What Happened Thereafter {A LotR Fanfiction}

Ivy

[I dedicate this chapter to @AgentShadows, because she was the first one who commented on my other book: Behind the Scenes. She always had the nicest comments, and encouraged me more than she can ever know. Thanks @AgentShadows.]

Ivy never thought she would be involved in something like this. She'd never seen her friends so aggressive and had never seen this side of herself. She looked over at Nettle, who had a look of pure horror on her face. She was trying to be so strong, Ivy knew that. But underneath it all she was still gentle Nettle, her big sister. Ivy followed Nettle and watched as the older girl stabbed an orc that suddenly grabbed her by her curly, sandalwood brown hair, and attempted to kill her. Ivy's hand flew to her mouth, but Nettle was able to dodge his oncoming blows and drove her dagger into the orc's stomach. 

Ivy breathed a huge sigh of relief and decided that Nettle didn't need her at the moment, and instead, ran and joined a group of hobbits that were busy attacking a very ugly man. She kicked him in the shins and would have slapped him in the face if he had been just a little closer to the ground. She hadn't wanted to think about death or terrible things today. She had planned on spending the day pondering over things that made people angry, but her plans had been disrupted as soon as the battle had begun.

"NETTLE! BEHIND YOU!" Someone shouted. Ivy closed her eyes and didn't look back. She grabbed a rock from the ground at her feet, and threw it up at her enemie's head. He shouted and stumbled back; overwhelmed by the hobbits that were overtaking him, and when Ivy was sure that he had been defeated, she re-joined her sister and Merry, who were fighting an especially large, burly man. Ivy found that the three of them made a great team, and would have congratulated them all on doing so, but it was neither the time nor the place. 

When Merry sliced the man's oncoming hand away from Nettle, Ivy saw her chance. She stepped forward, and slashed her sword through his stomach. The man before her gave her one look of pain before slumping to the ground. Ivy stared down at him with wide eyes. She hadn't wanted to kill anyone, but now she had succeeded in doing so three times. What had happened to the Shire? What had happened to the world? What had happened to her?

With her heart in her toes, Ivy fled the scene and headed for the forest. Whatever and whoever was trying to invade the Shire needed to be reasoned with, and these orcs and humans had to be taking orders from someone. Sam, who was fighting bravely beside Frodo saw her running into the trees, and before he could run after her, something dreadful happened.

None of them realized that the wizard Saruman was behind the attack, and he had been slowly making his way towards the battle field with a triumphant smile on his face. If he couldn't have Middle Earth as a whole, he might as well take over its weakest parts. Hobbiton had been the perfect target; unprotected and full of peaceful, nonviolent folk. When he was visible, Sam's mouth dropped open, and his attention fell from his attacker, to Ivy, who was heading straight towards the evil wizard.

Ivy was indeed unsuspecting, so when she crashed full force into Saruman, she looked up and attempted to use her dagger against him, but the two humans who flocked his side grabbed each grabbed one of her arms and picked her up like she weighed nothing. She struggled and fought in their grips, but it was to no avail. Saruman smiled wickedly and pride swelled in his chest when a hobbit he recognized shouted the female's name. He should have known Frodo Baggins, the halfling that had destroyed his master, would be here. His friends were there also; the fat hobbit seemed terribly concerned about the girl he had captured, and several other hobbits became disoriented as well. He had found his bargain.

"It seems you are someone of importance, here." Saruman looked at Ivy, who was beginning to feel very frightened. She didn't' think she'd been so  frightened in her life. When Saruman ran a long, gnarled fingernail down the side of her face, she shivered. 

"Shall we kill her, sir?" the man who was holding Ivy's left arm asked. Saruman chuckled.

"No, I have far better intentions for this one. Take her away and put her in the cage."

"IVY! NOOOOOOOOO!" Sam cried. He slashed at an orc.

"Back, you devil!"

Ivy screamed and her captors jumped at the sound. Then she writhed in their grasp, taking their momentary distraction to her advantage. Saruman grimaced in disgust before slapping Ivy hard across the mouth.

"If you value your life you will keep quiet and stop fighting."

"No!" Ivy retorted, anger taking over her fear. "I will never stop fighting you! You have no right to do this, we have done nothing to you! Go now, and leave us in peace and we can put this all behind us! Hasn't enough blood been spilled? Let me go!"

"I will never let you go," Saruman said calmly. Before she could argue any more he rose his staff and threw a spell in her direction, and Ivy's world went black. 

[Picture by Sam Robinson]

Author's Note: Sorry it's taking so long to update this, but I've been very busy lately and I am in my school's play. I have to practice every day after school until 6:30, and by then I'm so tired I don't really want to do anything else unless it's homework. I will still be updating and writing, it will just be slower than usual. Thank you for your understanding. I"m SOOO thankful for all my readers, you make my day, everyday! Your comments mean the world to me, and are very encouraging!

Have a wonderful day!

~Eva