A/N: Hello again. Wow, two chapters in one day! I'm getting good. Anyway, thank you for all of the lovely reviews; we're at 25, and I desperately want 30. So, read, review, and enjoy.
Also, most of the dialog in this chapter is taken straight from the movie or the book. Not all of it, but most of it. All I did was move things around a little. I was trying my best not to write this chapter and go through the entire explanation of the Ring, but I had no choice. So, even though you already know what is being said please read it and review it appropriately. Thanks.
Chapter 9- Danger revealed
Frodo dug around desperately through the trunk, removing maps and other papers before finally spotting the sought after parcel. "Ahh," he said. "Here it is." He pulled out the envelope in which they had sealed Bilbo's ring. Gandalf quickly snatched it from his hand and threw it into the fire burning in the fireplace.
"What are you doing?" Frodo exclaimed, racing over. Gandalf ignored him and grabbed a pair of tongs. He stood over the fire ready, watching as the envelope was consumed in the flames and revealed the gold ring inside. He seized the ring with the tongs almost as soon as it was visible.
"Hold out your hand, Frodo." Seeing the hobbit's reluctance, he added, "It's quite cool." With that he dropped the ring into Frodo's hand. He caught it, and almost dropped it, surprised by the fact that it really was quite cool. Gandalf straightened and turned.
"What do you see? Can you see anything?" The wizard asked, holding his breath.
"No. There's nothing." At Frodo's response, the wizard let out a sigh of relief. But that relief was short-lived. "Wait. There are markings. It's some form of Elvish. I can't read it." Frodo stared at the ring with a curious expression. Anya came up behind him and looked over his shoulder, also puzzled by what she saw.
Gandalf turned to face them, the dread he felt showing itself plainly in his expression and in his voice. "There are few who can. The language is that of Mordor, which I will not utter here."
Anya and Frodo looked up at him, bewildered. "Mordor?" Frodo replied. Anya stared down at the ring in Frodo's hand, curious as to how the language of a far-away land could have ended up on a hobbit's possession.
"In the common tongue it says 'One Ring to rule them all. One Ring to find them. One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.'"
The twins stared at the old wizard, stunned. Finally Anya snapped out of her daze, and walked past Frodo and Gandalf into the kitchen. She tried to calm her nerves by burying herself in the familiar pattern of getting things ready for tea. Gandalf and Frodo came in behind her and sat down at the table. Frodo placed the ring on the table between them, suddenly not wanting to hold it any longer. Gandalf waited until Anya had finished with her preparations and had poured the hot water into the tea pot before continuing.
"This is the One Ring, forged by the Dark Lord Sauron in the fires of Mount Doom. Taken by Isildur from the hand of Sauron himself," Gandalf said.
"Bilbo found it. In Gollum's cave," Anya said, stunned that her beloved uncle had come across such an unusual artifact.
"Yes. For 60 years, the Ring lay quiet in Bilbo's keeping…prolonging his life, delaying old age. But no longer." Gandalf paused, looking the twins in the eyes. "Evil is stirring in Mordor. The Ring has awoken. It's heard its master's call."
"But he was destroyed. Sauron was destroyed," Frodo said, trying to understand what Gandalf was saying.
Suddenly, a strange incomprehensible whisper seemed to fill the room, coming from the Ring itself. Gandalf gave it a sharp look while Frodo simply looked stunned and frightened, though Anya actually drew back from it a little. The bad feeling that had begun to grow in her gut earlier was getting stronger.
"No, Frodo," Gandalf answered softly. "The spirit of Sauron has endured. His life force is bound to the Ring, and the Ring survived. Sauron has returned. His orcs have multiplied. His fortress at Barad-dûr is rebuilt in land of Mordor. Sauron needs only this Ring to cover all the lands in a second darkness. The Ring yearns above all else to return to the hand of its master. They are one, the Ring and the Dark Lord." Gandalf looked at Frodo in the eye and the hobbit could see the seriousness and even fear written in the wizard's eyes. "They must never find it."
"All right," Anya said suddenly, leaping up and grabbing the Ring as she did. "We put it away. We keep it hidden. We never speak of it again. No one knows its here, right?" At Gandalf's silence, she turned to face him, fear written on her face.
"They don't know it's here, do they?" Frodo repeated. "Do they Gandalf?"
Gandalf looked and felt heartbroken as he gazed at the twins. "There was one other who knew that Bilbo had the Ring." The two merely stared at him in dread. "I looked everywhere for the creature Gollum. But the enemy found him first. I don't know how long they tortured him. But amidst the endless screams and inane babble, they discerned two words."
Frodo and Anya's eyes grew wide with fear as Gandalf relayed to them his conversation with the creature. "Shire. Baggins. But that will lead them here!" Frodo said. He rapidly took the Ring from his sister and thrust it at the wizard. "Take it Gandalf!"
Gandalf backed away from him. "No, Frodo."
"You must take it!"
"You cannot offer me this ring!"
"I'm giving it to you!"
"Don't tempt me, Frodo!" The wizard exclaimed, causing Frodo to finally withdraw his outstretched arm. "I dare not take it," Gandalf said more softly. "Not even to keep it safe. Understand Frodo…I would use this Ring from a desire to do good. But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine."
Frodo looked desperately at the wizard. "But it cannot stay in the Shire!"
"No," Gandalf answered, stepping up to him. Gandalf realized then that what he had been dreading most all along must take place. "No it can't."
Frodo recognized what Gandalf has been leading up too the whole time. Casting a look behind him to his sister, he closed his first around the Ring and looked up into Gandalf's eyes.
"What must I do?" he asked, sounding much braver than he felt.
Gandalf looked at him with grim satisfaction. "You must leave, and leave quickly," he said, and they began to pull out things that Frodo would need. Neither noticed Anya disappeared to her bedroom.
"Where? Where do I go?" Frodo asked.
"Get out of the Shire. Make for the village of Bree," Gandalf advised, handing him a folded shirt.
Frodo nervously unfolded the shirt and stuffed it into his pack. "Bree," he repeated. He walked briskly into the kitchen and began to gather up food. "What about you?" he called over his shoulder.
"I'll be waiting for you, at the Inn of the Prancing Pony," Gandalf answered.
"And the Ring will be safe there?"
"I don't know Frodo. I don't have any answers," the wizard admitted. "I must see the head of my order. He is both wise and powerful. Trust me, Frodo. He'll know what to do."
Then, Anya emerged from the back of the hole. "Are we all ready then?" she asked. Frodo looked at her, a little surprised. She was wearing an old pair of Frodo's breaches, ones that she had worn before on their camping trips. Her camping pack was on her back, and she seemed to be all ready for their adventure.
"You can't be serious," Frodo said slowly. Anya looked at him, slightly perturbed.
"And why not?" she asked.
Frodo took a deep breath. "Anni," he began. He paused and looked her in the eyes. She simply crossed her arms across her chest and stared back. Frodo took another breath and tried again. "I will not willingly take you into possible danger."
"Well, if what Gandalf tells us is true, then I'm already in danger," Anya replied. Frodo looked troubled, and Anya sighed. "If this Dark Lord wants the Ring back so badly, then I suspect he will stop at nothing to get it. And if they are coming here anyway in search of it, then I seriously doubt that they will simply leave me in peace after you've gone." Seeing Frodo's concerned expression, she laughed slightly. "Honestly Frodo, you act as though I've never been outside of the smial before. I'll be fine, I promise."
Frodo sighed, looking defeated. Gandalf watched the exchange silently. Frodo cast a look back at him, as if looking for some way to keep his sister out of harm's way. Gandalf simply shook his head slightly.
"She's right Frodo. If the enemy finds any Baggins here when they arrive, it is very likely that they will not leave them alive." Hearing this, Frodo finally seemed to relent. Seeing Frodo's acceptance, Gandalf moved forward, anxious to get started.
"You'll have to leave the name of Baggins behind you. For that name is not safe outside the Shire," Gandalf said, handing Frodo his things. "Travel only by day. And stay off the road."
"We can cut across country easily enough," Frodo answered. Anya nodded in agreement. The twins stood side by side before Gandalf, waiting for him to speak again.
Gandalf merely smiled down at them, wishing with all that was within him that there was some other way this could be done. "Hobbits really are amazing creatures," he said. "You can learn all that there is to know about their ways in a month. And yet, after a hundred years, they can still surprise you." Frodo and Anya looked back at him, smiling under his approval. Suddenly, there was a noise from outside the window.
Three heads snapped towards the direction of the sound. "Get down," Gandalf hissed. Frodo and Anya immediately dropped to the floor. Grabbing his staff, Gandalf approached the window cautiously. As he neared it, he could see the plants moving under the window. In one quick motion, he thrust the head of his staff down into the middle of the moving plants. Hearing a groan of pain, he reached down quickly and pulled the intruder through the window and onto a table behind him.
"Confound it all, Samwise Gamgee! Have you been eavesdropping?" The wizard bellowed.
The frightened hobbit squirmed under the wizard's piercing gaze. "I haven't been dropping no eaves, sir. Honest. I was just cutting the grass under the window there. If you follow me."
Gandalf still looked angry, but was amused with the hobbit's attempt to lie. "A little late for trimming the verge, don't you think?"
"I heard raised voices," Sam protested. Gandalf's eyes narrowed.
"What did you hear? Speak!" he commanded.
The terrified hobbit stuttered through his confession. "No-Nothing important! That is, I heard a good deal about a ring, a Dark Lord and something 'bout the end of the world but-- Please Mr. Gandalf, sir, don't hurt me. Don't turn me into anything…unnatural."
Now the wizard was clearly amused. "No?" He looked at Frodo and Anya, who had both risen from the floor when they realized who the intruder was. Both of them looked as bemused as he felt. "Perhaps not." The wizard leaned over till he was inches from Sam's face. "I've though of a better use for you."