For a moment Isil felt like she was floating in space. Her head was spinning and her mind was completely empty. She squinted at the bright light but couldn't see anything. Suddenly she felt her feet touch the solid ground and without a warning the earth turn vertical and hit her square in the face.
"Aghh" she groaned. Pushing herself off the ground she attempted to straighten up, but her body refused to cooperate with her and she stumbled sideways bumping into someone. Grabbing their arm for support she looked up and realized it was Thranduil.
"Are we in..."
"Middle Earth" he said staring ahead.
"..Cool" she squeaked looking around and spotted Eric laying face down on the ground.
"Eric? ERIC!" she called attempting to run towards him but tripped and landed on top of him.
"ughhh" she heard a low groan beneath her.
"Sorry.. are you alright?"
"I will be when your knee is not crushing my ribs" he gasped in pain.
"Oops" Isil rolled off of her friend and flipped him on his back.
"What happened back there?" he asked holding on to his throbbing head.
"Well.. its sort of a long story" she said looking away in discomfort.
"I've got time!" he protested his voice breaking.
While Isil started to explain the same story Gandalf told her before, Legolas approached the wizard.
"We need to get her as far away from here as possible. This place will be packed with orcs soon."
"Give them a minute" said Gandalf looking at the two who sat on the ground talking.
After the long explanation of her ethnicity, Isil looked at her friend expectedly. Eric sat with a blank expression on his face processing the information.
"So you're like..Harry Potter?" he asked after a long pause
Isil stared at him for a second and broke into a loud laughter causing the three men to look back, in alert. Eric joined in watching as his friend was rolling on the ground unable to contain herself.
"We were only suppose to bring the girl" said Thranduil watching the two.
"There is not much we can do now," said Gandalf "What's done is done"
Shortly after, the five of them started to move away from the portal before the orcs arrived.
Gandalf led the way followed by Legolas and Thranduil. Isil was right behind them while Eric was struggling to keep up.
"So where are we going?" asked Isil realizing they never told her their final destination.
"Mirkwood" answered Thranduil. "My home land. You will stay there until you learn to use your powers."
"What kind of powers?"
"We are yet to find out" said Gandalf looking back at her and continued to walk while Isil stopped, absorbed into her own thoughts. She never experienced anything that would indicate that she was a supernatural being before. No random objects blowing up, no floating in her sleep, not even a feeling of a strange presence. From what she read in fantasy books she would have by now. But those were works of fiction. This was real.
Eric jogged up to her panting like a dog, interrupting her thoughts.
"This is cool and everything... but...I'm not used to this kind of exercise" he heaved, holding on to his heart.
"It might be good for you" she laughed patting him on the back and went back to walking.
Gandalf was leading the way, like always with two elves behind him. Isil didn't really know anything about them except for the fact that they were father and son, which was pretty odd since they looked the same age. Thranduil did look a little older though. Might be due to the fact that he was taller, with sharp facial features and she found herself staring at him. She was always attracted to older men which got her in trouble before in school. When she was 13, she had a crush on her social teacher and would write him anonymous love notes. One time she got caught slipping one in his bag by the principle, who made a huge fuss about it and called them both into her office. Isil tried really hard not to laugh while she pointed and went on heatedly about underage sexual activity and jailbait, as the social teacher's face turned the color of the principle's awful, red lipstick.
Another time she thought she was in love with her english teacher in grade 10, which ended quickly after he gave her a zero on her essay that was based on her favorite dr. who episode, saying he expected a more "mature" topic.
Thranduil was probably a bazillion years older than her, but that didn't mean she couldn't stare, right? Before now she didn't really notice how handsome he was. Probably because she thought he was going to murder her when they met, which is not really a good first impression.
"So what is it like?" she wondered catching up to the elf.
"What is what like?" he asked, thrown off by an unexpected conversation.
"You know, where we are going to. What is it again? Milkwood? Murkweed?"
"Mirkwood" he responded patiently.
"Doesn't sound like a happy place to be honest" she said earning a dark look from the king.
"It was not always called that. Greenwood the Great is what my father, The Sindarin Elf Oropher named it after he settled there, building a city for the woodland elves."
"Why did they change the name?" asked Isil ignoring the glare.
"The shadow of the Dark Lord fell upon that land, bringing all sorts of savage creatures with it. The forest became a dark, dangerous place outside of the city. No man dares to set foot there." he explained bitterly.
"Wow, Sounds shady" she concluded. the elf glanced at her slightly confused but didn't question her.
They've been walking for hours without stopping. No one had a watch, so Isil estimated that it was around 8:00 pm when they approached a small village.
"Village of Bree" said Gandalf walking up to the closed gate and knocked on the heavy wooden door with his staff.
Isil watched as a rectangular hole in the door slid open, and a pair of suspicious eyes stared through it.
"What's your business here?" spoke the gruff voice.
"We are travelers," said Gandalf "Passing by, looking for a place to stay."
The eyes inspected everyone of them. They lingered on Isil a little too long for her liking and then on Eric who gave a wide, goofy grin in return. The opening was slammed shut. There was a shuffling on the other side after which there was a 'click' and the door was pushed open to reveal a large, middle aged man with a scruffy beard and an ugly scar on his nose.
"Come in then" he said.
Gandalf bowed his head at the man who did not return the gesture, and motioned the rest of them to follow him. The man stared at Isil with a hungry look in his eyes when she entered. She hurried past him, ending up running into Thranduil who looked back at her with a startled look on his face.
"Sorry" she mumbled glancing back at the creepy gatekeeper and kept walking oblivious to the death glare exchange between the two men.
The village looked like something out of a movie about the medieval times. The stoney path stretched before them, splitting the two rows of old looking huts. Isil looked around in wonder. It was nothing like she ever seen before, asides from the drunken men.
"Pretty sketchy huh" she said addressing Eric in a low voice.
"It's nothing compared to Queens." he said
"There are queens in the land of New York?" asked Legolas in astonishment.
"No man, Queens is a place. The name is misleading too, like it's so ghetto." said Eric
"I don't understand" said Legolas frowning, unfamiliar with the strange word.
"It's a nasty place basically" Isil explained helpfully
"We are here" announced Gandalf stopping in front of a hut.
"Prancing pony" read Isil as the wizard and the two elves entered.
"It should be your stripper name" snickered Eric earning a sharp elbow in the ribs
"Well, shall we?" asked Isil and followed the three men.