[A/N: Hello, new readers and followers! So a Guest reviewer asked who Elizabeth winds up with. The answer is: you'll find out soon... very soon. Or will you? :D The only way to know for sure is by reading on. Please review!]
"See? See? We've led you out! Hurry, Hobbitses. Hurry! Very lucky we find you." He grinned innocently at Sam. "Nice Hobbit."
Sam took a step forward, and his foot began to sink into the ground. "It's a bog! He's led us into a swamp."
"A swamp, yes, yes. Come, master. We will take you on safe paths through the mist. Come, Hobbits! Come! We go quickly." He gestured to them, telling them to follow. "I found it, I did: the way through the marshes. Orcs don't use it. Orcs don't know it. They go around for miles and miles. Come quickly! Soft and quick as shadows we must be."
They went on through the marshland, which stretched for miles and miles in every direction. The ground kept sucking at the hobbits' bare feet. Elizabeth's staff helped her get through without losing her boots, though. It was eerily quiet.
They paused to take a short break. Frodo passed out some Lembas bread to Sam and Elizabeth.
"I hate this place. It's too quiet," Sam complained. "There's been no sight nor sound of a bird for two days."
"No, no birdses to eat. No crunchable birdses. We are famished, yes! Famished we are, precious!" Gollum pulled a worm up out of the ground and swallowed it down his gullet.
Frodo felt sorry for him. "Here," he said, tossing him a piece of Lembas.
Gollum caught it, excited. "What does it eats? Is it tasty?" He took a huge bite and immediately started gagging, spitting it out vehemently. "It tries to chokes us! We can't eats Hobbit food! We must starve!"
"Well, starve, then," Sam grumbled. "And good riddance!"
"Oh, cruel Hobbit. It does not care if we be hungry. Does not care if we should die." Gollum glanced at Elizabeth. "We isn't sure, no, but maybe nice girl cares!" Then he looked at Frodo, eyes glimmering. "And Master cares. Master knows. Yes. Precious. Once it takes hold of us…it never lets go."
On impulse, Frodo's hand touched the Ring. Gollum started reaching a hand towards him, but he jerked back. "Don't touch me!"
They continued picking their way through the marshes, passing several curious little flickering flames. Sam looked past the flames into the water, and gasped in horror.
"There are dead things- dead faces in the water!"
"All dead. All rotten. Elves and Men and Orcses. A great battle long ago… Dead Marshes. Yes. Yes, that is their name. This way. Don't follow the lights," Gollum told them.
Sam's foot slipped into the water for a second, and he recoiled.
"Careful!" Gollum warned. "Or Hobbits and Girl go down to join the dead ones... and light little candles of their own."
Frodo stopped to study one of the faces, and Elizabeth's heart started racing. She had been able to guess what happened next when she was watching the movie- it was a pretty predictable moment- but she was too far away to be of much help to Frodo. He would be saved, anyway, but it was still scary.
The submerged dead face suddenly opened its eyes, and Frodo went tumbling headfirst into the water. Sam shouted incoherently, struggling towards him, and Gollum scampered over to Frodo, dragging him out of the water.
Sputtering and gasping for air, Frodo looked at Gollum, confused. "Gollum?"
Gollum leaned in close, taking on a solemn tone. "Don't follow the lights."
"Gollum!" Frodo exclaimed as Gollum crawled away.
"Mr. Frodo! Are you all right?" Sam exclaimed, distracting him.
By the time dusk fell, they were through the marshes. Sam and Elizabeth both went to sleep, but Frodo lay awake, stroking the One Ring on his palm.
"So bright. So beautiful," Gollum whispered.
Frodo noticed that he was watching him and quickly tucked the ring back into his shirt. Gollum stroked his own palm.
"Our precious…"
"What did you say?" Frodo asked.
"Master should be resting. Master needs to keep up his strength," Gollum insisted. Frodo walked over to him and crouched in front of him.
"Who are you?"
"Mustn't ask us. Not its business. Gollum, Gollum," he coughed out.
"Gandalf told me you were one of the river-folk," Frodo went on.
Gollum started chanting an old song, as if to block out Frodo's voice. "Cold be heart and hand and bone, cold be travelers far from home…"
"He said your life was a sad story."
"They do not see what lies ahead when sun has failed and moon is dead!" Gollum's voice started rising.
"You were not so very different from a Hobbit, once, were you… Smeagol?"
Gollum stopped suddenly and looked up. "What did you call me?"
"That was your name once, wasn't it? A long time ago."
"My name… My name." Gollum looked a little disoriented. "Smeagol…"
Suddenly, the all-too-familiar screeching of a Nazgul interrupted their exchange, also jolting Sam and Elizabeth awake.
"Black Riders!" Sam shouted.
"Aaagh! Hide, hide!" Gollum yelled.
"Uaaahhh!" Frodo couldn't move, clutching his chest and shoulder where he was stabbed by a Morgul blade on Weathertop- he seemed to be having some sort of flashback.
"Come on, Frodo!" Sam insisted. He and Elizabeth grabbed Frodo and dragged him under cover of a bramble bush.
"Quick- they will see us, they will see us!" Gollum cried.
They all hid together, crouching as low as possible. A Nazgul swept into view, riding a horrid black beast that swooped and flew through the sky.
"I thought they were dead," Sam marveled.
"Dead? No, you cannot kill them; no," Gollum told him. Above them, the Nazgul screeched louder, circling for what seemed like forever in its search for the Ring. Frodo felt it calling to them, and reached inside his shirt to touch it.
"Wraiths! Wraiths on wings! They are calling for it. They are calling for the Precious," Gollum wailed quietly.
Sam saw what Frodo was reaching for and stopped him before he could put on the Ring. "Mr. Frodo! It's all right… I'm here."
The Nazgul flew off, and everyone let out a sigh of relief.
"Hurry, Hobbits and Girl. The Black Gate is very close."
Gimli rubbed a finger against a leaf on one of the lower branches of a tree. He tasted it, then spat immediately. "Orc blood."
The five of them continued to run through the forest, following Aragorn's skillful tracking. They slowed down when Aragorn paused and stooped to examine the ground. "These are strange tracks," he mused. Ariel stood by him, staring down at the tracks. They were probably Treebeard's giant footprints.
"The air is so close in here," Gimli muttered. Rachel felt the same- she loved the outdoors, but the forest seemed to be pressing in on them.
"This forest is old," Legolas said softly, studying the trees and getting a sense of what they felt. "Full of memory… and anger."
The forest groaned suddenly, as if in agreement. Gimli raised his axe in defense.
"The trees are speaking to each other," Legolas said in wonderment.
Aragorn glanced up. "Gimli! Lower your axe."
Gimli looked at his axe, and then at the trees. "Oh!" He lowered it right away.
"They have feelings, my friend," Legolas told him. "The Elves began it. Waking up the trees, teaching them to speak."
"Talking trees," Gimli muttered. "What do trees have to talk about? Except the consistency of squirrel droppings."
Legolas perked up suddenly, moving closer to Aragorn, who stood up. "Aragorn, nad no ennas." Ariel looked over at him, recognizing the line as 'something's out there'. She knew that next, Aragorn would ask, 'what do you see'?
Sure enough, Aragorn replied to Legolas. "Man cenich?"
Legolas gazed deep into the forest, expertly stringing his bow. He spoke in a low tone. "The White Wizard approaches." He tilted his head ever so slightly in the right direction.
"Do not let him speak," Aragorn whispered. "He will put a spell on us." He gripped the hilt of his sword while Gimli selected an axe, and Legolas's fingers tightened on his bow. "We must be quick," Aragorn said. They were too preoccupied to notice that the girls didn't seem frightened at all.
They spun around and were faced by a brilliant white light. Gimli threw his axe, which was easily deflected. Legolas's arrow veered harmlessly off course, and Aragorn's sword turned red-hot, forcing him to drop it.
"You are tracking the footsteps of two young Hobbits," a muffled, familiar voice said from within the light.
"Where are they?" Aragorn demanded.
"They passed this way the day before yesterday. They met someone they did not expect. Does that comfort you?"
"Who are you? Show yourself!" Aragorn shouted. A figure stepped out of the light. As it faded, he was revealed to be none other than Gandalf, robed in white, and bearing a white staff. Even his beard was white.
"It cannot be," Aragorn breathed.
"Forgive me," Legolas said immediately, dropping to one knee. "I mistook you for Saruman." Gimli and the girls also bowed their heads. Ariel realized that she was crying again, even though she didn't really know why; and Rachel just felt immensely happy.
"I am Saruman," Gandalf said mystically. "Or rather, Saruman as he should have been."
"You fell," Aragorn said, still full of disbelief.
"Through fire… and water," Gandalf said. "From the lowest dungeon to the highest peak, I fought with the Balrog of Morgoth until, at last, I threw down my enemy and smote his ruin upon the mountainside. Darkness took me… and I strayed out of thought and time. Stars wheeled overhead, and every day was as long as a life age of the Earth. But it was not the end- I felt life in me again. I've been sent back… until my task is done."
Aragorn moved forward. "…Gandalf."
"Gandalf?" He looked puzzled for a moment, but then he remembered. "Yes… That was what they used to call me- Gandalf the Grey. That was my name." Gandalf smiled warmly.
"Gandalf," Gimli said, overjoyed.
"I am Gandalf the White," he announced. "And I come back to now you at the turn of the tide." He swept a grey cloak over his robes and led them quickly out of the forest. "One stage of your journey is over- another begins. We must travel to Edoras with all speed."
"Edoras?" Gimli exclaimed. "That is no short distance!"
"We hear of trouble in Rohan," Aragorn told Gandalf. "It goes ill with the king."
"Yes, and it will not be easily cured," Gandalf agreed.
"Then we have run all this way for nothing?" Gimli asked. "Are we to leave those poor Hobbits here, in this horrid, dark, dank tree-infested-?" The forest began to groan again before he was finished. "I mean, charming… quite charming forest!"
"It was more than mere chance that brought Merry and Pippin to Fangorn," Gandalf told him. "A great power has been sleeping here for many long years. The coming of Merry and Pippin will be like the falling of small stones that starts an avalanche in the mountains."
"…In one thing you have not changed, dear friend," Aragorn said. Gandalf glanced at him curiously as he continued. "You still speak in riddles." They laughed together.
"A thing is about to happen that has not happened since the Elder Days," Gandalf said once he sobered up. "The Ents are going to wake up... and find that they are strong."
"Strong?!" Gimli exclaimed. The trees groaned menacingly, and he glanced up, grinning widely. "Oh, that's good," he said through his teeth.
"So, stop your fretting, Master Dwarf. Merry and Pippin are quite safe. In fact, they are far safer than you are about to be," Gandalf said mysteriously.
"This new Gandalf's more grumpy than the old one," Gimli muttered to Rachel, who smiled.
They finally exited the forest, and Gandalf whistled a long, high note. From the distance, a great white horse came galloping towards them, reaching them before long. It was pure white and simply magnificent. Ariel and Rachel, both horse-lovers, gaped at it in awe.
"That is one of the Mearas... unless my eyes are cheated by some spell," Legolas breathed.
Gandalf greeted him by nodding his head and patting him gently. "Shadowfax. He is the lord of all horses, and has been my friend through many dangers."
Shadowfax whinnied, and the four horses the companions had been riding galloped into view, even though they had been picketed on the other side of the forest. Everyone mounted up and rode off at full speed towards Edoras.
At night, they finally took a rest. Aragorn found some Lembas bread in his cloak and handed it out, giving the largest portions to Rachel and Ariel. After they ate, Gimli and Rachel chatted quietly by the fire, while Aragorn stood to speak with Gandalf.
"Your hand is bound," Legolas noticed as Ariel laid out her cloak to sleep on.
"Oh…" Ariel glanced at it. "One of the Uruks broke my wrist when they took my bow. Um, Boromir's bow, I mean. Eomer wrapped it for me, but…" She didn't want to admit that it actually REALLY hurt. If only she had brought some ibuprofen…
Legolas sat beside her and held out his hands. Ariel hesitantly extended her left arm, full of the nervous energy she always got when she was around him. Legolas gently unwrapped her linen bandage and held her hand in his, as carefully as if he were handling glass.
His eyes closed for a moment as he studied the break in the delicate wrist bones. Then he stared right at her, with wonder in his bright blue eyes. "Cormlle naa tanya tel'raa," he muttered in amazement. "You are in much pain… Yet you have not complained once."
Ariel wanted to smile- he had just said 'your heart is that of the lion'. "I didn't want to bother anyone," she said quietly, willing herself not to wince as his fingers lightly probed her wrist. "It's not that bad," she lied.
Legolas kissed her hand. "You need rest." Warmth spread through Ariel's hand as her mind suddenly cleared. She felt a little bit stronger and full of a new hope, and her wrist wasn't throbbing quite as painfully as it had been a second ago.
He didn't let go of her hand as she lay down, suddenly exhausted. Legolas's voice faded as she fell asleep. "Esta, astalder, lirimaer… esta."
Ariel tried to translate what he was saying as her eyes fluttered shut. She wasn't even sure if he really said it, or if she'd just imagined it. Rest, valiant one, lovely one… rest.
Gandalf looked at Aragorn, speaking in a low voice. "The veiling shadow that glowers in the east takes shape. Sauron will suffer no rival. From the summit of Barad-dur, his Eye watches ceaselessly. But he is not so mighty yet that he is above fear. Doubt ever gnaws at him. The rumor has reached him. The heir of Numenor still lives."
When Aragorn didn't reply, Gandalf continued. "Sauron fears you, Aragorn. He fears what you may become. And so he'll strike hard and fast at the world of Men. He will use his puppet Saruman to destroy Rohan. War is coming. Rohan must defend itself, and therein lies our first challenge... for Rohan is weak and ready to fall." He shook his head. "The king's mind is enslaved, it's an old device of Saruman's. His hold over King Theoden is now very strong. Sauron and Saruman are tightening the noose. But for all their cunning... we have one advantage. The Ring remains hidden; and that we should seek to destroy it has not yet entered their darkest dreams. And so the weapon of the enemy is moving towards Mordor... in the hands of a Hobbit. Each day brings it closer to the fires of Mount Doom. We must trust now in Frodo. Everything depends upon speed, and the secrecy of his quest."
Aragorn glanced away, full of worry and guilt.
"Do not regret your decision to leave him," Gandalf said gently. "Frodo must finish this task alone."
"He's not alone," Aragorn mused. "Sam went with him; as did Elizabeth."
Gandalf smiled. "Did they? Did they, indeed? Good. Yes, very good," he said, nodding thoughtfully. Everything was turning out to be quite interesting.