LotR: Pippin's Point of View

X: On the Road

So the Fellowship of the Ring set off.

Gandalf led us in the front, followed by Legolas the Elf, Gimli the Dwarf, Frodo, Sam, Merry, me, the horse, Ginger (whose name I found out to be Boromir), and Aragorn brought up the rear.

"We must hold this course, west of the Misty Mountains, for 40 days. If our luck holds, the Gap of Rohan will still be open to us. From there, our road turns east to Mordor." Gandalf was murmuring to himself.

Sam and Frodo were eating sausage while Boromir was teaching Merry and I how to handle the swords Aragorn gave us at Weathertop.

I felt bad for dubbing him "the annoying guy," because he was actually a pretty good teacher. Aragorn sat off to the side, smoking a pipe as Boromir's blade clanked against mine.

"Two, one, five. Good! Very good." Boromir said.

He stepped back and then came at me again.

"Move your feet," Aragorn suggested as I parried the downstrokes.

I caught Boromir's sword on mine and Merry complimented me.

"You look good Pippin." Merry grinned.

"Thanks," I nodded. I wasn't positive on wether he meant my outfit (I had takes off the blazer thingy, but I still had my scarf on), or the sword handling, but I let it pass.

Boromir went after Merry now. "Faster!"

Then I stepped in and Boromir fought us both.

A sharp, searing pain went through my finger; a feeling I had felt only once before when I cut my finger chopping mushrooms.

"Ow!" The sword clattered to the ground as I tried to shake away the pain.

Now I wasn't so sorry about the whole "ginger" thing.

"Sorry!" Boromir cried, realizing he had cut my finger.

I kicked him irritably, and Merry yelled, "get him!"

Merry smacked him with the flat of his sword and Boromir went down.

Merry and I tackled him, just horsing around, now.

"For the Shire!" Merry cried.

"Hold him! Hold him down!" I instructed.

"You've got my arm, you've got my arm!" Merry shouted.

"Hold on, hold on guys." Boromir stood up as Sam looked to the sky.

"What is that?" he asked.

"Nothing. It's just a wisp of a cloud." Gimli reassured him gruffly.

"It's moving fast," Boromir argued. "Against the wind."

I could tell it was some sort of bird formation.

"Crebain from Dunland!" Legolas identified.

"Hide!" Aragorn shouted. "Hurry! Take cover!"

Merry and I raced down the side of the mountain. I grabbed my sword and sheathed it as I ran.

Sam put out the fire.

Frodo rolled up his belongings and dove under a rock shelf with Aragorn.

Merry and I watched the birds turn around the mountain, chirping loudly.

We pushed the bush we were hiding under over a little so we could see them pass.

We stood up to hear Gandalf say, "spies of Saruman. The passage south is being watched." He turned to all of us. "We must take the Pass of Caradhras."