The Road East

Bucklebury Ferry

Linny's POV

Frodo had clearly described what he'd seen when we were in our niche. He'd said that it was a tall black and hooded man, most likely, with a black horse and both had armor on them, the rider carried a sword with him. Why would anything need a sword in the Shire? For a better question, why is the rider in the Shire?

I felt a prickle on my right arm. Here it goes again. My spider bites itched like crazy, it hurt really bad, almost like a fire crawling up my arm daring me to touch it. Every time it starts I try to itch it and Lila makes me stop. I looked over at her and she was already looking at me. I took a deep breath in and she nodded, grabbing my right arm and covering with her hand where the bites were to keep my left hand away from them.

We heard a high-pitched shriek in the distance making us all duck and take cover, just in case. Frodo was peering around a tree and he signaled to us that we could go to the next few feet. Lila's hand left my arm to run across to a tree. The urge to itch my arm was too much and when I plopped down behind another bush my nails raked rapidly against my skin.

"What's wrong with your arm?"

Pippin grabbed it and examined it. Involuntarily, I tried to itch it again but with his other arm he grabbed my wrist and held it a safe distance away from my arm. His eyebrows creased and he pointed to the red infected bumps on my arm.

"What's this?"

My voice sounded miserable and I wondered if I looked as bad as I sounded, "Spider bites."

"Did you get a good look at it?"

"Yes."

"Was it poisonous?"

"Yes."

He looked back down at my arm. I caught Lila's eye and she asked me what we were discussing through a series of facial expressions. Well, i just assumed that's what she was asking. I just nodded and she seemed to know what that meant.

"You probably shouldn't be scratching this. It'll only make it worse."

My voice took on as well as miserable a whining tone, "I know. It's just I've nothing to cover it and make it easier to resist. It's exhausting!"

I huffed and Pippin laughed at my slight melodrama. Then again, I can have my melodrama if I want it because I got bit by a poisonous spider twice and I am positively as annoyed as I am sick. A shiver as well as a sick feeling went down my spine and I began to feel quite chilled. Pippin put a warm hand on my forehead and let it fall to my cheek.

"You're burning with a fever. Are you cold?"

I weakly nodded. Without a second of hesitation he pulled off his coat and held it out for me. He gave me a sympathy smile, or so I believe it was as he helped me put it on.

His seemed a bit awkward when he spoke, "You might...ah...need this as well to cover up the bites."

"Th-that's-s much b-better thanks Pip."

Lila came to stand beside me and she put an arm around my shivering shoulders. I smiled at her. She was really nice and I think she could be a really good friend of mine, if only we lived closer. Speaking of which, I am sort of wondering when we're going to get home. We seem to be walking farther and farther away. Not that I'm in a rush to go home after the whole ordeal with Primula, it would just be a nice bit of information.

Then just like that we were running again. This time nobody was stopping or being stealthy, everyone was flat-out sprinting. Being ill, obviously I couldn't run as fast as normal. I was around Frodo's speed but a little more because he is surprisingly slow. All of a sudden the black rider came out of nowhere and reared his horse directly in front of us. I'll admit, I almost ran into, but instead I screamed and fell over right in front of it.