1 PRECIOUS

1.1 CHAPTER 1 - THE DISCOVERY

(DISCLAIMER: This story has nothing to do with the mythology of Tolkien's work. It is just a story created, by me, using one of Tolkien's characters. As if you thought otherwise. Also, I have yet to finish reading The Lord Of The Rings, so there may be some inaccuracies, please don't tear me apart for them.)

Gollum wept in his small boat, sitting in the middle of the lake deep in the Misty Mountains. It had been nearly a year since Bilbo Baggins had escaped from the Misty Mountains, escaped from Gollum, but it seemed like an eternity to the wretched creature, yet he remembered it like it had only happened yesterday.

"We're all alone, my preciousssss," sobbed Gollum to himself, "My birthday present has been stolen! Curse the nasty little Baggins! WE HATE THE BAGGINS!!!!!!!!"

Just then he heard a distant sound, muffled, but most definitely not another trick being played on him by his imagination. Then again, previous voices had seemed so real to him. He constantly heard his ring calling to him, telling him that it had returned, that it was waiting for him across the lake. Every time, he had foolishly left his isolated island on his boat, travelled across the icy, murky waters and scrambled across the ground, only to discover to his dismay that his precious birthday present was not there. Just then, he heard the sound again, and decided to venture out into the tunnels to find out where it was coming from.

As he slinked through the dark passages, his bulbous eyes glowing dimly in the dark, following the noise as it gradually got closer. He eventually located the noise, finding himself standing right behind it, actually. It was a goblin, one of the few who had survived The Battle Of The Five Armies, was shambling through the tunnel, holding a small package in his hands. Gollum's hands were soon around the goblin's throat, and, rather than choking the creature to death, like he usually did, Gollum merely made a sharp twist with his bony hands, breaking the goblin's neck. Gollum let his victim collapse backwards, and, just then, he heard the noise again.

Gollum looked down, it was coming from the package. Rather than dragging the dead goblin back to his cave to devour, Gollum instead ran back to his home with the package. He placed it down on the boat, and then jumped in himself. As he took the boat back to his little island at the end of the lake, he listened curiously to the sound coming from the small package. It was actually quite unsettling for Gollum. When he reached his island, he decided to investigate this new discovery.

He unravelled some of the passage, and found, to his shock, a human baby underneath.

Gollum did not know how it had got to where it was. What had happened was as follows. A man, new to that area, had camped in the very same opening that Bilbo, Gandalf and the dwarves had camped at when they had been captured by the goblins. His wife and his newborn child had accompanied him. The lone goblin had slain the man and his wife as they slept, and took the child deep into the mountain to torment further. However, the goblin was not too bright, and had got lost in the passage of tunnels. The baby was woken by the goblin's angered utterances, and this was when Gollum had heard it crying.

When the baby first saw the large, green eyes of Gollum staring down at her in the dark, her crying seized. Gollum was surprised at this reaction. The crying of the infant sounded fairer than those of the goblins, which came when Gollum had caught them unawares, aided by his ring, which gave him invisibility, and slowly strangled them to death. However, the child's wails had saddened Gollum, and he was relieved that she had stopped.

If Gollum was surprised by this first reaction, he was downright astonished by the reaction that followed. The baby reached out her tiny little hands, and clasped them around Gollum's slimy wrist, and smiled, giving a naïve little chuckle to her new discovery.

"What shall we call it?" asked Gollum.

Gollum looked down at the round face, partially covered by some thin wisps of golden blonde hair. He studied the round, trusting eyes, the pudgy little nose and the grinning mouth, truly cherubic features, and made his decision.

"We shall call it Preciousssssss."