I would like to start off this chapter with an apology for not updating sooner. I had typed out a complete chapter a few weeks ago, but I didn't like it so I deleted every word and started from scratch. And then my computer started acting weird, in which I wasn't able to open Microsoft word OR the Internet, but I was able to fix it a few days later… AND THEN the mouse on my computer stopped working, but it was fixed a week later… Aaaaaand I'm working on another story for The Hobbit that needs to be finished before the second movie comes out…. So this time I had an excuse *Gorluk applauds while Faroth looks down at his paws and realizes for the first time that he can't clap*.

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"Fissh, nice fissh. We now eats fissh in peace, yes preciousss we does. No, not in peace Gollum! Gollum! For precious is lost; yes, lost. Dirty Bagginses, nasssty Bagginses! Sssteals my precious. Thief. We hates him! Fissh, nice fissh. Makes us strong. Makes eyes bright and fingers tight, yess. Throttle them, precious. Throttle them all, yes, if we gets chances. Nice fissh Gollum! Gollum!"

"Faroth! What on earth are you doing!?"

"Oh, just… mimicking Gollum," Faroth smiled sheepishly. "I can't help it; he says things like that every time he eats, and it's too funny to ignore."

Gorluk huffed, unable to argue with that, and continued rowing the boat down the river. For the past couple of days, they discovered once again that Gollum was also following the Fellowship. At first, they only saw glimpses of him; an occasional splash in the water near their campsite, hissing noises heard while the creature hid in the reeds, and so on. But as the days progressed, their sightings of Gollum became clearer and more frequent. There was even this one night when Gorluk and Faroth were on the boat, and they both saw Gollum swimming in the water behind them. Before Gorluk had the chance to give the wretch a good whack on the head with the paddle, Gollum immediately swam faster and slunk off ahead of them down the river. Now their only sightings of him were in the mornings, when they could see and hear him eating fish from the other side of the river.

"Hey Gorluk, do you think that Gollum is dangerous?" Faroth asked.

"Hmmm….. I don't think so," Gorluk replied. "He doesn't look very strong on the outside."

Faroth was quiet for a few moments, but then he said, "Well, Lady Galadriel warned me about him. She said that he was going to be a threat to us and that we should be careful, but we can't kill him."

Gorluk stopped rowing. "What?! You mean you knew that Gollum was going to follow us before we left Lothlorien?!"

Faroth laughed nervously and nodded. "Well… I didn't think that you needed to know then."

Gorluk dropped the paddle onto the boat and turned to face Faroth. "So what else has Galadriel told you that you haven't bothered to tell me yet?"

Faroth shrugged. "One of the things that she told me was that I can't tell you anything that she told me until the time seems best."

It took Gorluk a while to piece that sentence together. "Why would she do that?" he finally asked.

Faroth again shrugged. "I don't know. Elves are just mysterious like that."

Gorluk thought back to the time that the Lothlorien guards almost shot him and agreed with Faroth.

"Oh wait! There is one thing that you need to know," Faroth said. "You know that gift that she gave to you? She said that your gift can instantly heal wounds, but it can't heal poison."

"It can't?" Gorluk gasped. He instantly thought of how many enemies they were going to face that had poisoned weapons. In fear he realized that they would probably have to face Orcs…. And nearly every Orc used poison on their arrows.

"Gorluk, look out!" Faroth suddenly yelped.

Gorluk whirled his head around just in time to see the boat crash into a rock. He quickly grabbed onto both sides as the boat rocked back and fourth from the collision, and remembered that he had forgotten to row. "Sorry about that," Gorluk muttered in embarrassment as he grabbed the paddle. He quickly steered the boat back to the center of the river.

"I feel nauseous again…" Faroth groaned.

The next morning…

Gorluk pushed the boat to shore and began to set up their campsite as Faroth lazily splashed his paws in the water. So far the morning seemed normal; a blanket of clouds blocked away the growing sunlight, A few Geese and Swans were heard squawking in the distance, and a chilly but thankfully occasional gust of wind would blow in from the south, keeping Gorluk from successfully being able to light a fire. It's too dangerous to start a fire here anyways Gorluk thought as he tossed away his box of matches (which was another item found in the sack that Faroth stole) in defeat. He pointed his nose up to the air and breathed in the smell of damp earth. It was the only thing that he could smell for the past eleven days of their journey, which he actually liked, but Faroth was sometimes able to trace smoke from the Fellowship's campfires. With a startled jump, Gorluk suddenly remembered that the Fellowship could still be on the other side of the river, and if that was so, he and Faroth could blow their cover. He scanned the western bank, and sure enough, he could see the three boats that were used by the Fellowship pulled to shore.

"Faroth, get down!" Gorluk loudly whispered to the Warg, who was still standing in the water and oblivious to what Gorluk had seen. Faroth looked up with a puzzled look on his face, but quickly saw the boats out of the corner of his eye. With a startled yelp he dived behind a boulder, and Gorluk quickly joined him.

"Phew! I hope that they didn't see us," Faroth panted.

Gorluk thought for a moment. "I think that I'll go hide behind the boulder closest to shore and have a better look," he said.

Faroth nodded. "I'll go with you, in that case."

They both crawled from boulder to boulder in single file until they reached a huge rock that nearly touched the water. Cautiously, they both peeped over the rock and scanned the shore on the other side of the river. Gorluk slumped his shoulders. "I can't see them at all," he sighed worriedly.

"Yesss, we sees them now, Gollum! Gollum! The nassty little spies are over there!"

Gorluk stared at Faroth, bewildered. "Wow, Faroth! That's your best mimic of Gollum I've heard all day!"

Faroth froze. "Gorluk…" he whispered, "That wasn't me."

Gorluk also froze. All at once, they turned their heads and saw within the trees a pair of yellow eyes blinking back at them. They instantly knew that the eyes didn't belong to Gollum, but to something far worse. "Faroth…" Gorluk said without moving his lips, "at the count of three, we'll run to the boat and row ourselves to the other side of the river. One…"

Faroth could only stare into the yellow eyes that seemed to show no emotions whatsoever. Their very coldness chilled him to the bone, but also made his heart race faster.

"Two…"

Faroth was starting to panic. Whoever owned the pair of yellow eyes seemed to also be waiting, as if it already knew of his and Gorluk's intentions. Faroth knew that he had to make a run for it, as soon as Gorluk said-

"THREE!"

They sprang over the rock and ran like mad to the boat, just as they heard someone chase after them from the trees. "NO ONE CAN ESCAPE FROM ME!" it roared. Faroth made a daring leap and landed onto the boat, and Gorluk shoved it into the water and jumped inside safely. As Gorluk grabbed the paddle and began to row fiercely, Faroth now had the chance to see who owned the pair of yellow eyes. His heart nearly stopped as he gazed for the first time upon one of the largest and most terrifying Orcs he had ever seen. As more appeared from the trees, the one that was chasing them dove into the water with a battle axe that was painted red… Or was it blood that made it red?

"Gorluk! He's swimming towards the boat!" Faroth gasped.

"Nonsense! Orcs can't swim at all!" Gorluk began, but screamed when a red axe flew out of the water and nearly struck his neck. With a splash it landed back into the water, and two mangled hands flew up and grabbed onto the sides of the boat. To Faroth's horror, he realized that the Orc was either planning on tipping the boat over in order to drown them, or climbing into the boat to attack them. Faroth knew that he had to do something quick before the Orc carried out his plans.

He waited until the Orc's neck was above the water. With a roar, Faroth lunged into the river and grabbed the Orc's throat with his fangs and sank his teeth into his neck as hard as he could. He could feel the Orc struggle, but very soon his body went limp. Blood began to seep into the water around them, and as Faroth casually jumped back onto the Boat, his fur felt sticky as it dripped from his jaws.

"Faroth…" Gorluk gasped, completely awe-struck. "How did you…?"

"Never mind about that, keep rowing!" Faroth barked. He glanced into the water and watched as the Orc's body floated down the river. He looked away and saw towards the eastern bank many of the Orcs starting to pass around Bows and arrows. "Gorluk, duck down, quick!" Faroth yelped.

Gorluk and Faroth laid themselves flat onto the boat as dozens of black arrows came flying into their direction. A few plopped into the water, but many of them got stuck onto the sides of their vessel. "Be careful, the tips of their arrows are poisoned!" Gorluk warned. Faroth flinched as one flew by his nose.

Suddenly, the arrows stopped. Gorluk and Faroth cautiously looked up, and saw that they were finally out of range. The Orcs from across the river cursed loudly and threw their bows to the ground in defeat, but their curses could not be heard over the loud shriek that seemed to echo through the water. "Curse uss and splash us, Gollum! Gollum! The nasssty spies have escapesss usss!"

Gorluk quickly grabbed a paddle and rowed on for a few more feet until they finally reached the western bank. As they both dashed out of the boat and safely passed through the trees, Faroth couldn't help but glance over his shoulder. Across the river, he could see the creature Gollum standing on a rock and shaking a fist at them.

Gorluk and Faroth stopped for a few moments to catch their breath. "It was Gollum!" Faroth panted, "He led those Orcs to us!"

Gorluk nodded. "I know. But why would he do that?"

Faroth smirked. "Maybe they offered Gollum some fish in return." But then his smirk faded. "It seems strange though…" he said, almost to himself, "Did they try to kill us because they somehow knew what we were doing?"

"I don't know," Gorluk said, "But whatever the reason is, we must be Sauron's new targets. Did you see how many Orcs came just to kill the two of us?"

They suddenly heard a horn blare nearby, and the harsh cries of more Orcs, which made Faroth nearly jump out of his skin. "I know that sound!" he gasped. "That's Boromir's horn! He must be in trouble!"

Gorluk grabbed the hilt of his sword. "We're going to have to help him, even if it means blowing our cover. Come on!" With an unimpressive war-cry, he waved his sword in the air and ran off into the trees. Faroth howled and ran after him.

As they ran side by side, the horn calls of Boromir became louder and more frequent. And to their horror, they also heard the small screams of the Hobbits, which were nearly drowned out by the sounds of battle.

They were getting closer; through the trees, they could see a group of Orcs surrounding something that was lying on the ground. They nearly stopped when they saw what happened next; one of the Orcs fired an arrow towards the ground, and they heard a choking gasp come from where the arrow went. The Orcs laughed harshly as they ran off, taking the Halflings with them.

"Boromir!" Faroth cried out as he dashed into the clearing. He looked around wildly and saw all around him the bodies of many dead Orcs. But leaning against a tree he saw the body of a man that seemed unconscious.

He frantically ran towards him, and knelt down to take a look at his body. His horn was broken in two, in his hand he still held his sword but was broken in half, and on his chest was many poisonous arrows. "Oh Boromir…" he sighed. Upon hearing his name, Boromir tried to lift up his head "Why are you…" he tried to say, but spat out a mouthful of blood. Faroth knew that there was nothing they could do; Boromir only had a few minutes of his life yet.

As Faroth dropped his head down in defeat, Boromir open his eyes and looked up at the Warg. "If I had known that you could talk while we were in Lothlorien, I think that we could have gotten to know one another better," he wheezed with a smile. "But I'm afraid that it won't be able to happen now."

Faroth nearly jumped when the man spoke, but seemed moved that Boromir could still recognize him. "I… I'm sorry I couldn't make it in time to save you," was all he could say.

Boromir looked away from Faroth and stared at the branches that swayed above his head. He began to tremble as the poison began to take over his body. "You still have the chance to save the little ones," he gasped. "Undo what I have done; save them! Don't worry about me; I knew that death was upon me as soon as I started on this quest against the enemy. Farewell friend."

And with that, Boromir closed his eyes and lay still. Faroth knew that he wasn't dead yet, telling from the shallow rise and fall of his chest; but he knew then that Boromir wanted to live his last few moments in peace. Faroth slowly stood up. "Goodbye," he said. He turned around and walked away, not daring himself to look back.

He found Gorluk hiding behind a tree, with his eyes wide and a hand over his mouth. "Is he…" he gasped, nearly at a loss for words. Faroth shook his head. "It won't be long now. He just wants to be left alone… Why didn't you come to him?"

Gorluk sighed and glanced at the dead Orcs. "Something told me that he didn't want for a live Orc to be the last thing he saw," he said.

Faroth's ear twitched as he heard the sound of someone running in the distance. "Someone's coming," he said. "Boromir told me that we still had a chance to save the halflings, so we have to go now."

Gorluk nodded. "Well what are we standing here for? Let's run!" and with that, they ran off into the trees.

~0~0~0~

I think that I would like to call this the end of the beginning (since that's how the first MOVIE of LotR ended, but in the books Boromir died in the second part). I guess that this is the ending of the first part, and the second part will begin in the next chapter. Speaking of the second part, guess what's going to be in that? FEMALE CHARACTERS! I don't want for this story to look sexist just by the lack of female roles, so that's why I'm going to add my own new characters. I'm excited for it!

~Tatharwen