The Lord of the Rings Lovers
Chapter 5: Reunited
The seven hobbits and Erelas finally arrived at the House of Mirkwood, just before dawn. They gasped. It was like Rivendell and Lothlórien combined and more. It was simply too beautiful to describe.
Erelas led the hobbits down a flight of stone steps. At the bottom was a magnificent archway with stone leaves carved in and ivy draped and winding round the stone. Beyond the archway, Rose could make out two figures, sitting in great chairs of stone with, what seemed to be, velvet cushions. Erelas continued towards them and the hobbits followed. Once they reached the figures Rose recognised one of them. It was Legolas, Prince of Mirkwood. But who was the Elf next to him? She looked oddly familiar. Could it be Lou?
Then Erelas spoke, 'My brother…' he said, bowing to Legolas. Legolas then looked at the hobbits, and his face lit up.
"Merry! Pippin! Frodo-," but then his expression dropped, "Where's Sam?" he asked. The hobbits began to explain what had happened in the forest that night and how Sam disappeared.
"I see…" said Legolas.
"we were on our way here, to see you and…" Rose hesitated, "…Lou." The elf next to Legolas jumped and looked at Rose in surprise.
"Err, could you leave us for a moment?" Said Legolas to Erelas.
"Certainly," said Erelas, "I will go and keep a look out for Glorfindel. LasGalen," He added, bowing to the Elf, who was probably Lou. With that, he left them and went back along the path to wait at the top of the stone steps for Glorfindel. Legolas turned back to the hobbits, "How…?"
"It's us," said Merry, "remember, Orli? We were all in the Limousine when it crashed." The two elves were speechless. Finally Lou, known here as LasGalen, spoke.
"How did you know where to find us?" she said.
"Well, we knew you'd be with Legolas," said Elenya, "I was with Merry, Dezzy was with Pippin, Clara with Frodo and Rose with…Sam." Elenya looked over at Rose, who was staring at the ground.
Just then, Erelas came back, "Glorfindel has returned," he said. Rose looked up immediately.
"Sam!" She cried, running over to the steps and running up them. She finally reached the top and saw Glorfindel approaching, carrying a grey bundle. Rose continued running until she reached him.
"Did you find him?" She asked eagerly. The grey bundle groaned.
"He just ran straight into me in the forest," said Glorfindel, smiling down at the excited hobbit, who was so overjoyed to see Sam again that she flung her arms round Glorfindel's knees.
"Where am I?" groaned the grey bundle. Rose let go of Glorfindel's knees and stood on tiptoe to see Sam, who was wrapped in his grey cloak.
Glorfindel had reached the stone steps.
"owww," moaned Sam, "my head!"
"be careful!" said Rose, trotting along behind Glorfindel constantly trying to peer over his shoulder, and failing miserably. After all, she was only 3 ft tall.
"Sam!" Cried the hobbits, when Glorfindel had reached them.
"Where was he?" Asked Frodo, as Glorfindel put Sam down on his feet. Sam swayed and held onto Rose's arm for support.
"He was in the forest," said the elf, "he ran straight into me and knocked him self out."
Sam blinked, while his vision came back into focus. The hobbits were now all crowded round him asking him how he was.
"I'm fine!" Insisted Sam, "Really. Just a knock to the head."
All the same, the hobbits still kept fussing round him, asking over and over again if he needed anything.
That night, just as it was beginning to get dark, they sat outside in the great garden of The House. It seemed more of a forest than a mere garden, as it was filled with the most magnificent Mallorn trees. They talked long about the next stage of their journey when they would find Aragorn and Amber (or so they hoped). It was decided they would leave the morning after tomorrow for Gondor. They would travel south and cross the Anduin, into Rohan. Instead of crossing the perilous White Mountains, they would proceed round them, through the Gap of Rohan and finally into Gondor. Rose sighed, as if she was bored. All this talk of travel was making her hungry. Just then, Sam took hold of Rose's arm and whispered something. Rose followed him, away from the others and out of sight. They sat down against a nearby tree.
"What is it?" Asked Rose.
"I just, I-," Sam stopped and looked at Rose, his green eyes showing bright in the moonlight. He leaned a little closer, cautiously, taking Rose's hand.
"Sam?" She said, "What's wrong? What is it?"
"Oh, nothing's wrong, everything's fine!" He said, looking down at the ground.
"Then what-,"
Sam sighed and looked back up at her. "I don't know how to tell you…" his voice trailed off and Rose could see he was blushing.
"Tell m-me what?" Asked Rose, but she could already tell what he was going to say. She could feel her face going red.
"I-I want you to know-," Sam was stumbling over his words.
"Y-yes?" Said Rose, looking expectant.
There was a long silence. Sam began to fidget with his cloak. At length he spoke again, "The thing is… I, I lo-"
"Love you," Rose blurted out, turning, if possible, a deeper shade of red.
They both fell silent, and nothing could be heard save the rustling of the leaves on the branches above them. Suddenly Rose regretted what she'd just said. Not because she didn't mean it, she'd loved Sam since the very moment she laid eyes on him, but what if he didn't feel the same way about her? What if she'd just humiliated her self for nothing. But she noticed Sam was smiling. Although it was dark Rose could see a glint of a tear in his eye. Sam shuffled closer. With his hand, he swept Rose's golden hair out of her face and leaned in to kiss her. His soft lips brushed against hers. Rose wrapped her arms around his neck, never wanting to lose him again.
"I'm so glad you're back," she whispered, burying her face into Sam's shoulder. Sam too his cloak and wrapped it round them, blocking out the cold night air. They stayed like this for what felt like hours.
"The others will wonder where we are," said Rose sleepily, "we should go back soon," Although she wanted to stay like this forever.
"Not yet," whispered Sam, holding her closer. Rose didn't argue with this and found her self drifting off into sleep still wrapped up in Sam's arms.
Morning came and Rose opened her eyes to warm sunlight streaming through gaps in the leaves above them. Sam was still asleep. Rose stayed where she was, reluctant to leave the warmth of his arms around her. She lifted her head and kissed him softly on the lips. Sam blinked blearily and smiled at her. Then he noticed it was morning, "How long have we been here?" He said, "Did the others come looking for us?"
"I don't know," said Rose, "we must have fallen asleep." There was a sound coming from far off that sounded like footsteps. Hey looked at each-other, then unravelled them selves from Sam's cloak and tried to look as if nothing had happened. They stood up as the footsteps drew nearer. They could hear voices now. It was Clara and Frodo.
"Don't say anything," Rose whispered, dragging him behind a tree out of sight, "I have a plan."
As Clara and Frodo were nearly at the tree Rose walked casually out from behind it mumbling "C'mon," to Sam, who then followed her.
"Rose! Sam! Where have you been?" Asked Clara, startled to see them.
"Oh, you know, we just- just went for a walk."
"Yeah!" Agreed Sam.
"But you've been gone all night!"
Rose hesitated. She hadn't thought this far yet, but Sam came to the rescue,
"We lost track of time," he said. When Clara and Frodo weren't looking he winked at Rose.
"Well," said Frodo, "you'd better hurry back. You've already missed breakfast, but Pippin persuaded everyone to have second breakfast."
Rose hadn't realised until now just how hungry she was. They followed Clara and Frodo back to The House. Subtly glancing at each other when they got the chance.
When they reached The House, breakfast had already started (again). They watched as Pippin shoved a mini roll into his mouth. The cream dribbled onto the table in front of him.
"Pippin!" They heard Merry tell him off. Rose spotted the huge plate of mini rolls and tried to hold back a giggle.
"What is it?" Asked Sam, seeing her expression.
"Oh n-nothing!" She said innocently. She turned to see Clara attempting to suppress a laugh. She had obviously seen them too.
Later on, when everyone was filled and no longer hungry they all retired to the garden and sat by the fountain and talked of the journey ahead of them.
"I hope it doesn't take as long as the journey here," remarked Pippin. They were keen to find Aragorn and Amber and hoped their road would be clear and quite uneventful, unlike the journey to Mirkwood and their ordeal with the pixies. But there was certainly no rush to get home again; and indeed none of them had even thought about home yet.
"What if…" Rose wondered aloud, "what if we didn't have to go home at all? What if we could just stay here and never had to go home?" She was perched on the stone edge of the fountain, absentmindedly dangling her fingertips into the cool and sparkling water.
Everyone privately agreed. It would be a dream come true to live in Middle Earth; To walk among the forests and quaint little villages in The Shire every day without a single care in the world; and not have to put up with the crowded and polluted cities of the real world. But-
"What would happen to us, though?" Asked Diamond, "back on Earth, I mean. What would happen to our bodies? Would we just… disappear? Or die? Or…?"
"I don't know," said Rose. She sighed, "Oh, I wish this was so much simpler. Why does everything have to be so complicated?"
There was a pause; then Frodo spoke,
"Well, whatever we decide to do, we'd best find Aragorn and Amber first and see what they think."
The rest of the day was spent lazing in the garden in the warm sunshine or, in the hobbits' cases, eating and lazing in the garden. The following morning the hobbits, Legolas and LasGalen woke early, ready to begin the next stage of their journey. They breakfasted, said their farewells to Erelas and other elves they had been introduced to during their stay, and set off on their way, refreshed and their packs full of food, water and clean clothes.
By sunset they hoped to have reached the river Anduin and, with any luck, crossed it. They walked for hours in the baking heat of the sun, for they were no longer in the shade of the forest and open land surrounded them as far as the eye could see. As luck would have it, they managed to reach Anduin an hour before sunset. They approached the raging river cautiously. There was an old wooden bridge leading across to the other side, which didn't look entirely safe. The ropes holding it up were badly frayed and many of the wooden planks had begun to rot, due to age and moisture from the river below.
"So…" said LasGalen, "who's going first?"
Rose volunteered first, without the faintest idea why she did so. She took a deep breath, gripped the sides of the bridge and took a step forward. The wooden boards creaked loudly and suspiciously beneath her feet. Rose closed her eyes tightly, not daring to look down, and worked her way, slowly, to the other side. The bridge making dangerous creaks with every step she took. But none of the boards gave way and Rose made it safely to the other side. She turned to see LasGalen, followed by Legolas, their steps hardly disturbing the bridge at all. Next came Sam, who looked down half way across and stopped, clinging onto the ropes of the bridge refusing to go any further. In the end Legolas had to go back and carry him the rest of the way over the bridge. Then it was Clara's turn, Frodo, Diamond and Pippin. As Merry was crossing, a slight breeze blew up, making the bridge sway dangerously. Just as he was about to reach the other side of the bridge there was a sickening snap and the ropes at the other end broke. The bridge splashed into the raging river below, smashing the wood to splinters. Merry was sucked underneath the water and nothing more could be seen of him.
"Merry!" They heard Elenya screaming from the far riverbank. She was alone on the opposite side of the river with no means to get across now that the bridge was gone and on top of that it was probably a million-to-one chance they would ever see Merry again.