"This is all looking strangely familiar." Sam said. "But then again, we've passed nothing but rocks and cliffs haven't we? So it's all bound to look a little similar." His confident tone dropped a little. "Still…" He spoke again. "That formation over there does look mighty familiar."

"Because we've been here before…" Frodo sighed. "We're going in circles." He shook his head. "C'mon, back to the top of a hill." He said, his voice not holding much spirit. "Let's see if we can find the trail again."

"This way." I said, nodding up the rocky hillside.

"What's that horrid stink?" Sam asked, as the wind blew a rather unpleasant odor in our direction. I cringed when I breathed it in, and wrinkled my nose at the stench of decaying mushrooms and fish. I had to cough to clear the fumes from my throat. "I wonder if there's a nasty bog nearby. Can you smell it?" Sam went on.

"Yes, I can smell it." Frodo replied.

"Awfully fishy for a bog…" I mused.

Frodo stopped in his tracks, and this forced me to stop as well. He gave Sam and I a serious look. "We're not alone."

I suddenly felt every hair on the back of my neck stand up and I recalled the ghostly eyes that had shone at me in the flash of lightening. Maybe I had not imagined anything…maybe there was something out there…I swallowed, and then found my voice again. "What is it?" I asked.

"I don't know." Frodo remarked. "But we're being followed through this maze."

"If it's close enough for us to smell it…" Sam said in hushed tones, implying for us to whisper.

"We must keep moving." I said, pushing my two hobbits ahead. "We can't stop on the path or it will suspect."

"What about when we stop in the evening?" Sam asked. "It's close now, Miss Fali. We can't rest with something that close to us."

"I know." I nodded.

"We will deal with it when we stop to rest." Frodo replied. "It will draw it near."

"In the dark?" Sam asked.

Frodo glanced back and nodded a little, apologetically.

Sam gave me one short, questioning glance before muttering "Oh dear."

/

There's no possible way that whoever is following is going to believe that we've stopped to sleep at the same time. And in the twilight.

It was my only thought as I lay huddled up beneath my cloak, eyes shut softly as if I were really sleeping. Whatever was following us would have to be dull, or very desperate, to believe such a thing. I only felt vulnerable, and exposed out in the open like this. If Sam's quiet shaking from beneath his own cloak was any indication, he was having similar feelings.

Be brave. I kept reminding myself of that, Boromir's voice echoing in my head. Be brave, keep Frodo and Sam safe. Be brave, Fali.

It had been easier to take to heart when he said the words to me himself.

I swallowed, hearing loose rock slip somewhere not very far away, and the stench of something rotting wafting down with the breeze.

I am brave, I whispered in my head, mentally giving myself a firm nod of the head. Let any dark thing with ghost eyes come.

No amount of encouragement could prepare me for what happened next.

It had a raspy, somewhat choked breath, that sounded like wheezing and like nails against stone.

And then it spoke.

"Thieves…you thieves!..."

I had not expected it to be capable of language. Language meant it was human, or somewhat human. I had been expecting an animal of sorts, and now I found that this was something far worse, something with the mind of man and all it's cunning, and something with the instinct and monstrosity of a beast.

"Filthy little thieves!" It's voice pitched higher, a demented snarl, half the cry of a man and half the growl of a creature, and altogether sounding as if the throat that bore that voice had not drank a drop of water in years.

Each sentence was uttered with hatred and conviction, and growing slowly in volume. "Where is it? Where is it? They stole it from us. My precious." I dared open my eyes, as narrowly as I could. Frodo was not flinching at all, though his heart must have been racing. He appeared to be asleep. I dared not roll over to see how Sam fared, the movement being too conspicuous now, even if I acted as though I was having a restless dream. Hopefully he was able to pass his sleeping off as natural still.

"Curse them! We hates them! It's ours it is…" He spoke of the Ring.

Gollum. I recalled his name being spoken by Gandalf. The previous owner of the Ring. A fair lot of good it did him. I was now even more glad that Frodo was to destroy that thing. It couldn't be trusted, no matter the circumstances.

The sound of his breathing was louder now, and I could feel his gaze on us from overhead.

"…and we wants it." He said in a low snarl.

"Now!" Frodo gave the command and Sam and I both flung our cloaks from our bodies, and leapt to our feet with him to grab hold of Gollum's wrists and pull him from the rock over us. The creature was so light the three of us together could fling him well over our heads and into the ground.

He was dazed for a moment, and then sprang up again, inhuman, growling, screaming.

A struggle ensued, in which Gollum was nothing but an angry, gremlin-like beast. He moved so quickly and in such a harshly agitated fashion that it was hard to keep your eye on him, and you only saw him when he charged at you, his attack forewarned with a shrill yell. One could only sense something primal and destructive, and at the same time very feeble, for he once tried to push me out of the way with little success, and a swift kick from my foot sent him rolling away as though he were made of dried leaves.

His skin certainly had that look about it, like ancient and delicate parchment.

Gollum did not appear at all human in his attacks. His speaking was reduced back to growls and shouts, his moves were too skittish and he crawled about on his hands and feet. He leapt upon Frodo, his hands digging into the fabric of his shirt, searching for the Ring. Frodo was knocked over by him and Gollum only began more desperate as the Ring happened to slip itself into view, a perfect greeting to its crazed prior owner.

Sam grabbed the creature back and I hurried to place myself between the two.

Gollum broke free of a Sam's grip and came rushing back. I stood, tall and fierce in comparison, and pulling my sword from my belt. I swept the blade threateningly close to him, and it would have cut him if he had not flattened himself closer to the ground, and scurried back on hands and knees, hissing at me. "Don't you even dare." I hissed right back.

Sam bravely tried to grab him again, but Gollum twisted in his grip and climbed over him, biting his shoulder. Sam yelled out in pain.

"Stop!" I shouted, and left Frodo's side to hurry over to Sam, my sword raised, though I could not strike, for Sam was turning about in circles as he tried to pry Gollum from his back, and I could not get a clear shot at him without the possibility of causing Sam great harm. "Get off him!"

Frodo got to his feet immediately and pulled out Sting, his own blade. I finally did the only thing I could do without injuring Sam and pushed both him and Gollum over. I prepared to hold him at sword point, when Frodo rushed forward and did this himself.

I almost didn't recognize Frodo in that moment, his whole aura had gone so dark, and for the first time in my life I heard a hobbit speaking in a menacing tone. With the blade pointed to Gollum's throat, he said lowly "This is Sting. You've seen it before…haven't you?...Gollum!"

"Yes." Gollum admitted, his voice dry and cracked.

"Release him, or I'll cut your throat." Frodo threatened.

"Frodo…?" I asked carefully. Speaking in harsh tones was one thing…threatening to kill something was another. Frodo would never do such a thing.

Nevertheless, Gollum did release poor Sam, who held onto his bitten shoulder.

Then the creature began to wail.

I rolled my eyes at him. If Sam's shoulder had not been bleeding I would have silenced him, for the sound was unpleasant to hear, and unlike the cry of an infant seeking aid, it only served to annoy me further. I felt no concern for the creature then.

I examined Sam's shoulder (luckily the bite was not deep, and I was able to quickly clean it out well), and Frodo searched through the bags we had until he found Sam's rope, and while Gollum was subdued in his personal tragedy he was able to tie the rope around his neck. "You're bringing him along?" Sam asked, shaking his head at the idea.

"We can't have him sneaking up on us again." Frodo explained. "Better we can keep an eye on him."

"We could just kill him." I brought up the notion.

"But he didn't try to kill us." Frodo protested.

"Speak for yourself." Sam said of his shoulder.

"Frodo, you said you were going to cut his throat a few minutes ago." I reminded him.

"That was only a threat." Frodo replied. "I wouldn't be able to really…" He went quiet.

"I could." I said.

"Please don't Fali."

I sighed. "Fine." I said. "I won't…not yet."

The rest of the night was passed in fitful sleep for us, and Gollum was tied up a fair distance from us. He moped through the majority of the night, curled up and facing away from us.

My agreement not to kill him then and there started to be tested the moment we set off again when the light was ample enough.

"It burns!" The anguished cry came from behind me. "It burns! It freezes!"

"How can it do both?" I sighed, asking the question to Sam, who appeared as unpleased with our new guest as I was. "I've met spoilt children who whined less than this."

"Take it off us!" Gollum demanded.

"Quiet you!" Sam snapped back, his patience run out already, not that I could blame him. "It's hopeless!" He was exasperated. "Every orc in Mordor will hear this racket. Let's just tie him up and leave him. He's doing nothing but slowing us down, Mister Frodo."

"No! That would kill us!"

"If it's the wailing you're concerned about, I could always cut out his tongue." I said, thinking of some way to stop the nuisance that Gollum was, without actually killing him as Frodo had asked. The suggestion was half hearted though, and the hobbits likely knew this. My tone was not serious and I had no desire to place my fingers anywhere near his mouth.

Gollum took me quite seriously though. "Noooo!" He wailed.

"It's no more than you deserve." Sam replied sternly.

"Maybe he does deserve to die." Frodo admitted. "But now that I see him, I do pity him."

Gollum ceased his display and looked up at Frodo in what closely resembled wonder, and disbelief.

Now that Gollum had been contained one could actually get a good look at him and his mortifying appearance. I had thought the body to be dark when I saw him in the rain, but he was as pale as marble, grey as dust, and as skinny as a twig. One could easily count the lines that were his ribs and the knobs of his spine. There was years of dirt and grime smeared into his flesh, caked into his nails, which had become sharpened somehow, a bit like claws. His teeth had all fallen out, except for a few sparse survivors that sat rotting away in his gums. He had a light array of extremely thin hair that did nothing to cover his head.

He was without any doubt the ugliest and sickliest thing I had ever laid eyes on.

But his eyes…watery and bloodshot as they were…were still human. There were in fact an incredibly bright shade of blue, which only served to stand awkwardly out with the rest of him. Human eyes that read of great sadness and torment. Eyes that had not seen the sun, and had only ever closed for restless sleep. Eyes that despite his behaviour were as wide, as frightened, and as trusting now as a child's.

If only I had not looked into the creature's eyes.

"We'll be nice to them, if they be nice to us." Gollum promised. "Take it off us." He tilted his head a degree, leaving the knot tied about his neck more exposed. We hesitated. "We swears to do what you wants, we swears." Gollum pleaded again, continuing to persuade us.

"There's no promise that you can make that I can trust." Frodo replied, his words serious, thankfully.

Gollum got up from writhing around pathetically on the ground to his knees so he could beg before Frodo. "We swears to serve the master of the precious." He looked up with wide eyes. "We swears on…on the precious!" He stressed. After he had said this however, his face crumpled a little and he coughed harshly, choking out the words "Gollum…Gollum."

"The Ring is treacherous." Frodo answered. "It will hold you to your word."

"Yes, on the precious…yes." Gollum replied, inching a bit closer.

"I don't believe you!" Sam blared suddenly. His outburst frightened Gollum, who scrambled to get away, as Sam raised his hand as if to strike him. He climbed up a large rock, but Sam pulled upon the rope, and he fell back down to the ground with a great thud.

I said nothing and did nothing, merely watching the scene play out. I did not know what to do about Gollum either. I wasn't very fond of the idea of him joining us, and some part of me didn't want to hurt him either, for he was so shriveled and pathetic already. If I was somehow able to cast him off a thousand miles away I would have done so.

Frodo reacted more instantly than I did. "Sam!" He cried out, stopping our friend from hurting Gollum any further.

"He's trying to trick us!" Sam protested. "We let him go, and he'll throttle us in our sleep!" He warned. "Just ask Fali!"

"Fali?" Frodo looked back at me. "What do you think?"

"I don't know what he'll do." I answered truthfully. "Bringing him along is useless unless it helps us someone. If he keeps on wailing it won't be worth it."

Gollum lay on the ground again, clutching at his throat and panting for breath. Frodo slowly approached him. "You know the way to Mordor?" He asked. "You've been there before, haven't you?"

"Yes." Gollum replied. "Yes."

Frodo surprised us all by removing the rope from Gollum's neck. Even the creature himself had a look of shock clear on his face. "You will take us to the Black Gate." Frodo said.

Another sudden change came over Gollum. He got up from his knees and went crawling and creeping off at a brisk pace, and we were forced to follow him. He kept muttering to himself. "To the gate…yes, yes…to the gate." Where he once been something I feared would strangle us if we stepped in between him and the Ring, he now seemed almost tame, or at the very least no longer dangerous. He reminded me of a dog, bounding, sniffing, circling back to its master, and then bounding off again.

Gollum's mumblings became harsher, and I raised my eyebrow. "No! Won't go back…" He rattled on to himself. I recalled that Gollum had been tortured in Mordor, and the small twang of pity I felt for him broadened a bit.

His agreement continued with himself, the words sometimes clear enough to be understood. "No, no, no…but we swore…they can't make us!...Great Eye watching…"

His internal struggle reached its pitch when he glanced back at us menacingly and screamed at us, before diving into the rocks, and disappearing. Any pity I felt for him quickly faded.

"Hey! Come back now!" Sam shouted after him. "What did I tell you? He's run off, the old villain. So much for his promises."

"I have to agree Frodo." I said, the emotional and moral swings of Gollum causing unease to form in me. "He likely doesn't understand what it means to swear something anymore. We can't take his word as we would with others."

"This way hobbitses!" Gollum's face poked out from behind the rocks suddenly as his mood shifted again. Now he appeared cheery and light hearted. "This way!" He called after us as he went off again. "Follow me!"

Frodo followed him. "He's our only hope if we wish to get out of this place." Frodo said. "I feel we don't have much time." He fumbled with his collar, and I knew it was only a last minute decision to not pluck at his first where the Ring lay. "For now, we must take his word and follow him."

We followed Gollum and watched as he ran around, muttering to himself, sometimes harshly sometimes with praise.

"I don't like this, Miss Fali." Sam whispered to me. "I don't like this at all."

"I'm not particularly fond of him either." I watched Gollum.

"Do you think he's leading us in the right direction?" Sam asked.

I glanced around me. "He could be. I don't recognize anything, so we've either stopping going about in circles or we're…"

"Even more horribly lost than before." Sam finished for me with a sigh. "Why do you think Frodo trusts him?"

"I don't know." I replied. I suspected it had to do something with the Ring, the two of them having been in ownership of the object, either before or right now. Perhaps it was not really Frodo that trusted Gollum, but rather the Ring itself. "But he is the Ring-bearer of this quest. The best thing we can do is let him lead us, hope that he is right, and be there if that is not the case."

Gollum came running back to us and circled around Sam and I. The hobbit pressed a little closer to me. When Gollum dashed off again, calling "Follow us, Master, follow us!", I turned back to him.

"If he comes too close to you, stick out your leg and give him a little kick."

Hoping I wrote Gollum well, he's surprisingly difficult to write. Next time: switch back to how Gideon's doing.