Fighter || The Lord of the Rings

3 Nothing Is Kept Secret

    "But I must go." Frodo said. "It cannot be helped, dear friends. It is wretched for us all, but it is no use your trying to keep me. Since you have guessed so much, please help me into not hinder me!"

"You don't understand!" I told Frodo.

"You must go-and therefore we must, too. Merry, (Y/n) and I are coming with you. Sam is an excellent fellow, and would jumped down a dragon's throat to save you, if he did not trip over his own feet; but you will need more than one companion on your dangerous adventure." Pippin said.

"My dear, and most beloved Hobbits! But I could not allow it. I decided that long ago, too. You speak of danger, but you do not understand. This is no treasure-hunt, no there-and-back journey. I am flying from deadly peril into deadly peril." Said Frodo.

"Of course, we understand. That is why we have decided to come.We know The Ring is no laughing-matter, but we are going to do our best to help you against the Enemy." Merry explained.

"The Ring!" Frodo said amazed.

"Yes The Ring." I smile.

"My dear Hobbit, you don't allow for inquisitivenss of friends. I have known about the existence of The Ring for years—before Bilbo went away, in fact; but since he obviously regarded it as a secret, I kept the knowledge in my head, until we formed our conspiracy. I was young, and Bilbo was also more careful—but he was not careful enough. If you want to know how I, we." Merry looked at me before continuing. "First found out, I will tell you."

"Go on!" Frodo said.

"It was the Sackville-Bagginses that were his downfall as you might expect. One day, a year before the party, (Y/n) and I happened to be walking along the road, when we saw Bilbo ahead. Suddenly in the distance, the S.-B. appeared, coming towards us. Bilbo slowed down, and then hey presto! he vanished. We were so startled that we hardly had time to hide ourselves ordinary fashion; but we got through the hedge and walked along the field inside. We were peeping through into the road, after the S.-Bs. had passed, and was looking straight at Bilbo when he suddenly reappeared. We just caught a glint of gold as he put something back in his trouser-pocket. After that we kept our eyes open. In fact, I confess that I spied. But you must admit that it was very intriguing, and I was only in my teens. I must be the only one in the Shire, besides you Frodo, that has ever seen the old fellow's, secret Book." Merry explained.

    "You have read his Book!" Frodo cried.

    "Actually I have too.." I confessed.

    "Good heavens above! Is nothing safe?" Frodo exclaimed.

    "Not too safe, I should say." Merry started. "But I have only had one rapid glance, and it was difficult to get. He never left the Book about. What about you, (Y/n)? How did you see it?"

     "Oh... It was a couple years back, later in the day, Bilbo was distracted with some Dwarfs that just arrived when I read it. I was already there helping around with some things. But I hardly saw him because he kept himself locked up in a room and I only saw him when he came out for something to eat and drink. So when he heard a knock and the voice it belonged to he must have quickly dropped whatever he was doing and hurried to the door. Of course I was curious with what he was doing all day so I went to his study where I found a Book. He wasn't finished but from what I read it was very interesting." I explained.

    "I wonder what became of it. I should like another look. Have you got it, Frodo?" Merry asked.

     "No. It was not at Bag End. He must have taken it away." Frodo sighed.

    "Well, as I was saying." Merry continued. "I kept my knowledge to myself and (Y/n), till this Spring when things got serious. Then we formed our conspiracy; and as we were serious, too, and meant business we have not been too scrupulous. You are not a very easy nut to crack."

    "Gandalf is worse." I added.

    "Yes. But if you want to be introduced to our chief investigator, I can produce him." Merry told Frodo.

    "Where is he?" Frodo asked looking around the room.

    "Step forward, Sam!" Merry announced, Sam stood up with his ears and face completely red. "Here's our collector of information! And he collected a lot, I can tell you, before he was finally caught. After which, I may say, he seemed to regard himself as on parole, and dried up."

    "Sam!" Frodo cried.

    "Yes, sir!" Sam said. "Begging your pardon, sir! But I meant no wrong to you, Mr. Frodo, nor to Mr. Gandalf for that matter. He has some sense, mind you; and when you said 'go alone', he said 'no! Take someone you can trust.'"

    "But it doesn't seem that I can trust anyone." Frodo said.

    "It all depends on what you want." Merry added. "You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin—to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours—closer than you keep it yourself."

"But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends, Frodo." I say.

"Anyway: there it is. We know most of what Gandalf has told you. We know a good deal about The Ring. We are horribly afraid—but we are coming with you; or following you like hounds." Merry said.

"And after all, sir," added Sam. "You did ought to take the Elves' advice. Gildor said you should take them as was willing, and you can't deny it."

"I don't deny it." Frodo said. "I don't deny it, but I'll never believe you are sleeping again, whether you snore or not. I shall kick you hard to make sure." He said to Sam then Frodo turned to us. "You are a set of deceitful scoundrels! But bless you!" He laughed. "I give in. I will take Gildor's advice (Gildor is an Elf Frodo, Pippin and Sam met on their journey from Bag End to here.) If the danger were not so dark, I should dance for joy. Even so, I cannot help feeling happy; happier than I have felt for a long time. I had dreaded this evening."

"Good! That's settled. Three cheers for Captain Frodo and company!" We shouted.

"Very good! But in that case there are a lot of things to do before we go to bed—under a roof, for tonight at any rate." Frodo said.

"Will we really start before the break of day?" Pippin asked.

"I don't know." Frodo answered. "I fear those Black Riders, and I am sure it is unsafe to stay in one place long, especially in a place to which it is known I was going. Also Gildor advised me not to wait. But I should very much like to see Gandalf. I could see that even Gildor was disturbed when he heard that Gandalf had never appeared. It really depends on two things. How soon could the Riders get to Buckleburry? And how soon could we get off?"

"The answer to the second question, is that we could get off in an hour. I have prepared practically everything." Merry explained.

"We are starting tomorrow. I have made up my mind." Frodo said.

And not long after we went off to bed.