Thanks for the review, Foxface! I'm glad you think this story is cool! If you have ever played Skylanders, check out my new story, New Lands for Skylanders (lotr crossover) Here's the description:
When crazy creatures come from another world, and a green warrior elf appears in Middle Earth, how will the stunned Middle-Earthians react? Will they attack these newcomers, or will they ask for their help in defeating Sauron? Or will Stealth Elf murder everyone?
Also check out my older story, Strange Things from Beyond. Here's the description for that as well:
When a magical portal that spits out strange objects appears in Rivendell, Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn are summoned by Elrond to investigate. How will the middle-earthians react when they discover firearms, technology, and...bubble wrap?
Hope you enjoy this chapter everyone!
Sapphire:
I should have known. After an elf took me to get a weapon for the journey, (I chose a sword) I was cornered on the way back to my room by Legolas. Since he couldn't exactly pin me to the wall, because I was much, much stronger than him, he instead chose to draw his bow on me.
"Whoa, whoa , whoa!" I said, throwing my new sword to the floor with a clang, and holding my hands up to show I was unarmed. I did not want to get killed by my favorite character of all time! Talk about getting your dreams crushed!
He advanced on me, forcing me to back into a corner. There was no escape now...
"Who are you really? And don't lie to me... I wouldn't normally do this to a lady, but you are no normal woman,"
"Please, Legolas, I can't tell you everything, at least not yet... It could change the fate of Middle Earth. You are correct, I am not from the South. I am not from Middle Earth at all. But I know you can detect lies, so I tell you truthfully: I only wish to help the fellowship in the goal they set out to accomplish," I honestly said.
Legolas sighed, and put the arrow back in his quiver. He started to walk away, then paused. The elf turned, looked me in the eye, and said quietly, "Trust me on this. You cannot hide who you truly are from the fellowship for long. Especially from Gandalf. I will allow you to continue your ruse, against my better judgment. I am placing a great amount of trust in you. Do not make me regret it...Ranger,"
I nodded slowly, and with that, the elf turned and strode down the hall, disappearing around the corner.
I let out my breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding. I kept having to remind myself that this was for real. This was no ridiculous fan-fiction tale crafted up with a happy ending planned ahead of time. I was really in Middle Earth, and I was facing a very real enemy. I had to be careful how I acted around the fellowship. I knew I should remain quiet, and only help fight a bit, but even me fighting could adversely affect the outcome of the plot. Plot. I scoffed. This was no mere story anymore. Middle Earth might be my new home. Who knew if we'd ever get home again. I had to fight for my new home, whatever it took. I couldn't even save lives, or the quest might fail. Gandalf would have to go through all that fighting with the Balrog, when I could pull him up. I mean, he hung on for a good... I don't know, two and a half seconds? Enough to grunt out, "Fly you fools!"
But he needed his staff, and also, the Balrog might actually follow them and kill them all later. I didn't have any earthly idea how Gandalf would be able to fix Theoden without the power upgrade. Upgrade... I snorted. There went my video-gaming brain again, changing even the way I thought.
Suddenly, I remembered my words to my friends earlier that day. I had to bring them food, or they would starve to death out there!
Thing was, I was very stealthy, for such a muscular person. Perhaps it came from the many times I had snuck out of my house at night, because my house had extremely annoyingly creaky floorboards. I had found out that if I put the weight of my feet into my toes, I had a smaller step. Many people don't really think about this, but most floorboard creaks, are not the floorboards bending (because that would be a safety hazard), but actually floorboards moving against each other because your foot is on two of them at once. If you only step on individual boards, you are less likely to make lots of noise.
Besides that, I was a pickpocket. So I was quick with my feet and hands... Oh hold on, let me explain. I wasn't actually picking pockets, I was...hmm...filling pockets! It was an ongoing prank my friends and I had been doing for years. The rumors had spread across Maine, that there was an invisible pixie flying around Buxburrow, causing trouble everywhere she went. It actually attracted some tourists, which was the whole point of the endeavor. Buxburrow was such a lonely little town otherwise.
The 'goblin' was us, the top secret MM gang, or the Mischief Management team. In case you didn't get that, it came from 'mischief managed', the word used to clear the map of Hogwarts in Harry Potter. Sorry, babbling again. Anyways, we did crazy stuff, some of that including stuffing random small things and notes in tourist's pockets.
We had trained on each other, sneaking up at random times. We had gotten so good at our tricks that not even when we were expecting it, were we able to catch each other. Only then did we start our pranks, spreading the pixie rumor among younger children, who spread it to the adults, and pretty soon, everyone believed that Buxburrow had a rogue pixie pulling tricks on the citizens.
I was so lost in my thoughts, that I ran straight into a marble column.
"Ow..." I muttered, rubbing my forehead. Finally, I made it to the kitchens, or at least what almost could be called a kitchen, stealing some freshly picked grapes, ready for breakfast the next morning, and some hot rolls just out of the oven. I felt kind of bad about doing it, but I also swiped the small meat cleaver that belonged to the dwarf Gloin as a weapon for Julia...Jewel. I couldn't slip up and call her the wrong name. That could end disastrously. My friend was not Julia. She was Jewel. Jewel. Jewel. Jewel!
Finally, I convinced myself that my friends were not Julia, Tyler, and Peter, but Jewel, Torzhug, and Peet.
By that time, I had slipped outside the borders of Rivendell without being spotted by guards, thankfully.
The rolls were already cold, and the grapes were getting slightly smashed in the little cloth bag I had found in the kitchen. I had found out what it was the hard way, when I picked it up, and inhaled a cloud of white flour dust. Now that I was covered in white flour, I blended in pretty well with the white columns and marble floors. If anyone had caught a glimpse of me, they probably thought they had just seen a ghost.
I giggled to myself, and walking out further into the unkempt forest, careful not to lose my way, I called out hesitantly, "Jewel!"
No answer. I tried again, but louder, "Jewel?! Are you here?"
All I heard was crickets. I had been stupid. I should have come up with a meeting place. They could be asleep for all I knew.
Or dead...
I ended up walking in a huge circle around Rivendell, calling out, "Jewel!" over and over again.
Finally, I arrived back at the spot where I had started, very exhausted, and very, very worried.
"Jewel?!" I wailed, throwing a rotting log at a boulder in my anger.
And then the boulder let out a yelp, and jumped.
Because the boulder that I had been standing was not a boulder, but Peet the massive Warg.
"Peet!" I cried exasperatedly, "I walked all the way around Rivendell, and you were here all along?!"
"Uh, yeah... I was sleeping? How did you not notice me? I'm, like, MASSIVE,"
"I don't know! Maybe all wargs are that way when they curl up, but I could have sworn you were a big gray boulder!"
"How'd you find me then?"
"I threw a stick at you," I said, laughing.
"Um... Why?"
"Nevermind," I rolled my eyes, and then froze, "Where are Torzhug and Jewel?"
"Umm... we're really going to even call each other our fake names in private?"
"Shh! You never know when the trees are listening! It says so in... LOTR.
"Alright, alright, no need to be so paranoid. Sheesh..." mumbled Peter...Peet.
"Where are they?" I nearly growled, because it was obvious now that Peet was avoiding answering.
"Well...umm...Torzhug is just further into the forest...Um... It's kind of disgusting, so we made him leave..."
"What's disgusting?" I asked, glaring suspiciously at Peet, who was stammering.
That's when I realized that he wasn't embarrassed, or frightened, he was struggling to hold in laughter!
"WHAT HAPPENED?!" I bellowed. He couldn't help himself any more, and burst into giggles, taking big gulps of air, and managing to blurt out: "Tyler caught and ate a rabbit! Raw!"
I stared at him in shock. The civilized, intelligent Tyler would have barfed at the notion of eating any meat raw. And there was no way the old Tyler could have caught a rabbit with his bare hands.
Then I shook my head, and said slowly, "Tyler may still be Tyler on the inside, but on the outside, he's Torzhug, and Torzhug is an orc, therefore, he eats things raw..."
"Whatever you say, it's still disgusting!" cried Peter, suddenly letting loose a rumbling burp. And trust me, this Warg had a nasty burp. It smelled like decaying, dying things, rotten eggs, blood, with a hint of pine needles. Nasty!
"Dude! Can you please burp the other way?!" I complained, pinching my nose. "What have you been eating? Decaying orc?
"No! I just had a snack!"
"A snack? I was joking when I asked you what you had ate, because I didn't think you had eaten anything? Peet, did you eat a rabbit too?"
"No! I just...might have had a bit of...chicken..."
"Chicken?" I raised my eyebrows at the fibbing Warg.
"ALRIGHT! I ATE SOME BIRDS! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!" he grumbled loudly at me. Even with the harsh vocal cords of a warg, the younger boy's voice still had that adorable squeak to it. Even though he was huge, and ugly, and his breath smelled, he was still hard to stay mad at.
I sighed, and said, "Just, please, go gargle in a waterfall or something. Chew on some trees, I've heard people in the old days cleaned their teeth by chewing on a certain type of stick. With your massive teeth however, it's going to take a whole branch to get your mouth clean. Peet just snorted, and started chewing on a large branch, his teeth mutilating the branch in less than a second.
"Holy..." I muttered, as Peet yelled about getting a splinter his mouth. He pawed a hunk of wood out of his mouth, the size of a water bottle.
"Seriously, this is a splinter to you? Holy cow your teeth are sharp! You mutilated that tree branch Peet! Just imagine, you almost feel bad for the Orcs, they don't stand a chance against you. That's probably why they teamed up with Wargs to begin with," I said, laughing, "Hey, you told me where Torzhug was, but where did Jewel go?"
"Oh, she went in the opposite direction when I bit a bird in half,"
I sniggered quietly to myself, and left the food sitting on a gnarled tree stump.
"Just, watch this and make sure the forest animals don't get it, alright?" I said.
"Alright, but I can't make any promises about the forest animal's well-being,"
"Gross Peet, Gross... Just... bye... I don't want to stay to watch that..." I said, turning and making my way back to Rivendell.
Apparently, someone else was up late as well. A small light lit one of the many courtyards. I snuck closer, and saw that it was just Arwen and Aragorn, talking in the flickering light of a single torch. They were acting all mushy, and I fake gagged, just managing to stifle a giggle. I crept back to my room, deciding it would be a good idea to sleep. I was exhausted again, and my legs were starting to get wobbly. I collapsed into bed, thankful that I would be getting one last night in a real bed before we set off.