In Which Rain Steals a Cloak and Teaches an Orc to Dance

468 21 2
                                    

        We had been walking for almost 4 hours. I looked up into the sky, the position of the sun telling me it was probably around 3' o'clock. I was tired of just walking, I needed something exciting to do.
      "Hey, is that the village?" Asked Bogwater.
     I looked up, it was! A smile filled my face, finally! "Yes! It is!"
    "We made it!" my friend grinned widely.
    "Now we can get some real food," I laughed.
     "Right!" Bogwater continued towards the village. Suddenly I remembered... he's an orc! They will kill him!
    "Wait!" I cried, running up to him and pulling him back by the arm, "You aren't human yet. They'll kill you!"
    Bogwater's face fell. My heart hurt for him. "Oh, yeah."
    "UM..." I had to come up with an idea. If only I had a long cloak, with a hood. That would be perfect! The village was sure to have one like that somewhere. I ran for the little village.
   "Where are you going?" cried Bogwater.
    "Just wait there. You'll see!" I exclaimed excitedly.
    I entered into the village, looking around for any sign of a cloak. The village was very quaint. It had cute little farm-like houses and stands set up in a market style. The stands were all set up in rows, and each one was selling different things. Many people where wearing nice, colorful clothes. Different colored flags waved in the air. I could hear music coming from somewhere in the distance. They were having a festival! How perfect. This would provide somewhat of a distraction if I needed to steal something. Which I would, since we didn't have any money.
    I pushed my way through the crowd, they must have someone selling cloaks here, right? I scanned the little stands and booths. I could smell something sweet coming from one of them. Once I found the right cloak, I could take Bogwater to the festival! Well, if the other creature didn't mind staying behind.
     That's when I saw it, a booth with long flowing cloaks, of all sorts of different colors. My eyes landed on a black one, with a pretty gold design on the hem.
     It was perfect.
     I walked around the cart, acting as if I was admiring the cloaks. The owner of the cart was an older man, he seemed to be preoccupied with another costumer. A young woman in a bright red dress. The man was showing her a red cloak to match her dress. I lurked around to where the black coat was folded neatly on top of a stack. Once I made sure the old man wasn't looking, I snatched the cloak and tucked it under my arm. Walking away as calmly as possible, to not look suspicious or attract attention. I walked straight out of the village, heading towards were I had left my friend.
      Bogwater was sitting on the ground, patiently waiting for me. He quickly stood up once he realized I was back.
    "What did you do?"
    I lifted up the long cloak, "Put this on."
     "How did you manage to pay for this?" The Uruk-hai asked as he slipped the cloak on.
    "I didn't."   
     "So you stole it?" He smirked.
     "Obviously. And now we are going in to steal some food." Rain remarked.
     "What about the creature?" Bogwater nodded down towards Gollum.
     "We could cares less," the creature plopped down onto the ground, "Gollum, Gollum!"
      Bogwater turned and shrugged at me, "Okay, lead the way."
     I did. Bogwater followed behind me, pulling the hood up over his head once we got close to the village gate. It fit over his head perfectly, covering his entire face. None of the villagers would know who he was now.
     "What's going on here?" Bogwater asked as we pushed through the crowd.
     "It's a festival." 
      "We never had those at the Uruk camp," he stated.
      "Really?" I questioned, looking up at him.
      The Orc shook his head.
      I frowned, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the village square, "Come on then. You have to experience it at least once!"
     "But what about-"
      "Oh, what about him?" I retorted, "He's a bore anyway."
       Bogwater laughed heartily, "Yeah, he is."
       I lead him to the village square. There was several people playing flutes and harps. It was lively, happy music. A group of people were doing an old folk dance. I remembered the tune from my own village. My mom taught me the moves to it. We danced it at every wedding, every birthday, and every other special occasion.
      "Come on!" I cried, pulling him into a group of dancers, "I know this dance!"
    "But, I don't know how to dance!" argued Bogwater.
    "Just follow my lead. I'll teach you!"
     I started to follow the moves of the people around me. Spinning in a circle before falling in and touching hands with the other dancers. The dance was simple. All you had to do was move in and out of the circle, spinning, then falling back in and touching hands. It was a fast paced dance to match the face paced music.
     Bogwater followed awkwardly besides me, "Aren't we supposed to be getting food?" he had to yell in my ear over the loud music.
    "Loosen up, Bog! Have some fun!" I encouraged.
    He finally accepted that I wouldn't let him out of it and danced along with me. Asking occasionally if he was doing okay.
    "You're doing great! You're the best dancing Orc in all of Middle Earth."
     I was telling the truth too, as soon as he got the hang of how to move his feet, he moved easily to the beat of the music. The music began to get faster and faster, and we speed up with it. That was the point of the song, to go as fast as you can. It was all too soon when the music stopped and we all collapsed to the ground with tired breaths.
    "That was the most fun I've ever had," Bogwater admitted.
     "I knew you would ha-"
      "Hey! I don't remember you paying for that cloak!"
       We both looked over our shoulders to the source of the voice. It was the old man.
     "Run!" I yelled, quickly standing up and pushing my way through the crowd.
     "Thieves! Thieves!" yelled the man, chasing us. Soon other people began to follow after us as well.
     "We can loose them in the woods!" I cried to Bogwater who was painting beside me.
     As we were running through the market place, I grabbed a tote bag from one of the vendors.
     "Hey! You have to pay for that!" said the man running that cart.
     "Sorry!" I cried out to him as I grabbed food from another cart and shoving it quickly down into the bag.
I continued to do this at nearly every cart that had something of use to us. A knife, some flint, a compass, some breads and other foods. Pretty soon my bag was full, and the whole village was chasing after us.
     "Stop stealing stuff!" Bogwater cried pitifully.
     "I will now that we have plenty of supplies!" I exclaimed as we ran out of the village and into the woods. Villagers were still chasing us, but we had gained a good distance ahead of them. I noticed a large tree with plenty of branches, an easy climb. "Quick, climb the tree!"
    Bogwater obeyed. I hurriedly followed behind him. We climbed all the way to the top, where hopefully we were hidden in the thick leaves and branches. The villagers soon came running past the tree, all yelling things at each other as they tried to search for us. 
    "Where'd they go?" exclaimed the woman I stole the compass from.  
     "I don't see them!" said another villager.
      The man who I stole the cloak from cried out, "We lost them!"
     They all huffed and complained about how the festival was now ruined and wondering to themselves at why things could never go as planned. Honestly, I couldn't feel sorry for them. They freaking lived ten miles away from the Black Gate. No wonder they could never have a decent festival!
      When the villagers all finally dispersed, Bogwater sighed, "Well... that certainly was exciting."
     "I'll say!" I laughed, still painting from our run.
     "Did you manage to get everything we need?" he questioned as he pulled the hood to his new cloak out of his face. Once again revealing his reddish colored eyes and pale skin. 
    "I think so," I huffed, "I think we did pretty good, considering the circumstances."
     Bogwater began climbing down the tree, "We should probably try to find the creature now."
      "Good idea," I nodded and followed him down.
      "That was fun though... the dancing, I mean, not the getting chased part."
      I smiled to myself, "I had fun too."
     Bogwater jumped down to the forest floor and held out his arms for me to jump. I did, the Uruk catching me without a problem.
     "We should do it again one day," He said as he set me down on the ground.
    "Do what again?" our other mysterious friend popped his head out from behind the tree suddenly.
    I rolled my eyes. He just had to ruin every moment, didn't he?

The Girl and the Orc - (A Middle Earth Story) Where stories live. Discover now