Chapter 2
Strider took Frodo to a bare, empty room. "What do you want?" Frodo asked nervously.
"A little more caution from you; that is no trinket you carry." Strider answered. Frodo denied that he carried anything.
"Indeed," Strider said skeptically. He put out the candles. "I can avoid being seen if I wish but to disappear entirely, that is a rare gift."
Frodo paused.
"Are you frightened?" the tall man questioned.
"Yes," Frodo murmured.
"Not nearly frightened enough. I know what hunts you."
Frodo looked at him with surprise and apprehension.
Footsteps sounded on the floor outside. Strider whirled around as three Hobbits burst into the room.
"Let him go or I'll have you, Longshanks!" Sam shouted. Merry and Pippin stood behind him, one holding a candlestick and the other a stool.
"You have a stout heart for a Hobbit," Strider commented. "But that will not save you."
He turned and addressed Frodo.
"You can no longer wait for the wizard Frodo, they're coming."
o+o+o+o+o+o+o
That night, after much talk with Strider, the Hobbits slept in a different room, not the one they'd rented for the night.
All at once an unearthly scream came from across the street. It was shrill and made the Hobbits' blood freeze in their veins. Strider was sitting calmly by the window, keeping watch while they were on the floor.
"What are they?" Frodo asked softly.
Strider glanced at him. "They were once Men, great Kings of Men. Then Sauron the Deceiver gave them Nine Rings of Power. Blinded by their greed, they took them without question."
He turned back to the window.
"One by one they have fallen into darkness, and now they are slaves to his will."
Strider looked back at the Halflings as the Wraiths left Bree.
"They are the Nazgûl, Ringwraiths, neither living nor dead."
What he said next frightened the Hobbits, Frodo no less.
"At all times they feel the presence of the Ring; drawn to the power of the One. They will never stop hunting you."
o+o+o+o+o+o+o
The next morning they left The Prancing Pony, walking for some distance before leaving the Road. So far as the Hobbits could understand he intended to pass through the Midgewater Marshes in order to avoid the Road entirely. Pippin expressed the hope that it wasn't another "short-cut" like the one they had taken through the Old Forest. Strider reassured him that he never went wrong with any short, or long, cuts.
o+o+o+o+o+o+o
"What do they eat when they can't get Hobbit?" Sam grumbled. They had walked most of the day surrounded by gnats and other bugs. By now Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin were ready to stop. Fortunately for them Strider found a suitable camping site, told them to get ready as well as they could, and went off to hunt. A few minutes later he came back with a young deer slung over his shoulder. The Hobbits dropped off the sleep soon after they had eaten.
o+o+o+o+o+o+o
Frodo awoke to the sound of singing. After listening for a while, he recognized Strider's voice.
Tinúviel elvanui
Elleth alafirin edhelhael
O hon ring finnil fuinui
A renc gelebrin thiliol
o+o+o+o+o+o+o
"Who is she?"
Strider turned at the sound of Frodo's voice. He hadn't known the Hobbit was still awake.
"This woman you sing of."
Strider explained to him the story behind the lay of Luthien. It always made Strider sad because to him, this song was more than a memory of days long past. To him it was a song about him and his own love, the Lady Arwen Evenstar—daughter of Lord Elrond of Rivendell. He turned back to his watch as Frodo lay down to sleep.
A/N: I had to find a website with the real words because I tried to translate it, but it wasn't really accurate. In the next chapter I'll tell you what the website I use for translating Elvish to English is.