I was suddenly grabbed by my arms on either side. I instantly began to squirm and struggle, but a large hand covered my mouth before I could yelp or make any noises.
I was thrusted into a dark room of the inn, and painfully landed on my knees, before I could catch my breath, I was lifted to my feet again. Both my arms were still being restrained by large hands.
The hood of my cloak covered my eyesight a bit, but I could count 13 pairs of large boots, and 1 pair of hobbit feet. The room of the inn was almost pitch black, but a small light was glowing from the fireplace. A figure loomed over the hearth, and began to speak.
"You've been following us for two days. Without discretion, I might add. If you were going to have the audacity to follow us, you should have at least been a bit more subtle about it. Who are you?"
The low voice rumbled from the corner of the room, sending shivers down my spine.
"Who are you?" a different voice demanded and ripped the hood of my cloak from off my head.
Thirteen chests gasped inwardly in unison. The voice that had been addressing me belonged to a young, handsome, dwarf. His eyes widened at the sight of me, but then settled into a soft glare.
He looked me up and down. His question changing;
"What are you?"
The grips on my arms loosened tremendously. To my left was a large, tattooed dwarf, and to my right a large, red-headed dwarf.
"I'm sorry," I said, my voice shaking, "I can promise I mean none of you any harm whatsoever,"
The two dwarves holding my biceps let go of me completely and started laughing out loud.
A dwarf on the side of the room laughed hard and wiped a tear from his eye, "You? Harm us? Ha-ha!"
But the dark haired dwarf, who seemed to be in charge, was not laughing. An older dwarf, with a long white beard, stopped chuckling and walked towards me.
"Go home, young lass, little-ns like you should not be out so late at night," he put a hand on my shoulder and began to shoo me out of the room.
"Wait!" yelled the dark haired dwarf. "You did not answer my question! What are you?"
He stepped in front of the white bearded dwarf and grabbed me by my wrist, pulling me towards him. Carefully, he examined me up and down.
"You're much too short to be an elf," he stated as he looked at my feet and pulled my hair behind my small ears. "And you're not a hobbit. You have no beard, and you look like you could be snapped in half like a twig, so I'll assume you're no dwarf," The group chuckled in agreement. The handsome dwarf looked into my eyes and squinted, "Nor are you from the race of men,"
"Oh leave her be," said the hobbit in a reprimanding tone. "Just let her be on her way."
"No. It matters. I want to know who she is and more importantly why she was following us," the leader said, concerned.
I cleared my throat, hoping they would let me speak.
"I'm only looking for Gandalf. Gandalf the Grey? Folks are saying he's been seen travelling among a company of thirteen dwarves and one hobbit. I just thought he might be with you," there was a small pause. "You see, I have an injury. An injury that I fear can only be cured by magic, and I can't seem to fix it myself. Really any wizard would do, even Rhadagast if you can tell me where to find him. I'd even venture out to find that elven witch, Lady Glan – um, Lady Ganlad – Lady Lang –"
"Lady Galandriel?" the hobbit finished my sentence helpfully.
"Yes! That's the one! Really anybody who knows healing magic. I'm just trying to find some help, I thought Gandalf would be the closest wizard and I could find him the fastest –"
The leader impatiently interrupted my babbling, "Stop! What injury do you have that so desperately needs the attention of magic? You look perfectly healthy to me,"
"My wing is broken," I replied sadly.
"Your what?" fourteen voices chimed in unison.
"Wing?" The leader asked skeptically.
I whipped my heavy wool cloak away from my arms and untied the button at the neck, taking the cloak off completely. One of my wings flexed upright, fluttering gently; magically. The other tried, but the top of the wing was broken, and limped down pathetically, struggling to flicker in unison with the healthy wing.
The group of dwarves stared dumbfounded, their mouths gaping wide open. The oldest dwarf spoke: "Bless my beard,"
"You're a pixie!" the hobbit deducted.
"What, no!" I protested. "Pixies are a nasty business. They're blue, with beady little black eyes, and long slithery fingers with long nails," I shivered. "They're always stealing things. No. No, no, no. No, sir. I - I am a fairy." I stood upright.
"I've heard of fairy-stories, yes. But faires?" The tattooed dwarf exclaimed.
I scrunched my eyebrows together. "You are dwarves! You're a hobbit! You have wizards, elves, goblins, ghost, ghouls, and trolls for heaven's sake! And none of you have met a fairy before?"
"I didn't think they were real!" the hobbit stressed.
"Oh we are very real, we're just hard to find. You see fireflies are about this big – " I made a small measurement with my thumb and pointer finger, "And fairies are just slightly bigger –" I made a similar measurement with my other hand. "You see? And that is another problem, I can't seem to go back to my regular size, I feel like a giant!"
This was an amusing statement, since I stood a foot shorter than the Halfling, and he himself stood a foot shorter than the dwarves.
The dwarves looked at each other as if they were dreaming. The dark haired leader did not look amused.
"You're magical, then? Like a wizard?" one of the group asked me.
"No! Not like a wizard at all! I'm not a powerful being. But I do know a few spells," I began to list them: "Sleeping spells, sweet dream spells, strawberry spells!"
"Strawberry spells?" The hobbit asked.
"I can grow a strawberry on any land, anywhere you like! Raspberries too, I think."
"Prove it," a young, blonde dwarf challenged.
I walked to the corner of the room and grabbed a small potted plant. Rather abruptly, I removed the plant and hovered my hand above the pot of dirt, snapping my fingers once. The pot began to shake ever so softly, until a green stem burst through the dirt. The stem grew and grew until vines burst from either side, twisting and turning. One vine bloomed a small green flower, and beneath it grew a red, perfectly shaped strawberry. I waited for it to get rather large, then plucked it from the vine.
The room fell silent and nothing could be heard but the crackling of the fire.
I handed it to the young blonde dwarf.
"Taste it," I offered sweetly.
The blonde headed dwarf smiled kindly and reached out to grab it, when suddenly the leader smacked his arm away, hard.
"Do not eat that!" he ordered. "We do not know this creature. That berry might as well be poison!"
My arm still outstretched, I gingerly retreated. The dwarf leader glared down at me, frowning. I light bulb went off in my head. I could feel the expression on my face change from a frightened frown to a smirk as I took a step towards him. He did not move, but continued to glare as I stepped forward until I was no more than 2 inches away from him. We stood chest to chest. I stared at up his icy blue eyes, which were begging to turn soft with confusion.
Without breaking eye contact, I bit into the berry. Everyone could almost hear as my teeth sunk into the red fruit. The dark-haired dwarf's eyes widened ever so slightly, but he didn't break eye contact either. Still chewing I smiled up at him, my eyes twinkling with mischief.