A Light From the Shadows Shall Spring

As night began to fall the men started to become anxious, and Merry and Pippin fell silent. The wind began to blow hard and a fog settled in the forest. In the distance, we heard a horrible screeching noise and Frodo and Sam's heads snapped up. They looked at each other briefly and Frodo shouted, "Come on!" and began to run. We all followed Frodo and my knee began to scream with pain, but something told me we had to keep running. After a few minutes, Sam stopped behind a tree and Mary, Pippin and I stayed with him while Frodo ran ahead to a tree in front of us.

Sam called, "Do you see anything?" Frodo peeked out from around the tree and called back, "Nothing."

Suddenly, Pippin walked out from behind Sam and headed towards Frodo, and we all followed him. "What is going on?" he asked defiantly. When Frodo didn't answer, Merry walked up next to Frodo and said darkly, "That black rider was looking for something. Or someone. Frodo?"

I had no idea what they were talking about. A black rider? We hadn't crossed paths with anyone since I'd joined them, but I decided now wasn't a good time to ask.

Before Frodo could answer I spotted someone on a black horse dressed in a black cloak with the hood up. I quickly connected the dots. Apparently Sam saw it too because he shouted, "Get down!"

We all crouched down quickly and I felt my heart begin to speed up. What was going on?

Peeking through the bushes, I saw the black rider stop his horse on the hill above us and look around. Frodo muttered, "I have to leave The Shire. Sam and I must get to Bree." The black rider turned and walked away from us and Merry looked determinately at Frodo and said, "Buckleberry Ferry. Follow me."

He took off running and the rest of us took off after him. We sped through the dark forest but almost immediately the black rider came through the trees and cut us off, his horse letting out the same piercing screech I had heard before. My blood pumped through my veins as we skirted around the rider and Merry called, "This way! Follow me!"

He led us to the edge of the forest and we hopped across a fence and in a state of panicked running, covering the length of the dock quickly and jumped onto the small ferry as Merry shouted, "Get the rope, Sam!" The two of them quickly began untying the ropes that held the ferry to the dock.

Breathing hard, I looked around and noticed Frodo wasn't with us just as Sam shouted, "Frodo!" I turned to see Frodo running through the forest, the black rider only steps behind him. Pippin called out, "Run, Frodo!" and Frodo answered, "Go! Hurry!" The ferry shoved off from the dock as we all called for Frodo to hurry. He was running at full speed, but the rate the ferry was going, I worried he might not be able to jump the distance. At the last second he sailed across the gap from the dock to the ferry and we watched in horror as the black rider skidded to a halt with his horse on the dock. For a second, the rider merely stared at us before wrenching on the reins of his horse, turning it around.

"How far to the nearest crossing?" Frodo asked nervously. Merry answered, "The Brandywine Bridge. 20 miles."

I looked back nervously at the rider and watched in utter horror as I realized there was more than one. There had to be at least four of them, and they were all running in the direction we were headed.

My breathing was heavy and my heart was still beating furiously, although the adrenaline pumping through my veins began to wear off and a searing pain shot through my knee once more. I quickly lowered myself to sitting on the ferry and rolled up my pant leg to examine my knee. It was fairly dark, so it was hard to see, but from what I could tell, there were red and purple splotches surrounding the bone, as if I'd been bruised, and I could tell it was beginning to swell.

The four men looked at me concernedly and Merry asked, "Are you alright Cissy? What happened?" They all gathered around me and began examining my knee as I answered, "When I fell yesterday, I landed pretty hard on my right leg. I'd say I'm lucky I didn't break anything. It didn't feel too bad this morning, but all that running just now must have jacked it up again." They all looked at me with sympathetic eyes and I waved them off. "I'm sure it'll be just fine. I just need to get some ice on it. Maybe see a doctor or something." They all looked at me strangely, but I ignored them and asked, "Doesn't anyone drive cars around here though? I mean, I've never seen anyone ride horses all over the place like those guys did. What part of New Zealand are we even in anyway?"

I had suspected we were in some kind of older town where people just lived differently and were the kind of people who didn't really worry about technology. Kind of like the Amish communities I had heard about. I didn't, however, expect what Frodo said next.

"Cecilia… I think you're mistaken. I'm not sure where New Zealand is, but I can tell you we aren't there. We've just left The Shire. And everyone rides horses here." At this point, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. We weren't in New Zealand? How was that possible? Pippin then interjected by saying, "What's a car?"

I was completely baffled. Was this some kind of joke? What was "The Shire"? I had never heard of that in my entire life.

Ignoring Pippin I said, "This isn't possible! I was in New Zealand yesterday. I can't just all of a sudden be in a different country. That doesn't happen!" They all looked slightly frightened of me and none of them knew what to say. Changing the subject, I asked, "And why were those men after you? Are you in trouble?"

Frodo's eyes pierced mine for a second before he looked down. "Those men are evil. They're after something. But I dare not tell you what."

I had nothing else to say as I tried to process all this information, and we sat in silence for the rest of the way. Before we tied the ferry to the dock, I looked up at the four men and said, "I'm sorry I got upset. I'm just so confused… Thank you for letting me come with you though." They all smiled sadly at me as we exited the ferry.

Frodo looked up at me and said, "I'm sure Gandalf will be able to help you." I smiled down at him and followed him up a hill into the cover of tightly packed trees.