"The figure stopped to cough long and hard,
making a noise like a wall being hit repeatedly
with a bag of rocks."

― Terry Pratchett, Going Postal

42. Gollum

The heavy footfalls, jingle of chainmail and jeering voices came steadily closer, approaching from two directions – both from the spider's lair and the road Sam had taken – trapping Kat between them.

Feeling helpless and torn, her eyes darted between the tunnel and the path. What should she do? It would be horribly wrong to abandon Frodo to the enemy, sick and perhaps dying – but she had no way to protect or remove him. As always, she was too small and weak to be of any use.

The orcs would arrive at any moment now; she had to decide. Stay or hide? Fight or run for it?

Hide. She had to hide, there was nothing else she could do. Feeling like a dreadful coward, she hurried over to the cliff wall, pressing herself flat against it and trusting her camouflage color to help her remain unseen.

It was a close call. She had just positioned herself, when a large group of heavily armored guards emerged from the tunnel, equipped with torches and lanterns, while at the same time an equally intimidating unit came down the path. When the two bands caught sight of each other, their leaders began to speak.

Kat tried to understand their harsh speech, but either they mixed in words from another language, or they spoke a strange dialect. She could only make out something vague about a spy coming this way.

Some of the guards began to spread out, looking like they were searching for something – the spy? Kat went limp with fear, expecting them to discover her at any second. She knew orcs had a great sense of smell, and good night vision too. And what would they do to Frodo once they found him?

A sudden movement some hundred meters up the road caught her attention: a small figure had rounded a corner on silent feet. It was Sam! Thank God, he had come back! Relief flooded through her; surely Sam could handle this much better than her. He had that fancy bottle of starlight, and a sword he knew how to use. If the orcs caught her, he could maybe rescue her.

But how did he dare walk in the open like that? Had he not heard the orcs? And why didn't they react? Despite Sam's elven cloak, he was clearly visible in the bleak twilight.

Then it dawned on her. It was only she who saw him. He must have put on the Ring, making him invisible! And just like the last time she saw it worn, Kat apparently was immune to its effect.

Sam clutched the sword in its scabbard, and it looked like he was preparing to attack. Kat wanted to yell at him to wait; the orcs were at least a hundred, maybe more, and though Sam was invisible he was all alone. It would be better to just sneak over to where Frodo lay, and silently drag him away before they found him.

But it was too late for that. The two guard groups had already discovered the wounded hobbit on the path, and yelling and shouting with glee they surrounded his body, illuminating him with their torches while prodding and kicking his prone form with ironshod boots.

Sam's face became twisted in a furious grimace, and he started to run towards them. Kat helplessly looked on. This could never end well!

He still had several meters to go when four orcs picked Frodo up, and swiftly carried him away to the tunnel with the rest of the guards in tow. They were fast; before Sam had even reached the spot where Frodo had fallen, they were gone, and darkness resumed.

Whimpering and muttering to himself, Sam wiped his face clean of tears and dirt. "Curse the filth!" He scurried into the black hole.

Kat left her hiding place and followed suit. She heard faint orc voices echoing through the tunnel ahead. The captains were talking about the spider; they said the name Shelob several times, and something about sticking a pin into her. It seemed they wondered who had wounded her, and to Kat's amusement they apparently thought it was a large, elvish warrior. If they only knew!

Sam – who was not an elf warrior, but no less brave – was running so fast now, that Kat could barely keep up. The darkness seemed not to scare him, or perhaps the Ring somehow made him more sure on his feet? Either way, she knew she could always track him by his scent if need be.

She put her nose to the ground, and hissed when she caught another smell, one she had sensed many times on the stairs yesterday. Gollum! He must have come this way too, but continued through one of the side tunnels.

Pausing, Kat suddenly remembered her quest. It was Gollum she must save, not Frodo... But could she really leave Sam alone against a hundred-something armed orcs?

On the other hand, what difference could a little cat make? In order to help, she would have needed to be a huge elf warrior herself...

The sound of the orcs was fading, and so was Sam's footsteps. She had to decide what to do – again. Oh, how she hated these impossible choices!

Well, at least this time she had her orders; Námo had told her what her mission was. Sighing inwardly, and with a final, long look at the tunnel where Sam had gone, Kat turned and went into the new passage. She must stay with Gollum, and that was that.

/\_ ,._ ,.
( ಠ _ ಠ )

Even if Kat hadn't tracked him by his smell, Gollum's ugly cough would have led her right. She found him deep in a maze of narrow tunnels and shafts, crouching beside a puddle of water while trying to stop his bleeding nose where Sam had smacked him.

At the wonderful sight and smell of water, Kat was desperately reminded of her dry throat. Abandoning all safety, she dashed ahead and began to drink in huge gulps.

"Ach!" gasped Gollum, backing away wide-eyedly. "Where did it come from?"

When she ignored him, he suspiciously bent closer, sniffing in the air. "It was with the hobbitses and that horrible elf. A cursed elf-cat, it is!"

Kat continued lapping. How amazing it tasted! Cool, crystal clear drops on her tongue, just like she had dreamed of on the stairs.

"How did it find us? We should kill it. Wrings its little neck, and eat it. But perhaps elves' cats tastes nassty; ashes and dust like their bread-food."

Kat stopped drinking, and glared sternly at him. Eat her? When she had abandoned Sam just to save his sorry, bony ass? How dare he! With a threatening hiss, she held up her paw, claws out. These are not just for show, you know.

Gollum shrunk back, covering his large eyes protectively. "Ach! Nice elf-cat. Don't hurt us. We were only joking."

That'd better be true. Kat returned her attention to the water.

After a while, the creature resumed dabbing his swollen nose. "Poor Sméagol," he mumbled to himself. It seemed he had forgotten Kat was there. "The tricksy, sneaky hobbit hurt us. We just wanted to keep the Precious safe. We promised to keep Master and the Precious safe!"

Suddenly his features changed and became sly. "We should go out," he said, looking at his reflection in the pool. His voice also had become different, sharp and calculating. "She is still in here, and perhaps angry with us for not bringing her food like we promised. Instead she was hurt by the nasty hobbit. Shelob will punish us. We must not let that happen."

What was he talking about? Had he intended to feed Sam and Frodo to the spider? Kat's eyes narrowed. The bastard!

"We promised!" The voice changed again, becoming whiny and afraid. "Sméagol promised not to hurt the master, but I led him to her."

"No, sweet one, he wanted to go there," replied the cunning voice. "We only helped. Yess, yess, nice Gollum only helped the kind hobbit." Scooping up a palm full of water, he drank a few mouthfuls. "We have stopped the bleeding and drunk our fill. Let us leave. We must go back and find the Precious before he takes it."

Sméagol showed his few teeth in a terrified grimace. "What if he has it already? What if the Black One has eaten the hobbitses and taken the Precious? Poor Sméagol. Poor old Sméagol." His voice was lost in a series of deep, wheezing coughs.

Kat didn't know what to make of him anymore. Something was very wrong with this – for lack of better word – man. It was disconcerting to hear him speak to himself like there were more than one person inhabiting his mind. Did he suffer from dissociative identity disorder? She vaguely recalled reading about that condition in psychology class, way back in highschool.

Gollum was rocking back and forth on his feet now, rubbing his bald face with long, thin fingers, whimpering almost incomprehensibly. "Nice Master is dead, and sneaky hobbit is dead, and the Precious is in the Black One's grasp. Poor Sméagol is all alone. Always alone."

To her surprise, Kat felt her heart soften. She knew of course that he was evil; he had murdered at least once to lay hands on the Ring, and tried to kill Frodo's relative Bilbo as well, and now it seemed he had been responsible for the spider attack that had nearly killed Frodo. Everything was his fault, and yet... Hearing his pathetic sobs and feeling the distress emanating from him, she pitied him against her will.

Not even thinking, she took a step closer, close enough to buff her head against his thin leg.

He froze, and swatted after her. "Schoo! Go away! We doesn't want it."

Calmly she gave him her sternest, no-nonsense teacher's look. Amazingly it seemed to work even in a cat form, for soon he began to cringe uncomfortably. "Sméagol is joking again. Elf-cat does as it pleases, of course." He reached out to pat her head rather awkwardly. "Nice cat. It doesn't freeze us like elves' rope."

Kat wondered what he had against elves. But perhaps in his twisted, corrupted mind, everything that was good and beautiful to others became ugly and scary? He had worn the Ring for centuries, Aragorn had said, and that must have affected him a lot. Maybe that was the cause of his mental disorder too.

Gollum touched her again, running his hand over her back and even scratching her neck – almost as if his fingers remembered another time and place, when he had been a normal person who knew about pets.

Despite everything, Kat's body reacted like it always did, and she began to purr.

His round eyes widened even further at the sound, and the pale gleam in them winked out and was replaced with something different. Now they looked ancient like the eyes of an elf, and his thin shoulders slumped wearily. "My old Gammer had a cat," he murmured softly. Then, after a moment's hesitation, he added: "Perhaps Sméagol should try to find Master. Make it right. Save him."

She nodded encouragingly. If Gollum would help save Frodo, maybe he still had a chance.

"Master was kind to us. Always kind." Gollum resolutely turned his back to the puddle and shuffled away.

When they came out into the wider tunnel again, Kat felt Sam's scent clearly. She put her nose to the ground, but his tracks were confusing. Had he come back here?

"It can smell him?" asked Gollum eagerly. "It smells the master?"

Kat didn't, but he needn't know that. Maybe Sam was still on the other side of the tunnel? In any case, the orcs had taken Frodo that way, and if Gollum wanted to save him he needed to go there too.

She nodded, and pointed with her paw.

"Then we go," whispered Gollum. He anxiously glanced into the darkness. "But be quiet! Quiet! Don't disturb her."

After a while, the orcs' and Sam's tracks diverged from the main tunnel into a side passage, and finally ended in front of a set of massive metal doors. The area smelled disgustingly of orcs, and even Gollum felt it.

"Orcses!" he spat. "That's the back doors to their tower. Horrible orcs. Have they taken Master there?"

Kat nodded seriously.

"Nasty orcs." He prodded the door. "Locked. We cannot go this way." He pointed in the direction they had come. "The tower has a main entrance, but it's guarded. The Silent Watchers..." He shuddered. "We cannot go that way either."

Kat instantly turned, suddenly understanding the confusing tracks. Sam must have come too late to follow the orcs through the doors, and now he was on his way to the other entrance. Silent Watchers or no, they had to try it at least.

"No," whimpered Gollum. "We cannot go there. Too dangerous! They will catch us. His Eye will see us!" But despite his words, he followed her.

Outside the lair, near the spot where Frodo had fallen, Sam's scent grew stronger. She was catching up on him.

Kat hurried her pace, running up a narrow set of stairs, and behind her she heard the familiar patter of Gollum's strange hands-and-feet gait.

Rounding a corner, she finally saw Sam. He was standing not far away, looking up at a dark tower on top of the cliff which effectively guarded the road into Mordor. A dull, red glow flickered in its uppermost windows, and the sound of angry voices came out from them, like the orcs inside were having an argument.

The gate to the tower was open, and two orcs lay dead just outside. Were the guards fighting among themselves?

Gollum stopped next to Kat, peering at her suspiciously. "What's it looking at?" he hissed.

Just then Sam took off the Ring, and Gollum's hiss grew into a furious snarl. "Him! It's him! The nasty hobbit has taken the Precious!" All softness had left his lean face, and his eyes gleamed evilly. "I hates him. I shall kill him."

Kat could only stare at her companion, shocked at the change. What happened to his determination to save Frodo?

Before Gollum could do anything about his threats, however, Sam had drawn Frodo's sword and started running towards the open gate.

Unbeknownst to him, Gollum galloped after, growling under his breath. "Thief! Thieving, tricksy hobbit! The Precious is mine. My own. And we shall take it back. We wants it!"

Kat hurried to follow, terrified over the new turn of events. She had led Gollum to Sam, thinking he would help with Frodo's rescue – but instead this had happened. That horrible, horrible Ring. Everything was its fault! It had to go; that had never been more clear to her.

Right outside the tower, Sam stopped dead as if he had run into an invisible barrier. Two black statues loomed on either side of the gate, reminding Kat of the ones she had passed before she came to the long stair, but larger and a lot more terrifying. It was the Silent Watchers.

The Watchers had three vulture heads each, positioned so that they could see everything; both those who came on the road, and those passing through the gate. A teeming malice seeped from their glittering stone eyes, and Kat knew without doubt nobody could pass them unseen.

Gollum had seen them too, and the anger in his pale features turned into panic. "Oh no," he whispered, shrinking back. "They mustn't see us!"

But Sam doggedly continued, using his crystal bottle of light to blind the Watchers as he passed them by.

A ghastly screech came from their black stone heads, and far up in the tower a bell rang in answer.

Undaunted, Sam went through the gate, shouting a bold challenge. "Now I've rung the front-door bell! Tell Captain Shagrat that the great elf warrior has called, with his elf sword too!" With that, he disappeared out of sight.

/\_ ,._ ,.
( o _ O )

Kat and Gollum uneasily cowered outside, crouching low to avoid being exposed to the Watchers or the spying eyes from the many windows of the tower. Gollum was back as his whiny, cringing persona, whimpering about the Precious, and enemies, and nasty hobbits.

Kat wanted to hush him so she could hear what was happening, but had to make do with a hiss and a warning set of claws against his bare leg.

"Don't hurt me," moaned Gollum. "Nice elf-cat." Then, thank God, he shut his mouth, apart from the occasional silent sob.

Now Kat could hear orc voices, again coming from the open windows on the uppermost floor. She recognized one of the captains who had spoken about spies earlier. "I'm hurt," he rumbled. "The Black Pits take that filthy rebel Gorbag!" He cursed and swore, and then ordered some other orc to leave with the news of what had happened.

"I'm not going down those stairs again," came the sullen reply. There was a huge elvish warrior about, and he had no intention to meet him, thank you very much. "A nice mess you two precious captains have made of things, fighting over the swag," he added nastily.

"It was Gorbag started it, trying to pinch that pretty shirt."

A loud rowl began, followed by several crashes and bangs. Then the orc captain came limping out of the gate, clutching a gleaming, silvery object protectively in his arms. He scurried past Kat's and Gollum's hiding place and disappeared on the road.

Kat gasped. She had instantly recognized the object he carried. It was Frodo's mithril shirt! So that was what the fight had been about. Apparently the orcs had defeated themselves over the treasure.

More sounds drifted down from the tower, first a faint voice singing, and then an orc growling: "You lie quiet, or you'll pay for it!" Kat heard the unmistakable crack of a whip, followed by a whimper.

There was an angry roar – it was Sam's voice! – and more sounds of fighting. The orc let out a shrill wail, and all became quiet.

Only one voice remained now, soft and comforting. "Frodo! Mr Frodo, my dear! It's Sam. I've come!"

/\_ ,._ ,.
( ಠ‿ಠ )

When Sam and Frodo came out of the tower a while later, they were dressed as orcs, and would have fooled even Kat had she not recognized their voices. How clever of them!

Frodo stopped at the gateway. "I can't go on, Sam. I'm going to faint. I don't know what's come over me."

"I do, Mr Frodo," Sam soothed, and explained about the Watchers. Pulling out his bottle of light, he made it shine bright as the sun. "Gilthoniel, A Elbereth!"

The statues screeched and the gate crumbled into rubble, almost crashing down on them. Running at speed, the hobbits fled along the road, but in the tower that doorbell was ringing again.

There was an answer from the sky: a shrill scream, one that Kat had heard before and never would get used to. A Nazgûl!

"Wraith!" whimpered Gollum, crouching with trembling hands covering his ears.

Again and again the Nazgûl shrieked, its calls echoing between the mountains, and Kat's limbs went limp. She could not move, not breathe, not think.

More bells rang, and someone blew a horn. Any moment now the road would be full of orcs, but still Kat's feet would not move. Like frozen to the path, she remained.

Long fingers grabbed the scruff of her neck, and suddenly she was lifted high. Someone was carrying her up the sheer cliff wall, somehow managing to ascend that nearly vertical surface. Her stomach plummeted as the ground disappeared below.

Turning her neck, Kat met Gollum's large eyes. "Hush," he breathed. "Nice cat. Be quiet or they find us."

Far away, Frodo and Sam jumped from a bridge and tumbled down a dark slope. They had left the road at the last minute; a cavalry of black horses with orcs in heavy mail came thundering across it only moments after they had disappeared.

Silent and agile like a big spider, Gollum held his position on the cliffside as the riders passed below. Kat held her breath until they had dismounted outside the tower and disappeared into it.

The cries of the Nazgûl became fainter and finally faded completely. Kat's strength returned, but she remained still in Gollum's grasp, trying not to mind the uncomfortable position. She felt extremely vulnerable dangling like that, but thankfully she had thick skin on her neck. It could have been worse. She could have been dead.

In the tower, orcs were carrying out corpses, piling them on the courtyard. Their voices sounded faint from this distance. It was so far down. So, so far... If she was dropped–

Kat forced her gaze away, forbidding herself to think of that possibility.

The clouded sky had grown a bit lighter. Morning was here – or was it day already? She drew a few breaths; up here the air was clearer and less foul, and she felt something new in it. A change.

Then she saw it: sunlight! For the first time in days, the sun was breaking through the ugly darkness that had covered the sky for so long.

It was beautiful.

"Nasty Yellow Face," muttered Gollum, using Kat to shade his eyes, but there was a certain measure of wonder in his voice. "The Black One is losing strength... How can that be?" Then he shook his head. "No use, no use... He will take the Precious. Stupid hobbitses carry It straight under his Eye. Stupid, stupid hobbitses... But we can stop them. Yes, we can."

He started to move with a new purpose, slowly and carefully, one step at a time. Still perched high up on the wall, he edged closer to the ravine Frodo and Sam had jumped into. There he nimbly climbed down to the road, and continued down one of the bridge pillars.

He put Kat down just below the shadow of the bridge, in a spot of coarse grass with dense, thorny thickets hiding them from sight. The ground sloped gently downwards, and was littered with dying trees, rocks and clusters of nettles.

Kat shook herself, and tried to smooth out her ruffled fur. There was no sight of Frodo or Sam, but she had no need for that. Their scent was clear.

"Can you smell them?" asked Gollum, a hungry glint in his pale eyes.

She quickly shook her head, determined not to make the same mistake twice. Sure, he had saved her life just now – probably because he wanted to use her as a tracker – but she did not trust him anymore. It was clear the Ring was his true master, and no one else.

"Liar," spat Gollum. "Nasty, trickssy liar. It can smell them. We knows it can. But we don't need a tricksy elf-cat anymore. No, no. We can see them for ourselves. Oh yes, we can! There they goes. Nasty hobbitses, crawling out of the bushes. See?" He pointed at two dark shapes some way down the ravine. "Master has the Precious again, and we wants it. We will wait... Follow them, and wait until the right time. And then... Oh yes. Then!" Still muttering to himself, Gollum began to shuffle down the sloping grass on hands and feet.

Kat sighed and trotted after him. She could only pray the Valar knew what they were doing, for she certainly didn't. As far as she knew, she had been of no use to anyone on this quest.

A/N:

The shadow of Mordor is beginning to break... In the next chapter, we shall see what caused it! In Gondor, there is a huge battle happening that all our other friends will attend. :)

Sorry this took an extra week to write, but I've been down with Covid and weak as a kitten... It's been no picnic.

Image Credits:

Screenshot from The Lord of the Rings movies.