Chapter Twenty-Four- Love and Evil
Author's notes- Gawd, snowling, you're right. I LOVE WRITING AUTHOR'S NOTES!!! YES! I just saw the matrix last night, and it's GREAT. Everyone go and see it if you haven't, and if you have, go see it again. It's kinda like a mix between Star Wars, Back to the Future, Men in Black, and, to top it off, it has the Elf dude in it! Go see it! NOW!!! Another good movie for all you Elijah fans out there- FLIPPER!!! Also, snowling- thanks for the idea of "Falling Asleep in an Elf's Arms". That was stolen, and… and… well, you'll recognize it. Also, sorry this chapter goes so fast, but I'm racing to try and get this story done! Both for the readers and for myself- I wanna start on the sequel!!! Waaaah! CRAP, this chapter is long! This note is written in about the middle of the chapter and it's 2675 words long. Endnote: Holy Jesus in a Peach Tree! Holy Chocolate Cheese Weasels, Captain Obvious!!! This chapter is exactly 3379 words long and I got one word for you: Enjoy.
We all hurried to the gates of Moria and stepped blinking into the sunlight. Nikki and Sam had silent tears running down their cheeks, while the rest of us knew better that to think for a second that Gandalf was dead. I walked over to Sam and Nikki and put a protective arm around each of them.
"He's not really dead, you know," I said.
"What do you mean?" Sam asked.
"I mean that this same situation has happened three times now and Gandalf lived through it. He fell in battle against the Balrog each time and each time he came back."
"Really?" Nikki asked, drying her eyes.
"Yes," I replied. I smiled. "He'll come back, and probably save all of us in the process. You just wait and see." And with that, I sped up to talk to Frodo, and heard, through means of psychic eavesdropping, him ask Nikki if she was all right. I smiled. They were so perfect together.
"Well?' I asked Frodo when I reached him.
"Well what?"
"Well, what do you think?"
"About what?"
"About… all this…"
"Well, I don't know what to think."
"I see."
We then walked on for a while in silence. Around nightfall, we reached the golden woods. I smiled as we walked among the beautiful trees. Nikki smiled, and looked around in awe. We then heard the stretch of bowstrings. I heard Aragorn speak.
"Haldir of Lorien," he said, bowing to the elf. I smiled.
"Who did you hear breathing this time?" I asked. Frodo laughed before addressing the elf.
"The elf pulls his bowstring so loudly we could have avoided him in the dark," he said. Haldir smiled and turned on his heel, beckoning for us to follow. We followed, and soon came to find Galadriel and Celeborn waiting to greet us.
They smiled.
"We've been expecting you," Galadriel said, addressing us while looking each of us carefully in the eye.
That night, I heard the familiar beckoning voice of Galadriel calling me from my dreams into waking. I sat up and saw Nikki and Legolas following Galadriel. I got up and trailed behind them, knowing what was coming.
When we reached the pedestal and she had poured the water into the mirror, she spoke to Nikki first.
"Will you look into the mirror?" She asked.
"What will I see?"
"Even the wisest cannot tell, for the mirror shows many things. Things that were, things that are, and some things that have not yet come to pass."
Nikki stepped up and looked down into the water. As she stared down into the depths, she smiled. "Awww…" she said, quietly. Galadriel smiled.
"And you?" she asked, turning to me. As soon as Nikki had stepped down, I stepped up and looked into the water. Barely visible ripples formed on the surface. I frowned slightly when I saw what was in the mirror. It looked like a chamber of Cirith Ungol, but I did not see Sam. Instead, I saw Legolas, Nikki, Frodo, and I sitting dejectedly against a stone wall. I looked up, at Galadriel, who looked pointedly down at the mirror. I looked down, and what I saw next settled me- an image of all of us at Cirith Ungol, including Sam Gamgee. I smiled a bit and stepped down. Legolas stepped towards the pedestal and looked into the mirror intently. After a couple of seconds his face widened into a smile. He looked up from the mirror at Galadriel and raised an eyebrow inquiringly. She nodded and he took a couple of steps towards Nikki.
"You will all face various dangers throughout this journey," Galadriel said. "And the most important thing to remember is that you should never lose faith and always stay close to the ones you love." She smiled. "Luck be with you, we'll be praying."
With that, she ushered us towards bed.
The next morning we were to depart from Lothlorien, and we loaded into the elven boats. Legolas, Nikki, Frodo, and I sat in one boat, and Aragorn, Sam, Merry, and Pippin sat in the other. As we watched Lothlorien disappear from view, our hearts sank with the prospect of leaving the beautiful city.
The journey down the Anduin was uneventful as far as the Argonath. When they came into view, Frodo looked back at me and raised an eyebrow, mind inquiring about the packages.
"Not yet," I replied through mind conversation. Legolas, who had begun telepathically telling Nikki about the Argonath, diverted us from any further communication.
A couple of hours later, we had reached our camping spot for the night. We had set up camp for the night and gotten together the best supper we could. I sat back just as Legolas seemed to remember something.
"The packages," He said. "What about the packages that Gandalf told you to open as soon as we had reached the Argonath?"
I realized what he was talking about and Frodo and I both pulled out a long, thin package. They were the ones we had gotten from Hermione, but that was many years ago. With apprehension, I pulled the note off of mine and opened the timeworn tape with trembling fingers. I read the note out loud.
"Leah," I read, wondering at Hermione's beautiful wandering script, "The vial enclosed will make the drinker invisible for one hour, and one hour only. I hope this comes of use. Signed, Hermione." I folded up the note and carefully inspected the vial, containing a red liquid. Frodo then read his note.
"Frodo," he read, "This liquid, unlike Leah's, will make the drinker immortal for an hour. I hope it will be helpful on your quest. Signed, Hermione." He looked up at me before folding up the note. His liquid was blue. We looked up to see everyone else looking at us.
"Uh…hi?" I said, breaking the silence.
"We must get some rest," Aragorn announced. We all nodded and went to find the softest ground we could.
I woke during the night to see Frodo's eyes looking at me.
"Gah!" I exclaimed. "Frodo! Don't DO that!!!"
He smiled and looked pointedly towards the place where Nikki and Legolas were sleeping. She had her head nestled into his shoulder, and he had a protective arm around her, pulling her to himself. (A/N: awwww…) I smiled and looked over at Frodo. He smiled, but it faded as we heard what we had been dreading.
Footsteps.
LOTS of footsteps.
Coming this way.
"Shit!" I said quietly. Frodo looked at me.
"You wake up that side of the camp, and I'll wake up this of the camp."
I woke Aragorn first, and then it was my painful duty to wake Nikki and Legolas. I tried awaking them by voice, but that didn't work. I shook Nikki's shoulders.
"What?" she said feebly, squinting to see.
"Orcs." Legolas said, recognizing the sound. I nodded grimly.
Nikki was now wide-awake. I looked at her, sizing her up. I did not think her ready for this sort of thing.
"Get your sword. You may need it."
"Sword?" she choked out.
"Don't worry. Stay as hidden as possible."
Nikki nodded weakly and drew her sword out of its sheath.
We all stood in a circle with our backs together, for that was the method of defense the second fellowship (the one for my quest) had developed, and we had not lost our touch.
As the Orcs approached, we did our best to fight them off, but it was no use. Frodo and Legolas gave a scream, and I knew no more.
When I woke up, I did not open my eyes yet. I vaguely recognized the sound of Orcs arguing amongst themselves. I opened my eyes and looked to the left as far as I could without tilting my head. I looked to the right and saw Nikki lying on the ground next to me, and she was looking at me also. She looked frightened, but I did not dare to say any words of comfort out loud. I put a finger to my lips quietly to signal to her to be quiet, and she nodded slightly.
"Are you hurt?" I asked her, remembering our talent of telepathy.
"No," she thought back.
"Okay," I thought. "What do we do now?"
An Orc coming over to us interrupted my thoughts.
"Awake at last?" He asked us, his face in a foul sneer.
"I could tell you," I said to him slowly, "Or I could just give you the finger."
I raised my hand.
And flipped him off.
His face grew into a look of confusion but he shrugged it off. Nikki and I stood up.
"The chief wants to talk to you," He said. "The chief?" I asked.
"Yes. And you only. You'll have to leave her-" he motioned to Nikki, "Here."
"No!" Nikki exclaimed.
"Think at me if anything goes wrong. I'll be back as soon as I can." I looked at her, and kissed her on the forehead. "I will not let any harm come to you."
She nodded weakly as I walked away with the Orc. He took me to see "The Chief".
Back at the camp, the rest of our companions had realized what had happened.
"It might not be wise for all of us to go," Aragorn said carefully.
"I'm going," Frodo said.
"As am I." Legolas said. Aragorn nodded.
"Use the most care possible," Aragorn said to us. Frodo walked over to where his and Leah's packs were, and pulled out of them the vials. He held them out to Legolas, The Red in his right hand and the blue in his left.
"Which one, Legolas?"
Legolas reached out and took the red vial.
"Wait until we're almost there to drink them," Frodo said. Legolas nodded, and, with a nod from Aragorn they began to walk in the direction the Orcs had gone.
After I saw who "The Chief" was, I shuddered. Tall and silhouetted against the fire, a pale face looked into my eyes. I shivered. Those beady eyes stared out at me, seeming almost to pierce my very soul, from an incredibly pale face I'd hoped never to see again.
Grima Wormtounge was sitting in front of the fire.
"I've been expecting you," he said.
"So, you decided to trouble the world once more by crawling out from under that rock they call Mordor, have you?" I asked him, my voice slightly raspy and seething with hatred. He glared at me before going on with what he was saying.
"I see you have fallen into my trap," he said. I frowned. "Sam Gamgee is dead."
Author's Note: oooh, EVIL EVIL EVIL!!!!! I was going to end it there but I'm tired and don't wanna hafta start a new chapter, so here ya go…. Instant gratification….
My face grew more solemn.
"But… the note… he signed it…"
"And after all these years? Would you know his signature?" he hissed, with an evil smile. "And the thing is, after all you've done to be precautious on this journey, it will all come to ruin. They will come for you, and when they do, they will die."
I lowered my head slightly, discouraged by this thought, and Wormtounge noticed and used my weakness of belief to his own advantage.
"You know they will come for you," he said. "You will be taken to Cirith Ungol and have to choose who dies in what order." At this, my humorous thoughts betrayed me.
"So, kinda like survivor? Except the food's worse, there's a lot more blood, and the people we vote off won't come back to vote for or against us at the end of the season?"
Wormtounge's face morphed into one of utter confusion.
"What is it you speak of?" he asked, losing his evil-guy demeanor for a second.
"Oh, I suppose that you don't get cable in Mordor. Or is the AT&T guy afraid of you? Because I know I am."
With that, I spat at his feet, gave him the finger, and walked off to find Nikki.
"After her!" Wormtounge ordered.
The Orcs began their pursuit of me, and I ran blindly into the forest. Little did I know that more than Orcs were pursuing me. I looked back and a few meters behind me was Frodo. I must have slowed down, because he directed his thought at me, urging me to run and telling me he'd explain later. When I reached the place where Nikki had been, I saw her standing up, fighting the surrounding Orcs. I smiled. She was a damn good fighter. What confused me is that she was not single-handed. From a spot in the air next to her, arrows were firing rapidly at the Orcs. I had no time to wonder, however, because at that moment all but the last few Orcs were killed, the arrows had stopped firing and Nikki had stopped hacking at random Orcs and had begun to run. We had gotten out of vision distance but could still hear cries of outrage from Wormtounge and the Orcs when it happened. Nikki had stopped, I was slowing down, having been going too fast to stop quickly, and I heard a yell and saw an arrow coming straight at me when the most astounding thing happened.
The arrow stopped.
And hung in midair for a second before falling almost to the ground, balanced on its tip about four or five inches from the ground.
"Nooo!" Frodo and Nikki both exclaimed, running towards the fallen arrow. They both kneeled about a foot from it, which was their folly. I watched, as if in slow motion, another arrow spring from an Orc-bow and hit Frodo in the back. The Orcs, happy with having hit at least one target, walked back towards their camp. I sprinted over to where Frodo lay and bent over him. He was laying face down. I looked quickly at Nikki.
"Have you still got your pack?" I asked her. She nodded and unshouldered her pack. I opened it and rummaged through it to find medical supplies. I found two or three bandages and a little vial of a liquidy paste the elves use as ointment. I pulled the arrow out with some difficulty and ripped the hole in the back of his cloak to a big enough size to treat it. The blood blossomed, soaking both his clothes and mine, but I was at that moment to worried to care. I tore a strip of fabric from the place where the arrow had ripped his cloak and used it to mop away some of the blood. I patted Frodo on the shoulder nervously as I spread some of the elvish medicine on his wound; I decided that it was not deep enough to be fatal, although it could be if he lost too much blood.
"Thank god for elvish Neosporin," I said quietly, nervously joking.
When I had finished putting the bandages on, I turned to Nikki to say some words of reassurance, but they never got out, as I saw what the mysterious arrow had been.
Legolas, barely visible, was lying on the ground with Nikki kneeling nearby. I gasped.
"He took the invisibility potion. Dad took the immortality one."
"How do you know?"
"While you were away, Legolas spoke to me through my mind. He said he was there, he under influence of the invisibility potion, and Frodo under influence of the immortality potion."
I nodded and laughed as much as possible for this predicament.
"Would you like to…?" I asked, holding out the bandages to her, inquiring if she wanted to treat Legolas' wound.
"Why do you ask?" she asked.
"Well, I just didn't know whether or not you'd want me near your boyfriend's chest," I said. Seeing the small bit of humor in this, Nikki giggled.
"No," she said, pushing the bandage and vial back into my hand, "I might succeed in nothing more than killing him if I tried to heal his wounds."
I bent over the elf, trying to see him clearly enough to treat his wound. Nikki frowned, fumbling with the bandage and bottle of elf-medicine while I ripped open Legolas' shirt at the site of the arrow as I had done with Frodo's cloak. I pulled the arrow out with less difficulty than with Frodo, and began to put on the medicine. After it was sufficiently covered, I put a bandage on to protect the wound from infection. I sat back and sighed. I looked around, wondering what to do now. I bit my lip. I decided it would be best to be as hidden from view as possible, so I stood up and bent over to pick up Frodo and place him behind some nearby bushes. I then wondered what to do about Legolas. I wasn't strong enough to lift him alone, and I didn't know if Nikki would be strong enough to help me. Nikki, picking up on my thoughts, moved over to help me support Legolas.
With her help, I was able to pick up the elf and pull him into the bushes next to Frodo. Bringing her pack with her, Nikki came back and sat down next to Legolas, whereas I had sat down next to Frodo. I spoke to her after a few minutes of silence.
"Get some rest. I'll stay awake to watch."
She nodded and lay down.
A few hours later, I had drifted off into a very light sleep, which was interrupted by a voice. Frodo's voice.
"Great comebacks- don't think that piece of filth will ever work any of the insults out."
"Frodo!" I said, opening my eyes. He smiled back at me.
"Yep," He said. "By the way, be glad we came when we did. The Orcs were just about to murder Nikki. That's how we knew where you guys were- because of the high-pitched screams."
I laughed. "It's good to see you up and about, at any rate. I hope Legolas recovers swiftly. How long of a journey did you have to make?"
"About three days."
"What? We just woke up a while ago."
"There must have been some motive to keep you unconscious."
While I pondered this, Nikki awoke and began talking to Frodo.
When daylight came at last, and everyone had awoken, we talked about what to do.
"Do we go on ahead towards Cirith Ungol, stay here and wait for the others, or double back and find the others?" Frodo asked. We all thought it through, and decided that it would be best to go on ahead to Cirith Ungol.
"But…" I began.
"But what?" Frodo asked.
"When I was talking to that… that… that… scumbag, he said that Sam was dead. That we'd fallen into his trap."
Frodo frowned. "But… the signature…"
"An impostor."
He shook his head. "No," he said finally. "He can't be dead. Not after we've come this far. We can't turn back."
I nodded in agreement and Legolas finally escaped Nikki's grip and sat up. He raised his fist in the air.
"To Cirith Ungol!" He cried, before collapsing.
Author's notes- Gawd, snowling, you're right. I LOVE WRITING AUTHOR'S NOTES!!! YES! I just saw the matrix last night, and it's GREAT. Everyone go and see it if you haven't, and if you have, go see it again. It's kinda like a mix between Star Wars, Back to the Future, Men in Black, and, to top it off, it has the Elf dude in it! Go see it! NOW!!! Another good movie for all you Elijah fans out there- FLIPPER!!! Also, snowling- thanks for the idea of "Falling Asleep in an Elf's Arms". That was stolen, and… and… well, you'll recognize it. Also, sorry this chapter goes so fast, but I'm racing to try and get this story done! Both for the readers and for myself- I wanna start on the sequel!!! Waaaah! CRAP, this chapter is long! This note is written in about the middle of the chapter and it's 2675 words long. Endnote: Holy Jesus in a Peach Tree! Holy Chocolate Cheese Weasels, Captain Obvious!!! This chapter is exactly 3379 words long and I got one word for you: Enjoy.
We all hurried to the gates of Moria and stepped blinking into the sunlight. Nikki and Sam had silent tears running down their cheeks, while the rest of us knew better that to think for a second that Gandalf was dead. I walked over to Sam and Nikki and put a protective arm around each of them.
"He's not really dead, you know," I said.
"What do you mean?" Sam asked.
"I mean that this same situation has happened three times now and Gandalf lived through it. He fell in battle against the Balrog each time and each time he came back."
"Really?" Nikki asked, drying her eyes.
"Yes," I replied. I smiled. "He'll come back, and probably save all of us in the process. You just wait and see." And with that, I sped up to talk to Frodo, and heard, through means of psychic eavesdropping, him ask Nikki if she was all right. I smiled. They were so perfect together.
"Well?' I asked Frodo when I reached him.
"Well what?"
"Well, what do you think?"
"About what?"
"About… all this…"
"Well, I don't know what to think."
"I see."
We then walked on for a while in silence. Around nightfall, we reached the golden woods. I smiled as we walked among the beautiful trees. Nikki smiled, and looked around in awe. We then heard the stretch of bowstrings. I heard Aragorn speak.
"Haldir of Lorien," he said, bowing to the elf. I smiled.
"Who did you hear breathing this time?" I asked. Frodo laughed before addressing the elf.
"The elf pulls his bowstring so loudly we could have avoided him in the dark," he said. Haldir smiled and turned on his heel, beckoning for us to follow. We followed, and soon came to find Galadriel and Celeborn waiting to greet us.
They smiled.
"We've been expecting you," Galadriel said, addressing us while looking each of us carefully in the eye.
That night, I heard the familiar beckoning voice of Galadriel calling me from my dreams into waking. I sat up and saw Nikki and Legolas following Galadriel. I got up and trailed behind them, knowing what was coming.
When we reached the pedestal and she had poured the water into the mirror, she spoke to Nikki first.
"Will you look into the mirror?" She asked.
"What will I see?"
"Even the wisest cannot tell, for the mirror shows many things. Things that were, things that are, and some things that have not yet come to pass."
Nikki stepped up and looked down into the water. As she stared down into the depths, she smiled. "Awww…" she said, quietly. Galadriel smiled.
"And you?" she asked, turning to me. As soon as Nikki had stepped down, I stepped up and looked into the water. Barely visible ripples formed on the surface. I frowned slightly when I saw what was in the mirror. It looked like a chamber of Cirith Ungol, but I did not see Sam. Instead, I saw Legolas, Nikki, Frodo, and I sitting dejectedly against a stone wall. I looked up, at Galadriel, who looked pointedly down at the mirror. I looked down, and what I saw next settled me- an image of all of us at Cirith Ungol, including Sam Gamgee. I smiled a bit and stepped down. Legolas stepped towards the pedestal and looked into the mirror intently. After a couple of seconds his face widened into a smile. He looked up from the mirror at Galadriel and raised an eyebrow inquiringly. She nodded and he took a couple of steps towards Nikki.
"You will all face various dangers throughout this journey," Galadriel said. "And the most important thing to remember is that you should never lose faith and always stay close to the ones you love." She smiled. "Luck be with you, we'll be praying."
With that, she ushered us towards bed.
The next morning we were to depart from Lothlorien, and we loaded into the elven boats. Legolas, Nikki, Frodo, and I sat in one boat, and Aragorn, Sam, Merry, and Pippin sat in the other. As we watched Lothlorien disappear from view, our hearts sank with the prospect of leaving the beautiful city.
The journey down the Anduin was uneventful as far as the Argonath. When they came into view, Frodo looked back at me and raised an eyebrow, mind inquiring about the packages.
"Not yet," I replied through mind conversation. Legolas, who had begun telepathically telling Nikki about the Argonath, diverted us from any further communication.
A couple of hours later, we had reached our camping spot for the night. We had set up camp for the night and gotten together the best supper we could. I sat back just as Legolas seemed to remember something.
"The packages," He said. "What about the packages that Gandalf told you to open as soon as we had reached the Argonath?"
I realized what he was talking about and Frodo and I both pulled out a long, thin package. They were the ones we had gotten from Hermione, but that was many years ago. With apprehension, I pulled the note off of mine and opened the timeworn tape with trembling fingers. I read the note out loud.
"Leah," I read, wondering at Hermione's beautiful wandering script, "The vial enclosed will make the drinker invisible for one hour, and one hour only. I hope this comes of use. Signed, Hermione." I folded up the note and carefully inspected the vial, containing a red liquid. Frodo then read his note.
"Frodo," he read, "This liquid, unlike Leah's, will make the drinker immortal for an hour. I hope it will be helpful on your quest. Signed, Hermione." He looked up at me before folding up the note. His liquid was blue. We looked up to see everyone else looking at us.
"Uh…hi?" I said, breaking the silence.
"We must get some rest," Aragorn announced. We all nodded and went to find the softest ground we could.
I woke during the night to see Frodo's eyes looking at me.
"Gah!" I exclaimed. "Frodo! Don't DO that!!!"
He smiled and looked pointedly towards the place where Nikki and Legolas were sleeping. She had her head nestled into his shoulder, and he had a protective arm around her, pulling her to himself. (A/N: awwww…) I smiled and looked over at Frodo. He smiled, but it faded as we heard what we had been dreading.
Footsteps.
LOTS of footsteps.
Coming this way.
"Shit!" I said quietly. Frodo looked at me.
"You wake up that side of the camp, and I'll wake up this of the camp."
I woke Aragorn first, and then it was my painful duty to wake Nikki and Legolas. I tried awaking them by voice, but that didn't work. I shook Nikki's shoulders.
"What?" she said feebly, squinting to see.
"Orcs." Legolas said, recognizing the sound. I nodded grimly.
Nikki was now wide-awake. I looked at her, sizing her up. I did not think her ready for this sort of thing.
"Get your sword. You may need it."
"Sword?" she choked out.
"Don't worry. Stay as hidden as possible."
Nikki nodded weakly and drew her sword out of its sheath.
We all stood in a circle with our backs together, for that was the method of defense the second fellowship (the one for my quest) had developed, and we had not lost our touch.
As the Orcs approached, we did our best to fight them off, but it was no use. Frodo and Legolas gave a scream, and I knew no more.
When I woke up, I did not open my eyes yet. I vaguely recognized the sound of Orcs arguing amongst themselves. I opened my eyes and looked to the left as far as I could without tilting my head. I looked to the right and saw Nikki lying on the ground next to me, and she was looking at me also. She looked frightened, but I did not dare to say any words of comfort out loud. I put a finger to my lips quietly to signal to her to be quiet, and she nodded slightly.
"Are you hurt?" I asked her, remembering our talent of telepathy.
"No," she thought back.
"Okay," I thought. "What do we do now?"
An Orc coming over to us interrupted my thoughts.
"Awake at last?" He asked us, his face in a foul sneer.
"I could tell you," I said to him slowly, "Or I could just give you the finger."
I raised my hand.
And flipped him off.
His face grew into a look of confusion but he shrugged it off. Nikki and I stood up.
"The chief wants to talk to you," He said. "The chief?" I asked.
"Yes. And you only. You'll have to leave her-" he motioned to Nikki, "Here."
"No!" Nikki exclaimed.
"Think at me if anything goes wrong. I'll be back as soon as I can." I looked at her, and kissed her on the forehead. "I will not let any harm come to you."
She nodded weakly as I walked away with the Orc. He took me to see "The Chief".
Back at the camp, the rest of our companions had realized what had happened.
"It might not be wise for all of us to go," Aragorn said carefully.
"I'm going," Frodo said.
"As am I." Legolas said. Aragorn nodded.
"Use the most care possible," Aragorn said to us. Frodo walked over to where his and Leah's packs were, and pulled out of them the vials. He held them out to Legolas, The Red in his right hand and the blue in his left.
"Which one, Legolas?"
Legolas reached out and took the red vial.
"Wait until we're almost there to drink them," Frodo said. Legolas nodded, and, with a nod from Aragorn they began to walk in the direction the Orcs had gone.
After I saw who "The Chief" was, I shuddered. Tall and silhouetted against the fire, a pale face looked into my eyes. I shivered. Those beady eyes stared out at me, seeming almost to pierce my very soul, from an incredibly pale face I'd hoped never to see again.
Grima Wormtounge was sitting in front of the fire.
"I've been expecting you," he said.
"So, you decided to trouble the world once more by crawling out from under that rock they call Mordor, have you?" I asked him, my voice slightly raspy and seething with hatred. He glared at me before going on with what he was saying.
"I see you have fallen into my trap," he said. I frowned. "Sam Gamgee is dead."
Author's Note: oooh, EVIL EVIL EVIL!!!!! I was going to end it there but I'm tired and don't wanna hafta start a new chapter, so here ya go…. Instant gratification….
My face grew more solemn.
"But… the note… he signed it…"
"And after all these years? Would you know his signature?" he hissed, with an evil smile. "And the thing is, after all you've done to be precautious on this journey, it will all come to ruin. They will come for you, and when they do, they will die."
I lowered my head slightly, discouraged by this thought, and Wormtounge noticed and used my weakness of belief to his own advantage.
"You know they will come for you," he said. "You will be taken to Cirith Ungol and have to choose who dies in what order." At this, my humorous thoughts betrayed me.
"So, kinda like survivor? Except the food's worse, there's a lot more blood, and the people we vote off won't come back to vote for or against us at the end of the season?"
Wormtounge's face morphed into one of utter confusion.
"What is it you speak of?" he asked, losing his evil-guy demeanor for a second.
"Oh, I suppose that you don't get cable in Mordor. Or is the AT&T guy afraid of you? Because I know I am."
With that, I spat at his feet, gave him the finger, and walked off to find Nikki.
"After her!" Wormtounge ordered.
The Orcs began their pursuit of me, and I ran blindly into the forest. Little did I know that more than Orcs were pursuing me. I looked back and a few meters behind me was Frodo. I must have slowed down, because he directed his thought at me, urging me to run and telling me he'd explain later. When I reached the place where Nikki had been, I saw her standing up, fighting the surrounding Orcs. I smiled. She was a damn good fighter. What confused me is that she was not single-handed. From a spot in the air next to her, arrows were firing rapidly at the Orcs. I had no time to wonder, however, because at that moment all but the last few Orcs were killed, the arrows had stopped firing and Nikki had stopped hacking at random Orcs and had begun to run. We had gotten out of vision distance but could still hear cries of outrage from Wormtounge and the Orcs when it happened. Nikki had stopped, I was slowing down, having been going too fast to stop quickly, and I heard a yell and saw an arrow coming straight at me when the most astounding thing happened.
The arrow stopped.
And hung in midair for a second before falling almost to the ground, balanced on its tip about four or five inches from the ground.
"Nooo!" Frodo and Nikki both exclaimed, running towards the fallen arrow. They both kneeled about a foot from it, which was their folly. I watched, as if in slow motion, another arrow spring from an Orc-bow and hit Frodo in the back. The Orcs, happy with having hit at least one target, walked back towards their camp. I sprinted over to where Frodo lay and bent over him. He was laying face down. I looked quickly at Nikki.
"Have you still got your pack?" I asked her. She nodded and unshouldered her pack. I opened it and rummaged through it to find medical supplies. I found two or three bandages and a little vial of a liquidy paste the elves use as ointment. I pulled the arrow out with some difficulty and ripped the hole in the back of his cloak to a big enough size to treat it. The blood blossomed, soaking both his clothes and mine, but I was at that moment to worried to care. I tore a strip of fabric from the place where the arrow had ripped his cloak and used it to mop away some of the blood. I patted Frodo on the shoulder nervously as I spread some of the elvish medicine on his wound; I decided that it was not deep enough to be fatal, although it could be if he lost too much blood.
"Thank god for elvish Neosporin," I said quietly, nervously joking.
When I had finished putting the bandages on, I turned to Nikki to say some words of reassurance, but they never got out, as I saw what the mysterious arrow had been.
Legolas, barely visible, was lying on the ground with Nikki kneeling nearby. I gasped.
"He took the invisibility potion. Dad took the immortality one."
"How do you know?"
"While you were away, Legolas spoke to me through my mind. He said he was there, he under influence of the invisibility potion, and Frodo under influence of the immortality potion."
I nodded and laughed as much as possible for this predicament.
"Would you like to…?" I asked, holding out the bandages to her, inquiring if she wanted to treat Legolas' wound.
"Why do you ask?" she asked.
"Well, I just didn't know whether or not you'd want me near your boyfriend's chest," I said. Seeing the small bit of humor in this, Nikki giggled.
"No," she said, pushing the bandage and vial back into my hand, "I might succeed in nothing more than killing him if I tried to heal his wounds."
I bent over the elf, trying to see him clearly enough to treat his wound. Nikki frowned, fumbling with the bandage and bottle of elf-medicine while I ripped open Legolas' shirt at the site of the arrow as I had done with Frodo's cloak. I pulled the arrow out with less difficulty than with Frodo, and began to put on the medicine. After it was sufficiently covered, I put a bandage on to protect the wound from infection. I sat back and sighed. I looked around, wondering what to do now. I bit my lip. I decided it would be best to be as hidden from view as possible, so I stood up and bent over to pick up Frodo and place him behind some nearby bushes. I then wondered what to do about Legolas. I wasn't strong enough to lift him alone, and I didn't know if Nikki would be strong enough to help me. Nikki, picking up on my thoughts, moved over to help me support Legolas.
With her help, I was able to pick up the elf and pull him into the bushes next to Frodo. Bringing her pack with her, Nikki came back and sat down next to Legolas, whereas I had sat down next to Frodo. I spoke to her after a few minutes of silence.
"Get some rest. I'll stay awake to watch."
She nodded and lay down.
A few hours later, I had drifted off into a very light sleep, which was interrupted by a voice. Frodo's voice.
"Great comebacks- don't think that piece of filth will ever work any of the insults out."
"Frodo!" I said, opening my eyes. He smiled back at me.
"Yep," He said. "By the way, be glad we came when we did. The Orcs were just about to murder Nikki. That's how we knew where you guys were- because of the high-pitched screams."
I laughed. "It's good to see you up and about, at any rate. I hope Legolas recovers swiftly. How long of a journey did you have to make?"
"About three days."
"What? We just woke up a while ago."
"There must have been some motive to keep you unconscious."
While I pondered this, Nikki awoke and began talking to Frodo.
When daylight came at last, and everyone had awoken, we talked about what to do.
"Do we go on ahead towards Cirith Ungol, stay here and wait for the others, or double back and find the others?" Frodo asked. We all thought it through, and decided that it would be best to go on ahead to Cirith Ungol.
"But…" I began.
"But what?" Frodo asked.
"When I was talking to that… that… that… scumbag, he said that Sam was dead. That we'd fallen into his trap."
Frodo frowned. "But… the signature…"
"An impostor."
He shook his head. "No," he said finally. "He can't be dead. Not after we've come this far. We can't turn back."
I nodded in agreement and Legolas finally escaped Nikki's grip and sat up. He raised his fist in the air.
"To Cirith Ungol!" He cried, before collapsing.