An Unexpected Quest - LotR PJO; Lord of the Rings / Percy Jackson Crossover

V: Mr. McCreepyface (Aragorn pov)

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Disclaimer: 𝐼 𝒶𝓂 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝑅𝒾𝒸𝓀 𝑅𝒾𝑜𝓇𝒹𝒶𝓃, 𝒟𝒾𝓈𝓃𝑒𝓎 𝐻𝓎𝓅𝑒𝓇𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝑜𝓇 𝑀𝒾𝒹𝒹𝓁𝑒-𝐸𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒽 𝐸𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓅𝓇𝒾𝓈𝑒𝓈, 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝒫𝒥𝒪, 𝐻𝒪𝒪, 𝑜𝓇 𝐿𝑜𝓉𝑅. 𝐼 𝒹𝑜, 𝒽𝑜𝓌𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇, 𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓎𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑒, 𝓂𝓎 𝓅𝑜𝓇𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓎𝒶𝓁 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓈, 𝓂𝓎 𝓌𝓇𝒾𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓆𝓊𝑜𝓉𝑒𝓈, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓅𝑜𝓃𝓈𝒾𝒷𝒾𝓁𝒾𝓉𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓈𝓊𝒸𝒽.

~H~H~H~H~H~H~H~

"Why were you following me?" the tip of Aragorn's knife tickled the lad's throat; he knew from experience. (Yes, Aragorn son of Arathorn, has been held at knifepoint. Many times, in my opinion.:])

The boy clamped his mouth shut.

He moved the blade; a reminder. "Who sent you?"

A thoughtful frown flitted across his face.

"You won't kill me." the lad said quietly.

"What?" he leaned closer.

"You're not a monster. I see it in your eyes."

Perceptive. Was it possible he'd come of his own free will? "Why did you follow me?"

The boy's, no; man's, face turned guarded, distraction void. "You were tailing someone."

Nodding, he quirked a humorless smile, "Some few someones I should think."

"Why?"

He almost fell for it. The child's innocent demeanor had disarmed him. He knew hand-to-hand, though. Smiling, he said, "I'm the one asking the questions."

The lad smiled ruefully, "Nice save."

Then his face dropped. Eyes wary, he nodded over Aragorn's shoulder. An old trick, though he looked more sincere than most.

"You'd do better than trifle with me."

Eyes flicking to him and back he said, "Whatever that thing is, I'd say you don't want to trifl with it, either." Aragorn sidled around the boy to face the object of inquiry, never taking his eyes, or knife, from him for an instant. "Unless he's with you." he tilted his head. "On second thought, you still wouldn't want to mess with Mr. McCreepyface."

A ringwraith stood staring at them.

The boy tilted his head to look back and up at him, a question in his eyes. Aragorn gave a slight nod then whirled around, drawing his broken blade instead of the knife he'd been holding. The boy, thankfully, did not turn on him, instead drawing out the hidden sword from earlier. "Will the illusion last?" Aragorn asked him quietly. He wondered how the sword had cut his clothing and clanged against his sword, but swept right through him.

Uncertainty flickered across his face. "It should work normally."

Aragorn nodded, resigned. Absolute certainty was impossible during any battle.

Though perhaps not this much.

They stood back to back, waiting. It was possible it wouldn't attack.

Then the boy ran at it.

wc: 354

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I graduated today! I always thought I'd do a nice little graduation at home, but it ended up working out that a freind ran a little branch of H.O.P.E. Schools International (who help homeschoolers write transcripts & such), and I graduated with three other high-school graduates who made it there, and a couple others who couldn't come.
My lil' sister graduated to high-school the same day too, so that was fun!

6/11/22