Delilah Baggins and Peregrin Took (A LOTR Love Story)

Chapter Three-Strider

CHAPTER THREE
STRIDER

The five hobbits were running silently in the woods when a horse came out of nowhere! Oh, and it wasn't just any horse, it was the black rider from earlier's horse! The hobbits, being sneaky and agile, were able to go around the demonic horse quickly, catching the rider off guard. They came to a river, where four of five hobbits got on swiftly, but the fifth was still running, she had been on the wrong side of the horse. Yes, Delilah Baggins was almost going to be left behind. Her brother was shouting for her to hurry up, Pippin was biting his now nonexistent fingernails, Sam was trying to stop the raft from leaving, and Merry was just standing there, with no idea what to do with himself.
"Come on Delilah! Faster!" Frodo shouted. Delilah, still sassy in the face of danger, rolled her eyes.
"How fast do you think I can go?!" she shouted back at him. Just as the raft was a few feet away from the dock, further away than Delilah's height, she jumped, needing to take the risk of not making it. She got on, almost losing her balance, if it weren't for Pippin pulling her all the way onto the raft, she would have been in the icy water. Frodo pulled her into a tight hug.
"Don't ever do that again!" he scolded. Delilah smiled sheepishly at him.
"I don't intend to," she replied. Frodo nodded, then seemed to remember something.
"By the way, how did we not notice you before?" Frodo asked her. Delilah seemed to ponder something, as if wondering if she was allowed to tell them, and she actually was.
Pippin looked at Delilah, she was beautiful, and then he realized that she was talking. "Gandalf taught me the art of stealth and swordfighting," she said. "So that I could defend myself. Saruman the white, the leader of his order, told him to teach me, I don't know why, so don't ask," she explained. Frodo sighed.
"Is that why he always spent time with you when we were little?" he asked, and Delilah nodded.
Frodo didn't understand, he, as a male, was more eligable to learn the things that Gandalf had taught Delilah. But then he realized something, Delilah had always wanted to go on an adventure like him, but she always was a learner, she was the intelligent one. Sure Frodo was smart, but Delilah always got the best marks. If Gandalf wanted an apprentice, he would get the smartest he could find.
Later, they were all at the prancing pony, and Delilah and Frodo were sitting together and Delilah felt the presence of eyes on her. She turned her head a little to look at the stranger that was staring and saw a man, clad in black. She recognized him as a ranger. "That fellers done nothing but stare at you since we got here," Sam pointed out, rather loudly. And Frodo, not very discreetly, looked at the man. Delilah wanted to facepalm, could they be anymore obvious? But that would draw attention to them even more. Frodo seemed to be out of it, and Delilah could feel it too. The presence of the ring. It was strong. She knew Frodo had it, but she could also hear a voice, that voice. The voice of Sauron. Frodo and Delilah both snapped out of their trance at the same time, becuase of a word.
"Baggins?" Pippin. What was he doing? That was when Delilah realized that he was drunk. "Sure I know him!" he then started to talk about how he was their friend, but wasn't related to them. Frodo ran toward him, hoping to stop him from saying anything else. In his frenzy, he tripped, and the ring went flying. Delilah stood up and she noticed the ranger stand up as well. They both ran towards Frodo, but the ranger was faster. As soon as Frodo caught the ring, he disapeared. Delilah looked around and saw him reappear under a table, but the ranger already had him. Delilah followed them and burst into the room, drawing her knife. She got ready to throw it at him, but he took off his hood and she recognized him. Aragorn! She didn't know if he would like Frodo to know his real name, so she called him by his ranger name.
"Strider!" she exclaimed, running up to him to give him a hug. When Gandalf brought her to Bree a couple years back she met him. Frodo looked back and forth between them, confused, and that was when Sam and the others came in.
"Let 'im go, or I'll..." he stopped midsentence when he saw Aragorn and Delilah chuckling a bit.
"Boys, this is Strider, he's a friend of Gandalf, and Strider, this is Sam, Merry, Pippin, and Frodo," she introduced everyone. They talked about the ring for a while before the hobbits, all except Frodo and Delilah, fell asleep. Delilah pretended to be asleep until she was sure the others were asleep, then she gave her blanket to Pippin, who didn't have one. She walked over to the window sill and conversed with Aragorn for a while.