Don't own the characters yadda yadda yadda.

Chapter 1

The forest glowed softly in the bright summer sun, the birds flitted in and out among the trees, and the elves sung songs of their forefathers. The bright light never penetrated the thick foliage of the tree canopy, but yellows and greens passed through the leaves like through a artists lens.

It burnt me, I hated it. The vile eye that hung in the sky, always watching me. My skin writhed as I twisted in my cage. Those swine, those heartless brutes. I screamed and yammered but they never came. They didn't care about me, no- body cares about me, no-body.

I swung helplessly from side to side as the chain dragged along the tree branches overhead. My fiendish captures frolicking in the clearing. Left alone with no food or water. Even in Mordor I had been fed, vile unwashed meat, but it was food, and I was grateful for it. Time was running out as well, there was talk of Orkses on the plains, and the kings would surely not be long behind me. One of the swine broke off from the singing and returned to be, striking me with a sharp whip.

" One more time. We know that they took you, what did you tell them?"

" Please, nooo, filthy elveses." He struck me again, the thread cutting deeply into my skin, and the big eye glowering down upon me. I had pleaded with then to put me in the shade, they delighted in my suffering.

" What did they need from you? Are you on a mission for the Dark Lord?"

" Nooo… I swears it, I serves no-one." The whip came several times then, and I screamed for a long time after the pain subsided, those evil elves.

" Filthy evil elveses, Let me go, I am no harm… to anyone." I look imploringly into his eyes, but his eyes were of steel and heartless to the core. He raised his whip again, but then sagged as I flinched away.

" Why did he want you?"

" He wanted my precious… I do not have her, she is gone."

" Your precious, I find it hard to believe that something as vile as you is capable of loving anything but yourself." Cruel words, how could anyone believe these beasts beautiful?

" My precious was taken from me, some time ago." The elf smiled, I hated it when they smiled, they were always scheming.

" You mean your ring, we have heard the tale of how Bilbo tricked you." I couldn't contain it, he had stolen her from me.

" Filthy tricksy Hobbitses, She was mine, she came to me!" I launched at the cage door and was knocked back again.

" He knows where it is, you told him. Didn't you." I did not want to answer, not to this oaf, I slid back against the rear of my cage, nursing my wounds. Yet the whip found me there. " Didn't you!"

The elveses sent their riders out that day, they were going to send word. They were going to claim my ring, my precious. I knew I had to escape, they would surely kill me when they returned, or the eye would. The big eye was sinking now below the horizon, I would be able to escape without it spying on me. I braced my shoulders against the bars and pushed with my legs. After years of surviving by myself my bones were strong, not wasting anything to pointless fat like the animals that held me. The hinges popped and panged like they had the night before, but this time they lifted and the door sprang free.

I ran, the elveses would know I was loose soon enough and would chase me. I could blend well with the shadows, but with their sharp ears that would not grant me any survival, I only knew I would not go back into that cage.

The Shire was a long journey, and their horses would no doubt have made it first, so I headed towards home, towards the dark places, where the elveses would never follow. The lazy eye shone now in the sky, it was cooler than the other, and I did not mind its presence.

The riders of the Lord might have been on their way, but the Dark Lord knew not of the Hobbitses trickery and would take time to track them down. Maybe I thought I could make the journey without problems, I knew the way well.

Once when I passed the vale of Rivendale, I saw the long walks of the heathens leaving the land, their pale faces reflecting the moonlight for all to see, open to any who would attack them, stupid.

" good riddance." I spat at the ground and wiped the excess saliva from my face, I would not be sorry to see them go. Across the moors to the mountains, and then down into the chambers. The guardian was restless when I returned, it had been a long time since travelers had been its way, and I was too guileful for it to catch.

The darkness enveloped me like a warm blanket, my eyes making full use of the light given from the algae and other plants which grew in the dark. Elf eyes could not find me here, I would be safe in the darkness, and there would be fish. Fish, yes, after a long journey and all my suffering. I dived neatly into the waters, I was home.