Part 77.
On Sam's and Frodo's advice they rode for Hobbiton, forty mile from the gates.
They reached the outskirts before midnight, even in the driving rain.
"What shall we do now?" Merry asked, as they halted the horses in the village square.
"We need to raise the Shire and get rid of these ruffians and big men once and for all." Frodo told them.
"I'll go along and see if I can rouse Tom Cotton. He was always a stout fellow, and knew a lot of lads. He'll help us." Sam said.
I can help with that, too." Merry said, and blew his Horn of Rohan, a gift from King Eomer and the Lady Eowyn, loud and long, then cried at the top of his lungs, "Awake! Awake! Fear, fire, foes! Awake! Fire, foes! Awake!"
"I'll ride along now." Sam told them, "And if Queen Arwen will consent, I'll take her along with me. She'll be safe at Cotton's with Rosie and Mrs. Cotton."
"Go now Arwen." Aragorn told her. "Please get dry and stay out of the rain."
She nodded, and heeled Nallahir after Sam on his pony Bill.
As they rode through the narrow lanes, the horse's hooves making a racket on the cobblestones, a lamp appeared in front of them.
"It's not one of those ruffians!" They heard a voice say.
"No it's not." Sam called into the darkness. "It's me, Sam Gamgee!"
"So it is. Where have you been Sam-lad? What's the to-do all about?" The hobbit man asked.
"Mr. Frodo and his friends are raising the Shire. We're going to get rid of these ruffians once and for all. We even brought friends from the South and the East to help." Sam answered him.
"And this is one of them?" The man asked.
"Yes," Sam told him. "This is Queen Arwen of Gondor. Her husband the King bade me to take her somewhere safe. I was going to leave her with Rose and Mrs. Cotton."
"Ride then Sam, we shall see you in the village square I would guess!" The hobbit cried, before leading his sons off to the square.
Sam lead her to a hobbit house set into a sandy bank, and left Bill by the door, taking Arwen's pack from Nallahir's saddle.
Arwen left Nallahir by the door, speaking a few calming words to the tired horse.
Sam knocked loudly on the door, and then called out. "Mrs. Cotton? Rose? It's Sam Gamgee, please let me in!"
At once the door opened. "Come along in Sam." Said a young hobbit woman. "We've missed you." She caught sight of Arwen in the rain. "Who's your friend?"
"This is Queen Arwen of Elves and Men. Her husband and kinsman are helping us ride the Shire of the ruffians, but the King wanted her safe. Can she stay here with you?"
"Of course, Sam." The elder hobbit woman said. "You are welcome to stay here my dear. Come and dry yourself off."
"Please Lady, stay here away from trouble." Sam pleaded with her.
"I will Sam. Don't worry about me. I'll be safe here. Go to the others, they'll need your help."
Rose followed Sam to the door, speaking quietly to him, before he left.
Mrs. Cotton took Arwen's wet cloak and rain slicker, handing her a towel for her hair.
"Thank you." Arwen said to her, as the hobbit woman instructed her to sit down in front of the fire to dry off properly.
"Can I offer you some tea, and toast perhaps?" Rose asked her.
"That would be lovely." Arwen told her. "There is food and other things in my pack if you need anything."
"Where on earth have you been Your Highness?" Mrs. Cotton asked, taking leave of Arwen's pregnant belly and heavily laden pack.
"Please call me Arwen, Mrs. Cotton. I have traveled from one end of Middle Earth to the other, and back, and then some more." Arwen told her.
"Was Sam brave?" Rose asked, clearly wanting to know how her champion had faired.
"Sam was very brave." Arwen told her. "And very loyal. Without him, and many others Middle Earth would be a very different place now."
"Where is your husband King of?" Rose asked again.
"Gondor and the Western Lands. He only came into his crown several months ago."
"And you are an Elf." Mrs. Cotton said to her.
"I am. My home was Rivendell, away in the East, but I spent much of my life in Lothlorien, which is South East of there." Arwen told them. "Now I reside in Gondor, in the White City of Minas Tirith, my husband's ancestral home since the days of Elendil and Isildur."
"It sounds like you have been busy." Rose smiled.
"I have." Arwen agreed, blinking her eyes tiredly.
"Take leave of us Lady, sleep now. You are weary." Mrs. Cotton helped her onto the sofa and covered her over with a blanket, warm from the heat of the fire. "All will look better in the morning."
Safe and warm, tired beyond anything she had ever known Arwen had no choice but to fall headlong into sleep.
Part 78.
In early morning Arwen woke feeling as though all of her tiredness was gone. She opened her eyes to see Aragorn sitting beside her. "Quell Amrun." She said to him, sitting up. *Good morning.*
"Thank the Valar you are well." Aragorn told her, helping her up from the low sofa.
Mrs. Cotton stood with her husband and children, talking with Frodo and the others outside the hobbit hole.
"Thank you for your hospitality Mrs. Cotton, Rose." Arwen said to them as she walked outside into the bright sunlight on Aragorn's arm.
"You are very welcome Arwen." Mrs. Cotton smiled at her.
"We have raised half the Shire, Lady." Frodo told her.
"And almost got arrested too." Pippin told her.
"It is well you didn't." Arwen told him. "You will attack tonight then?" She asked.
Aragorn nodded. "We think it's best to wait until dark, and until the rest of the hobbits have gathered here."
**************
The sounds of the fighting echoed all around in the clear night air.
Arwen sat once more in the Cotton's house with Mrs. Cotton and Rose, who had both been told to stay in the house.
Finally, when the stars were almost set the fighting stopped, and Sam came rushing up to the house.
Arwen sensed his coming and threw the door open.
"All is well Lady! The Shire is freed once more! The King bids you to come to the battle. Many lie wounded and in pain." He shouted.
Arwen nodded her head and hefted her pack onto Nallahir's back, mounting the great gray horse, pausing only to reach down and haul Sam up with her on the saddle, before giving Nallahir his head and letting him carry them towards the place where the battle had taken place.
The ground was littered with bodies, some hobbits, but more men.
Legolas grabbed her pack and led her to where Aragorn was already tending to the wounded.
She dropped to her knees beside a wounded hobbit and began to tend to his injuries, using all of her medicinal skills. With Aragorn beside her, and several of the hobbit women helping too, all of the wounded were attended to by midday.
Then the remaining members of the Fellowship walked up to Bag End, along with many of the hobbits who were still angry at the treatment they had received at the Chief's hands.
Sam and Frodo looked about in horror, at the vandalism of the place they both loved.
Outside the door Merry blew his horn in three short bursts.
At once the door opened. Saruman, the broken wizard stood there. "So, it seems that you have returned."
"Returned we have." Frodo told him sternly. "Now get out of my hole, and out of the Shire, for we desire never to see you again."
"You disappoint me, Master Baggins. I would have thought you would have had more manners."
"Manners or not Saruman, you have been asked to leave. Go now, or feel the full extent of power Gandalf and I hold against you." Arwen told him, standing tall.
"Lady Arwen, you are a Queen now, I see." Saruman said to her.
"Leave now Saruman. My powers have grown beyond anything you could have imagined during this war. The One Ring is destroyed, and the dark tower fallen in to wrack and ruin. Do you still hold to the power of your fallen Master?"
"You lie." Saruman snarled at her.
Arwen closed her eyes and took a breath, feeling the light grow around her. "Go now Saruman, the hobbits of the Shire want nothing more to do with you."
"If you leave now, peacefully we will not harm you, but grant you safe passage to the main roads whither way you would go." Frodo told him.
"Worm, Worm. Come now, we have been set adrift." Saruman called. Wormtongue came out of the house, more pathetic and groveling than they remembered him.
As the two set off towards the road, passing closely by Frodo, Saruman unsheathed a knife and tried to strike Frodo with it. He missed and Sam stood forward, sword drawn to protect his master.
Saruman tossed the knife to the ground and spat as Frodo calmed his friend.
Then Wormtongue picked up the fallen knife, and lunged at his master's back. As Wormtongue's arm fell Legolas unleashed an arrow, hitting Wormtongue squarely, and killing him instantly.
Saruman, who was stabbed dissolved into wisps of gray mist, which floated upon the still air, before the wind picked up, bearing them away.
On Sam's and Frodo's advice they rode for Hobbiton, forty mile from the gates.
They reached the outskirts before midnight, even in the driving rain.
"What shall we do now?" Merry asked, as they halted the horses in the village square.
"We need to raise the Shire and get rid of these ruffians and big men once and for all." Frodo told them.
"I'll go along and see if I can rouse Tom Cotton. He was always a stout fellow, and knew a lot of lads. He'll help us." Sam said.
I can help with that, too." Merry said, and blew his Horn of Rohan, a gift from King Eomer and the Lady Eowyn, loud and long, then cried at the top of his lungs, "Awake! Awake! Fear, fire, foes! Awake! Fire, foes! Awake!"
"I'll ride along now." Sam told them, "And if Queen Arwen will consent, I'll take her along with me. She'll be safe at Cotton's with Rosie and Mrs. Cotton."
"Go now Arwen." Aragorn told her. "Please get dry and stay out of the rain."
She nodded, and heeled Nallahir after Sam on his pony Bill.
As they rode through the narrow lanes, the horse's hooves making a racket on the cobblestones, a lamp appeared in front of them.
"It's not one of those ruffians!" They heard a voice say.
"No it's not." Sam called into the darkness. "It's me, Sam Gamgee!"
"So it is. Where have you been Sam-lad? What's the to-do all about?" The hobbit man asked.
"Mr. Frodo and his friends are raising the Shire. We're going to get rid of these ruffians once and for all. We even brought friends from the South and the East to help." Sam answered him.
"And this is one of them?" The man asked.
"Yes," Sam told him. "This is Queen Arwen of Gondor. Her husband the King bade me to take her somewhere safe. I was going to leave her with Rose and Mrs. Cotton."
"Ride then Sam, we shall see you in the village square I would guess!" The hobbit cried, before leading his sons off to the square.
Sam lead her to a hobbit house set into a sandy bank, and left Bill by the door, taking Arwen's pack from Nallahir's saddle.
Arwen left Nallahir by the door, speaking a few calming words to the tired horse.
Sam knocked loudly on the door, and then called out. "Mrs. Cotton? Rose? It's Sam Gamgee, please let me in!"
At once the door opened. "Come along in Sam." Said a young hobbit woman. "We've missed you." She caught sight of Arwen in the rain. "Who's your friend?"
"This is Queen Arwen of Elves and Men. Her husband and kinsman are helping us ride the Shire of the ruffians, but the King wanted her safe. Can she stay here with you?"
"Of course, Sam." The elder hobbit woman said. "You are welcome to stay here my dear. Come and dry yourself off."
"Please Lady, stay here away from trouble." Sam pleaded with her.
"I will Sam. Don't worry about me. I'll be safe here. Go to the others, they'll need your help."
Rose followed Sam to the door, speaking quietly to him, before he left.
Mrs. Cotton took Arwen's wet cloak and rain slicker, handing her a towel for her hair.
"Thank you." Arwen said to her, as the hobbit woman instructed her to sit down in front of the fire to dry off properly.
"Can I offer you some tea, and toast perhaps?" Rose asked her.
"That would be lovely." Arwen told her. "There is food and other things in my pack if you need anything."
"Where on earth have you been Your Highness?" Mrs. Cotton asked, taking leave of Arwen's pregnant belly and heavily laden pack.
"Please call me Arwen, Mrs. Cotton. I have traveled from one end of Middle Earth to the other, and back, and then some more." Arwen told her.
"Was Sam brave?" Rose asked, clearly wanting to know how her champion had faired.
"Sam was very brave." Arwen told her. "And very loyal. Without him, and many others Middle Earth would be a very different place now."
"Where is your husband King of?" Rose asked again.
"Gondor and the Western Lands. He only came into his crown several months ago."
"And you are an Elf." Mrs. Cotton said to her.
"I am. My home was Rivendell, away in the East, but I spent much of my life in Lothlorien, which is South East of there." Arwen told them. "Now I reside in Gondor, in the White City of Minas Tirith, my husband's ancestral home since the days of Elendil and Isildur."
"It sounds like you have been busy." Rose smiled.
"I have." Arwen agreed, blinking her eyes tiredly.
"Take leave of us Lady, sleep now. You are weary." Mrs. Cotton helped her onto the sofa and covered her over with a blanket, warm from the heat of the fire. "All will look better in the morning."
Safe and warm, tired beyond anything she had ever known Arwen had no choice but to fall headlong into sleep.
Part 78.
In early morning Arwen woke feeling as though all of her tiredness was gone. She opened her eyes to see Aragorn sitting beside her. "Quell Amrun." She said to him, sitting up. *Good morning.*
"Thank the Valar you are well." Aragorn told her, helping her up from the low sofa.
Mrs. Cotton stood with her husband and children, talking with Frodo and the others outside the hobbit hole.
"Thank you for your hospitality Mrs. Cotton, Rose." Arwen said to them as she walked outside into the bright sunlight on Aragorn's arm.
"You are very welcome Arwen." Mrs. Cotton smiled at her.
"We have raised half the Shire, Lady." Frodo told her.
"And almost got arrested too." Pippin told her.
"It is well you didn't." Arwen told him. "You will attack tonight then?" She asked.
Aragorn nodded. "We think it's best to wait until dark, and until the rest of the hobbits have gathered here."
**************
The sounds of the fighting echoed all around in the clear night air.
Arwen sat once more in the Cotton's house with Mrs. Cotton and Rose, who had both been told to stay in the house.
Finally, when the stars were almost set the fighting stopped, and Sam came rushing up to the house.
Arwen sensed his coming and threw the door open.
"All is well Lady! The Shire is freed once more! The King bids you to come to the battle. Many lie wounded and in pain." He shouted.
Arwen nodded her head and hefted her pack onto Nallahir's back, mounting the great gray horse, pausing only to reach down and haul Sam up with her on the saddle, before giving Nallahir his head and letting him carry them towards the place where the battle had taken place.
The ground was littered with bodies, some hobbits, but more men.
Legolas grabbed her pack and led her to where Aragorn was already tending to the wounded.
She dropped to her knees beside a wounded hobbit and began to tend to his injuries, using all of her medicinal skills. With Aragorn beside her, and several of the hobbit women helping too, all of the wounded were attended to by midday.
Then the remaining members of the Fellowship walked up to Bag End, along with many of the hobbits who were still angry at the treatment they had received at the Chief's hands.
Sam and Frodo looked about in horror, at the vandalism of the place they both loved.
Outside the door Merry blew his horn in three short bursts.
At once the door opened. Saruman, the broken wizard stood there. "So, it seems that you have returned."
"Returned we have." Frodo told him sternly. "Now get out of my hole, and out of the Shire, for we desire never to see you again."
"You disappoint me, Master Baggins. I would have thought you would have had more manners."
"Manners or not Saruman, you have been asked to leave. Go now, or feel the full extent of power Gandalf and I hold against you." Arwen told him, standing tall.
"Lady Arwen, you are a Queen now, I see." Saruman said to her.
"Leave now Saruman. My powers have grown beyond anything you could have imagined during this war. The One Ring is destroyed, and the dark tower fallen in to wrack and ruin. Do you still hold to the power of your fallen Master?"
"You lie." Saruman snarled at her.
Arwen closed her eyes and took a breath, feeling the light grow around her. "Go now Saruman, the hobbits of the Shire want nothing more to do with you."
"If you leave now, peacefully we will not harm you, but grant you safe passage to the main roads whither way you would go." Frodo told him.
"Worm, Worm. Come now, we have been set adrift." Saruman called. Wormtongue came out of the house, more pathetic and groveling than they remembered him.
As the two set off towards the road, passing closely by Frodo, Saruman unsheathed a knife and tried to strike Frodo with it. He missed and Sam stood forward, sword drawn to protect his master.
Saruman tossed the knife to the ground and spat as Frodo calmed his friend.
Then Wormtongue picked up the fallen knife, and lunged at his master's back. As Wormtongue's arm fell Legolas unleashed an arrow, hitting Wormtongue squarely, and killing him instantly.
Saruman, who was stabbed dissolved into wisps of gray mist, which floated upon the still air, before the wind picked up, bearing them away.