Rise (Lord of the Rings)

6 - The Black Rider

I wasn't a morning person. I wished Frodo had told Sam that when he had gotten me up the next morning.

Frodo knew that I hated being woken up. Sam still had yet to learn that lesson. I didn't think he'd try it again, not after I told him I'd hogtie him and throw him in a river the next time he did such a thing. Sam thought I was bluffing, but I could tell he feared the threat.

I was still a little slow to start, so I told Sam and Frodo to do whatever it took to keep me going. Sam had suggested he and Frodo throw water on me. I shot him a dirty look; I'd prefer loud noises over cold water being poured on me any day.

I tried to make the hike more tolerable by daydreaming. There wasn't much to daydream about, really. We weren't out of the Shire yet, but being out of Hobbiton was enough to get my mind going. Rosie popped in as a thought. I wondered what would happen when she knew I was gone.

I imagined Rosie going on a search for me. Yet, the thought was saddening, knowing that if she made a search party for me, she'd never find me in Hobbiton. Whenever I'd return to the Shire, she'd most likely chew me out for leaving on such short notice.

Today was another comfortable day in the Shire. Despite our situation, the world around us seemed happy. I smiled as birds flew above us, twittering to each other. I was almost tempted to whistle to them to see if they talked back.

Before I knew it, Sam, Frodo, and I were back to walking into a thick patch of corn as tall as me standing on either of the boys' shoulders. The stalks irritated me, whacking me and getting in my face. There was a small trail in the corn patch, but we kept off it.

I lagged behind so much that Sam had to get a hold of me. He and I pushed through the corn. I was tempted to grab some, but they were up too high, and I wasn't the kind of Hobbit who stole things.

It's only a few ears of corn. Who's going to notice? That was my stomach talking, of course.

As Sam lugged me through the corn, I realized something.

"Sam," I said, getting his attention.

"Yeah?"

"We lost sight of Frodo."

Sam halted, I bumped into him. We tried to peek through the corn stalks to see any sign of Frodo. Great. The one place we lost Frodo and of course it's a thick patch of corn! Why hadn't I realized this sooner? When had he gotten so far ahead of us?

I pulled away from Sam, picking up the pace. I nearly stumbled forward when I pushed out onto the path marked in the corn patch. It felt like I was stuck between two walls, but at least I could go through them and not hurt myself.

"Which way do you think he went?" I stammered, looking down both ways the path led.

"I doubt he went that way." Sam looked behind us. I started on ahead, trotting, my pack beating against my back.

"Frodo?" I called, my eyes scanning the walls of corn on either side of me, just in case. Hopefully, nothing had snatched him up and disappeared with him. The last thing Sam and I needed was to lose Frodo to those who were after the ring he carried. My heart quickened at the idea, my mind conjured up a vision: Frodo being overtaken by shadows, his cries for help fading as he got dragged farther and farther away from Sam and me, towards Mordor...

"Frodo!" Sam called this time. I charged on ahead, slowing five seconds later, relieved to see Frodo hadn't been nabbed at all.

"You can't do that to us!" I whimpered. "We thought we lost you."