CHAPTER FIVE ---- Strength
I blinked hazily, glancing about the cave. Pippin was shaking me, trying to keep me awake. I wasn’t sure why…I think he must have been afraid I was passing out. Through my lashes I could see his face. “Pippin.” I asked woozily, “Is Strider back yet?”
Pippin had since…somehow managed to put on his pants, and he was making some tea. The tables had turned abruptly. He was a little out of focus…but I could tell he wasn’t entirely stable. He was shaking, constantly. This was a an effort for him, I could tell. But he was able to do it…and I couldn’t move. He had put the blanket on me alone this time. “N-no, Frodo.” he shook his head. I saw him stumble as he pulled the teapot off the fire and was afraid he would have fallen into it.
He didn’t though, and set the teacup on the stone floor in order to pour it. His hands were shaking every now and then and he was sweating. He picked up the cup in both hands to steady it and crawled over to me. I drank in relief because my throat felt like sandpaper. The water was warm but not too warm and it tasted like cinnamon and cloves. “Cinnamon…” I blinked at Pippin…then I noticed that he was chewing on something.
He blushed, “Mamma p-put a few things in my p-pack…She knew…She knew I liked it.” he admitted. He was stumbling over words, as though they were difficult to form. “Frodo, want some…?” he offered something to me…dried apples…made soft with some warm water. Pippin never ceased to amaze me. He had the most unusual things in his backpack.
“Dried Apples and Cinnamon Tea…Oh…Pip. it’s a feast for a King…” I smiled then, taking a bite. I got it down…and laughed…“Its good…“ But that was a mistake…the laugh brought about the cough once again, and tears of pain flooded my vision.
As my eyes misted over and I felt almost like I couldn’t breathe I looked at the front entrance of the cave…The Nazghul was back. “N-no…” I screamed…scrambling away from Pippin and grabbing Sting. “Stay back…” That was another mistake…I could barely hold the blade in my hand and it fell to the floor in a might thud that resounded about the cave.
The Nazghul began to come forward, drawing its long sword, screeching in a high pitched whine. I saw it throw Pippin to the side, and I could hear his cries. I held my hands to my head in fear, feeling the call of the Ring….beating in my heart…flooding through every sensation of my being. I remembered weathertop vividly and my shoulder ached. There was only one thing to do. I lifted the chain around my neck. It would take away the pain…that’s what the voices were saying.
“Frodo…No!” I heard Pippin’s voice.
Then I heard Aragorn’s…”Frodo!”
No more pain.
I put on the Ring. The darkness of the became suddenly clearer…and yet suddenly more confusing at the same time. Shadows…shadows and dreams flew in shapes that didn’t make any sense. Except for the one standing before me, wielding the sword, and bringing it down…down….I closed my eyes, ready to feel the blow. But the sword did not connect, it rested against me. I opened my eyes…and I cried out. I was staring…at a ghastly white creature. A terrible travesty of nature that I could not explain in a thousand years. I was staring…
At myself.
“Take off the Ring, Frodo!” I heard Aragorn’s cry.
I knew then I had a choice to make. I had a choice whether to live or die…whether to let the great eye find me as it was coming quickly. I stared back at the cold being that regarded me. The being that would be me if I succumbed to evil. I fought to remain conscious and desperately grasped ahold of my sanity. This was not me…this would never be me. With all the strength that I had left…I pulled it off…
And the shadow that I thought was the Nazghul…turned into Aragorn. He rushed to my side and lifted me up in his arms. “Aragorn…” I sobbed, hysterically.
“He’s b-been delusional…all night…” Pippin tried to explain, but he was dizzy himself and had to sit down.
I started coughing again as sobs wracked my body. I didn’t want to become that creature. No…I wanted to go home…I wanted to be in Bag End…To sit in my garden. No…no more shadows. I trembled.
“Pip..give me that tea. He -must- drink.”
“What’s going on w-with him?” Pippin did his best to comply. He wasn’t very quick. Aragorn reset me back under the blanket, though he held me this time, even though he was wet from the rain. Tears continued to fall down my cheeks and I could only vaguely make out what they were saying.
“Give me that other blanket…I need to dry off. Make him drink the tea. Now…”
Pippin nodded slowly and encouraged me to drink. I complied…I was too weak to do anything else. All my strength was gone. I was tired…and I wanted to sleep, but they wouldn’t let me. I couldn’t stop coughing…
Aragorn kept making me drink…and gradually it subsided. My stomach no longer felt like a raging inferno and my whole body shuddered for a single moment before I lay still…breathing easy.
“What’s wrong with him?” Pippin asked.
“If he continues to cough like that.” Aragorn said grimly. “If we can’t stop him. His ribs will not set back into shape. If his ribs do not set back into shape…eventually his stomach will constrict in such a way that he could suffer internal bleeding…and once that happens…only Elbereth can save him. Fortunately I managed to find some rare herbs that will help. Pippin…”
Pippin steadied himself. “Yes?”
“You…how’s your head?”
“Feels like my brain is stuffed w-with cotton…” he shivered…”I think I…” he tried to smile. “I think I’m alright. Just a slight fever…h-hard time speaking.”
“You’ll be feeling that way for a couple of days, it will pass…Now…help me with Frodo…” Aragorn nodded grimly. “Those herbs and roots I brought in….this is what we have to do…”
My head began to swim…and all that I saw was darkness as I slipped off to sleep.
*Aragorn comes back finally with a selection of roots. He’s soaking wet from the rain. *Pippin seems a little better…but dizzy. *He directs Pippin to help him with Frodo while he works quickly to bring down the fever and stop the coughing. *Aragorn and Pippin realize that if Frodo does not stop coughing his ribs won’t heal...and he might start bleeding internally.
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