One Geek to Rule Them All

An Unexpected Journey

It was dark when they reached the village of Bree. It had also begun to rain, just when the girls were finally starting to get a little dry.

"Um... correct me if I'm wrong, but that wasn't there before, was it?" Kitty asked Devin, lowering her voice, while the two of them huddled together for warmth and stared up at the stone wall surrounding the village 'Strider' had led them to. Even though he ended up leading them back in pretty much the same direction they thought they had come from before falling into the river. But as Kitty had pointed out, none of this looked the slightest bit familiar to the two girls. Devin frowned. She didn't remember seeing anything like this on the map (which was ruined, by the way).

"This way," said Strider, leading them straight to the wall. He planned to use the cover of darkness to sneak the tree of them in unnoticed. He had his own reasons for not wanting his whereabouts recorded by the gatekeeper, and he doubted the two girls, harmless as they may appear, would be allowed in without extensive questioning; and he would rather certain pieces of knowledge in their possession remained secret.

"Um, about how tall would you say this wall is?" asked Devin, not entirely sure she would be able to climb over on her own. She had hopped one or two fences before, but those hadn't been slicked with rain.

"I'd say a little over 7ft. Want a lift?" Kitty responded casually.

"Sure, but I'll probably need someone to catch me on the other side. Can you get over by yourself?" Devin replied, concerned her friend might get stranded out there in the rain.

"Sure. I've done worse," answered Kitty with a shrug. "Hey, Strider, can you catch Devin? I'm gonna toss her over the wall since she's too short to jump this by herself."

"Are you certain? Perhaps I should be the one to 'toss' her over?" he suggested. Both girls deadpanned. He was clearly underestimating them.

"Yeah, we've got this," Devin told the disguised king. "You go on ahead. Be ready on the count of three." He gave the girls one last look before he jumped up and pulled himself over the wall in one swift motion and landed almost silently on the other side with only a very soft splash to indicate his presence.

"Okay, that was kind of cool," said Kitty in appreciation before turning to Devin. "You ready?"

"Am I ever not?" she replied with a smirk. Kitty smirked back. She just wished she could see the look on Strider's face when he saw what was about to happen. Kitty kneeled down and cupped her hands, allowing Devin to step into them.

"1..." Kitty counted. "2... 3...!" In one fluid motion, Kitty stood up and threw her cupped hands into the air while Devin jumped up to perform a midair flip over the wall that landed her securely in the waiting ranger's outstretched arms.

"Safe!" Devin declared and held up a 'V' for victory with her fingers as she flashed him a fish-eating grin. Her many years of cheerleading had paid off.

Strider blinked again and stared at the petite girl in his arms while Kitty jumped up and somehow managed to climb over the wall to join them (albeit not with quite the same amount of grace as the spry ranger). He had certainly not been expecting that. There was more to these girls than meets the eye. Perhaps they were traveling performers of a kind? It would certainly explain their strange clothing and the feat of agility the little one had just demonstrated.

"Now, tell me where I can find the hobbit I seek and how you came to know all that you spoke of to me before," he said firmly and set the girl in his arms down on her own two feet, cutting straight to the chase.

"Are you sure you want to talk out here?" asked Devin casting around a cautious glance. It was dark and the rain poured down, but she could still make out a number of people moving about in the main street several feet away. She thought it odd that not a single one of them appeared to be carrying an umbrella.