Finding Love in the Lord of the Rings

****Chapter Seven****

Chapter Seven

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When Cody made it out of the forest the rain had turned into a light drizzle but the temperature continued to drop steadily. She headed back to the window where she had been sleeping but she did not feel sleepy and the drizzling rain and cold winds would not help either. She looked through the window to see Tom Bombadill leaning forward in his chair with a serious expression on his face looking at Frodo. The other hobbits were seated in a semicircle around Tom with Frodo in the middle.

Frodo reached into his pocket, slowly started to withdraw his hand but then stopped. He looked down at his hand, baled up in a fist as if he was holding something, then looked back at Tom. He must have said something to him because Tom started speaking and leaned back into his chair. Frodo looked down once more then brought his fist out completely and opened his hand with the palm facing up. In his hand was a single golden band, it shone in the firelight and reflected the dancing flames on its flawless metal surface.

The splinter in Cody's mind instantly perked up from its nap when she saw the ring. It pressed itself against her mind, willing her to go inside and take the ring for herself. It took all of Cody's will power and strength to fight back, she let out a small shriek as the splinter stabbed the inside of her conscious sending pain throughout her body. She ducked down under the windowsill just as the hobbits turned around, hearing her cry out in pain. They did not know what it was, they assumed it must have been the wind blowing through a crack in the window.

When she was sure they had turned back around she slowly hoisted herself off the ground and looked to see Frodo toss the ring over to Tom Bombadill. Tom caught the ring on his pinky finger and sat there looking at it. All the hobbits gasped like something didn't happen that was supposed to. Tom laughed at them, twirled the ring around his finger and the gave it back to Frodo with a smile on his face.

They continued to share stories until it was dark outside and the first stars of the night shone on the black canvas. Cody laid on the ground and curled up in a ball by bringing her knees up to her chin. The temperature was still dropping and it got worse when night fell upon the earth. She shivered trying to stay warm and wrapped her traveling cloak around her body like a blanket. No matter how hard she tried all her effort were in vain, the cold somehow managed to send its icy fingers through her cloak and skin, all the way down to her bones.

Finally, she decided that she should go try and sleep in the forest. Maybe it would be warmer in there since the trees would block off the wind. When she got to the outskirts her mind suddenly changed and she went the opposite way she was going to go. She walked deep into the forest until the trees became so dense that when she looked up she couldn't see a single twinkle of light. She began to feel claustrophobic as the trees seemed to be closing in on her. When she felt like she could not go another step she heard a horrible voice that was coming from just in front of her.

"Why didn't you get it when you had the chance?" it rasped in a hoarse voice.

Cody kept on walking until she saw the owner of the voice. It was dressed in all black, its cloak billowed around its feet caught by some breeze that she could not feel. Its face was covered in shadows for the hood was pulled up over its head. Strapped onto its left side was a long black sword that sent shivers down Cody's spine. On its right side was a dagger that gleamed in the moonlight that shone through a small crack in the trees. It rode upon a black horse that seemed to large to be a normal horse. The stead stomped the ground in impatience, waiting for an answer so he and its rider could leave.

"Well?" it demanded.

"I'm sorry my lord but there were too many of them and the girl refused." Cody spoke in a voice that did not belong to her. It was deeper than hers but sounded as if someone was running their nails down a chalk board.

"You couldn't get a ring because a puny girl refused, and to be a hobbit on top of that. I expected more of you."

"You don't understand my lord, she is growing in strength. She has some kind of connection with the ring bearer that is more powerful than I."

"Then strike, her, down." it said with malice in its voice.

"And how am I supposed to do that my lord?"

"You know what to do, think. We cannot strike while they are at Tom Bombadill's." it said spitting out his name as if it left a bad taste in its mouth. "When they leave, our friends will help, that way we can get ahead of then and meet them in Bree."

"Very well my lord. When will I see you next?"

"You will see me when we are celebrating in victory!"

And with that its left, spurring it horse on into a quick canter and ran into the trees with its cloak flapping behind it like a flag in the wind. When it had disappeared the splinter went dormant once again and Cody crumpled to the forest floor. She laid there all night, her limbs were not working as if they were dead. The forest was a bit warmer but now she wished she had never come.

'What friends?' she thought, 'What will they do to Frodo and the others?'

Thoughts like these flashed through her mind for several hours and then finally she fell into a restless sleep and had horrible dreams. The first one was the blurry image that came to her each night but this time the edges were being slowly engulfed in shadows. The next dream was of a single golden ring upon a hobbits finger, she could not see his face just his hand and the rest of his body. Suddenly a flash of black was seen at the corner of her eye. When she turned she saw the cloaked being, but this time his hood was down revealing his gaunt face. It was pale against his black clothing, the skin was slowly rotting away to where you could see teeth and bone.

It ran towards the hobbit, its evil dagger in hand, and before Cody could turn she heard a horrible, agonizing scream. She didn't need to see who it was that had caused that scream she knew who it was.

Frodo.