Chapter Two
Note: Second part, again it is something that came to mind while pondering ideas. So, please let me know what you think of it.
Morning came with the bright light of a strong sun breaking through the foliage of the woods. Bilbo was up long before the sun was along with the rest of the company. They had cooked breakfast and were preparing to set out along the small path that led eastward. Gandalf was leading them, since they didn't have any ponies to ride they were walking on foot. Something that made Bilbo really happy since he was better at walking on foot rather than riding on a pony.
They were already walking for several moments when Kili and Fili pointed out someone resting against a tree. Dark clothing making them almost invisible to the naked eye. Gandalf watched the man with narrowed eyes before he nodded to Fili to have a closer look. The blond dwarf moved forward, sword at the ready as he nudged the man with a foot. The man remained limp even after his leg was kicked several times. Fili looked over at the rest of the company shrugging his shoulders as he looked back at the sleeping man. The man moved shoulders rising and falling as he rolled over and rose to his feet. Soon towering over the dwarf the man's helmet was completely black just as the rest of the clothing was black.
Fili staggered back and looked up at the man before he thrust a blade at him, the man caught it with one hand and twisted the blade to look down at it. "What the hell is your problem?" A woman's voice asked, as the freed hand came up to pull the helmet off revealing a woman beneath the helmet. Fili scrambled as he released his hold on the blade and staggered back even further.
"You're a woman?" Fili stated, pointing a finger at the tall woman. The woman's brows furrowed in confusion at the language that was used, and she looked over at the other group of men, or what she thought were all men, maybe children dressing up as men. The group of them were very small only one stood at about her height. The group looked just as stunned to see her as she was to see them.
She flung the sword away from her and took a step forward, gritting her teeth against the pain of the stitches being pulled as she walked. "What is going on here?" She asked again, but she got no reply as the group looked at each other in confusion. She furrowed her brows and looked down at the small blond male that had scrambled to scoop up his blade and was now following behind her. "Looks like you and I don't speak the same language." She groaned, "Which means this just got a lot harder than it had to be." She continued as she came to a stop a few feet away from the group. The blond male stopped behind her poking her slightly with a finger which she slapped away with her none mechanical hand. Her helmet was being held by her mechanical hand and her weapons hung off her shoulder unneeded at the moment or so she hoped.
During the time that she was taking to study the group, the group was also taking the time to study her. She was tall, evening out at least six feet two inches in height. With golden eyes and short spiked hair, a scar running along her face and what appeared to be bolts and metal pieces attached to cover up the tissue around the scarring and eye. She wore all black clothing that was strange even to the human standards, as none of the dwarrow, hobbit, or even the wizard had seen such clothing before. The boots and what appeared to be weapons were just as strange to them as the helmet that was being held in the left hand. Her manner of speech was also strange and none of them could understand it.
"Isn't there a spell that you can use to help her or us understand each other?" Bilbo asked, getting several stares from some of the dwarrow.
"Understand! She could be an enemy sent to kill us?" Dwalin argued, pointing at the way she was dressed. The woman snared baring her teeth at them and stepping back from them.
"Well other than from stopping Fili from stabbing her, she hasn't really done anything to harm us." Bilbo argued back, waving a hand at her as well. The woman seemed to be following their conversation but wasn't able to understand what they were talking about. Gandalf looked between the woman and the rest of the company, stroking his beard as he did so.
"Yes, I do believe there is a spell that can be used to help her understand us, mind you it can only work with the standard language and none of the races language." Gandalf assured the dwarrow who were already getting up in arms over the idea of a human understanding their language.
Gandalf stepped forward, raising a hand to show the woman he meant no harm to her, and waved for her to step forward as well. She did, her hand sliding along to grasp at one of her weapons but she eased off of it the closer she got to the older man. As soon as they were within touching distance he touched her forehead and whispered the spell that would ensure she could understand them. She cried out, jerking away and dropping her helmet as she grasped at her head, collapsing to her knees at the old man's feet.
"What, what the hell did you just do you old fart?" She yelled rising up and pulling her side arm to take aim at the old man in the grey dress.
"Easy, it was a simple spell used to help us understand each other. Far more simpler to use on you then to try to use on all of us." Gandalf assured her, with his hands still raised. Bilbo and the younger dwarrow were laughing at the term that she had used to call Gandalf. Thorin and Dwalin were both holding their weapons ready to strike at her if she attacked Gandalf, but she seemed to understand what had happened and she slowly lowered the weapon until she returned it back to its sheath.
"May I ask your name, my lady?" Gandalf asked, holding out a hand to help her down the hill to a more even ground along the pathway that they had been taking. She accepted his help, bending to pick up her helmet and clip it to her belt harness.
"What, oh! I am Commander Verity Amezcua, commanding officer of the Santa Maria and soldier of the United Federation." She stated, setting her hand on her hip, and arching an eyebrow at them. "May I ask who you are now?" Gandalf nodded with a kind smile.
"I am Gandalf the Grey, these are my companions of dwarrow and a Hobbit named Bilbo." Gandalf pointed at the dwarrow and the hobbit to alert her that they were indeed different races. She looked over them and nodded her head a little worriedly.
"Right, and might I assume that you are heading Eastward?" She asked, pointing in the direction of where her ship had landed. Bilbo looked at her more closely and then seemed to understand where she had come from.
"You came from the shooting star?" Bilbo asked, and watched as the woman became tense under the scrutiny of the others as they looked her over once more.
"Yes, I did. I need to get back to it. My com isn't working on speaking to them, although, I can hear them speaking over the com unit just find. I think mine may have been damaged in the fall." She patted her cracked and broken helmet like it was a fond pet.
"One moment!" Balin stated to her with a smile before the dwarrow pulled together to speak to each other in their native tongue. Every once in a while one of them would look over their shoulder at her and shake their heads before going back to the conversation that was being had.
She stood waiting at parade rest as the group continued to discuss what she could only guess was why she was asking them if they were going east and what she wanted from them. She understood the idea that trusting a complete stranger with private information was a risky business to do, but she hoped that they would allow her to tag along as an easier way to get to where she had to go rather than trudging along by herself. She needed to make a note to have Loki's database checked as the little bastard seemed to enjoy causing problems when they already had enough problems on their hands to begin with.
Soon the group parted after about half an hour debating with each other and the man who appeared to be the leader stepped forward. "What is it you are asking of us?" Thorin asked, looking at the human woman hard.
"If I could tag along for as long as you are traveling, I need to get back to my ship." Verity stated plainly. She wasn't going to try to lie to them. It would seem that would be a very bad thing to do if she wanted them to accept her into the group and allow her to tag along. The tiny men held up a hand and they turned back to continue to argue over their decision about her. Bilbo, the hobbit as she guessed was standing outside of the group looking at her, Gandalf and the dwarrow speaking.
"So, how did you get separated from the shooting star?" Bilbo asked, curious about how she had come to be here away from the shooting star. She looked at him and opened her mouth to reply when a rustle in the bushes caused her to turn rapidly assault rifle in hand and crouched low to the ground. The others and followed suit with their own weapons all prepared to take on whatever was coming their way.
"Murder." A man riding on a sled being pulled by giant rabbits yelling about murder in the woods soon had the group and soldier tensing until Gandalf pulled the brown dressed man off the rabbits and started to talk to him.
"It's Radagast the brown." Gandalf informed the group. Verity arched her eyebrow but she lowered the assault rifle until the muzzle pointed downward and away from shooting anyone.
"What is with the dresses?" Verity asked, and the dwarrow started snickering again.
"These are robes not dresses." Gandalf stated, dryly as he turned back to speaking with Radagast.
"Whatever floats your boat, you old goat." Verity answered back, as she leaned against a sturdy tree base and watched what was going on around them. Bilbo sidled up closer to her and nudged her to get her attention.
"Oh, your question. The shielding failed and the widow of the bridge collapsed and I was pulled out in the vacuum that it created." Verity answered, as honestly as she could. The dwarrow for their part was splitting their attention between listening to Bilbo's and Verity's conversation and listening to Gandalf and Radagast's conversation. A rustle in the bushes once again alerted the group that something was coming.
A warg leaped out of the brush and was taken down by a war axe that embedded itself into its skull. "That was just a scout, we are being hunted." Thorin stated, looking down at the dead beast.
Gandalf grabbed the smaller man by the shoulders and asked him in a stern voice. "Who else have you told of this quest?" He gazed into Thorin's eyes as the other man spoke back.
"No one, I told no one!" Thorin stated, looking back at the dead beast with a dangerous look. "More will be coming this way, we need to run now." He ordered. Getting the others in the group to start heading Eastward once more, but this time in a hurried run. They pulled away and back into the brush as the large hunting party of wargs and orcs raced past them.
"I can lead them away." Radagast stated an earnest tone in his voice as he came up behind them.
"They are wargs, they will out race you." Gandalf stated, worried for his fellow Istari. Radagast for his part smiled and leaned forward on the edge of his sled.
"These are Rhosgobel Rabbits, I would like to see them try." He answered back confidently as he whistled and the rabbits took off with him clinging to the sleds handles and braces.