Arwen led them to another room. Instead of being extravagant, this one was small and cozy, just the way the hobbits liked it. There were four feather-stuffed, hobbit-sized beds there waiting for them, two on each opposite side of the room. Arwen wished them a good night; then left the room.
Merry and Pippin flung themselves on the comfortable mattresses immediately and were fast asleep within minutes. Frodo and Sam washed up in the small bathroom connected to their room; then proceeded to snuggle into their own beds. It did not take long for them to fall asleep either; they were all exhausted from being pushed so hard to make it to Rivendell.
The next morning the Hobbits were feeling refreshed, despite their early rising. They gathered their few things and prepared to leave for Isengard.
"Are you ready, Mr. Frodo?" Sam asked.
"Yes, Sam," he replied with a smile, throwing his pack over his shoulder. "Let's go."
They hurried outside to where Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli were waiting for them.
"Namarie and good luck," Arwen bid them, after a few words had been exchanged. Then the group of seven trudged along the grassy trail, through the gates of Rivendell, and set out for Isengard.
"We will rest here for the night," Aragorn told them.
"Finally!" Merry exclaimed. "I need something to eat!"
"I have mushrooms!" Pippin announced happily.
"He's hopeless!" Sam said quietly to Frodo, who laughed and agreed.
They quietly cooked their meal and ate it together. As the darkness of night grew, one by one they began to huddle around the fire and fell fast asleep.
"Come on, get up!" Aragorn said.
"All right, all right," Pippin consented, but only rolled over on his side.
'Not again!' Aragorn thought, 'Pippin hasn't changed a bit!'
"Legolas, get him up," he said.
"No problem," Legolas agreed with a grin and dumped a bucket of cold water on Pippin.
"Hey!" he yelled.
"He told me to!" Legolas said, pointing at Aragorn.
Pippin scowled, but got up, while the rest of their party laughed.
"Come hobbits, we have a long, rough journey ahead of us before we reach Isengard," Gimli said.
The Hobbits quickly gathered their things and headed off behind their friends. The fellowship of seven continued on their journey, and three days later, they found strange tracks and markings in the ground.
"Who, or what, made these?" Frodo asked.
"I don't know," Aragorn admitted, bending down further to examine the tracks more closely.
"I do not like this place," Legolas said, "Evil is here… I can feel it."
"We will go on until we find a suitable resting place," Aragorn decided, "It will soon be dark; we will not be able to go much further."
They soon came upon a nice, grassy place to stop and began to set up camp. After they ate, they lay down for the night. Legolas was reluctant at first to go to sleep, but he soon ignored his feelings of warning, and was fast asleep like the others.
'What was that?' Frodo wondered as he sat up.
Then he heard another noise and stood up, quietly taking Sting out of its sheath. Glancing at the blade, Frodo noticed that it was faintly glowing blue. He cautiously took a few steps towards a group of bushes and looked around. He saw nothing and decided to venture out a little further. Before he knew what was happening, something jumped on his back and he fell to the ground. Frodo stabbed at the creature with Sting and finally hit his mark.
He stood up and discovered that it was a huge spider that had attacked him. He breathed a sigh of relief, happy that the evil creature was dead. Suddenly, he heard the crack of a twig and whirled around. To his horror, there were many more of these giant spiders and, while he had been fighting off the first of them, they had encircled him.
"Help, Aragorn!" Frodo cried.
The call awoke Aragorn almost instantly. "Frodo!" Aragorn cried in alarm and rushed forward to help him.
By this time, the rest of their party had been awoken. "What's all this racket about?" Pippin asked, still half asleep.
"Get up!" cried Sam, "Frodo needs our help!" And he rushed off, stabbing at the spiders angrily.
Slowly they managed to push the spiders back, until they finally retreated.
"I'm glad that's over!" Merry exclaimed.
"Are you ok, Mr. Frodo?" Sam asked anxiously.
"Yes, Sam," he replied, "I'm fine."
"Can I go back to bed now?" Pippin asked, tired once again.
They all laughed. "Yes, Pippin, you can go back to bed now," Aragorn said and ruffled his hair.
Soon they had all settled down for the night for the second time. "I had fifteen. How many did you have?" Gimli asked Legolas, feeling quite proud of that amount.
"You only killed fifteen?" Legolas asked in surprise. "I had twenty-three!"
Gimli grunted angrily; rolled on his side, putting his back to Legolas; and went to sleep.