" Mister Frodo, what are you staring at?" Sam asked, and I looked up to my friend, who was staring off into the air again, as if he was looking for something. "You've hardly touched the soup."
"I can hear something." He replied. "Can you not make out the noise yourself?"
I tucked my hair behind my ear, exposing it to the air again, and listened carefully. There was noise, to be sure. But it sounded like nothing out of the ordinary. The creak of branches, the whistle of wind, the stirring of birds. "What do you hear that I can't?" I asked.
"Something…" Frodo answered vaguely, not too sure himself. He rose from his spot on the ground and began to wander off. "I'm going to look around."
"Not without me." I stood instantly, putting the rim of my bowl to my lips and downing the last of the soup in one gulp. "The last time you were left to your devices you decided to run away." I tossed my bowl to Sam who hurried to catch it, and fumbled with the object briefly, before holding it close to himself and saving it before it smashed into the ground.
"Careful, Samwise." I nodded in his direction, and winked, so he would know I meant the words jokingly. "Hurry and pack everything away. It looks like we'll be moving on again."
"But there's still soup."
"We've eaten some of it." I nodded. "Down the last of it yourself if you wish."
Sam sighed, relenting. He drank much of the remaining broth quickly, poured the rest over the dying coals and stashed the soup pot and bowls away. "If anyone were to listen to me," He said. "I'd say we'd do much better sitting around and finishing the soup than going off searching for the source of strange noises." He shook his head slowly. "No good will come of it…no good at all."
I patted his shoulder kindly. "Have a little faith, Sam. It's likely nothing, and we'll be on our way." I stretched a smile across my face, forcibly adding some joy into our weary atmosphere.
We began to follow Frodo, with Gollum lurking his way about in the shadows behind us. The sound of creaking branches grew more intense, and I raised a n eyebrow curiously. Glancing up into the canopy I saw there was not enough wind to warrant such noise. Perhaps there was something out there. Carefully, for Sam was right beside me and might see, I placed my fingers over the hilt of my blade, preparing for the unknown.
Frodo, whether by similar methods to my own, or by some other nature, seemed to realise that his assumptions had been correct and quickened his pace to an brisk walk, up to the top a hillside, where he looked out over the landscape to the forest opposite us. He sank to the forest floor, lying upon his stomach. I placed my hand firmly on Sam's shoulder blade and guided him down to the ground myself, then flattening myself to the ground. Gollum crawled up beside us (luckily he was always close to the ground, so there was no need to push him further into the grass and dirt), looking rather agitated, perhaps even nervous, and glancing down from his place.
I glanced up, and saw them. Hundreds of men, their skin dark from the sun, clad in armor, and marching together. Light glinted off the tips of spears and the hilts of swords. An army…a very intense and well trained army. Sam sank even lower, and I craned my neck to get a better look.
"Who are they?" Sam asked.
"Wicked men." Gollum spat out, distastefully. "Servants of Sauron, called to Mordor…gathering armies, all armies…won't be long now…" He coughed a little. "Almost ready."
I did not like the sound of that. But I was too captivated by the men, and the marching and the shining spears. There was suddenly a low pounding sound, almost from deep within the earth. It shook the ground beneath us, sending vibrations up. For a second I thought I had imagined it, but it repeated itself, the shock waves radiating up.
"Do you feel that?" I turned my head, to Frodo, still keeping myself low to the ground. Another quake came from the ground. "That! Surely you felt that one."
Suddenly there was an even greater creaking of branches, in fact I was quite sure they were being torn to splinters, and a strange sound I had never heard before. I looked up and saw the most unusual creature I had ever seen in my life before. Something with grey, wrinkled skin, and tusks like a boar has, only much longer and sharper, and the most unusual nose, longer than anything on a creature before. All this was amplified by the fact it was incredibly huge. Dare I say, the size of a small mountain. No wonder the ground was shaking.
"Mahal…Navestal…" I breathed in awe. Great platforms, filled with more men, were strapped by a series of ropes and bindings to it's backside, the bulk of the animal making it strong enough to carry such a load. "I'd hate to be underfoot one of those things."
"Look Mister Frodo, an Oliphant." Sam seemed partially in awe, and partially nervous. While we were a safe distance from the beast now, we'd hate for it to come any closer. "No one will believe this back home."
No one will believe this back home…the thought repeated in my head, and I stared up at the one Oliphant in wonder, committing every detail of it to memory for the sake of telling my family how I had gazed upon such a creature, tiny in it's shadow. This was one of the most exciting things I had ever seen in all my life. Frightening…but exciting too, and the part of me that loved adventure and thrills was dying to get a better look.
I raised myself up on my elbows slightly, hoping to see more of the Oliphants and the wild men.
A calling sound came from them, and Gollum backed away in a hurry. "Suddenly skittish are we?" I asked after him.
"Do you suppose he'll leave us for good?" Sam thought to ask.
"Sam, he's welcome to travel with us still." Frodo reproached him.
"He'll come back." I shushed them both before an argument could take place. "He has thus far."
A sudden change came over the men, as their tight, perfect arrangement began to break apart into a disorderly and fluid mess of people. I furrowed my brows together, eyes squinting to see what was happening from our place.
"What's going on now?" Sam asked, and he made to stand straight up, and Frodo jostled, preparing to get up on his knees and more into view. I slammed my hands against their shoulders, nailing them both to the ground and gripping their shirts with my very nails.
"Stay down." I hissed. "We cannot be seen." I caught a sharp whistle in the air, something like a small hiss. My mind thought of arrows, having heard so many fired before from my Uncle's bow or from my cousins. The men were being attacked, and a caught the incredibly quick passing of an arrow, a small disruption in the sky that you can mistake as blinking at the wrong moment. Most of them were being shot in the direction of the Oliphant, and this was causing the creature a great amount of distress. From beneath my stomach it felt as though the earth was jumping out of it's place with each of the creature's rushed stamps.
Despite being drawn to look toward the sight of destruction, my mind deciphered that the arrows were coming from our direction. Meaning, we were not alone in this forest, if they had such a decent view of the Oliphant, they were not at all far away…whoever they were. I snapped up to my knees, drawing up the hood of my cloak for a little more concealment. "Time to leave." I said, the ground quaking more violently underneath us. One frightened Oliphant began to charge toward us, making a dangerously straight path.
I swore, a rather unladylike word coming off my tongue. "Get up! Frodo, Sam!" I gripped them under their elbows and tried to pull them all up and throw ourselves backwards, Mahal willing we'd fall back down the hill and toward safety.
An arrow, fired frightfully close by where we were standing, landed in the heart of one of the men up on the platform. Perhaps he had been the one controlling the path of the Oliphant, for it veered off to the side, avoiding us, but only just. The body fell directly before us, and Frodo and Sam were attached to my side as we all shivered involuntarily at how close we were to being stamped out of existence.
The beast retreated, and Frodo said shakily "We've lingered here too long. C'mon Sam, Fali."
"The attackers are close by, we have to hurry." I pressed them. "Up! Get up!"
I turned on my heel just as a cloaked figure broke out of the trees. My hand flew to my sword, and I unsheathed it, standing ready. The man took out a blade of his own, and held it out as well. I took that as a challenge and struck against his sword with as much strength as I could muster. His sword was thrown off it's course, and it took him a second to regain his balance. I was ready when he recovered himself, striking back again, and ducking out the way to avoid his own attack. I swung broad, and fast, trying to get him to step back far enough away from the hobbits. He did not move far. With deadly intentions I jabbed at his left side, hoping to catch him along his hip.
He caught my movement and defended himself well, throwing me off balance, and as I recovered, and prepared to repeat my course of action, our swords crossed in a deadlock, and I heard, in a tense voice "Fali.", from behind me. I dared to glance behind me briefly, and saw both Frodo and Sam at swordpoint from other men. From the look of things, another man in similar garb to his peers was going to place his blade right against my spine. He was eyeing the man I was currently crossing swords with, as if asking if he required aid.
"Miss Fali." Sam called out to me, both in his own call for help and to warn me we were outnumbered now. The adrenaline in my system refused to fade away. I did not know these men, did not trust them just yet. The fact they had been shooting at our common enemy meant little.
I was forced to relent, lest I be taken as a threat and stabbed for it. I removed my sword quickly from the deadlock and jumped backward to Frodo and Sam's side, the blade still raised defensively. A dark scowl was on my face.
"Who are you?" The man who had fought with me demanded of us.
"We are innocent travelers." Sam spoke up.
"There are no travelers in this land." The man replied, looking down at us with a suspicious eye. "Only servants of the dark tower come here now."
"Then what are you doing here?" I replied, feeling anger bubbling forth at being stared at in such a way. "You don't make yourself sound very promising."
He glared at me even harder. "I would not speak with a tongue that loose." His reply was icy. "You are surrounded by unfamiliar faces, and you'll meet tempers shorter than your own." He glanced at all of us again. "I'll ask again: what are you doing here?"
"Our errand is one of secrecy." Frodo spoke up. "Those who also oppose our enemy would consider it best to not hinder us."
"Avoiding my question does you no favors." The man replied.
"We mean you no harm." Frodo pressed on for us, and I threw back my shoulders, standing beside him, proud of my hobbit friend and his courage. "Let us go, and you will never see or hear from us again, this we can promise you."
"How can we trust what you say? You've given us no reason to place our faith in you. For all I know, you may be on a journey to the Dark Tower."
"Do we look like people capable of doing something like that?" Frodo played upon one of the only advantages we had in our case, how short and unfamiliar with dangers like this we looked. "Do we look like the enemy to you?"
"The enemy?" The man raised an eyebrow. The man finally turned over the body of the man from on top of the Oliphant. "A Southron." He said, grimly. "One with a dense of duty equal to yours, I suspect." He smiled, the gesture brief and cold. "I wonder what his name was, where he came from…if he was truly evil at heart. What lies, what threats lead him so far away from his home? Perhaps he came marching proudly over the land with his brothers…perhaps he wanted to simply stay home in peace."
The words made me think of Gideon, how I had dragged him along. He was safe now, surely. But I wondered, suddenly thinking about the matter, how his mind dealt with his fears and his worries. The Southron had an arrow in his side…Gideon likely had a few scars on his mind. I was responsible, in part, for putting them there. I had hurt my brother, pushed him against his nature. I had known him to be wary and gentle, and I had brought him along expecting him to become as enthusiastic as I was.
The man caught me staring at the body on the ground. "War will make corpses of us all." He finished. He looked to his men. "Bind their hands."
My wrists were grabbed roughly, and the man who had grabbed me twisted my hand, forcing me to drop my blade to the ground. I raised my leg, preparing to deliver a swift kick to his knee. Perhaps if I kicked hard enough I would be able to tear myself from his hold, then I could pick up my sword, grab Frodo, grab Sam, dash it all with Gollum he had drawn his lot and left us for the time being and I felt little qualms about leaving him behind…then there was to be the issue with the other men, but perhaps if I was fast enough, and aggressive enough my sword we could manage to escape…then there was the question of where we would run. We were still following Gollum and there was no searching for him in the chaos that would ensue.
I had to admit, bitterly, there was no escape from this. We were too outnumbered in this case, and they were too close to us already. One of us may get hurt. One of us may get caught, and they'd be even less forgiving the second time they caught us.
The man caught me raising my leg, and guessed my intentions. He glared. "I would rethink your course of action, my lady, or else we may bind your feet as well." I glared back, and placed my foot back on the ground, straightening myself up for good measure.
"Quite the gentleman." I huffed quietly to myself. I watched as one man stooped to pick up my sword, and placed it in his own belt away from me. I eyed it longingly, suddenly feeling lighter without it's familiar weight at my side.
When we were bound the men began to walk off toward their camp and we were made to follow. "Fali…?" I heard Frodo speak up.
"Not now, Frodo." I whispered lowly back. I was still watching my blade, and feeling bare without it. Bare and unprotected and smaller than normal. I needed that sword back, and soon.
"But Fali-" He paused slightly, before becoming even quieter. "Do you think Smeagol knows where we are? Do you suppose he's following us now?"
Gollum. I had forgotten about him for the moment, his life suddenly invaluable to me when Frodo, Sam and I were at stake. "I don't know. Perhaps. He's drawn to your side. He's drawn to the Ring."
A brilliant idea suddenly came to mind. "Gollum…." I breathed, hope alighting in my chest. "Gollum can help us." I whispered, quick and near silent. "He found us once before, he will do it again. I'm nearly sure of it. He would not have gone far when he went off. He would have been able to hear something." I turned my head, back and forth, pretending I was only waving hair out of my face. "I can't see him, but I'm sure he's out there somewhere. If we can't make him out that means they won't."
"You suppose that he'll come to our rescue then?" Sam asked. "What makes you think he'll do that?"
"For Frodo." I replied. "For Frodo, and the Ring, and his promise to guide us." I glanced around at the men who had captured us. None of them were showing any indication they had heard us. "I think they haven't heard." I breathed. "Just keep quiet, and do as they say. Give them no reason to hurt you." My eyes darted over to the man who was leading everyone. "From what he said about the dead Southron, I think he has some decency in him at least."
"Just what is your plan?" Sam asked me.
"We wait for Gollum." I finished, growing quieter with each word. "And when he comes back to us we convince him to untie us, and get us out of wherever we've been taken." I turned to Sam. "It looks like he has turned out to be useful after all."
They fell silent, and I pressed my own lips together, walking along. At one point I caught the man who had spoken to us looking over me, curiously. I looked right back at him, and smiled, bright and friendly (if mockingly so, under the circumstances). He appeared irritated, and also confused, by my apparent joy.
We both looked away from each other and my smile faded, returning to a look of concentration, trying to keep up with the broader steps of men, and figure a few more ways out of this, should Gollum not appear.
My sword glinted at me again, and I sighed heavily. I felt empty without it, and now I was relying on Gollum of people and creatures to save us.
For the first time on this adventure, I felt truly trapped.