April 26
Frodo was up early that morning. He woke the rest of the hobbits and went down stairs. There was a very small amount of guest but of the few there were most seemed strange. There were two cloaked
people at one of the tables in the corner and Myrth was talking to a tall and intimidating man. Myrth called them over. They came but rather carefully.
"This is Sauranoxs the Black. He has agreed to help us on our quest" Myrth told them. They introduced themselves but the man paid little heed. He seemed to look deep inside you and judge you without getting to know you. Frodo could tell how uncomfortable the other hobbits were: They would shuffle their feet and look at the ground (trying not to make eye contact with the strange wizard).
"I believe you have some friends here, hobbits" Sauranoxs said in a cold voice.
"Who?" asked Sam as bravely as he could.
"You will find that for yourselves" the strange wizard turned and left the small inn. The hobbits exchanged glances, then, decided that breakfast would be nice.
The day rolled on. It was one of the most amusing yet distressing days Frodo could remember. They were low on money and ended up helping the bar. Merry wasn't good at mixing drinks at all, Pippin didn't have any experience washing dishes, Sam wasn't good at entertaining for long, and Shrell was horrible at serving people drinks and had considered giving up the diamond waistcoat but reconsidered. Frodo had been stuck with cleaning off the tables but soon the guest wanted to hear a song and he was stuck singing while Shrell whistled a merry tune on her flute. It was a rather long song but if you remember Frodo's other adventure than you should remember this song.
There is an inn, a merry old inn
beneath an old gray hill,
and there they brew a beer so brown
that the man in the moon himself came down
one night to drink his fill.
The ostler has a tipsy cat
that plays a five-stringed fiddle;
and up and down he runs his bow,
now squeaking high, now purring low,
now sawing in the middle.
The land lord has a little dog
that is mighty fond of jokes;
When there's a good cheer among the guest,
he cocks an ear at all the jests
and laughs until he chokes.
They also keep a horned cow
as proud as any queen;
but music turns her head like ale,
and makes her wave her tufted tail
and dance upon the green.
And O! the rows of silver dishes
and the store of silver spoons!
For Sunday there's a special pair,
and these they polish up with care
on Saturday afternoons.
The man in the moon was drinking deep,
and the cat began to wail;
A dish and a spoon on the table danced,
The cow in the garden madly pranced,
and the little dog chased his tail.
The man in the moon took another mug,
and rolled beneath his chair;
And there he dozed and dreamed of ale,
Till in the sky the stars were pale,
and dawn was in the air.
The cat an the fiddle played hey-diddle-diddle
a tune that would waken the dead.
He squeaked and sawed and quickened the tune,
while the land lord shook the man in the moon:
"It's after three" he said.
With a ping and a pong the fiddle strings broke.
The cow jumped over the moon,
The little dog laughed to see such fun,
And the Saturday dish went off on the run with the silver Sunday spoon!!
The guests clapped and cheered while Frodo and Shrell gasped for air. Then, took a rather low bow and hastily went to get back to their jobs when the taller of the cloaked figures in the corner beckoned them over.
"You're lucky you didn't make the same mistake as last time" he said. Frodo stepped back.
"Wha- what are you talking about?" Frodo stuttered.
"You know what I'm talking about, Mr. Underhill" said he as he raised his head so his face was visible. It was Strider! Frodo gasped and Shrell cleared her throat:
"Could someone tell me what's going on?" she asked in an annoyed but patient way. Strider explained everything and told her to only call him Strider, never Aragorn (he didn't want any one to know he was a king). The other cloaked figure turned out to be Arwen.
After a long discussion and a bit of trouble with Pippin (who had found a bottle of ale near the wash basin) they decided to play a small game of cards in one of the back rooms. They bet what they had earned during that day and what other things they had with them. Sam was winning this time but Shrell wasn't far behind.After a few rounds she decided to go back to her room and wished everyone pleasant dreams. They wished her the same then got back to the game. Frodo was just taking a walnut and a few coins when there was a blood curdling scream for the upstairs. Frodo felt chills crawl up his spine and his stomach turn.
"Shrell" he whispered under his breath and ran up the back stairs the others at his heels. He ran through the halls and swung open the door as soon as he got to it.The room was dark but he could just make out the figure of Shrell laying face-down on the wooden floor. Frodo stepped shakily into the room. He was about to kneel by Shrell when there was another scream and he felt cold fingers wrap around his neck. He fell over with the sudden force of the creature but it's fingers didn't loosen. He stared up at it to see only a pair of pale, yellow, glowing eyes. Frodo heard a sudden crash and the fingers of the creature loosen and the voice of Sam (though he couldn't make out what Sam was saying). The next thing he knew the lights flickered on. Sam had a strange creature pinned to the ground.
"Letss uss go! LETSS US GO!" it hissed. "We wants the Bagginses-s-s-s-s" the creature squirmed and hissed while Frodo was filled with dread.
"How...?" Frodo could barely talk.
"It thoughts we was dead, didn't it, preciousss?" it hissed "But we aren't, are we, precious, no!" Frodo's blood ran cold. How could Gollum have survived? He was burned, scarred, and as black as coal but alive. At that moment there was a noise next to Frodo. Shrell was beginning to stir. She sat up and blinked.
"Ouch" she murmured under her breath and then looked over at Gollum suddenly speechless. Gollum, not wanting to be held down any longer reached for Sam's neck but Shrell was up in an instant holding a dagger to the creatures neck.
"Hear me, creature" said she "Lay a hand on any of them and I will..slit...your ....throat." She hung on the last words in the most threatening way as Gollum back against the wall (knocking Sam to the floor).
"We means no harm, precious, no" Gollum whined and hissed.
"No harm, indeed" Shrell slipped her dagger into her belt and offered a hand to help him up (considering he had shrunk into a little ball in the corner when he had been approached with the dagger). He took it and stood over her with his pale eyes looking down at her.
"What would we call this hobbitses, precious?" he asked.
"Shcoligrafa" Shrell answered. "And what would I call you?"
"It shall call us Smeagol, precious" he answered. Shrell nodded.
"Well, Smeagol, let's not go choking people, then. Will we have a truce?" she asked.
"Should we? Yes, precious, yes we shall but...." He stopped and glared at Frodo. "Not if the nasty hobbit tries to steal the precious!!" he hissed and growled.
"No one is going to steal anything. Now, why don't you go down with Pippin and get something to eat?" Shrell put in and Gollum quickly headed downstairs. Shrell was about to leave, too but Frodo grabbed her arm.
"He's going to kill us all! We can't trust him!" Frodo shouted.
"Frodo, I know he is dangerous but I think we should give him a chance" Shrell answered.
"Sam and I have already done that! He did this to me over that ring!" Frodo's grip tightened on her arm as he showed her his missing finger.
"Over the ring?" Shrell asked. Frodo loosened her arm and began to tell the story. After he finished he waited for Shrell to speak.
"I see. This is all the more reason we must trust him or pretend to. He may know where the ring is" said Shrell "I am sorry about your finger" She turned and was about to leave when Frodo caught her arm again.
"Listen, I want you to be careful. He isn't worth trusting but if you must please watch your back closely" Frodo told her.
"I shall watch mine if you watch yours" she answered with a nod. Frodo smiled. "Now, let's see where Sam, Merry, Pippin, and Smeagol went" she added cheerfully and headed for the stairs.......To be continued