A/N: A chapter three is up (here :P) you might not understand the beginning but believe me, you will understand later on in the story. Maybe even in this chapter if you're clever enough.

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There it was again. That voice …voice of what?

"Frodo…"

He tried in vain to peer into the gloom, but the voice began surrounding him, beating him down, and forcing him to the ground. He covered his ears and tried to block out the sound, but it was no use.

"FRODO. COME MY PRECIOUSSSSS…"

The hissing grew to an unbearable shrieking, beating down on his eardrums and filling his head. He shut his eyes as hard as he could, but even like that, it was just too much. Suddenly, he had the urge to open them again, so he did. His eyes grew wide with shock. For there, a face lit up. It smiled an evil smile. It shrieked so loud, he felt sure his head would burst. It was Orli. The smile suddenly disappeared and…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH…"

Frodo woke with a start. The nightmares again. He sat up. Where was he now? His blurred vision was not much use, but he could hear someone in front of him. The reality shot back to him once again. His head suddenly became clear, as a bucket of ice cold water was thrown over him and he jumped.

"Hello, my precious. How are we this morning? Two days you were out cold. Two days! Oh well, time for some more fun soon."

Frodo shivered and wiped the water out of his eyes. The cold was biting into him. He raised his hands to pull his damp cloak more tightly around him, but felt a sudden pain. His hand was swollen and red. Orli sat in front of him cross-legged, smirking.

"What do you want?" Frodo asked one more time, a little hoarsely.

"Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no answers. Ask me questions, and I'll give you 'answers'" attempting to be cryptic. It didn't make sense anyhow. Frodo thought it best to be getting on with his question.

"Yes, but I am asking a question."

Frodo could not put up with this mysterious talk any longer. He looked down as so to not see the expression on Orli's face. It would just unnerve him. A flickering fire caught his eye to the right of Orli.

"What did you say, hobbit?"

The voice became angry, but Frodo knew he had to stand up to Orli, whether he liked it or not: to save himself. Or would that kill him?

"I said, I am asking you a question. What do you want?"

Frodo's voice grew with a little confidence and he noticed that the slight whimper in his voice had gone. Orli's expression changed from angry to even more menacing. He grinned.

"DON'T you speak to me like that, halfling. You know perfectly well what I'm doing. I'm here to teach you a lesson!" Orli smiled. "And now here's you next,"

He leant back and unhooked a kettle-like appliance that was boiling over a fire. And stood up so that he would have an upper hand. He walked over slowly to Frodo, holding it up and letting him see the steam.

"Oh eru…" Frodo shifted quickly over to one side just as Orli let a steaming splash of water fall from the spout. Thankfully, It just missed him.

"Oh eru really now…"

Orli stepped to the other side, and let another drop splash down. This caught Frodo's cloak. Frodo yelped as he watched his cloak burn, and bit his lip to jump up so he could move out of harm's way.

"Standing up eh?" Orli jeered. "Ooh, big strong hobbit, I see. Weren't like this when we were whimpering in our sleep, huh..."

The two stood staring challengingly into each other's eyes for a moment, a peculiar sight to see a hobbit and a man dare each other... until Orli suddenly leant down, grabbed Frodo's sore hand, and jammed his thumb into the spout of the boiling kettle.

An echoing cry rang from the forest.