1912, The Hundred Years' War of the Evil Dragon (12)
——Third Era, 3018, September 24——
Hobbiton, woods on the outskirts.
"It's unbelievable," Sam looked at the woods ahead and the road extending between them: "One of them can fly, the other rides a horse, but we have to hike."
"Come on, Sam," Frodo walked ahead with his cane: "I find it unbelievable that the broken ring I used to cushion the flower pot could destroy the world."
"It's not okay to destroy the world. Then we won't have any place to farm." Sam opened his hands and made a gesture of emotion: "Under this situation, I suddenly want to write a poem."
"Please?" Frodo looked at him.
"Home is behind you, and the world is at hand," Sam read.
"..." Frodo raised his eyebrows: "It's surprisingly good?"
"Oh, Master Baggins, although I am a gardener now, I will not always be a gardener," Sam grinned proudly: "I think I can become a poet."
"What a good idea. Maybe you can propose to Ruth in this capacity?"
"Oh, no, forget that, I--"
"Frodo!" "Sam!"
When the two were about to talk a few more words about this, there was a shout from behind.
When Frodo and Sam looked back, they saw two hobbits who had been captured by Gandalf to wash the dishes running towards them.
"...Merry Pippin?" Frodo asked, "Why are you here?"
"Why? Shouldn't we ask you this?" Merry held his knees and gasped: "What does that letter mean?"
"It says, 'I am away from home, help me take care of the Baggins family's business, and all the profits during this period will be given to you.'" Pippin was a little better. He recounted the content of the letter, and then said angrily: "Do you think this is the case?"
Can you just send us away?"
"We need more money!" "Take us with you!" Merry and Pippin said in unison.
"Yes! We want to go together too!" "We also need to pay wages!" The two looked at each other and said again.
"..." Frodo crossed his arms and waited for them to reach consensus.
"In short, we confirm that you are about to embark on an adventure that is no less exciting than Bilbo's. If we cannot participate, we will regret it for the rest of our lives." In the end, Merry got the chance to speak and gave a relatively reasonable explanation.
"You..." Frodo touched his chin: "Did you see the dragon flying away last night when you came to steal Gandalf's fireworks?"
"We didn't-" "How do you know!"
"Frodo," said Sam, touching him, "I think I am getting wiser."
"In any case, we can only take them with us." Frodo shook his head: "Although they are only distant relatives and not named Baggins, I am not sure whether those 'black knights' will also regard 'people who take care of Baggins' industry' as
For the Baggins."
"Black Knight?" "Cool." There was absolutely no fear on the faces of the two hobbits.
——September 28th——Valley
Bucks Ferry.
"Frodo! Run!" "Here, here!" "Hurry!"
Ta da! Ta da!
The black knight and his black horse, shrouded in black mist, chased Frodo, who was running wildly on his short legs. However, because the horse could not pick up speed in the woods, Frodo finally got the better of him.
Jumped from the short pier to the river crossing raft that was already offshore.
"[Hiss—hoo—]" The black knight put on the reins and seemed to want to drive his mount to fly over the water, but the strange horse, which was also covered in black mist, shook its head repeatedly and refused to do so.
"As we all know... the black knight will dissolve in water..." Sam said blankly, supporting Frodo who had just jumped onto the raft.
"Don't be stupid, the water contains the power of Ulmo, the Lord of Waters, and no evil creature dares to touch it." Frodo stood up slowly.
"Then, wouldn't it be good to just throw the Lord of the Rings into the sea?" Sam asked casually, watching the Black Knight's figure getting further and further away.
"It's no use," replied Frodo; "some fish will carry it to the shore, and it will be picked up by another Gollum."
"Maybe it's someone like Master Baggins." Sam nodded.
Huh-huh-ta-ta-ta.
After the black knight lingered on the shore for a while, three more black knights of the same shape came from behind. After the two parties met, they talked briefly, then turned their horses and galloped away.
"Where else could they cross the river?" Frodo looked at Pippin, who had first pointed out the crossing to him.
"Brandybridge, it's an extra twenty miles, enough for us to reach Bree," "And they don't know we're going to Bree," replied Merry and Pippin.
"...Do you know the purpose of Sam and I, and why we are chased by the Black Knight?" Frodo continued to ask.
"I don't know. We were chased by these guys not long after we met you." "They said that 'Ciel' and 'Baggins' were perhaps old Bilbo's former enemies?"
It seems that I really didn't have time to explain to these two "nephews".
The day after they met Merry and Pippin, they encountered four "Nazgul" or "Nazgul" on the road.
According to Gandalf, the killed Ringwraiths will return to their masters to be reborn. This batch of Ringwraiths is obviously not the one "killed" by Gandalf. Most of them were informed by the killed Ringwraiths.
After their master received information about the Shire and Baggins, that "master" transferred the Nazgul who were in other parts of the Shire.
The only good thing was that it was daytime, and the Nazgul's eyesight seemed to be quite poor in the daytime. They were hiding at the bottom of the pit next to the mainland, but the Nazgul turned a blind eye and just followed the "Black Mist Horse" it was riding on.
After searching nearby, I was lured away by a sound in the distance.
However, during this process, Frodo came up with the extremely firm idea of "putting on the ring and hiding from the Ringwraiths through invisibility". If he hadn't looked up the legend about the Lord of the Rings in the Shire, he would be very sure that this would be the same as
If you expose yourself directly, you may have already subconsciously executed it.
Obviously, the ring had a mind of its own, and it wanted to be found by the Nazgul and returned to its owner.
Well, of course we can't let it happen.
"..." Frodo touched the Lord of the Rings that was hung around his neck as a necklace and stuffed into his clothes, and replied to Merry and Pippin: "In fact, it was me who brought what they wanted. Now the Shire and Hobbiton
It should be safe. After experiencing the chase along the way, maybe you want to go back and not be involved in this danger again?"
"No, no way, we are even more sure that this will be a wonderful adventure," "Don't even think about leaving us halfway." Merry and Pippin replied firmly.
"Okay," Frodo shook his head and turned to the other side of the river: "Let's go to Bree and wait for Gandalf - or maybe Strider."
