A Better Place - The Hobbit Fanfiction

Alternate Entry Twenty-Six - Consequences of Association

(*I feel the need to point out that my story, from now on, will not perfectly follow Tolkien's, specifically with not as much time passing as ought to between major events. I could make it perfect, but especially being in the process of converting this to original fiction, the deeper I get the harder it is to follow Tolkien's work as closely as I attempted to before.)

Villy, a borrowed pony and I packed up to leave in the first weeks of fall. I hugged Bofur goodbye and waved as we trotted off. "I could bask in this weather for weeks on end," I said to Villy after we passed through Dale and began to circle the lake, spreading my arms to the skies. "I know I like change, but this is just perfection incarnate for summer."

It still surprised some people that I felt so comfortable sleeping out in 'the wilds' by myself for the few days it took to reach Mirkwood, but as I told them my two ponies were excellent guard material at least when it came to forewarning me of things. Guarding me physically they were neither equipped nor trained to do, but at least they woke me up when they heard things they didn't like. Between Dale and Mirkwood, though, this stretch of land was some of the safest in this particular area. Bard may not strike fear into the hearts of interlopers, but there was no question in anyone's mind on whether or not Thranduil did. Hell, he still frightened me sometimes. In his line of sight when he believed a wrong had been done was a place no sane-minded being wanted to be.

So it came as a complete shock to me when I was ambushed by four men my third day out of Dale, exactly halfway between Dale and Mirkwood.

Villy heard them first, and I started when she did. The second I saw the four of them riding heavily down on me I cut Villy's string-she'd never liked fast-moving people, though crowds didn't bother her one bit-and she bolted, short legs aflutter, back the way we'd come. I kicked my heels into my pony's sides and we dove forth even knowing, still at least two days from Mirkwood, and pursued by horses, that we were going to be taken no matter what we did. It wasn't as if I had any chance of killing these men, or even just discouraging them to leave me alone.

They had surrounded me in moments, and I didn't understand at first why they quickly shifted so they all rode either ahead of or abreast of me, pressing in on my smaller steed and forcing us to all ride where our legs jostled against each other as they loomed over me, then the man on my right stretched out a hand and grabbed me by the arm.

I released my pony's reins to beat at him with my fist, screaming and kicking as he dragged me sideways and across his lap. I pinched and thrashed at every part of him I could as, collectively, the four of them slowed-letting my pony go, and proving they weren't thieves-until the man grew tired of my energetic lack of cooperation and dumped me sideways onto the sloped, rock-strewn ground.

I rolled several feet and scrambled upright as soon as I could, bolting for the biggest gap between them all, but they'd dismounted and were faster than I was. One of them fisted a handful of my hair, bringing me to an abrupt stop and snapping me onto my back, bringing tears to my eyes with the pain in my scalp, and then they were on me. My hands yanked behind my back, my feet trussed together, something smooth wound around and around my head until all I could see were blurred lines of light. They then threw me, still howling, over the shoulders of someone's horse and away we went.

"Nothing personal, lass," one told me, in high cheer. "We could just do with a bit of money, that's all."

I didn't start crying until they yanked me off the horse and threw me onto a damp stone and dirt floor. Someone shoved me onto my face and pinned it to the stone with his hand, then dug his knee into my back and grabbed fistfuls of my hair. My hair stung as he began sawing through it with his knife, then my entire body felt swept with cold when they took all my hair roughly away. They took the blindfold briefly away so they could get all of it, but then they tied it right back on, tighter than it had to be. I caught a brief glimpse of the mouth of a cave and then nothing.