After walking through the portal, the three girls were surprised for a fraction of a second when they only saw the sky. It was made clear less than a moment later, as they fell twenty feet into a small river.
"Really Zelda, REALLY?!" Alexia mumbled, climbing out of the river. "You guys okay?" She called.
"I'm fine!" Moppet called back. Lane didn't respond- Her eyes were distant, and she turned her head slowly, taking everything in.
"Lane. LANE!" Alexia clapped her hands, and Lane's head shot up.
"Oh. Yeah. I'm okay." She answered.
Alexia raised her eyebrow. She was worried about Lane, but knew there was a time and place, which wasn't then. "Alright. Come on, there's a road. Might as well follow it."
For what seemed to be hours they walked, soaking wet, down a dirt road following horseshoe prints.
"Hail!" The girls turned to find two men looking at them. The first was garbed in armor and sat on a white horse, the second wearing simple clothing and riding on a brown horse, which lead a smaller black horse. "Are you lost?"
"We flowed downriver. We're following the road, trying to find a town." Alexia explained.
"Why, you're going in the wrong direction! Bree is just ten minutes by horse that way." The man in armor pointed west.
"Is your friend alright?" The other man motioned toward Lane, who was murmuring to herself and looking at the mountains.
"She's okay." Alexia lied, walking to Lane. "What's going on? Hello?"
Lane snapped out of her trance. "I'm fine. What did he say?"
"There's a town nearby. Come on, we need food, and you need rest." Alexia told her.
"You won't get there without being attacked. Jonathan!" The non-armor man stood to attention. "Bring them to Bree, and make sure they have lodging for the night."
"Yes sir." Jonathan helped Moppet onto his horse while Alexia and Lane mounted the black horse. "So, where are you girls from?"
"Ninjago." Moppet said without caution.
To avoid confusion and questioning, Alexia quickly answered differently. "Don't mind her. She loves to think about fairy tales. It was one our mother's tales she spun for us. We're orphans, but we lost our parents when orcs attacked us."
"Dear lord. There have been many attacks in the past month. You're lucky to be alive." Jonathan noted.
Lane started humming to herself, smiling, and at first, Alexia thought she was going back to normal-ish but then heard the lyrics.
Tick tock, goes the clock,
How the ninja bled.
Tick tock, goes the clock,
And now they all lie dead.
"Lane!" Alexia said, exasperated. "Stop it!" Lane nodded, but continued anyway. Thankfully, Jonathan didn't hear, and Lane stopped by the time they arrived at Bree. Leaving the horses at a stable next to an inn, Jonathan took them inside.
"I need two rooms. One for the girls and one for me." He told the innkeeper.
The innkeeper looked at the girls suspiciously. "Who're they?"
"Orphans." Jonathan answered.
"Very well. Here are your keys. We can have fresh clothes delivered upstairs for the girls." The innkeeper said, handing them two keys.
Upstairs, Jonathan handed Alexia a key and went to his own room. After using towels to dry off (Moppet helping Lane, who was still distant), Alexia sat down on her bed, lighting a candle. "So, any ideas on where we are?"
"Lord of the Rings." Lane said, smiling oddly. "Tick tock, goes the clock-"
"LANE!" Alexia said, exasperated. "Get a hold on yourself!" Grabbing a pill from her pocket, she shoved it into Lane's mouth then poured water in. Lane choked for a moment before her eyes cleared and she looked around.
"Where are we? What just happened?" Lane asked.
"We're in Lord of the Rings. Lane, you were singing a death song. What's that about?" Alexia asked.
"I dunno." Lane frowned. "I don't remember doing it. That's not a good sign, is it?"
"Sis, what's going on?" Moppet asked, scared.
Lane shrugged. "Maybe I've been off meds too long. I'm fine now."
"Alright. It's time we got some sleep." Alexia fell back on her bed, yawning. "Sleep with no interruptions."
Two hours later...
Screams erupted from the outside. Alexia and Lane woke immediately, and Moppet a moment after.
"The orcs are attacking!" A woman shouted.
Jonathan ran into the girls' room. "Get out, now! The woman and children are being moved to a safer location!"
"How many warriors do you have on hand?" Alexia asked.
"Er, about five hundred." Jonathan admitted.
"Then get out of the way, we're fighting!" They sped past Jonathan.
He was shocked for a moment before yelling, "But you've got no experience!"
Alexia turned and gave him a cold stare. "Well, guess what? We lied. We're not orphans, I'm not related to them, and we're highly trained warriors with swords and claws. Got a problem?" She did a quick sword routine, followed by Lane, and Moppet bore her claws.
"Uh, okay." Jonathan said, nodding.
"Come on!" The three girls ran outside finding total chaos. People who weren't warriors were running around, screaming and shouting.
Going into the stable, Alexia mounted the black horse while Lane took the brown with Moppet behind her. They rode out to the battlefield, finding already fifty men wounded. "Moppet, stay back here with the healers and fight at the back." Lane told her. Moppet nodded, demounting the horse.
Lane and Alexia rode on before coming to the heart of the battle. The knight from before recognized them "What are you girls doing here?" He asked.
"Change of plans. We're saving your life!" Alexia drew out her sword, and slashed. A tidal of water blasted from her sword, killing the front line of orcs hit and wounding the second.
Using the blood from the corpses, Lane manipulated them into spears, which slashed at the orcs' feet, making even more blood.
The rest of the troops goggled at the girls, but Alexia snorted. "Attack!" She shouted, pointing towards the enemy.
They yelled back in answer, charging at the enemy. For hours Alexia and Lane were on the front lines, attacking everything that came close. Moppet protected the wounded with her claws, and managed to harness some of moonlight to blind her foes.
At first, it seemed the troops could do nothing wrong. Then, an orc managed to get through and slashed at Lane's horse. Lane fell off, and laid unmoving on the ground.
"LANE!" Alexia shouted, turning her horse.
Standing, Lane felt herself shift. She began to smile, looking down at her now dead horse. She turned and looked at the orcs, continuing to smile, causing a few to back away.
"Hi. My name's Lane." She giggled insanely as she struck down three orcs with one slash. "It's time for you to die."
Without stopping, Lane fought hundreds of orcs, smiling and giggling all the while. "You want to play? Sorry, I came to kill."
The orcs became scared as Lane's powers went out of control. Several orcs exploded into blood, giving her more to kill with. The retreat was sounded, but Lane continued to fight. "Don't you want to fight? Don't you want to fight?" Even during the retreat, more and more orcs fell to Lane as she slashed wildly with her swords.
"LANE! Stop it right now!" Alexia shouted, grabbing her from behind.
"Let go. Just let me go." Lane giggled. "Let me kill."
Moppet came running up, holding a potion bottle. Alexia opened Lane's mouth, letting Moppet pour the potion down Lane's throat. Clamping her mouth shut, Alexia held Lane as she stumbled to the ground.
"What the fuck is going on with her?" Alexia asked worriedly.
"How should I know? This has never happened before!" Moppet answered.
"Girls!" Jonathan rode up with his knight. "They're retreating! You did it!"
"Yeah, great. We need to get her to a doctor." Alexia said angrily. With Jonathan's help, Alexia put Lane on her horse and rode to the nearest healer, who examined Lane.
"Can say what happened?" Moppet asked.
The healer shook her head. "She seems perfectly fine. No head damage, nothing. Has she done this before?"
"No." Alexia said before Moppet could say anything, giving the younger girl a look.
"Then I have nothing that can help." The healer said apologetically.
"Thank you for your help." Alexia told her. They took Lane back to the inn, letting her sleep.
"How come you lied?" Moppet asked.
"I don't want anyone thinking Lane's crazy and she needs to be killed." Alexia answered.
"Okay. But how can we keep it from happening?" Moppet insisted.
Alexia sighed. "We'll just have to give her medication to keep her under control."
"Guys?" Lane sat up, rubbing her head. "I feel weird-"
"Here-" Alexia gave Lane a pain pill. "This'll help."
Lane swallowed the pill and shivered before nodding. "Thanks. Did we win?" The other two nodded. "Okay, now how do we get out of here?"
"I have no idea. There's no technology here, and no magic for dimensional travel." Alexia put a hand to her forehead, sighing again.
"We can use this." Lane took out her DSi XL. "Just plug Moppet's cell phone into this."
Both Moppet's and Alexia's jaws dropped. "You sure sis?" Moppet asked. Lane nodded, and Moppet plugged in the cell phone. The vortex opened, sucking them in.