Chapter Four

Two days passed, and they were sat around a small fire they had risked lighting. Sam was cooking something, grumbling about lack of ingredients in this indecent place, and Frodo heard Ello humming quietly to herself.

"What are you humming?" He smiled at her and she blushed scarlet.

"Just a song, from…you know, home."

"I want to hear." Frodo pressed gently, remembering how she had harmonised on top of him in an old hobbits folk song.

Frodo closed his eyes and smiled as she timidly flowed into her song. She was right; it was easier when he tried to enjoy himself. Somehow, maybe it was something she owned, or maybe it was just her presence that seemed to cancel out the power the ring had over him. He scarcely even thought about it anymore.

Then unexpectedly Ello broke off. She cocked her head to the side, and the hobbits listened intently. Uneasily, Ello sniffed the air, and then she narrowed her eyes at something behind Sam.

"Were not alone." She hissed, but as soon as Frodo and Sam turned around Gollum was gone.

She beckoned them over and they looked at her.

"Pretend to sleep. We catch whoever it is, not kill, not yet. They could be useful. I don't think that we would lose the fight: whoever it is, they're small, and alone. I guess it's what Gandalf would do."

The hobbits nodded, and they made as much fuss as normal about going to bed, and Ello pretended to nod off on watch. Sure enough, a slinking figure made its way through their camp.

"Nasty hobbitses, tricksy, false! They stole it from us, precious, yes, yes! Gollum, Gollum."

Just as Ello sensed Gollum reach Frodo she leapt up over Sam and grabbed Gollum in a headlock. Instantly the hobbits were on their feet yelling, and Ello screeched as Gollum scratched his long sharp nails down her arm, drawing an alarming amount of blood.

Sam smashed his fist into Gollum's stomach, and however hard the pitiful creature struggled Ello's headlock kept him still.

Suddenly Gollum flung his arms in Frodo's direction, catching Ello by surprise. She yelled as he lunged towards Frodo's neck; the ring was hanging of its chain out of Frodo's shirt. Sam stepped between them and Ello pulled her arm tighter around Gollum's neck, but the wretched creature fastened his hands around Sam's neck. Yelling at the top of her voice Ello used her other arm to chop onto Gollum's, but his flailing legs kicked her repeatedly in the shin. Sam was going blue.

"Frodo!" she shrieked.

Frodo ran over and held Sting to Gollum's throat.

"This is Sting, you've seen it before. Now, release him or I'll cut your throat."

Gollum glared at Frodo but released his hold on Sam who scurried away gasping and retching. Ello was breathing heavily, and Sam scrabbled to his pack and drew out the elven rope given to him by Lady Galadriel. He looped it around Gollum's neck, and Ello let go rubbing her arm absentmindedly.

To their surprise Gollum began screaming.

"It hurts! It hurts us, take it off us! It burnses us, please nice hobbitses, take it off us! It burns us precious it burns!"

They looked at each other.

"Didn't he have another name once?" Ello whispered.

"Yes, Sméagol was his name once." Frodo whispered back over Gollum's pathetic sobs, not knowing what the relevance was. Ello knelt next to Gollum and looked into his eyes.

"Sméagol, why cry, Sméagol? You know nice hobbits will take this off you. We'll be nice to you if you be nice to us." She lamented in a strange, hypnotic tone.

Sam looked up in shock, but Frodo got the idea. He crouched next to Ello and Gollum's panicked eyes were released from Ello's only to be locked in Frodo's. When Frodo talked it was in the same hypnotic tone.

"You weren't so different from a hobbit once, were you, Sméagol?"

"What's it they call us precious, what do they call us? Sméagol? Yes, that, that was my name. My name." Sméagol looked up with wondrous eyes. Then his eyes screwed up in pain. "Take it off us! Take it of poor Sméagol!"

"Why should we do that?" Sam demanded. "He'll just throttle us in our sleep Mr. Frodo. What was he sneaking around for anyhow?"

"Nice hobbit! Sméagol thought hobbitses were nasty, nasty things. Thieves, treacherous! But poor Sméagol got wrong idea, no yes! Nice hobbitses! We swears to serve the master of the precious!"

Frodo stood up and stared down at Sméagol's piteous figure: "What are you willing to swear on? Swear on…"

"We swears...we swears on... on the precious!"

"What!"

"We swears and on the precious to serve the master of the precious, never to betray, oh no!"

The hobbits exchanged wary glances, but Ello seemed convinced. She slipped the rope of Sméagol's head and he danced around with joy.

Then she gasped.

"Oh, god, I was supposed to help Aragorn too! He'll be leagues away by now!" she yelled.

Abruptly a rock before her groaned and split, revealing a short tunnel, with green grass showing behind. The sharp black outlines of an elf, a man and a dwarf contrasted with the glorious pink sunset above the hills they were running on. A bird flew towards them, and flitted through the space, squawking as it found itself among the mountains.

Ello yelped like a startled dog and Frodo and Sam froze.

"What-did-you-do?" Said Frodo in an amazingly calm voice. "How did you do that?"

"I did that?" Ello whispered.

"Well, we didn't." Sam grumbled.

She stiffened, and threw her arms around both of them. "Guess I should go. You two be careful, okay, be very careful. I'll come back if I can... And I will do all I can to help Merry and Pippin if it kills me."

Frodo forced a laugh. "You'll have a hard time trying to help Pippin; he's more of a kid than you are!"

Ello smiled weakly through her tears; "Here you are, a couple of chocolate bars, make them last. I will see you again."

"How can you take all this so calmly?" Sam exclaimed.

Ello's face fell, her eyebrows creased together, and fear, fear and tears clouded her eyes, her mouth opened as if she was screaming silently. Then she blinked and her face was exactly how it was before.

"I was an actress." She stated simply. "Be careful"

With that Ello shouldered her pack and walked through the tunnel. It closed behind her and she was gone.

Frodo sighed, the ring was heavy again. He turned to Sméagol and spoke to him.

"You know the way to Mordor? You have been there before?" Sméagol nodded nervously. "You will lead us to the black gate."