A fanfic about an adventurous hobbit and her elf rescuer.
As far as hobbits goes, Mentha had always been peculiar. It seemed like she was always missing and nor fences, duties or excellent company could keep her at one place for more than a minute. She was drawn to new places, her heart sighing for adventures and her feet itching to go.
“Who would be surprised? It runs in the family,” the neighbours would say to one another over the hedges. “One day she’ll get herself in trouble, that silly girl.”
And that is exactly what happened.
On a bright day around midsummer, Mentha headed deeper into the woods than she had ever been. Usually she kept herself at walking distance to the town so she could always be home before dusk. But on this fine day, her feet was in a particularly good mood, the sun was dripping gold between the branches and she was whistling a lovely melody. It was a great one, filled with joy and promises of good times, and soon enough she was farther away than ever.
She hadn’t given it too much thought, she was just following the trail through the forest, when suddenly something made her stop.
The happy whistling ended in the middle of a note. She held her breath and listened. Something was wrong. She didn’t knew what had warned her, but clearly something was off. There was the smallest sound to her left, coming from a thicket. Suddenly she realized how far away from home she was. The sound shifted and she burst into a run like a deer sensing a predator.
Something, or someone, was definitely chasing her. And from the sound of it, it clearly didn’t spend time trying to hide anymore. Mentha jumped over a small stream and made only a few steps before the world turned around.
The ground was above her, her feet pointing into the air. She wiggled in the net, but the trap was well made, and she couldn’t even move her arms.
“That doesn’t look like an orc.”
“Nah, it’s more of a… It’s a hobbit.”
“We don’t get any bounties for hobbit heads.”
Mentha twisted in the net and saw two humans standing beneath her. One of them, a dark-haired male with a dagger in his hand was looking at the other one, a female with lighter hair and ill kept clothing. Both of them looked more than irritated.
“It’s not like we’ve tried. Maybe we could?” the man said impatiently shifting his weight from one foot to another.
“I don’t think it’s worth the trouble. Carrying around that head if it doesn’t pay out.”
Mentha had a strong opinion on the subject but she was afraid talking would just make her situation even worse. She kept her mouth shut. It was hard.
“Stop whining, it’s not like it’s a heavy head. I say we keep it, and maybe it will give a coin or two, but if not, we can just throw it away.”
“What was that?” the woman asked and looked cautiously around, her hand on a short sword, just a Mentha thought she saw someone from the corner of her eye.
“I didn’t see anything,” the male answered clearly not contempt at being interrupted.
“I’m sure I- AH!”
The woman dropped to her knees, an arrow deep in her left thigh. The man drew another dagger and twisted from side to side looking for the unseen attacker.
“Who’s there?! Show yourself!”
It seemed like he appeared out of nowhere, his light steps silent as the moon. A tall elf with long blond straight hair stepped in front of the stinking brute without any drawn weapons. Her capturer shivered but managed to wave his daggers at the elf.
“S-stay back!”
For some reason, the lack of weapons in his hands made the elf more threatening. He made a small step closer to the scared human.
“Leave,” the elf whispered with a strong voice that made the man whimper.
The shaking man looked quickly at his companion, she was still on the ground swearing over the arrow in her leg. He spun around and ran.
“Hey!” the woman shouted after him. “Come back here, you filthy idiot!”
The elf turned to look at her, but he didn’t approach.
“Leave,” he whispered again and this time Mentha could hear the anger in his voice. It was like a lurking beast beneath the surface of a calm lake.
“But I can’t walk!”
He made a step towards her and the woman began crawling away as fast as possible. Soon the forest went quiet. Mentha hold her breath. What now? She knew the elves was very protective of their forests and would easily kill a trespasser, but this wasn’t an elven forest. Was it? How far had she come?
He stepped out of her sight and she fell to the ground with a screech as he cut down the net. When she looked up, he offered her a long sleek hand and helped her to her feet. That was a good sign, right? He hadn’t even killed the two humans so he probably wouldn’t kill her. She looked into his eyes and they were a shade of blue that she had never seen before. His face so different from any hobbit’s had fine features, his lips looked so soft that- no! She looked down, suddenly very busy brushing dust off her clothes and hiding her blushing face.
“Are you alright?” he asked and sounded concerned.
Was she alright? She didn’t know what she was, but it was far from anything she had ever felt before.
Next I think I’m lost