Disclaimer: Don't lotr Tolkien does.

Notes: Than you for the reviews particularly tiggivon who

has been following the story.

Chapter 8: Shabtack

It was three weeks since they had left the mist forest. The weather had been particularly good since winter had just started. That had not lasted for long. Now a pouring wet group trudged through the hard rains. One of the members was much unhappier than the others if that was possible. Miko had fur and now felt like he was carrying pounds of water on his body. " We should start looking for a place to camp." Nolion said to the very unhappy group. " Good idea do you know where we could camp and not get wet?" James asked trying to sound sarcastic but failing miserably. Nolion sighted and shook his head. He turned to look at their surroundings. All he could see in the distance was mountains and more mountains. Just the thought that they had to cross them to get to the Hidden Valley made him feel even more miserable than he already felt.

Suddenly all that could sense magical presences turned towards the cold and wet woods on their right. Frodo, Anson, Kyle, and Ibun who didn't know what was happening turned to look at the others. " Is something wrong?" Frodo asked. Suddenly all of the ones that could sense what headed their way shouted in unison to run and started running themselves. Not knowing what was happening the four others ran behind the others who seemed desperate to leave whatever they sensed in the woods behind.

Frodo heard the thunder of hooves and turned to see what was coming out. Once he saw it he and the other three gave a scream of fear and surprise and ran as fast as they could, something they had not been doing because of curiosity.

Out of the woods came the most monstrous thing Frodo had ever seen. The creature was like an elephant; it would have looked like an elephant if it weren't for the fact that its body was covered in some sort of spikes like a porcupine, its hooves seemed to be made of some sort of metal, its trunk was longer than any elephants should be, and the creature was at least twice as big as an elephant. The tusks also seemed to be made out of metal and it did not only have two eyes. It had at least four eyes and all were red.

It came straight at them gaining speed as it ran forward.

Miko dropped behind to where the two hobbits were. " I have no time to kneel! Try and get on my back both of you!" Anson seemed to have had to deal with this kind of work for he mounted like an expert and extended his hand towards Frodo who took it and clumsily but successfully got on Miko's back. Then with out warning Miko ran even faster than he had when Frodo had first met him. Nolion had also dropped behind and ordered Kyle and Ibun to mount. Kyle had been trained in this kind of thing but not Ibun he would have had a difficult time but at the moment he didn't think they had that kind of time. He grabbed Kyle's hand that threw him on Nolion's back not bothering to be gentle about it. In other time Ibun would have argued to no end but at the moment he righted himself as best he could and took hold of Kyle's back while Nolion speeded up.

" What is that?" Frodo shouted through the rain at Anson. " It's the most horrible thing we could have encountered in this mission besides the Dark Lord himself! And even the Dark Lord fears this creature. It is called a shabtack and eats magical energy it is the worst possible fate for some one that posses magical skills to encounter for they have no protection against it and is their downfall!" Anson shouted back at Frodo. The rain seemed to be trying to slow them down. It began pouring even harder and both Frodo and Anson noted when after miles of running not only Miko but Nolion as well were starting to tire. Those who could fly had stopped and those who were running had begun to drop behind. It surprised Frodo that they could run for so long with out stopping but he thought that if they had magic it might be because of it that they could go on for so long.

The graceful Elf was starting to look like if he would stumble any time soon and even Frodo could feel the exhaustion of walking for so long, and of being in the rain that had become so cold and uncaring of their predicament. He felt like any moment he would close his eyes and slide of from Miko's back.

Through all this the shabtack had not given up its pursuit instead it seemed to be gaining strength as they became weaker.

Suddenly Miko stumbled and fell, with him fell Frodo and Anson but the curious thing was that they kept on falling and falling. Frodo now realized that they were falling into some underground cave. He heard the surprised shouts of every one from above, then he could hear them yelling as they too fell. ' I suppose its better to die this way then to die by being killed by that thing.' he braced himself but instead of hitting cold hard cave ground as he had expected he landed on something soft. He heard the others around him land. " Where in the world are we?" He heard Kyle say as exhaustion took over and he fell asleep before his head hit the soft ground.