CHAPTER 8
Late in the night he awoke in some confusion. Stars glinted above him, through a pale roof of quivering leaves, which seemed impossibly close. He sat up, carefully, fighting a bout of dizziness, and looked around. Sam, Pippin and Merry lay asleep around him, wrapped in strange furs and blankets. They were lying on a wooden floor, which appeared to be very high in a tree. Frodo was alarmed to note that there were no walls, apart from a light plaited screen at one side, unless one counted the walls of living leaves whispering around them.
How the hobbits had come there he could not imagine, nor why there was no sign of the others of the Fellowship. That his friends were apparently sleeping peacefully seemed to indicate that they were in no danger, unless one counted the one of rolling over in one's sleep and falling off the high wooden platform.
Suddenly, a little way off he heard a harsh laugh and the tread of many feet on the ground below. There was a ring of metal. The sounds died slowly away, and seemed to go southward, on into the wood.
A head appeared suddenly through the hole in the flet. Frodo shrank back in alarm and saw that it was a grey-hooded Elf. He looked towards the hobbits.
"What is it?" said Frodo.
"Yrch!" said the Elf in a hissing whisper, and cast on to the flet the rope-ladder rolled up.
"Orcs!" said Frodo. "What are they doing?" But the Elf had gone.
He drew out Sting, from where it had been pushed, into his pack: it flashed and glittered like a blue flame; and then slowly faded again and grew dull. In spite of the fading of his sword the feeling of immediate danger did not leave Frodo, rather it grew stronger. He crawled to the opening and peered down. He was almost certain that he could hear stealthy movements at the tree's foot far below.
Gollum? Frodo heard a snuffling sound and then he saw those pale luminous eyes, only a few feet below him, close to the trunk of the tree. Suddenly they winked out and Frodo jumped back as the elf reappeared only inches from the hobbit's face. He clambered up on to the flet. "Did you see it?"
"I think so," replied Frodo, cautiously, unwilling to reveal too much of their quest to this stranger.
The elf stepped to the edge of the platform and peered down. "I have never seen its like before. It was not an orc; and those eyes." His voice trailed off.
Frodo drew Boromir's cloak closer about him as the excitement wore off and his body started to shake. He decided it was time to try and make sense of his present situation. "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage. Where am I, how did I get here and where is the rest of our company?"
The Elf turned back and sat down, cross legged, in front of the confused hobbit. "My apologies, Master Frodo. You were quite deeply asleep when my brothers and I met your company." He bowed his head slightly and placed a hand over his heart in what appeared to be a sign of greeting. "My name is Haldir and I am one of the guardians of the borders of Lorien. The rest of your company is in a tree, yonder." He waved in a vague way to Frodo's left. "It will be my duty to escort you all, at first light, to the Lord and Lady of the Wood."
The hobbit shivered, remembering Boromir's fears about the Lady of the Golden Wood. Noting his slight movement again and the sheen of perspiration that was starting to gather on the hobbit's brow, Haldir felt about his waist and pulled out a small bottle. "The man, Aragorn, said that you should take some more of this if you awoke during the night."
Frodo held out his hand and the elf dropped the bottle in to it. "Two mouthfuls," the elf added. Swallowing the dose advised, Frodo replaced the stopper and handed it back to the guardian.
"Thank you, Haldir." He settled down, feeling his body relax as it returned to a horizontal position, and tried to compose himself for sleep again. "Will the orcs return?"
Haldir chuckled, "Nay, Master Hobbit. My brothers are leading them a merry dance in the opposite direction of our journey, even as we speak. You can sleep secure."
Though he could not have said why, Frodo felt he could trust this grey cloaked Elf and he let his eyes close.
The next day their journey through the wood continued, escorted now by Haldir and his brothers, Rumil and Orophin. Frodo accepted only a cup of water whilst the others ate breakfast. The ranger decided to let the lack of appetite pass for the time being but before they started out for the day he replaced the dressings on his friend's leg.
He was worried when he touched him for the fever seemed to be getting worse. He tried talking to the Hobbit but Frodo appeared to have trouble understanding or hearing him and, unlike the previous day, he did not have the energy to sit up unaided. Aragorn began to fear that if Frodo did not get some proper rest soon he would be in serious trouble but decided that the only thing he could do for him at the moment was to help him take what rest he could, so he gave him another dose of the sedative.
The greater part of the last day of their journey was undertaken blindfolded and here, even Frodo had not been exempted. Orophin had carried him, however, for fear that if a member of the Fellowship carried him they may trip and injure him yet further. The elf's touch was so light that, at first, Frodo was afraid that he would be dropped but as the time wore on he began to feel more secure. Like Legolas, Orophin's gait was very smooth and the hobbit found himself drifting in and out of sleep, even after the sedative wore off; the blindfold actually helping him as it kept the bright light of the sun from his aching eyes.
Unwilling to unbind their eyes even to see to the ailing hobbit, Frodo's care was passed to the Lorien elves for a time. When they stopped to rest it was Rumil that cleaned and dressed the Ringbearer's leg. If the hobbit had thought Aragorn's touch was gentle he found Rumils' feather light. Orophin took Frodo's head between cool hands, while his brother worked and the hobbit felt, once more, the touch of an elven mind pouring comfort into his fevered body.
His various pains receded a little and there was some relief from the constant swing between shivering chill and burning heat. The vertigo would not fade however, seeming instead to attack him more frequently and his friends could only listen helplessly as he cried out for them to stop and then whimpered piteously while the dizziness caught him up and swept him around.
He was offered food but his stomach churned unpleasantly at the suggestion and, seeing him blanch, they trickled a few drops of cool liquid between his cracked lips instead. Frodo recognised the clean refreshing taste of Miruvir. As it had done on the road to Rivendell, it strengthened him a little and settled his cramping stomach. Even this tender care was not sufficient, however, and when everyone's blindfolds were finally removed Aragorn, noting his growing distress, dosed him with sedative again. For the last leg of their journey he was mercifully oblivious.