It was after dark, she had no lantern, and it was becoming quite chilly outside. Hope looked around, trying to remember which way lead home, but she couldn't see very well, let alone navigate at all. She shivered, and looked around again, doing eeny-meeny-miney-moe in her head to decide which direction to take. This would more than likely get her even more lost but it at least helped her make up her mind on which road to take.
Left, it ended on, and left she went. She kicked the pony's side and it began to trot in that direction. The bouncing made her very swollen ankle throb and she kicked the pony again with her good foot and the trotting turned to running, which was still bouncy but not nearly as bad. She squinted in the dark, desperately trying to find anything surrounding her that looked at least vaguely familiar. Unfortunately every tree looked pretty much the same, and there had been no outstanding features that had caught her attention before.
Her mind wandered to Smeagol. She wondered if he was still out there looking for her or if he had gone to the village for help. Then her mind slipped to the even more grim thought that perhaps he had run into Richard Fetter with his axe raised, ready to strike... She shook her head and tried not to think of that, but the mental image was there and refused to be shoved away, try as she may.
"Smeagol!" she called out without thinking. The thoughts had scared her to the core and the only thing she could do now was call out for help. "Smeagol, where are you? Smeagol!" Her heart was pounding and above her there was a crack of thunder. The fear that it was soon to rain crammed its way into her already worried mind, and she felt as though she were about to have a breakdown. "Smeagol!"
A drop of rain hit her nose and another landed on her forehead. Soon more and more fell until it flooded out and she was practically soaked. Now she was panicing. It was dark, cold, raining, and she couldn't have been any more lost if she tried. And to top it all off there was a mad man somewhere in the forest trying to kill her.
A twig snapped behind her, and she looked over her shoulder, her entire body shaking. Had that been a hobbit she had seen run into the shadows or was it just a branch blowing over? She turned her eyes forward slowly and made the pony start to run again, not wanting to stay and find out.
Another branch snapped, and this time she knew she was being followed. The pony continued to run, but came to a sudden halt in front of a tree that had fallen over, its large branched stretched upwards. The pony stood frozen, refusing to go forward. Hope kicked its side until she was afraid she'd bruise it, but the only movement the pony made was a few steps backwards. There came a third branch snap, this time she was unable to tell where it was from but imediatly assumed from behind.
She tried to make the pony at least back up so she could steer it in a different direction, but it refused to do even that now. Her heart was ready to break out of her chest, and she had to hide quickly. Knowing the landing would hurt, she carefully leaned to the side and allowed herself to tumble off, hands held in front of her to try and soften her landing. She felt her ankle move out of place again, and held in a scream of pain as she began to crawl. The clambered over the fallen tree, and found a cluster of bushes, just big enough to hide herself in.
She scrambled into them, and laid on her side, curled up into a ball, eyes watching fearfully, waiting for her predator to find her. At first it was quiet, save for the rain and the thunder. But then there came the footsteps. Twigs snapped loudly, and she curled up tighter, trying to calm herself. She held her breath, her body shaking profusely, and she tried not to breathe for fear of being heard. Soon she saw feet, two hobbit feet, and she began to shake even worse.
The feet stopped in front of the bush, and she knew she had been found, she just knew it. Soon he'd be reaching in and grabbing her by the hair and drag her away to gut her like a fish. Tears rolled down her face as she waited for it, but to her astonishment the feet turned and took a few steps in the other direction. They stopped again, and this time a new pair of feet came into view.
"If that was her on the pony then she couldn't have gotten far," said the first hobbit. She couldn't see either of them, and the rain made it harder to determine their voices.
"She's probably hiding if she heard us. Start looking around, and call her name."
Her heart lifted. Smeagol and Deagol! She began to shed tears of joy and began to crawl out when one of them made a sudden noise of surprise and she froze wondering what was happening.
"Stop right there!" shouted Deagol. Hope began to tremble again. Had Richard really found them already? "Where is she? What have you done with her?" There was no answer.
"I know you caught her, now tell us where she is!" shouted Smeagol angrily. Hope wanted to shout out that shew as in the bushes and just fine, but thought better of it. "Matteus!" he shouted in a warning tone. A lightbulb went off in Hope's mind and she yelped loud enough to be heard. "Don't hurt him!" she shouted and she heard them all start. Her ankle was too soar by this point and she reached out her hand to where it could be seen. She felt Deagol grab a hold of it and he pulled her out gently, then attempted to help her to her feet when Matteus shouted, "She's got a bloody broken ankle!"
"Don't talk!" shouted Smeagol, still holding the axe in his hands, ready to strike.
"No!" shouted Hope, who was still on the ground but propped herself up with her hands. "He's not the one you want! He helped me!" Smeagol paused and glanced down at her.
"What?" he asked, trying to see if he had heard right.
"I just came so see if you found her," said Matteus, and turned to leave.
"Don't you leave!" shouted Smeagol. Matteus ignored him and left anyway. Smeagol made as if to chase him, but Deagol stopped him.
"Smeag, she's very cold," he said, feeling Hope's arm. "We need to get her by a fire or she'll get sick."
Smeagol looked at her and all the emotion came back. She was there, she was alive, and she was safe. That's all that needed to matter right now. He reached down and picked her up into his arms.
"Don't worry Hope," said Deagol softly. "Smeag's grandma will fix you up. You'll be alright." She was too cold to answer now. She burried her head in Smeagol's chest, and relished whatever warmth she could get from him until they were back at his house and she was in front of a fire.
----