Author's Note: I don't own anything but Aubry and Beth and the mayhem they will create. Everything else belongs to JRR Tolkein.
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Stepping through the arch, I realized quickly why walking around without looking where you were going wasn't the smartest thing to do.
"OH MY GOD!" I shrieked, kicking my legs frantically in the air before plummeting down a deep pit which was located just inside the archway.
'I will personally strangle that voice.' Was about the only thought running through my head, besides the obvious, 'OH MY GOD, I'M GOING TO DIE!'
Closing my eyes, I waited for my body to meet the ground for the last time, never really realizing that it was too dark to see anything anyway.
I waited.
And waited.
I finally realized that this was taking a lot longer than I thought it would and opened my eyes to see what was taking so long. I had resigned myself to die, damn it!
Once I opened my eyes, my immediate instinct was to shut them again. I followed that instinct. I had now found the reason it was taking so long. I was thousands of feet in the air and plummeting to my doom.
Great.
I opened my eyes again to see how my fall to death was going when I heard another shrill scream besides my own. Glancing around, I noticed that Beth had decided to come along for the ride.
"Hey Beth! Isn't it fun falling to your subsequent death?" I called, smiling slightly as she glared at me and screamed louder. We were only about 100 feet above the treetops and I was ready for my death. I mean, I had already died on Earth hadn't I? What was one more time for good time's sake? That's when the most suprising thing happened.
We stopped falling.
We were right above the treetops, the wind flapping crazily around our faces, when BAM, we were floating in mid-air. It took me by surprise, and I continued to scream for a couple of minutes. That didn't really help much, so when I realized I wasn't going to be falling any time soon. I stopped screaming and looked around, slightly creeped out by our newfound ability. Since when could I do this? Glancing over at my wailing companion, I began to slowly make my way over on the newly dubbed 'hard air'.
"Beth, stop screaming! We're safe, open your eyes!" I yelled over her voice, moving my feet around to see how far out this 'hard air' went.
"How can we be SAFE? We're falling through the air at about 100 miles an hour, maybe more, and you think we're SAFE?" she was still screaming, but now she was screaming more at me than at the ground. I rolled my eyes and walked over to her, still testing the air before actually putting my whole weight on it.
Yes, amazingly, I'm not an idiot.
Shaking her shoulder, I stood back and grinned as Beth opened her eyes to glare at me, and then stare around at our situation.
"Oh, My, God. Aubry, we're STANDING on AIR!" She whispered quietly before shrieking girlishly and grabbing onto me for dear life. She was basically climbing on top of me to get off the 'hard air'.
Obviously, she hadn't grasped the 'Already-standing-on-air' concept.
"Ok, now let's calm down and figure things out." I said, trying to get her off me before she cut off all of my oxygen. I stood there for a couple of moments before sighing and trying again, this time a little more slowly.
"Nashi, that means getting off my body." She cringed slightly before slowly letting go of me.
"Alright, step one complete. That leads to step two, figuring out what to do. Let's try getting down before actually moving on to where we are." We looked around to figure out our situation and gasped, staring at our surroundings.
It was gorgeous.
We were standing right above a pine forest with trees that could have been over one hundred feet tall, each growing over the others to get to the precious light shed from the sun. About a mile to the west was a large field and on the other side of the field was a picturesque town with smoke rising from the chimney stacks. The sun was setting, which left the town to look even more peaceful and pleasant than it would have regularly.
Growing up from the west was row upon row of corn and other edible plants. We could still see the tiny farmers working in their fields, pulling their plows and feeding their animals. It looked so wonderful, this little forest, that my heart yearned to live here for the rest of my life.
Somehow, this place made me see a future where I could be extremely happy.
I smiled over at Beth and saw that she had the same look as I did. She knew that this place was more pure than our old home ever could have been.
"I say that we head over to that little village over there. Maybe the people could tell us where this is." I nodded in agreement and headed over to one of the larger trees.
"Hey, maybe we could just climb down one of the trees. I know I've never been one of the most graceful people, but maybe I'll surprise us." Beth giggled a little and nodded, heading toward the tree and me. We climbed down slowly, and luckily I only slipped once or twice.
"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" I asked, jumping down the last couple of feet and watching as Beth slipped and fell on her back a couple of feet away. She glared icily and grumbled under her breath as she picked herself up and wiped moss off of her back.
Looking around I noticed that we had climbed (or in Beth's case, fallen) into a small clearing about twenty feet around and covered in grass and weeds. Beth came up next to me and looked over questioningly.
"What should we do now?"
"Well, head off to that town west of here I guess."
She agreed and we trotted off, trying to keep in a straight line so that we didn't get lost. About 100 meters into the trees we found a nice little path that seemed to be heading in the same direction as we were, so in silent agreement we headed that way, hoping that we would make it to the town before nightfall.
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Well, that didn't work as well as planned.
We were now wandering around in the dark, rain falling heavily down on our heads and Beth sneezing every couple of steps. We were still on the path, though now muddier than we were before. Beth had gained more sarcasm, and I had gotten a lot pissier.
"Beth! Hurry up, we're almost there." I called back, stalking on at a quicker pace and hoping I didn't trip on a root that was covered in mud.
I could see the gates of the village through the trees, but I didn't want to lose Beth so I stopped under one of the more leafy saplings and waited for her to catch up. She was a couple of minutes behind me, stumbling around and trying to wipe the rain drops out of her eyes.
"Aubry, where the bloody hell are you? I've been stumbling around in these bloody bushes for 20 god-damned minutes."
Oh, did I mention that Beth has the mouth of a sailor when she gets pissed? Well she does, and it normally ruins her 'little helpless female' image pretty quickly.
"Beth, I'm over here. I see the village beyond those trees, so let's go and find a hotel or something so we can dry off, ok?" Beth stumbled over to where I was and scowled before nodding and motioning me to lead the way. I walked out towards the gates and knocked loudly, hoping that someone would let us in quickly.
"What do you want?" The old man growled, looking us over from a window that opened in the gate. I looked up when I heard his voice and stared, wondering where I had seen him before. He looked so familiar…
"Well, are you just going to stand there, or are you going to answer me? Women like you shouldn't be wandering around at night, especially without an escort."
Well, that defiantly wasn't one of the ways to get on my good side.
"Look here geezer. We want to come in and find an inn to stay at. We're tired from our walk here and soaked to the bone. So open the door or I'll find some OTHER way to get in." I snapped, putting my hands on my hips and giving him my patented 'Glare-o-Doom'. He winced slightly and opened the door for us.
Smart plan.
"I'm sorry miss, it's my job to ask questions. Please, let me pay for your night at an inn. My way of apology." He bowed and I grumbled darkly before stalking past him.
Beth frowned and elbowed me in the ribs before smiling at the old man and thanking him for his kindness. He led us down the street, answering our questions as we asked them.
"May I ask where we are and where we are staying?" I asked, causing him to glance at me shrewdly before continuing down the muddy street.
"You are in the town of Bree, and headed for the Prancing Pony." I looked at Beth curiously, wondering where I had heard those names before. Bree and the Prancing Po… wait a minute. This could NOT be where I thought it was.
"Excuse me? The Prancing Pony?" I asked, looking between the already startled old man and my friend, who began to look like she was going to have a friendly meeting with her breakfast.
"Aye, young miss. The Prancing Pony is one of our better inns. Why, have you heard of it before?" I glanced over at Beth, hoping for some sort of answer to the question, but she just shook her head and stared at the road.
Oh great, I'm on my own for this one.
"Umm… we got lost from our caravan. We heard some of the men talking about the Prancing Pony before we left. Thank you so much for setting us up there." He nodded and led us to the door of the inn, pushing it open and watching us warily as we headed inside. He didn't look like he was going to ask anymore questions, an event I was extremely grateful for.
"Just tell Tom that old Bill set you up for the night. Take care, miladies." We nodded and said our thanks before heading into the bar. Tom was standing behind the counter, scrubbing some mugs and laughing with one of the other guests. When we caught his eye, he motioned us over and said good-bye to the stranger.
"Hello, young misses. How may I help you tonight?" He asked, looking us over as if to ask what we were doing at a bar in the middle of the night.
"Bill the Gatekeeper said he'd pay for our room tonight. May we have the key?" He nodded amiably and told one of the younger boys to lead us to our room.
The boy perked up and nodded, looking pleased that he didn't have to clean any more dishes. Leading us down one of the side hallways and through one of the many doors, he motioned us into a small, cozy room with a fireplace and a couple of beds. We thanked him and asked if he could have someone come up to light the fire for us. He nodded and left, leaving us to our own devices. I sat down on one of the beds and began to ring out my hair as Beth paced up and down the room.
"Aubry, what do we do? We're in one of the settings of a famous fiction book, our favorite no less. Is this real? I really need to know I'm not crazy!" She looked like she was going to become hysterical soon, so I tried to think of some way to calm her down.
"Beth, this is all real. The mysterious voice said that we were heading for a world we had been preparing for our whole life, right? Well, we sort of have been. We took fencing and self-defense lessons. We've even read all about this place! We are totally ready for this. We just have to find Aragorn and convince him to help us. I'm sure he'll know what to do." She nodded, her eyes still wide and terrified but more calm than before.
A knock came from the door, effectively ruining the mood and scaring us out of our wits.
"Maid service. I've come to light your fire." A woman's voice called, causing us to relax a bit. I got up from my bed and opened the door for her. She curtsied politely, and lit our fire, all the while cheerfully chatting with us.
"If that is all, misses?" We smiled and nodded, closing the door as she left the room.
"So, go and find Aragorn then?" Beth asked, standing in front of the fireplace so she could get her clothing from drenched to slightly damp. I nodded and headed for the door, already running through the movie in my head to see where he would be sitting at in the bar.
"What do we tell him?"
I stopped and turned back toward Beth, pacing over and flopping down on the bed. I hadn't even thought of that.
What do we tell him? We can't exactly go up to him in a crowded bar and say, "Hey Aragorn! Yes, I know who and what you are. We've come from a different world and know exactly what your future is. Will you help us blend in and find a place to stay?" I mean, that just won't work.
"I don't know, we need to get him alone to tell him something like this. But how do we get him to trust us?" We sat and pondered for a moment before I snapped my fingers and sat up from my spread eagle position on the bed.
"How about we do the same thing Aragorn does in the books? We just quote Gandalf's letter, the poem about Strider. Do you remember what it is?" Beth pondered a bit before a smirk slid onto her face. I grinned, knowing that smirk well. That was Beth's 'I know something you don't know' smirk.
"I got it! Here's what it is. Listen to make sure I'm not saying it wrong.
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall the blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.
Does that sound right to you?"
I nodded excitedly and began to figure out what would be the best way to tell a prince of Gondor that two teenage girls were saviors from another world.
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Whoa, this place looked a lot cleaner in the movies.
I mean really, this place was just seedy. The tables were sticky, the men looked like all of them were drunk out of their minds and as we were standing there, at least two different fights broke out.
"Oh my god, why would anyone stay here? This place is gross." Beth made a face, and stepped out of the way as a fight got a little too close for comfort. I groaned in frustration as some guy was thrown through a window. Couldn't men just be a little more civilized? Shaking my head, We began to search for our shady-looking prince.
"Hey, look over there. Is that him?" I asked quietly, nudging Beth and jutting my head over to one of the tables in the corner. In the corner I had pointed to, a really freaky looking guy in a cloak sat with his feet up on the table. Smoking a pipe and glaring around at everyone that came near him, he didn't look like a very welcoming presence.
That couldn't be a good sign. Anyone THAT angsty was gonna be hell to travel with.
"He sure doesn't look like a soon-to-be king. He's just a little TOO angsty, don't you think?" I nodded in agreement, heading over to the barkeeper to ask if this was the guy we were looking for.
"Excuse me, but who is that man over in the corner?" Tom looked up at us and then over to where we had pointed. He got this really freaked out look on his face, and then looked back at us.
"He's a ranger from out in the wilds. Around here, we call him Strider. I would recommend you ladies stay away from him." He glanced at Aragorn again before shivering slightly and getting back to work.
"Hmm, well I guess that's him. Let's go over and talk to him." I said cheerfully before standing up from the barstool I had sat down on, and beginning to gather the courage it took to walk past the invisible barrier he had set up around himself.
I guess Beth had other plans.
"Beth, what the duce…" I said, stumbling backwards as she tugged me back onto my stool. She glanced over at Aragorn warily before looking back at me.
"Ichi, I really don't think you should go over there. I'm getting some bad vibes from him. I'm pretty sure he would slice our throats first and ask questions later. Did you SEE how big his sword is?"
Rolling my eyes, I grabbed Beth's elbow before towing her over to Aragorn's shady corner. We were going to talk to our angsty soon-to-be leader, whether she liked it or not.
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A/N: I'm mostly just writing this 'cause it's fun, but if you would like to review, be my guest.