I do not own the Lord of the Rings, nor its characters or places. I only own Mÿne.
She was standing out on a ledge, looking over a landscape that looked very much like Rohan. A man, covered in shadow stood beside her, looking at the lands underneath them. She wanted to look at him, but she couldn't get a better view of him, not even when she squinted her eyes.
"All of it is yours." the man said. Mÿne was surprised by his low and whisper-like voice. It was somehow pretty scary. The man turned to her, the shadows moving with him, sounding like the rustling of a tree. He held up a necklace with the One Ring on it. Mÿne had to hold back the urge to stretch out and snatch it from his hand. "This can be yours too..." he said as he held the Ring higher. Once again Mÿne found herself awestruck by the Ring. It was so perfectly gold, so shiny and it held such great power... She reached out to get it, but the man pulled the necklace and the Ring back. Something like a light chuckle escaped from him.
"You must know one thing..." he said, holding out the Ring again. Mÿne looked at the Ring, trying to block out its slow and dark whispers. Suddenly she was surround by fire. Panicked she looked at the man before her, who was still chuckling a bit. She tried to find an escape from the ring of fire surrounding them. Her eye caught the Ring again and she saw Elvish inscriptions of fire on it. The Ring must have had some sort of hypnotic spell over itself, she just couldn't get her eyes of it. She walked forward, reaching out again to comfort the Ring with her tender grasp. It was so close now... so close that she could actually hear it talk to her. She couldn't understand anything of it, the language was foreign to her but she didn't care. The Ring was all she cared about.
Until a sharp pain had hit her in her stomach. Her eyes shot open as she looked down, seeing a blade of a sword sticking out of her. She trembled and looked at the man before her.
"The Ring is traitorous." he said, pulling his blade out of her. She had been seduced by the Ring so heavily that she hadn't hear him draw his sword. She tried to ask him 'why' but she couldn't get herself to it. As the ending tip of the sword left her body, she collapsed on her knees and tried to fight of the arm of the man, who was picking her up. She felt her weight being lifted and for a second she could see his dark eyes when he lifted her high enough. After that she fell and kept falling trough rings of gold and fire into the never ending darkness.
It was still dark outside when she woke up. She was panting slightly, still on the chair she probably fell asleep on. Mÿne closed her eyes again to recall her dream. 'The Ring is traitorous'. She knew. Hadn't Aragorn warned her? Wasn't the thought of Gollum enough to keep her from the Ring?
She couldn't force herself to get back to sleep, for a while she just sat there, thinking about her dream and the Ring. Finally she'd decided to neglect the Ring as much as she could, it would be brought to Rivendell. The sooner, the better, she thought bitterly.
She wasn't comfortable anymore in her chair, so she stood up and joined Aragorn at the windowsill, who had been awake all along. He was just sitting there, lost in thoughts. He gave her a quick smile as she sat down.
"Couldn't sleep?" he asked.
Mÿne shook her head, deciding not to tell him about the dream and the Ring. "My mind is too restless to get any. And you?" she said.
Aragorn nodded to the road outside, "I'm waiting and watching." He stood up and grabbed something from his pockets. It turned out to be his pipe.
Mÿne watched as he stuffed it with some leaves and lit it with a candle. He sat back on the sill, waiting.
Mÿne looked around the room. It was far too small for her liking. She rather lived outdoors, underneath the trees, watched over by the stars and listening to the rain ticking on her tent. She sighed and placed her forehead against the cool window. She hadn't noticed how warm she actually was until now. Suddenly movement caught here eye. Black figures on big black horses came riding down the road.
"They're here." Aragorn whispered in Elvish to her, noticing the figures too.
The black riders slowed down and sniffed. They stopped. Mÿne held her breath as she watched them get of their horses. The animals were restless, stomping with their hooves and snorting loudly.
"They all came..." she whispered back, when she saw the Black Riders get off their horse and looking around. Mÿne and Aragorn hid behind the curtains, so they wouldn't be noticeable. They could still see the black riders though, when they peeked around the corner of the curtain. Mÿne chewed on her bottom lip as she watched how the black figures pushed open the heavy door of the Prancing Pony, like it was a piece of paper, and stormed in, swords at the ready.
She already pitied Barliman. She gave Aragorn a quick look. He didn't look back.
"What are they?" said Frodo suddenly, standing behind them and looking down at the last black figure entering the inn across the road.
"They used to be kings." Mÿne said sadly, looking at the dark horses outside, "Sauron gave each of them a Ring of Power. They were blinded by it and it corrupted them, making them no more than ghost-like servants of him."
Frodo remained silent until there were new high-pitched black rider screams. They sounded angry. Aragorn shot a look at Mÿne. She looked back at him, her gaze filled with wondering. A small smirk played on Aragorn's lips.
Not long after those screams the black riders came out of the building, pulling their selves back on their horses and galloping away, their screams echoing in the dark night.
Mÿne turned around to look at the other hobbits, now wide awake. They sat up right in their beds and looked scared at the window, as if they were expecting the black riders to fly through it.
They went up early that morning. The grumpy owner allowed them to borrow them a pony, to carry all the packs and food for them. The hobbits, who were still a bit tired, had eaten so much at breakfast that Mÿne was astonished. Not even the dwarfs she'd met ate that much! She'd sat with them at the table, nibbling on a piece of toast, and watched as they stuffed down half of the inn's storage room. Pippin even managed to say: "That's it?" when the owner came to pick up their plates.
They'd left right after breakfast, getting through the gates of Bree and walking off the hill, into a silent forest. It wasn't easy and they weren't fast, with four little hobbits and dragging 'Bill' the pony with them. Mÿne could tell that Sam was growing quite fond of the pony. He walked, stroked and talked with it almost the whole morning. Frodo and Aragorn were walking at the front, Aragorn pointing out the way and Frodo following him, asking him about the ranger life. Mÿne walked with Merry and Pippin, chatting about bars and inns.
"Now, when you come to the Shire sometime, we really need to take you to The Green Dragon!" Pippin said exited.
"She'd never fit in there, Pip. She's too big!" Merry said, head shaking, "No offense of course!" he assured Mÿne right after.
At noon Aragorn called Mÿne with him. She walked up to him and Frodo fell back a bit, but still in range to hear everything.
"Scout the area, I have this oppressive feeling someone is watching us." he said in Elvish, not wanting to worry Frodo or the other hobbits. Mÿne nodded, she had the same feeling when they entered the forest. She rushed forward and walked into the forest, leaving the road that Aragorn and the group were following. Soon they had to get of the road anyway. She pushed back some bushes and walked between the trees, keeping eyes and ears open. Until so far she hadn't met anyone, but that stupid feeling still lingered. In fact, it was even more quiet off the road, in the middle of the forest. As if the birds didn't dare to sing and the trees were too scared to move their leaves.
Usually Mÿne could enjoy this kind of silence, but this was different. Something was off.
