Till You Die II

Chapter 1: The Great Pursuit

• • •

"Mordor" Sam said tiredly as he and Frodo crested a hill.

"The one place in Middle Earth we don't wanna see any closer is the one place we're trying to get to, and it's just where we can't get." Said Sam with exasperation. Sam turned to Frodo "let's face it Mister Frodo... we're lost. I don't think Gandalf meant for us to come this way" Sam added. "He didn't mean for a lot of things to happen Sam" Frodo said sadly "but they did."

Suddenly Frodo started to hyperventilate and had to steady himself against a rock, Sam looked at Frodo with great concern. "Mister Frodo?" Questioned Sam worry etched on his features. "It's the ring isn't it?" Asked Sam "it's getting heavier" replied Frodo.

"What food have we got left?" Asked Frodo as he took a pitiful sip of water from his sack. "Well let me see.." said Sam as he dug around in his bag "oh yes lovely.. lembas bread. And look! More.. lembas bread" Sam said sarcastically. Sam broke off a piece of the bread and tossed it to Frodo who caught it. "I don't usually hold to foreign food.. but this elvish stuff.. it's not bad" Sam said trying to lighten the mood. Frodo smiled "nothing ever dampens your spirits does it Sam?" Asked Frodo. Sam sighed and looked out onto the horizon "those rain clouds might" he muttered.

For the rest of the day Sam and Frodo went in circles everything was looking the same. They were very much lost. So when it got dark they just hunkered down to sleep and decided to try their luck again in the morning.

  As the hobbits slept a foe was descending upon them but they were none the wiser.

  "Thieves, they're thieves, filthy little thieves" Gollum sneered as he crawled down the rocks making for the sleeping hobbits. "Where is it? Where is it? They stole it from us.. my preciousss" Gollum hissed. "We hates them! It's ours and we wants it!" Gollum said as he reached his hand out. Suddenly Sam and Frodo jumped up and grabbed Gollum yanking him off the rocks formation he was perched on. They fought with the creature, Gollum saw the ring hanging on a chain from Frodos neck and Gollum lunged at him.

  Sam tried to pull Gollum off of Frodo but he was a slick little monster and kept escaping Sams grip. Sam got ahold of Gollum again and Gollum sank his teeth into Sams shoulder making Sam yell out in pain. Frodo pulled out Sting and held it to Gollums neck hell bent on killing the vile thing.

  "This is Sting you've seen it before haven't you?" Questioned Frodo. "Gollum" Frodo added "release him or I'll cut your throat" Frodo snarled fury evident behind his blue eyes. Gollum slowly loosened his grip around Sams neck and Sam scrambled away. Gollum broke out into a sob like a child who'd just had a toy taken away.

  Gollum screamed all night and well into the next day as Sam and Frodo dragged the creature behind them, he was tethered by a rope around his neck. "It burns! It burns us!" He screamed "take it off us!" Gollum pleaded and yanked on the rope. "Quiet you!" Scolded Sam and Gollum continued to wail. "It's hopeless every orc in Mordors gonna hear this racket!" Sam said to Frodo "let's just tie him up and leave him!" Sam added. "No! That would kill us! Kill us!" Gollum protested "it's no more than you deserve!" Sam bit back as Gollum writhed on the ground. "Maybe he does deserve to die but now that I see him.. I do pity him" Frodo replied to Sam. "We be nice to them if they be nice to us" Gollum said "take it off us!" Gollum begged.

  "We swears to do what you wants we swears!" Gollum cried as he bowed before Frodo "there's no promise you can make that I can trust!" Frodo said sternly "we swears to serve the master of the precious we swear on... on.. the precious!" Gollum groveled "GOLLUM! GOLLUM!" He gagged. "The ring is treacherous we will hold you to your word" Frodo said "yes... on the precious.. on the precious" Gollum replied as he looked up at Frodo. "I don't believe you!" Sam snapped and lunged at Gollum, Gollum ran off onto a rock "get down!" Yelled Sam and yanked Gollum down. "Sam!" Reprimanded Frodo "he's trying to trick us! We let him go he'll throttle us in our sleep!".

  Frodo walked over to Gollum "you know the way to Mordor?" Frodo more or less asked "yes..." Gollum replied timidly. Frodo knelt down in front of Gollum "you've been there before?" Frodo questioned "yes" Gollum said again. Frodo took the rope off of Gollum, Gollum looked shocked that Frodo actually set him loose and Sam looked fearful. "You will lead us to the black gate" Frodo told Gollum.

                                 •              •              •

  The orcs ran along two orcs had a hobbit on their back, one had Merry the other had Pippin. Merry was unconscious and Pippin was calling his name when the orcs quit running.

  "What is it?" Asked an orc "what do you smell?". The orc smelled the air "man flesh" he answered. Pippin felt a spark of hope ignite in his soul "Aragorn" he whispered "they picked up our trail" growled the orc as he looked around nervously expecting someone to jump out at them. In a panic they all started to run again, Pippin undid the pin holding his cloak closed and dropped it on the ground so Aragorn would find it and know they were on the right path.

                                 •              •             •

  Aragorn pressed his ear to the ground to see if he could hear anything "their pace has quickened" Aragorn said as he sat up. "They must've caught our scent" he added "hurry!" Aragorn called.

  Gimli, Y/N and Legolas ran to catch up with Aragorn. Y/N reached for Legolas' hand as he pulled her over a few steep rocks. "Come on Gimli" Legolas said as he ran on with Y/N close in tow, Gimli stopped for a moment out of breath but soon pushed past his exhaustion and followed after his companions.

  Legolas held Y/N's hand while they ran so she'd stay close, he didn't like it when she got out of sight. Not only was she Lady Galadriels daughter and he didn't want to face her wrath but... he was quite fond of her. Aragorn and Gimli had noticed this and would often whisper to each other about to when Y/N was asleep or Legolas was on watch and they were half sure he couldn't hear them.

  Y/N had also grown more fond of Legolas as the weeks went on he was attentive and watchful and loyal to a fault. His teasing did get on her nerves but it made her laugh more than it annoyed her. 

  They ran and ran Gimli was always several feet behind but Y/N would frequently glance behind to make sure the dwarf hadn't fallen out of sight. "Legolas slow down" Y/N said as she almost tripped and fell a couple times while Legolas dragged her behind him. "Getting tired Y/N?" Legolas asked teasingly. "No but you're running so fast I'm gonna catch wind and fly like a kite!" Y/N exclaimed and Legolas just laughed.

  Soon the four had reached the path where the orcs had been with Merry and Pippin moments before. Aragorn picked up Pippins brooch that had been trodden under foot. "Not idly do the leaves of Lórein fall" Aragorn said Legolas stopped and let go of Y/N's hand to walk over to Aragorn. Y/N hunched over and put her hands on her knees to catch her breath finally. Legolas looked at the pin in Aragorn's hand as Aragorn stood up "they may yet be alive" Legolas said with hope.

  "Less than a day ahead of us" Aragorn said as he started to run again. Legolas grabbed Y/N's hand "oh no" Y/N groaned as she was again being pulled along by Legolas. Gimli fell down the hill out of breath, "come Gimli!" Legolas called after him "we are gaining on them!" He added. "We dwarves are natural sprinters!" Yelled Gimli as he continued to chase after Y/N, Legolas and Aragorn. "Very dangerous from short distances!".

  They reached the top of the hill where they could see all the land before them. "Legolas!" Y/N exclaimed as Legolas started jumping over rocks briefly forgetting that Y/N wasn't one of his spry, elven peers. "Rohan" Aragorn said "home of the horse lords. There's something strange at work here" Aragorn said "some evil gives speed to these creatures... sets its will against us".

  Legolas had ran up several feet to see if he could see something that Y/N, Gimli and Aragorn wouldn't have seen. "Legolas! What do your elf eyes see?" Asked Aragorn "the Uruks turned Northeast! They're taking the hobbits to Isengard!" Legolas answered. "Saruman.." Aragorn whispered as the puzzle pieces started to fit in his head.  They had to get the hobbits... and fast.