Chapter Seven- Making Plans
Jenna looked at her friend, so worried and confused, and didn't know what to say.
"To be honest with you, I don't know. But something tells me that we shouldn't stay here for long."
"But, why? If Aragorn really is after Gollum, then surely he will trace him here."
"Okay. We stay. But do we really want to see Aragorn? I mean, what happened to the whole building up reputations plan? Plus, we do look suspicious. I mean, two maidens, alone in the forest and all..."
"We are suspicious! I mean, we just dropped out of the sky!"
And with that comment, there was silence. Ten minutes and some distracted nail chewing later, Jenna squealed.
"Oooooh!"
"Uh-oh," groaned Estriel.
"So, we want to build reputations, right?"
"Yes..." said Estriel cautiously.
"And we're either in Mirkwood or the Old Forest, right?"
"Probably..."
"Well, if I remember correctly, if we're in Mirkwood, then we shouldn't be far from Rivendell, right?" Estriel nodded. "And if we're in the Old Forest, then we shouldn't be far from Hobbiton, right?"
"Mmmmhmm..."
"Well, why don't we keep walking, ask the first person we find which forest we're in, then, get to one of the places and start reputationising!"
"Reputationising?"
"You know what I mean! And, if we go to Hobbiton, then you can wow them with your story-telling skills. And if we go to Rivendell I can possibly wow them with my healing. What do you think?"
There was a pause.
"I think...that your plan has a heck of a lot of flaws, ifs and possible problems. But...right now it's the only plan we've got. me in."
"Yay!" said Jenna, smiling.
"Hang about!" said Estriel, suddenly, looking petrified. "What about Gollum?"
"Oh," said Jenna.
"Precioussss..."
Right on cue, thought Jenna, as she slumped down on the floor again, deflated.
Estriel looked over at her friend. "Why don't we rest now, and make plans tomorrow?" she suggested sensibly.
"Good plan," mumbled Jenna, half asleep already.
Estriel charitably suggested that she go on first watch.
They slept through the night in two hour shifts, and then daybreak came. They awoke, replenished their water bottles with water from the stream, had a quick breakfast, gave Gollum the remains of last night's fish, and packed up camp.
"So...which way?" ventured Jenna.
"Why don't we ask for a divine pointer?" suggested Estriel.
Jenna winked, and they called simultaneously,
"Raphael? Gabriel! Michael?"
A deafening silence.
"Angels!" "Guys?"
"Wait, maybe we're going about this the wrong way? Lets try another." "Ok- go ahead, if you're so clever!" "Dear Lord, please send us our angel helpers, as we are majorly confused. Thank you, amen."
They were both tapped on the shoulder, and they spun around to see Michael, with a look which suggested that there was a sale in the Gucci in heaven today, filing his nails.
"Hi girls!" he said.
"Goodie, it worked! I mean, about time!" said Estriel.
"We're stuck," moaned Jenna, moving on swiftly.
"Looking for your celestial compass, are we?" he asked, knowing...well...everything.
"Yes! Where are we meant to go now?" asked Jenna.
"In one word? Hobbiton."
"But, which..."
"Thatta way," he said, pointing, before she could get another word in edgeways.
"Oh. Thanks! Also wondering..." "Yes?" "What the heck do we do with precious, here?" Michael smiled mysteriously. "Take him with you. It'll be fine. Now, I found the most di-vine little gifts for you girls!" He waved a hand at their bed rolls, and said 'you'll find them when you need them, and not one second before, alright? Good luck my dears, toodles!"
And with that, they were on their own again.
"Precioussssssssss!"
Well, not quite alone.
They decided to grab a chunk of chocolate to nibble on as they walked. Soon, Gollum was enquiring about the next 'fissssh' break, but the girls' endurance was already building up, although they both wished they'd had been able to wash in the stream- it had been far too cold to do more than splash their faces and arms. They walked like this all day, and promptly set up camp at dusk, allotting sentry duty. This time Jenna went first.
It must have been about midnight when the girls swapped duty again, Jenna (watching for the second time) being replaced by Estriel. In the bitter cold, and damp they took pity on Gollum, and Estriel (to keep herself awake) made him a little bed of dry leaves and so on, using one of the small towels as a blanket- he really was quite small, so it would fit him nicely. They had begun to be a little easier on Gollum, as they had never seen a sign of violence in him since that first night, and he seemed content to go along with them for the moment. They had even given him a chance to escape (by accident, not design!) which he had not taken. Sure that he was well tied, Es began to transfer his many leads (they had a tight length of twine on each of his wrists and legs, as well as two about his neck) to another tree, checking that none had been chewed through as she went.
By the time she had finished, he was thoroughly comfortable, and she was cold, and only a little bit more awake. She settled in to her position as guard again, and waited. And waited.
A bit boring, really, this guard duty, she thought, rubbing her hands to keep warm. Nothing to do, nothing to see, nothing to hear...hang on!
She had become aware, since making a little nest for him, of Gollum's soft snores. Now...nothing. Her heart was racing at this realisation, and she had barely turned around when you-know-who pounced on her from behind, bony fingers tightened around her dainty neck. She screeched out to Jenna, who at first did nothing but turn over. After a second louder and more panicked scream, she jolted awake, and, realising what was happening, ran towards Estriel, seeing the situation in the firelight.
She grabbed Gollum and, with all her strength (or as much of it as she could muster since she had only just woken up) pulled him off of Estriel. He was on the floor for about half a second, before he leapt up, teeth bared, to attack Jenna.
But this time, Estriel was ready. She grabbed him mid-leap, and pinned him to the floor.
"Get the twine! Get the twine!" she ordered Jenna, who sprinted over to get it. She rifled through Estriel's bag, and her own, with no result. She chanced a glance back to her friend, who was struggling to hold the creature down, whilst having her arm's clawed by the creature.
"No time!" yelled Jenna, and grabbed the first thing which came to her hand – the saucepan. She ran back to Estriel.
"What are you thinking!" shrieked Estriel, while grimacing from the pain of Gollum digging his nails into her arm. "We can't kill him, remember!"
"I was thinking more unconscious than dead, Es!"
Jenna raised the saucepan high, aimed at his head (roughly) and swung.
Too late.
Gollum had bitten Estriel's hand as hard as he could, she screamed in agony, and he wriggled out of her grasp.
Jenna barely had time to realise what had happened before Es was yelling, "Follow him!"
Jenna looked at her friend's hand, which she was clutching, blood spilling through her fingers.
"Go! Take a torch from the bag!" encouraged Es.
Reluctantly, Jenna ran after the hobbling creature, keeping him in the light of the powerful torch beam, who was going as fast as he could, but it appeared that one of the girls had injured his leg, as he was running awkwardly and slower than she knew he could.
She eventually caught up with him, and grabbed him from behind. The creature screamed and cursed, but Jenna held fast, and they stumbled around, him trying to bite her, her trying to pin him to the ground. The torch spun away, ironically pointing at the two rolling on the floor.
Jenna had a lot of abilities; she was a good listener, she got good grades at university, she could write stories...but strength and combat, unfortunately was not one of them.
He grabbed her neck, dug his fingers into it and held fast. She choked and coughed. She began to feel light-headed. She looked around for Estriel, but then realised that they had stumbled far from their camp.
She had almost blacked out; when somebody tore Gollum off of her.
/tmp/uploads/592930.doc