Chapter 4

That night, Elizabeth dreamed she was in a really pretty forest with a really pretty elf lady. The beautiful forest seemed surreal--even better than the one that they had been in the other day. The pretty elf lady seemed magical, just like Cinderella's Fairy Godmother. Maybe this was Elizabeth's Fairy Godmother come to take her home. But something inside Elizabeth said otherwise.

'Are you my Fairy Godmother?' Elizabeth asked.

'No,' the pretty lady answered, smiling brightly.

'Oh.' Elizabeth said, slightly disappointed. 'Than who are you?'

'I am Galadriel, Lady of Light and Lady of Caras Galadhon.'

'Wow, that's a pretty name. Can you guess what my name is?' Elizabeth asked.

'Is it Elizabeth?'

'How'd you know, Galadriel?' Elizabeth asked, frowning slightly.

'You are speaking through your mind. Therefore, I can read your thoughts and if you concentrate enough, you can read mine.' Galadriel explained.

'Wow,'

'You need to wake up now. They are here.' Galadriel warned.

'Ok. When can I talk to you again?'

'When you reach Rivendell, my son-in-law, Elrond will know you. You may speak to me through him. But do not ask in front of the others. Alright?' Galadriel asked.

'Ok.'

'One more thing, Elizabeth, no matter what happens, protect Frodo.' Galadriel ordered.

'Ok...' Elizabeth thought. 'Wait...who's here?'

But Galadriel was already gone. Elizabeth opened her eyes to hear an ear-piercing scream. She quickly buried her head under her pillow and shivered in fright. Elizabeth jumped slightly when a hand patted her shoulder.

"There, there, Miss Elizabeth, it'll be alright." Sam cooed. Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief. It had only been Sam who was trying to calm her.

"What are they?" Frodo asked. Elizabeth lifted her head slightly so she could see her friends clearly. The fire was brightly lit and Strider sat by the window, looking out at something.

"They were once men. Great kings of men. Then Sauron the Deceiver gave to them nine rings of power." Strider answered. "Blinded by their greed, they took them without question, one by one, falling into darkness, and now they are slaves to his will."

"That wasn't very nice." Elizabeth said in a hushed voice.

"No, it wasn't." Frodo agreed.

"They are the Nazgul. Ringwraiths, neither living nor dead." Strider continued. "At all times they feel the presence of the ring, drawn to the power of the One. They will never stop hunting you."

Strider led the small party through the wilderness towards Rivendell. He knew that Lord Elrond would confer with Gandalf and decide what to do there. But what of this child that was traveling with the Hobbits? Surely Gandalf already knew about her, but why was she here, in Middle Earth? What was her purpose?

"Where are you taking us?" Frodo asked, worried for his friends.Frodo's question had voiced all the thoughts of his friends. Striderglanced back and Frodo, Elizabeth and the Hobbits.

"Into the wild," Strider answered roughly.

"How do we know this Strider is a friend of Gandalf?" Merry asked darkly, in a hushed voice.

"Because he's nice." Elizabeth answered proudly and a little too loudly. Aragorn was glad that no one could see his smile. This child was either too trusting or very clever.

"I think a servant of the enemy would look fairer, but feel fouler." Frodo answered, ignoring Elizabeth's childish answer.

"He's foul enough." Merry retorted, pulling his cloak around him.

"Strider isn't foul!" Elizabeth whispered harshly, and then turned to Sam. "What's 'foul' mean?"

Sam smiled and whispered back, "It means your either in a bad mood, or you smell awful."

"Strider's not foul!" Elizabeth repeated. Frodo just shook his head, smiling. Elizabeth certainly was amusing.

"We have no choice but to trust him." Frodo replied, ignoring Elizabeth's statement.

"But where is he leading us?" Sam, who was leading Bill the pony, asked.

"To Rivendell, Master Gamgee." Strider replied from upfront. "To the house of Elrond."

Elizabeth's ears perked up. Strider knew Elrond. The same Elrond that Galadriel had told her about. But, following Galadriel's orders to only speak to Elrond about her dream, Elizabeth stayed silent. She wondered what Elrond would look like, how tall he would be and last, but not least what kind of toothpaste he used. Speaking of toothpaste, Elizabeth didn't have any. She breathed into her hand and sniffed. Ugh. She needed to brush her teeth.

"Did you hear that?" Sam asked excitedly. "Rivendell. We're going to see the elves."

The group of six travelers continued through forests, large grasslands, prairies, open fields, and snow covered lands with trees. Elizabeth giggled and picked some snow and crumpled it into a snowball. She threw it at Frodo, who quickly threw one back at her. Frodo and Elizabeth proceeded in throwing snowballs at each other until Strider turned around and shot them a disturbed look. He shook his head and they continued on their way.

A little while later, Strider turned to see that the four hobbits were unloading Bill the pony. Strider noticed that Elizabeth was not with the Hobbits. Helooked around for Elizabeth and found her climbing a nearby tree.

Strider turned back to the four hobbits.

"Gentlemen, we do not stop 'til nightfall." He stated.

"What about breakfast?" Pippin asked.

"You've already had it." Strider said, obviously wondering whether he should press the matter.

"We've had one, yes. What about second breakfast?" Pippin answered.

Strider looked at Pippin like he was an alien from outer space and simply walked over to the tree that Elizabeth was climbing in.

"Elizabeth," he whispered. "You see those apples?"

"Ya," Elizabeth answered vacantly, her concentration on a small caterpillar.

"Pick one off and throw it at Merry." Strider commanded.

Elizabeth looked hesitant, but she obeyed. As she saw three of the hobbits heading towards Strider, she heard Strider talking to her.

"Pick off another and throw it at Pippin this time." He commanded again.

Elizabeth obeyed and she laughed when Pippin looked up at the sky obviously wondering if apples came from the sky or not. Pippin snapped out of his musings when Merry called his name in a frustrated matter and Strider helped Elizabeth down from the tree.

The party continued on through the snow-covered land until they eventually came to the stinky-est marshes that Elizabeth had ever seen. They were also the first and only marshes that Elizabeth had ever seen, but that's beside the point.

Strider lifted Elizabeth up above his head and allowed her to sit on his shoulders as they crossed the marshes. There were annoying flies everywhere and it was a hassle to have to slap flies off every five seconds.

"What do they eat when they can't get hobbit?" Merry asked, slapping his face.

Elizabeth tried as hard as she could to find an answer to Merry's question, but couldn't. What did the flies eat when they couldn't get Hobbit? Perhaps rabbits? Squirrels? Elizabeth looked around. Other flies maybe?

Night came just as the group of six reached a less damp area and Strider decided to make camp. He told them to wait while he went hunting for dinner.

While they waited, Elizabeth decided to teach the hobbits how to play a guessing game. Although it didn't take the Hobbits very long to catch on, Elizabeth still had them stumped for a while. Until Frodo joined the game.

"Is it a person?" Pippin asked.

"Yep."

"Do we know this person?" Merry asked.

"You should. If you don't than you're silly." Elizabeth answered.

"Is it Strider?" Frodo asked softly.

"How'd you know?" Elizabeth asked.

Frodo just smiled as silence fell over all of them.

Aragorn soonreturned with a stag and that's what they had for dinner that night.

When it was time for bed, Elizabeth asked Strider to sing a lullaby for her and he sang in elvish. Elizabeth ended up falling asleep within a few minutes of the elvish song of Luthien Tinúviel.

The next morning, Strider awoke the hobbits and Elizabeth a bit earlier and made them a quick breakfast.

After breakfast, Strider led the hobbits and Elizabeth across a hilled prairie until they came to the watchtower of Amon Sûl. It was there that Strider commanded the hobbits to make camp and for Elizabeth and Frodo to get some rest.

Strider left five small swords for the hobbits and Elizabeth. He ordered them to keep the swords close because he would be off, looking around. The Hobbits and Elizabeth slowly fell asleep together. Elizabeth didn't dream that night, but she wanted to. She wanted to learn more about the one called Elrond whom she was to meet.

Frodo awoke when he heard voices. He turned over to see his fellow hobbits around a campfire.

"What are you doing?!" he asked angrily.

"Tomatoes, sausages, nice crispy bacon." Merry explained as Frodo got to his feet.

Elizabeth sat up groggily and rubbed her eyes. She had had a dreamless, but very good rest.

"We saved some for you and Miss Elizabeth, Mister Frodo." Sam added.

"Put it out, you fools, put it out!" Frodo cried, stomping the fire out.

"Oh, that's nice!" Pippin said. "Ashes on my tomatoes!"

Suddenly, a shrill screech echoed across the land and the hobbits and Frodo knew what had finally found them. The five of them grabbed their small swords and raced to the top of Amon Sûl. They stood in a circle, Elizabeth in the center, swords drawn and ready to defend...or attack. Whatever they had to do to survive these terrible beasts, they would do it. Unless of course that meant giving up the Ring. Or killing a friend to save their own skin. Or anything else in that category.

They looked around them frantically, searching for the first sign of a Ringwraith. Frodo saw them first, and he made sure Elizabeth was behind him as the group backed away from the five Nazgul. They were scary things, the Nazguls. For a second, Elizabeth wanted to shout out "Dementor!" Yes, she'd seen the third Harry Potter movie and she disliked the Dementors just as much as she did the Nazgul.

The Nazgul walked towards the small group, swords drawn, in the form of a half-circle. This way, the only place anyone could go was down. Sam was the first of them all to make a move and he was ready to fight.

"Back you devils!" he shouted making his move. But the Nazgul that he attacked simply blocked all of his attacks and Sam was quickly thrown aside.

Merry and Pippin simply stood together, as if making a wall in front of Frodo. But another Nazgul threw them apart from each other in opposite directions.

Frodo and Elizabeth were the only ones left and Frodo still stood in front of Elizabeth. But Elizabeth, trying to be brave like Mufasa from 'The Lion King', rushed around Frodo and stood in front of Frodo. Elizabeth had remembered Galadriel's words: 'Protect Frodo.'

Elizabeth jabbed at the Nazgul with her sword, only to find that despite what they looked like on the outside, Nazgul were soft and squishy on the inside. Elizabeth fought the small urge to say "ooh! squishy!"

The Nazgul looked surprised that Elizabeth had actually pierced its skin, but nevertheless, it struck back and pierced her skin with its blade. And then Elizabeth was thrown aside, as the others had been. Elizabeth let out a small, but loud cry of agony and pain.Merry came to Elizabeth's side as quickly as possible and noticed the wound in Elizabeth's shoulder. Tears were running down her face in pain. She'd onlytried to help Frodo.

By now, Frodo had taken out the ring from his place on the ground and put it on, only to be stabbed by a Nazgul in the same exact place as Elizabeth. The blade was quickly removed as Strider rushed in with fire and his own sword. Elizabeth was carried by Merryover to where Frodo was laying. Both were crying out in pain, but in different ways.

"Strider!" Sam called.

Strider came quickly over to the fallen friends. He examined the blade used to pierce Elizabeth and Frodo.

"They've been stabbed by Morgul blades. This is beyond my skill to heal. They need elvish medicine." Strider announced picking up Frodo. He signaled for Merry to hold Elizabeth in his arms in a similar fashion.

Her childish, girl cries were pain-filled and Strider knew that she would leave before Frodo. She was strong in the mind and heart, but her body was weaker and would surrender to the poison faster than Frodo would.

Strider quickly scared the remainingwraiths away and led the hobbits and Elizabeth through the forest. He carried Frodo over his shoulder and Elizabeth was on top of Bill. Both of them cried out Gandalf's name as they lay there in deliria.

Strider laid the two injured on the ground as he looked around. Sweat covered both Frodo and Elizabeth's face and their eyes were becoming discolored and unfocused. They both gasped for air and their faces were very pale.

"They're goin' cold, Strider." Sam announced.

"Are they going to die?" Pippin asked, near tears.

"They're passing into the shadow world. They'll soon become wraiths like them." Strider answered. He turned to Sam."Sam, do you know the Athelas plant?"

"Athelas?" Sam asked, confused.

"Kingsfoil?" Strider tried again.

"Kingsfoil, aye, that's a weed!" Sam exclaimed.

"It may help slow the poisoning. Hurry, get enough for two." Strider commanded.

Strider himself went further into the woods to find the Athelas plant. He did find some, but when he bent to cut some of the plant off, he found a sword at his neck.

((ok, I've redone this chapter and the chapters before this, so I hope it seems less chattery and a little more descriptive. TTYL))