Frodo's just happy he's giving them this before he goes.

Well, if Frodo's trusting him enough to take the spell, he's in too.

"Hey, Merry, did he say where he's going?  To fight more Black Riders?  Find Gandalf?"

(He's in; why not?)

Aragorn joins in the hand-clasping.

"Translate this, Merry - Before you leave, I have a warning about the wound."

(Merry translates.)

"I'm listening." Hide from Undead. "The spell lasts for eighty minutes starting now. Stops undead from seeing, hearing or smelling us - by themselves, not through their horses - but not their ability to see magic, if they can do that, which includes my bag and your swords and definitely that ring. Hopefully they can only do that at a short range, like my spell. The spell also ends if any of us attacks them or anyone else."

"He says - just under an hour and a half, the Riders won't be able to see or hear or smell us, but they can still see magic like the ring.  And it ends if we attack anyone, but why would we do that?  And, Strider, he says he's listening."

Strider nods.  That's not unlike some things he's seen Elf-minstrels do.

He'll state it flatly.  With the hobbits, he'd soften the warning, but he judges Gord can take it straight.

"I do not know how your healing might change this, but for anyone else - the wound will linger and keep weakening you.  And sometimes, after - perhaps a few days, perhaps longer - it might open you more to the wraiths' shadow of fear or other magic.  I do not know how to tell for sure so early; Elrond at Rivendell would know better than me."

The hobbits all yelp.

"Err... Strider says he doesn't know how your healing works, but - er - the wound's going to linger.  And he says it sometimes makes you more open to the wraiths' magic, like their fear - which, ouch!  But he doesn't know yet whether this's one of the times.  Elrond at Rivendell would know."

Yeah, it's a drain and probably some kind of curse too, but the wraiths closing in are the immediate danger. If he lives till morning he can deal with it then.

"Thanks for the warning. Travel with Desna." And now he's going to mount the horse and ride away and hopefully he'll never get to meet a wraith after sundown.

"Er - who's Desna?"

"-- What's that!?"

Pippin points out to the lip of the dell...

... at a dark shadow that can suddenly be seen, or rather a place where nothing can be seen, in the starlight, on the downhill side.

And there's another shadow on the uphill side of the dell.

Shit.

Are they moving? Reacting to his movements? Are they blocking his exit? 

Actually, he'd better dismount again; he doesn't want to risk falling from a dead or panicking horse. If he can lead it around them -

- Wait. He's being an idiot. This is their horse.

"I should have killed the horse, they might still be able to see through it," he whispers, even though whispering doesn't matter at this point. "If we kill it now it'll break the spell."

If they don't do anything he'll try to... pull out an empty sack and put it over the horse's head so it can't see, at least... and then if they still don't do anything he'll try to leave in a direction they're not?

The horse is used to wearing blinders or blindfolds.  It stands still, waiting for the next thing to happen.

"We should have lit a fire -"  Aragorn glances around.  There's tinder in the dell, and sword-length sticks, but it'll take too long for the longer brands to catch to be of any use...

"Merry.  Ask Gord if he has any magic for fire."  He grabs one of the longer sticks.

"S-Strider asks, can you light a fire with magic -"

He has Spark! He has no idea what good that'll do but sure, Strider can have a flaming stick if he wants one. It will only make him easier for the horse to see through the bag, though.

(Are the wraith-shadows moving?)

Strider lights the tinder - it's better than nothing - and holds up the brand in his left hand.  "Hobbits, get some in your hands, and try to light them -"

They'll probably take too long to light to be any good, but it might at least keep them from falling overcome with fear.

They're not moving yet... but a third shadow now appears, from the north side.

A faint hiss, and a thin piercing chill, waft through the air.

And now, they start slowly advancing.

Gord can light a stick on fire once a round, but right now he cares more about whether he can get out of the slowly closing ring of doom! He can see them with detect magic! If he runs for the biggest gap do they try to cut him off?

Pippin shrieks and falls down in terror.

Look, he's sorry, he tried his best but he couldn't defeat four wraiths in daylight. He's drained, unarmed and half out of spells and he's not going to fight three wraiths in the dark and almost certainly die for the sake of strangers on the road. He tries to be Good but he's not really the suicidal kind of Good.

"Try to run away!" he calls, and then he puts his advice into practice.

Merry cries out at Gord running away.  He tries to move his legs to follow him and try to bring him back or stay safe with him or something, but they feel like they're frozen in place with the sudden fear rushing over him.  The Black Riders are right there - their mysterious strange savior is leaving them - what can anyone do -

He crumples to the ground next to Pippin. 

Sam isn't surprised to see Gord go.  He was a good fighter, maybe, but he seemed to distrust them all.  And he was even more strange than Strider, even.

But this leaves them with the Black Riders closing in, and he doesn't know what to do except curl up next to Frodo and keep trying to hold that stick in the fire like Strider said --