Traveling with Gollum yielded good results. I almost wished that it didn't but the creature did know his way around these lands, and successfully guided us out of the rocky labyrinth and onward to Mordor. Having him around us was still unsettling for Sam and I. It made me restless at night to hear him get up and star walking around, and wander off only come back a moment later, muttering things to himself again.

That seemed to be persistent habit of Gollum's. He was never silent, he was always muttering or whimpering to himself, and if he was not speaking under his breath he was breathing in a raspy, dried out fashion. The noise was now stuck in the back of my head, and while daylight seemed to draw it away from my worries, in the night it only put me on edge, and made it harder to close my eyes.

Gollum bounded past me then, seeking the front of our tiny caravan. He paused, and turned to look back at me. I glared at him. He was starting to become…friendlier…with Sam and I, but we were in no rush become as good to him as Frodo was. To us he was simply a guide. A very bothersome and creepy manifestation of a map and compass. At my glare Gollum hurried away, seeing I was in no mood to befriend him yet.

"I hope you'll forgive me for bringing him along." Frodo appeared at my side. "I know you and Sam wanted nothing more to do with him, and that you're uncomfortable having him around us, especially at night." He glanced up at me. "But he's been good to us. We're not lost anymore,, thanks to him."

"Aye." I nodded. "For that I suppose I should be thankful." I shook my head. "I still don't like it Frodo."

"He has not tried to hurt us."

"Not yet." I forewarned. "But surely you hear how he whispers to himself constantly. It doesn't do any good to have all that madness crammed into one head."

"We can trust him." Frodo assured me. "He has proven himself this far."

"As have you." I smiled. "With each step you're getting farther and farther away from Hobbiton and Bag End, and you've coped with everything wonderfully."

"Only because I have you and Sam by my side." He replied. "I wouldn't have made it very far without you two." He smirked. "Out of all of us, I think it is you who is faring the best. You look like you're living every childhood dream you ever had."

I grinned, for the new landscapes and unknown trails were thrilling. I loved the drills I practised each night with my sword and the warm, gently radiating heat of the fire at night. I would have quite a few tales to tell when I got home.

Home. I thought of Gideon, on his return to Erebor, and gripped the silver bear pendant around my neck. He had done so well, but he had not wanted to take part in this quest. He had done it for our family's honor. He did not complain of it outwardly, but I knew now he must have hated it. He disliked sparring, he did not wish to harm or kill anything, and he felt so insignificant around rangers like Aragorn and warriors like Gimli.

But he had lived through many things since the Shire, and could now go home with his head held proudly high.

Yes, Gideon had done his part.

Now I had to finish mine.

"See! See!" Gollum cried out excitedly, as we finally entered a flat stretch of land. "We've led you out!" It was beginning to get strange…the way Gollum always referred to himself in the plural sense. "Hurry, hurry…very lucky we found you." He went on chatting.

We paused to look at the boggy landscape, and breath in a damp, decaying smell that was part of it. Gollum cowered as Sam neared him, muttering "Nice Hobbit, good Hobbit." Sam had followed my instruction to try and kick the creature if he came too close, and Gollum had become wary of it.

"C'mon." I said, pulling them both Frodo and Sam along. "This is the next leg of the journey, that's all." I looked down into the puddles of murky, greenish water. Exciting as new places were I had been hoping for sights a bit more…glamorous, I suppose. At least something prettier to look at than a decomposing bog.

Sam stepped on a patch of floating moss he mistook as land and soaked his shoe. "Whoa!" He cried out in surprise. "It's a swamp!"

"Yes, yes…swamp it is…hurry, hurry and follow us through the mist…safe paths through the mist." Gollum spoke.

"Never mind what he says, Sam. Just follow him." I gave him a gentle squeeze of the shoulder, and he went on.

The mist kept us well hidden in it's shroud and I felt surprisingly safe. No one could see us, or find us in this. Not orcs or trolls or Balrogs. Sam probably thought the opposite, that it was too quiet and still, and something was likely to pop out of the fog.

"It's too quiet here." My suspicions were proved when we rested that day. "There's no sound, no birds."

"Yes, no birdses." Gollum nodded. "Famished, we are."

"The swamp will end soon." I tried to lift Sam and Frodo's spirits quickly. "Besides, we have the elven bread to keep us through days like these."

"How long do you think it will last?" Frodo asked.

"Long enough." I brushed away the concerns. "We won't go stuffing ourselves on it like Pippin did. And if there's anything that can be hunted down here I'll find it." I didn't voice my opinion that there was nothing here but lizards and spiders and other such things.

Gollum mumbled on about being hungry. Frodo eventually gave in and tore a little piece of bread. "Here."

I swallowed my own little piece of bread, feeling it fill my stomach as I quickly got to my feet. "Frodo, don't. I don't think he can eat what we do, he's been living off raw fish and who knows what else in the mines for years."

"It chokes us!" Gollum gasped, spitting the bread out, and holding onto his throat. He must have not been prepared for the way it would instantly fill him.

"Good riddance." Sam sighed, shaking his head at the wasted bite of bread.

Frodo looked disappointed at the waste too. He had only wanted to help Gollum, but it proved difficult.

"Cruel hobbit." Gollum scowled at Sam. "He does not care if we go hungry."

"Oh enough." I shooed away Gollum by waving my cloak. "I imagine you'll find something to fill that stomach of yours." I waved my cloak and shooed him more. "Go off and find a lizard to eat."

Gollum scurried away and approached Frodo. "Not like Master. Master knows, Master cares."

He reached out to Frodo, but the hobbit drew back. "Do not touch me." Frodo told him firmly. Gollum appeared surprised by this developed after Frodo's kindnesses. Now he seemed to find that he was not as friendly with Frodo as he had first thought. He was still not as trusted as Sam and I were. He gazed up at Frodo with side eyes, but Frodo did not change his mind, and so the creature went rambling off.

Sam and I stared at Frodo. "You two weren't beginning to think I favored him over you?" He asked.

"Well…" Sam began.

"Oh Sam." Frodo smirked. "No. He's only more cooperative toward kindness."

I looked over a Gollum, who was searching through the rushes and overturning rocks. That much was likely true. He listened to Frodo, who was good to him, and cursed the name of Sam, who had been trying to kick him (at my suggestion, I grimaced). I wondered what Gollum thought of me, for I was not as kind as Frodo, but not so hard as Sam.

As I considered this, Gollum looked up at me with a lizard in his mouth.

/

Later, it became quite clear that this was no ordinary swamp. It was a glimpse at first, like you could see something floating in the water out of the corner of your eye. Then you were nearly sure you could see a hand hidden in the shallows of the reeds.

But eventually…we saw the faces. I ignored it at first. I did not wish to look, the skin was too pale and had taken on a grey hue from the swamp water. They looked too alive as it was…as if they had died in the water hours ago, even though it was clear no one had been here for a very long time. It almost seemed disrespectful to look at them in their armor, and see them lying in a swamp for a resting place.

Little by little, the faces and bodies drew closer and closer to the edge of the path we walked on. It did not take much longer for Sam to notice them. "There are dead things!" He gasped. "Dead faces in the water!"

Frodo peered over his friends shoulder and seemed to shudder.

"I see them too." I nodded. "I think they're Men and Elves."

"All dead, all rotten." Gollum spoke in his hoarse voice. "Elves and Men and Orces."

"Where did they all come from?" I asked.

"A great battle long ago." Gollum coughed out the answer. I wished I knew as much about history as Gideon did. He would probably know of the battle right away. The only thing I knew was that Men and Elves had fought together before, in the beginning of our world. These bodies, which seemed to be part of the water itself, were ancient.

"The Dead Marshes. Yes, yes! That is their name. This way. don't follow the light." Gollum babbled on.

Sam continued to stumble along the edge of the path, and I pulled him to the center, directly in front of me. "Keep your feet dry, Sam." I gave him a little push to keep him walking along.

"Careful now…or Hobbits go down to join the dead ones, and light little candles of their own."

I shot the back of Gollum's head a glare, partly for leading us through this swamp in the first place, and partly for scaring us so. "We don't plan to go frolicking in the shallows, thank you very much…" I grumbled to myself. I sighed. "The sooner we reach the end of this bog the better, hmm?" I gave Sam another little push. "Come on Frodo, we should keep up with Gollum all the same." I glanced around me, looking for where Frodo was standing. "Frodo?"

There was a splash.

"Frodo!"

"Mister Frodo!"

Sam and I turned sharply to see the ripples where he had fallen in. I raced over to the edge of the bog where he had fallen in, and thrust my hand into the murky water, searched for his cloak so I could pull him back. The water was surprisingly deep, and it looked like Frodo was floating between the depths and the surface, and was struggling. His cloak may have been weighting him down to the bottom I realised.

My fingers stretched toward him, when I felt a strange tugging at my fingertips. The chill of the water? A pulling of some unseen current? There was a sharp tug, almost as if something had pulled at my hand, and strong enough to make me snap forward a little, as though I was being dragged into the water with the hobbit. I snapped my hand back, just as Sam yelled out "Don't, Miss Fali!" as he came up behind me.

Gollum scurried to the shallows and plunged his hands into the mess, nearly diving into the bog. He took hold of Frodo's hood and pulled. Frodo's head resurfaced and he began coughing and sputtering, and the two of them scrambled back onto the solid land.

I instantly grabbed the hobbit and tried to pull him away from Gollum, despite the fact that the creature had just saved him. A quick glance of him, up and down, proved he was not hurt, only soaked.

I heaved an audible sigh of relief.

"Gollum?" Frodo asked, looking around for the creature and finding him near his side.

"Don't follow the lights." Gollum reminded him, with what appeared to be genuine concern for Frodo.

"What did you think you were doing?" I asked.

"I don't know." He coughed more. "I was looking into the water one moment and the next I fell in."

"You were nearly drowning." I scolded. "Next time stay in the middle of the path." I frowned. "And your soaked…again." I huffed, as I pulled out my bag and grabbed my old, worn cloak that I had started the journey with. "All we've really done on this journey is get ourselves wet one way or another…" I went on. "Here." I passed him the old cloak. "It has acquired a few holes but it's dry."

"Thank you." Frodo took my cloak and removed his wet one. I got him back to his feet, stood him and Sam directly in the center of the path, where I could watch their every step like a hawk and looked down to Gollum again, who continued to watch Frodo with concern on his face. "You're the guide." I said to him. "Lead on."

To which he muttered "Yes, yes…on we go…keep dry, must keep dry now…"

I could tell such words were directed at me, and he was conversating his odd way. IUnsure of how I felt about Gollum trying to speak to me as though I were a friend, I was quiet the rest of the day, and focused on what lay directly before me, never once turning my head again to gaze at the dead in the marsh.

Sleep that night did not come easy. We had found a space solid and flat enough to make a decent camp on, but now the mist rolling around us was more errie than it had been in the day, and I could not forget that in the water so close to us was a hundred, pale bodies. Some part of my mind that lived on nightmares, briefly imagined the horror of the dead rising from the waters. I shook my head, forcefully. No, it did not do to think of such things. They would only play themselves out into my head until I unwilling took them for truth.

So yes…falling asleep was one the night's more difficult challenges.

"Keep your eyes open Sam."

"I will Miss Fali, don't worry." He patted my shoulder lightly.

"Is your cloak dry yet, Frodo?"

"Nearly." He replied. "Sleep Fali."

"I will." I nodded, curled up on my bedroll. A moment later…"Keep your eyes open Sam."

"So I've been told." He smirked.

"Sorry." I mumbled. A moment later… "But keep your eyes open Sam."

There was no reply. "Sam? Samwise?" I looked up and was surprised to find that it was light out, and that our camp was gone, fire ashes and all. "Frodo? Sam?"

"Their fine, Fali."

I knew that voice, but I could not see where it was coming from. "Boromir?" I glanced around me.

"Yes." The answer came, from out in the mists almost.

"Where are you?" I asked, standing up from my bedroll. "I cannot see you."

"I am close by." He replied. I followed the sound of his voice, approaching the water.

"Where are you?" I repeated.

"I am here Fali." I stepped closer to the edge of the water.

"Boromir?" I looked into the water. There he lay, pale as the bodies I had seen before, his red hair waving lightly in the water. He opened his eyes, and there was a small smile.

"Fali." He spoke through the water.

I got my boots wet as I stepped into the water and reached in, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt and pulling him up. He broke through the surface.

"Am I dreaming?" I asked him. "I left you with the others."

"Most certainly." He nodded.

"So I did fall asleep." I said. "I was beginning to think I would not be able to." I looked over Boromir. "You look so real." I muttered.

"You are troubled?" He asked.

"Some." I shrugged, pretending that my feet had not bee nsore with all the walking and I was beginning to miss full meals where you actually got to eat and sit and taste the food. Lembas was all well and good, but a nice dinner had it's merits.

"You have been looking after Frodo and Sam?"

"Yes, I have been, and very well too, I might add." I nodded, as the two of us continued to stand in swamp water. "I've been staying brave, just as you said." I smiled. "You would be proud."

"You show a lot of optimism for someone who is on their way to Mordor."

I frowned at the mention of Mordor. Right now I was concerned with the Dead Marsh and what lay between here and the border of Mordor.

"You are frowning." Boromir pointed out to me. "Why?"

I looked up at him. "This is my dream, is it not? You are part of it, you should know what has put me on edge these last few days."

He laughed lightly at me. "Tell me anyway."

"Gollum." I said. "The creature followed us. He's now guiding us to Mordor, and his presence is not the most welcome."

"Do you trust him?"

"Enough to lead us on our way…but certainly not with my life." I said. "I almost wish we could find our way and leave him, but that seems like it will not happen." I sighed. "What of you, and the others? How is Gideon?"

"You said so yourself Fali…this is your dream, and I can only tell you what you already know."

"I figured as much." I sighed. "Come on, let's get out of the water. It may be a dream, but it's making my toes cold."

I pulled but Boromir would not budge from the water. "Are you stuck to the bottom?" I asked.

"You must be brave Fali." Boromir reminded me. "You will soon have great need for courage."

An inhuman screech pierced my ears, building up from within my head. I closed my eyes tightly at the noise and covered my ears with my hands. When I opened my eyes again I was awake, on my bedroll, in our camp. Boromir was gone.

Gollum was screaming about Black Riders.

The Wraiths had returned.