drinking, singing and some dancing before I eventually fell asleep.

It was dark and a few others were asleep in a similar manner to me. I stood up, feeling a little dizzy and sick, noticing that I still had my mug in my hand. I quietly put it on a table and then walked to the doors. The cold air outside helped clear my head a little but I was still a little unsteady on my feet.

'Good evening John,' I heard the voice of Aragorn say to me.

'Hello,' I said to him and then saw Legolas next to him. 'Congratulations Legolas. You actually beat Rickard at drinking.'

'Thank you John,' he said to me but he didn't look at me. He appeared distant.

'Aragorn I can't remember much after the drinking contest,' I told him. 'Did I do anything I should be worried about?'

Aragorn looked at me with a slight smile for a second and was about to answer when Legolas spoke.

'The stars are veiled. Something stirs in the east.'

His voice was ominous and out of habit my hand reached to Alaric.

'The eye of the enemy is moving.'

My hand tightened around my sword. I had a bad feeling about this. Then, with his voice filled with alarm, Legolas proclaimed,

'He is here!'

Then, with incredible speed, he bolted towards the Golden Hall closely followed by Aragorn and myself. As we ran I am convinced that we woke up half of the Golden Hall. I drew Alaric from his sheath and continued running, ignoring the effects that the alcohol had on me. Through my head I tried to understand what Legolas meant. Did he mean that Sauron was in the Golden Hall? Could we destroy him? We burst into a room where I saw one of the Hobbits-Pippin I remembered-holding a round ball of fire in his hands. Pippin was silently screaming in agony, his face twisted with fear and pain. Aragorn was the first to come to his aid and yanked the ball out of Pippins hands only to become attached to his hands.

'HOLD IT STILL!' I shouted and then, after dropping Alaric, I yanked the ball out of Aragorn's grip and looked at it. It was solid, like stone, and amongst the flames on the ball I saw a black slit, like the eye of a cat.

I was standing in an empty wasteland of black rock and fire. The sky above was black and in the distance I could see a mountain with fire spewing out of the top of it. Then that vanished as a sheet of flame appeared in front of me, almost burning my skin, and I backed away, feeling for Alaric but he wasn't there. In the centre of the sheet of fire emerged a black, slit like, like the eye of a cat.

'WHO ARE YOU?' a hissing voice emerged from the fire which was now all around me. 'WHAT ARE YOU?'

'In the name of God I command you to leave me alone!' I shouted.

'WHAT ARE YOU?'

'I am a knight of England,' I declared.

'ENGLAND,' the voice hissed. 'A COUNTRY FROM ANOTHER WORLD. SOON I, SAURON THE GREAT, SHALL DOMINATE THIS WORLD AND THEN I SHALL SPILL FORTH INTO YOUR WORLD.'

'Over my dead body!' I shouted.

'SO IT SHALL BE,' Sauron hissed.

Then Everything changed from a wasteland to a place I knew so well. My uncles castle in England. But it was different. What had once been a tall tower of brown stone and surrounded by a wall was now a crumbling ruin. Fire turned everything red and the sky was covered by black smoke. I walked towards the ruins of the home I once knew. Then I saw bodies. Orc's and Warg's with arrows embedded in them and black blood splattered across the ground. Slowly I walked over the ruined walls that were now nothing more than crumbling piles of stone. There I found the bodies of knights and sergeants. A few bowmen were there as well. All of them had their heads hacked clean off. I then found the heads on spikes in the place which had once been the garden where my cousins and I had played as children. I looked at the heads, tears spilling from my eyes and dripping onto the blood soaked ground.

'THIS IS WHAT YOUR HOME SHALL BECOME.'

I turned around to see a terrifying figure, clad in spike covered black armour and carrying a black mace. I then saw on his finger a golden ring, glinting menacingly and cruelly in the red light. It was Sauron. I couldn't say anything as the scene changed to a city burning. It was London. The streets were piled high with blood covered corpses of men, women and children. Dead soldiers and militia fighters, some armed with nothing more than clubs and kitchen knives, lay dead in the streets amongst their slain Orc foes. Smoke choked me and I saw that I was now wearing my armour and Alaric was in my hand. The blade was soaked in dripping black blood. At the end of the street I saw Sauron towering menacingly over the me and casting a black shadow over all.

'I will not let this happen.'

'NOTHING CAN STOP ME,' Sauron taunted me.

The scene changed again to show entire forests on fire, whole cities reduced to ash. I saw York burning and I recognized Saint Peters Basilica from paintings. Columns of smoke rose into the sky and the cross, a symbol of peace and hope, had been replaced by a ragged black banner showing a red eye.

I was thrown out of that nightmare world as Gandalf, who had been asleep in the room, pulled the ball out of my hands and then threw a cloth over it before spinning around and shouting at Pippin,
'Fool of a Took!'
Gandalf's anger vanished when he saw Pippin, weak and frail on the floor. Quickly Gandalf knelt beside the Hobbit, looking like a grandfather with his injured grandchild. He put his hand on the Hobbits forehead and chanted something quietly.
'What in God's name is going on?'
It was Father Harold who had said it. He had just walked in followed by my uncle and Robert of Essex.
'I'm not sure,' I answered and then slid to the floor.
Sweat covered my forehead and I felt exhausted, as if I'd ran through a smiths forge.
'I saw a city that was burning,' Pippin said in a pained whisper. 'A white tree. In a courtyard of stone. It was dead!'
'Minas Tirith,' Gandalf said with shock and fear.
'What are you talking about?' my uncle asked Gandalf.
'We now know Sauron's plan.'

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