A/N - Thanks for your lovely reviews! They make my day so much nicer :)
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He's alive! Oh, he's alive! Joyous trumpets an' angels an' all the rest. I found 'im.
An' I shall never leave 'im again.
Never, not even if the worst should 'appen.
He's fading now, you can see it in his eyes. The poison, the stabbing, the torturing.... the Ring. He needs me, more than ever. But I left him.
Oh, why did I leave 'im? The orcs, they saved him for me, but then they tortured 'im. Took all his clothes and whipped him bare. He's fragile. Why can't they see that?
I certainly can.
We're resting now, in the middle of the Black Lands. We escaped, but only just.
There's life here. It's dim and grey, but it's here, and I'm glad. It's comfortin' somehow, to know that even in the darkest and most evil places in the world, there is still light, life and growth. Good things. Small, strangled plants - trying to break free, needin' a good weedin'. Ha, that's me gardening roots comin' out. Even here!
It's funny the strange things you think of at the end.
This is the end, o' course. It has to be.
I haven't told Mr Frodo, but we're mighty low on supplies. An' it's not as if there's a market in the middle o' Mordor. A market, run by a good, stout hobbit, an' sellin' taters an' carrots. That'd do us good. A nice bit o' coney wouldn't go amiss neither. But there's not, an' so we'll have to go without. I can't tell him, he's already given up. He doesn't need to know we're starvin' too. After all, that's what we will be after he's eaten all the rations. I gave him mine as well. But he needs them. He needs strength. That mountain's still quite a distance away, an' he's to weak to reach it on muddy water. As for me, I'll manage without food. This isn't my quest to complete.
If we even get that far.
No. That's the wrong thing to say. There's still hope while you stand on your own two feet. An' we'll make it. Somehow. I'll carry Mr Frodo if I have to.
But we'll make it.
We have to make it.
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A/N - Not bad for what was only meant to be a one shot!
Ailsa Joy - yes, this is turning out kind of like a journal! It wasn't meant to, but I like that idea! Hope you are feeling better, but grrrrrrrrr on you for hurting Sammy with Nazgul! :(
shirebound - Thank you so much! I think that Sam is fast becoming my favourite character to write - I just love the way he phrases things! I loved chapter 8 of 'Quarantined', btw, and also chapter 4 of 'In the keeping of the king'!
Tigerlily Baggins - What can I say? You rock girlie!