Chapter 14: A Knife in The Dark

At Weathertop, Strider continued to lead the group to Rivendell. It was now late afternoon. Strider stopped to look upon a tall, stone structure.

The monument bore a sad remark from Strider, "this use to be the great watchtower of Amon Sul." He then turned to face the weary travelers, "we shall rest here, tonight."

Strider and company rested upon a crevice on the structure. Strider kept watch while the company got themselves settled. Later, he unwrapped a package with four swords in it.

"These are for you," said Strider as he passed the swords to the hobbits.

"Keep them close," Strider continued, "I'm going to have a look around."

Later that night, Ethan was napping. He was unaware of his friends' cooking…

"My tomato's burst," said Hunter.

"Can I have some bacon?" Conner asked Hunter.

"Okay," said Hunter, "want a tomato Conner?"

Ethan then woke up abruptly and looked at the campfire, "what are you doing?" he asked in shock.

There's tomatoes, sausages, nice crispy bacon," said Hunter.

"We saved some," said Conner holding out a prepared plate for Ethan, "for you, Ethan."

Ethan quickly ran up to the fire, and used his foot to stamp it out. "Put it out," cried Ethan, "you fools! Put it out!"

That's nice," Blake added, a little upset, "ash on my tomatoes!"

SCCCCCRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

They hear a high screech that came over the land… it was the Ringwraiths. Ethan and the others looked over the edge to see the Wraiths approaching.

"Go," Ethan said as he drew his sword.

The group retreated to the top of the structure, to the center of the ruin. They stood back to back, not knowing where their enemies will appear…

The Hobbits had theirs weapons at the ready, awaiting the coming battle…

After a few moments of frightening Ethan looked into the darkness…

And the Wraiths slowly came out from the darkness… into the ruin. There were five of them…

The wraiths drew their swords…

They held their swords in a saluting position, tightening their grip on the swords as they slowly walked towards their quarry, slowly… but frighteningly as Ethan's companions looked in his direction to see their enemies closing in…

The wraiths then slowly positioned their swords in a thrusting stance. Ethan's companions backed away slowly… and slowly away from their enemies each time they got closer…

Conner, with a vestige of bravery… yelled at the Wraiths, "back, you devils!"

Conner immediately engaged a fight with one of the black riders, but was short lived. The wraith tossed Conner against a stone.

Blake and Hunter stepped in front of Ethan, but were also pushed aside…

Ethan was now wide open. He dropped his sword and stumbled onto the ground. The riders seemed to know that Ethan has the ring. He pulls it out of his pocket. The wraiths' attention was now drawn completely on Ethan. The leader pulls out a blade, smaller than a sword and massed even closer to Ethan, intending to kill the Hobbit…

A few moments later… when Ethan is cornered and feels he has no other options… he puts on the ring…

…And disappears!

Ethan was once again in the shadow world. He thought the riders would leave him alone…

…But he was wrong.

Ethan now sees the riders in their true form, ghastly, ghost-like figures, with crowns of thorns on their heads. The leader still poises his blade on Ethan. It holds out its hand for the ring…

The ring took ahold of Ethan's hand, as it drew itself closer… and closer to the wraith.

Luckily… Ethan used his strength of willpower to pull his hand away from the wraith. It became angry at this action and used the blade to stab Frodo in his left shoulder…

"AAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH…!" Ethan cried in agony.

Then a cries came from nowhere, causing the wraith to pull its blade from Ethan and drops it.

It was Strider to the rescue. Strider used his sword and torch to ward the riders away from Ethan.

Ethan stutters as he moved his arm slowly to remove the ring from his finger…

As he reappeared, his agony was even worse than before.

"Ethan! Ethan!" cried Conner.

He both ran to his side. "Conner," muttered Ethan, "oh, Conner."

Strider continued their assault on the wraiths…

Strider had the remaining three to himself. He fought against and stabbed a rider and easily, set another on fire. The remaining rider was behind him. Strider turned his head to the wraith and threw the torch at its head, causing the rider to flee.

as Strider surveys the ruin one more time before running towards the injured Ethan himself.

"Strider!" cried out Conner, "help him Strider."

Strider picks up and observes the blade that stabbed Ethan and announced, "he's been stabbed by a Morgul blade."

Then… the blade quickly dissolves into dust and Strider drops it.

Do something. Conner asked,

as Strider picks up Ethan, who is in a lot of pain, "this is beyond my skill to heal. He needs elvish medicine."

The group began their race to Rivendell. Strider was still in the lead, carrying Ethan, constantly keeping watch.

"Hurry," commanded Strider. They rushed as fast as they could, pushing themselves to their absolute limits in order to save Ethan.

"We're six days from Rivendell," stated Conner, "he'll never make it."

Ethan kept muttering Tommy's name under his breath.

"Hold on, Ethan," said Strider in a concerned tone of voice.

"…Tommy!" Ethan yelled out in agony…