When Frodo awoke it was daylight. He sat up and nearly knocked Shrell off his leg.
"Morning!" He said cheerfully. She open her eyes and sat up quickly. Frodo could of sworn he saw her blush.
"Yes, it is rather cheery" she said without looking at him. Frodo chuckled to himself.
"I'm afraid we have little supply for a decent breakfast but this is the best we can do." Frodo turned to see that Sam was up and Gollum as well. Sam handed him a small bit of bred and the same for Shrell. Even with the small breakfast, Frodo was very pleased with Sam being perfectly fine and that the voices didn't return that night.
After breakfast Frodo decided to ask Gandalf about the strange voices. He was quite hasty and told the story quickly as not to waste time. Gandalf had a very deep look on his face when Frodo finished. He nodded the replied:
"I do not know how to explain this to you, Frodo. These spirits are know as Kazanogs. The feed off fear and confusion and sometimes they must make men fearful or confused to get what they feed from. If one tries to attack them they will only give them a clear entrance to the body. This is what happened to Shrell. What must be done is simply to block them out" Gandalf said, pausing a few times.
"Yes, but why did the spirit leave Shrell's body?" Frodo asked.
"She blocked it out" Gandalf answered calmly. Frodo nodded.
They set out at once. They day was very very hot as usual and without water it was hard to keep going. The food supply was low, too. They hardly had enough to last two days. Frodo's fears only grew as they continued (not to mention his hunger). It seemed as if they'd die of hunger within hours but their opinions were changed with a bad twist of events.
It was a day dry as ever and the only thing on their minds was water when the sound of someone approaching could be heard behind them. Frodo whirled around. A tall cloaked figure stood there. It's face hidden.....a Ring Wraith.
It was not on horse back but looked just as menacing. It drew it's sword and swiftly charged towards them. Frodo had no time to think before it had knocked him to the ground and the sword was to his throat. The creature lifted his sword and was about to bring it down on Frodo's neck. Frodo saw the sword gleam in the sun light. He shut his eyes tightly.
Suddenly there was a twang and a high buzzing sound. Frodo opened his eyes to see the Ring Wraith catch the arrow in mid-air.The Wraith turned to Legolas and Gimli, who readied their weapons. Every arrow Legolas fired was dodged of caught by the Ring Wraith and Gimli's ax was nothing against the blows of it's sword.
"Your arrows are not swift enough, elf!" Gimli growled.
"You swing ax too lightly, dwarf!" Legolas called back.
With another swing of the Wraiths sword Gimli fell to the ground. Every one fought but it wasn't enough. Gandalf's and Myrth's spoken enchantments failed and the sword of Aragorn was flung to the ground by the blade of the Wraith.
Frodo crawled to his feet and stood. He drew his dagger but found himself held-fast and couldn't make himself move. He could almost hear the ring call out to him in a cold voice. His hand crawled down towards his pocket. He found the ring and was about to put it on his finger when he heard a fearful cry. Frodo regained himself. He shoved the ring in his pocket and looked towards the Wraith. It's back was turned and it's sword lifted.....Sam was on the ground right under the blade.
Frodo let out a cry of anger and leapt at the Wraith. He was able to catch hold of it's left shoulder. He lifted his dagger and drove it into the Wraiths back. It let out a painful cry and turned to Frodo.
Frodo stood his ground, dagger in hand and not a glint of fear in his eyes. The Wraith swung it's sword but Frodo blocked it and all the other blows then stabbed it's leg. The Wraith let out another cry. It brought it's sword down on Frodo's head.
Frodo was not able to move back fast enough and the sword's tip cut across his forehead. It was not deep but had a pain to it that Frodo had only felt once before. He felt dizzy but leapt again at the Wraith.
"Run fools!" cried Gimli. Everyone ran but Frodo.
"You don't stand a chance!" Merry grabbed him by the arm and Frodo decided not to struggle and ran. He did not know how fast or how far when they finally stopped for rest but he felt dizzy and not himself.
"Frodo, how did you get that?" Pippin asked, walking over to him and putting a finger on the scar. Frodo leaned forward and bit Pippin's arm. Pippin pulled back looking shocked and rather offended.
"Now what was that for?" asked Merry, walking up beside the bewildered Pippin.
Frodo made a growling sound in his throat and Merry stepped back.
"It is not his fault. A sword of evil has poisoned his mind" Arwen said. She also tried putting her hand on the wound but Frodo snarled and tried to bite her and she only pulled her hand back just in time.
"Hurry! I know of a place that can cure him!" Legolas said as he started to continue on. The others followed, Gimli and Strider carrying a struggling Frodo (who soon passed out). He didn't know how long they had traveled when he awoke. He would have tried to bite someone if he wasn't so weak. He could hardly see.
"Please! For the sake of his friends!" came Legolas' voice.
"What's in it for me" said a high, cackling voice.
"Do we really need another Black Rider?!" shouted an angry Shrell, who had tears in the corners of her eyes but was not yet crying.
"Hmmm....They don't bother me" answered the voice. Shrell was glaring and her nose was scrunched up in rage.
"Well, does it matter to you if the Dark Lord rules again?!" screamed a crying Sam
"You couldn't change such a fate!" The voice laughed and cackled. Strider stepped foreword.
"It is I, Aragorn, King of Gondor. Help us now, and you will be rewarded." Strider kept calm but you could see in his eyes he was fearful.
"King?" The voice cackled. "We have a deal!"
The last thing Frodo remembered after that was being bashed on the head then nothing.
It was early when Frodo awoke. Sam had his head on Frodo's stomach and Shrell was holding his hand. Despite how much Frodo wanted to get up he didn't have the heart. He heard Gimli and Legolas arguing about something and found himself listening and in an amused way.
"No need to get irrational, Master Dwarf. You're just not as good at catching Goblins as I." Legolas said in the most aloof way.
"I am far better than any Elf!" growled Gimli.
"Far less decent" muttered Legolas.
"You Elves never live! Eating light Elven cakes when you could be eating raw meat on a stick!"
Legolas looked unmistakably disgusted and walked away from Gimli and awoke Shrell, who woke the rest of the Hobbits.
Frodo was very pleased to be up but soon wished he was back asleep when he met his 'healer.' She was an old woman. She was about the same height as Gimli and resembled him around the eyes. She always would laugh and cackle and always poke and pinch Frodo.
The hobbits hadn't left his side when he was injured. They were always putting fresh herds on his forehead, feeding him, or, when no help was needed, just sitting by him and perhaps holding his hand. He was very thankful for this and spent most of his time with them as he recovered.
It was a late summer day when Frodo fully recovered. The woman (who's name was Durnal) was inspecting the scar fore no real reason and poked Frodo in the rib twice.
"It looks pretty bad. You should stay for at least a week" Durnal said as Frodo looked pained at the thought.
"Alright, Durnal, you've had your fun. I'll inspect Frodo's scar." Shrell had her arms folded and was looking down at the kneeling Durnal with an eyebrow quirked.
Durnal grunted in disapproval and scuffled off, muttering.
Shrell knelt down beside Frodo. She lifted a few strands of hair off his face and ran her thumb over the scar then frowned.
"It must have been painful. It hurt me just to watch you sleep. You were in a cold sweet and looked so afraid and helpless. There was nothing any of us could do for you then and that thought pained me but it pained me more...to see you suffer. Anyway, ''tis only a mere scratch now. That horrible hag just wanted to poke you more" Shrell said as she let Frodo's hair fall back over his forehead but kept her hand on the scar. She shut her eyes tightly. Tears escaped the corners of her eyes but didn't roll down her cheeks. She bit her lip to keep herself from sobbing.
"What's wrong, Shrell?" Frodo asked rather bewildered but sad. He never had seen Shrell teary and never expected to.
"We came so close to losing you. Durnal almost let you die and when she did help I still wasn't sure if we could trust her. You barely breathed. Many a time I thought you were dead. You also developed a fever and-"
Frodo cut her off by pulling her into an embrace.
"I'm fine now, Shrell. Be still" he whispered in her ear.
"I thought so from the beginning!" came a cry of glory. Shrell got up and turned to see a grinning Merry.
"You want a fight Bradybuck?" Shrell said with a smirk.
"You bet we do!" Pippin and Merry said at the same time. They all drew there daggers and began a duel (or more of a chaotic match of sword-swinging).
"I could use your help, Baggins!" yelled Merry.
"Sure!" Frodo got up and joined the fight.
"This isn't fair! Sam, help!" Shrell called over to where Sam was sitting.
Soon there was a huge fight of sword-clashing and sand throwing. Legolas and Gimli were the first to join the hobbits, then Gollum. Myrth joined in with Strider and Arwen and even Gandalf joined the odd "duel."
There was a lot of screaming and words shouted such as:
"Eat sand, Pip!"
"Not bad, Master Elf!"
"For the Shire!"
"Some King you are!"
"Die Wizard"
"You fight like a woman!"
"I am a woman!"
and a good many other things.
"WHAT IS GOING ON!!" yelled a high, angry voice. Everyone stopped, frozen in their positions. There was a long silence while Durnal glared at them. No one moved fore what seemed like ages then there was a shout from Merry and a sand-ball came whirling through the air and hit Durnal right in the face. Everyone laughed and the fight started again and didn't end till long after dark......to be continued.