~ At the Dungeon of Sauron’s Fortress ~

And when they had all crouched down before Frodo and the fog, they opened their fists, dropping the food Sauron mentioned. Frodo glared at once, his stomach churning in agony.

Rats.

His eyes bulged out. Colorful spots swam in his sight. Frodo clutched his naked stomach with his arms, feet retreating involuntarily – only to bump into something soft and yielding, the fog. Frodo turned back spontaneously, surprised but not too shocked to find the creature had suddenly crept up behind him. The hobbit looked up, a desperate plea going out unspoken. His eyes went wide again as he felt a claw tightening around his throat.

“You want to turn down my generous offer??” thundered the fog. The unseen hand squeezed the soft neck even further, making Frodo squeak. “I know you are hungry. I know you think you cannot eat something physical. But I can make it happen. I can make all the impossible possible. So eat!”

Frodo flailed his own spectral hands in an attempt to grab the fog’s arms but he failed completely. Sauron’s spirit chuckled, and let go of Frodo’s neck, turning Frodo around so that the hobbit was facing the orcs once more. With a harsh shove he sent Frodo down to his hands and knees. The fog put pressure on Frodo’s back so that he could not move.

“Give him one!” Growled the fog to the orcs. “But prepare it first. You don’t want the food to run away when he is eating it, do you?”

An orc snatched one of the scattering rats from the floor and twisted it in its middle, producing a sickening crack. Frodo struggled to get to his feet but the fog was still up above him.

“No, no!” He wailed as the orc handed him the dead, bloodied rat. Frodo shook at the sight of it under his nose. The smell almost made him retch. No. Not almost. As the fog grabbed his hair all of a sudden and tugged it backward, Frodo heaved loudly, releasing acidic liquid from his stomach onto the floor, the rat and the orc’s hand.

The orc roared in fury and leapt forward, tossing the rat to the air and seized Frodo’s ears with his blood-dripping hands. The vile creature pulled the hobbit’s ears so violently that Frodo felt like they were being ripped away from his head. Then it released them to suddenly backhand Frodo, as the hobbit was about to scream. The strike sent Frodo slumping to the side and he stayed there, stunned and in great pain.

However, the act did not go unpunished… by the fog. Before Frodo realized it, the next thing he saw was some kind of a whirling power take the angered orc and send it flying to the air and crashing heavily to the unforgiving wall. Seeing this only added to Frodo’s horror. He pulled himself to a sitting position and backed away as fast as he could before any of the other orcs could grab him again.

“Fool!” Hissed Sauron. Now it was he who took one of the rats and moved threateningly toward Frodo.

“Please, sire!” thought Frodo in despair. “Please leave me be.” But that would not do with the supreme ruler of Mordor. Once he wanted something to be done, he would make sure that it was done.

Suddenly Frodo saw him stop dead in his tracks, looking as if he heard something, or sensed that something had been happening

Just as suddenly Frodo himself felt a sharp pain around his wrists, followed by a more agonizing one at his left shoulder. The latter felt as if he had been stabbed.

* * *

~ Down the Old Road ~

Frodo’s corporal half wheezed loudly as an alien thing invaded his body. He looked down, head swimming a little, eyes observing the big form of the skeletal hand gripped the hilt of a long knife that was now embedded in… his skin. The hand pulled the knife back a little and then slammed it back into Frodo’s shoulder again, harder and deeper this time. That was just when Frodo fully realized what had been happening, and realized what he felt.

A piercing scream tore the air, followed by a sadistic sneer from the Witch King. He drove the blade deeper, and then withdrew it from Frodo’s soft tissues, coated with blood. Frodo’s scream was cut off by his own chocking sound, breaths raspy with undiluted pain.

Gandalf watched with renewed terror as the horrifying scene played out before his eyes. He never imagined something like this could actually come to pass in front of him. He had learned about the deadly effect of the weapon, hearing the legend told over and over by his former mentor Saruman, but never had he thought he would witness it himself. It was particularly awful to see it happen to someone he knew, especially a hobbit – a frail, young hobbit whose strength hardly matched even half that of the Ringwraith.

Gandalf felt as if he were frozen in time. Frodo, no…

A weak moan brought the wizard back to reality. With his keen eyes he watched how Frodo strained against the clutches of the Nazgul, as if he were trying break free of the rope tying his wrists together to grasp at his bleeding shoulder. Beads of sweat trailed over the hobbit’s face and his eyes stared wildly, full of agony.

“Gods, please! GANDALF!!”

Gandalf straightened at the strangled cry. He grasped at Gwaihir feather and shouted in despair.

“After them, my friend! We have to take Frodo back! We can’t lose him!”

The air dispersed as the gigantic eagle flapped his wings, ascending, determined not to disappoint his companion. The group of accursed creatures gasped at the sight of the enraged bird and scurried off.

But it was not that easy to escape. In just several moments Gandalf with his winged mount had managed to catch up and had even passed the leader. Gwaihir turned around and floated in the air, slowly descending, moving threateningly toward the Witch King. Gandalf could see now how pale Frodo was, and that he seemed to be unconscious.

“Halt, you vile creature!” Gandalf spat. “And surrender us the halfling. You cheated us!”

Instead of stopping, the Witch King urged his horse forward, forcing Gwaihir to back away. Gandalf shouted encouragement to the eagle.

“No, Gwaihir! Don’t move back. It is he who must give ground before us!”

And the Witch King moved back, indeed. Or rather, turned his mount in a different direction, so sharply that Frodo was slammed to the ground, landing heavily on his chest, his wounded shoulder smashing mercilessly on the rocky terrain with a thud.

“Frodo!” Yelled Gandalf and advanced to grab the still form.

“Come, Gwaihir! Come!”

The bird flapped his wings as fast as he could, but Gandalf felt he was still too slow.

“Faster, my friend. Faster!”

The short distance between Gandalf and Frodo felt like leagues with the Ringwraiths also headed toward the hobbit.. They were even faster than the great eagle.

The nine riders were all around Frodo now. They all faced outward, ready to defy Gandalf and Gwaihir, swords unsheathed in an ominous manner. Gandalf could not even see Frodo anymore, obscured as the hobbit was in a sea of black cloaks.

“You must kill us all now, wizard, if you want to get your precious halfling back.” The voice became even more menacing. “If you can.” The mockery in the hollow voice was too much to bear.

* * *

~ At the Dungeon of Sauron’s Fortress ~

Frodo slumped back against the hard wall, right hand clutching his left shoulder tightly, breaths becoming labored all of a sudden as he was trying to will away the pain. His face turned ashen without him realizing it.

“W-what happened?” He stuttered.

The fog grew silent, too, for Sauron was barely able to tell what had happened without consulting his stone first. He dropped the rat unceremoniously to the floor, and hurried to Frodo. Sauron saw how the hobbit’s pupils slowly dilated and his face was contorted. The fog extended his hand to reach for the hobbit’s shoulder. Frodo was terribly weakened but he managed to evade the fog.

“No, don’t touch me!” Frodo cried miserably, but directly lowered the left hand as shudders ran through his entire left arm.

“Aaahhh!” Chills swiftly washed over his arm and they stung greatly. Tears slowly formed in Frodo’s eyes. He gasped.

“Help me… Oh, please. Help me.”

Realization dawned on Sauron now. Frodo had been stabbed. The fog contracted, fearing the worst. Frodo could not die right now! Not when he had not got his Ring. He had taken a long road and he did not want to fail. Sauron stood there in silence, contemplating, but he suddenly burst out in surprise. The figure lying down in front of him was thinning away little by little. Frodo was nothing but a thin, transparent film, and soon he would be nothing at all.

TBC