Does anyone have a suggestion for what I should do with Chapter 7? It's going to be Gimli's chappie, but I'm not sure what to do with it. All suggestions are welcome… ;-)
ShireElf: *hides* Sorry about the cliffhangers! Um, you probably won't like this chapter, then… *runs away*
QTPie-2488: Hehe. Thanks!
Hai: Wow, thanks! Don't worry, everyone will be fine… I'm trying to stick with the plot of LotR, so no one's going to die or anything…
Idle Mind: You suck, Lauren. :-p Hehe, but thank you for reviewing my fic. (*cough* Everyone who reads this should do read Idle Mind's fic "Not all those who wander"… cause it's good… hehe.)
MoroTheWolfGod: Right away, captain! ;-)
Tenigee: Thanks! Um, I don't honestly know how long the fic will be… I think I've written more than half, but I don't really have a set plan at the moment so things could change… *shrugs*
Xena: Hehe, I'm glad you liked the Pippin chapter… And thank you for the compliment. You won't have to worry; at the rate I'm going, this fic won't be finished for awhile… *sighs*
Lady Jaina: *bows* Thank you!
Barbara Kennedy: Um, I think Legolas is just afraid of the dark. As to the natural glow… I'm not entirely sure about the natural glow of elves… Um… I'll have to look it up, hehe.
Eiluj: Thanks!
Buttered-onions: You silly Pippin people… thinking that Pippin is the best character, when everyone knows it's Merry! *rolls eyes* Hehe, I'm joshing… Thanks for reviewing! ;-)
Chapter Six: MerryMerry stepped back, raising his lantern high over his head. He frowned in frustration. The light did not illuminate much of the rock wall, and he couldn't see the top. He squinted, hoping to see something more, but everything beyond the lantern's small circle of light was black. Sighing, he looked over at Frodo and shook his head.
"I can't see the top," he said, lowering the lantern. "The light isn't strong enough."
Frodo frowned from where he sat on the ground next to Sam, who was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. "But I don't remember falling very far. It can't be more than fifteen feet high, I imagine." He craned his head back to look, but his lantern showed nothing more than Merry's had.
Merry glanced upward, hesitating a moment before asking, "Do you think it might be possible to climb the wall?" He knew what the answer would be, but felt he had to ask anyway.
Frodo immediately shook his head. "No. It's too dangerous. It looks like a sheer drop, and we don't have any rope to use."
"Rope!" Sam opened his eyes to look at them. "I knew I'd be wanting it if I didn't have it." He sighed heavily, then winced and brought his hand to his head.
Frodo was immediately at his side, carefully pushing back Sam's brown curls to expose the makeshift bandage. A dark red splotch was growing steadily, staining Pippin's shirt. Frodo's brow creased, and he looked at Merry with a worried expression on his face. "We ought to change the bandage. You don't happen to have any more of Pippin's shirts in your pack, do you?" He smiled weakly.
Merry gave a small grin. "Even if I did, I don't think Pippin would thank me if I ruined any more of his shirts. We'll have to find something else." He sat down next to his pack and began to rummage through it. Frodo reached for his pack and did likewise.
After a moment, Merry glanced sideways at Frodo. "Are you sure about not climbing the wall? We need to try and find the others, and we'll never be able to do that if we're stuck down here." He felt a certain helplessness about being trapped. He just wanted to do something.
Frodo shook his head once more. "Merry, we can't risk it. Suppose one of us were to fall while climbing the wall, then two of us would be hurt instead of one. It's far too risky. The others are more than capable of finding us—after all, most of them are larger and stronger than we are."
If they're still alive, Merry found himself thinking. The thought sent a shiver down his spine. What if they were the only ones left? Would the three of them be able to finish the quest on their own? What about Pippin?
Try not to think of it.
Instead, he dug deeper into his bag until, after a few minutes of searching, he produced an unused, if extremely crumpled, handkerchief. He tossed it to Frodo.
"I had forgotten that was in there," he said, shrugging. "It's a start, anyway."
Frodo nodded, glancing at the handkerchief briefly before returning to his search his own pack. "I think I packed one too…"
Merry shook his head. It seemed strange to him that they ever would have thought a handkerchief would be useful on such a quest. How little they had known, that night in Crickhollow. Now they were too busy trying to make it through each day to worry about little trifles like that.
After a moment Frodo found his handkerchief as well, and by tying the two together he was able to make a piece of cloth large enough to tie around Sam's head. He sighed, looking at it.
"We need to get him some proper care," he said softly, so Sam wouldn't hear. "If we don't clean that wound soon, it will get infected."
Merry shuddered involuntarily at the thought. An infection was not a pleasant thing, especially when they were so far from a town or village. He got to his feet.
"I'm going to look around down there," he said, nodding in the direction they had not yet explored. "Maybe the wall is less steep further down."
Frodo looked dubious, but nodded, handing Merry one of the lanterns. "Be careful," he warned, sitting down next to Sam with the bandage in his hand. "And don't go too far; we don't know what is down there."
Merry nodded and walked off, taking his lantern with him, holding it high over his head to examine the walls. He glanced back over his shoulder briefly to see Frodo carefully removing Sam's bandage. It was such a familiar sight – how many times had he taken care of the scratches and scrapes Pippin had gotten as a lad?
He bit his lip. He hadn't meant to think of Pippin. He tried to push the worries out of his head, but they refused to move. What if Pippin had been hurt in the cave-in? Suppose he was lost, hurt and alone, with no one to help him? Or what if—
Stop it, he berated himself. He was making himself sick with worry, and it would do him no good. If Pippin was hurt – and there was every chance that he was perfectly fine – there was nothing Merry could do about it at the moment.
"Unless I can find a spot where we can climb up," he muttered to himself. He turned his attention back to the wall, wishing it weren't so steep. If it was only more jagged, he could surely find enough hand and footholds to climb up…
Suddenly, there was a tiny splash as his foot landed in something wet and cold. Merry jumped in surprise, lowering the lantern to see what it was. The ground was covered in a few inches of water that extended past the light of the lantern.
A feeling of foreboding came over Merry, and he stepped forward, shivering as his feet touched the icy water once again. He had walked a few more yards when a wall appeared in front of him, blocking his way. Frowning, he turned, moving along the wall. The water was up to his knees here, and unless he was mistaken, it was rising slowly. He found the other wall perhaps fifty feet away from where he had started, and this one did not seem to have a top.
Merry was beginning to worry. The water was definitely rising; it was already halfway up his thighs. It would eventually reach the spot where Frodo and Sam were sitting. His mind raced. How would they move Sam? How would they get out? Where are the others?
Merry turned abruptly and ran back to Frodo and Sam. They had a serious problem.
Author's Note: I hereby dub myself Queen of Cliffhangers… muahaa! (Or one of the Queen's of Cliffhangers, I know there's a couple… hehe.)