Chapter 7: Don't take the Black Gate, there is another path

While Gandalf was leading Kenshin and the others to Edoras, Treebeard carried Misao, Merry and Pippin on his back, so they could ride more comfortably in the branches around his shoulders, trekking through Fangorn Forest. Treebeard was reciting the poems of the Entwives, in his slow, deep, gruff voice.

"Such a beautiful verse," Treebeard complemented.

"I take it that you Ents are accomplished poets," wondered Misao.

"We Ents have lived upon this Middle-Earth for a veeery… long number of years, Misao," Treebeard replied.

"Merry yawned as his eyelids were getting heavy, listening to Treebeard, as he asked, "is it much further?"

"Bru-ra-hroom," rumbled Treebeard, "don't be hasty. You might call it far perhaps. My home lies deep in the forest, neear… the roots of the mountain. I told Gandalf I would keep you safe and safe is where I’ll keep you."

"Well," interjected Misao, "don't forget, Treebeard. I'm helping along keeping the Hobbits safe myself."

"Sure you are, Misao," said Pippin, "what would we do without you?"

Misao blushed.

"Indeed," laughed Treebeard, "…indeed young lady. Now… I believe you will enjoy this next one, too. It's one of my own compositions."

"Well," said Misao, looking a little tired, as do Merry and Pippin, "go on ahead and recite, don't let us stop you."

"Ah, thank you Misao," Treebeard said curtly, "Right, ahem…"

Merry, Misao, and Pippin settled upon Treebeard, closing their eyes, while Treebeard recited his composition slowly… yet gracefully. Treebeard's poem sang like a lullaby to Fangorn Forest…

As Treebeard finished, he looked and saw… that his charges were sound asleep. Misao suddenly lifted her head, fluttering her eyes.

"…Finished already?" wondered a sleep-laden Misao, as she looked upon the sleeping forms of the Hobbits, "those two little knuckleheads. It was just getting interesting."

"Now… do not judge them, Misao," said Treebeard as he observed Misao, "besides… you look, as if you need some sleep yourself."

Misao couldn't help but giggle, but she knew that Treebeard was right.

Treebeard strode on in silence until he reached his home, at the base of the mountains, where he found a place for the sleepy wanderers. Treebeard first gently laid the sleeping Hobbits upon the soft, leafy ground… then softly laid down Misao… beside Merry.

"Sleep, little Shirelings," Treebeard said softly, "…sleep, little Misao. Heed no nightly noise, sleep till morning light."

"…Lord Aoshi," Misao whispered very softly, thinking of Aoshi as Merry and Pippin settled themselves on the soft, comfortable ground.

"I have business in the forest," Treebeard mentioned to the sleeping trio before going into the forest, "there are many to call, many that must come.

"The shadow lies on Fangorn. The withering of all woods is drawing near."

Finally reaching the end of the large, vast marshes, Frodo, and company, led by Gollum, now climbed up a high vertical, treacherous mountain reach, where there were large boulders at the top. The travelers were very near to their destination. Frodo, Kaoru, Yahiko, and Sam prepared themselves for what they were about to see.

Gollum reached the top first…

Sam reached the top next as Gollum announced cowering, "…the Black Gate of Mordor!"

The Black Gate was enormous, clad in glistening, black iron, with towers on each end of the gate. It stretched as far as 50 yards, or so, across and stretched as much as 20 meters tall.

"Oh, save us," Sam gasped at the sight of the ominous marvel that was the Black Gate.

Frodo and the rest came up to the top and gasped along with Sam, kneeling behind the rocks, with their eyes fixed on the imposing sight of the Gate to Mordor. Gollum continued to cower, looking away from the gate, covering his eyes with his hands. At last, Frodo's journey to Mordor was over… but he knew the importance of it, and he was resolute. He was filthy, haggard, and pinched with weariness, but he cowered no longer and his eyes were clear.

"My ol' Gaffer'd have a thing or two to say if he could see us now," Sam stated.

"I'm wondering," added Yahiko, "what Kenshin would say if he was here with us, Sam."

"No doubt he would, Mr. Yahiko."

"Master says to show him the way into Mordor," said Gollum, as he crawled towards Frodo, "so good Sméagol does. Master says so."

"…I did," replied Frodo.

'So,' thought Kaoru, sternly, '…this is it. This is the entrance into Mordor. And beyond it… Mount Doom, where Sauron forged the ring. And there…the ring will be destroyed to save this world…and mine.'

Orcs paced unceasingly upon the gate's battlements like sentinels. Beneath the hills on either side the rock was bored into a hundred caves and maggot-holes. There… a host of Orcs lurked, ready at any signal to issue forth like black ants going to war. None could pass the Teeth of Mordor and not feel their bite… unless Sauron summoned them.

"Well, that’s it then," said Sam as gazed at the tower and the wall in despair, "we cannot get past that."

Then out of nowhere… on their right…

The sound of many marching feet came to them. Gollum looked down the slope and hastily backed away when he saw a large army of Easterling soldiers march into view, heading for the gate. The Easterlings cried out, praising glory to Sauron. The travelers saw them from atop the rock. In a way, it complicated their journey through the gate.

The Easterlings wore strange, gold clad armor that stuck out knife-like spikes, almost similar to the armor that the ancient Samurai wore. The faces were human but their mouths were covered with masks.

The Orcs hear the Easterlings… and sound a horn to which Gollum cowered under even more. Frodo looked behind him to see Gollum cowering, not wanting to see Mordor ever again. Then…

VVVROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!

Another horn began to sound… much louder… and more horrifying than the other horn, signaling for the gate to be opened. Two enormous cave trolls, on one side of the gate, stood up, stretched and growled, being threatened at spear-point from the Orcs. One troll was chained to a lever, and the other was behind the lever and puts its paws on the lever to assist its fellow slave…

Together, with their brute, massive strength…

The trolls both slowly pulled and pushed the giant lever… allowing the mighty gate to be opened. The Orcs remained where they were on the battlements while the gate was being pushed open.

"Look, the gate!" cried Sam, pointing at the opening gate of steel, "…it's opening!"

Sam moved a little bit closer over to the edge to take a closer look.

"I can see a way down," he said.

"Sam, no!" Frodo cried to Sam, fearing that the Orcs might see him.

Suddenly… the rock underneath Sam gave way and he fell. Frodo, Kaoru, and Yahiko gasped with fright. Sam tumbled down the hill as Frodo, Kaoru, and Yahiko went down after him.

"Master!" Gollum cried out in concern.

As they all went down the hill, they created streams of dust that caught two of the Easterlings' attention. Sam was stuck at the base of the hill, into the dirt. The Easterlings left their regiment to investigate the cause of the streams of dust they saw.

Frodo, Kaoru and Yahiko saw that the two Easterlings were approaching Sam.

"Frodo, you go and get Sam," instructed Kaoru, "Yahiko and I will wait here."

Frodo nodded as he went down the hill even further, so they won't attract too much attention. Kaoru and Yahiko immediately hid into the rock not to be seen. Frodo went and ducked behind a large rock near the bottom and cautiously peered over it at the approaching soldiers.

Sam was nearby and Frodo quickly made his way to him. Frodo reached Sam, who was still stuck, buried up to his waist. Frodo kept trying his hardest to pull Sam from the dirt, all the while keeping his eye on the soldiers… but to no avail.

Time was running out for the Hobbits as each time… the Easterlings drew closer towards them. Feeling that he had no time to waste… Frodo immediately threw his cloak over himself and Sam…

The Easterlings then stopped at the base of the hill, where the Hobbits were, but their eyes saw nothing but rock… especially a big rock that looked like a giant wrinkled raisin, that was right in front of the soldiers' feet.

Frodo and Sam peered at the soldiers from underneath the cloak…

The Easterlings continued to look very carefully at the rocks as Kaoru and Yahiko still kept their cover, looking carefully, hiding from behind the rocks above, hoping that the soldiers won't catch the Hobbits…

Then Yahiko jerked his foot a little, making some of the dirt and rocks fall. Yahiko and Kaoru gasped at one another as they looked down again to see if the Easterlings heard it…

The soldiers wanted to be sure as they took a last few moments of observing. Kaoru, Frodo, Sam, and Yahiko waited patiently eyeing the soldiers in their hiding places…

Moments later…

The soldiers turned around to leave, walking away from the strange-looking boulder, figuring that the noise was just nothing. Kaoru and Yahiko looked on at the departing troops, but waited a bit longer until Frodo was sure that the soldiers were far out of range for the soldiers to see them.

After a few moments, when the Easterlings walked away from the wrinkled-like boulder…

The boulder flew opened suddenly, revealing it to be Frodo and Sam hiding underneath the cloak. Kaoru and Yahiko went down the hill carefully to Frodo and Sam, eyeing the Easterlings, making sure that they weren't looking back. Frodo was able to pull Sam out of the dirt. Kaoru and Yahiko came up to rejoin their companions. The two soldiers went back to their troop, not noticing a thing.

"Are you okay, Sam?" asked Yahiko.

Sam nodded, "yeah, Mr. Yahiko."

The Easterlings passed through the gate, once again crying their praise to Sauron. As they did, Kaoru, Frodo, Sam, and Yahiko now prepare to enter the gate themselves.

Frodo said some last words, before going off to the gate, "I do not ask you to come with me, Sam… nor do I ask you Kaoru and Yahiko."

"We know, Mr. Frodo," replied Sam, "I doubt even these Elvish cloaks will hide us in there."

"And besides," interjected Kaoru, "we're all in this together, Frodo."

"Yeah," added Yahiko, "we're all with you, to the very end."

"…So be it," resolved Frodo.

Everyone made ready to run towards the gate, awaiting Frodo's command…

'I'm ready,' thought Yahiko, firmly…

'…This is it,' thought Kaoru, with courage and determination in her eyes, '…from here… there's no turning back… '

"…Now!" Frodo ordered.

But…

Gollum pulled back Frodo and Sam, disrupting their chance to make for the gate.

"No!" cried Gollum, "no, no master! They'd catch you! They'd catch you!"

"Stay out of this, creepy," fumed Yahiko, "we have to go through the black gate."

"But they'd catch you," Gollum objected, "…they'd catch all of you… and the preciousss."

Frodo tried to make for the gate again, but Gollum held him back again.

"Don’t take it to him!" Gollum cried out.

Everyone went perplexed at Gollum's last sentence, thinking why he believed that Frodo would hand it to Sauron.

Gollum went on nervously, as he crawled over, and peered from a rock, "he wants the preciousss. Always he’s looking for it! And the preciousss is wanting to go back to him.

"But we mustn’t let him have it," Gollum finished, darkening his expression.

"You got that right, ugly," added Yahiko, "and that's why we're going through the gate. To make sure that doesn't happen."

Then the horrid sounds of the Orc horns sounded once again… and the Black Gate slowly began to close. Yahiko immediately became distressed by it.

"…Come on, Frodo," said Yahiko, "we've got to go."

Frodo then started to do what Yahiko requested, but…

Gollum pulled him back again saying, "no! There’s another way... more secret, a dark way."

Everyone gasped at this new startling revelation, courtesy of Gollum.

Sam grabbed Gollum's arm as he asked fiercely, "why haven't you spoken of this before?!"

"Because master did not ask!" Gollum answered.

"He's up to something," Sam said suspiciously as he threw Gollum aside.

"Yeah," agreed Yahiko, "he could've told us about this earlier, but waited until the last moment, the creep. I don't trust him, even now. We're wasting time, Frodo! We've got to go now, this is our only chance."

"Not necessarily, Yahiko," interjected Kaoru after thinking about what Gollum said.

"But Kaoru…"

"Smeagol's right about one thing," explained Kaoru, "if we wanted to know about another way into Mordor, we could've asked first." Gollum brightened a little to hear this from Kaoru.

"But Miss Kaoru," interjected Sam, "I think Mr. Yahiko's right. I also believe that this is our only chance."

Kaoru then asked Frodo, "what do you think, Frodo?"

Frodo, in turn asked Gollum, "are you saying there's another way into Mordor?"

"Yes," he answered, stroking Frodo's arm, "…there's a path… and some stairs, and then… a… tunnel."

With the information Gollum gave him, Frodo watched the black gate closing even more as he was making up his mind, whether to go through the gate… or to take Gollum's suggested route. Gollum continued stroking Frodo's arm and also buried his head in the cloak. Apparently Gollum was showing concern for Frodo and the others.

Frodo turned around, to see the groveling creature with his head in the cloak. At that moment... Frodo believed Gollum's apparent sincerity…

Frodo, with reluctance said, "he's lead us this far, Sam."

Sam objected, silently, "Mr. Frodo… no!"

"…You can't Frodo," Yahiko objected also.

"Frodo…?" wondered Kaoru.

"…He's been true to his word." Frodo resolved.

After hearing Frodo's praise, Gollum slowly lifted his head, relieved to hear Frodo say that about him. For Gollum, it must've been the first time in 500 years since anybody had praised him…

"…No," Sam whispered again in warning.

"…Frodo, please," whispered Yahiko, adding his warnings…

The gate nearly closed as Frodo looked upon the doubtful expressions of Yahiko and Sam… and the faithful expression upon Kaoru's face…

"Lead the way, Smeagol," said Frodo, willing to take Gollum's secret route.

"Good Sméagol always helps," Gollum says, releasing Frodo and taking the lead.

Sam and Yahiko became deeply depressed at Frodo's decision to take Gollum's secret route. They reluctantly follow Gollum, but were still very wary of him. Kaoru walked off as well but not before looking back at the gate one last time.

Kaoru also saw Frodo looking back, as she said to Frodo," let's go, Frodo."

Then… the black gate closed completely.

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