Strider and Storm
Richard was frozen in horror as he looked around to see the entire world in darkness, blurred and as though strong winds brushed over everything. The only person he saw perfectly was Frodo. How is he connected to the One Ring?
"You cannot hide." The same voice he had heard spoke to him from behind, clear as day. Richard was so scared to turn but when he did, he didn't see the eye made of fire like Frodo. Instead, he saw Sauron, fully in his armour from the Second Age.
His legs turned to jelly and he fell onto the floor, scurrying away from him as much as possible.
"I will find you. And I will use you to conquer." Sauron then spoke, his voice now full of dark delight. This is bad. Really bad. Sauron knows of Richard's knowledge of the events to come and now because of this, he was now just as much of a target as Frodo.
The world then suddenly turned back to normal, meaning that Frodo had taken off the Ring. He found himself in a corner of the inn. And despite not seeing Sauron anymore, he knew that he and the others weren't safe yet as the Nazgul were now heading their way to Bree, having sensed when Frodo put the Ring on.
Needing to find him, Richard got up to find Frodo but before he could start, he felt a hand grab him by the shoulder and shoved him up against a wall, next to Frodo. He found himself looking at both Aragorn and Storm.
"You two draw far too much attention to yourselves. Come on." Aragorn whispered before he and Storm escorted the two up the stairs and into a room where they shoved them in, making them fall onto their knees but they got back up and Richard stood in front of Frodo protectively and placed his hand on his sword.
"What do you want?" Frodo asked the pair as he and Richard stood by the lit fireplace.
"A little more caution from you, That is no trinket you carry." Aragorn cautioned as part of his face was partially lit from the fire while Storm looked away.
"I carry nothing." Frodo replied, putting on an act.
"Indeed." Aragorn answered back as he and Storm walked to the window. She looked out the window while Aragorn started putting the candles out with his fingers.
"We can avoid being seen if we wish. But to disappear entirely, that is a rare gift." He then said before he turned and pulled his hood off. Of course, he looked exactly like Richard recalled, facial hair and a dark mullet. Storm then turned and when she took her hood off, Richard's breath was pulled out of his lungs as he looked directly at the same short blonde hair and blue eyes he's missed for the last 6 years of his life. Marion Stormwood stood in front of him, alive and well. But she seemed to have gained a couple of scars over her left eyebrow and on her cheek. She was of course wearing a dark blue jacket, a black vest, white shirt and dark trousers.
"Who are you?" Frodo then asked, confused upon seeing their faces.
"Are you frightened?" She asked them, her voice as soft yet hardened as Richard remembered.
"We are." He answered for them both, not even bothering to lie to them, especially to his best friend.
"Not nearly frightened enough. We know what hunts you." Aragorn said, making Richard remember that he's knowledgeable of the Nazgul and would've been told by Gandalf to come here to Bree.
As Richard was about to fully reunite with Marion, the four heard footsteps coming their way and both Aragorn and Marion pulled their swords out as the door swung open and Sam, Merry and Pippin stood. Sam had his fists up, not scared to fight dirty, Merry held a candle holder and Pippin had a stool in his hands.
"Let them go! Or I'll have you, Longshanks!" Sam bellowed out, his fists shaking violently. Aragorn and Marion saw they weren't a threat and pulled their swords away. Richard noticed that Marion still had her sword with her, a sword where its blade had serrations on it and had etching on it to make it look like it had lightning bolts spawning from the middle of the blade itself. She named it Stormbolt and its design was inspired heavily on one of the swords from the Schwarzenegger Conan the Barbarian film.
"You have a stout heart, little Hobbit." Aragorn complimented as he and Marion put their swords in their scabbards.
"But that will not save you." He then told them as Sam saw that both Frodo and Richard were alright.
"You can no longer wait for the wizard, Frodo. They're coming." He then told Frodo directly as Marion looked over at Richard with overwhelming joy.
"Richard…" She breathed his name out with a longing for someone familiar.
"Marion…" He breathed out the same way before he embraced her tightly and she did the same. Everyone else watched the reunion, either in confusion or gladness.
"I never thought I'd see you again." Richard said as his eyes welled up.
"I missed you too." Marion replied as they parted.
"So this is the Richard you've told me about." Aragorn said to Marion.
"Indeed." She explained.
After the reunion, the whole group planned to take up a different room while they stuffed pillows into the room that had Hobbit sized beds that the Nazgul will think they sleep in.
After they set the whole thing up, all the Hobbits, minus Frodo, slept in the one bed while Richard, Marion and Aragorn all watched through the window, keeping an eye out for the Nazgul to arrive.
Eventually, they heard many horses trampling closer and closer and they saw four of the nine Nazgul approaching. Richard to remind himself about how they were once the Nine Kings of Men that were corrupted and eventually controlled by Sauron through the Nine Rings of Power.
The three then saw them enter the inn from across the street and eventually they saw them enter the room they laid the trick as their shadows were outlined and then the three saw the shadows move in a motion that showed they were stabbing the pillows and their reaction can be heard as they screeched and tossed the beds to their sides.
This of course made the Hobbits wake up and look in surprise as Frodo looked over to Aragorn in particular.
"What are they?" He asked the Ranger, making him look over to him while Richard and Marion looked out the window.
"They were once Men. Great kings of Men. Then Sauron the Deceiver gave to them Nine Rings of Power. Blinded by their greed, they took them without question. One by one, falling into darkness. Now they are slaves to his will." Aragorn explained to Frodo as the Nazgul got on their horses and galloped out of Bree. The entire time, Richard looked down on Aragorn's ring as it had a connection to his relation to Isildur.
"They are the Nazgul. Ringwraiths. Neither living nor dead." Marion then said with a grim look on her face and an equally grim tone in her voice, showing that she must've encountered them at some point while living in Middle Earth.
"At all times they feel the presence of the Ring. Drawn to the power of the One. They will never stop hunting you." Aragorn then stressed how determined they are to find the Ring, but in turn Richard as well.
"They'll be after me too. Sauron believes that I can help him achieve victory." Richard revealed to everyone. Even to Marion, this was a surprise as she doesn't know anything about Middle Earth, never having seen the films.
"Then we'll make sure they don't capture you." Marion promised her best friend, not wanting him to be killed or tortured. Richard smiled and nodded his thanks to her.
During the night, Richard slept with the Hobbits and Marion joined in later while Aragorn kept watch.
Once night turned into day, Richard changed shirts, from white to maroon, and then everyone left Bree as soon as possible, a pony along with them, heading east to Rivendell.
"Where are you taking us?" Frodo asked as he and the other Hobbits were behind us.
"Into the Wild." Aragorn replied, up in front of me and Marion. I had taken a sip of water from my water bottle and held it for Marion if she wanted a drink and she smiled, took the bottle and took a fairly big sip that made the bottle now half full before handing it back to her friend and he closed it back up.
"Thanks." She said.
"No problem." He shrugged as they continued on through the woods, Sam now handling the pony.
"How do we know Strider and Marion are friends of Gandalf?" Merry quietly asked Frodo, which was heard by Richard and Marion. They understood their caution, especially Richard as they were like this when he first met them.
"I think a servant of the enemy would look fairer and feel fouler." Frodo explained as best he could.
"Seems foul enough." Merry then retorted, this heard by the pair and Arargorn as well.
"We have no choice but to trust them. And Marion is Richard's friend after all." Frodo pointed out.
"But where are they leading us?" Sam asked as they haven't revealed their destination.
"To Rivendell, Master Gamgee. To the House of Elrond." Aragorn said loud enough for the Hobbits to hear, making them all stunned as Frodo's uncle, Bilbo spoke of Rivendell, having been there before.
"Did you hear that? Rivendell. We're going to see the Elves." Sam said with excitement. Richard then stepped forward and walked alongside Aragorn.
"How long would it take to get there?" He asked the Ranger.
"5 days at best." He replied.
The whole group continued on with the hike, pulling their hoods up when it started raining and eventually it stopped and they continued walking all the way up to midday where they reached an area where there were bushes and snow for miles on end.
Taking this chance for a quick break, Richard got into his bag and pulled out a part of a homemade loaf of bread and started eating it.
"Well stocked, I see." Marion noticed as she took a bite from an apple.
"You know me. When taking hikes, you need to be well stoked on food and water." He reminded her as the two went on hikes in medieval attire many times back home before she disappeared. The fond smile on her face showed that she recollected those memories.
"Gentlemen. We do not stop till nightfall." Aragon spoke aloud and the two friends turned to see the Hobbits all preparing to set up a fire and cook some food.
"What about breakfast?" Pippin asked.
"We already had it." Aragorn reminded him as they had a quick breakfast when daylight came before leaving Bree.
"We've had one, yes. What about second breakfast?" Pippin retorted. Marion gestured for Richard and Aragorn to follow her forward slightly and she led them to an apple tree, which explains why she has an apple.
The two men grabbed some apples and threw them towards the Hobbits to act as a second breakfast and Richard put a couple into his backpack for later.
The whole group continued on through the bushes until they reached the Midgewater Marshes, which were absolutely freezing cold and difficult to traverse through, Pippin even tripping and falling face first into the dirty marsh water at one point.
Once night came, they set up camp and Aragorn had just arrived back with a deer and the group cooked it and ate for their meals before going to sleep and Aragorn took watch.
As everyone slept, Richard was tense as for some reason, his dreams showed the traitorous wizard Saruman in Isengard, his hand suspended over the Palantir.
"The power of Isengard is at your command, Sauron, Lord of the Earth." He heard Saruman's voice telepathically speaking to Sauron as his Eye formed within the Palantir.
From there, Richard witnessed Sauron informing him about himself and ordered him to build an army, which makes Richard more of a target than before.
He then saw Saruman in another chamber, sitting in a chair with his arms wrapped around him, clearly shaken up from what he had just been through with the Palantir. Then three Orcs entered.
"What orders from Mordor, my lord? What does the Eye command?" One of them asked him.
"We have work to do." He replied and then the dream stopped, Richard waking up, staring up into the night sky as he wondered why he had that dream. The only reason he could think of was to let him know that Saruman now knows of him.
He looked over to his left and saw Marion sleeping next to him and quietly, he inched closer and held her hand to help comfort him from what he had seen.
For those that want to know who I have in my mind as Marion, it's Gwendoline Christie.