The Road to Middle-Earth
A fanfiction by MushrooomsPTook
Disclaimer: I own nothing. You might as well say it owns me!
A/N – At this point, we're about half-way to the end. I hope I'm not killing anyone from Middle-Earth starvation. Hang in there. I promise it'll be worth it!
Chapter Ten: Troll Nation and Accommodation
Tom fell from exhaustion. "Water," he croaked, reaching out to the shiny, flat object just on the other side. As he began to weakly crawl towards the bridge on his hands and knees, I caught a frightful vision on the bottoms of his feet. They had been so badly blistered from the journey across the desert that the new skin underneath had also developed blisters.
I took Alice's hand and we walked after Tom. A miserable-looking duck—far beyond his normal appearance—followed us, feathers hidden underneath the beads of sand. Tom was just crossing over when I heard a very low and loud grumble. Quite humorously, everyone, including Charming, looked down at their stomachs; there was no one in sight to make such a noise.
"Once we get across this bridge, we'll have something to eat," I assured everyone.
"Good idea," came a low voice. "I'll start with this one."
To my horror, a huge, green hand came out from underneath the bridge and scooped up Tom, who was already half-way across. He struggled to free himself, but the hand was very large, and Tom was very weak. Still, he was putting up quite a fight, even for the thing that grasped him.
"Lemme go!" demanded Tom, his voice cracked. "You let go, 'r I'll lick ya good!" Tom punched his clenched fists at the air for emphasis. But the voice laughed menacingly.
"Do what he says!" I shouted and I pushed Alice behind me protectively. The water seemed so distant now.
"Oh! More than one of you? How delightful; my mouth is watering."
Another hand reached out from the other side of the bridge and went to grab me, but I ducked in time and managed to punch the offending hand. Tom, managing to pull out the witch's dagger, was thrusting it into the hand. The thing threw Tom and he came barreling into Alice and me, knocking us back towards the desert floor. Then something terrifying happened. The bridge exploded, breaking the road in half, and out of it rose a creature that was almost uglier than Charming. Almost.
"Well, well," it said, "three little goats come looking for a fight, is it? Well, you'll have to try harder than that if you want to get to the other side." The hideous creature extended its fingers and caught my foot before I could scramble away. "I always start with the biggest and work my way down!"
The creature lifted me above his head and I caught a glimpse of a winged object before I descended toward the wicked mouth. I was fighting with everything my weak body could manage before the creature said, "oh!" I felt the fingers released me and I plummeted into the rocky stream below. I was quite surprised when I saw Charming flying awkwardly above the beast's head, pecking at it with his bill. It didn't hurt the beast, but I could tell it was greatly annoyed. The figure swatted at him left and right but thankfully missing each time. With a painful running start, Tom jumped onto the towering foe and began to stab it repeatedly. Regaining from the fall, I decided to make myself useful and kick the wretched thing as hard as I could. There was a grunt and I punched at the legs. It was the least I could do.
Looking up, I saw that Charming had dropped a large rock onto the thing's head. It gave a confused look before tumbling over into the stream, his back thumping against the other side of the broken bridge. I seized this opportunity and snatched the knife out of Tom's hand, receiving a protest from the boy at the same time. I climbed on top of our attacker's chest and held the knife against its throat.
"Surrender!" I shouted. "You must let us go!"
The giant suddenly seized my neck in its fingers and squeezed.
"Or what!"
There was a small splash from behind me, but I couldn't focus my attention to what had fallen. My vision was blurring and I was losing oxygen fast. "P-Please." I grasped the hand with mine and tried to pry the fingers off me, but I was too weak for such a big enemy.
"Leave my cousin alone!" Alice. She was drenched from head to toe and she clutched Gandalf's staff tightly in her right hand. The creature looked at her amused and started to laugh.
"Well, what do you want, shrimp?" it asked.
But little Alice frowned more and, to my horror, charged at it. She mounted its chest and with a great effort, thrust the staff into its eye. There was a great commotion as the creature wailed loudly, releasing me so that it could care for its wounded eye, and I tumbled into the stream, holding my throat, choking as I inhaled the fresh air that I so desperately needed. The beast, on the other hand, seemed to have had more excitement than it cared for, or at least had enough of the three goats, for it stumbled up to its feet awkwardly, and with one look at Alice's grim face, took off into a cowardly run.
We waited for a bit, mouths gaping in a mix of confusion and surprise, and when the gruesome creature was no longer visible, I looked at Alice, still massaging my throat. I caught her up into my arms and gave her such a fierce hug that she squeaked.
"Oh, Alice! You've saved us all." I released her and set her down on her feet. "And Charming!" I timidly patted the duck's head. "You were terrific."
"Oh," said the duck and a pink blush settled under its feathery cheeks, "it was nothing. If it hadn't been for Tom, here, well..."
"You were all wonderful!" I said, looking at Tom and giving him a tight squeeze. "And I must say I've really worked myself up an appetite. Ready for some water?"
"Yes!" said everyone eagerly. We had to climb up the hill on the other side of the bridge, but it didn't take long, for it was not very steep, and it wasn't a large hill at any rate. Once there, we saw that the red-bricked road continued on through a row of trees that opened up to dry lands and dirt-covered grounds, but it was no desert, and we could sit down in this grassy area and have a well-rewarded meal.
After a long but refreshing drink at the little pool of water, we all sat down and I opened my backpack to get us out some lunch. But the desert had made short work of our food. Buried somewhere under a heap of sand was something to eat. I frowned, pulling out what was left of the food. It was very unfortunate to have gone so far and now have to deal with this. Thankfully, we were able to eat a little bit—not enough, for our journey had given way to exhaustion—but we now had some energy, accompanied by the occasional bite of sand. Alice, having finished her portion, pried into my backpack, looking for more to eat.
"Alice!" I cried. She had found the apple that I had taken from the witch's gingerbread house and was just about to take a bite out of it. "Get your greedy paws off that apple! It was intended for me." Alice frowned and started to put it away reluctantly. "Oh, well, go on! You can have it—or—just leave me some, a couple bites at least. I suppose you want some too?" I gave Tom a frustrated stare, but he shrugged his shoulders with disinterest.
"Nah, thanks though."
I could tell it wasn't hunger bothering him but the pain on the bottoms of his feet. "Let me see, Tom," I ordered and took his feet in my hands, inspecting them with concern. "This is bad, Tom. This needs to be looked at."
"Ya mean like a doct'r?"
"Yeah. Like a doctor. But I don't know where we'll find one here."
"I—I can take a look," piped up Charming. "I can fly on ahead and see what lies ahead."
"Um, I don't know, Charming. I don't think we should get separated. We don't know if there's something uglier than what we just met."
Charming waved his wing at me. "If I detect even the slightest danger, I'll come right back. Promise."
"Well, all right. But hurry back if you can. It's comfortable enough here, but..." I looked in the direction in which I had last seen that hideous creature. "That thing could come back, you know."
Charming smiled reassuringly (if that was a smile), and took to the skies. In the meantime, I snatched the apple out of Alice's hand, and stuffed it back in the bag, but not before wrapping it with stray leaves. There was plenty left, for thankfully, she had only taken a couple bites. Now that the food had settled in our stomachs, Alice's head was drooped onto Tom's shoulder. His eyes had become heavy as well, and with a yawn, he fell to the ground, Alice right on top of him. I knew I couldn't afford to sleep, as much as I wanted, so I pulled my knees to my chest and waited for Charming to return. I closed my eyes and propped my head on my knee. Perhaps if I didn't sleep but rested. After all, it felt good on the eyes.
It seemed like just a few moments had passed when I stirred and opened my eyes. I was no longer facing the trees, but was looking at a black sky. I had fallen asleep, and even when I told myself not to! But I had only a moment to scold myself, for suddenly, I spotted Charming. Before he was even on the ground, I could hear him huffing and puffing, just as if he hadn't flown in years. He landed on the grassy ground ungracefully, and took a drink of water.
"It's about time," I said, still angry at myself for not being more alert. "Well?"
"It's—it's all right. There's—a town—at least I think it's a town—just beyond those—trees and—around the corner," he said between gulps of breath.
"If it's just around the corner, then what took you so long!"
"I'm sorry—I had to—I mean I got—"
"Oh forget it!" I stood up, straightening my clothes and removing blades of grass from my hair. "Can you at least show us where it is?"
"Well, yes, of course!" The duck seemed upset at this point, so I said no more to him and woke Alice and Tom.
"How—far is it?" asked Tom, yawning sleepily.
"Just around the corner. Come on, up you get." I went to pick up Tom, but he pushed me away.
"N-no. I can walk."
"Tom," I sighed sadly. "I don't want to risk it. It'll take forever for your feet to heal as it is."
At last, he allowed me to throw him over my shoulder and Alice walked beside me as I followed Charming through the trees. I stumbled blindly every now and then and it wasn't long before we found the corner that Charming had mentioned. Beyond that, indeed, was a town, a large one. It was hard to see under the night sky, but there looked to be buildings that appeared to be more historical than anything else. I could see saddled horses tied to fences outside nearly every building. As we got closer, it seemed like no one was about, but I could hear the distant noise of music, drinks being poured, and loud voices There were people in one of these buildings. I set Tom down and after receiving a painful groan from him, I walked up to two swinging doors. I didn't have to be blind to tell there was some heavy smoking going on in this building, and the chorus of drunken laughter made me hesitate long enough to grab Alice's hand firmly.
I turned to my companions. "Everyone stick together." Then I pushed open the doors and saw that every table in this place was filled, people pushing each other over, and others squeezing through for a second, or third round of drinks. In the corner was a man wearing a hat, playing an old piano that was badly in need of tuning. I walked up to the bar, where a plump man was shining a glass with a cloth.
"Excuse me," I said, but the man was either too busy to notice me, or was just ignoring my voice. Someone bumped into Alice, spilling a bit of his drink on her. I shouted at the man, but it never got to his ears. He was gone by the time I pulled Alice closer to my side. I made my second attempt to reach the man with the glass, this time raising my voice to where I was nearly screaming. "Excuse me!"
The man stopping cleaning the glass and finally locked his eyes with mine. "Oh!" He said. He eyed me up and down and I felt very uncomfortable. "Well, what can I do for ya, ma'am?"
"We're looking for a place to stay for the night, and we need a doctor. Can you accommodate us?"
The man was still eying us. "Well, I reckon I can. You must not be from 'round here."
"No," I said.
"I thought not. Ain't no place better to stay than at Grand Palace Hotel and Saloon. How many guests?"
"Um, three, and my duck."
"Duck! Now, listen here, miss, hotels are made for people, not no animals! 'Specially..." The man looked down at Charming, "not animals like that!"
"Please!" I pleaded.
"Rules are rules, miss. Now if ya want a room, I got a room, but no ducks!" The man glared at Charming, who crouched very low behind my legs.
"Very well," I sighed, and turned to pat Charming on the head. "I'm sorry, Charming. You'll have to stay outside tonight."
"But he can't!" Alice protested. I threw her a stern look that hushed her up quickly, but that didn't stop her from mournfully staring at the duck with pity in her eyes.
"Now that's better," said the man gruffly. "That'll be twelve dollars."
"Twelve dollars?"
"Yes, ma'am. Four dollars for each person."
"Oh dear. I don't think I have any money."
"Well, what'd ya expect? Free rooms! I got plenty of customers, miss, and if ya don't have it, then you don't have it, and I'll have to ask ye to buy a drink or leave."
I dug into my pockets furiously, looking left and right. I opened my backpack and started removing the sandy contents, much to the man's annoyance.
"Tom," I looked at the boy, and I knew he wouldn't have any money on him, but I was in a panic and tears were starting to swell up in my eyes. I looked at the others in desperation, but it was silly to think of a duck carrying any cash.
"Come along now, miss. I ain't got all day. Either you got it, or ya don't," the man sighed, getting very frustrated.
Finally, I pulled my jacket out from inside the backpack and started emptying the contents inside the pockets. Chapstick, the lid from a bottle water, lint, a key. But no money.
"Oh. Oh my. I'm dreadfully sorry, ma'am." The man chuckled nervously. "I beg your pardon, but it's on the house."
"What?" I looked up from my search for money and I wondered if the man standing in front of me was the same man as before.
"I-It's on the house."
"But, I thought you said—"
"Please, don't argue! It's quite all right. A-And your duck can stay too—well, as long as it don't shed much."
"No, he doesn't." I lied. That's one thing that kept me from touching the creature. One thing. I had a mental list and it seemed to grow longer the more he was around us.
"Then let me show ya to your room."
I started stuffing everything back into my bag hypnotically. I was too flustered and too confused to understand what had just happened. I suddenly grabbed hold of something that felt cold, hard, and oddly shaped. I returned my attention to what I was doing and opened my hand to reveal a key. It was, in fact, the key that I had found beneath the floorboards of the witch's kitchen when we were trying to escape. Odd, I forgot I had that. I shrugged, rubbed the tears out of my eyes and followed after the man. Finally, we would get some much needed rest.
A/N – The Hotel mentioned is a real hotel in Arizona. I know being in the old west probably doesn't make sense, but you'll understand why after a couple of chapters.
Next Chapter – Just as things were looking up for the better, things take a nasty turn. Will be updated very soon.
Calemireth – I like Charming too, and yes, I thought putting Frodo and Gandalf into the story would be a nice surprise. I figured since it's going to be a while till we get to Middle-Earth (if we get there (; ), I might as well bring Middle-Earth to you! Thanks for reviewing.
SkittleMachine – Thank you. The next chapter will be up soon.
Mwang – Sorry. Not for a bit, I'm afraid. But keep reading. You won't want to miss it.