The Two Worlds

††Chapter Nine††

Chapter Nine

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The hobbits celebrated by eating a larger second breakfast that, even to human standards, was small for they were trying to make their supplies last. Sméagol didn't want any of the cooked food and demanded he go and hunt for himself.

"Frodo, we can't let him go again. This whole time he has been off some place probably eating while the rest of us..." Sam trailed off as Cody gave him a pained expression.

Sam, it's fine, let him go. Sméagol," she said turning to the creature, "Go and eat but be back by lunch."

"Lunch?" Sméagol asked with a puzzled look.

"Um, be back when the sun is in the middle of the sky."

"Oh, lunch! Thank you dark hobbitses."

Everyone held their breathe as the creature, nonchalantly, said those words and scampered out of the cave. Cody held on to her sword and her knuckles turned snow white as she commanded her hand to remain still. Her head burned slightly from where the splinter had spent over seventeen years living inside of her. She did not tell Frodo for she knew he would over react if he heard her.

Suddenly, she felt a soft hand rest on hers. It was not a commanding gesture but she knew he was helping her to stay her hand. She looked into Frodo's sky blue eyes and felt like she was ten years old again; watching him play with the other hobbit children while she sat on the side lines, too shy to say anything.

A small smile was on his lips but his eyes flashed her a warning. With a slight nod of her head his eyes relaxed and smiled like his lips. His dirty face glowed with happiness and a small wind blew into the cave. It swirled around the hobbits and ruffled Frodo's hair, revealing the scar once again.

She couldn't resist, she reached up and brushed her finger tips along the white ridge. He didn't stop her, instead, he closed his eyes and let out a small sigh. He knew she would eventually see it again and he had no way to hide it except behind his black curls.

"Frodo-" she started.

"No, I would really like it if we don't talk about that right now." he said in a soft voice.

"Please tell me." she pleaded.

"I will tell you eventually, my love, but not today." when she saw the pain that swam in his eyes she wrapped her arms around his neck and held him close.

"Okay." she whispered.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Hobbitses, hobbitses! It is lunch!" Sméagol called from the mouth of the cave.

"Yes, we know." Sam said around a mouthful of boiled roots.

"When will wes go to the marshes?" Sméagol asked while he crawled into the cave.

"We have actually just finished eating." Frodo declared.

"We have?" Cody and Sam asked simultaneously.

"Yes, we have, and we are about to pack up."

"Well, in that case, I guess I can do this." Cody said and shoved tthe rest of her root in her mouth. As she chewed her eyes were squeezed shut as she tried to chew the hard root. "Mm, yummy, very, very hard roots." she forced out of her mouth.

Both Sam and Frodo laughed at her foolishness and continued packing up. Sméagol looked at her in disgust for wanting to eat a plant. Cody just wanted a drink of water to rid her mouth of the horrible taste the root left in her mouth. When she grabbed her bottle she shook it and decided against it, she would survive.

In about ten minutes the hobbits were packed, ready and when they left it looked as if no one had occupied the cave. As they neared the swamps the smell grew and grew in intensity. When they were only several yards away it was almost so bad that Cody plugged her nose.

"Where here." Sméagol said in an evil sounding voice.

Cody looked down at him and saw that he eyed the swamps with pleasure. She knew something was forming in his head but he was clever enough to hide it.

"Come on hobbitses!" he said in his normal voice and scampered into a light fog that had formed over the swamps.

"Here we go." Frodo sighed. He grabbed Cody's hand and they walked side by side into the swamp.

With each step the hobbits took a wet noise could be heard underneath their feet and they were soon covered in slimy mud from the ankles down. Mud stuck to their hairy feet and squished between there toes.

Every now and then they would hear Sméagol say, "Come on slow pokes!" and would motion for them to hurry.

Close to two hours after they had entered the swamps they had made it to the center. There, it truly was a swamp; water covered most of the ground and, at times, the hobbits were forced to crawl like Sméagol in order to jump from one patch of semidry land to the next.

At one time they came upon a long strip of dry ground with water on each side. Strange lights began to appear in the water as night drew closer and closer. They could not tell where the light's were coming from our how they were able to stay under water but Sméagol told them, "Do not look too long at the lights hobbitses!"

Reluctantly, at dusk, the hobbits were forced to set up a very soggy camp. Their bedding was soaked with the putrid water and slowly seeped into their bones. They couldn't light a fire and were forced to knaw on cold roots.

As Cody laid next to Frodo, who was sound asleep, she listened to the night time noises. She tried to sleep but a harsh noise sliced through the night air. Her blood ran cold when she recognized the voice but she forced herself to remain calm.

"But Precious, the mean hobbitses said it was gone." Sméagol cried.

"But it's not." the harsh voice said drawing out the 'not' and making it higher pitched. "The Eye wouldn't let it leave her that easily."

"Then why hasn't he sent us a message Precious?"

"Because it's hiding. Gollum! Gollum!"

Cody almost cried in fear for she knew what they were talking about.

'But I killed it!' she thought to herself, 'The splinter is no longer inside of me!' but then her thought went back to earlier that morning when Sméagol had called her the 'dark hobbitses' and when her mind burned from where the splinter used to lie. 'This can't be happening to me!'

----------Sorry this took me so long to write guys. I had really bad writers block and could not think of anything! This chapter is dedicated to @livinyoung13 because she pushed me to write this for you guys. ~God Bless†