Chapter 17: The comfort of Elves
The made camp for the night and as the night progressed Frodo got worse. He was running a fever and was delirious and in very obvious pain. In fact he seemed as if he was in more pain than he had been in for days. Merry and Pippin had seen how sick Frodo was getting and how pale and his eyes had grown strange and bloodshot and all milky white and it seemed as if her were getting transparent, it was all very strange to them. All of a sudden Pippin blurted out what had been on his mind for days. "Is Frodo Going to die?" While they were talking there had heard a scream from the Ringwraiths, they had in there journey heard them once or twice but always from a great distance this one was closer. Strider looked at Pippin and knew that he deserved the truth " He is passing into the Shadow world Pippin, soon he will become a Wraith Like them"
Strider was worried. He had been using Athelas to bath Frodo's wound every night and it had brought some measure of comfort to Frodo and now he was out of it. He needed to find some more "Sam do you know the Athelas Plant" Sam looked confused and shook his head "No" Strider looked at him quizzically and then he realized that maybe Sam knew it by its common same " Kingsfoil do you know what Kingsfoil is" Sam looked at Strider as if he were Daft "Kingsfoil yes it is a weed" Strider put his hand on Sam's shoulder "It may be a weed but it may lessen the effect of the poison that is in Frodo, we need to find some". Merry and Pippin went to Frodo's side while Sam and Strider went off to look for some Athelas.
They were wandering the woods looking and all of a sudden Strider came upon a patch of it. It was a small low growing plant that had small blue Flowers I had spent much time into singing It into being, it had tremendous healing properties and could do many things, it was much stronger when fresh though and it was exactly what Frodo needed. He took out his knife and started to cut some of it when he felt a blade at his throat "what's this, a ranger caught off his guard" He knew that voice, what he didn't know was what she was doing here. "Arwen what are you doing here don't you know it is dangerous to be here" She had been smiling and then all of a sudden she got serious "I know Aragorn, we have been looking for you for 2 days, I am here to help" "Arwen, the Hobbit Frodo has been stabbed by a Morgul Blade and I am afraid we may lose him." Arwen did not like the sound of that. "Where is he?" Strider cut the last of the Athelas that he needed and said "Come I will take you to him"
Frodo was drifting in and out of consciousness and thought he was looking at a beautiful dream. in the dream he saw a Bright light and as the light got closer he could see it was a woman, an Elf woman. It was the most beautiful thing that he had ever seen in his whole life. She came up to him and said something to him. it was not in the common tongue, it was in elvish and he could understand everything that she said " Frodo I am Arwen I have come to help you. Hear my voice, come back to the Light" Merry and Pippin had been by Frodo's side when they saw her. It was their first vision of an elf and they thought that they had never seen anything so beautiful in their life. She had long dark hair and eyes that seemed to peer into the depths of a person. Sam came up to them and he too was awe struck Merry Looked at Sam and said "Who is she" Sam could barely speak he was in such awe " She is an elf"
Aragorn knelt down by Arwen and put some of the Athelas plant in his mouth and was chewing on it to smash it up He pulled back the Shirt to put some on the wound and the look of it made his skin crawl. There were purplish red lines coming out of it and spreading to all directions and it was swollen and felt hot to the touch while the rest of Frodo felt like Ice. He put the Athelas on the wound and Frodo screamed and it sounded like one of the screams of the Ringwraiths. Arwen looked at Frodo and then at Aragorn "You are losing him he is not going to last. We must get him to my father, he is fading" Strider looked at her and Scooped Frodo up in his arms. Arwen and Strider walked over to Arwen Horse and Strider put Frodo on it. He started to mount and said to her "You look after the Hobbits I will send help back as soon as I can". Arwen stopped him "Aragorn I will take him I am the lighter of the two of us and the faster rider, we need speed now" Strider just looked at her as if he could not believe what she just said. "The road is too dangerous"
Merry had watched this and finally felt he needed to say something " Where are you taking Frodo" But they did not hear him. Arwen and Aragorn were speaking in elvish, which the hobbits did not understand Merry and Pippin and Sam Looked at one another and Pippin said, "What are they saying" Merry looked at him "I don't know they are talking in Elvish"
Arwen was talking to Aragorn " If I can get him across the river The Power of my people will protect him" Strider looked at her and was about to say something to her. she put her hand out and said "Aragorn I do not fear them Let me do this" Aragorn realized that she would have a better chance of getting Frodo there than he would, and he also knew that just being near an elf such as Arwen would aid Frodo in fighting the darkness that was causing him to fade. He helped her on her horse. " Arwen Ride hard and don't look back" she looked at him and then said to her horse "Noro lim Asfaloth Noro Lim" Which means Ride Fast Asfaloth ride Fast.
Sam saw Arwen riding away with Frodo and felt as if his heart were being ripped out. He ran up to Strider and started yelling at him " What are you doing, where is she taking him, those Wraiths are still out there" "He is doing what he must" they whipped around and there standing, leaning up against a tree was an elf Lord. Strider's face lit up and he ran up to the strange elf " Glorifindel what are you doing here" The Elf Lord smiled at Strider "Did you think that Arwen traveled alone. You did notice that it was my horse that she was riding did you not." Strider looked at him sheepishly he had not noticed he had been too worried about Frodo. Glorifindel continued " Arwen's horse started limping a few miles back so I gave her my horse and told her to go up ahead, for I knew that you were close. I told her I would be right behind her" The hobbits had come closer to Glorifindel and watched him. It was a wonder to them even amongst all their worry. They had seen two elves in one night they were awe struck. Glorifindel turned and looked at Sam then he walked over to him and placed his Hand on Sam's shoulder " Aragorn has done what he needed to do little one, to give Frodo the best chance that he has to live. He is in good hands. Arwen will get him to Rivendell safely Do not worry" He turned back to Strider "Now I think that we need to follow as fast as we can, I doubt that the Ringwraiths will follow us they are intent on pursuing Frodo. Aragorn there are five wraiths behind you, I can see that you got my token I wanted to let you know that it was, at that time safe to cross the bridge. I do not know where the other four are I am afraid that they are up ahead of us, we must go"