CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The rescue

They thought for sure that they were goners.  Merry was still separated from Sam, Frodo and Pippin, but that didn't seem to matter much.  They were all forced the same fate: death by wargs and goblins.  Sneering and growling at the hobbits were the angry goblins, which now decided that their victims were to have a slow and painful death.  The wargs also hungered for fresh meat, something they had not had the pleasure to taste for almost weeks.

"Merry?" Sam said to his comrade over the hisses and growls, never tearing his eyes away from the creature before him.

"Yes, Sam?"

"Since we're going to die anyways," the gardener sighed, "I wanted to say that I'm sorry for calling you an incompetent, abhorrent being and an insult to all hobbits."

Merry hesitated.  "… You called me that?"

He shrugged.

"Well… I'm sorry I said your mushroom soup tasted like feces that came from a cannibal frog," Merry apologized.

"I thought you said you liked my mushroom soup!"

"I lied."

"…Oh."

A long silence seemed to leer at the goblins, wargs, and hobbits, daring each of them to make the first move.

"Merry?" Samwise said again.

"Yes, Sam?"

"… Frog feces?"

"Cannibal frog feces."

Merry turned back to face the Warg that stood before him, donning a hungry grin.  Seeing no further point in defending himself, as they were completely surrounded and hopeless now, the Brandybuck merely grit his teeth and said a few last mental goodbyes.  He saw the Warg lunge at him suddenly, snarling with his jagged teeth.  Squeezing his eyes shut, Merry braced himself for the pain that was to come from teeth tearing into his flesh.

Screeches of shock and fear filled his ears.  And to his surprise, the screams did not emerge from his own mouth.  He dared to open one eye, and was totally taken to see a rather fat goblin being flung towards him at a fast speed.  He had not the time to avoid the incoming creature, and was hit with a great force.  The fat goblin landed on top of him, squeezing the wind from Merry's lungs. 

"It's attacking the Wargs!" Merry heard Frodo yell from underneath the beast.  More squeals of pain and terror filled the air, and then it was followed by the rushed footsteps of fleeing.  With one heavy grunt, the Brandybuck pushed the limp creature away and sat up.

Stars immediately blurred his vision.  Squinting, he saw before him a giant blurb far greater in size than anything he had ever seen.  Another shape, perhaps a Warg, ran quickly from this mysterious blurb, but much to Merry's astonishment, the blurb snapped at the Warg as fast as lightning.  Flinging its head wildly with the Warg's tail (or maybe its foot?) chomped in his mouth, the poor Warg was hurled into the far away distance, never to be seen again. 

The blurb attacked another shape (was it a goblin?) almost immediately after.  Merry blinked, and rubbed his eyes in attempt to clarify his vision.  What he saw almost made him fall into shock.  "It's… it's…" he started, but couldn't find the words.

"A dragon!" a voice screamed, one who Merry immediately identified as Pippin's.  "MY dragon!"

 
Somewhere in the middle of the chaos, Pippin had awoken to find his dragon friend leap to their rescue.  The adrenaline rush made him scamper to his feet and jump up and down happily at the sight of their savior, ignoring his aching body for the slight moment.  All the hobbits remained still, gaping at the giant beast with jaws dropped to the ground as the goblins and Wargs ran to find safety. 

With one giant breath, the dragon let out an inferno through his nostrils despite the heavy rain.  The unfortunate slow runners were caught, and burnt to a crisp almost immediately.   

It was soon after that all was left was the dragon, standing tall and proud over the many burnt and chewed up bodies, and the four hobbits.  The stench of burning flesh lingered about in the air, but no one seemed to notice.  The four hobbits stood in awe, staring at the towering creature that saved their lives.

Pippin was the first to move.  He nudged Merry in the ribs and flashed his trademark smirk.  "Isn't he the bestest thing since Sam's mushroom rolls?"

"Mushroom rolls?" Merry questioned.



Nodding, Pippin began to daydream about food again.  "He takes this seaweed-ish paper and wraps it around sticky rice and mushrooms, with vegetables like avacado or various meat… I think he called them sushi, but that's such a silly name."

"Ah," he nodded understandingly.

The dragon raised his head in the air in pride, and let out an impressive roar.  Sam screamed in fright, and scampered to hide behind Frodo, while Merry continued to stare.

The Took marched straight up to the red beast and tapped on its toe.  "Hey buuuuddy, thanks!  We're even now." 

It nodded as if to say you're welcome, and turned around to leave.

That was when an idea hit Frodo's head.  He quickly poked Pippin's shoulder to get his attention, and whispered, "If it's not too much to ask, can your dragon give us a ride back to the Shire?  I think our horse fled on us and I bet the goblins took what's left of our food…"

Pippin grinned widely.  "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

Frodo blinked, and turned to look at the giant tail of the dragon passing before him. 

"Hurry, he's going to leave soon!" Pippin urged.

Giving a loud shout, Frodo managed to capture the attention of the red creature right before it spread its wings to fly away.  "Do you mind… giving us a lift to the Shire?" 

The dragon turned around and faced the tiny hobbit with glowing yellow eyes.  Frodo felt the slightest bit of intimidation, but it immediately disappeared when the creature let out a silly toothy smirk.  It lowered its body to allow the hobbits to climb on, and waited patiently.

Pippin climbed on with the help of Merry, followed by Frodo.  Unfortunately, Sam stubbornly stayed on the ground and refused to board the frightening beast.  "That's a dragon," he said.

"We know," Frodo replied.  "It's our only way home, Samwise.  Come on, its not going to bite you."

The red beast bared its yellow fangs innocently at the hobbit.  Sam widened his eyes at the sight of this, and stepped back in fear.  "I don't trust that dragon, Mr. Frodo!  You know what my Gaffer said about animals with shifty eyes, and that dragon's got them shifty eyes--"

Unfortunately, before Sam was allowed to finish his sentence, the dragon seized him by the coat, tossed him above his head and onto his back with the rest of the hobbits.  With one powerful push of its hind legs, it leaped into the air and spread its wings wide, soaring higher and higher.

Frodo was content for finding his friend.  Sam was clinging on to the body of the dragon for his dear life, for the poor hobbit was afraid of heights.  Pippin decided to take his much deserved rest, while Merry was kicking himself for forgetting the wine.  But overall, the same feeling was shared between the four friends. 

They were glad to be finally heading home.