When Riley came to, she was disturbed to be the focus point of four swords pointed at her throat. "Dudes, point those things elsewhere. I don't feel like being skewered today." Trying to see their faces, she slowly sits up, but the pain in her back persuades her to lay back down. All of the swords were slowly drawn back. "So... I suppose you're going to take me to your leader..."

"Who are you? And what is your purpose?" A deep voice asked tersely. Ignoring the questions as she suddenly remembered how she got here, she asked the dumbest thing possible at that moment. "Oh my gosh! Am I in Narnia?" The swords once again invaded her personal bubble.Can you say blonde moment?

"Answer my question and I will answer yours." The voice spoke once more. "Okay, okay. I was with my dog and I suddenly— Booger crap. Where is my dog?" Riley bolted upwards regardless of the pain. "Duke? Where are you boy? Come here, Duke!" The dog didn't make an appearance and her vision blurred with tears at the thought of losing him.

The sound of a throat clearing caused her to look at the figures around her. She was startled to find that three of them were rather short and that they were, in fact, hobbits. Her first clue had been their size, but they also had the curly thatches of hair and furry feet. Riley was rather startled to think that she had fallen into middle earth, but the strange evidence surrounded her on all sides.

But if she were in middle earth, that meant that the grey eyed man in front of her was... "Estel." Riley whispered quietly, not thinking he could hear her. But she was wrong, having forgotten that rangers had sharper hearing than average humans. He covered his surprise well, for she could not see it. But it was there nonetheless, and it swayed his decision in favor of taking her with them to Rivendell, for he immediately discerned that she was not the average human being.

The hobbits watched as Strider helped the young girl to her feet, staring at her odd clothes in wonder. It puzzled them that she would be this far out in the wild by herself, for she looked younger than twenty years old. "I go by the name of Strider, and these are my companions Sam, Merry, and Pippin." The hobbits cautiously stepped foreword as their names were mentioned.

Smiling at them, she turned to her attention back to the ranger. "My name is Riley. What of your other companion? Is he on his way to Rivendell?" The fact that she held this knowledge startled Strider almost as much as the fact that he knew his elvish name. "Yes... how did you come by that knowledge?"

Suddenly realizing that they probably shouldn't know that she was from another world, Riley grasped at words to say, but couldn't think of a thing. Thankfully, she was spared of answering as a bundle of gray swept past the hobbits, tripping Pippin and Sam in the process.

Riley suddenly found herself knocked over onto the ground holding a squirming bundle of joy that was relieved to have finally found his owner. "Duke!" She laughed as he licked her face furiously in his happiness. The figures around her smiled at the happy reunion, seeing how much the dog meant to her. Riley's back started to cramp slightly when Strider announced that she would accompany them to Rivendell.

Giving a relieved smile at the thought, Riley knew that she would need to speak with a master of wisdom and lore such as Gandalf or Elrond to find out the reason for her arrival here. The pain when she got up from the ground made her want to cry out, but she bit her lip against the noise.

Merry and Pippin quickly warmed up to the girl and started to tell her of the many of the scrapes they had managed to get into because of their fun loving nature. She laughed and smiled along with each story, causing Strider to occasionally let down his gruff exterior to smile slightly. The hobbits were surprised at this, for they had always seen him with a grim face.

When there was a lull in the conversation Strider turned to Riley. "When you woke you mentioned a land called Narnia... Is it to the east or north?" He was puzzled when she gave him an amused smile and answered, "It's through the wardrobe." His face contorted into a confused look and she laughed at his expression.

If he had not already decided to take her to Rivendell, he would have taken her to have Lord Elrond check her sanity.

xXx

Riley realized that it was getting harder and harder to put one foot in front of the other. Starting to feel sluggish, she tried to keep up with the rest of the group who had gotten slightly ahead.

Her back all but screamed with pain, and tears gathered in her eyes. Duke kept close to her side, as if sensing what troubled her with growing agitation.

The rest of her body started to wrack with trembling and her arms prickled with goosebumps as she shivered uncontrollably.What's wrong with me?She thought to herself just before she felt her vision darken.

Riley suddenly stumbled and fell, hitting her head on a small jagged rock. Pain exploded in every nerve ending of her body before she fully lost consciousness.

xXx

"Strider!" Sam yelled before running back to where the young girl lay. The ranger turned quickly, and upon seeing what had happened ran swiftly to the hobbit's side. Pippin and Merry followed, huffing from lack of breath when they arrived.

Riley was lying on the ground, blood streaming from a cut on her forehead. Sam pressed a handkerchief into Strider's hand, and he thanked the hobbit as he wiped the the blood from her skin. The heat of her forehead surprised him, and he drew back his hand in surprise.

"What's wrong with her, Strider?" Merry asked worriedly. He turned his grey eyes to the hobbit. "She's burning with fever. Do you still have your water skin? Good." Pouring some of the liquid onto the linen, he pressed it gently against the searing heat.

Picking her up, he was about to start walking when Pippin noticed that something was wrong. "She's cut on her back, too." Strider looked at him in surprise before setting her on the ground once more. Blood colored the back of her light colored shirt. Moving her so that she lay on her stomach, he carefully rolled the fabric up.

His eyes widened as he saw the gashes and bruises on her back. His short friends winced when they saw such damage. Many had already scabbed over, and the bleeding had come from one that had reopened.

The bruises told the story of what had happened, for they were shaped to match a thick strap of sorts. Touching one of the welts tenderly, Strider's face grew graver. The cuts were infected, and the poison was spreading to her body and causing the fever.

They were still half-a-days journey from Rivendell if they continued on foot, and the Ranger didn't know if she would make it that long. Suddenly, the sound of horses reached his ears. Standing up he listened carefully to the gaits before calling out a greeting. If the riders were elves, their ears would hear his cry over the hoofbeats and they would come to his aid.

Strider was overjoyed to see that it was his foster brothers, Elladan and Elrohir, riding in with a group of mounted elves. Reigning in their horses, they leapt down and quickly came to his aid. "What is is,Gwador?" (Brother)

He motioned to Riley, and their eyes widened. Without a word, the ranger showed them the lacerations on her back and they exchanged an angry glance. Who would whip someone so cruelly? The twins sensed the infection inside her, and with a nod from Strider, Elrohir mounted his horse while Elladan passed Riley up to him.

"Noro lim,Aglar,Noro lim."Upon hearing these words, the horse bore them quickly out of sight. "Where are they going?" Asked Sam in a concerned voice. Elladan smiled at him as he mounted back onto his horse. "To my father in Rivendell, little master." Giving a nod to Strider, he rode out of sight with the rest of the group.