Chapter 4: The Journey to the Mines

"Tired" said Frodo. It had been a long day. They had been walking for days. "Tired" was the only thing Frodo felt like saying. "Good" said Sam. "Because we have nearly made it."

Frodo looked up. Sure enough, even his eyes which weren't as sharp as Sam's could see the dim outline of Caradhras. Sam smiled as he saw Frodo squint into the distance. "Legolas say it 4 days ago!" he said. "Not surprising really, with his Elfish eyes! "Why didn't you tell me?" asked Frodo. He suddenly became very alert and stared at Sam. "Well…" said Sam. "I don't really know." Frodo sighed and looked down. "Thanks, Sam" he said. Sam walked over and the same thought that had been in Frodo's head all day popped up again – nobody thinks I can do anything anymore. He sighed deeply and drifted into his own, little world.

Two days later, Frodo and his party were starting to enter the dark, snow-topped hills of Caradhras. Legolas, who had run ahead, came over a small lump of snow in the ground and whispered something to Gimli. Gimli walked over to the hobbits and said "I am afraid there has been a landslide ahead. We will need to go around it. "How much time will that add to our journey?" asked Frodo. "Maybe a couple of days" said Legolas, running up. "We will need to be quick though – Orcs are nearby. I can feel it." Merry and Pippin looked around nervously. "It is okay" said Legolas. "I think they are far off – the feeling is weak. We should get moving though" Frodo nodded and walked towards the peaks. He frowned, he'd been getting a feeling too. He fiddled around and brought out the Ring. It looked the same as usual and felt the same too. He put it back on and continued on the long, dark journey to Moria.

For the next couple of days the party didn't see much of Legolas. He popped back to see them every hour or so but most of the time he ran off to inspect the path, leaving Gimli in charge. Merry and Pippin weren't very pleased he was running off and every time he came back they ran over to him and begged him to stay. One day though, when they were closing in on Moria, he did stay with them. Merry asked him why but he just said because they were getting closer and wasn't much to see. Frodo frowned when he heard this. Even though they were approaching Moria, surely new things would be seen on the path as there were another few leagues to go. Legolas was looking more nervous than Frodo had ever seen him. "Sam" said Frodo. "Do you think that Legolas is telling the truth about the path?" "No, I don't, Mr Frodo" he answered. "Surely new things appear every day." "I was thinking the exact same thing…" said Frodo, looking at Legolas' tall back. "And I've got a feeling there is something out there Legolas doesn't want us to know about." "What could that be?" asked Sam. "We're friends of Legolas, he would tell us." "Yeah…" said Frodo and walked over to catch up with Merry and Pippin. "Merry" said Frodo. "Did you hear something a few minutes ago? Like a stick or something cracking?" "No" said Merry. "It must just be your imagination." "Yeah" said Frodo. "It must be."

They stopped for the night when they were less than 10 leagues from the Mines. Frodo was exhausted as he lay down and fell asleep straight away. Sam lay down beside him, wanting to fall asleep but felt like he couldn't. So when the snores of Gimli were rattling through the little cave they were camping in, Sam was still awake. He went up and joined Legolas, who was watching for the night. Together they sat and talked quietly. They must have talked for hours and as Sam was telling Legolas all about the Shire and its folk, Legolas was peering down the mountainside. He put his hand over Sam's mouth and told him to wake Gimli. Sam obeyed him and came over a few seconds later. "What's the meaning of waking me Legolas?" asked Gimli, who was right behind Sam. "I was having a nice dream about gold and the Lonely Mountains." "Look" said Legolas. "Down there" He pointed his long arm and looked down towards the snowy hills. "Orcs" he said. "Hundreds of them" "I can't see anything" said Gimli. "Master Sam, can you see them?" Sam squinted into the distance. "I think I can" he said. "I can't see the faces, only the figures. That's strange" he said. "What?" said Gimli, trying to see them. "They seem to be heading…" "Away from the Mines" finished Legolas. "Come on we need to get to the Mines quickly. Sam, wake the rest of the hobbits and tell them what is going on. Gimli and I will get all the equipment ready." "Okay" said Sam, running over to tell Frodo, Merry and Pippin. Gimli ran over to get the fire out. "They might have seen it" he said, when the hobbits woke up in total darkness. "Who's they?" asked Frodo. "Sam will tell you" said Gimli, packing his stuff away, as Sam hurriedly filled in his friends while trying to pack at the same time.

Two minutes later, all the hobbits were running around packing away different food and getting their swords in their sheaths. Another two minutes and they were all ready, waiting for the first ray of sun. They talked quietly as a group, remembering there previous adventure where they came so close to destroying the One Ring, but killed Sauron instead. Frodo didn't join in with this conversation, remembering his last talk with Gandalf and Elrond. He sighed, wishing they were here to back him up. He couldn't pluck up the courage to tell his friends alone as he knew they wouldn't believe a small hobbit from the Shire, no matter what he had done. As Merry and Pippin were singing a little song they had learnt from the Shire, the Sun came up. Frodo stood up, raring to go and find his friends. The others stood up to but were less eager about waking into a mine filled with orcs. They started walking down the hill when the Sun was a bit brighter as the dim light wasn't really permitting them to see much. When they had made it down the small hill the cave had been at the top of, the Sun was high in the sky and they could see the path clearly. They moved quickly at the start of the morning but had to stop early on as Merry and Pippin were moaning about not having their second breakfast. When they got off again they were close to the Mines, closer than Frodo thought. They took a more careful approach to the track now and were moving slowly, taking care not to bump into any orcs on the way. As they approached the Mines Frodo felt more and more desperate to get to the Mines and get out quickly. He started to speed up, being pulled forward by what he thought as his own determination. He didn't know that it was the Ring placed around his neck that was pulling him forward more and more rapidly. When they stopped for a very late lunch they were just about there as Frodo had managed to encourage them to push on. "How long do you think it is until we reach the Mines, Legolas?" asked Frodo. "Maybe another 4 hours. We have about two leagues to go and if we go at the same speed as we did before we should make it no problem by tea" Frodo finished his apple and put the apple core on the ground. "Well, maybe we should push on to the Mines" he said. "We3 could always stop for an early tea and go inside later on" "Okay" said Sam. "That sounds good to me." He smiled at Frodo and the rest of the Company stood. They cleared up the mess they had made and then started to head off.

4 hours later, they had made it to the Mines and were eating tea. Frodo wasn't very happy as the rest of the Company had agreed to go into the Mines in the morning when the Sun came up. Frodo could see some sense in this but he thought that camping out in the open was not the best idea when there were hundreds of orcs out there. He sighed, but agreed nonetheless. He walked into the small area made for the hobbits to sleep and put his sword down. He put it under his small amount of bedding. He fell asleep immediately. As Sam poked his head round the door later he saw Frodo asleep. What he didn't see was his sword. Sting was glowing blue….