Jenna hedgeworth: Thanks for your review. Yeah, I prefer not to do slash. I'm horrible at it, so I want to spare everyone from it. I didn't mean to make this a MS, or to be a bad author. Heh. . .oh, and Tom Bombadil is mean in this because I always thought he seemed a bit shifty in the books. I waiting for him to ambush the hobbits in the dark. So. . .I decided to make him evil. MUAH HAHA!

Aelfgifu: I know, I know! I'm such a mean author! I was surprised it was such a good cliffhanger, I'm usually horrible at them! Well, I will be sure to stop by RatM and read it.

Disclaimer: I don't own LotR. I'm a girl, for crying out loud! Tolkien wasn't a girl. . .I hope anyway. Hehe. . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~

At these words, Will flung Merry onto the ground and turned to Byrn. "Give me Iris." He did. Will removed the rope that bound her wrists. She did not move, but stared at him coldly. He grinned. "You, my dear, shall take Merry into the barrow. You know what to do, don't you?" Iris was silent a moment, then nodded. "Good, good. Now, go."

Iris hesitated a moment, staring down at Merry guiltily, not talking. Iris took the dagger from Will and placed it in her pocket. She picked up Merry, who didn't struggle, and walked out of the cell, brushing against Fidell as she did so. Fidell wasn't looking at anyone.

"What are you doing?" Will spat at him suddenly. "Take Pippin with the other one." Fidell nodded and turned to take Pippin out of the room.

Neither Fidell nor Pippin spoke as he was led down a dark stone hallway. It opened into a large circular room. The ground was dirt, not stone anymore, but the walls were the same moldy stone as the rest of this place. In the center of the room was what looked like a stone alter, and there was a hole in the ceiling nearby where a small ray of light was filtering in. Iris was already in the room with Merry, who was sitting on the alter, Iris busy binding his wrists. When she was finished, she stooped to pick up the extra rope. She straightened up again. Their eyes met.

Pippin waited for Merry to either start yelling angrily at her, or at least say something. But neither spoke. The room was still with tension, but finally she turned and walked away. Byrn and Will now entered the room. Merry didn't look at them. His eyes were still locked on Iris. Pippin wanted to stamp on Fidell's foot and run back into his cell. He knew that they were going to make him stay in the room and watch Merry meet his doom. He couldn't bear it.

Suddenly, Fidell released him and walked over to Merry. Pippin, so startled by this, didn't even think to run. Byrn soon replaced Fidell, however, and this was when Pip realized that he just lost his only chance to get away. He watched Merry and Fidell now. The boy pulled Merry to his feet, then said something to him in a low voice. Merry's face was emotionless.

"All right, Meriadoc, are you ready?" Will snarled at him. Merry looked up at him indifferently. Will snickered. "What's wrong, Halfling? No last words?" Merry was silent. Pippin wished he would say something. Will shrugged and Iris handed him the dagger. He walked up to Merry carefully, almost as if he were planning his attack. Merry didn't even follow him with his eyes. He simply stood, staring at the ground, waiting.

'Merry, why won't you speak?' Pippin thought desperately. He was going insane in this silence. And Will speaking was nothing to relieve it. He began fidgetting restlessly, shifting his weight from one side to the other, shuffling his feet, moving his wrists despite Byrn's hold on him.

Suddenly, Iris ran forward and blocked Merry from Will. She stared angrily up at the Man. "You can't do this! It isn't right!" she said, her voice edged with desperation.

"This coming from someone who helped plan the entire thing?" Will sneered. "The one we decided would warm up to one of the Hobbits, trick them into thinking they weren't in any danger? Have you told Merry the truth, Iris?"

She didn't say anything. She glanced at Pippin, then Fidell, then finally turned to look at Merry. He stared at her intently, waiting for something. After a moment, Iris whirled back around. "I have told him the truth! And the truth is. . .I don't want a part in this anymore! You're nothing but a filthy murderer!" As she continued screaming insults and threats at Will, Fidell walked over and dragged her out of the way. She began to struggle against his hold. Will looked back at Merry.

"So, you're sure there's nothing you want to say?"

Merry glanced up at him. His eyes turned to Pippin. "I'm sorry, Pip. I - ARGH!" Before he had a chance to continue, Will plunged the dagger into his stomach. Merry, though his hands were bound, held his stomach best he could and sank to his knees, then fell onto his front. He was dead. For a moment, everything was completely still. Then, Iris tried to leap at Will, only to be held around the waist by Fidell.

"I'll kill him!" Iris screamed angrily. "I'll kill him! You bastard! You - you - oh. . .God. . ." and she stopped struggling and sank to the floor, sobbing. Fidell kneeled behind her, trying to comfort her. Will grinned at her evilly.

"There's nothing you can do, m'dear," he said. "I'm afraid your little Hobbit friend is dead. And now, to the Shire, so we can - "

But suddenly, Merry rolled onto his back and swung his foot, hitting the back of Will's shins and sending the man onto his back. The dagger flew from his hands and landed a few feet away. Byrn, out of surprise, let go of Pippin's wrist. Pip wasn't foolish enough to waste his opportunity this time. He ran to Merry, untying the ropes that bound his friend's wrists. Iris and Fidell seemed to know exactly what to do. Iris ran and fetched the dropped dagger. Fidell produced another dagger out of his pocket and stood over Will, making sure he didn't move. Iris did the same for Byrn.

"Let's get out of here!" Merry shouted to the others.

Fidell looked harshly down at Will. "Sing."

"What?" was Will's startled reply.

"You know what I mean, now sing!"

Will glared at the boy, then opened his mouth and sang:

"Ho! Tom Bombadil! Tom Bombadillo! By water, wood and hill, by the reed and willow! By fire, sun and moon, harken now and hear us! Come, Tom Bombadil, for our need is near us!"

And part of the barrow crumbled away. The jolly face of Tom Bombadil appeared at the new exit, but once he saw the scene before him, quickly vanished before any sort of vengeance could be taken out on him. Fidell turned to the others. "Go! I'll make sure these two don't follow!"

Iris, Pippin and Merry hurried out of the barrow and onto the green, grassy hills of the Barrow-downs. They waited a moment and then Fidell joined them. Pippin cheered at being finally free from Will and Byrn. Merry laughed and turned to Iris. She kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm sorry to have done this to you, Merry," she said. "I do love you, I do. But I love you enough to know that it's time you and Pippin returned to the Shire. You don't belong with me. You understand?"

"Yes, I realized that as well," Merry replied. "Perhaps I was a bit selfish to make Pippin stay all this time." He turned to his friend. "Still want to go home, Pip?"

"Yes!" Pippin cried instantly. "More than anything!"

"More than life?" Merry asked teasingly.

Pippin rolled his eyes, then thought of something. "Merry. . .how did you survive? I thought Will stabbed you!"

Merry grinned deviously. "That was Fidell's handiwork, Pip. When Iris brushed past him in the cell, he switched her dagger with this one." Merry held up the dagger Will had stabbed him with. "Hold out your hand, Pippin." Pippin did. Merry took the dagger, blade down, and slowly pushed it into Pippin's palm. The blade retracted into the handle. Pippin's eyes lit up in awe.

"A fake knife!" he exclaimed. He looked up at Merry very seriously. "That was quite convincing dying that you pulled off in there. Had me worried, you did."

Merry laughed again. "Well, Fidell came up to me when Will and Byrn came in and told me what he had done. He said to try and die as best I could so as to trick Will. I suppose I did overact it a bit." He looked into the sky thoughtfully, and sighed. "We should probably be off, Pip. It'll take at least four days to get back to the Shire."

Iris gave each of them a hug. "I'll miss you, Pip," she whispered when she hugged Pippin. He blushed slightly and nodded. Fidell shook their hands and wished them the best. Merry held out the fake knife for him to take.

"Hmm. . .why don't you keep it, Merry?" Fidell said. "I have no further use for it. Oh, and just so you know, it's only fake when you stab someone. Cutting is another story entirely." He winked. "Be glad Will didn't decide to cut your throat, Merry."

Merry's face paled slightly, but he grinned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~

A/N: Soo. . .the end then? I think not! I have a few more plans in store, and then it'll be over. I expect only one or two more chapters. Well, review this one before I do the next one! Danche!