Chapter two: No manners

Finding the moss turned out much easier then I had anticipated. Following it however, was much more difficult.

Where Jackie is bad with directions; I am completely hopeless. To make matters worse, the moss couldn't explain the directions it was giving. It would just stare back at us green and slimy; not saying a word.

Not that I wanted the moss to talk. That would be the last thing I needed; not only would I be stranded in an unknown forest, with no idea how I got there, but moss would be talking to me? No thank you!

I suppose we would have made faster time if the trek through the woods hadn't been so painful. You see as Jackie pointed out, we had been sleeping. I don't know about you but I don't sleep with my shoes on.

Comparatively I had the upper hand; I had fallen asleep with my blue jeans on. Jackie was stuck in a pair of wind shorts.

"Shit!" Jackie's exclamation brought me back from my thoughts. "You ok?" I asked stopping and turning around to face her.

"Terrific." She mumbled holding her foot; her hand clasped over a gash that was bleeding rather badly. I crouched down in front of her while she stood unsteadily on her other foot.

"Lemmie see." I sighed reaching out for her foot; the snapping of twigs made me stop.

I was startled and stood up rather quickly, in the process thrusting Jackie's foot away from me. She teetered on her uninjured foot for a moment, before falling onto her bottom with a loud thud; a string of curses issuing from her mouth.

The snapping stopped rather close by, and I peered out into the trees. "Something is out there." I mumbled gazing forward.

Jackie stood next to me, looking rather annoyed. "You're just paranoid; who would be in the middle of the woods? It was probably just a rabbit or something."

I wasn't convinced, "I'm going to go check it out." I walked forward a few paces; Jackie stood behind me trying to look calm and collected, forgetting for a moment the pain in her injured foot.

As I walked a confident male voice called out from the trees, "Stop, you may go no further!"

At this my eyebrow cocked up; who was this guy to give me orders? Confidently I moved forward a few more steps.

"If you insist on continuing, I will be forced to let loose the arrow I have pointed at your throat."

I halted my steps and stood rooted on the spot. This guy had a weapon, and I had no means to defend myself.

My eyes scanned the ground beneath my feet; I needed something to use as a weapon, anything! I picked up a rock next to my foot.

Okay so it wouldn't strike fear into the hearts of my enemies, but it was something. Jackie seemed to have picked up on my idea and gripped a long stick, her eyes made their way to my rock.

"The guy has a bow and arrows and you choose a pebble to defend us?" I glanced at my weapon. It wasn't a great choice but certainly wasn't a pebble!

I turned to face her, the man forgotten "It's not a pebble! It is a small boulder! And look whose talking, you have a twig! What are you going to do with it? Poke him?"

She put her hands on her hips "Well what exactly were you planning to do with your 'Small Boulder'? Throw it at him? That thing won't even leave a good bruise!"

I opened my mouth to retort but was interrupted as the man cleared his throat. I spun around and was surprised to see that he had come out into the open; his arrow still aimed at me.

Jackie glared at him "You know it's rude to interrupt people when they are having a discussion."

I laughed nervously "Actually it's just fine; you go ahead and interrupt all you want!" Jackie looked at me incredulously. "After all Jackie, he does have a large arrow pointed at me! I really think he can do what he wants at this point."

Jackie opened her mouth, and then closed it again. Shrugging her shoulders, she nodded her assent.

The rugged man walked around us, taking in the situation. He then motioned for us to sit.

I complied willingly, while Jackie looked at the man as if he had grown a second head.

"You want me to sit on the ground and allow twigs to get shoved up my butt? What the bow and arrow pointed menacingly at us isn't enough for you; we have to be utterly uncomfortable for you to get your kicks?"

"Jackie, take into consideration that the 'menacing arrow' is pointed at my throat; will you please shut up and sit down?"

"But Kate, it's all…"

I shushed her and glared; rolling her eyes, she flopped to the ground.

Looking down at us he glared "Now I want you to answer me a couple of questions."

"You want us to answer you a couple of questions?" Jackie was incensed, "Here we are in the middle of nowhere and you want to interrogate us?"

I nodded "She's right you know. After all you seem more at home here then us; we should be asking you questions. Like where are we?"

"And how do we get home?" Jackie added hastily. The man grunted, and mumbled something that sounded a lot like 'Women' to me.

Jackie started to poke at her injured foot while we waited for the man to answer our questions. He looked uncomfortable and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"Well? Aren't you going to answer our questions?" I stared at him with my eyebrows raised.

He sighed, clearly exasperated "Oh very well, you don't appear to be very dangerous anyway."

I scoffed "Not very dangerous? We are fearsome!"

Jackie shrugged, "Really Kate how much damage could we do with a pebble and a twig, anyway?"

"You give up too easy." I glowered.

He shook his head, "I will answer your questions," at this he turned around and called to someone behind him. "Come on out Hobbits. I doubt that these ladies will harm you."

At the word 'Hobbits' my head cocked to the side; Jackie simply looked on, confused, yet interested.

The greenery gave way to three little men; they gazed at us, wonder etched on their youthful faces.

I grinned; this was starting to get interesting. The man smiled at the hobbits reassuringly before turning back to us.

"My ladies, I apologize for the manner of our meeting; but these are dark times. One can never be too careful." As he spoke he smiled and gave us a slight bow of his head.

He sat in front of us; the hobbits placed themselves a little ways behind him, looking on in anticipation.