Sucked Into Middle Earth...Just My Luck!

Chapter 7

We entered the trees rather quickly but slowed considerably once we were far enough in that the light had dimmed and the tree line was no longer within sight. Gimli was glancing every which way with the most suspicious looks and Karma was suppressing a smile at his worries for we knew they were needless.

The dwarf stopped for a moment and turned to the halfling troupe behind him saying, "stick close young hobbits, they say that a great sorceress lives in these woods. And elf witch of terrible power. All who look upon her fall under her spell...and are never seen again".

I could see Frodo's concentration slip and knew Galadriel must already be speaking with him. I spotted a particularly climbable tree up ahead and took off for it, leaving the others confused as they watched me race happily ahead. Once I reached it I wasted no time throwing myself into its lowest limbs, letting out a giggle as I made my way higher. I hadn't climbed a good tree in years!

I reached up for another tree limb and instead felt a hand grab mine tightly. Before I could let out a single sound I was hoisted up through the leaves and pulled against someone who had their hand over my mouth. I struggled for a moment and caught a glimpse of the elf who had grabbed me; it was Haldir himself. I immediately relaxed and heard him make a disgusted noise as the smell, and probably texture, of my troll drenched clothes hit him. Wow, this is embarrassing...

"Here's one dwarf she won't ensnare so easily. I have the eyes of a hawk and the ears of a fox" I heard Gimli say, followed by a small 'oh' as they were all immediately ambushed by the other elves in Haldir's scouting group.

Haldir let go of my mouth but I didn't bother screaming. He then grabbed me around my middle and used a previously unseen rope to lower us quickly to the ground where we landed just behind the archers. He readjusted his grip so that he instead had my wrists crossed and he held them both behind me with one powerful hand and walked me forwards until I was visible to my companions.

"Alice!" Exclaimed Karma and I saw a few of my friends tighten their grips on their weapons threateningly.

"The dwarf breathes so loud we could have shot him in the dark" stated Haldir and I snorted at the burn, feeling Haldir's eyes turn to me, probably in confusion considering I was supposed to be a scared little captor.

He decided to throw me forward and release my wrists and I stumbled a little before Karma and Aragorn caught me. They straightened me up and I turned to look at Haldir, his beautiful face staring back at me curiously. I guess he hadn't really been able to study me properly while we were in the tree and I had my back to him for the most part.

"Geez, you didn't have to be so rough!" Karma told our Elven captor crossly.

"I kinda liked it" I accidentally said out loud before he could reply and immediately felt my face go bright red while Karma erupted in giggles and Aragorn suppressed a smirk.

Haldir just stared at me while I tried my best to turn into a puddle and slink away. I kept my eyes down and shrank to the back of the group where I could hear Merri and Pippin also laughing at me, but at least I could no longer see the handsome elf I'd just embarrassed myself in front of. I bumped into someone and went to apologise but then saw that it was Boromir and he seemed less than impressed. Before I could utter a word he shook his head and turned away to keep an eye on the elves surrounding us. Wonder what's got him so grouchy?

"You bring great evil with you. You can go no further" I heard Haldir tell the group and he turned to leave but Aragorn tried to reason with him.

The other elves had lowered their weapons and we'd all moved to a better suited location while Aragorn pleaded our case in Elven. Karma came to sit with me and materialised a chocolate to eat. She caught me staring at Haldir and Aragorn discussing our future and gave a snort.