"They do not -"  At least not except for the Elves who studied with them, but that's not relevant today.  "- and if Elbereth intervened I did not see it.  Perhaps She put fear in the wraiths' hearts; perhaps they merely feared Her name; perhaps they thought they had accomplished their mission when they drove you away and stabbed Frodo."

If wraiths fear Her name, that means invoking it at least occasionally prompts a real miracle! It's worth looking more into the local gods; lack of clerics does not mean lack of interventions.

"...what do you think their mission was, then? It seems to me that they could kill him, or all of you, at their will, today and on previous nights. You said they're after Frodo's ring, but they didn't take it." What kind of mission ends with stabbing but not killing someone?

"Yes, I am sure they are searching for that.  And I think they think it almost accomplished if you are gone, and Frodo wounded... They will come again tonight, perhaps, if we do not escape."  He shakes his head.  "There are nine wraiths in all.  Why they were not all here, I do not know, but given that I do not think they expected us to fight back.  Even Frodo, I think, resisted longer than they expected.

"But more likely - you were a surprise to them as well as us, I'm sure.  And you had put a spell on us.  Perhaps they were afraid of what other magic you might have left with us even after you left?"

"Was tonight the first time any of you faced them directly?" Gord had gotten a different impression, but perhaps he was mistaken.

"I hurt the four I fought, enough at least to make them flee. If they came back, and talked to the three who attacked the hill-top, they might have been afraid of me. I left, but then they knew I had magic that could conceal me from them... Still, if they attacked you at all, enough to wound Frodo, I don't understand why they stopped. That ring was the only thing my magic definitely couldn't hide, and the spell failed besides - I assume that was when you attacked them with fire. An intervention of Elbereth is the only explanation that makes sense to me, but I'm not from around here."

"The first time we fought them.  Earlier we hid, or fled.

"Yes, quite possibly - or perhaps it was your spell failing.  If the rest of us suddenly came out of hiding, as it were, perhaps the wraiths feared what else might be hiding?  And... all in all, I suspect they count it little loss to wait one more night, if they think you fled."

"Well. To dispel any lingering confusion, I have fled. Which is to say I don't intend to fight them in the night ever again, because I have no hope of winning." Although, if he uses fire... no, still too risky, and no reason to do it at night anyway. "And while I might survive another daytime fight, I can't destroy any of them unless they obligingly stand in place for a while and don't run again. And if they aren't riding horses, or they hide and don't move during the day, I probably couldn't find them anyway."

"What are your plans?"

Aragorn sighs.

"If we stay at Weathertop, they know where we are, and no help can reach us.  If we leave, there is a small chance they might be impeded from following us, or that we might find help.  So, I plan for us to leave.  Our pony is gone, but Frodo can at least ride the horse you captured and left us.

"But our time is short... The wraiths are greatly weakened without their horses, and without their cloaks - I saw you uncloaked one?  But Frodo and you are both wounded."

"It left its cloak behind, I didn't grab it or anything. Do you know what the cloaks are for? It didn't seem magical. And I'm healed, as far as I can tell, I cast some more powerful spells this morning that I didn't have prepared yesterday. Couldn't fix my magic sword, though."

"And I still don't understand the horses. You said they use them to see? Can they only sense magic and living people, themselves? Do you know how far away they can sense? Should I have been aiming for the horses? They have at least three left; we saw six from the hilltop but there were only four when I came down, and one of those escaped with its horse."

"Also, I assume they can still use the horse I captured; I wouldn't suggest you keep it around. I saw the pony on my way last night, it might still be around somewhere."

"I don't know for sure, but the cloaks probably help their aura of fear, and perhaps help them interact with the material world more?

"Yes - if I were fighting them on horseback, I would fight the horses more.  But then, you made one of them cast off its cloak - which is already more than I have heard of anyone doing since the Last Alliance!

He frowns at the mention of their still using the captured horse.  "I had not thought of that... perhaps.  It would still be better than waiting till Frodo can walk, but... We can try to find the pony."  He frowns.

"... Unless you are willing to come back and heal Frodo?  And how does your magic healing work?"

"There's normal healing, which handles physical damage - wounds, burns, bruises, broken bones. And then there are special spells for removing tiredness, drain, curses, poisons..." Gord hadn't thought to check himself for poison; something to keep in mind if he feels worse again.

"I don't mind healing Frodo, or the rest of you if you're wounded, but it would take most of the day to walk back to the hill and I did mean to sleep today so I could be alert tomorrow night. How long are the days here?" Last night seemed pretty long, but for all Gord knows they could have long nights and long days.

"...also, casting both spells I used again - for drain and for curses - would use up a lot of my most powerful magic for the day. And the spell for drain consumes a pinch of diamond dust and I have no idea when I'll be able to get more, how expensive is diamond dust around here?"

"A spell for removing curses?  How!?  I know some heroes of the past who could have used that!

"Diamonds are rare here - but this is the Lone-Lands.  You could find a number of them in Rivendell, or the better markets in the Shire or Gondor.

"The days are..." How should he phrase this? "...almost the same as the nights, this time of year."

"As to 'how', you'll have to ask a wizard, I'm just using the spell Gorum gives me! And it's not guaranteed to work; it pits your magical power against the curse, although you can try again if you fail."

"The real problem is that I have no way of knowing if it worked, or if I was cursed to begin with. I can only wait and see if I feel weak again. I do know it wasn't a magical curse, I would have seen that."

A twelve-hour day, minus eight hours of sleep, would leave only four hours for walking. And he still needs some time to finish Mending his sword, and to pray for more spells. Not that he can't skip some sleep, but he doesn't intend to repeat the mistake of getting deeply involved with helping these people until night suddenly falls and it's too late.

And the wraiths are likely watching them during the day-time, too. They stayed on the hill and they still have that horse, so it would be weird if they weren't. Going back there would be putting himself in danger again, even if he intends to walk back out with daylight to spare.

...

He's being silly. Him going back to heal Frodo is in Strider's interests, so he should let Strider solve the puzzle.

"I would help you if I didn't have to risk myself. Or if I could know how much I was risking myself, and had a plan."

"The wraiths are likely still near the hill and watching the halflings. Some could be far away, watching using the horses, ready to ride away if you move towards them and they don't want a daylight confrontation. Some could be close by, hiding invisibly; they're not at any risk since you can't see them and they can run away faster than you can attack them with fire."

"One of them could have followed you here, invisibly, if it wanted, and you wouldn't be able to tell."

"It took me all night to come this far. I was trying to be stealthy and I'm not as fast in the dark, but let's say it will take at least half the day for us to get back to hill. It would take another half-hour to prepare and cast the spells. And then I could leave again, although I'd be going thirty-six hours without sleep at that point, and not planning to sleep the following night either. This should be safe, because I think I can stand off the wraiths in daylight, although I can't be sure and if they're willing to seriously risk themselves they can take me down; one on nine is bad odds."

"Or I could cast Hide from Undead again. I prepared a more powerful version today. But it still lasts only eighty minutes, not even until nightfall. And I still don't want to travel with you if you're not willing to hide the ring that the wraiths can track."

...actually.

"Is the ring cursed? If I'm going to try to remove curses from Frodo anyway, maybe I can get that one, and then he'll agree to leave it behind."

Aragorn stares in surprise when Gord says he doesn't understand the spell he cast.  "If you don't know how your spells... are they really your spells?  Or, when your god gives you magic and you cast it, is He the one truly doing the magic and you just calling on Him to act?"

(In that case, it's not totally unlike how Melian tried to help Turin... but that's beside all their present problems.)

"The Ring is cursed, but... more than a curse put on from outside.  The Ring itself bears some of Sauron's... will and malice."  (Oh good, he could dodge the question of whether to use god-pronouns for Sauron.)  "So... removing the curse might work on someone who was close to the Ring but isn't anymore, but with Frodo who has the Ring right in his pocket...?"  He bows his head.  "It might still be worth a try.  After all, neither of us understand how the spell works?

"And I know for sure no wraiths are near here.  I can feel them - often farther than sixty feet, though how far varies with how powerful they are at the moment."

"He gives the spell to me and I cast it, I'm not calling on Him when I do. But I can't - invent or modify a spell and have Him feed me raw power and cast whatever I want to. And I don't understand how the spells work, it's possible to learn - especially since I can see magic - but I never did. If you learn enough you can be a wizard and make your own spells, but very few wizards are smart enough to do that, they mostly copy existing spells."

...is Strider telling him he needs to cast Remove Curse on Strider, now that he's temporarily away from the Ring? Better not ask directly yet, in case he can't just say it plainly, but -

"Why don't you just overpower Frodo and force him to throw the Ring away, if it's for his own good? He's not wearing it, is it still - magically stuck to him because of the curse?"

(The ring being half-sentient is par for the course for a major artifact and doesn't earn any special notice.)

"Strange!  I have never heard of anyone who could cast magic without understanding it at all, unless they were merely using a magic object..."  He smiles.  "I know some Elves who would be fascinated to talk with you about that."

But his smile dims at the next question.

"That would be better for Frodo, at least if you or perhaps Galadriel could then remove the curse - but no, it would be better for him anyway.  But then someone else would take the Ring, and would they not be in even worse straits than Frodo, having already done violence to take it?"

"If you're trying to get rid of it, you could - I could summon an elemental that would bury it deep in the earth... Insubstantial wraiths could probably get to it, though. And anything a mage does, a stronger mage can undo." He considers.

"We could send it to another plane. Clerics can travel to other planes, and call creatures from them - I'm not strong enough to travel myself, yet, but it's not very rare. But we'd be giving the ring to the elemental; that's like giving it to a random stranger and being glad the curse isn't on you." And he's definitely not giving up his bag for this.

"Burying it in a random location might be best; at least no-one will have it for a while. And if the wraiths find it, I don't mind them being cursed."

Something seems to be missing in this picture. A major artifact, thrown away and forgotten?

"What does the ring actually do? Apart from cursing you to not want to throw it away and attracting wraiths. You said it - tempts people?"

Yes, that is the problem.  Anything a mage does, a stronger mage could undo... but still... "Hiding it would be far better than letting the wraiths take it, but then we wouldn't even know if anyone finds it.  I wouldn't want to do it as long as there might be a better option.

"The Ring tempts you, with Sauron's malice, trying to get you to value it and..."

Well, he can't avoid any longer telling Gord what the Ring does.  If this makes Gord want it for himself - then so be it.

"... and use it.  It gives you power, to see hidden things and dominate others' will and work magic, and I know not all the ways, but it will corrupt you more as you use it more.  Gandalf and I both told Frodo never to use it again for that reason."

"So it gives you various magic powers, but if you use it then - you say it 'tempts'. What does that mean, exactly?" Gord is most used to hearing that word in the context of succubi, but that might not generalize. And most people don't take succubus temptation seriously, the things being offered and given, they're too busy mocking those who give in to it.

"Does the power it gives come with strings attached? Or your use of it has unforeseen results that serve it and not you? Does it give you options and abilities, real ones, that you'd rather not have?"

"Or does it affect your mind directly, your judgement or desires, if you use it? We call that 'enchantment'." It would be much more straightforward if Strider said the ring enchants its user. Succubi can enchant people but that's not temptation.

This hasn't gone horribly so far; Gord is concerned!  But it's not the best way either; might he be poking at the fine distinctions to try to find a way to use it anyway?

"It does warp and change your desires, at least over enough time - everyone who knew Bilbo would say he was acting very unlike himself about the Ring.  As for what unforeseen strings it might pull, I do not know what Isildur might have planned to do, but Bilbo was feeling his life was too long and thin before the end...  and if Gollum was trying for anything besides living in a dark cave by himself, he did not get it.

He spreads his hands "For myself - I have not tried.  I could tell you something of what it whispers in my head, but it might perhaps be better not to."

"If it tempts someone into living alone in a dark cave, not even using its magic powers by the sound of it, obviously that's bad for them..."

"So, if you use it, it slowly enchants you into - being someone else, and maybe doing weird things. If you have it, it enchants you to want to use it more, and if you're just near it it enchants you to - want to stay close, and not to throw it away? Do I have all that right?"

Aragorn nods along with what he says about Gollum.

"If you use it - maybe it does more as well; Bilbo was a hobbit, and Gandalf did say hobbits might prove surprisingly resilient.  If you have it - it also seems to make you jealous about it.  And if you're near it - no, it does not make you want to stay close precisely.  But many times, it makes you want it yourself, which can prove the same thing.  Though -"  He smiles.  "I don't believe any of us are staying here for that reason.  And I know I'm not."