Blue Jedi Hobbit: Sum up but not finished. Hm, I wonder what kind of card
I will take.
Krista: No! Frodo can't go back to his senses. I like him better suffer and miserable. Oh, mean! And are you serious that I should confuse the plot? Isn't it confusing already?
Chloe Amethyst: Ah, thank you for coming back! I hope you will like this chapter, too!
endymion: Well, to straighten things in this story out, I think I will need help! Please enjoy the following chapter.
Chapter 54
Warning: AU, angst
Frodo thought he must be mad to think that Merry looked comical, especially when observing his cousin from his own upside-down position like this.
Frodo had been sitting down beside Merry, hands tied behind his back and ankles bound tight. Yet despite the continued indignity of the ropes, Frodo had been grateful at his Merry for saving his life from the strange poison that had wracked his body. The wizard had rushed to his side but, no, it was merry who had saved him. Dear Merry!
And suddenly they seemed to be changing location, getting ready to go --- somewhere. Frodo had pleaded and begged Merry to cut loose the cord constraining his ankles and let him walk by himself. Merry, cast a pitying gaze over Frodo, but would not grant his plea. Merry whispered intimately into Frodo's delicate, pointy ear that he was still too weak and he didn't want to needlessly tire him. Though Frodo doubted Merry's intentions at first, he finally gave in. Frodo convinced himself again that Merry did care for him and only acted in his best interests. Besides, Frodo had little choice but to submit to Merry's will; he was, after all, still a prisoner.
Merry straightened up and looked around, his eyes falling on the nearest man.
"Human, come here!" The man approached obediently. "Bear him with you."
Merry leaned down to curl his hand reassuringly around Frodo's fingers, then pushing the bound hobbit slightly to the man's direction.
"Do not untie him or give him any chance to flee," ordered Merry brusquely. But!" Merry's voice sharpened. "Handle him as gently as you can. He is a beloved friend and I do not want to hear even the slightest complaint from him of any ill treatment!"
So Frodo found himself once again being hauled like baggage-though this time he was not on a warg's back but slung recklessly over a big person's shoulder. Merry had left him in ropes, hands behind back, legs tightly bound and dangling helplessly, sometimes banging at the man's chest. Frodo swayed a little as the man carrying him walked, following Merry to where Gandalf and the elves were held. Frodo couldn't do much but comply with this humiliating situation.
At first Frodo made no remarks when he felt the man circle his arm around Frodo's arse to keep him still. Frodo just wriggled a little, resulting in low mean snickers from his bearer. Eventually Frodo protested his discomfort in a small voice, but the man just chuckled more and even tightened his grip, making Frodo squirm harder.
Finally Frodo decided to call on Merry to settle this problem. He was sure Merry would listen to him and rectify the situation. After all, Frodo was the one Merry called "a beloved friend" and not these obscene men, and certainly not those putrid-smelling orcs.
But Merry seemed to be too busy arguing with the elves that he didn't seem to hear Frodo's voice.
"Merry!" called Frodo once more.
Merry eventually turned to him, but to Frodo's dismay, his eyes showed annoyance. Unlike what Frodo saw just a moment ago, care and tenderness. This ill expression made Frodo shrink back when Merry approached him.
"What's the matter, Frodo?" Merry remarked sharply. "Don't you see that I'm busy here?" Merry's eyes flashed in irritation.
"Sorry, but this - this man--" Frodo stammered in his reply and that ate out Merry's patience.
"Quiet!" Merry screamed, furiously this time, and unexpectedly backhanded Frodo hard across his face.
Frodo shrieked, his face slamming to the left. He screamed inside. Aa, it hurt! Frodo wanted to stop tears that suddenly streamed down his face, but he failed. Frodo could not decide which hurt more, the pain of the slap or the sting of the betrayal. He sniffed miserably, and decided to bury his wet face down in the man's back.
To add insult to injury, the object of his complaint began to mock him.
"Didn't succeed, eh, your pleas to your protector?" The man leered sadistically. Fortunately, Frodo couldn't see his face.
Frodo lifted his face up, still burning from the slap.
"I - I'll get you for that, runt!" threatened the man. "I'll show you what happened to tattlers!"
Frodo managed to give the man the last bit of his fading resistance. Unimpressed, the man just smirked..
With sight blurred from the remaining tears, Frodo glanced in Merry's direction. He had been with the elves again and it was clear that he wasn't too happy with the turn his conversation had taken with those fair creatures.
Merry looked angry as he paced back and forth, sometimes stomping his feet hard to the ground. For those who couldn't hear what he was grumbling about, Merry would have seemed a sulky little boy. It was so comical that Frodo couldn't help smiling a little, something he had not done for so long. The corners of his diminutive lips turned up, brightening his face a little and giving a glimmer of light to his sad eyes.
* * *
Merry eyed the four prisoners kneeling in front him. Thin and fine-edged cords trussed their wrists and arms up, cutting painfully into their skin. But no matter how cruelly Merry had his men deliver his punishments - slaps and kicks among others - they still kept to story.
"This is a healing house," said Elrond through gritted teeth, trying to subdue the pain a man inflicted on him by twisting one of his hands. "And a healing house does not normally have dungeons or cells. We have no crime here, our boarders are well protected, and there have been no need for cells of any sort."
Merry could not believe his ears. This was an unexpected wrinkle in his plans! How could he manage to put all of the Rivendell elves under his constant watch? They would still outnumber his horde of men and orcs. This was their homeland. They were born and bred here. Their number was that of a small nation.
Merry frowned and, amidst his annoyance, gazed up and around. Rivendell was indeed beautiful! Houses were built high on the hills, and streams and waterfalls flowed beneath and amongst them. The strctures, though old, were bright and wide open, allowing the sunlight to pour generously in. For a moment Merry drew back to his own self and let himself drink up all the beauty around him.
Elrond could be right. Why would they want to stain this wonderful place with something as foul and degrading as an underground dungeon?
But, getting back to the present time, Merry was not gullible enough to blindly accept whatever people told him. He stooped and whispered in Gandalf's ear, though loudly enough for the others to hear.
"Try harder to convince me, Mage, or something will happen to your lovely friend over there."
Merry's eyes flickered cruelly to Frodo, who could not see Merry's cold sneer from his position behind the man's back. Gandalf bubbled with anger and sent panicked glances to the barbarous hobbit.
"You will not do anything to him!" Gandalf's jarring voice was loud enough to stun Frodo although he was a bit far apart from the group.
Merry chuckled.
"Isn't it a little too late, old man?" Merry said mockingly. "I have done 'everything' to him!"
Gandalf froze. Was it as bad as he thought?
"What do you want?" Gandalf asked in defeat.
Merry smiled triumphantly. "Small favors, actually." He straightened up and folded his arms on his chest, his thin lips curved into an agitating sneer.
"Show me those places he said," Merry gave a quick glance over Elrond. "he doesn't have here, or prove it to me that they do not exist."
Elrond could have jumped up if not restrained by two strong hands on his shoulders.
"Fool!" Elrond hissed. "Why are you fussing around about this? What do you care if we have prisons or not?"
This all indeed sounded foolish, Merry admitted, but did not have much experience detaining people, had he? He felt confused by this unexpected challenge.
So, with Gandalf walking ahead of him, flanked by guards, Merry went around the House of Elrond for the first time in his life. This very experience astonished him and sent shivers deep in his bones. Not only did he finally get to meet the elves, but he also had a chance to lay eyes on one of their houses! Merry drew in his breath deeply. From outside, it might look beautiful. But the inside was much more astounding! Merry was hardly able to find words to describe it. It looked so - so grand! The rooms, the large halls, the high ceilings, towering pillars, and carved walls - everything was just stunning! Merry caught himself trembling at the display of these majestic creations. And all those chairs, tables, beds, drawers - he could go on forever treasuring all those magnificent objects.
But he did not find what he was looking for.
Gandalf brought him to nearly every corner of the House, including the one where they kept the broken sword of Isildur. Elrond did have basement rooms but when Merry opened one of the doors to the chambers, he knew directly that it was not the one he expected. Instead of dank odor that usually came out of the dungeons, this one had the most soothing scent he had ever encountered. It smelled like dried herbs and they were indeed the only things kept there. And if that one room was not enough to surprise Merry, the sheer multitude of other rooms used to store similar wondrous things certainly did.
"Satisfied?" growled Gandalf as he stole a glance at Merry.
Merry did not say anything. Instead he turned around, going abruptly back to the stairs leading up to the first floor, and climbed up quickly.
Once up, he motioned to the men's leader to come to him and whispered some instructions to him, before exiting the house as if in a hurry. The leader stepped out of the house as well, approaching the man carrying Frodo. The leader whispered stealthily to the man, yet so quietly that Frodo, hanging like a lumpy sack over the man's shoulder, could not catch it. In fact, Frodo could not have cared less about the hushed instructions between the big people; what he cared about was Merry, who was walking away and fading completely of his sight.
Where would his cousin go this time, he thought forlornly. Frodo hoped that Merry would not forget about him and leave him alone here with these cruel men.
Suddenly the man bearing him moved inside the house.
"Where are you going?" Frodo started. They could not do this! He could not be separated from his dear cousin!
But the man ignored him and went on walking until they came to a room which was much bigger than any room Frodo had stepped in before. It was completed with a human-sized with an imposing four posted bed. Frodo's eyes widened. He would just sink in that bed!
The man tossed Frodo on its pillowy softness. Frodo could only sigh contentedly. He almost did not care that he was still tied up. The bed felt so soft and Frodo was certain he would doze off at once. He did not see as the man walked toward a dresser in the far corner of the room, searched inside of its drawers, and finally pulled out a long, silken, white scarf. Scarf in hand, the man strolled back to the bed.
Frodo was lying on his side with his back to the man. He did not see what was coming and when it came, it surprised him. The man wrapped the scarf around Frodo's neck, connecting it loosely to one of the bedposts before making a tight knot to keep it from being unbound easily.
Frodo caught his breath. He tried to move forward which, of course, failed completely. He could not even turn around to meet the man's eyes. Old fears filled his heart. He did not want to be strangled again!
"Don't move, little one," the man breathed on his ear. "Or you will deny yourself air."
Frodo realized that the man was right, and obediently stayed still now. Yet, he could not keep himself from shaking.
"I want my Merry, please," he said hollowly to the far wall as the man stood behind him.
TBC
Krista: No! Frodo can't go back to his senses. I like him better suffer and miserable. Oh, mean! And are you serious that I should confuse the plot? Isn't it confusing already?
Chloe Amethyst: Ah, thank you for coming back! I hope you will like this chapter, too!
endymion: Well, to straighten things in this story out, I think I will need help! Please enjoy the following chapter.
Chapter 54
Warning: AU, angst
Frodo thought he must be mad to think that Merry looked comical, especially when observing his cousin from his own upside-down position like this.
Frodo had been sitting down beside Merry, hands tied behind his back and ankles bound tight. Yet despite the continued indignity of the ropes, Frodo had been grateful at his Merry for saving his life from the strange poison that had wracked his body. The wizard had rushed to his side but, no, it was merry who had saved him. Dear Merry!
And suddenly they seemed to be changing location, getting ready to go --- somewhere. Frodo had pleaded and begged Merry to cut loose the cord constraining his ankles and let him walk by himself. Merry, cast a pitying gaze over Frodo, but would not grant his plea. Merry whispered intimately into Frodo's delicate, pointy ear that he was still too weak and he didn't want to needlessly tire him. Though Frodo doubted Merry's intentions at first, he finally gave in. Frodo convinced himself again that Merry did care for him and only acted in his best interests. Besides, Frodo had little choice but to submit to Merry's will; he was, after all, still a prisoner.
Merry straightened up and looked around, his eyes falling on the nearest man.
"Human, come here!" The man approached obediently. "Bear him with you."
Merry leaned down to curl his hand reassuringly around Frodo's fingers, then pushing the bound hobbit slightly to the man's direction.
"Do not untie him or give him any chance to flee," ordered Merry brusquely. But!" Merry's voice sharpened. "Handle him as gently as you can. He is a beloved friend and I do not want to hear even the slightest complaint from him of any ill treatment!"
So Frodo found himself once again being hauled like baggage-though this time he was not on a warg's back but slung recklessly over a big person's shoulder. Merry had left him in ropes, hands behind back, legs tightly bound and dangling helplessly, sometimes banging at the man's chest. Frodo swayed a little as the man carrying him walked, following Merry to where Gandalf and the elves were held. Frodo couldn't do much but comply with this humiliating situation.
At first Frodo made no remarks when he felt the man circle his arm around Frodo's arse to keep him still. Frodo just wriggled a little, resulting in low mean snickers from his bearer. Eventually Frodo protested his discomfort in a small voice, but the man just chuckled more and even tightened his grip, making Frodo squirm harder.
Finally Frodo decided to call on Merry to settle this problem. He was sure Merry would listen to him and rectify the situation. After all, Frodo was the one Merry called "a beloved friend" and not these obscene men, and certainly not those putrid-smelling orcs.
But Merry seemed to be too busy arguing with the elves that he didn't seem to hear Frodo's voice.
"Merry!" called Frodo once more.
Merry eventually turned to him, but to Frodo's dismay, his eyes showed annoyance. Unlike what Frodo saw just a moment ago, care and tenderness. This ill expression made Frodo shrink back when Merry approached him.
"What's the matter, Frodo?" Merry remarked sharply. "Don't you see that I'm busy here?" Merry's eyes flashed in irritation.
"Sorry, but this - this man--" Frodo stammered in his reply and that ate out Merry's patience.
"Quiet!" Merry screamed, furiously this time, and unexpectedly backhanded Frodo hard across his face.
Frodo shrieked, his face slamming to the left. He screamed inside. Aa, it hurt! Frodo wanted to stop tears that suddenly streamed down his face, but he failed. Frodo could not decide which hurt more, the pain of the slap or the sting of the betrayal. He sniffed miserably, and decided to bury his wet face down in the man's back.
To add insult to injury, the object of his complaint began to mock him.
"Didn't succeed, eh, your pleas to your protector?" The man leered sadistically. Fortunately, Frodo couldn't see his face.
Frodo lifted his face up, still burning from the slap.
"I - I'll get you for that, runt!" threatened the man. "I'll show you what happened to tattlers!"
Frodo managed to give the man the last bit of his fading resistance. Unimpressed, the man just smirked..
With sight blurred from the remaining tears, Frodo glanced in Merry's direction. He had been with the elves again and it was clear that he wasn't too happy with the turn his conversation had taken with those fair creatures.
Merry looked angry as he paced back and forth, sometimes stomping his feet hard to the ground. For those who couldn't hear what he was grumbling about, Merry would have seemed a sulky little boy. It was so comical that Frodo couldn't help smiling a little, something he had not done for so long. The corners of his diminutive lips turned up, brightening his face a little and giving a glimmer of light to his sad eyes.
* * *
Merry eyed the four prisoners kneeling in front him. Thin and fine-edged cords trussed their wrists and arms up, cutting painfully into their skin. But no matter how cruelly Merry had his men deliver his punishments - slaps and kicks among others - they still kept to story.
"This is a healing house," said Elrond through gritted teeth, trying to subdue the pain a man inflicted on him by twisting one of his hands. "And a healing house does not normally have dungeons or cells. We have no crime here, our boarders are well protected, and there have been no need for cells of any sort."
Merry could not believe his ears. This was an unexpected wrinkle in his plans! How could he manage to put all of the Rivendell elves under his constant watch? They would still outnumber his horde of men and orcs. This was their homeland. They were born and bred here. Their number was that of a small nation.
Merry frowned and, amidst his annoyance, gazed up and around. Rivendell was indeed beautiful! Houses were built high on the hills, and streams and waterfalls flowed beneath and amongst them. The strctures, though old, were bright and wide open, allowing the sunlight to pour generously in. For a moment Merry drew back to his own self and let himself drink up all the beauty around him.
Elrond could be right. Why would they want to stain this wonderful place with something as foul and degrading as an underground dungeon?
But, getting back to the present time, Merry was not gullible enough to blindly accept whatever people told him. He stooped and whispered in Gandalf's ear, though loudly enough for the others to hear.
"Try harder to convince me, Mage, or something will happen to your lovely friend over there."
Merry's eyes flickered cruelly to Frodo, who could not see Merry's cold sneer from his position behind the man's back. Gandalf bubbled with anger and sent panicked glances to the barbarous hobbit.
"You will not do anything to him!" Gandalf's jarring voice was loud enough to stun Frodo although he was a bit far apart from the group.
Merry chuckled.
"Isn't it a little too late, old man?" Merry said mockingly. "I have done 'everything' to him!"
Gandalf froze. Was it as bad as he thought?
"What do you want?" Gandalf asked in defeat.
Merry smiled triumphantly. "Small favors, actually." He straightened up and folded his arms on his chest, his thin lips curved into an agitating sneer.
"Show me those places he said," Merry gave a quick glance over Elrond. "he doesn't have here, or prove it to me that they do not exist."
Elrond could have jumped up if not restrained by two strong hands on his shoulders.
"Fool!" Elrond hissed. "Why are you fussing around about this? What do you care if we have prisons or not?"
This all indeed sounded foolish, Merry admitted, but did not have much experience detaining people, had he? He felt confused by this unexpected challenge.
So, with Gandalf walking ahead of him, flanked by guards, Merry went around the House of Elrond for the first time in his life. This very experience astonished him and sent shivers deep in his bones. Not only did he finally get to meet the elves, but he also had a chance to lay eyes on one of their houses! Merry drew in his breath deeply. From outside, it might look beautiful. But the inside was much more astounding! Merry was hardly able to find words to describe it. It looked so - so grand! The rooms, the large halls, the high ceilings, towering pillars, and carved walls - everything was just stunning! Merry caught himself trembling at the display of these majestic creations. And all those chairs, tables, beds, drawers - he could go on forever treasuring all those magnificent objects.
But he did not find what he was looking for.
Gandalf brought him to nearly every corner of the House, including the one where they kept the broken sword of Isildur. Elrond did have basement rooms but when Merry opened one of the doors to the chambers, he knew directly that it was not the one he expected. Instead of dank odor that usually came out of the dungeons, this one had the most soothing scent he had ever encountered. It smelled like dried herbs and they were indeed the only things kept there. And if that one room was not enough to surprise Merry, the sheer multitude of other rooms used to store similar wondrous things certainly did.
"Satisfied?" growled Gandalf as he stole a glance at Merry.
Merry did not say anything. Instead he turned around, going abruptly back to the stairs leading up to the first floor, and climbed up quickly.
Once up, he motioned to the men's leader to come to him and whispered some instructions to him, before exiting the house as if in a hurry. The leader stepped out of the house as well, approaching the man carrying Frodo. The leader whispered stealthily to the man, yet so quietly that Frodo, hanging like a lumpy sack over the man's shoulder, could not catch it. In fact, Frodo could not have cared less about the hushed instructions between the big people; what he cared about was Merry, who was walking away and fading completely of his sight.
Where would his cousin go this time, he thought forlornly. Frodo hoped that Merry would not forget about him and leave him alone here with these cruel men.
Suddenly the man bearing him moved inside the house.
"Where are you going?" Frodo started. They could not do this! He could not be separated from his dear cousin!
But the man ignored him and went on walking until they came to a room which was much bigger than any room Frodo had stepped in before. It was completed with a human-sized with an imposing four posted bed. Frodo's eyes widened. He would just sink in that bed!
The man tossed Frodo on its pillowy softness. Frodo could only sigh contentedly. He almost did not care that he was still tied up. The bed felt so soft and Frodo was certain he would doze off at once. He did not see as the man walked toward a dresser in the far corner of the room, searched inside of its drawers, and finally pulled out a long, silken, white scarf. Scarf in hand, the man strolled back to the bed.
Frodo was lying on his side with his back to the man. He did not see what was coming and when it came, it surprised him. The man wrapped the scarf around Frodo's neck, connecting it loosely to one of the bedposts before making a tight knot to keep it from being unbound easily.
Frodo caught his breath. He tried to move forward which, of course, failed completely. He could not even turn around to meet the man's eyes. Old fears filled his heart. He did not want to be strangled again!
"Don't move, little one," the man breathed on his ear. "Or you will deny yourself air."
Frodo realized that the man was right, and obediently stayed still now. Yet, he could not keep himself from shaking.
"I want my Merry, please," he said hollowly to the far wall as the man stood behind him.
TBC
