First and foremost, I know this contains errors; forgive me, ok I didn't feel like editing it. Lol Reviews are welcomed.
Dreams Are Just That...Dreams
Chapter 1
The night air whipped around the company as the twilight of midnight crept up. The company had traveled day and night for the past two moonless nights, and Samwise was not a happy camper. Around him the darkness settled, and from what he could hear, there was not a creature for miles away.
"The whole night is eerie and dank. I hope the whole quest isn't this way," his thoughts pondered weary from his travels. He trailed behind with Boromir and Bill, their supply carrier.
Just one week early he was sitting and listening to the wondrous tales the Elves were telling with their musical voices carrying the emotion of every part. Now, he and the rest of the nine companions traveled, in complete darkness, south to Gondor or Morder, he wasn't sure which yet. He pulled his cloak tighter around him and held the reins around Bill ever more securely.
There was a bustle about up front, and Sam stopped. Strider came running back saying they should try and rest tonight and leave at dawn. "About time," Sam thought and smiled, "I could use a peaceful night sleep."
The group gathered around a clearing where the trees seemed to form a circle as if guarding them from the prying eyes of night. With little to no light Sam built himself his usual bed and laid down staring absently at the stars. His eyes drifted to the various ring members. Legolas was to be the watch for half the night, and the Elf's keen eyes seem to find something that no one else could see. Sam peered at his dear friend, Frodo, who just slept a yard away.
He noticed that his friend no longer slept peaceful and usually had fitful nights clawing at the darkness and talking to himself or someone in a dream. Frodo even seemed to hold his once wounded shoulder like the pain was coming back and he was yet again falling into darkness.
Sam turned over and shut his now tired eyes. For the moment the Elven eyes of Legolas could see no danger and the omniscient knowledge of Gandalf saw no malice in this forest. He felt almost safe.
***
Footsteps are the only thing Sam heard--and the steps were not his. Sam looked around at an unfamiliar setting. The air around him was cold--chilling him to the bone with his breath coming in small puffs. He looked down a narrow hallway made of stone, very old stone that had within each brick a history all in its own.
The footsteps faded leaving on now a soft clanging. Sam pondered back to the black smith at the Shire hammering out dents in his shovels and garden picks. The noise crescendo-ed and echoed down the stone hallway he was standing in. The sound became unbearable to his hobbit hearing, and Sam covered his ears wincing.
The sound stopped then started again as softly as it began. Sam gathered his courage and walked forward with each step sluggish. He slowly looked around now noticing doors on either side of the walls. He dared not to open one for fearing what may lie behind it. Sam took in a deep cold breath and kept on walking forward seeming to get nowhere. His hand reached for one of the knobs to the wooden doors.
Sam looked around seeing nothing but an infinite hallway leading to an infinite number of doors. The young hobbit examined the door and saw nothing that could be dangerous. He reached for the door and heard his name called.
"Mr. Frodo?" Sam turned around and saw his friend standing there with his eyes hidden from an over-head light. A silence fell between the two with both not daring to move or to speak. Sam finally shattered the silence.
"Where are we?" Sam asked taking another look around. A new feeling had fallen in the room in the form of a looming darkness that obscure the hobbit's vision. Once again Sam was chilled with a more eerie feeling than the traveling had ever been.
Frodo raised his head up to reveal is usually pale skin but the light gave him a grave look like that of the reaper himself. Sam backed away with Frodo coming forward normal as he had ever been before. Sam watched as the eyes of his master and friend turn into rings of fire. Sam ran away but seemed to not get any farther away from the demonic eyes.
He turned around and saw Frodo was joined with the black riders, grotesque in figure with the blazing, burning eyes. They opened their mouths and a wicked high-pitch scream sliced through the dense air. Sam covered his ears and stumbled back. His eyes fell to the same wooden door again.
Without hesitation his hand quickly went to the knob then twisted it as the hobbit fell through and shut the horrid voices out. Sam was now in a forest-- no it was somewhere closer-- he was home, but it was not his home. The sky was black and gray with smoke filling the air. Houses that were planted in a certain area were ripped out and replaced with cruel, wooden machines creating some evil too abhorred for him to imagine.
Tall men approached carrying chains within their gloved hands. Behind the tall men was a line of hobbits, slouched over with chains around their necks. Sam's eyes grew wider as he looked upon another figure, hobbit height and size with a gold collar around his neck being pulled like the rest.
"Gollum?" Sam pondered never having never seen the vile creature that carried the ring first, but from stories, he gathered this might be the creature. Behind Gollum, Bilbo also had a gold collar and was like the others being pulled along by a chain. Bilbo looked old and gray with death hanging by his neck. Sam's heart sank as he saw Frodo follow Bilbo with the same gold collar pinched around his neck. All three were slouched, low to the ground, drudging through each and every step they took. The three lead the other hobbits to what Sam thought was their demise. Sam darted out only to be stopped dead in his tracks.
His surprise was quickly smothered when he watched as a gold collar was fitted upon his neck. He let out a scream that no one could hear.
***
Sam raised up from the cold, humid floor panting with a sudden paranoia that he was trapped. His hands instinctively went to his neck and felt no collar present. Sam sighed, relieved, and heard the sound of soft music playing in the distance. The sound calmed his senses, but he was cautious before getting up. Around him the walls glittered with speckles of colored light that seem to peek behind the walls and puncture through the thick stone.
The hobbit seemed to move towards the music feeling the comfort wrap up around him like a security blanket. Sam reached a corner where light illuminated the hallway. His eyes peeked over the corner and saw light dancing across the room with Elves singing merrily and playing various instruments. Sam smiled slightly feeling like he was back in Rivendell with Frodo and Bilbo again.
He walked inside the lit room and gazed out the beauty that suddenly surrounded him. Without a care in the world Sam began to listen to the music the Elves were playing focusing on the sounds. He weaved through the crowds seeing various face he had seen before and paused when he saw Legolas standing alone by a window.
"What's wrong?" Sam asked approaching the Elf. The prince of Mirkwood turned his puzzled face to the young hobbit.
"Merry and Pippin are missing. I've been searching for them, but I'm afraid they are nowhere to be found." he said calmly then looked again. Sam furrowed his brows.
"They're not missing though," Sam said then turned around thinking he heard something other than the wondrous music playing. He turned back to Legolas only for the Elf to turn his eyes upon the hobbit and draw his bow with an arrow ready and aimed. All traces of the Elven prince were gone leaving only the horrid, disfigured creature the hobbits called Orcs. Sam shook his head in utter disbelief thinking that his friend did not just turn into a goblin before his eyes.
Sounds of disgruntled and broken voice filled the room. Sam forgot for a moment about Legolas to see a group of Orcs clawing at something. The hobbit noticed a hand covered with blood that showed under the weight of Orcs. Yelling and growling was heard then the group parted to reveal and bloodied Frodo, clothes ripped, with the one ring in the hands of an Orc.
Darkness entered the room making the orcs cower to the ground. "Evil scaring evil must be a bad sign," he thought. Sam's knees gave out, and he was now on his knees with one hand supporting him. He didn't realize that he had been shot through the chest. The hobbit rolled over to his side and watched as waves of fire engulfed the room, Frodo, and him.