Frodo, boggling at the praise, takes Sam's readily-offered arm - with his right arm, the one that wasn't injured - and stands up.

At first he feels almost normal, but after a moment he notices something's wrong.  Well, two things are wrong.

"I don't think I can walk a lot..." he says, leaning on Sam.  "And my shoulder's still feeling like it's weak and unsteady like a bubbling stew - and -."

He tries to feel around in his left pocket with his injured arm, clumsily, his eyes going wide, in shock and maybe just a bit of anger.

"W-what happened to the Ring!?  Did one of you really take it --"

"It's in Gord's bag!  'Lest it stop the healing magic!  Tied shut, and it's a magic bag, and we're all watching."

Frodo nods faintly, not sure what he'd feel about it if he wasn't simultaneously feeling weak.  It feels like something missing... but not altogether bad.

Aragorn translates for Gord.  "And I think I felt the same thing you felt with the Ring," he adds.  "I'm not sure... but Gandalf wasn't sure either, for long years."

"If we're lucky it'll be safe. I'm seriously considering never opening the bag again until we get to Rivendell." Gord's got everything he really needs, he can live without the rest for a few weeks. "Sneaky enchantment that might not be there can't be worse than blatant obvious enchantment, if we just assume the worst and always act like it is happening... I think?" This Gandalf wizard of theirs had better be fifth circle, Gord does not want to have to level up to Break Enchantment while being enchanted!

He imagines returning home from his adventure and telling Ramien he had to leave his special custom-order bag behind to contain a major artifact. That story doesn't work on so many levels!

"I'll prepare the full Restoration for Frodo. I could also do Remove Curse but I didn't feel like it did anything for me this morning, I'd rather save that for tomorrow and use the slot for a fighting spell tonight." If Strider has no objections, he'll go sit in a corner and tune the others out for fifteen minutes. (It helps that he can't understand them.)

"Good.  I could steep some athelas too - that would help - but I don't expect it'd help any more than what you've already done."

Frodo sits down, drinks some water, and tries to figure out what he's feeling now.  He feels lighter now, and at the same time clumsier.  How much of that, he wonders, is due to the Ring and how much to the Black Riders' knife and how much to Gord's spell?

Restoration at fourth, then, Searing Light at third, and more Protections from Evil in the first circle slots.

Ugh, he can feel the lack of sleep keeping him from focusing; he definitely won't be at his best if he has to fight tonight. It takes longer than fifteen minutes; he's pretty sure it's not thirty.

And then he's done and can cast Restoration on Frodo. There goes the diamond dust, he really hopes he can get more in Rivendell - no, focus. He tries to aim for Frodo being weak and tired, not his being clumsy. They just need him to walk for a little bit, it's only a few hours till nightfall.

"Feeling better?" he asks via Strider.

Frodo slowly stands, and discovers that yes he can.

He takes a few steps, and discovers he can do that too.

"Yes, I can walk..."  He looks around the camp.  "Are we looking for Bill the pony?  Or loading everything on the horse?"

"Or could we put it all in Gord's magic bag?"

"I'd like to find the pony, but I don't think we have time."  He shakes his head.  "And the horse... Gord suggests the wraiths might be able to track him."

(He translates for Gord.)

"I don't want to open the bag of holding every time someone wants something. Or even just once per day for camping, I don't trust that ring. It's only a few hours until nightfall, can't you all carry your packs until then?" How much stuff have they got and how much of it is actually needed? "I can create water at will, you don't have to carry that. And I can conjure food for all of us, it's third circle but I can do it every day if I have to."

"As for the horse, I'm not so much afraid of them tracking him - we'll probably leave enough tracks by ourselves - I'm afraid they could use his senses to see or hear us directly. Let's make them bring horses along if they want to spy on us, we'll have a better chance of noticing that than just the wraiths. And of killing all their horses. I think it's safest to kill this horse now."

"Kill the horse?" Sam gasps.  "What's it done wrong?"

Frodo looks around the camp, calculating.  They'd want at least one pot, the knives... at least one set of spare clothes for each of them... if they leave behind the food, it's doable...

"We could let the horse go free?" Aragorn says to Gord.  "If it doesn't try to follow us... the question is whether you've hurt the wraiths enough they won't try to recapture it."

(The horse in question is quietly grazing a little ways downhill, contented with life for the first time in... he doesn't remember how long.)

"The wraiths attacked you after I hurt them," Gord reminds Strider. "And we have to assume they'll heal, if not tonight then in a few days. If the wraiths attack us again, will you tell me not to kill their horses? They're getting something out of using them, so we should deny them that advantage. ...and yeah, it might follow us, riding horses who lost their masters will go up to strangers sometimes. Why risk it?"

Gord feels he's missing something. People can get very attached to their horses, but this is isn't the horse of any of them, so why would they care about killing it? 

"I've killed many horses in battle.  But after the battle, that's different...  Let's see if he doesn't follow us.  And if the wraiths do find him, they'll find him without a saddle and bridle, after all."

He rips the bridle in several parts and drops the pieces into the fire.

"Sam," he says in Westron after quickly summarizing the conversation, "you want to send the horse away back toward Bree?  Merry, Frodo, let's rip up the saddle."

Sam scrambles up happily to do that.

"I really don't see the difference, it's not like the horses choose to go into battle or have any idea which side they're on. If I treated them as - well, people, I couldn't hurt or kill them in battle either!"

However, Gord doesn't feel strongly enough about this to insist on killing the horse. (He has a complicated history with killing horses. Maybe it's better not to become Gord the Horse-Slayer.)

"Shoo", he tells the horse, and smacks it lightly on the rump with the flat of his sword. 

The short man is treating him amazingly nicely; the tall man is acting all right... but they're both making it clear they don't want him here anymore.

All right.  The grass looks just as nice downhill.

He breaks briefly into a trot, and then slows down near the bottom of the hill to nibble a bit more while walking west.

Meanwhile, the bridle and saddle are quickly destroyed.  This isn't the first time Pippin destroyed a saddle... but it's even more fun now that it's a big saddle for one of the Big Folk.

(There aren't any knives hidden in there; he was a bit worried about that.)

Sam insists on tying one cooking-pot and some spoons to the back of his pack, but they're soon packed.  He shakes his head at the items left behind, mostly food and clothes.

No helping it. They must have left behind even more with the pony. 

"You said you're a ranger, will you guide us? I'm feeling the lack of sleep." Is it worse than it should be, or just his paranoia? "I have one casting of the spell that hid us from the wraiths, it lasts for over an hour, but it's probably best kept in case they actually find us at night. Nothing to hide our tracks, there aren't really cleric spells for that."

"Of course.  I know this land."

Aragorn leads the way out of the hollow.

"We can't get far tonight," he says, "so we need to be hidden tonight.  Let's cross the Road quickly, to those woods ahead there."  (He points south.)  "They'll be much easier for us on foot than for any pursuit, unless the wraiths go uncloaked.  And, we can cut off a loop of the Road and make the Last Bridge closer."