The Road to Middle-Earth

A fanfiction by MushrooomsPTook

Disclaimer: I own nothing. You might as well say it owns me!

Chapter Eighteen: A Detour

"Hey, you, Sam! Get up," said Jesse, shaking his fellow companion roughly. The man jerked awake. "Keep that fire goin'! I don't want no trouble with them animals."

Sam yawned and rolled onto his side lazily. "Five more minutes, Jesse."

Jesse yanked him up and gave him a good slap across the face. "Now, ya lazy half-wit!" Sam scratched his stomach with one hand while rubbing his eyes with the other. He yawned cavernously once more, but stumbled up, and looked around. "There ain't nothin' ta keep it goin'," he shrugged.

Jesse looked at Alice, who was wide awake after all of Jesse's shouting. "Here. Use this." He grabbed Gandalf's staff out of Alice's grip and tossed it to Sam, who began to use it to keep the fire kindling.

"No!" shouted Alice. "Gandoff's staff!" She ran forward to the flames, but Jesse caught her arm quickly and pulled her back. I gritted my teeth in an effort to keep my temper, but Tom had abandoned his. He set his jaw and in one second, he was standing in front of Jesse, looking up at him in anger. He stomped on his foot and kicked him in the shin. Jesse grabbed his leg in pain and hopped on his other, screeching and wailing at Tom. That gave Alice just enough time to snatch the stick out of Sam's grasp, who didn't seem to know quite how to react.

"You little devil, I'll fix ya right!" Jesse went for Tom, but I stepped in between them.

"You'll have to go through me first in order to get to him!"e

Jesse lifted his hand as if to strike my face, but Andrew spoke up at the right time. "Quiet! They're gettin' closer!" The coyotes' cries were indeed getting louder, and more seemed to have gathered over the last five minutes. Andrew shakily pulled out his gun and anxiously stared into the darkness. A hush fell over everyone and we listened as the cries grew. Andrew's anxiety seemed to have infected Sam, for he too got to his feet and pulled out his gun. "Go away! Shut up!" Andrew cried.

"Knock it off, Andrew!" Jesse ordered firmly, but there was a quiver in his voice. "Get a grip on yerself."

Something spooky must have also gotten into the fire, for its light gradually revealed a large shadow on the ground. The shape of it looked like a dragon with a very short neck, and I thought perhaps it might be a resurrected Smaug, whose reincarnation had backfired. As it came nearer, the three men all huddled together, gripping each other for emotional support. Tom, Alice and I drew nearer to each other, also feeling wary of the new danger that was coming towards us. I put my arms around the children and held them close, as Andrew seemed to have lost all sanity, and fired cowardly at the shadow. At once the howling stopped, and the shadow began to slowly fade, as if the owner was ascending into the sky. All three men had their guns out at this point, and were standing back to back, circling in an attempt to catch whatever devilry had seemingly passed. It was Sam who let a nervous chuckle slip. Andrew tensed at the noise, looking back at Sam. "Quiet!" he whispered.

All of the sudden, a small object collided right into Andrew's face, giving him a fierce bite before disappearing back into the darkness. "What the 'ell was that!" Andrew screamed. His face was covered in feathers. The men resumed their panic mode, waving their guns left and right. But my heart gave a sudden leap of hope. As Sam turned his face, the winged object plummeted against his head, and the surprise caused him to fire his gun by accident. This prompted Jesse and Andrew to react fearfully and fire their guns into the air at random. Upon seeing the object fly towards Jesse, a fear arose in my chest, for Jesse had turned his head in time to catch a glimpse of the duck. He raised his gun directly at him.

"Got you, you devil!"

I acted without hesitation and leapt out at Jesse, catching his wrist and reached for the gun. With all my other senses working overtime, I could faintly hear Tom's and Alice's shouting over the gunshot. Sam and Andrew were fighting to pull me off Jesse, and I felt unusually weak, but also cold. The strength in my legs left me and I fell back, breathing heavily. I couldn't understand why Tom and Alice were looking at me so strange. Charming landed next to me, but he only looked at me for a split second before he flapped into the air and began ferociously attacking the men, despite their return blows. I placed a hand on my shoulder, where the cold seemed to be the worst, and my fingers felt something warm, sticky, and wet. I brought back my hand and looked at the substance. Blood.

Tom and Alice were now attacking the men and I tried to get up and tell them to stop, but I found I could do neither. I was too dizzy and exhausted. My head plopped to the earth and I panted heavily. I shivered, having felt a gigantic rush of wind sweep over me. The shouting became overwhelmed by the sound of what sounded like the roar of a freight train. I turned my head and the fire revealed what looked like a tornado. But I knew that was ridiculous. The last thing I heard before blacking out was a horse whinnying.

A shiver ran down my spine as I felt myself coming out of the darkness. I felt cold, very cold. I wanted to scream, too, for there was a pain in my shoulder that felt like it would explode. In fact, I did scream, but all that came out was a whimper. I felt a warm hand touch my forehead. It was neither Alice's nor Tom's, for theirs were not this large. It was a man's hand. I started awake with a gasp and tried to force myself to sit up, but the pain became unbearable.

"Easy does it," said a man's voice. My eyes were blurry and I couldn't establish my surroundings, only that I was in some kind of tent and that there was a faint light. "Ya got yerself in quite a mix o' trouble, miss."

"Where am I?" I said, allowing my head to snap back on something soft. "Ch-Charming... is he all right? Where is he?"

"I'm right here." There was a soft movement under my head, and I felt his kisses on my cheek. "Thanks to you, of course."

I reached behind my head and felt his feathers prickle against my finger tips. "Charming!" I lifted my head. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were—"

"It's all right," he replied hastily. "Lay back down. It's the least I can do for you saving my life."

My vision slowly came back to me and I found I was looking at the inside of what appeared to be a tent. When I lowered my gaze, I saw a grown man, outrageously dressed in a western outfit, wearing a red bandana around his neck, and a very large brown hat. He had blond hair and soft blue eyes and a boyish look about his face.

"Who are you?" I asked cautiously.

"Name's Bill, o' course," he said. "Pecos Bill. You must be Alayna?" I opened my mouth in question, but he continued. "Yer cousin told me." He gestured to the bundle that was asleep against Tom's shoulder, who himself was dozing.

"Pecos Bill? You're Pecos Bill?" I rushed to try and sit up again, but I winced at the pain.

"Easy! Easy! Ya can't expect to get up right smack after bein' shot, can ya?" I rubbed the sore spot before my wrist was snatched. "Leave it! Gotta give it time to heal proper an' all!"

"But...you're Pecos Bill? I thought...I mean, I thought you were a legend, like...like..."

"Don't tell me ye've been listenin' ta some rumors!" the man laughed.

"Well...no. Not intentionally." The man smiled. "How did you get here? What happened?"

"Ah, yes. I suppose I should explain. I was passing through, goin' on my way to meet an' old friend, when I saw this 'ere duck flyin' frantically in my direction, see. So I says to him, 'hey there, young fellow. What's the trouble?' Well, he told me ya'd been kidnapped by some ruffian folk, who're plannin' on robbin' a bank. So we devised a plan to come and rescue ye, see."

"Oh Charming," I sighed affectionately. "You may not be the prettiest duck in the world, but you certainly are the bravest. You saved us."

"Ah no," came the soft reply. "It was nothing. Really."

I smiled and gave my companion a small pat. "Wait," I said suddenly. "Where are they now? The robbers, I mean?"

"Oh, they ain't goin' nowhere. They're outside, tied up right good. I thought I'd give 'em the same treatment that they showed yerselves. Oh, speakin' of which." He reached in his pocket and pulled out a familiar chain and handed it to me.

"The Galdorcarr!" I took it gratefully, and then caught myself. "I mean...my key..." I chuckled nervously.

"Don't worry, miss," he said with a wave of his hand. "I know all about it, yer secret's safe with me, although yer lucky I'm on yer side. Had I been one o' them, I may not have returned it."

"Thanks," I said sheepishly.

"So, tryin' to open a few doors then?" He nodded at the key.

I became uncomfortable with this change of subject. "Is it true then? I mean about it being able to lead to other worlds?"

The man shrugged. "I don't rightly know, but I do know ya didn't acquire it out of coincidence. Where're ya headed, if ya don't mind my askin'?"
My gaze naturally fell to Alice. "Well, at first we were going to Middle-earth. It's just a place that I've read about. My cousin wanted to go, so we followed a red-bricked road for the longest time. But all we've found is trouble. I honestly don't think it exists, so I'm leading us back home. Um, Alice doesn't know it yet, so if you wouldn't mind saying anything..."

"So, let me get this straight..." Pecos put a finger to his chin and tapped it thoughtfully. "Ya start off down a road, 'cos yer curious about this Middle-earth place."

"No," I quickly interrupted. "My cousin, n-not me."

"No. You were curious. You had to know fer yerself. So when ya got stuck in a certain tight spot and found ya couldn't get to it right away, ya stopped b'lievin'. And let me guess, when ya decided to turn back, ya took a different road, and where did it lead you? Oh. More trouble. Yep. Makes perfect sense." I curled up my lip into a grim expression, and opened my mouth to say something. But then closed it again, not really having anything prepared to say in response to this. "Let me ask ya somethin', Miss Alayna. When did ye lose yer faith?"

I cast my eyes down. "I...don't know."

"Well, I hope ya find it again soon, for yer sake as well as the child's." I looked up at the man again, and his eyes were sincere. I was startled to think that he could care about where we decided to go. He sighed and stretched out his arms. "And now, that's all I'll say about that, 'cos I b'lieve it's time for some sleep. That wound should heal good tonight. I mixed some stuff together an' rubbed it into yer skin. In the mornin', we'll have a nice breakfast and I'll see ya off safe."

"What'll happen to the robbers?" I asked.

"Oh, I suspect they'll receive a warm welcome from the Sheriff when I arrive into town tomorra. I imagine ye'll want me to give yer regards to Bert?"

"Is that the friend you're seeing?" I perked up.

"Ah yes. And I know he must've filled ye in on that key o' yers. I met 'im when he was a small lad, very small in fact. I 'xpect 'e won't remember me at first; probably growin' up to take over 'is father's business an' listenin' ta all the rumors don't help much, I reckon. I'm gonna set 'im straight though, you see."

"Please be sure to tell him hello for me," I said warmly. I really missed him.

Pecos smiled. "Ya just get yerself settled down now and get some sleep."

I didn't have any trouble obeying. I sighed and let my head nestle against Charming's duck who was snoring lightly. I gave him one last pat and then closed my eyes.

"Alayna...Wake up, Alayna." I opened my eyes to see Alice looming over me, her eyes filled with excitement and a grin stretching across her face. "Are you up yet?"

"Yes, Alice," I groaned, sitting up. I flinched at the dull pain in my chest, but I was surprised to find that I could sit up properly. The sun was shining through the tent and I was burning up. Charming, who had made an excellent pillow, must have got up sometime earlier, and I noticed that Tom was also up and out of bed. That left just me, and what a lazy bum I felt. I pulled the blanket off me and quickly rolled out of the tent. As I met the morning air, I realized that we had slept in the covered wagon that Andrew and Sam had ridden in. The three men were all tied up together with their backs against the wheel, and they looked very miserable indeed. Tom was feeding them some scrambled eggs, and he had a mischievous grin that stretched from ear to ear. The smell of food made me salivate and I knelt down by the fireplace where Pecos Bill sat with a pan. Charming was sitting next to him happily nibbling on some crumbs of bread.

"Mornin'," said Pecos. "How ya feelin'?"

"Very well, thank you," I replied. "It smells wonderful!"

"Here," he said, shoving a plate into my hands. "Eat up. We'll be leavin' soon. I recovered yer bag for ya. You certainly have a knack for losin' things quite easily."

He handed me my knapsack and I grinned sheepishly. "Where are you taking us?"

"I'll make sure ye get back to your road. After that, it's up to yer feet ta take ya where ya wish."

I didn't question him anymore but ate in silence. Presently, there came a whinny and a beautiful black horse appeared from behind the wagon. It was larger than the horses that drew the wagon, and my mouth gaped.

"Is that your horse?" I asked, my mouth full of egg.

"Yes, ma'am!" said Pecos. "Come 'ere, Widowmaker. Come and meet a friend." The horse came as he was called. "Go on, pet him if you like. He needs to get used ta yer smell anyways." I reached my hand out to stroke its large nose and I could feel its breathing under my fingers.

"He's very soft," I muttered.

"I s'pose so. We been through many adventures together, me and Widowmaker. Many adventures." Pecos rubbed the horse's nose gently and it nuzzled into his shoulder in loving fashion.

After breakfast, Pecos ordered us to gather our supplies and to stand by Widowmaker while he made sure the robbers were still tied securely. "I'll be back for ya, so don't ye think about gettin' into any trouble now," he said to them. There was a sudden crack of thunder and I looked up with furrowed brows and discovered that it had clouded over very quickly. The low grey clouds themselves were rushing together and circling in the sky at a rapid speed and the wind picked up quite suddenly. I gripped onto Widowmaker's reigns for support and Alice hung onto my hand, while Charming was tucked securely under her other arm. Tom clapped excitedly when another bigger crack of thunder sounded.

Pecos came over to us, holding down his hat before it could fly away into the sudden storm. "Stay together and brace yerselves!" he shouted. We all joined hands and looked at each other nervously, except for Tom, who was grinning with anticipation. I gave a squeak of alarm when I saw a funnel form out of the clouds. It descended so quickly that I would have been sucked into it, had Pecos not gripped my arm and pulled me back. He pulled out a rope and began to spin it into a lasso above his head, first at a slow rate, then increasing his speed, while continuously maintaining a focused eye on the twister. He threw the lasso into the air and just as a fisherman would reel in a fish that he'd just caught, Pecos did the same with the tornado. Now I was never good at science, nor could I explain how physics worked the way that it did, but something told me this just couldn't be happening. But there he was, maneuvering the tornado in whichever direction he chose.

"Hold onto yer hats," he shouted. Before I could say or do anything, everyone, including Widowmaker, was sucked into the vortex. At once, I thought I would be sick from all the spinning and the tumbling that we endured, but the nausea passed momentarily once we fell to the ground again. I immediately checked my friends over for any broken bones or any signs of sickness, but everyone came out of the funnel unscathed, save for the dizziness that washed over us. "Farewell, friends!" I looked up and saw, through the tornado, a very faint outline of Widowmaker rearing up with Pecos on his back, holding his hat high in the sky. We waved and I shouted out a thank you, before the funnel returned to the sky, taking the cowboy and his horse with it. Then the clouds parted, allowing the sun to come out again. Birds were singing and there was a sort of peace that rushed over me.

I smiled at my companions, but Alice didn't return to the gesture, for she was distracted by something that was paved into the ground. I looked where her gaze descended and my mouth fell open. It was the red-bricked road.

"Oh," said Tom. "Shouldn't we be goin' the other direction if we're headed back...home..." His words faded when I gave him an accusing stare, and he realized his mistake. I forced myself to look at my cousin, who looked first quite bewildered, then sad, and then angry.

"You were taking us home?" she asked furiously. The last time I had seen this look on her face, she was staring at her parents, demanding an explanation about Santa Claus' existence.

"Alice," I began, putting my hands up in defense. "Look, I can explain."

"You lied to me!" she shouted. "You said we lost it."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry—I just—look. Alice, honey...It's a story. That's all it is. That's all it ever was. This entire trip was a mistake, nothing good has happened to us."

I didn't realize my error until it was too late. For now, both Tom and Charming were casting me hurtful looks. "Oh, so I'm a mistake now, am I?" Tom demanded angrily.

"Wait, Tom—I didn't mean—"

"And I'm nothing good!" shouted Charming. "I should have just stayed at my duck pond in the forest. I knew you always despised me and hated bringing me along anyway. And I thought you were my friend." There was an angry tear lingering in the corner of his eye. "Come on, Tom. It's obvious we're not welcome any longer."

The two started to walk away with their heads hanging and Alice burst into tears and ran after them. "Alice, stop! Tom, Charming!" I began to run after them, but I tripped on a tree root and fell flat on my face. When I looked up they were beyond my sight. I got to my feet quickly, and hurried into the direction in which I'd last seen them, but I couldn't find them. "Fine!" I shouted at nothing. "Go on! But if you get into any trouble, don't blame me!"

I kicked a rock out of my path as I trudged off into the trees, mumbling and swearing under my breath. "Who needs this crap anyway..." I continued on until I tripped over a stray cat (I wonder where that came from), and fell, only finding myself falling down a steep hill, rolling over rocks, branches, twigs, and who knows what else. I eventually plummeted into shallow waters, and I was sure I looked a mess when I got my bearings back. There were dead leaves and dirt in my hair. I stood up dizzily, and saw that I was standing on a sort of beach, and that the waters were the beginnings of a sea that went on for miles and miles.

As I looked down into the water, I saw my reflection, and I didn't look pretty. There was a cut on my forehead and my face was all muddy. But I blinked again, thinking I saw something that was quite out of place. I was staring hard at the golden water, when suddenly the face of a lion roared into view, scaring me into a desperation to maintain my uneasy balance. I stepped back, tripping again over something, but I did not land back on the earthly ground, I landed in the water. Suddenly, everything went black.

Next Chapter – The beginning of the end! Alayna has a good look in the mirror and has a reality check.

A/N – Sorry it took me longer to get this posted. My internet connection was down for a couple of days and I've had a lot going on. And even though I've had some time to work on this chapter, there's something weird about it. I hope you guys like it though. The next chapter will come a lot sooner. Oh, and remember when I said back in chapter 10 that we were halfway through? ::nervous laugh:: Yeah... but take heart! The next chapter is the beginning of the last stretch! You guys have been so patient. It won't be long now.

B The Shadow Ninja Samurai – Yes, they do. But not...yet. ;) Not much longer.

xXChaoticOrderXx – No, sequel as of yet. And I can't tell you what happens in the last chapter, I would be spoiling it! There is one more world to pass through, and it starts in the next chapter. Everyone will know this story well.

WaterDragon – I'm glad you like it...and I don't want to spoil the end, so I won't say. But keep reading and I will guarantee that you won't be disappointed.

MeandLegolasFore – You're right. It does say Middle-earth, but the road their on represents courage and determination, and there is a lot that Alayna has had (and still has to) learn about herself. It'll all work out in the end. You'll see. ;)

JojoPeaches – I'll be quicker about the next chapter. I'll start writing it tonight. ;)

seafarer –

Ch. 15 ...Maybe...? ;)

Ch. 16 I LOVE the Cat and the Moon song. It is one of my favorites. I wish I had been able to see The Lord of the Rings musical. You should check out the Tolkien Ensemble. They did a beautiful rendition of this song and that's the one that I had in my mind when writing that chapter. Their music sounds so Middle-earthish, you can easily imagine yourself sitting next to the fire, reading Bilbo's stories. Type Tolkien Ensemble There is an Inn into YouTube. (P.S. Too bad Strider had to spoil Frodo's fun, huh?)

Ch. 17 They are made up, only to provide Pecos Bill an entrance into the story. The key will become a major part of the story near the end. ;)