Shrell and Frodo rode long into the night until they're ponies could go no further. The wind was cold and the night air was heavy. Shrell decided they should let they're
ponies rest. Frodo felt suddenly uncomfortable like something was watching him.
"Frodo?" Shrell asked.
"Hmm?" answered Frodo (who had been sitting on the ground) looked up at her.
"Coming with me meant that you wouldn't get much rest. Does this suit you?"
"Yes. How long do we have?"
"An hour at most"
Frodo dozed for awhile but found it hard to sleep. The strange pink-eyed creatures were watching him, again, but it wasn't them that made him feel so uncomfortable. Shrell
was playing a rather sad song on her flute. She seemed so far away. Frodo watched her for awhile then spoke:
"How did you know Pippin, Shrell?" he asked.
"I met him when my mother took me to the Shire" she answered. "It was a very long time ago" she looked down.
"Why did you leave the Waste?" he asked.
"Would you have liked to live there?" she asked.
"If you didn't, then, why did you return to it?" Frodo now found himself very interested.
"We left because my father died. We returned about the time that Bilbo left. I don't know why. When we were back in the Waste my mother died. I was twelve. I'm sorry
I lied to you, Frodo" she didn't look up at him only stared at the ground.
"No, I'm sorry, Shrell" Frodo hung his head.
"Don't be. I hardly remember it. Memories can be blown away in sand-storms when you're in the Waste. Are you hungry, Frodo?" she looked back up smiling.
"Uh, I guess so" Frodo was surprised at the sudden change of subject but was also quite glad. He also realized just how hungry he had been. Suddenly something popped into
his mind. How did Shrell know of Bilbo? He didn't bother to ask. He already knew what her answer would be. He was in the middle of a thought when he fell deep into sleep.
"Sorry to wake you, Master Frodo, but we must be on our way" Shrell was shaking him.
"Oh, alright" he said as he got up trying to sound as cheerful as possible. Shrell had already packed up they're things so they were off in no time. Shrell seemed rather cheerful
and talked a bit:
"Up in the Misty Mountains there is always snow. Even some of the small ponds up there are frozen over. Well, with thin ice anyhow" she said.
"Will we be crossing them?" asked Frodo.
"That's for you to decide" she answered.
"Well, I guess we'll have to if we want to find the ring" he said. At that moment Shrell stopped her pony and Frodo stopped beside her. There was a red glow through the trees.
The sound of deep voices could be heard singing:
We'll put it over fires for it to be roasted!
We'll watch it cook ''til it's lightly toasted!
It's poor little mind full of dreadful surprises,
but it'll be gone before the sun rises!
Shrell dismounted and pulled out a dagger. Frodo followed her. As they came close to the light they saw lots of ogres dancing around a fire and poor little Merry tied to a tree. He
look terrified. Shrell threw her dagger and hit one of the ogres in the back. The singing stopped as it fell to the ground.
"Attack" Shrell whispered to Frodo. He nodded and the ran towards the fire.
The battle was a long one. Twice Frodo was nearly killed and every time he tried to get to Merry an ogre would always get in the way. Shrell wasn't having any better luck. By
the time the last ogre fell they felt as though they might fall with it. Shrell fell to her knees.
"They escaped with Merry!" she said feeling very tired.
"We mustn't let them eat him" Frodo walked over to her and offered her a hand. She took it and pulled herself up.
"Thanks" she said then went and got the ponies.
They seemed to ride on forever as far as Frodo could tell but he soon lost track of time itself and drifted off to sleep.
Frodo awoke feeling rather stiff. He looked around to find he had been sleeping in an odd position. Shrell was fast asleep. Then, he noticed the frost the snow that covered the
ground and remembered what Shrell said about the Misty Mountains ( it was then when Frodo wished he had a map). Shrell began to stir, then, sat up and looked around.
"No wonder it was cold last night" she yawned as she said this.
"We must be leaving right away" Frodo said as he got up.
"Okay" answered Shrell.
They mounted they're ponies and set out as fast as they could in the snow. They had a conversation about the snow and how upsetting it was in spring but soon fell silent.
The mountains seemed to go on forever and sometime Frodo wanted to ask Shrell if they could rest but he always thought of poor Merry and never ended up asking. Little
did he know Shrell was thinking the same sorts of things.
They traveled on like that for days until something more surprising and horrible happened.
April 17
They were following the same snowy path when they heard the cries of a battle. As they drew nearer they saw a battle was taking place. There were ogres and hobgoblins
fighting. The ogres were out numbered and many were dead but Shrell and Frodo weren't happy, only fearful for the sake of Merry.
They tied up their ponies knowing that hobgoblins ate ponies and scouted around the battle field for Merry (always keeping out of site). Shrell was at a different edge of the
battle field when the battle ended but a cry Frodo sent a chill up her spine. He came running down beside her and told her to run. They were now being chased by hobgoblins.
A sudden drop lay ahead of them as they ran but they couldn't see it. So, when they came to it they fell over the edge and ended up rolling down. Then, slid onto the surface of
an icy lake. The hobgoblins came down and stopped at the edge of it.
Now, if you have studied hobgoblins you'd know that that are quite capable of magic, spells, and such thing that wizards are. So, you'd under stand that Frodo and Shrell were
in a dangerous position.
A rather old hobgoblin stepped out of the crowd of them. He muttered some sort of spell sending huge cracks through the ice. Then, the hobgoblins turned and left.
The cracks that had been sent through the ice left Frodo trapped on one tipsy block of ice. He wasn't balanced and slid off it into the water. Then, the ice block turned over
leaving him stuck under water. He was suffocating. Everything seemed to go dark and he thought he heard the ice crack somewhere to his right. Then, he felt an arm around his
waist. The next thing he knew he could breathe again. He felt himself being pulled up onto the ice. His eyes slowly fluttered open. His head was resting on Shrell's leg. Shrell
stroked a wet hair off his face.
"Are you alright?" she said in almost a whisper. All he could do was nod. "Just rest" she told him. He shut his eyes and wasn't sure how much time had passed when he heard
a little voice from the edge of the lake:
"If I were you I wouldn't be out swimming!" it yelled cheerfully.
"Merry!" Shrell yelled back. At this Frodo sat up and waved. Merry went sliding across the ice trying as best he could to avoid the cracks and helped them get back to land.
They all sat under a rather big tree and had lunch while discussing what to do next......to be continued.