Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Fellowship of the Gundam ❯ The Barrow Downs ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2: The Barrow Downs

Treize shaded his eyes against the brightness of the rising sun. “It's pretty nice today. Not what I would have expected after that fog last night.”

“It was a magical fog,” Roku said matter-of-factly.

Alexa leaned over the hobbits. “Are they ever going to wake up? The sun's been up forever!”

Zechs glanced at the horizon, where the sun's disk had just cleared the distant trees. “Perhaps you should give them just a few more minutes, sweetheart.”

Just then, one of the hobbits began to stir.

“Oh, look!” Alexa exclaimed excitedly. She scrunched down and stared directly into the hobbit's face from centimeters away.

The hobbit stirred again, moaned and opened his eyes. He blinked once and then with a start, he scrambled backward on his elbows and heels, escaping from Alexa's intent stare. “What?! Who are you?!”

“I'm Alexa!”

“A… Alexa?” The hobbit stared around in confusion. “But there was a cave or something… And a bony arm with a sword.” He sat up and groaned, holding his head.

“What's your name?” Alexa asked.

“Frodo,” the hobbit gasped. “Frodo Baggins.” Then his eyes went wide. “I mean Underhill! My name's Underhill!”

“I think it's a little late for the subterfuge, Mr. Baggins,” Trowa said. “And you and your friends are safe outside of the barrow.”

Frodo finally noticed his three unconscious companions. “Oh! Are they all right?” He scrambled toward one of hobbits. “Sam! Wake up!”

Sam stirred and sat up with a groan. “What happened, Mr. Frodo? We got separated in that nasty fog and there was some sort of evil creature…” Then he saw the Gundam pilots and yelped in surprise. “Who are they? What's happened, Mr. Frodo?”

“You're quite safe, Sam,” Quatre said reassuringly. “We rescued you from the barrow.”

“My gaffer said I shouldn't trust big folk,” Sam said without any trace of insult in his tone. “We little folk need to look after ourselves.”

“Well, you've done a fine job of it so far,” Heero snapped. “How long have you been wandering about the countryside? Two days? Three?”

Sam blinked and then his brow wrinkled as he figured out that he was being insulted, or at least made fun of. “We can manage fine enough, thank you,” he said stiffly. “We've been traveling days already.”

“Days? Well, imagine that.”

“Heero,” Wu-Fei admonished. “Quit teasing.” He inclined his head to Sam. “Just where are you headed?”

“To Bree,” Frodo answered for him. “We're meeting someone in Bree.”

“We'll escort you there,” Wu-Fei offered. “Is it far?”

“I don't think so.” Frodo rubbed his forehead and winced. “Do you have any water?”

Alexa immediately handed him a skin of water. “What happened to your clothes?”

Frodo stared down at himself and his cheeks turned scarlet. “Where are my clothes?!”

At his exclamation, Sam looked down and discovered that he also was wearing nothing but a simple white shift, belted at the waist with a piece of knotted cord. “My trousers!” he squeaked.

Heero rolled his eyes.

“They must still be in the barrow,” Trowa said.

“We could go back for them,” Quatre said. “I'm sure Roku knows where it is.”

“Um hm. It's that way.” Roku sat up and pointed with one paw.

For the first time the two hobbits noticed the tiger, which easily weighed as much as all four hobbits together, despite their rather portly appearance. Sam's mouth fell open and he edged slowly in front of Frodo, even though his legs were shaking.

“Don't worry, Mr. Frodo!” Sam rasped. “I'll protect you!”

Heero opened his mouth to say something but Wu-Fei clouted him before he could speak.

“We don't need any more of your snide remarks,” Wu-Fei said. “Don't worry about Roku, Sam. He doesn't eat people, even little ones.”

Sam swallowed.

“But the creature talked!” Frodo exclaimed.

“So?” Wu-Fei shrugged. “Don't you have giant talking eagles in this world?”

Frodo blinked. “Oh! Yes, I guess that's so.” He moved out from behind Sam and bowed politely to Roku. “How do you do?”

“Very well, thank you,” Roku replied. “My name is Roku Winner, but you can call me Roku.”

“It's very nice to meet you, Roku,” Frodo replied. “This is Samwise Gamgee, my gardener.”

Sam bowed. Now that introductions were being made, the normalcy of it all seemed to have calmed his fears.

Roku stood up and shook out his fur. “I'll go back to the barrow and get your stuff while you eat breakfast.”

“But how will you carry it?” Sam asked curiously.

“I'll manage.”

“Why don't I go with you?” Duo said. He was holding a sausage rolled up in a piece of bread in either hand.

“No grave-robbing!” Quatre said sternly.

Duo blinked innocently. “I was just going to look around. I didn't get to go in last night, you'll recall.”

“I repeat…” Quatre reiterated and he glared at Duo.

“Alright! Alright!” Duo waved one of the sausages. “I'll just poke around a little and help Roku find everything. We won't be long.” He handed the sausage to Roku, who gulped it down in a single bite, and the two of them trotted down the hill.

“He's so robbing that grave,” Trowa remarked.

“Totally,” Heero agreed.

Quatre put a hand over his face.

A startled yelp made them all turn around. The other two hobbits were now sitting up, clinging to each other and staring around the hilltop in surprise. A few feet away, Jett and Alexa knelt with suspiciously innocent looks on their faces.

“Alexa, what did you do?” Zechs demanded.

“Nothing!”

“Really?”

“Honest!”

“We were just checking to see if they were awake yet,” Jett said.

“Checking how?”

“With this.” Jett held up a twig.

Zechs sighed. “You poked them with a stick?”

“Just him.” Jett pointed at the smaller of the two hobbits. “He woke up the other guy.”

“I'm not surprised.”

“Merry! Pippin!” Frodo cried. “You're alright! I'm so relieved!” He hurried to the other two hobbits and pulled them to their feet, apparently to check for hidden damage. He turned them this way and that to inspect them, brushing off bits of grass and other detritus.

The hobbit addressed as Merry slapped his hands away. “Stop that! I'm fine!”

The other hobbit giggled. “You know he's ticklish, Frodo.”

“I am not either ticklish, Pippin!” Merry protested angrily.

Alexa and Jett exchanged a look. Then they hopped to their feet, marched over and promptly tickled Merry's sides.

“Oy! Stop that!” Merry shrieked. He squirmed away, his face alternating between alarm and a goofy half-grin.

“Girls…” Zechs said admonishingly.

With amused grins, Jett and Alexa backed off.

Merry struggled to regain his dignity. “What happened to us, Frodo?” he asked. “After we got separated in the fog, I thought we were done for.”

“These people rescued us.” Frodo indicated the Gundam pilots. “Someone's gone back to get our things.”

“I note he does not elaborate on who went,” Treize murmured to Zechs.

“Perhaps that's wisest until after they are more recovered,” Zechs replied.

“Are those sausages I smell?” Pippin piped up. He craned his neck, looking hopefully at the fire.

“Indeed they are,” Quatre replied. “You must be hungry after your ordeal.”

“I'm starving!” Pippin exclaimed. “It must be days since we last ate!”

“More likely hours,” Quatre said. “You were just attacked yesterday.”

“Yesterday?!” Pippin yelped. “But that fog came up in the middle of the afternoon! We've missed at least two meals! Maybe three! And snacks!”

“He sounds like Duo,” Heero muttered.

“Well, why don't you come have some sausages and toast?” Quatre suggested. “As soon as our friends get back with your clothes and other belongings, we'll head out for Bree.”

“You know where we're going?” Merry said. He stared at Frodo.

“I told them,” Frodo admitted. “I think it will be all right.”

“I'm sure it's fine,” Pippin said heartily. He was already stuffing his face with sausages and toast. “Look, there's cheese, too!”

Merry, Frodo and Sam rolled their eyes, but they joined him by the fire.

Back among the barrows, Duo and Roku stood outside a dark, gaping hole leading into the side of a large barrow.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Duo asked.

“Yeah. It's the only one open.”

“Smell anything?”

“Not really. I don't think the whatever-it-was is still in there. Maybe leaving the entrance open wasn't good for it.”

“Huh.” Duo stepped into the opening. “Let's check it out. Can you make a light?”

“Sure.” A ball of bright yellow light appeared in the air above and ahead of Duo. The pair proceeded into the tunnel and as they made their way along, additional balls of light appeared.

“I like that!” Duo declared. “It's much better than walking along in a pool of light surrounded by darkness.”

“That's what I thought,” Roku said.

They walked all the way into the barrow, where the narrow entranceway widened abruptly into a good-size round cave. Six more balls of light appeared around the perimeter, bathing the chamber in a brilliant glow that banished every trace of shadow.

“Oh, that's nice,” Duo said. “That'll make searching much easier.” His eyes widened. “There's a lot of stuff.”

“I smell the hobbits' things over here,” Roku said. He trotted over to the right. “This looks like their clothes and packs.”

“Very good. I see a few things over there I want to check out while you collect that stuff.”

“Remember what Mama said.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

When Roku was finished putting everything that smelled like a hobbit into his storage space, he trotted over to see what Duo was doing. “Why have you piled up all those little swords, Papa Duo?”

“They're just the right size for hobbits, don't you think?” Duo said. “It never hurts to be armed.”

“You sound like Papa Heero.”

“He's got a few solid ideas.”

“They mostly involve blowing stuff up, I heard.”

“Nothing wrong with that. Sometimes a good explosion is called for.” He picked four of the nicest swords out of the pile. “Put these in your storage space, too.”

“Okay.”

“Now then, anything else in here we might need?” Duo studiously did not look at the small pile of jewel encrusted rings and necklaces at his feet.

Roku just blinked at him.

Duo broke down. “We can take these, too, can't we? It's just a couple of things.”

“Papa…”

“Please?”

“I'll tell.”

Duo picked up a gold ring with a deep blue opal stone surrounded by glittering diamond chips. “I'll give this to Quatre. He likes blue. It matches his eyes.”

“I don't think Mama will fall for that.”

“Let's try.”

“Okay,” Roku said doubtfully. “It's your hide.”

Duo winced. “You don't think he'd skin me, do you?”

“He did turn you into a woman.”

“But that wasn't painful. Getting flayed would hurt.”

“So leave the jewelry here.”

“But it's really pretty!”

Roku rolled his eyes. “That's not much of a reason.” He began picking up the jewelry and tossing the pieces over his shoulder, where they disappeared.

“You're a good kid, Roku.”

“I'm still telling.”

They left the barrow and trotted back to the others.

“Did you find their things?” Quatre asked.

“Yes, Mama.” Roku started pulling things out of his storage space. The hobbits' eyes widened as they watched.

“Where is he getting all that?” Merry asked, sounding faintly alarmed.

“It's kind of hard to explain,” Trowa said.

“My trousers!” Sam squeaked. He snatched up the garment and immediately jammed his feet into the legs. But his feet got tangled in the folds and he fell over backward, treating everyone to a good view of his tiny privates and the pale twin moons of his buttocks.

Alexa and Jett giggled.

“Perhaps you should put on your underwear first,” Wu-Fei said dryly.

“Oh!” Sam turned bright red and struggled to pull his little shift down over his butt.

Frodo, blinking rapidly and with his lips pressed together tightly, picked up a pair of patched and well-worn underpants and handed them to Sam. “Here you are, Sam.” His voice shook slightly as he struggled not to laugh.

Sam grabbed his underpants, snatched up a few more articles of clothing, and hurried down the side of the hill. As soon as he was out of sight, everyone burst out laughing, including the other hobbits.

“Sam's so proper!” Pippin howled. “He'll never live down flaunting his privates, especially in front of girls!” He saluted Alexa and Jett with his toast. The girls broke into fresh gales of giggles.

“You'd better not tease him,” Frodo said sternly. He shook a finger at Pippin. “You'll hurt his feelings.”

“And I won't stop him if he decides to whack you,” Merry added. “Don't forget he's bigger than you.”

“You say that like I'm short or something!” Pippin said with a slight frown. “I'm just as tall as you.”

“No you're not,” Merry said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “You're inches shorter.”

“I am not!” Pippin popped to his feet, stretching up to make himself look taller.

“He is taller than Jett,” Heero noted.

“But Alexa's got a few centimeters on him,” Duo put in.

“What?!” Pippin squeaked, even though he couldn't possibly know what a centimeter was.

“His voice is higher, too.”

“It is not!” Pippin exclaimed, managing to hit an even higher squeaky note.

“I can do better than that,” Jett declared and promptly uttered a high-pitched squeak that had everyone slapping their hands over their ears.

“Stop that, Jett!” Duo scolded. “You'll rupture somebody's eardrums.”

“Sorry.”

“Why don't the rest of you get dressed?” Quatre suggested. The three hobbits gathered up their clothes and went over the side of the hill in the direction Sam had gone. After they were gone, Quatre noticed the swords. “What are these?”

“I thought the hobbits should be armed,” Duo said.

Heero nodded appreciatively. “Good idea.”

But Quatre squinted suspiciously at Duo. “What else did you take?”

“What do you mean?”

“Cough it up, Roku,” Quatre ordered. “What else did Duo have you steal?”

Duo quickly dug into his pocket. “It was just a couple of rings. I brought this for you.” He held out the opal ring.

Quatre scowled at the ring, but then his expression softened into pleasant surprise. “That's quite pretty.”

“It matches your eyes.”

A small smile touched Quatre's lips. “Do you think so?”

“Quit sweet-talking him,” Trowa grumbled.

Quatre took the ring and slipped it on a finger. “It fits!” He smiled happily.

“It looks really good on you,” Duo said.

“I can't believe he's falling for this,” Roku muttered.

“It's more than just a couple of rings, isn't it?” Wu-Fei asked Roku quietly.

“Yup.”

But Quatre no longer seemed to care. He showed the ring to Zechs. “It's really pretty, isn't it?”

“It's lovely,” Zechs agreed. “And it does match your eyes. It's been a long time since anyone gave me a piece of jewelry.”

There was no accusation in his voice at all, but Treize winced. He sidled closer to Duo. “You've got a few more goodies like that, I trust,” he inquired quietly.

Duo nodded slightly. “I've got just the thing. I'll show you later.”

Treize patted his shoulder. “Good man.”

The hobbits came back up the hill, now properly dressed in pants that stopped just above their ankles, shirts with three-quarter length sleeves, brightly colored vests and long flowing cloaks. Sam immediately hurried to their pile of packs and started going through them, muttering to himself as he made sure everything was there.

“We should get moving,” Frodo said. “I'm not sure we can make it to Bree before nightfall even if we hurry.”

Jett pointed at his feet. “Where are your shoes?”

“Hobbits don't wear shoes,” Frodo replied with a kind smile. He held up his foot so Jett could see the hairy bottom. “We get better traction in our bare feet.”

Jett blinked at Duo. “Mommy, can I go barefoot, too?”

“No, your feet are too tender to hike through open country without shoes.”

“No fair!” Jett pouted.

“Change shape,” Roku suggested. “Then you don't have to wear shoes.”

Jett brightened immediately. “Okay!” She squinted in concentration and quickly shifted into the shape of a black panther kitten, which meant she was about the size of a hobbit.

“What the hell?!” Pippin squeaked. He scurried behind Merry. “What happened to her?!”

Merry started sidling toward the pile of little swords. “What is that thing?”

Duo sighed. “Jett, warn a body next time. You freaked the hobbits out.”

“Sorry!” Jett purred.

“Perhaps we should have mentioned,” Quatre said, “that some of us have unusual abilities. You'll get used to it. Shall we go?”

“Uh…” Frodo blinked several times. “I guess so.” He looked off into the distance, shading his eyes against the sun. “I think we need to go that way. Do you see where it looks like there's a gate into the forest?”

“Yes, I see it,” Quatre replied. He snapped his fingers and the fire went out as completely as if it hadn't burned for weeks. “Lead the way, Frodo.”

Pippin walked very close to Merry as the party set out, his eyes flicking with alarm and suspicion from person to person. “Do you think this will be all right, Merry? These people are really strange,” he whispered.

“There isn't much we can do,” Merry whispered back. “We're outnumbered and they're bigger.” He rested his hand on the hilt of the little sword belted around his waist. “We'll just have to stay on our toes.”

“I like the tall one,” Heero remarked to Duo. “He's got some sense.”

Merry looked startled at being overheard, but he straightened and smiled slightly at being referred to as the tall one.