*** Details on the 1st Chapter. Rosa Cotton, I am so beyond honoured that
you are both reading and reviewing my story. Also, If LoveoftheRings
happens to read this story. I just stumbled onto your story and noticed
ours are similar, please do not think that it was anything other than
chance.***
*Duncan good for you Sad but on your way Well the army never turned his crank But love, sure, made him brave*
The night sky blazed brightly across the horizon. A multitude of noise came from around the Shire. Pots and pans clanging outside of houses as harsh voices commanded those inside to leave.
A town meeting had been called.
At the site of what was know referred to as 'The Party Tree', where Bilbo Baggins had paid his respects to townspeople, stood Lotho Sackville-Baggins surrounded by dark and terrifying creatures. The Big Men had finally entered the shire.
"There has a change in command!" Lotho shouted above the whispers of the townsfolk. "Mayor Will Whitefoot is no longer in charge. I am the new Chief Sheriff!"
Rosie worked her way through the crowd, searching for the Whitefoot family. The Mayor's wife and children were there but the Will Whitefoot was not. Rosie placed her arm around the weeping wife as she tried to hold back her sons.
" Hush." Rosie said softly. " Who knows what may happen if you race up there in rage. I don't trust the looks of those men."
"Who will join me in the New Age? Come willingly and you will be rewarded beyond your possible dreams!" Lotho continued to shout. " Come to Power! Riches! And Glory!"
" I will join you!" Came a lone reply from the crowd. Ted Sandyman, swelling with pride, worked his way up onto the stage.
Rosie shuddered as more hobbits, mostly male, followed Ted. There was a small army of hobbits in front of the Party Tree, and while Rosie knew that there was more that chose not to follow Lotho than those who did, with one look at those Tall Men she knew all for the Shire was lost.
**
" What does his Chiefness want now?" Tolman Cotton grumbled the knocking on the door became more violent. "He's already taken the pipe weed and the most of the supplies of food."
Although only a few months had passed since Lotho's claiming as Chief Sheriff of the Shire, major renovations had already taken place. The Party Tree had been that first tree that fell in the Shire and it hadn't been the last. The Shire had been torn apart, gardens uprooted, houses torched and in replace of them ugly sterile building were constructed.
" Perhaps we should pretend we're not at home." Rosie's brother, Jolly, suggested. "I'm sick of taking orders."
" I'm not hiding from those ruffians! I do not fear them." Tolman Cotton whispered angrily as he opened the door.
" Order from Sharkey." A man grunted. "To search the premises."
" For what?" Tolman Cotton demanded.
" That is none of your concern." The man pushed Tolman Cotton out of the way. " Don't even think of resisting." He smirked. "Come on in men!" An army of ruffians filled the doorway of the Cotton house. "You know what to do."
"I'll take Rosie's room." Ted Sandyman grinned, stepping out in front of the tall man.
" Take her with you." A man who appeared to be in charge of the operation said.
"That was my plan all along."
**
" What exactly are you searching for? This is needless, I have nothing!" Rosie queried, outraged as Ted Sandyman gleefully tore apart her room.
"Something very important." He answered shortly.
" I have nothing of importance." Rosie repeated, as a planter of flowers crashed to the floor. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she took note that the last flower of the Shire had finally been killed. "Please! Let my family be!"
"I've learned that often people place things of importance in their diaries. as a record for safekeeping." Ted Sandyman sneered as his hand sneaked under her bed and pulled out a worn leather bound book. "What secrets, I wonder, could be kept in here?"
" My business is that of my own." Rosie said narrowly. "What is written is none of your concern." She reached out to take back what was hers when Ted Sandyman grabbed her hand and threw her backwards. She painfully slammed against the wall.
" You are not in charge here!" He yelled. Ted opened randomly opened a page and read aloud.
" The dream is becoming stranger. More characters have entered my thoughts. The ring I spoke of seems to constantly be referred to. I wish I understood why. The dreams are getting darker, many have died already I fear more are too follow." Ted Sandyman's voice trailed off. In astonishment " I never would have believed you were involved."
Rosie's heart began to beat faster, she did not understood what such a revelation meant but she became very afraid. " In involved in what?" She pleaded. " That is merely a dream. Probably a left over memory from one of Bilbo's tales!"
"Men!" Ted Sandyman yelled. "We may have found it!"
**
" I already told you. It is simple a dream." Rosie cried, for hours she sat surrounded by the big man and asked the same questions over and over again. " It means nothing!" It felt endless.
"Do you know of the whereabouts of Perigrin Took?" The big man demanded.
" Pippin Took." Rose repeated, laughing slightly in the absurdity of the question. " He's been gone for almost a year now. How is he of anything consequence to you?"
" I told you before." Ted Sandyman smiled before her. "We ask the questions."
" Perigrin Took is a wanted hobbit." The man said menacingly, pushing Ted out of his way. The Man knelt, looking Rosie directly in the eye. "If you have any idea of his whereabouts or are hiding him from harm there will be a world of trouble. However, if you tell us now your family will be saved. Now, think hard what is your last memory? Dream or not."
Rosie closed her eyes. The memory of her most recent dream came to her, of Pippin and Merry reunited, although she didn't know where. Rosie feared for herself and for her family, but something inside of her told her that though they were dreams they meant something more. And to give away any information would by death of everything. "There was one thing..." Rosie began, her pulse racing. " I saw..."
"Yes." The man's eyes grew wider, and a horrible smile came to his face.
" Last year." Rosie said quietly, willing her story to be convincing. " There was a horrible happening. I didn't want to tell anyone. I wanted to keep them safe from the truth."
" Get on with it!" Ted Sandyman yelled, his fist crashing down next to her.
" Frodo wanted to follow Bilbo." Rosie said quickly, wanting to get this horrible ordeal over with. " He missed him. I followed the missing hobbits out of curiosity. They were just pulling away on the Buckleberry ferry when a horrible sound was heard and the ferry slipped under the water. That was the last I saw of them."
The men pilled away from her, they grouped together on the other side of the room. One rather portly man raised his voice above the others. "Sharkey said that, the Perigrin fellow was spotted through the.." The portly man stopped speaking as the others elbowed him.
" Shut up." The tallest man demanded. He turned back towards Rosie. "And what of the stories in your dreams?"
" Merely stories repeated by Bilbo Baggins of his adventures." Rosie said simply.
"They do bear a resemblance." Ted Sandyman agreed.
The man strode over to Rosie; she prayed that they believed her.
" You're free to go. But if we learn that you have lied.." The man left the threat hanging empty in the air.
**
There was a candle in the window of her home. A vigil for her return. Upon seeing her outside, her family came racing out.
Never before had her family been so delighted in her return. After the last of the hugging and tears her father pulled back with a serious gleam in his eye. "Rosie." He said. " I want you to tell me the truth. Did they...hurt you? You're safe now, you can say."
Her family pulled away, and silence came down over the Cotton Family. " No." Rosie said. " It was merely a questioning over missing food supplies. They did not hurt me."
"Thank goodness for small blessings." Her mother sighed, leading Rosie inside the house as if she had forgotten where it was. "That Ted Sandyman. One day he'll get his comeuppance."
" Mother. I'm rather tired, I think I'll just go to bed." Rosie said softly.
"Oh. Of course my dear." Lily Cotton said quickly but as an afterthought she stopped her daughter after a few steps. " I fixed the broken plant in your room."
Rosie turned to her mother with a small look of hope on her face. " It's still alive? I was so worried. It is the last flower from the good days." Rosie smiled sadly as she turned and left.
" Also the last plant gardened by that Samwise Gamgee." Lily Cotton said quietly looking outside, towards what used to Bag End.
*** Coming soon the return of Sam, sorry for so dark of a chapter. But I need to stress that not only The Fellowship suffered during the War of the Rings. Also, doesn't Ted Sandyman make you sick???******
*Duncan good for you Sad but on your way Well the army never turned his crank But love, sure, made him brave*
The night sky blazed brightly across the horizon. A multitude of noise came from around the Shire. Pots and pans clanging outside of houses as harsh voices commanded those inside to leave.
A town meeting had been called.
At the site of what was know referred to as 'The Party Tree', where Bilbo Baggins had paid his respects to townspeople, stood Lotho Sackville-Baggins surrounded by dark and terrifying creatures. The Big Men had finally entered the shire.
"There has a change in command!" Lotho shouted above the whispers of the townsfolk. "Mayor Will Whitefoot is no longer in charge. I am the new Chief Sheriff!"
Rosie worked her way through the crowd, searching for the Whitefoot family. The Mayor's wife and children were there but the Will Whitefoot was not. Rosie placed her arm around the weeping wife as she tried to hold back her sons.
" Hush." Rosie said softly. " Who knows what may happen if you race up there in rage. I don't trust the looks of those men."
"Who will join me in the New Age? Come willingly and you will be rewarded beyond your possible dreams!" Lotho continued to shout. " Come to Power! Riches! And Glory!"
" I will join you!" Came a lone reply from the crowd. Ted Sandyman, swelling with pride, worked his way up onto the stage.
Rosie shuddered as more hobbits, mostly male, followed Ted. There was a small army of hobbits in front of the Party Tree, and while Rosie knew that there was more that chose not to follow Lotho than those who did, with one look at those Tall Men she knew all for the Shire was lost.
**
" What does his Chiefness want now?" Tolman Cotton grumbled the knocking on the door became more violent. "He's already taken the pipe weed and the most of the supplies of food."
Although only a few months had passed since Lotho's claiming as Chief Sheriff of the Shire, major renovations had already taken place. The Party Tree had been that first tree that fell in the Shire and it hadn't been the last. The Shire had been torn apart, gardens uprooted, houses torched and in replace of them ugly sterile building were constructed.
" Perhaps we should pretend we're not at home." Rosie's brother, Jolly, suggested. "I'm sick of taking orders."
" I'm not hiding from those ruffians! I do not fear them." Tolman Cotton whispered angrily as he opened the door.
" Order from Sharkey." A man grunted. "To search the premises."
" For what?" Tolman Cotton demanded.
" That is none of your concern." The man pushed Tolman Cotton out of the way. " Don't even think of resisting." He smirked. "Come on in men!" An army of ruffians filled the doorway of the Cotton house. "You know what to do."
"I'll take Rosie's room." Ted Sandyman grinned, stepping out in front of the tall man.
" Take her with you." A man who appeared to be in charge of the operation said.
"That was my plan all along."
**
" What exactly are you searching for? This is needless, I have nothing!" Rosie queried, outraged as Ted Sandyman gleefully tore apart her room.
"Something very important." He answered shortly.
" I have nothing of importance." Rosie repeated, as a planter of flowers crashed to the floor. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she took note that the last flower of the Shire had finally been killed. "Please! Let my family be!"
"I've learned that often people place things of importance in their diaries. as a record for safekeeping." Ted Sandyman sneered as his hand sneaked under her bed and pulled out a worn leather bound book. "What secrets, I wonder, could be kept in here?"
" My business is that of my own." Rosie said narrowly. "What is written is none of your concern." She reached out to take back what was hers when Ted Sandyman grabbed her hand and threw her backwards. She painfully slammed against the wall.
" You are not in charge here!" He yelled. Ted opened randomly opened a page and read aloud.
" The dream is becoming stranger. More characters have entered my thoughts. The ring I spoke of seems to constantly be referred to. I wish I understood why. The dreams are getting darker, many have died already I fear more are too follow." Ted Sandyman's voice trailed off. In astonishment " I never would have believed you were involved."
Rosie's heart began to beat faster, she did not understood what such a revelation meant but she became very afraid. " In involved in what?" She pleaded. " That is merely a dream. Probably a left over memory from one of Bilbo's tales!"
"Men!" Ted Sandyman yelled. "We may have found it!"
**
" I already told you. It is simple a dream." Rosie cried, for hours she sat surrounded by the big man and asked the same questions over and over again. " It means nothing!" It felt endless.
"Do you know of the whereabouts of Perigrin Took?" The big man demanded.
" Pippin Took." Rose repeated, laughing slightly in the absurdity of the question. " He's been gone for almost a year now. How is he of anything consequence to you?"
" I told you before." Ted Sandyman smiled before her. "We ask the questions."
" Perigrin Took is a wanted hobbit." The man said menacingly, pushing Ted out of his way. The Man knelt, looking Rosie directly in the eye. "If you have any idea of his whereabouts or are hiding him from harm there will be a world of trouble. However, if you tell us now your family will be saved. Now, think hard what is your last memory? Dream or not."
Rosie closed her eyes. The memory of her most recent dream came to her, of Pippin and Merry reunited, although she didn't know where. Rosie feared for herself and for her family, but something inside of her told her that though they were dreams they meant something more. And to give away any information would by death of everything. "There was one thing..." Rosie began, her pulse racing. " I saw..."
"Yes." The man's eyes grew wider, and a horrible smile came to his face.
" Last year." Rosie said quietly, willing her story to be convincing. " There was a horrible happening. I didn't want to tell anyone. I wanted to keep them safe from the truth."
" Get on with it!" Ted Sandyman yelled, his fist crashing down next to her.
" Frodo wanted to follow Bilbo." Rosie said quickly, wanting to get this horrible ordeal over with. " He missed him. I followed the missing hobbits out of curiosity. They were just pulling away on the Buckleberry ferry when a horrible sound was heard and the ferry slipped under the water. That was the last I saw of them."
The men pilled away from her, they grouped together on the other side of the room. One rather portly man raised his voice above the others. "Sharkey said that, the Perigrin fellow was spotted through the.." The portly man stopped speaking as the others elbowed him.
" Shut up." The tallest man demanded. He turned back towards Rosie. "And what of the stories in your dreams?"
" Merely stories repeated by Bilbo Baggins of his adventures." Rosie said simply.
"They do bear a resemblance." Ted Sandyman agreed.
The man strode over to Rosie; she prayed that they believed her.
" You're free to go. But if we learn that you have lied.." The man left the threat hanging empty in the air.
**
There was a candle in the window of her home. A vigil for her return. Upon seeing her outside, her family came racing out.
Never before had her family been so delighted in her return. After the last of the hugging and tears her father pulled back with a serious gleam in his eye. "Rosie." He said. " I want you to tell me the truth. Did they...hurt you? You're safe now, you can say."
Her family pulled away, and silence came down over the Cotton Family. " No." Rosie said. " It was merely a questioning over missing food supplies. They did not hurt me."
"Thank goodness for small blessings." Her mother sighed, leading Rosie inside the house as if she had forgotten where it was. "That Ted Sandyman. One day he'll get his comeuppance."
" Mother. I'm rather tired, I think I'll just go to bed." Rosie said softly.
"Oh. Of course my dear." Lily Cotton said quickly but as an afterthought she stopped her daughter after a few steps. " I fixed the broken plant in your room."
Rosie turned to her mother with a small look of hope on her face. " It's still alive? I was so worried. It is the last flower from the good days." Rosie smiled sadly as she turned and left.
" Also the last plant gardened by that Samwise Gamgee." Lily Cotton said quietly looking outside, towards what used to Bag End.
*** Coming soon the return of Sam, sorry for so dark of a chapter. But I need to stress that not only The Fellowship suffered during the War of the Rings. Also, doesn't Ted Sandyman make you sick???******
