Chapter 5.
Sam knew he wasn't worth it. The only person in the world who was worth anything was Precious. And he wasn't allowed to talk to Precious.
He had realized that his friend, Frodo, wasn't worth protecting anymore. No one was worth protecting anymore. They were all doomed to their own stupidity and insignificance.
Sam watched as his master jammed Precious further into his former friend's forehead. Soon Frodo would realize the truth. Soon he would join Precious' followers. And he would know his own damnation.
Suddenly, the world seamed to slow down. Sam felt his movements grow sluggish, and the rise and fall of his master's chest as he panted in exertion become slothful.
Gandalf leapt to his feet; the slowing of the world didn't seem to affect him. He pointed his staff at the manacle around his foot, and it snapped in two. Maktaw, the orc, began to draw his sword, but it was taking him an eternity. The wizard took two strides across the room, sweat dripping off his brow from the exertion of the enchantment he had cast, and threw Gollum aside, as if he weighed no less than a pebble.
Sam (since he wasn't as far away as Maktaw) managed to grab Gandalf's arm. The wizard turned around and whispered one word into his ear, and the hobbit fell to the ground in a dreamless sleep.
The world slowly began slipping back to normal speed; both Gollum and the orc had almost reached the old man. Their screams of rage were coming closer and closer.
Small hands wrapped around Gandalf's neck. He turned his head to face his assailant, and Frodo's brown eyes stared back at him, bent in rage.
The wizard pried the hobbit's fingers off from around his neck, and brought his mouth close to his brainwashed friend's ear, "Brackle-berry tea." Frodo fell unconscious instantaneously.
Gandalf threw his small friend over his shoulder, grabbed Sam by his collar, and whirled around. Gollum was in midair, gradually getting closer, and time was no longer on the wizard's side. The old man ducked under the angered creature just as time returned to its normal state. Maktaw lunged with his blade, and Gandalf just barely dodged it.
"Roasting pig flesh!" yelled Gandalf, running by the suddenly asleep orc. Gollum lunged at the wizard again, only this time he met a two-foot thick wooden door.
Gandalf turned and fled down the narrow, stone hall, and up the spiral staircase. Gandalf met several people along the way, but the words, "fresh-baked scones" and "newly brewed ale" stopped most every brainwashed hobbit in his tracks, and put him to sleep.
Finally, after dashing up countless stairs, and after naming every delicious food the wise wizard could bring to mind, Gandalf reached the exit of the tower.
Frodo and he had been brought to one of the many guard towers that had been built during Sauron's possession of the Shire. They were infinitely ugly, but in Gollum's case, they were the best thing that could have happened to the Shire.
The sun breached the horizon, and blinded the old man with a brilliant kaleidoscope of colors.
Gandalf stopped and collapsed where he stood; he was an old man, and running up a flight of stairs with two hobbits strapped to him was not the best thing for him. He could hear Gollum's screams of hatred echoing up the tower stairs.
He had escaped, and was coming.
There was nothing the wizard could do. He was exhausted; most of his energy spent on the time-slow spell and the rest of it spent running up the stairs. All of that work, for nothing.
A gust of wind blew the grass in a dance of oxygen. The trees waving in time with the beat of the world. A sparrow beat its wings as hard as it could, making little progress against the raging breeze.
A pair of gray eyebrows perked with an idea.
"The perfect raging breeze to carry a message."
*
Gollum scurried up the stairs angrily. How could he have been caught off-guard by that old man? HOW?
He screamed in rage when he met another of his Precious' followers. Asleep. Not only did that old man steal Baggins and his friend, but he also managed to put nearly everyone Gollum had posted in the tower to sleep! And not just any sleep, but a DREAMLESS sleep!
The possessive little creature could already feel his once unlimited strength ebbing. He actually felt pain when he knocked the door down with his shoulder! HE FELT PAIN! For the first time since he had found his precious, HE had felt pain.
Gollum was starting to get very worried about this old man.
He screamed again, and smashed a metal sconce off the spiral staircase's rounded wall. Shards of stone, dust, and debris flew all over the place, making Gollum's eyes water.
"Don't worry, preciousss," he hissed to his ring, "it won't get away, no my preciousss, it won't get away."
Sunlight blinded Gollum when he finally reached the arched stone doorway of the tower. He brought his claw in front of his eyes, and stopped in his tracks, squealing with the pain his sensitive eyes felt. The shadow-loving creature receded back into the darkness of the tower, and looked outside from there.
Gandalf was standing with his arm outstretched to the air, yelling something into the wind. The two sleeping hobbits were at his feet. Gollum almost ran at them he was so angry, but the burning sun stopped him.
He fumed where he stood, watching as the old man continued to yell and stand there. Gollum had no way of getting to them. The sun would surely blind him and burn his skin. He was trapped in the tower until nightfall.
Something whipped his face, and he turned to see a black tapestry blowing in the intense wind. Gollum grinned.
He ripped the tapestry down, and tore it until it was smaller. He tied it around his face and eyes. Then he took what was left of the cloth, and tied it around his neck like a cape. Gollum wrapped his makeshift protection around himself, and stepped into the sunlight.
It worked. He could see his target, but the sun wasn't as blinding as it usually was. "Now, my preciousss, we have them!"
*
"Help Me!" yelled Gandalf into the wind for the last time.
He glanced over to the door, and almost jumped in surprise. He had expected the sun to keep Gollum at bay longer than this. The little beast had tied something around his head, and was now running at the wizard and his sleeping friends at full speed.
Then, he heard a familiar sound.
In an instant, his staff was in his hand, and the rounded knob was pointed skyward, and the two hobbits were under his arm.
Gollum was getting closer. Gandalf could hear his screams and snarls as he scurried across the ground at amazing speeds. He was going for the kill.
"I hate to disappoint you, Gollum," the old wizard said, "but we really must fly."
The malformed creature leapt into the air, and slashed with his razor sharp nails. He suddenly found himself being lifted in the air. He glanced up, and saw a gigantic hawk was carrying him away. He squealed and kicked, trying to break free, but the giant bird was stronger than Gollum could ever be. Even with the ring of weakness.
"NO," Gandalf screamed in surprise and anger, dropping the two hobbits and his staff, "No, you stupid bird!" Gandalf began waving his arms, trying to get his airborne friend's attention, "You were supposed to pick us up you dumb buzzard!"
The wizard watched in horror as the huge hawk carried Gollum east, then dropped him when he saw Gandalf trying to get his attention. The colossal bird flew back to where the old man was standing and landed, nearly blowing the two sleeping hobbits away with his massive wings.
"What's the problem, Gandy?" the hawk asked, cocking his head to one side.
"First off," Gandalf answered, about to explode with rage, "don't call me 'Gandy' and secondly," the wizard pointed his arm angrily towards where Gollum had been dropped, "you picked up the wrong person!"
"But he was attacking you," the hawk answered, nearly turning his head upside down in confusion.
"And I wanted you to pick me up," the old man fumed, crossing his arms over his thin chest, "so we could chase him and bring him somewhere where I could keep an eye on him. I didn't want you to set him free in the middle of the Shire!"
The monstrous bird chuckled. "No one could survive a fall like that!"
"You'd be surprised."
*
"Do you see?" Gandalf asked, pointing to the tracks that ended where the forest path forked in two directions, "He did survive the fall, and now he's lose somewhere OUTSIDE THE SHIRE!"
The hawk nestled down, making himself comfortable next to the camp that the two hobbits had made. They had been tracking Gollum for two days now, the hawk adamantly believing that there was no way anyone could survive the fall that the little monster took.
"I still say someone carried him off," replied the giant bird casually.
"Someone carried him for nearly one hundred and ten miles!?" the Gandalf retorted, throwing his arms into the air. He turned back around to look at the two different paths Gollum could have taken, "The question now is, which way did the little bugger go? North, near Rivendell? Or South, near the ruins of Isengard?"
Sam, Frodo, and Gandalf couldn't ride on Talto (the hawk) because much of the journey was through dense forests. Talto didn't mind walking on the ground, surprisingly, since he wanted to prove that Gollum had died in the fall. On the journey, Gandalf told the others what he had found out during his trance.
The ring of weakness sucked the joy and happiness from people, and converted it into strength and near invulnerability for the bearer of the ring. Not only that, but it convinced the persons afflicted that they have no life to live, and that they should devote themselves to the ring, and whatever its master wishes. The only way to combat this was to name something that made the person feel really happy.
"Food," Gandalf had said, "is the most common thing, and a lot of people share a favorite food. So the names of foods was my obvious choice of words to snap you (and the other hobbits) out of your bewitchment."
"Well," Talto said, climbing to his feet, "I don't really care which way the little bastard went. And I personally have no idea why I followed you damn people all this way in the first place." And with that, he flapped his wings and flew out a hole in the canopy of trees.
Wind swirled around the hobbits, and the fire threatened to go out. When the aftermath of Talto's violent takeoff subsided, the hobbits continued setting up camp.
"I personally think he stayed for my special bird seed," Sam confided in Frodo while they were setting up the tents.
"How do you know that, Sam?" Frodo asked as he tied a corner of the tent to a stake.
"Because he took the entire bag of it before he left."
Note: Wasn't that an awesome ending to this chapter? Wondering what's going to happen next? WELL I'M GOING TO LET YOU CHOOSE! That's right, I'm going to let you people choose. Did Gollum go north? Or did he go south? EACH WILL HAVE A DIFFERENT ENDING! (As far as I know this is the first choose-your-own-adventure fanfic, but feel free to use it if you want, just make sure you include my name in your credits somewhere :} ) If you are reading this, and the story only has five chapters, don't worry, the other two are coming. Chapter six will be if Gollum goes north, and chapter seven will be if he goes south. STAY TUNED!!!
Sam knew he wasn't worth it. The only person in the world who was worth anything was Precious. And he wasn't allowed to talk to Precious.
He had realized that his friend, Frodo, wasn't worth protecting anymore. No one was worth protecting anymore. They were all doomed to their own stupidity and insignificance.
Sam watched as his master jammed Precious further into his former friend's forehead. Soon Frodo would realize the truth. Soon he would join Precious' followers. And he would know his own damnation.
Suddenly, the world seamed to slow down. Sam felt his movements grow sluggish, and the rise and fall of his master's chest as he panted in exertion become slothful.
Gandalf leapt to his feet; the slowing of the world didn't seem to affect him. He pointed his staff at the manacle around his foot, and it snapped in two. Maktaw, the orc, began to draw his sword, but it was taking him an eternity. The wizard took two strides across the room, sweat dripping off his brow from the exertion of the enchantment he had cast, and threw Gollum aside, as if he weighed no less than a pebble.
Sam (since he wasn't as far away as Maktaw) managed to grab Gandalf's arm. The wizard turned around and whispered one word into his ear, and the hobbit fell to the ground in a dreamless sleep.
The world slowly began slipping back to normal speed; both Gollum and the orc had almost reached the old man. Their screams of rage were coming closer and closer.
Small hands wrapped around Gandalf's neck. He turned his head to face his assailant, and Frodo's brown eyes stared back at him, bent in rage.
The wizard pried the hobbit's fingers off from around his neck, and brought his mouth close to his brainwashed friend's ear, "Brackle-berry tea." Frodo fell unconscious instantaneously.
Gandalf threw his small friend over his shoulder, grabbed Sam by his collar, and whirled around. Gollum was in midair, gradually getting closer, and time was no longer on the wizard's side. The old man ducked under the angered creature just as time returned to its normal state. Maktaw lunged with his blade, and Gandalf just barely dodged it.
"Roasting pig flesh!" yelled Gandalf, running by the suddenly asleep orc. Gollum lunged at the wizard again, only this time he met a two-foot thick wooden door.
Gandalf turned and fled down the narrow, stone hall, and up the spiral staircase. Gandalf met several people along the way, but the words, "fresh-baked scones" and "newly brewed ale" stopped most every brainwashed hobbit in his tracks, and put him to sleep.
Finally, after dashing up countless stairs, and after naming every delicious food the wise wizard could bring to mind, Gandalf reached the exit of the tower.
Frodo and he had been brought to one of the many guard towers that had been built during Sauron's possession of the Shire. They were infinitely ugly, but in Gollum's case, they were the best thing that could have happened to the Shire.
The sun breached the horizon, and blinded the old man with a brilliant kaleidoscope of colors.
Gandalf stopped and collapsed where he stood; he was an old man, and running up a flight of stairs with two hobbits strapped to him was not the best thing for him. He could hear Gollum's screams of hatred echoing up the tower stairs.
He had escaped, and was coming.
There was nothing the wizard could do. He was exhausted; most of his energy spent on the time-slow spell and the rest of it spent running up the stairs. All of that work, for nothing.
A gust of wind blew the grass in a dance of oxygen. The trees waving in time with the beat of the world. A sparrow beat its wings as hard as it could, making little progress against the raging breeze.
A pair of gray eyebrows perked with an idea.
"The perfect raging breeze to carry a message."
*
Gollum scurried up the stairs angrily. How could he have been caught off-guard by that old man? HOW?
He screamed in rage when he met another of his Precious' followers. Asleep. Not only did that old man steal Baggins and his friend, but he also managed to put nearly everyone Gollum had posted in the tower to sleep! And not just any sleep, but a DREAMLESS sleep!
The possessive little creature could already feel his once unlimited strength ebbing. He actually felt pain when he knocked the door down with his shoulder! HE FELT PAIN! For the first time since he had found his precious, HE had felt pain.
Gollum was starting to get very worried about this old man.
He screamed again, and smashed a metal sconce off the spiral staircase's rounded wall. Shards of stone, dust, and debris flew all over the place, making Gollum's eyes water.
"Don't worry, preciousss," he hissed to his ring, "it won't get away, no my preciousss, it won't get away."
Sunlight blinded Gollum when he finally reached the arched stone doorway of the tower. He brought his claw in front of his eyes, and stopped in his tracks, squealing with the pain his sensitive eyes felt. The shadow-loving creature receded back into the darkness of the tower, and looked outside from there.
Gandalf was standing with his arm outstretched to the air, yelling something into the wind. The two sleeping hobbits were at his feet. Gollum almost ran at them he was so angry, but the burning sun stopped him.
He fumed where he stood, watching as the old man continued to yell and stand there. Gollum had no way of getting to them. The sun would surely blind him and burn his skin. He was trapped in the tower until nightfall.
Something whipped his face, and he turned to see a black tapestry blowing in the intense wind. Gollum grinned.
He ripped the tapestry down, and tore it until it was smaller. He tied it around his face and eyes. Then he took what was left of the cloth, and tied it around his neck like a cape. Gollum wrapped his makeshift protection around himself, and stepped into the sunlight.
It worked. He could see his target, but the sun wasn't as blinding as it usually was. "Now, my preciousss, we have them!"
*
"Help Me!" yelled Gandalf into the wind for the last time.
He glanced over to the door, and almost jumped in surprise. He had expected the sun to keep Gollum at bay longer than this. The little beast had tied something around his head, and was now running at the wizard and his sleeping friends at full speed.
Then, he heard a familiar sound.
In an instant, his staff was in his hand, and the rounded knob was pointed skyward, and the two hobbits were under his arm.
Gollum was getting closer. Gandalf could hear his screams and snarls as he scurried across the ground at amazing speeds. He was going for the kill.
"I hate to disappoint you, Gollum," the old wizard said, "but we really must fly."
The malformed creature leapt into the air, and slashed with his razor sharp nails. He suddenly found himself being lifted in the air. He glanced up, and saw a gigantic hawk was carrying him away. He squealed and kicked, trying to break free, but the giant bird was stronger than Gollum could ever be. Even with the ring of weakness.
"NO," Gandalf screamed in surprise and anger, dropping the two hobbits and his staff, "No, you stupid bird!" Gandalf began waving his arms, trying to get his airborne friend's attention, "You were supposed to pick us up you dumb buzzard!"
The wizard watched in horror as the huge hawk carried Gollum east, then dropped him when he saw Gandalf trying to get his attention. The colossal bird flew back to where the old man was standing and landed, nearly blowing the two sleeping hobbits away with his massive wings.
"What's the problem, Gandy?" the hawk asked, cocking his head to one side.
"First off," Gandalf answered, about to explode with rage, "don't call me 'Gandy' and secondly," the wizard pointed his arm angrily towards where Gollum had been dropped, "you picked up the wrong person!"
"But he was attacking you," the hawk answered, nearly turning his head upside down in confusion.
"And I wanted you to pick me up," the old man fumed, crossing his arms over his thin chest, "so we could chase him and bring him somewhere where I could keep an eye on him. I didn't want you to set him free in the middle of the Shire!"
The monstrous bird chuckled. "No one could survive a fall like that!"
"You'd be surprised."
*
"Do you see?" Gandalf asked, pointing to the tracks that ended where the forest path forked in two directions, "He did survive the fall, and now he's lose somewhere OUTSIDE THE SHIRE!"
The hawk nestled down, making himself comfortable next to the camp that the two hobbits had made. They had been tracking Gollum for two days now, the hawk adamantly believing that there was no way anyone could survive the fall that the little monster took.
"I still say someone carried him off," replied the giant bird casually.
"Someone carried him for nearly one hundred and ten miles!?" the Gandalf retorted, throwing his arms into the air. He turned back around to look at the two different paths Gollum could have taken, "The question now is, which way did the little bugger go? North, near Rivendell? Or South, near the ruins of Isengard?"
Sam, Frodo, and Gandalf couldn't ride on Talto (the hawk) because much of the journey was through dense forests. Talto didn't mind walking on the ground, surprisingly, since he wanted to prove that Gollum had died in the fall. On the journey, Gandalf told the others what he had found out during his trance.
The ring of weakness sucked the joy and happiness from people, and converted it into strength and near invulnerability for the bearer of the ring. Not only that, but it convinced the persons afflicted that they have no life to live, and that they should devote themselves to the ring, and whatever its master wishes. The only way to combat this was to name something that made the person feel really happy.
"Food," Gandalf had said, "is the most common thing, and a lot of people share a favorite food. So the names of foods was my obvious choice of words to snap you (and the other hobbits) out of your bewitchment."
"Well," Talto said, climbing to his feet, "I don't really care which way the little bastard went. And I personally have no idea why I followed you damn people all this way in the first place." And with that, he flapped his wings and flew out a hole in the canopy of trees.
Wind swirled around the hobbits, and the fire threatened to go out. When the aftermath of Talto's violent takeoff subsided, the hobbits continued setting up camp.
"I personally think he stayed for my special bird seed," Sam confided in Frodo while they were setting up the tents.
"How do you know that, Sam?" Frodo asked as he tied a corner of the tent to a stake.
"Because he took the entire bag of it before he left."
Note: Wasn't that an awesome ending to this chapter? Wondering what's going to happen next? WELL I'M GOING TO LET YOU CHOOSE! That's right, I'm going to let you people choose. Did Gollum go north? Or did he go south? EACH WILL HAVE A DIFFERENT ENDING! (As far as I know this is the first choose-your-own-adventure fanfic, but feel free to use it if you want, just make sure you include my name in your credits somewhere :} ) If you are reading this, and the story only has five chapters, don't worry, the other two are coming. Chapter six will be if Gollum goes north, and chapter seven will be if he goes south. STAY TUNED!!!