Chapter 5: Willow's Captivity
Willow opened her eyes slowly and looked about her. She saw nothing but darkness for a time, but then her eyes began to adjust to the dark. She saw that she was in a cave. There were strange rock formations that looked like icicles hanging from the roof. They were dripping. Actually, the whole cave was quite damp and dank.
Her nose wrinkled as she sniffed the air. It was musty and stale. It smelled of stagnant water, mildew, and something awful that she couldn't make out. She buried her nose in the collar of her dress. "Where am I? Such an awful place can't be part of the Shire. What happened? I wonder how I got here."
Suddenly she heard a clumping sound in the distance. "What could that be," she wondered aloud. The sound grew louder and louder. It was the sound of footsteps on the rock floor of the cave. Willow gasped and turned her face to the wall, hoping whatever it was wouldn't notice her. She wasn't that lucky.
"Get up, you little worm," the cruel thing shouted at her. It was an enormous shadow in the dark. Its eyes glowed in the blackness and she could smell it's foul odor. It was the same smell that she hadn't been able to distinguish before. She tried to hold her breath, but to no avail. There wasn't enough clean air to hold in her lungs. The whole cave was filled with its foul reek.
The creature grabbed her by the arm and yanked her up. "C'mon you little maggot," it growled fiercely.
"W...who are you? What do you want from me?"
"I wants you to get up and move," it said gruffly. It tightened its grip on her arm and began to drag her out of the cave.
Willow noticed that outside of the cave was just as dark as inside. It was cloudy and there was no moon. She couldn't even see any stars. A mist hung low to the ground and shrouded everything in mystery and gloom. Willow shivered and began to drag her feet.
The creature turned around and stared at her with his fiery eyes. She trembled as she looked back at it. In what light there was, for the first time, she could make out what this hideous thing was. It was a huge orc. It growled at her and bared its teeth like an animal about to strike its prey.
"We'll not be having any of this stopping here and there," it said. "We're going to keep moving until I says so."
This time Willow didn't cower. She stood up straight. "I'm tired," she announced. "I want to stop and get a little shut eye." The orc looked at her with a puzzled look.
"And what makes you think I am going to listen to you?"
"I'll not take another step until I've rested," she said stubbornly.
Now, you see, in the Shire, Willow was known as a rather naughty and outspoken hobbit. She did as she wanted and didn't relish authority. She was proud of it and wasn't going to change her ways to suit some nasty orc, even if it was at least twice her size.
The orc stared at her. He couldn't believe his ears! This little creature was disobeying him. None of the creatures he'd ever come across had dared to oppose him before. This made him furious! "You," he growled in a harsh guttural voice, "you'll move when I says so. You'll stop when I says so. You are my prisoner and you'll do as I tells you!" He scooped her up and threw her over his back like a sack of potatoes, and began running.
She gagged as she inhaled his awful stench! She pounded on his back with her small fists. "Let me go!" The large orc just laughed and kept loping along at a pretty fair pace.
Willow wasn't sure where they were going, but she was sure it wasn't some place nice. Perhaps they were going to his home, wherever that might be. Maybe it was a dark, damp, smelly cave like the one they had just left. It could be some sort of wretched hole in some land forsaken by the civilized world, or maybe, she thought, they weren't even going to his home. They could be going some place far worse, though she couldn't think of anything worse than what she'd already been through.
While those thoughts flashed through her mind, she realized that she was still quite sleepy. "Well, that's one good thing about this awful brute carrying me. It gives me a chance to rest, if one can sleep while bumping about like this," she thought with contempt. As it turned out, when driven to it, one could sleep like that, and she slept for quite a while.
When she woke up, the first thing she did was look around her. She noticed that the moon, which had been covered before down was now replaced by a warm and pleasant sun. It would have been a beautiful day, if only a friend or relative instead of this awful beast accompanied her. Friend... she began to think of Hobbiton and all her friends there. She realized suddenly, how much she missed them.
She suddenly missed little (3) Harvey Hornblower. They were good friends. He was the only other hobbit in the whole Shire that would go swimming with her. Hobbits, on the general whole, hate water. It is dangerous because they are so short and cannot go very far out before the water is over their heads. Harvey and Willow were exceptions to this rule. They had learned to swim early on.
One day they had been wandering the Shire together and come upon (4) the creek that ran through Hobbiton. Harvey had suggested that the cool water might feel good on their tired feet. So they waded in a little way, enjoying the cool water swirling about their toes. Then Willow had gotten a particularly mischievous look in her eye and when Harvey's back was turned, she slapped the water as hard as she could, completely drenching him. Harvey looked like a cat that had been nearly drowned. He yelled and shouted and then he began to chase her. She ran away laughing.
Suddenly she noticed that she was getting out quite deep, but Harvey was still chasing and yelling. She had to keep on running. Harvey had just about caught up to her when she completely disappeared from sight. He did not know what to do. He just ran out to help her. He noticed too late that there was a dip in the creek bed and he disappeared too.
It only took a moment for them to began to kick in desperation and low and behold they popped back up to the surface, sputtering but alive. Willow looked over at Harvey and saw that he was kicking about too. After they adjusted to the shock, they began to enjoy it. It was rather fun and the water did feel good in the heat of the summer.
Her reverie was interrupted by the orc's cry of "'Ere we are. We'll camp here."
He dropped her onto the floor of another rather damp and smelly cave. She began to
wonder if all orcs liked caves as much as this one. She began to wonder if there were any other orcs besides this one. She knew that after The War of the Ring, those that had not been slain had fled to the hills. The trouble was that "the hills" were in Mordor. How did this lone orc come to be in the Shire kidnapping hobbits? Willow decided to find out, if she could get him to talk to her.
"Excuse me sir," she said as politely as she knew how, even though she assumed manners would be wasted on this creature. "We've never been acquainted. What is your name?"
"I don't talk to little maggots like you," he said with a sneer.
"Well excuse me, but I'm not a maggot, or a worm, or any other sort of creature. I am a hobbit," she said indignantly. "And my name is Willow Baggins."
"Hmm..." the orc grunted as if thinking this over. "A hobbit, eh? I haven't never seen a hobbit before, but I've heard of one once. He was a prisoner in Mordor and he ruined... Sauron." As he spoke the name of the dark lord, even this foul beast shuddered.
"That would be Frodo Baggins, one of my ancestors," she announced proudly.
"Well, then you really are the scum of all maggots, as the master told me," he growled and looked at her with a piercing glance that made her knees knock.
After that he was silent and sat staring blankly at the wall of the cave with his back to her. She thought of trying to escape while his back was turned, but decided it was too risky. She would have to wait until better opportunity presented itself. Instead, she lay down against the back wall of the cave and tucked her legs up underneath her skirt. She decided she would try to sleep. Sleep, however, did not come as easily as she had hoped. She lay there staring into the darkness.
Her thoughts began to stray back to her friends in the Shire again. She thought of old Mister Bilbo and his wonderful stories, which made her remember Tipper. "Dear little Tipper," she thought. "He was always so sweet and innocent. He was such dear friend. I wonder what he's thinking about?" Little did she know that Tipper was thinking of her right that minute.
(3)Lucky's brother, for those who are keeping track of these things
(4) The forming of the creek is another story in itself. It was well known that the only brook in The Shire at the time of Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin was in Buckland. You must remeber however that this story takes place quite a bit after Frodo's time.