"The Shire, Hobbit, Baggins."
Inside the dark and evil tower, pondering this information, Sauron summoned the Nazgûl and began his arrangements.
Clang!
The great gates of the tower opened, and Gollum was escorted to the borders of Mordor.
"You weak and disgusting little creature. If you still wish to live, go and find that Ring. Understand? Don't even think about playing tricks. We'll have eyes on you at all times."
"Gollum..."
Gollum nodded hurriedly, let out a frail croak, and slunk away along the narrow path leading out of Mordor.
"Such a dangerous place... I'll never come back here again, gollum..."
And so, under the direct order of Mordor's highest lord, he safely left the land of Mordor, reaching the war-torn region between Ithilien and Mordor.
At this moment, he felt nothing but relief.
Falling into Mordor's hands and still being alive, he counted that as success.
As for the Ring, well, as long as he stayed clever and quick, who could say whose hands it would end up in?
But whatever the case, the most important thing right now was to find it first. Sensing the faint, unseen gazes upon him, his teeth itched with hatred.
"All that Hobbit's fault. All his fault! I'll find him... yes, I'll take revenge, my precious revenge... and get our Precious back, gollum..."
Muttering to himself, he left the Grey Mountains, setting out on his own journey. And then he vanished.
Right there, in the war zone between Gondor and Mordor, he disappeared.
"Where did he go?"
The spies and watchers sent by Mordor panicked.
If they lost him now, Sauron would literally flay them alive.
"I'm certain. The one our master spoke of is him."
At a military camp on Mordor's frontier, a lame and crooked orc officer looked at the strange, chattering little creature before him, who kept yelling, "If you don't want your master to kill you, let me go!" and muttering "gollum, gollum" under his breath.
The officer's lips curled into a grin.
He secretly hid Gollum away.
A few days later, some of Mordor's spies came to question him. The crooked officer shook his head solemnly.
"I haven't seen the creature you're talking about."
The spies glanced at each other helplessly.
"Have your men keep searching," they ordered. "Report immediately if there's any news. That's the Master's command. Understand?"
"Understood," the officer said. "The moment I hear anything, I'll report directly to the Master."
Satisfied with his promise, the spies soon left.
And indeed, the crooked officer did exactly as he said. He reported the news to his own superior instead. That very night, several Rangers departed from their outpost at the Crossroads, heading straight toward Osgiliath.
Whoosh!
Arrows rained down from the city walls, stopping the sudden attack outside.
---
On top of the battlements, Garrett gazed northward at the increasingly frequent waves of strange monsters, deep in thought.
"It's really unexpected. I never thought that even after Angmar was completely purged, the Wall would still have to defend against other threats."
"There are plenty of things you've never imagined," came a voice from behind him.
"Gandalf."
The Grey Wizard quickly dismounted and strode up to Garrett.
"I know now," Gandalf said gravely. "I know where those creatures from the Northern Waste come from."
His expression was more serious than ever.
"I've suspected it for a long time. And recently, after reading several ancient scrolls from the ruins of Gondor and Arnor, I finally found some clues."
"What kind of clues?"
"Clues about the Northern Waste, and about the Ring that Frodo carries."
Just mentioning those things made Gandalf's scalp tingle.
Why do all these great troubles have to come at the same time?
"There are two bad pieces of news."
"Two?" Garrett raised an eyebrow, gesturing for Gandalf to continue.
"The first concerns the Northern Waste before us. I think I've finally figured out something about the evil creatures there. They feel... strangely familiar to me. Only recently did this part of my memory awaken."
Gandalf lowered his voice.
"They are species bred by Morgoth, more evil and more dangerous than anything else in Middle-earth. I suspect they escaped from some ancient underground fortress. Though Morgoth was banished from this world tens of thousands of years ago, and his strongholds sank into the depths of the earth, as far as I know, many things were never fully purged. Many mysteries still remain unsolved. The werewolves and the trolls in the ice caves are not important. In Morgoth's vast armies, those were mere foot soldiers. His true main forces were legions of Balrogs, and dragons that fought beside them."
At that, Garrett couldn't help but tilt his head back slightly.
"That sounds... quite a challenge."
"More than just a challenge." Gandalf shook his head.
"You're still too young. There are things you've never seen. Darkness so vast it blots out the sky... power so great it can make the land itself sink, entire kingdoms vanish in an instant..."
Garrett shook his head in return, countering, "What you're describing... that kind of power couldn't possibly appear in this age."
"Oh, yes, quite unlikely indeed," Gandalf admitted after a pause. Then he continued, "Let's talk about the other matter, Frodo's ring. That ring, I'm certain of it now, it really is the One Ring, the Master Ring that rules all the others. I've suspected it for a very long time, but I could never be sure. As I've said before, it's connected to too many things. I couldn't risk making a wrong judgment without proof."
Garrett asked with interest, "So what made you certain?"
"This. I spent half a year searching through Gondor's Great Library before finding it. It was buried in the deepest vault."
Gandalf drew out a crumbling ancient scroll.
"A record left by Isildur."
He spread open the aged parchment and pointed to a section.
"Look here."
Garrett leaned in and saw a drawing of a golden ring, meticulously detailed, every angle carefully illustrated.
"Exactly the same, isn't it? See? I told you so."
"Forgive me, Garrett," Gandalf sighed. "It's not that I didn't believe you. I simply had to be certain. You understand. I haven't told anyone else about this yet. Right now, only you and I know."
"So, what do we do next? Try to destroy it?"
"It must be destroyed." Gandalf's tone was firm. "There is no other way. Listen to me, Garrett, under no circumstances should you let any other thoughts about the One Ring take hold. There have been far too many tragic examples already."
Garrett smiled lightly.
"You can rest assured, I have no such intentions. Honestly, this thing means nothing to me. I don't desire whatever power it might offer..."
Just as he was speaking, someone arrived at the base of the Wall.
The man waved up at him.
Garrett stopped mid-sentence.
Of course he recognized him. It was one of his finest Rangers, the very one he had personally assigned to guard the outpost at the Crossroads.
"Hold on. I'll be back in a moment."