CleopatraVII: Welcome back! Thanks to you, too, for the reviews. They are really the ones encouraging me to keep writing!

Niphrandl: Someone is going to saveFrodo, but who? Keep on reading, please! :)

aelfgifu: You are extraordinary! I've never thought my awful first story can inspire you so much. Shall we write comics together? :)

Alisaundre: Oh, no! I'm no feeling drained. I'm just - me. People say you are what you write. So, here I am, a gloomy person! And your comment on how Ted reacted, well, it just came to my mind that a person with that kind of job doesn't usually show his affection. But still there is kindness in his heart. I want to believe this kind of person does exist.

Blue Jedi Hobbit: I know. I should be ashamed of myself. But Frodo is really beautiful when he is tormented! :P

AndysPrincess: He will get better, don't worry. But, will he?

JohnLennonAcrossTheUniverse: I'm afraid you still have to wait for Frodo- Sam reunion. Hmm - shall I say, it will be in chapter 40?
Warning: AU, angst
Chapter 30
Frodo's eyes jerked open. A touch that felt more like a shock on his forehead woke him up. Saruman's palm felt hot on his skin. Alarmed, he got up and backed away using his heels and elbows to push his body up.

But he soon staggered. Dizziness struck him and a feeling of nausea toppled him over. Frodo felt terribly, terribly awful.

"What happened?" he came with the same question, asking faintly. His eyes got watery from pain and fear. "Was it something I ate?"

"Want to know what you really had?" Smiling devilishly, Saruman scooped a bowl of soup from the pot, clear soup with nothing in it, and poured it down to the ground. Suddenly snakes and many other reptiles were emerging. They were all squirming there, hissing.

Frodo looked at them with a complete shock. It was hard to believe his own eyes. He panted. Nausea hit him again and he threw himself to his side.

Frodo let out whatever stayed in his stomach. He heaved heavily and soon what was left was just liquid. With his sleeve, Frodo wiped away tears that were rolling down without his realizing it. He kept bowing down, afraid that he would still want to vomit.

Snakes! He had heard from his Uncle Bilbo and the books he read about how dangerous they were. Some of them had deadly poison, and Frodo was sure these ones did. And if the poison reached the heard ---

Suddenly Frodo clutched his chest. It hurt and he started to have difficulty in breathing. Frodo opened his mouth wide as if that would help him trap the air and bring them to his lungs. But he was still gasping from lack of air.

His hands clenched harder. Frodo turned to Saruman.

"H - h - h - hel-" he pleaded unsuccessfully.

Doing nothing, the wizard turned his glance to Ted. The man's face was blue with fear. He didn't dare to move.

"You can promise me not to do anything to him anymore, not even a word to him. Or I can just leave him like this and let him die here, slowly and painfully."

Ted balled his fists on his sides. What a coward Saruman was, forcing his power over someone else using another as weak and small as Frodo! Ted was one of Saruman's men but he would rather have another job than something like this. He stared at Frodo's writhing form and knew the longer he kept his stubbornness the longer was Frodo in pain. Ted sighed frustratedly.

"Release him from the pain," he finally said, weakly.

"I beg your pardon?" teased Saruman.

"I said, don't let him suffer anymore!!" Ted shouted, and turned around.

He wouldn't be able to face Frodo anymore. He was a man with no pride. He couldn't fight what needed to be fought for. But Frodo should understand, too. It was no simple thing to fight a magic guru, especially a twisted one.

Saruman smirked satisfyingly and with a snap of fingers, gone were all the snakes, scorpions, spiders, and other disgusting creatures from the pot and the ground. Frodo felt air rushing down his lungs and his heart was no longer in pain. All the dizziness and nauseated feelings vanished, too. Frodo once again took a long, deep breath. It was so unnerving to be so close to death.

Frodo's eyes went around looking for Ted. The man had been up on his horse again, completely avoiding eye contact with Frodo.

Frodo was about to get up, intending to go to Ted, but a pair of strong hands yanked his arms backward. He felt his hands were being tied again. Back to square one. He didn't have the chance to struggle, being too surprised and stunned.

"Now nobody will come and help you, halfling," growled Saruman. "Ted has realized that he is actually the one who has tortured you. None of these things were supposed to happen had he not done anything in the first place."

Frodo opened his mouth to shout out his objection but the words never came out as a piece of black cloth was spread over his face, clamping over both his eyes and mouth, and knotted tightly at the back of his head. The sound of breath being caught was heard faintly.

***

The Breelanders were ready to jump into the dirty sewer when they saw something - no - when they saw nothing!

"Look! He's gone!"

Unaware of things happening around him, Pippin continued talking to the ring and at some point, he decided to do what was asked.

"All right, all right. I'll put you on, but you must know that I do this because I want it myself and not because of you, understand?"

In his mind, Pippin saw the ring bowing down to him, its new master. Then he slipped the heavy gold trinket around his short, sturdy finger. Pippin didn't realize that he was now invisible to his world. What he knew was that everything suddenly became fuzzy.

The ring cheered happily.

"I'm going home! I'm going home!"

Pippin went dizzy for a moment; then he got upset.

"Where is it? Where are the people - the farmers - that will assure my supply of mushrooms everyday?!"

The ring laughed joyfully.

"Be patient, my little master. They will come in a flash. In fact, there are here now!" It was a different 'they' the ring was referring to. Pippin turned around and saw the nine black riders coming towards them. They were the ones chasing him, Frodo, Sam, and Merry!

"Noo!" Pippin wailed with his small but high-pitched voice. He crawled out of the ditch and ran to the opposite side.

"You are lying to me!" accused him sharply to the ring. Desperate, he snapped the ring off his finger.

"You are trying to deceive me but you fail! I will never, ever, want to have anything to do with you anymore."

The ring was silent. That was so close. The nazguls had been able to spot their location. But with the ring off the hobbit's finger, those ringwraiths couldn't feel it anymore.

"I will look for Merry and return you to him. Only he knows what to do."

The ring couldn't agree more. The other hobbit, the one having it before this, did know what to do. He understood exactly how to use its power to himself.

It was unlike the previous one, the fairest hobbit. When the ring was in his clutches, it savored the idlest moment. Perhaps it was the same with when it was in the hands of the hobbit's much older cousin, Bilbo.

***

"Sam?" called Merry, shivering. He was half awake and half fainting. The rain had stopped, leaving him as damp as he had never imagined.

Sam had come to him as soon as it stopped and started to unfasten the ropes and gag, trembling, too.

"Oh, Mr. Merry. I don't know what came into me. I should have set you free and let you fins some shelter from the rain!" His hands fumbled with the knots, making him even more difficult to open them.

"Sam, let me help you," said Strider gently from behind. Sam looked at him thankfully.

In a moment, Merry was already propped down on the ground.

"Do you want me to change your clothes, Mr. Merry?" asked Sam to the feverish Merry. The hobbit shook his head.

"I'm fine. I'll be all right. A blanket will be nice."

Sam wanted to argue but Merry looked at him straight in the eye, telling silently that he would really mind being in the care of someone who had hurt him previously. An irony to things he had done before but he seemed not to remember them at all.

Sam gave up. He laid Merry down on a piece of thick blanket, Strider's, and covered him with another. He and Strider let Merry sleep for a while while they prepared something to eat.

Merry had been fast asleep, or got unconscious, Sam wasn't sure, for about two hours, when he suddenly opened his eyes. He looked almost fully recovered but his eyes were still a bit cloudy.

"Do you need anything, Mr. Merry?" inquired Sam. Merry nodded, blushing.

"I have to - you know," he said, smiling a little. Ah, Sam chuckled comprehensively.

"But you have to go a little bit far," Sam pointed at some bushes in a distance. "You want me to accompany you? You are still not well, Mr. Merry."

Merry snapped.

"Don't be ridiculous! I'm all right now and I - it's a private thing, you know."

Sam shrugged and continued stirring his meal in the pot.

"Up to you, Mr. Merry. Just be careful, and shout if you need anything!"

Merry slipped out of his warm blankets and walked slowly to the bushes. He didn't know standing up made him feel slightly dizzier.

Soon Sam totally forgot about Merry as he busied himself with his cooking.

"Luckily, I have three plates," said Strider, approaching Sam moments later. "They are perfect for us, you, Merry, and me."

Merry? Sam held his breath suddenly. Where was he? The last time Sam knew was he went to do his business, and he hadn't come back until now!

"S - Strider," Sam stuttered. "Merry was in the bushes over there to - to - but he hasn't got back here yet."

"WHAT!" Strider ran there and went to the back of the bush, only to find nothing. He raced back to Sam, who was standing up with a spoon in his hand.

"Is he still there?" his face paled. "I'm so sorry, Stri-"

"Stupid hobbit!" barked the ranger furiously. "Now, what if he gets to Frodo before us?! Come on! Forget about that silly meal of yours!"
TBC