Chapter 11: Go home Sam, a bitter parting
Back on the shadowy mountains of Ephel Dúath, on the steps of Cirith Ungol…
The travelers decided to take a rest after climbing for what seemed like endless hours. Lilly, Clementine, Duck, and Frodo, from sheer exhaustion, were sound asleep, whilst Sam, Ben, and Travis kept their eyes upon the seemingly peacefully sleeping Gollum, on a rock just above them. They had been keeping their eyes out for him ever since they discovered his plan of a trap within the tunnel that still was many ways upward.
Sam slipped a little but quickly lifted up his head, as he, as well as Ben and Travis, tried desperately to stay awake, to keep an eye out for Gollum. Then… the vigilant pair was losing the battle becoming tired altogether of watching the creature, and slowly began to lay their heads down to rest. When Ben and Travis closed their eyes for a brief moment…
They quickly opened them, to see if Gollum was moving an inch. But it seemed… that he was fast asleep, his breathing deep and even. Keeping awake a few seconds more… Ben and Travis slowly closed their eyes again… and finally lolled themselves into a deep sleep.
Then…
Gollum stopped his breathing, and opened his eyes, looking upon Sam, Ben, and Travis, to make sure that they weren't moving a single muscle. The devious creature took a few moments to observe his enemies with a small, wicked smile on his face. Satisfied that Ben, Travis, and Sam were asleep…
Gollum quietly sat up, not making a single noise… and slowly, yet silently, climbed down from the rock… going for Sam's bag that had the supplies in it as he opened it very silently. He quickly rummaged through the bag, and took out the Elven Lembas bread, wrapped in it's leaf packaging. Gollum waited a few moments before he uncovered the wafers and looked at them, giving off a rather disgusted grunt, remembering how much he hated the food. The haggard creature then snapped off a few pieces of the waybread and crushed it into tiny crumbs…
In which he sprinkled over Ben, Travis and…then Sam upon their cloaks. As he was done…
Gollum silently went over to the edge of the ledge… and lightly tossed the bread away, along with the packaging that was in it, watching the pieces fall freely towards the ground with a devious, melancholy expression. The creature wiped his hands, as he was finished. At that moment…
Sam, Ben, and Travis woke up to find that Gollum was awake and near the edge.
"What are you up to?" Sam asked suspiciously as he, Ben, and Travis stood up, "sneaking off are we?"
"Going to do some more of your plotting, creepy?" Ben asked, growling a little.
"Running off somewhere, creepy?" Travis asked, growing a little.
"S-s-sneaking? P-pl-plotting? S-so-somewhere?" queried Gollum sarcastically, trying to act innocent, as he moved back up to the rock he perched on earlier, "fat Hobbit is always so polite. Even the impulsive boys can be polite whenever he wants to be precious, oh yeesss.
"…Sméagol shows them secret ways that nobody else could find," Gollum added in ridicule to Sam, Ben, and Travis's suspicions, "and they say sneak? Sneak! Plot? Plot! Somewhere! Very nice friends, oh yes, my preciousses, very nice, very"
"Alright, alright!" shouted Sam, exasperated with Gollum's talking, "you just startled us is all."
"Apart from being creepy, you can be so annoying, you know," Ben added his annoyed expressions.
"You're so creepy," Travis also added his annoyed expressions.
Gollum gloomily pouted after being mistreated by Sam, Ben, and Travis.
"What were you doing?" asked Sam as he looked down from the ledge.
Gollum turned to Sam and sneered, "…sneaking."
"Fine, have it your own way," replied Sam, a little annoyed.
"But don't think you're off the hook yet, creepy," interjected Ben, reminding Gollum, "just remember, we're on to you, got that?"
"Yes precious," answered Gollum, nodding frivolously, "Smeagol knows."
As Ben, Gollum, Ben, and Travis continued to argue… Lilly groaned and slowly lifted herself, opening her eyes at the quarreling crowd. They all looked at Lilly, Clementine, and Duck, waking from their sleep in return. They looked at them with an unsettling look.
"Ohh," moaned an annoyed Lilly, "don't tell me you're all fighting again, because you woke Clementine and Duck."
"Sméagol can't help himself, Mistress, two young children's," said Gollum, with a melancholy smile, "its what Sméagol does best with the fat Hobbit and the impulsive boys, yes."
Sam, Ben, and Travis were exasperated again with Gollum as he enjoyed toying with them each time. They both knew they couldn't tolerate the creature and felt that they wanted to ring his neck.
Sam settled a little and said to Lilly, Clementine, and Duck, "well, since you're up and about, Miss Lilly, Miss, Clementine, and Mr. Duck I think it's best to wake Mr. Frodo."
"Right, Sam," agreed Lilly.
"Yeah, we have to keep moving," agreed Clementine.
"We have to wake Frodo," agreed Duck
Sam then went to wake Frodo.
"Sorry to wake you, Mr. Frodo," he said to Frodo, "we have to be moving on."
Frodo groggily lifted his head as he looked at the sky, which was still veiled in darkness.
"…It's dark still," he observed weakly.
"It's always dark here," replied Sam.
"It's like an endless night," noted Clementine, forlornly, "that won't seem to go away."
"No mistake in that, Miss Clementine," Sam agreed.
"Well," interjected Ben, "lets eat something before we continue climbing."
"Of course, Mr. Ben," said Sam as he went into his bag to get some of the Lembas bread, taking out one of the leaf packets, but…
He found that there were no wafers within it. Gasping in shock, Sam checked the bag frantically, but only discovered, that the waybread was entirely missing from the sack.
"It's gone!" exclaimed Sam with worry in his voice, "…the Elven-Bread!"
"What?" Frodo asked frantically.
Ben, Travis, Lilly, Clementine, and Duck gasped at the fact that the Lembas was gone.
"Are you sure, Sam?" asked Ben.
"Are you really sure the Lembas is gone, Sam?" asked Travis.
"I've checked by bag, Mr. Ben! Mr. Travis," said Sam despairingly, "it's not in here!"
"But that's all we have left!" cried Frodo, fearfully.
"What could have happened?" asked a frantic Duck, knowing that they had no food.
As they were wondering about the whereabouts of the Lembas bread… Sam turned to look at Gollum, who puts on a childishly innocent face, while rubbing the back of his head, seemingly to be thinking about where the bread might have gone…
"…He took it!" Sam pointed at Gollum accusingly, yelling hoarsely, "he must have!"
Ben and Travis turned to look at Gollum with a scowling expression believing Sam's accusations, with surety about what the creature was doing earlier and grabbed the creature's shoulders, pinning him to the wall.
"So that's what you were doing," growled Ben, "you were stealing our food, weren't you?"
"You were trying to steal some of our food we have left, weren't you creepy," growled Travis.
"Sméagol?" Gollum asked in exaggerated surprise, acting innocently still, "no, no, not poor Sméagol. Sméagol hates nasty Elf-bread."
"You're a lying rat!" Sam interjected, not willing to believe Gollum, "answer his question, what did you do with it?"
"He doesn't eat it," Frodo said suspiciously, defending Gollum as he stood up, staring angrily at Sam, Ben, and Travis, "he can't have taken it."
"But Frodo," said Ben fiercely, "when Sam, Travis, and I woke up, we found this creep near the ledge, but we couldn't figure out what he was doing… until now that is."
"Let's calm down everyone," said Clementine, "we should think this through"
"Look!" Gollum interjected, looking and pointing at Ben and Travis's cloaks, "what's this?"
Ben and Travis looked down… and saw with widened eyes, the crumbs of the Elvish bread, to which Gollum brushed off. Ben and travis released Gollum as he was brushing off the crumbs. Everyone looked at Ben and Travis incredulously as they saw the crumbs from his cloak.
"Crumbs on their jacketses," said Gollum.
"Mr. Ben! Mr. Travis?" Sam said in disbelief.
Ben and Travis stood there dumbfounded, as he doesn't know what happened or how the crumbs got onto their cloaks. Suddenly, Gollum turned to Sam, eyeing him…
"And what do we have here?" Gollum said, slowly reaching Sam's cloak…
Sam looked down, to see some of the crumbs on his cloak as well. Ben and Travis looked at Sam as Gollum brushed off the crumbs off his cloak. Sam was just as dumbfounded as Ben and Travis to see the crumbs that were brushed off their cloaks, planted by Gollum.
"Sam?" Lilly said looking at Sam incredulously.
"No?" Clementine said looking at Sam incredulously.
"How could you do something like that?" Duck said looking at Sam incredulously.
"There's crumbs on the fat Hobbit too, they took it!" exclaimed Gollum, pointing at Sam, Ben, and Travis in accusation, "THEY took it!"
"He's lying!" Sam contested, "I never even touched it!"
"I know Ben and I are pigs, Lilly, Clementine, and Duck," added Travis defensively, "but I wouldn't endanger our safety!"
"Don't listen to them, Mistress, two little children's," said Gollum as he hopped in front of Frodo, Lilly, Clementine, and Duck, "I've seen them, I've seen them both. They're always, always stuffing their faces, when Master's not looking!"
"THAT'S A FILTHY LIE!" barked Sam angrily as he, Ben, and Travis rushed at Gollum and pinned him to the ground, punching and strangling him, "you stinking, two-faced sneak!"
"YOU'RE DEAD!" roared Ben, "I don't care if Frodo wants you alive or not!"
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" roared Travis.
"Sam! Ben! Travis!" Lilly cried out to the angry Sam, Ben, and Travis who continued to beat up the creature.
"Sam! Ben! Travis! Leave me him!" Clementine cried out.
"Sam! Ben! Travis! Don't you hurt him!" Duck cried out.
"Called me-!" Sam cried out fiercely, punching Gollum's face, "and Ben and Travis-!"
"You're dead," Ben and Travis both added hatefully, giving out their punches at Gollum, "DEAD!"
"Sam!" cried Frodo, "stop it!"
"Get off him, Ben! Travis!" Lilly demanded as she and Frodo grabbed Sam, Ben, and Travis, pulling them off of Gollum, unwilling to see them kill the creature.
"Sam!" Frodo called out to Sam, trying to settle him down.
"WE'LL KILL HIM!" bellowed Sam with all his rage, struggling against Frodo.
"Sam, no!" Frodo cried out again, using the last of his strength and settled onto the ground, heavily.
Seeing this, Sam was immediately filled with regret, seeing his master in dire straits.
"Oh no!" said a worried Sam, "I'm sorry I didn't mean it to go so far!"
"Ben! Travis!" Lilly cried out fiercely to her apprentice, pinning him to the wall, "you three need to control yourselves right now!"
"Lilly's right, Ben! Travis! You have to control yourselves," said Clementine.
"You have to control yourselves, what Lilly said," said Duck.
"He deserves to die Lilly! Clementine! Duck!" Ben ranted, even more fiercely, "Travis and I don't care what anybody says!"
"Miss Lilly, Miss Clementine, and Mr. Duck are right," said Sam, agreeing with Lilly, Clementine, and Travis, "we have to control ourselves, Mr. Ben and Mr. Travis. We were just so… so angry, Miss Lilly, Miss, Clementine, and Mr. Duck. Let's just… let's just rest up a bit."
Lilly, Clementine, and Duck nodded in affirmation.
"I'm alright," insisted a panting Frodo with a drained voice.
"No, no, you're not alright, Mr. Frodo," Sam sorrowfully countered, pointing out, "you're exhausted. It's that Gollum! Ben and Travis are right though, he does deserve to die! And it's this place all around us… and it's that thing around your neck, Mr. Frodo!"
After Sam's angry statements, Frodo began to look at Sam warily…
"I could help a bit," suggested Sam, "…we could all help a bit. We could all carry it for a while…"
Carry it for a while…
We could all carry it for a while…
We could carry it…
We could carry it…
Sam's suggestion echoed within Frodo as he looked at Sam with darkened eyes…
"Sam," interjected Lilly, "you don't know what you're saying. Its too dangerous for us to carry the ring."
"We all know that, Lilly," said Travis as he and Ben went to join Sam's side, "even Frodo knew that when he agreed to take the ring to Mordor himself."
Frodo then turned to and looked warily at Ben and Travis, remembering what Gollum said to him about him and Sam wanting the ring…
"If he could stand up to it," added Ben, suggestively, "…then so could the rest of us. It's our burden as much as it is Frodo's, so we deserve the chance to carry it."
"Yeah," agreed Sam, "like Mr. Ben and Mr. Travis said… we could all share the load together…"
Frodo only darkened his eyes even more after hearing Ben, Travis, and Sam sharing the same suggestion that echoed within his mind…
Share the load together, share the load…
The load, the load, the load…
We deserve the chance to carry it…
We deserve the chance…
Deserve, deserve, deserve, deserve…
"GET AWAY!" roared Frodo, forcibly pushing Ben, Travis, and Sam away.
"What's the matter with you Frodo!" cried Ben.
"What's wrong with Frodo!" cried Travis
"We don't want to keep it!" Sam defended himself.
But Frodo wouldn't listen to them as he looked at them angrily, beginning to believe Gollum about Sam, Ben, and Travis wanting the ring…
"We just want to help," added Sam.
"But Sam," said Clementine, "if we carried the ring, it would've just made things worse."
Then Gollum came beside Frodo and said to him with a wicked expression, "see? See? They wants it for themselves."
"Shut up creepy!" Ben shouted at Gollum, who recoiled with a fierce snarl, "we've had enough of you!"
Ben and Travis then stood up and threatened, "you better get out of here. If you don't, We'll throw you off this rotten mountain myself"
As he did… Frodo came in front of Ben and Travis, and used his strength to throw them back towards the wall. Ben and Travis recovered and stared disbelieving at Frodo, who still defended Gollum.
"…Don't you touch him, Ben! Travis!" snarled Frodo.
"Can't you see what he's doing Frodo?" growled Travis, trying to tell Frodo, "he's telling you lies about me, Ben, and Sam. He's trying to get rid of us because we won't fall for his tricks."
"No! Don't listen to them, Master," said Gollum, "they and the fat Hobbit have exposed themselves."
Ben and Travis looked upon Gollum with a darkened and angry expression. Gollum's words angered Ben and Travis greatly each moment, that it made Ben and Travis's blood boil as much as it made Sam's blood boil to the point where neither of them could stand it.
"You must leave them behind, master, yesss," Gollum added wickedly, "wicked, tricksy, false!"
"We've heard enough!" yelled Sam in tears he stood up against Gollum, "you heard Mr. Ben and Mr. Travis, go away! Get out of here!"
"No Sam," countered Frodo, "…it's you... Ben… and Travis too."
Ben looked at Frodo incredulously as he said, "…don't tell us, you're going to believe that creep Frodo."
"…I do indeed," replied Frodo, groggily, "…I'm sorry Sam."
"But he's a liar," Sam defended himself again, "it's like Mr. Ben and Mr. Travis said, he's poisoned you against us."
"…You can't help me anymore," Frodo said, unwilling to believe him, Ben, and Travis's word over Gollum's.
Sam was almost in tears after hearing Frodo's cold and harsh words.
"You don't mean that," he said, shaking his head.
Lilly then interjected, "Frodo, Duck, Clementine, and I know it may seem that Sam, Ben and Travis want the ring, but they were just acting out of concern and honestly believed that they could carry the burden just as well as you. There's no reason why you should be so harsh to them."
But Frodo ignored Lilly's reasoning with him as he said plainly to Sam, "…go home… and take Ben and Travis with you."
After Frodo's last and bitter remark…
Sam began to weep tears… and slowly stepped away from Frodo, collapsing onto the ground, with his head lowered, having nothing more to say to Frodo that could change his mind. Ben and Travis however, growled under their breath, feeling that Frodo was losing his sense of reason.
"You're crazy, Frodo!" debated Ben, "I'm not going anywhere. I promised that I would help you and I'm not going to break that promise!"
"You can't do that to me, Ben, and Sam, Frodo!" debated Travis, we promised that we would help you and we're not going to break that promise.
"Ben and Travis are right Frodo," interjected Lilly, "you still need his, Ben, and Sam's help."
"Lilly's right, Frodo! Interjected Clementine, "You still need Sam's help.
"Frodo, you really need Ben, Travis, and Sam's help," debated Duck.
But Frodo countered, "I've made my decision, Miss Lilly, Miss, Clementine, and Mr. Duck. Either you three are with me, or against me. If you three are against me, you may feel free to go with Ben, Travis, and Sam."
Lilly could not believe the harsh attitude that Frodo was displaying. She dared not try to take the ring from Frodo for she knew it would only make things worse. Indeed, as Frodo said, she had two choices, go with him along with Clementine and Duck, or leave with Sam, Ben, and Travis…
"…You can't do this alone, Frodo," said Kaoru, "I'll go with you."
"...I'm coming with you and Lilly," said Clementine.
"...I'm coming with you, Lilly, and Clementine," said Duck
"Me and Ben too!" cried Travis, insistently, "forget about leaving, Frodo, Sam, Ben, and I aren't going anywhere, except where you go, right Sam?"
Ben and Travis turned to Sam for his answer… but only saw that he was still crying and whimpering with his head in his hands after being shunned by Frodo. He looked at Sam angrily on the fact that he was just crying like a baby. The sight of Sam crying was too repulsive for Ben and Travis to even see.
Ben and Travis then turned back at Frodo and said, "…then at least Travis and I won't go anywhere without Sam. You're not getting rid of us that easily Frodo, we're definitely coming after you."
Frodo, remaining adamant about leaving him and Sam, ignored Ben and Travis's vow and turned to Gollum, Lilly, Clementine, and Duck.
"Come Smeagol… Miss Lilly, Clementine, Duck," he said, "we must leave."
Frodo then went to climb the stairs. Gollum went behind Frodo, giving a scornful look at Ben, Travis, and Sam before he followed along.
Ben turned to Gollum and growled, "…you'll pay for this, you hear? You've said your last lie, you creep!"
Travis turned to Gollum and growled, "…you'll pay for this, you hear? You've said your last word and you're dead, you creepy!"
Gollum only grinned wickedly at Ben and Travis in response to his threats. Lilly, Clementine, and Duck slowly went for the stairs to follow along…
"Lilly! Clementine! Duck," spoke Ben as Lilly turned to him and Travis, "…you know he's lying, don't you Lilly?"
Lilly, Clementine, and Duck stared at him for a few brief moments. Ben and Travis could read that she was starting to believe that Gollum was deliberately leading them into a trap. But then… she had been for some time after leaving Osgiliath and when Gollum came out of hiding in the woods, saying to follow him, in a not so kind manner…
"Watch out for Gollum," Travis warned Lilly, Clementine, and Duck, "…he'll trick you, the kids, and Frodo too. Just you wait, Lilly, Clementine, Duck."
Lilly, Clementine, and Duck then turned away from Ben and Travis and began climbing the steep staircase. After seeing them continue on… Ben and Travis turned back to Sam…
"Come on, Sam," Ben said to Sam, "let's go."
But… Sam still cried in tears, still hurt by Frodo's cruel scorning.
"Sam," Travis said, shaking Sam, "…hey Sam."
Ben and Travis could only watch Sam, whimpering endlessly, greatly feeling sorry for himself and his inability to speak reasonably to Frodo. Sam was never the type to back away just like that, not when he risked his life at the Anduin River when Frodo was going off on his own. Ben and Travis realized that Frodo's actions had broken Sam tremendously. He knew that getting Sam to follow Frodo would not be as easy as he had thought…
Disclaimer: I do not own Telltale Series The Walking Dead or Lord of the Rings. TWD is the property of Darrell Rodriguez and Lord of the Rings is the property of Professor J. R. R. Tolkien.