You Had Me at "Handkerchief" {Bilbo Baggins/LOTR}

Chapter VIII: "All You Need Is Love," to Quote 'The Beatles'

Chapter VIII:

"All You Need Is Love," to Quote 'The Beatles'

The next day starts as the days previous, though no dragons or mosquitoes are involved. Indeed, today is better than days prior, however, we are none the less wary of our surroundings. For when we seem to let down our guard, the true horrors of Middle Earth always come upon. So Bilbo and I come to an innocuous decision to move carefully in these final days of travel.

We whisper throughout the day, in an attempt to keep ourselves alert and focused. Our lips speak of previous encounters with strange beings and peoples, like the three trolls of the Ettenmoors and the Rohirrim of Rohan. In this way, we keep preoccupied, focused, and entertained all at the same time. There is no better day in our travels, as we come across little danger in these few hours.

By the time sundown hits, we arrive at the Watchtower of Amon Sûl, or Weathertop to the common folk. Being lovers of history, as Bilbo and I have both recalled, words are not needed to know of this historic sight, and we make to climbing the ruins. Though neither of us verbally ask, I thoughtfully question this movement, as we are not in great need to see the ruins up close, nor in need of a look-out point. I do believe we are up here for tourist purposes, and dangerous ones at that.

But as the tower is so precariously placed high upon a hill, I take to heart that we will be able to see any danger from a great distance. That being said, I look back to the endless stairs we climb and listen to the huffing of my breath. I need to start attending those dwarf pilates classes that my mother teaches in Erebor, as I am very much out of shape at this time. I blame the elves.

Sprinting up the final steps so as to hinder a prolonged agony of my thighs, my eyes capture a less than wondrous sight of decaying stone. Indeed, the ruins of Amon Sûl are little more than piled foundations of gray rock and warm breezes bound from the hillside valleys. The greatest and only worthwhile portion of this hike is the view of Middle Earth from atop Amon Sûl. It is a beautiful sight, the sunset basking trees in a golden, pink light and the gusty clouds tracing the sky's borders. It is a moment of peace in such a historically horrific place...a moment of peace that does not last very long.

A scream erupts from within the clouds, a call to evil and Sauron himself. And though I have yet to hear these screams of happiness, not pain, I immediately know the identity of the scream-bearers. They are the great human kings, the nine men who received the rings of Sauron himself. The greedy and the blind, the undead minions of evil. They are the Ringwraiths, and Bilbo and I are certainly in trouble.

Twisting my head around in a panic, I look to a startled and terrified Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit who has overcome so much. Tugging at his hand, we sprint towards the stairway that we climbed just moments ago, only to see an evil creature ascending without so much as a footstep. Seeing as there is only one, I reason that the others now surround us in a united front, closing in on their prey. How did they find us?

"Shift," I command Bilbo as the nine Great Kings appear from the shadows, stepping into the new moonlight. Following my own command, I transform into my Phoenix of fiery beauty unlike any before. And though I am not an expert at reading the undead's facial expressions (or lack thereof), I see a visible cringe on their part at our new, and equally tall forms. Suddenly grateful for my mother's identity, I unleash a whirlwind of flames upon my great enemies. Fire is, indeed, the greatest fear of the Ringwraith, along with that of water.

I take to burning the cloaks of the four evil creatures near me while Bilbo does the same to the other five. Screams rip across the night sky, once again, as these Ringwraiths face the true terror of my race. We are like dragons, only driven by virtue rather than greed. We are the countercurse of the draconic kind.