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Corrupted1
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Post RE: somewhere strange(please join)
on: February 07, 2005 11:41
Ryan and Lori sat on the floor at Chase’s feet. Suddenly, Lori sniffed the air. A salty, greasy scent wafted past her nose, and her mouth began to water. A sharp pain in her stomach pulled at her, telling her she was hungry, and Lori shifted around in her chair impatiently. Todo left, and came back a moment later. ‘Breakfast is ready!’ The other hobbit-children stood, and rushed at the kitchen, knocking Chase over, who fell into Lori, who hit the floor and knocked a chair over.
The hobbits turned around and burst into laughter again. Chase stood and helped Lori up, laughing a bit herself. ‘Funny things, aren’t they?’ she whispered.
Lori snorted and took a seat at the table. She watched hungrily as the food was set down, ignoring the torrent of questions. As soon as it was ready, she began heaping a large helping of scrambled eggs on her plate. Then she grabbed five pieces of bacon, and two biscuits, along with a bowl of gravy. No one stared at her, this time. Her friends were used to her eating habits, and the hobbits were too busy gawking at the small amount of food the others were eating. Todo whispered something into Olo’s ear while he was drinking deeply from his mug, and he choked, bursting into laughter and a fit of coughing. The whole room was an uproar of giggles. Lori blinked at them curiously, and turned back to her food.
After three servings, Lori sat back with a contented sigh while Chase graciously thanked Mrs. Bramble.
Stridergorn
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Post RE: somewhere strange(please join)
on: February 07, 2005 11:59
Chase leaned her head against her chair and felt her eyelids growing heavy. She closed them, and felt sleep starting to overtake her. But Todo’s voice cut through her sleep.
‘I can show you around a bit,’ he offered. ‘We’ve got a nice fort a bit farther away, if you want to see it. Or we could show you the village. It’s not far away.’
‘Thank you, Todo,’ said Ryan. ‘But we really have to get going.’
Chase’s eyes snapped open, and she groaned inwardly. ‘I don’t want to either, Chase,’ Lori whispered in her ear. ‘But that wraith might be nearby.'
‘Pity,’ Olo said. ‘I could’ve shown you all how to sharpen your knives. I suppose it’ll have to wait, then.’
A few minutes later, they were all standing at the small, round door. ‘Goodbye,’ Lori called, waving.
Chase, too tired to speak, just smiled slightly and lifted a hand. She heard the door clang shut behind her, and immediately wished she was back inside. ‘Ryan, we can’t possibly go on much today,’ Chase said. ‘We didn’t sleep at all last night, and now we don’t have horses.’
Lori sighed. ‘Chase, I don’t doubt he’ll be coming back to check the place we fell. I just hope Mr. Bramble won’t be working on the hole when he does.’
Chase pulled her hood up with a sigh, and squinted at the road ahead. Ryan led them off the path and to a denser place of the forest. ‘Olo said there’s a village nearby, so I’m hoping we can stop there.’
‘Can’t we at least rest for a while before we go?’ Gregory said.
Lori nodded. ‘I’m about to fall asleep on my feet.’
Soon it was decided they would stop right where they were. Chase curled up between the roots of a tree and was asleep as soon as her eyes closed.
Corrupted1
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Post RE: somewhere strange(please join)
on: February 10, 2005 10:13
Lori awoke first out of all of them. She stretched, wrapping her thick brown cloak around her shoulders closely. Then she blinked, and surveyed her friends, all lying still, sleeping deeply. Chase lay nearest her, draped over the roots of the huge tree, her cloak hanging limply about her. Her pale face was smashed into her pack propped against the tree. Lori grinned, and glanced over at all the others. Ryan and Gregory slept back to back, sharing Ryan’s cloak. All of them looked so weary, and travel-worn. Chase sighed, knowing they only went on this quest to be with her. She stared hard at Chase for a minute, who seemed like a puddle, melted flat into the ground, barely a lump under her cloak. Lori stretched out, looking at her own body, and realizing she probably looked just like Chase, except different in her own rights, though she guessed Chase was probably more smudged with dirt. She felt so hungry, and they were so far from anywhere besides the hobbit’s hole, and with too little money or recourses to buy much food.
Suddenly Gregory stirred. He opened his eyes, smacking his dry lips and he blinked blindly around. He glanced at Lori and his expression fell.
‘Oh, it’s you.’ He ran his fingers through his tousled sandy hair and shook his head to clear it. Then he stood up. ‘Well, I’m hungry,’ he announced to no one in particular, even though Lori was the only one who could hear him. Lori flopped back, yanking her cloak over her shoulders, and sighed. Rain fell through the trees, and a drop landed delicately on her nose. She looked at it cross-eyed as it slid off. Gregory snorted.
‘Don’t look at me like that,’ he said in a sharp tone, still holding the groggy morning sound in his voice.
Lori rolled her eyes. ‘I wasn’t. I was watching a drop of water on my nose.’
‘Oh. That’s so interesting,’ Gregory answered sarcastically, and shook out his blankets. He leaned over, kicking Ryan in the back. ‘Get up,’ he grunted, and turned away.
Ryan groaned, rolling over and smashing his face in the cold muddy ground. Then he sat up and rubbed his eyes, squinting through dark slits. ‘Ai, how long did we sleep?’ he asked in a thick sleep-layered voice.
Lori shrugged, and flopped back, banging her head painfully into the tree.
‘Oww,’ she sighed, rubbing her head weakly.
Chase awoke suddenly and stretched out her feet, yawning.
‘Are we gonna go pretty soon?’ she asked aloud.
‘Yeah,’ Ryan said through a yawn.
Stridergorn
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Post RE: somewhere strange(please join)
on: February 11, 2005 09:43
Once they were ready, they set off once again in the direction of the village. The sun had hidden itself behind a foggy wall, and the prospect of rain hung in the air. Chase bent her head, staring moodily at the ground as it passed slowly under their feet. Lori walked beside her for a while, and finally got the courage to speak. ‘Ai, my legs hurt too much to walk,’ she muttered.

Chase nodded gloomily, staring at the darkened fir woods ahead of them.

Lori opened her mouth to say something else, but her eyes strayed from Chase and stared intently at the land around them.

‘What is it?’ asked Chase.

‘Don’t look now,’ Lori said into Chase’s ear, ‘but we’re being followed, or something.’ Chase started and turned around, squinting. Lori grabbed her arm and turned her around. ‘I said don’t look now.’

‘Who could it be?’ asked Ryan.

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Chase sighed. ‘Angry dwarves, Orcs, Elves, or perhaps even that wraith himself.’

‘Don’t say that so loud,’ Lori hissed.

Chase grumbled something and stole another glance over her shoulder. But she could see nothing. Gregory turned and looked back at them, unaware of any pursuer. ‘We should reach the village soon. Within the hour, I think. Todo said it wasn’t far.’

Chase nodded, hoisting her pack higher on her shoulders. Ryan slowly took the lead into the darkened forest. They walked for several miles when Ryan stopped.

‘I think I see a house,’ he said slowly, shading his eyes to see.

Chase looked out and she saw a turnip field, and rows of little trees, and a cornfield.

‘Look at that,’ she marveled. ‘It’s a farm.’

‘I can see that,’ Ryan snorted. ‘But whom does it belong to, I wonder?’

‘We’ll soon find out,’ Gregory said, stepping forward.

Lori gasped suddenly and caught him by the arm. ‘Look!’ She pointed out over the turnip field, and there, hidden by the trees surrounding the fields, were three hobbits, dressed for travel and looking very timid as they walked through the trees. They were talking quietly amongst themselves as they stepped onto the edge of the turnip field, and although Chase could hardly hear them, they knew they were lost, or becoming lost no longer.

‘I know these fields and this gate!’ the smaller one with a scarf said. ‘This is Bamfurlong, old Farmer Maggot’s land. That’s his farm away there in the trees.’

All four of them clustered together to watch the hobbits converse amongst each other, all looking terribly hesitant, like rabbits.

‘One trouble after another!’ declared the dark-haired one, who looked a bit older and a bit more tired than the other two. He looked awfully upset, as if something was going to snatch him up and eat him for breakfast any minute. The third hobbit, a stouter one than the others with lighter hair and much more gear on his pack patted the sadder one assuringly on the shoulder.

‘What’s wrong with old Maggot?’ asked the first one. ‘He’s a good friend to all the Brandybucks. Of course he’s a terror to trespassers, and keeps ferocious dogs—‘

‘Ferocious dogs?’ Gregory hissed shrilly, pulling away.

‘But after all,’ the little one continued, ‘folk down here are near the border and have to be more on their guard.’

They didn’t listen to any more of the conversation but turned to each other and grimaced.

‘I knew something was going to happen,’ Lori muttered darkly. ‘Dogs. Of all things.’

‘And I must say, I think we are trespassing,’ Ryan admitted, running his fingers through his hair.

‘And ever if we were trespassing,’ Chase grumbled, ‘it had to be the one with ferocious dogs. Well, orcs are worse, I daresay.’

‘Yeah,’ Gregory said shakily. ‘They’re like ferocious dogs with swords and battle-armor.’

‘I wouldn’t have put it that way,’ Lori said grimly.

‘Oh no,’ Ryan gasped. They listened, and could hear they angry baying and barking. They heard the voice of their owner talking to them, and then they heard the smaller hobbit speaking again. But at the sound of the dogs, the four of them bolted. The barking of the dogs had stopped already, but they didn’t stop running. They ran faster and harder than ever, as if a wraith was on their trail again. They ran until they reached the road, and even then they didn’t stop, running on and on, and down the road and off into the surrounding woods. When they were about a mile from the farm, and deep in the forest, they stopped.

‘Well, even if those dogs weren’t chasing us,’ Ryan gasped breathlessly, ‘I think we won’t ever see them.’

‘No,’ Chase agreed, setting down in the thick ferns to catch her breath.

Corrupted1
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Post RE: somewhere strange(please join)
on: February 12, 2005 03:49
Lori gasped for air, sitting on a rock and leaning back. She looked up at the darkening sky.
‘Well, I suppose we should try to make it on to the village, somehow,’ she said after she could finally breathe normally.
‘Yeah,’ Gregory said. ‘I’m tired and need a beer.’
‘No fourteen year old boy needs beer,’ Chase snorted.
‘I’ll be fourteen in June,’ Gregory shot back.
‘I rest my case,’ Chase said simply.
Ryan stood up and frowned up at the sky.
‘It’s going to rain soon,’ he said somberly. As if in answer, a thick fog blew in on a breeze and shrouded their vision. He sighed. ‘And for now it’s foggy.’
‘I can see that,’ Lori said grimly. ‘Or perhaps I can’t.’
They all walked on in the direction of the village in the growing gloom, hating the fog as it surrounded them and barred their vision. And then the rain fell, and Lori moaned in anguish.
Stridergorn
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Post RE: somewhere strange(please join)
on: February 12, 2005 09:43
Chase and Lori fell in behind Ryan and Gregory, solemnly plodding along with their heads bent against the sudden furious wind that rose up. It stung them, driving rain from the sky into their faces, and soaking into their clothes. Chase pulled up her hood, trying everything to keep out the wind. It worked a bit, and she blinked in the shelter of her hood contentedly. All became quiet, the weariness of travel and lack of sleep making them sorely silent and miserable. The rain grew heavier as they trod along. Chase stumbled, pulling up the edges of her boots in hopes it didn’t get in. Lori walked along aimlessly beside her, her head bent almost horizontal to the wind, which seemed to throw her back. Chase soon realized they were falling behind, and wouldn’t be able to keep up with the determined pace of the others for long. Their short legs just couldn’t keep up with Ryan, and Chase was wearying quickly. But they struggled on, keeping up with Gregory, who had found some sort of system that kept him up to speed with Ryan. Being five inches taller, Ryan'sstride was that much longer, and to match the extra step they managed, Gregory stepped twice as quickly once, and normally twice. Chase grew tried of this routine, having to work even harder than Gregory to keep up.

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