Frodo rushed around the house, packing food, water and other supplies for a long journey.

"You must leave," said Gandalf. "And leave quickly."

"Where?" Frodo asked. "Where do I go?"

"Get out of the Shire. Make for the village of Bree."

"Bree," Frodo repeated. "What about you?"

"I'll be waiting for you, at the inn of the Prancing Pony."

"And the Ring will be safe there?"

"I don't know, Frodo. I don't have any answers. I must see the head of my order. He is both wise and powerful. Trust me, Frodo. He'll know what to do." He smiled at Frodo, rushing him along.

"You'll have to leave the name of Baggins behind you," Gandalf told Frodo while he helped him slip on his coat. "That name is not safe outside the Shire."

Gandalf then helped Frodo pull on his pack. "Travel only by day. And stay off the road." He handed Frodo his walking stick.

"I can cut across country easily enough," said Frodo, putting the Ring in his pocket.

Gandalf looked at him and smiled. "My dear Frodo. Hobbits really are amazing creatures. You can learn all there is to know about their ways in a month, and yet after a hundred years, they can still surprise you."

There was a rustle under the window. Gandalf signaled me to hide. "Get down," he told Frodo. Picking up his staff, he carefully walked over to the window, and forced it hard on the thing under it. There was a thud, a loud "Oh!", and a grunt. Frowning, Gandalf pulled his staff away and pulled the thing inside, forcing it on the table.

"Confound it all, Samwise Gamgee! Have you been eavesdropping?"

"I haven't been dropping no eaves, sir. Honest. I was just cutting the grass under the window, there!"

"A little late for trimming the verge, don't you think?"

Frodo stood up and dusted himself off.

"I heard raised voices-" said Samwize before Gandalf cut him off.

"What did you hear? SPEAK!"

Samwise jumped. "N-n-nothing important! That is I heard a great deal about a ring, and a Dark Lord and the end of the world, but - please, Mr. Gandalf, sir, don't hurt me. Don't turn me into anything... unnatural."

Gandalf's eyes got big. "No?"
He look at Frodo and smiled. Frodo smiled back. "Perhaps not."

He leaned in. "I've thought of a better use for you."

===========================

As we walked through the dark meadow, Gandalf told me about the journey he had to make to Isenguard.

"Come along, Samwise," he said impatiently. "Keep up." Sam ran to catch up.

After an hour or so of walking, Gandalf stopped. "Be careful. All of you. The enemy has many spies in his service. Birds, beasts." He looked at Frodo. "Is it safe?"

Frodo put his hand over his breast pocket.

"Never put it on, " warned Gandalf. "For the agents of the Dark Lord will be drawn to its power. Always remember, Frodo, the Ring is trying to get back to its master. It wants to be found." He patted Frodo's shoulder and glided up onto his saddle, riding off.

Sam walked up next to us, looking at me curiously. "Who's this?"

"This is Jenakin," said Frodo. "Jenakin, this is Sam." I smiled at him shyly and he smiled back.

"Best be off now," he said, stating the obvious.

==========================

We walked through fields for hours. Sam stopped at the edge of one field of corn with me behind him. "This is it."

"This is what?" asked Frodo, stopping and turning around.

"If I take one more step," he said, "it'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been." I was tempted to shove him just hard enough that he took one step forward.

"Come on, Sam." said Frodo, putting an arm around his shoulders. Sam stepped forward and we continued. "Remember what Bilbo used to say," said Frodo. "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, hoing out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."

That night, I had another dream of the black riders. I saw one looking over a dark landscape, its horse panting hard. It screamed, and I then saw Gandalf with his horse running towards a tall black spire in the distance.

He finally made it to the bottom of it, where a large set of black stairs led up to a huge door. A tall man with long, strait white hair slowly walked down towards him. I instantly recognized him as Saruman.

"Smoke rises from the Mountain of Doom. The hour grows late, and Gandalf the Gray rides to Isengard, seeking my council."

Gandalf peeled himself out of his saddle and took off his hat, rubbing his horse's neck gently.

"For that is why you have come, is it not? My old friend."

"Saruman," Gandalf said, bowing his head in respect.

We were suddenly walking by Isengard, Gandalf telling him about the Ring.

"You are sure of this?" Saruman asked.

"Beyond any doubt."

"So the Ring of Power has been found."

"All these long years it has been in the Shire." He sighed and added, "Under my very nose."

"Yet you did not have the wit to see it. Your love for the halfling's leaf has clearly slowed your mind."

"But we still have time," Gandalf said desperately. "Time enough to counter Sauron if we act quicly."

"Time?" Saruman asked, stopping. "What time do you think we have?"

Now we were in what I'm guessing was the spire.

"Sauron has retained much of his former strength," Saruman said, his gaze boring into Gandalf. "He cannot yet take physical form... But his spirit has lost none of it's potency. Concealed within his fortress, the Lord of Mordor sees all. His gaze pierces cloud, shadow, earth and flesh. You know of what I speak, Gandalf."

Gandalf looked at him, terror in his eyes.

"A Great Eye, lidless, wreathed in flame."

"The Eye of Sauron," Gandalf said, his eyes now full of realization and understanding as well as fear.

"He is now gathering all evil to him," Saruman continued. "Very soon he'll have summoned an army great enough for an assault upon Middle Earth."

"You know this? How?"

"I have seen it," Saruman said, looking to another room. "I also sence deep magic, very vague... Yet very powerful. It will be here soon - Sooner than we would expect."

"What should you have me do?" Gandalf asked, looking at him with a knowing look.

Saruman paused. "You already know of this, Gandalf. You already know what to do with this 'Jenakin' child."

Gandalf stared at him in disbelief. "You would have me kill a child? She has not even shown any power."

"She will, old friend, in time. Come."

Gandalf followed Saruman into a smaller room with a orb covered with a cloth in the middle.

"A palantir is a dangerous tool, Saruman," Gandalf said with worry.

"Why? Why should we fear to use it?"

He ripped the cloth away, revealing the orb, black like marble.

"They are not all accounted for, the lost Seeing-stones. We do not know who else may be watching!" He grabbed the cloth from his hand and laid it back in the orb, accidentally touching it.

He stopped, and Saruman walked towards a window. "The hour is later than you think. Sauron's forces are already moving. The Nine have left Minas Morgul. You know this. But you do not know that they crossed the River Isen on Midsummer's Eve, disguised as riders in black."

"They've reached the Shire?"

"They will find the Ring... And kill the one who carries it."

"Frodo!"

Gandalf began to walk to a door. Saruman closed it with his magic. Gandalf walked to another, but Saruman closed it. He then closed all the doors, shutting Gandalf in.

"You did not seriously think that a Hobbit could contend with the will of Sauron? There are none who can."

Gandalf looked at him, the pieces finally being put together in his head.

"Against the power of Mordor... There can be no victory. We must join him, Gandalf."

===========================

Wow, I suck with cliffies. Even if you already know the answer, this sucks. Oh, well.

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