Noelle, Frodo and Sam trudged through the fields. Noelle was almost as tall as the crops, while Frodo and Sam were about half the height. As a result, Frodo and Sam kept pegging her to be on the look out.
"Do you see anything, Miss Noelle?" Sam asked for the fiftieth time.
Noelle sighed inwardly. She had already said that if she did see someone, she would say so. "I don't see anything!" she called back.
Point was, they weren't even supposed to be in this field. Apparently the guy who owned this field, Farmer Maggot, wasn't the nicest guy. But this was the fastest way to cut across country and avoid the roads.
It was funny though, because the Elves they had spotted a couple of nights ago were using the road. Noelle figured the Elves weren't hiding from something though.
What are we even avoiding? she wondered.
Gandalf had warned them- told them to be careful, but he had never specifically said what to watch out for.
The Elves on the other hand, were leaving Middle-earth. Noelle felt really guilty that she hadn't known that and like Sam said, it made her sad to think about it. The only Elf she had kind of gotten to know was Legolas- even though Elrond didn't seem like such a bad guy either. The thought of people like them leaving Middle-earth for good made her upset.
And they were taking the Light Side with them. Now that Noelle was more attuned to the Force as a result of her Jedi training, she could sense the Light Side specifically surrounding the Elves.
A few years before, Noelle had always thought of the Force as a fluid conduit, but now her knowledge was broader. The Force was a far larger concept than just Dark and Light. It flowed through every being in the universe in some way, so it only made sense. Everyone had their own "Force," and Noelle needed to find hers. She didn't agree with the Jedi, but she would never turn to the Dark Side.
Middle-earth seemed to Noelle a good place to do it. Now that she thought about it, Middle-earth was a very Force-sensitive place, very much in tune to nature.
Suddenly she heard an angry shout coming from the distance, breaking her thoughts.
Uh oh.
She spotted a hobbit with a pitchfork and three dogs coming their way.
"Frodo! Sam!" Noelle turned and ran the opposite direction where she thought Frodo and Sam were.
When she found them, they were knocked on the ground. Two other hobbits were on top of them, surrounded by a pile of vegetables.
"Merry and Pippin!" Noelle shouted in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Frodo? Miss Noelle?"
"What is the meaning of this?" cried Frodo.
Merry and Pippin shoved some vegetables into Sam's hands.
"You've been into Farmer Maggot's crop!" Sam cried.
"Yeah that's what I was trying to say! Farmer Maggot's coming!" Noelle panted.
The barking dogs were getting closer, and so was Farmer Maggot. "Get out of my field!" the angry farmer screamed.
As Noelle ran, she nearly tripped on the hobbits, given that she had longer legs than them.
"I don't know why he's so upset! It's only a couple of carrots!" Merry was shouting.
"And some cabbages. And those three bags of potatoes that we lifted last week, and then the mushrooms the week before!" Pippin was rambling on.
"So you're stealing crops?" Noelle questioned under her breath.
"Yes Pippin, my point is, he's clearly overreacting! Run-"
Noelle, who had turned to look over her shoulder, didn't see that the hobbits had stopped at the edge of the field. She crashed into Sam's back. Then they all went falling.
Farmer Maggot's field had been on the edge of a cliff. Noelle, Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin all went tumbling down into the woods at the bottom of the cliff.
Groaning in annoyance, Noelle brushed the dirt off her black pants as she stood up. Of course, everything showed up on black.
"Really guys!?" This was probably the most embarrassing thing she had done since she had become a Jedi. Smashed into some hobbits then went rolling down a hill.
"You smashed into my back!" Sam shot back, spitting some grass out of his mouth. "Trust a Brandybuck and a Took!"
"What?" protested Merry. "That was just a detour- a shortcut!"
"Probably the worst shortcut ever," said Noelle.
"A shortcut to what?" Sam snapped angrily.
"Mushrooms!" Pippin exclaimed suddenly.
Sam immediately brightened and followed the excited Merry and Pippin to the patch of white mushrooms on their left.
"Hey! How do you know those aren't poisonous?" Noelle called over. But the hobbits were too excited to answer.
Whatever. I guess we'll find out, won't we?
Noelle didn't really mean that, she was just still mad about Merry and Pippin's antics.
She sighed to herself as she adjusted the sword on her belt and the cloak around her shoulders. Then she suddenly felt sick to her stomach. Not in a nauseous way, but in a dreadful way. Was she about to have another episode, or was something coming?
She heard the Ring whisper.
"I think we should get off the road," came Frodo's voice. Whatever it was, Frodo sensed it too. Therefore, Noelle concluded that she was not having a traumatic vision of the past.
Normally, Noelle wouldn't have asked the hobbit's opinion, but given that he seemed to sense something, she decided to ask. "Frodo, what is it?"
"Something is close," he answered, not taking his eyes off the road up ahead.
A chilly rush of wind blew a swarm of brown leaves into Noelle and Frodo's faces.
"Get off the road! Quick!" cried Frodo in a state of panic.
Sam, Merry and Pippin looked up in surprise. They looked at Noelle then back at Frodo.
"What's he talking about, Miss Noelle?" Sam asked.
"I don't know. Just do it though," Noelle said uneasily.
Across the other side of the path was a large oak tree. Its roots were sticking out from the ground, creating a perfect hollow area.
"Let's hide here," Frodo suggested.
"Hide?" asked a clearly confused Merry.
"Yes, something or someone is coming. I can feel it."
Noelle could feel it too. The longer they procrastinated hiding, the Darker the feeling in her heart became, and the sicker she felt.
She crouched underneath the tree roots next to Frodo. Then she heard horse hooves. A clank of a metal foot climbed down from off the horse and slammed onto the ground above Noelle and the hobbits' heads. Noelle was reminded of the metal clanking of Darth Maul's legs.
But unlike Maul, she sensed complete and utter Darkness coming from within this Dark Rider. She didn't dare look up from their hiding place.
As she stared into the woods ahead of her, Noelle could hear a sniffing sound. This thing was smelling them out. What was it smelling for? The Ring?
Speaking of the Ring, Noelle could hear it whispering away. She couldn't understand what it was saying, which meant that It was probably calling to this thing.
Sam quickly reached over and grabbed Frodo's hand. Noelle realized what he had done. Frodo had almost put on the Ring. Immediately she felt guilty. That was supposed to be her job. Had Frodo put on the Ring, they would have been toast. But she had another idea.
Stretching out her left arm, she summoned the Force. She breathed in and out, trying to stem her nervousness. Then she did it. She made a tree branch from another tree fall to the ground behind them. They heard a loud, eerie screech in response.
"RUN!" screamed Sam.
The five of them bolted, not looking behind them to see if the Dark Rider was following. They finally came to a halt, about another half a mile down the hill.
"What was that?" cried Merry.
Frodo stopped and held out the Ring in his palm. He and Noelle stared at it as if it were a creature with three heads.
Noelle closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.
"Noelle?" Frodo asked. "What was that?"
"I-I don't know... but..." Noelle's voice was shaking.
The four hobbits stared at her in expectant fear.
"I think it's a servant of Sauron," she confirmed.
Frodo's face looked grim, as if he had already known the answer. Sam's eyes narrowed, and Merry and Pippin's faces paled.
Noelle really didn't know how to explain it to the hobbits, because they wouldn't understand. Never before had she felt such evil. Not in Mirkwood or the Lonely Mountain. Not in Count Dooku or in Darth Maul. This was something else entirely.
All she knew was that her job of protecting Frodo and the Ring had just gotten a whole lot harder.