Chapter 6 - The Final Race - Can Sam go all the way...........
Legolas stayed at the hobbit trials until the day of Sam's final race. He had planned to stay longer, but changed his mind due to the normally sensible female hobbit population's transformation into Legolas blood thirsty fangirls. He hadn't left the hobbit tent for three days, sticking his head out only in the middle of the night when he thought it might be safe to emerge. However, even then he was unable to leave because proper fangirls never ever miss a trick when it concerns possible Legolas sightings, and these ones were no exception. Pippin found the whole debacle hilarious - why would Legolas be so terrified of a group of girls that only came up to his waist? The worst they could do was scream a lot and hug his knees. Legolas, of course, saw things differently:
"Pippin," he said, "Think of the worst thing in the world that could ever happen to you."
"Ummmm........." said Pippin in response, "Ummm...... dying of starvation, whilst being taken captive by orcs singing Britney songs...."
"Now multiply that by a hundred..."
"Uh, Legolas," said Pippin, "I never learnt maths, I'm not so good with numbers!"
"It's a figure of speech -"
"We never learnt English neither...." said Pippin, looking thoroughly confused.
"Basically, it means that you think of the worst thing ever and then make it a lot, lot worse."
"Oh. OK, carry on! Actually don't, I'm quite scared now."
"Good," said Legolas grinning evilly, "That's what fangirls are like."
"Oh." Pippin repeated. "You're right, they are quite scary. I have fangirls, can I send them back?"
"No. But if you really can't handle them, send them to Gimli."
"Why don't you do that?"
"I've tried. They came back." said Legolas, looking horrified at the remembrance.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sam, meanwhile, had spent the last couple of days in bed with a headache. As Gandalf said, oh so many times, hobbits really are incredibly resilient, and Sam had proved that by coming away from his passing encounter with the tree with little damage but a sore head and a very nice purple bruise. Still, that was enough for Sam, whose injuries had prevented him from doing any training for his really big race. That wasn't to say he wasn't competing though. Sam had accidentally unearthed a new love when he ran to turn the gas off on that fateful day in Hobbiton, and nothing - give or take a few other passionate competitors, was going to stop him from getting to the Olympics.
Which was precisely why he was sat crying to Frodo 15 minutes before his race was due to start.
"I can't do it Master Frodo, I can't do it. My head hurts, I want my mummy."
"Sam." said Frodo, "Why are you in this race?"
"Because Merry and Pippin signed me up for it....."
"That's not what I meant Samwise, and you know it! Now, why are you in this race?"
"Because *sniff* I *sob* won all of my other races."
"Exactly." said Frodo, hugging him supportively. "You won the last one even with Gollum chasing you."
"Frodo, I won the last one because Gollum was chasing me."
"That's not the point Sam. The point is that you can do this, you deserve to be here, and you're gonna win. Got that Gamgee?"
"Yes Master Frodo!" said Sam, looking determined once again. He stood up. Too fast.
"Ow!" he cried.
"Headrush?" said Frodo.
"Yeah," said Sam weakly.
"Oh well, you'll get over it!"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About 10 minutes later, the crowd sat assembled around the track. Having decided to brave the fangirls, Legolas was present - but he was in disguise. He was originally going to dress as Gandalf, but after Pippin pointed out that the hobbits knew Gandalf and would expect fireworks, he decided to dress as a representative of the King. Merry found the whole thing very amusing, pointing out that Legolas looked far more conspicuous in costume than he did normally, and wasn't the wig going to mess his hair up?
But I digress.....
So, the crowd was assembled, Legolas was there and the race was about to start. The runners took up their starting positions and waited for the signal to go. One runner couldn't wait long enough. There was a false start. However, the race was soon underway. Sam needed to come in the first four in order to qualify for the Olympics and Merry and Pippin to win their bet. All eight runners ran as fast as they could, and all eight runners crossed the line within about two seconds of each other. But where had Sam come?
"The four Hobbits to qualify for the Official Olympics of Middle Earth 100m race are...." the hobbit on the tannoy system announced. The crowd collectively held their breath. "Number 2, number 6, number 17, and number 23."
Sam wasn't among the qualifying hobbits. His four friends looked dejectedly at the ground. Then the tannoy started up again.
"We would like to apologise. There has been a mix up with the results. The four hobbits to qualify are Number 2, number 9, number 17 and number 23. My useless friend read the number the wrong way up. Sorry."
SAM WAS IN.
Legolas, Merry, Pippin and Frodo jumped out of their seats and cheered, attracting the attention of the entire crowd. In the excitement, none of the friends noticed that Legolas's wig had fallen off. Suddenly, the crowd came to life.
"LEGOLAS!!!!!!"
"AAAAIIIIIIII" Legolas screamed and then reverted to shouting some extremely rude things in Elvish, which I will not repeat here.
The fangirls attacked, Legolas screamed, Merry Pippin and Frodo cheered, and Sam was through to the Olympics. What an eventful way to end the trials.
A/N - Yes! The trials are finally done and dusted! I will be writing the actual Olympic events from now on: expect to see some of your beautiful faces appearing (especially if you write nice reviews or suggest events!). Thanks so much for all the support!
Rachel xxx