GWFD Chapter 4
Katie has been found by another girl (Eva) who is also lost in the woods. Just when Katie thought they had finally found someone to rescue them from the deciduous forest, they find themselves hostages of two tall, attractive, and identical looking men dressed in strange clothing and armed with old-fashioned weapons. What will happen next?
Notes: Lines in italics are internal dialog.
Disclaimer: I don’t own The Lord of the Rings or any other part of Tolkien's works.
“A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?”
-Albert Einstein
Chapter 4: Dreams
The woods surrounding the little, brown-haired girl were untamed and seemed untouched by human hands. The young girl, no older than nine, nervously scanned her surroundings. Trees and foliage as far as the eye could see. It was dark, the trees blocking out most of the sunlight. The little brunette felt smothered by the towering trees and a pungent odor that she couldn’t identify. The plants were full of life with various shades of green. The dreamlike forest seemed to stretch on forever in all directions.
‘Why is it so green now? It looks like... no, that’s not possible.’ She rubbed her face with her hands.
The brunette looked down at her small hands, perplexed. She continued to examine her hands, tracing her fingers from her left hand over the right and vice versa. ‘Wait...’ She pulled her attention away from her hands and started to focus on her clothing. She tugged at the short-sleeved dress she was wearing. The hunter-green dress seemed familiar to the little girl. A black ribbon was the sash that went around her waist and tied in a bow in the back. She fumbled with the full skirt of the dress that reached just past her knees. Yes, she recognized the outfit. It was a dress that her mother had made for her so long ago.
The cry of a single bird from far away in the woods cut through the silence, echoing for several seconds. It startled her, reminding the girl that she was lost, again. ‘What’s happened? Why am I here?’ An all-too-familiar feeling of helplessness washed over the young girl. She started to feel light-headed, her breaths became shallow, she clenched onto part of her skirt. “What should I do?” she asked aloud. ‘What can I do?’ She slowly turned her body in three-hundred sixty degrees. Every direction seemed to just lead deeper into the woods. Or maybe she was already deep in another forest. Or was it a jungle? The disoriented little girl was unsure of her next move.
As she continued to scan through the trees, staying within just about the same spot that she had found herself in, she brought up her right hand to clasp the pendant that hung from a golden chain around her neck. The little brunette absentmindedly ran her thumb over the emblem, feeling the lines of the forged pattern before realizing something.
‘What? But I thought I had lost the pendant...’ She held out the circular golden medal in her palm and examined it.
The pendant was a round emblem that was no bigger than the circumference of a nickel, comprised of three comma-like half-circles. Each of the three warped crescent shapes had a small circle, almost exactly the same as half of a yin-yang symbol. A small circle was in the very center of the round emblem where the three larger ends of the bent semi-circular shapes met.
Typically without the various dots, a symbol like this was known as a mitsudomoe. The half-crescent shapes of a mitsudomoe can often resemble a magatma-a curved bead that was supposed to represent the human spirit-and this specific emblem’s shapes did resemble a magatama more so than others thanks to the small circles in the design. This was something that the little girl had grown to appreciate about her unique treasure.
‘So I hadn’t lost great-uncle’s necklace.’
The pendant was a gift from her great-grandfather’s twin brother, her great-uncle. It was a very strange piece of jewelry that seemed to stir a feeling of unease within the girl. For a while, she felt extremely uncomfortable when wearing the pendant, however, her mother would berate her whenever she had forgotten to wear it. She insisted that whatever the young girl felt was just a figment of her imagination and that she should wear it out of appreciation for her great-uncle, as he had requested. Over time she had grew attached to the necklace and felt more comfortable with it on than off. Mothers knew best.
“Yes,” the voice of an old man with a slight foreign accent could be heard coming from behind the small girl. “You never lost it.”
The surprised girl whirled around to find an old, grey-haired Japanese man in a black, three-piece suite. His hair was combed back. He had bushy eyebrows, and a slightly wrinkled face. He wore a black tie and a crisp white dress shirt on under the black vest and jacket.
“Great-uncle? What’s going on? What are we doing here?”
He smiled slyly. “Didn’t I tell you to call me grandfather? Remember, ojiisan not ojisan,” he corrected. “Washi no kawaii Juna-chan.”
“What are you talking about?” the little girl bit back. She looked at what the elderly man was wearing and glowered. She had to tilt her head upward because of the height difference. Her great-uncle looked exactly as he had at his brother’s funeral. The old man stood no more than five feet from her. “How can you ask me such a thing while dressed like that? And I was speaking English.” She pointed, accusingly at the man. “Isn’t English adequate enough for our current conversation? You’re always trying to make me speak in Japanese. Sometimes it can become a little overwhelming.” She crossed her arms, bowed her head and closed her eyes.
“My, my, Junachan, you’ve grown so much!”
“What?” She opened her eyes and looked at the elderly man. Something was off. The girl tilted her head to the side, no longer having to look up. ‘Did he just become smaller?’
The old man chuckled at her, “No, I have not.” He somehow was able to hear what Eva knew she had only thought to herself
The girl was no longer a child, but a young adult. It was Eva. She looked down at her hands once more. No more were they the dirty and small ones that belonged to a little girl, but full-grown woman’s hands. She looked down, past her hands, at her clothing. She was back to wearing the jeans and black tank top. ‘I’m back to normal.’
“Junachan, you’re never normal,” he softly chuckled. “You are unordinary, with a strange fate,” the old man added, still smiling. The awkward English was a reminder that it was not his native tongue. Combined with the mirth in his voice, Eva couldn’t determine whether or not he was mocking her.
‘What’s going on?’ She felt a tingling sensation run up her spine. “I didn’t say anything about being normal and I don’t mind if you think I’m strange.” She tried to shake off the uneasiness of the sudden chill.
“How about me?” came the younger voice-almost void of any foreign accent-from a young, Japanese man who appeared from behind her great-granduncle. He was taller in stature at about six feet with broad shoulders, a muscular chest, and strong arms that could be seen through the tapered, green t-shirt he was wearing. He had his hands shoved into his faded jean pant-pockets as he stepped out next to the elderly man.
“Masa?” ‘Since when did he speak English so well?’
As far as the girl could tell, he had emerged out of thin air. Despite his strange appearance, the pace of her heart increased as she felt a fluttering rush of elation overcome her for a brief moment. Eva hesitated to speak, feeling her face grow warm, realizing that perhaps she seemed too excited to see him. The brunette felt very foolish for acting so out of character. What would he think of her reaction to seeing him?
The girl started to walk toward the young man. “What are you doing here? I-,” Eva was cut short as the ground somehow opened up from under her feet, sucking her in. She was momentarily caught off guard before she tried to free her legs as her body sank into the cool and damp earth. It was no use. The girl frantically reached out toward the young man who was calmly standing beside her great-uncle. “Masa! Help me, grab my hand, please!” The boy just stood and watched. She felt her chest tighten and a tinge of pain at his lack of action. Eva looked over to the old man. “Great-uncle, please help!” To her horror he responded with a cold stare.
The ground was now up to Eva’s chest, however, her arms were still free. No matter how many times she tried, the brunette could not pull herself out of the ground. She looked back to the young man as she continued to try to push herself up and out of the earth. “Masa, what’s wrong?” she pleaded as tears started to well up in her eyes. “Masa, Masa I...”
“How many times must I tell you? When will you listen to my words as a good and honorable grandchild?” the aged man demanded, interrupting her pleas, as he walked over to her. He lifted his right foot, placing it on top of her head.
“Wait, what’re you,” she started, half in shock.
“You must learn!” he demanded as he helped push her into the earth.
“No!” she shrieked. Eva clawed at the earth and the old man’s foot, trying to shove it off her head and keep herself from sinking any deeper. Within a few seconds she had been completely pulled into the earth, buried alive. ‘Masa, why?’ It was dark and quiet within the gound. The darkness constricted her arms and chest. The scent was not earthy as Eva would have expected, but rank. It smelled like similar to raw onions missing their spicy bite that burned the eyes. It actually smelled similar to the stench of someone who hadn’t washed after a strenuous activity.
‘I am still alive. None of this makes any sense.’
“Eva, wake up,” pleaded the familiar voice of a young woman.
Eva opened her eyes to find herself in the woods with Katie. ‘It was a dream?’ She took in a deep breadth and exhaled. The old, strong trees were showing the colors of autumn with dried leaves all over the forest floor, unlike the green and luscious tropical forest from her dream. For a moment, Eva was actually relieved to find herself back in the forest. That is, until she tried move her arms, but couldn’t.
Her hands had been tied behind her back at the wrists. The rope around the wrists was soft, smooth, not inhumanely tight, but strong enough to hold her. It would be impossible for her to pull free from the bindings without being noticed and stopped early on in the process.
She quickly located the two identical looking men. They were a couple yards away, chatting together beside two brown horses. The two tall and dark-haired men were in a somewhat hushed but lively conversation, motioning over to the women from time to time. Whether or not either girl wanted to, listening in would have been useless if they were speaking that unrecognizable language.
“Eva?” Katie hesitantly spoke. She was sitting to Eva’s right, with hands also tied behind the back.
The slightly tanned girl sighed, looking to the girl with the tangled pink and black hair. Eva could clearly see that Katie had not taken the time to wipe the dirt from being forced to the ground by the bowman. She also realized that the stench she had smelled in her dream was from her anxious companion. “What happened?”
“You passed out suddenly after you started struggling with that man again. You just randomly passed out, leaving me alone with them!” she whispered harshly. “And, I still can’t believe it! I was so scared. I thought they were going to kill me, but I didn’t pass out like you. And then after that other man pushed me to the ground, put his foot on my back, and stepped on me, they made me get up and walk. But you were carried because you were unconscious. And we walked forever, it must’ve been like three or fours hours. And, I don’t know where we are now. We’re still in the woods. And again, I can’t believe you passed out on me. I was all alone.”
Eva was suffering from a mild headache and vertigo as she tried to gather the useful information out of the upset girl’s rant. Since she had found Katie unconscious in the woods, Eva had stayed awake, doing various tasks. She attempted to find a way to contact someone, get help, free herself from being stuck in the woods, built a fire, and tried to ensure that the large girl wouldn’t die on her.
At best, the brunette believed she had some water and a soy bar in her bag. She had been saving her water and food until she needed it, planning on trying to find some bugs or some plant life to eat before resorting to using up the little travel food she had. However, having stayed awake for over twenty-four hours without food or much water, along with activity and the blood loss had been too much for her. Now, she was light-headed, tired, her thoughts were clouded and mouth felt somewhat dry. Though she didn’t feel any hunger pains, she probably needed to eat something and surely was dehydrated.
She sat there in silence for a few seconds, trying to decide what to say next. ‘I’m going to regret this but...’ “...Are you alright?” Eva asked the girl.
“Of course I’m not alright! That’s a stupid question!” Katie bit back in an angry whisper as if to scold her. ‘I can’t believe her. She’s nuts. She acts like she knows what she’s doing and then gets us kidnapped and randomly passes out. What a dumb-ass! Why am I always surrounded by stupid people?’ She tried to change her sitting position, shifting her weight as best she could. The rope around her thick wrists was itching, biting, and chafing her soft and delicate skin. Her face was smudged with dirt from being shoved face-down onto the ground by the second man. The shirt had again stuck to her skin from sweating and she could smell her body odor, making her feel dirty and even more miserable. The large girl wished she was able to bathe and change her clothes. She felt hunger pains as well. Though she had eaten the only piece of food that Eva had seemed to have brought-a weird power bar from Japan-Katie wanted to eat more. Pizza, ice cream, chips and cheese dip. ...Something, anything, even another crummy health food bar.
‘I’m sore, tired, hungry, dirty, sweaty, smelly, kidnapped, tied up, and stuck with some crazy, stuck-up miss-know-it-all,’ Katie thought to herself. Her fear had dissipated during the hike with her handsome kidnappers to frustration and contempt. Now she felt more bored and annoyed at the moment. Katie glanced at Eva who wasn’t paying attention to her and thought to herself, ‘At least she seems to have some similar interests.’
“So,” Katie started awkwardly, “was that Japanese?” She was referring to when Eva had the strange man on the ground.
“Uh-huh,” Eva responded in a monotone voice as she watched the two men who continued to speak to each other. She wasn’t close enough to hear, but it wouldn’t matter if they were speaking that foreign tongue like before.
Katie waited for her to speak more, but only received silence.
“Why did you have a bokken with you and where did you learn to fight?” she asked incredulously.
“I’m in a martial arts club and it’s for practice,” the brunette answered, continuing to watch the men.
“Okay. ...That’s kind of weird, but cool, I guess.” Katie paused before continuing on, “I’ve always wanted to take martial arts class but I have chronic fatigue. However, I have been studying Japanese for a couple years now. I like to watch anime and read manga in Japanese. The Japanese classes at my university are painfully easy and most of my classmates still don’t even know what’s going on. I’m actually probably one of the best in the class. ...Most of them don’t know much about Japanese culture anyway.”
Eva didn’t utter a response and continued to watch the men.
“Are you even listening to me?” Katie snapped at Eva, warranting momentary glances from the two men before they tore their eyes away from the bound girls and continued their secret conversation.
Although they had been moved by the two men, the girls were still lost in the woods. However, to make matters worse, they were now lost in the woods and hostages of two identical-looking men in strange dated and foreign clothing. The clothing alone didn’t make the men seem strange. They had genuine, archaic-looking weapons and knew how to use the said weapons. They were fast, exceptionally tall, and attractive. The men didn’t seem understand English or Japanese, spoke a weird foreign language, and possessed a strange, ethereal air to them. Eva was having difficulty assessing the current situation, feeling so out of place, lethargic, and having to listen to Katie berate her.
“Then why didn’t you say anything back?” Katie demanded.
“I’m sorry; I thought you weren’t done talking about yourself.” There was no malice Eva's voice or change in facial expression, however it was surely meant to wound.
“At least I’m trying to be friendly!” the larger girl hissed, not wanting to attract the men’s attention.
“Where do you think we are?”
“Why do you keep asking me stuff like that?” Her voice rose and her chubby and dirty face scrunched up into a hostile expression.
Eva didn’t bother to look away from the two men. Just by the tone of Katie's voice, she could tell that she had been insulted by the seemingly ridiculous question. “You don’t have a visa or passport with you, but you have a US license, library card, university ID, and several cards from American stores.”
“So?”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“You’re the one who isn’t making any sense right now!” Katie practically barked out.
“I thought we were in Japan.”
“What? Have you gone crazy or something?”
“I was on a train from Kyushu to stay with relatives in Tokyo,” Eva started. She recalled that she had been sitting in a train car for non-reserved seating, holding onto some of her bags with the larger duffle bag up in the overhead storage area. “Maybe I was more exhausted than I thought, but I fell asleep. However, I wake up in these woods instead of the train car. I have no idea what happened.” Eva recalled that her phone didn’t have signal and the time on her phone and wrist watch seemed to be off. She walked for several hours and then found Katie in wet clothing and passed out with a huge bag on her back. “Even though it’s clear by the dry foliage on the ground that it has not rained within the past couple of days, you looked as if you were wet. You said you had been caught in a rainstorm while hiking. And you’re American, without anything Japanese cell phone, IDs, and shopping cards.” Eva paused during her calm ramblings for a moment before continuing. “Maybe I have gone crazy. None of this makes sense.” ‘I must be dreaming. Perhaps this is all an illusion, a hallucination.’
“It doesn’t make sense, because you’re wrong. Or you’re lying.” Katie huffed impatiently at her unwanted companion's antics.
Eva turned to face her. “Why, what do I have to gain?” she asked, gazing straight into the clearly flustered girl's eyes.
“I don’t know,” she averted her green eyes, “maybe you are crazy. Or maybe you’re getting a kick at being in control. Maybe you having a better understanding of what’s going on and where we are makes you feel superior and you like it.” Katie defiantly glared at Eva in disgust. “I bet you love making yourself seem better than me.” ‘I knew it, she’s a bitch and she’s showing her true colors now.’
Eva’s impassive expression didn’t change. She just stole a moment to look Katie in the eye. ‘This is just a waist of time.’ Eva turned her way back to face the men. “...I need some water,” she said at them in a louder voice. “Hi, hey, hello, excuse me!” she called to them, debating whether or not she should get up. “Guys, I’m sorry to bother you, however, I need some water,” she shouted over to the two men, getting their attention.
“Don’t ignore me! And they don’t know English! I know. I tried talking with them while we walked. No matter how many times I told them that my legs hurt, they didn’t listen.”
The two men exchanged glances and a few more words before one of them started to walk over to the girls. Eva was trying to figure out which one he was. Their clothing looked just about the same, similar articles, all in just about the same color, save for the sashes around their waists and their pants. She could remember that the sashes of the man she had disarmed were of crimson and blue cloths and off-black pants while the other man had charcoal grey and green sashes and brown pants. The kidnapper approaching her had on the crimson sash, but no blue one. However, the other man with the horses had to be the one who had forced Katie to the ground, since he had green and grey around his waist.
The tall man stopped a couple feet before Eva and crouched down in front of her as if to better communicate. “Man eneth lín? O man dôr túliel le?” he said, calmly pointing at Eva and then Katie. “Heniach nin?”
From the rise in the tone of his voice, Eva could tell he was asking a question, but didn’t know what he was asking. Thankfully, uneasiness brought on by being so close to the man she had been previously fighting had had caused some adrenaline to course through her, making her feel more alert. “I’m thirsty,” she spoke calmly, feeling that speaking might be completely useless.
“You’re wasting your time,” Katie whined.
Eva looked over to Katie before speaking to her in an eerily calm, quiet and controlled voice. “Keep quiet for a couple minutes or I will silence you myself.”
The large girl’s face grew hot as she blushed from head-to-toe in embarrassment. No one ever talked to her like that. No one ever threatens her. She couldn’t believe the nerve of that girl, but felt too frightened to snap back.
The man waited patiently as Eva returned her attention to him. She wriggled her hands and twisted her body a bit to show him her bound wrists. Eva used her right pointer finger to try to illustrate that she wanted to sign something or draw. “Can you untie me? I need at least one hand for a moment.”
The tall man frowned. “Daro.”
Eva looked at him questioningly and shook her head. “No?”
“Daro.” He repeated.
“Really? Daro?”
She tried to think of another way to communicate that she was thirsty but nothing could come to her foggy mind. The brunette mulled over what to do and what not to do, however even with Katie giving her some peace, her thinking wasn’t lucid enough. She looked into the eyes of the man squatting on the ground before her, trying to decide what action to take.
His grey eyes were intense and shined. He shined with an inner light that Eva hadn’t ever noticed in people before. The strange eyes and glow only added to the man and his doppelganger’s unnatural look. He had pale, flawless skin and his loose, long and dark hair seemed very soft and well-taken care of. His handsome, chiseled face was hard and expressionless. However, as emotionless and guarded his expression seemed to be, Eva couldn’t sense hidden or controlled malice that she’d expect from someone she had attacked. The girl calmly watched him as she started to make her next move.
She lifted up her arms behind her until they were level with the shoulder blades. The movement was swift. Eva ignored the man who seemed to bark out something in protest or concern as she continued to bring her arms up-with the wrists still loosely tied together-over her head. A small pop came from her left elbow and she brought her arms over to be in front of her. Eva screwed her eyes shut and hissed in pain for a split-second as she made the move. Double-jointed or not, it had always been easier to bring her arms from the front to the back over head, opposite of what she had just done. It did not help that she had been a little stiff from traveling and restrained for a couple hours either. ‘That was too painful for this to be just a dream.’
“Gross! That's so sick, I can't believe you can do that!” Katie cried out as she turned away in disgust at the painful display in flexibility.
Eva ignored Katie and used her hands to motion for what she wanted. She cupped her hands to her mouth, pretending as if she was drinking from them. “Water.” She used her thumbs to point at herself. “I’m thirsty.”
“Aníral sogad?” The man asked, making a similar gesture.
Eva’s face lit up with excitement. He understood her! “Yes, yes!” She nodded her head enthusiastically. “Water please.”
The man nodded slightly as he gracefully stood and strolled back over to where his partner had remained with the horses and supplies. As the the men, again, spoke some more, Eva glanced down at her bound hands. Though one of her hands had been struck by an arrow and she could remember that there was enough blood to coat her hand, however, she didn’t feel the pain. Her right hand appeared to be bandaged in the same kind of blue cloth. Despite the lack of pain, the material of the bandaged right hand and bound wrists was slightly stained with a deep red. The metallic-like scent was noticeable enough to confirm that it was a blood stain. As she looked at the blue cloth, something dawned on her. Eva glanced back over to the man with the crimson sash who had returned with a skin sack, presumably holding water within it. The binding on her hands was probably the missing sash.
The man crouched down again and handed her the water skin. He watched as Eva tried to slowly drink some much needed water. She wasn’t paying attention to the man, more concerned with avoiding any spilling and loss of the precious drink. He absently used his left hand to brush away some of the free hair from his face, tucking it behind his ear. Katie responded with a gasp.
“Wha-what the hell!” she yelped, receiving the man’s attention. He looked slightly confused at her outburst. She sputtered for a second in pure shock before speaking. “Eva, Eva! He’s-He’s!”
Eva paused from drinking, taking in a deep breath. “What’s wrong?” She glanced over to Katie, who had suddenly become excited. If she didn’t know better, Eva would think that Katie seemed ecstatic. ‘Maybe she’s crazy too.’ She looked over to the man and tilted her head.
“Don’t you see?” Katie wriggled from her seat on the ground enthusiastically.
“Nothing seemed different from a couple minutes ago.” She took the opportunity to drink more water, still feeling parched.
“Are you stupid or what?” Katie demanded, now smiling strangely. ‘Yes, yes! My dreams have been answered!’
Eva didn’t respond to Katie’s rhetorical question and continued to drink more. The man was very confused, but tried to hide his concern for the random outburst from the excited girl with the multi-colored hair.
“He’s an Elf! An Elf!” she exclaimed. “And that over there is his twin brother.” The large girl motioned with her head over to the other man who now was walking over, probably concerned by Katie’s outburst. “They’re elves!” ‘They’re Elrohir and Elladan!’
The exposed, pointed left ear of the man could clearly be seen from Katie’s position. His pointed ear looked real, not like one with a prosthetic rubber tip. It seemed so right to Katie. Now it all made sense to her. That’s why it looked like autumn though it had clearly been summer. That’s why there was no sign that it had rained in the woods. That’s why these gorgeous men are dressed so strangely, didn’t know English, and used medieval weapons. They weren’t the strangers; she was the stranger, transported to a magical land. The wish Katie had made while caught in that rainstorm at the national park had been granted. Katie knew she was in Middle-Earth.
Author notes: Let me know if the Elvish is off.
Translations:
Ojiisan おじいさん Grandfather
Ojisan おじさん Uncle
Washi no kawaii Junachan. わしの可愛いじゅなちゃん。My cute Juna.
Man eneth lín? What is your name?
O man dôr túliel le? From what land do you come?
Heniach nin? Do you understand me?
Daro. Stop.
Aníral sogad? Do you want to drink?