The Ringwraiths, however, aren't riding Nahar.  Or Ancalagon.  They're riding, again, well-broken but perfectly natural horses.

Who, perfectly naturally, respond to predators by running away.  Fortunately for them, that's exactly what their riders are telling them to do.

Unfortunately for them, they've never before seen a predator this fast.

But the Ringwraiths were once kings, of many places scattered across Middle-Earth.

This one was from Far Harad, and he's seen cheetahs before.

It takes him a few moments to look back and see that the strange Man (another Istar?  A sorcerer who's somehow not working for their Lord?) has summoned a cheetah.  Who will, plausibly, be fighting on his side?  By that time, it's starting to jump into its run -

"Scatter!" he hisses in the Black Speech, and instantly turns off the Road to the north into the shadows of sunset.  One of them might still survive and stay horsed.

The other one, half a round later, turns off to the south with a wordless cry to put fear in beasts and persons alike.

Being a summoned creature doesn't make you immune to fear. 

But only one of its prey is making scary noises, and it's riding away from the other one. The cheetah leaps on the prey that tried to run north.

The horses left to their own devices would have done better; herd animals know to stick together in the face of the predator. Scattering is leaving the weak to perish.

Meanwhile, Gord advances on the nearer wraith and its confused horse. Can he kill the horse without being attacked by the wraith, and will this wraith also flee if he does?

The wraith waits for Gord to come close - and then jumps off the horse at him.  A knife, glistening in the twilight, is in his hand. 

...He'll back away, and do his best to evade or parry the knife! Who knows what thing can do. If the wraith insists on following him, he'll channel again.

And if the wraith gives him some space instead, he'll cast the Spiritual Weapon he's been holding in reserve, have it kill the horse, and then bring it back to hack at the wraith. If the wraith can't dispel it and doesn't have spell resistance, it'll do more damage than a single channel anyway.

Gord still wants to see if killing the horse actually makes any difference to the wraith's behavior. Strider said they borrow the horses' senses, but a wraith accurately blocked Gord's first strike when he was invisible and you can't do that with hearing and scent.

The wraith doesn't give him space, though.  Despite the wave of painful light, he barrels at Gord, knife outstretched, ready to pierce whatever part of his body he can.

Is it desperately defending the horse, or itself? Or making a last stand to delay him while the others get away, perhaps one of the wraiths can command the others and this one is a spawn?

Plan B was to kill the horse and hope the wraith will run away, but it will take the Spiritual Weapon at least two turns to actually kill it and Gord doesn't like his prospects of defending against a dagger with a greatsword, not when the opponent is entirely incorporeal except for the dagger. It's definitely acting like stabbing him with the dagger will be do something worse than making a little dagger-sized wound.

He tries to parry as best he can (the non-magical sword can parry the ghost-touch dagger, right?) but also, when the wraith gets into melee range, he converts his useless Dismissal into a Cure Critical Wounds. 

He can parry the dagger, yes - it's material - but he can't keep parrying it for long with a long greatsword.  The wraith is fast.  How fast is Gord at stopping his sword-stroke once it's clear that he'll meet not the dagger but the sleeve of the wraith's coat?  While the dagger is within his stroke?

Not that fast! Parrying a dagger with a greatsword doesn't fundamentally work if your sword can't hit your enemy to make them keep out of range.

Then when his sword cuts the wraith's cloak, it starts steaming just like his other sword did.

And he gets stabbed in the shoulder.  It's got a whole lot more pain and exhaustion than a normal dagger wound - Gord can do maybe a couple things before falling unconscious.

Aaaagh they've got the dread touch already? It's not fair there's still a bit of sunlight left --

Can one of his last couple of actions be landing the Cure on the wraith? It's inside his reach, it doesn't get to just float away.

Icy chill shoots through Gord's finger, and then hand, as he touches the wraith.  He might not be able to move his hand now.

But he can channel through it.  The Cure lands.

The wraith screeches and rushes away northward - with the black cloak, but still away.

Gord is now by himself, except for the horse, in the failing sun.

(And the horse is stepping closer and looking at him curiously, with what might be cautious friendship.)

Ugh, he feels like he barely survived that - scratch that, he's not sure he has survived it yet.

Does a Cure Light Wounds help? He's got more healing but maybe this really is just a small knife wound with a lot of drain on top.

What has the summoned cheetah gotten up to? Is he about to be ridden down by another vengeful wraith?

... Did he pull the dagger out of his shoulder before doing that?  Or was he in too bad a shape to notice it?

Either way, he feels better for a round or two - even better if he pulled the dagger out first - but only for a round or two.

Yeah, he knows to pull out the dagger before healing the wound closed, he really doesn't have to think about it.

Uh. Lesser Restoration?

That seems to do it!

... except that if he thinks about it, he can still notice what might be a nagging drain still inside him.

Oh, and the dagger he pulled out of his wound has all gone up in smoke now, except for the hilt, just like his first sword did... and like his second sword seems to be in the middle of doing now.

Meanwhile, some ways away, the summoned cheetah is vanished.  It was killed by the other wraith's touch, after leaping on and killing its horse.

But it unhorsed the wraith.

Better the cheetah than him!

Battle-tally: four wraiths wounded, none destroyed, at least two unaccounted for. They're very dangerous in daylight, they could have killed him if they'd all rushed him. If even one or two find him when it's dark he won't survive it, and he's drained on top of that, and down his magic sword and his backup.

And he still has no idea what they use their horses for, or how they control them without ghost-touch reins or something.

All in all, this is a sound loss.

But at least it looks like he'll live to tell of it?

Unless they come back invisibly in half an hour, once it's fully dark, and drain him to death. So: he needs to get as far away as he can, and hope that their magical senses have limited range and their horses can't track at night. Tomorrow he'll be better prepared... hopefully.

...is there any reason to go back to Strider and Merry and the other halflings?

He doesn't owe them anything. Hasn't promised them anything, or gotten anything much from them. Has tried to help them already by fighting the wraiths, even though it's painfully clear at this point that a single wraith can handily kill that party if it finds them in the night, and maybe in daylight too. Whatever the wraiths want with them, it's not to kill them or take that ring.

Unless it's not a ghost-touch ring? Gord has no idea how that works, to be honest, what with them riding horses but also having non-magical swords conveniently pass through them.

He would like to take a closer look at the remaining horse, if it will let him. Does that look like a saddle designed to bear weight, or that has borne weight? Does the tack look used, does the horse have any signs of having been ridden or spurred or steered in the normal way?

It looks like a normal saddle, except it doesn't show any sweat or stains.  Maybe it was used by someone very light?

The horse shies away when he reaches out for the tack, but if Gord persists, it'll stay in place trembling.  The tack has obviously been used, and viciously so - there's a painfully cruel bit in the horse's mouth.

Alright, he can admit he hasn't got a clue how this setup works.

There, there, horse, he's not going to hurt it... pat pat? Gord hasn't ridden horses for a few years now but he used to, he knows how they work. Which is to say he could probably prepare a spell to make friends with it if not for all the everything, but as it is he's just an averagely competent horseman. He'd get (sigh) his backup dagger and cut off the cruel bit but a dagger next to its head would probably just spook the horse right now. 

Also, he'll probably end up killing it so the wraiths can't get it back, since he gets little benefit from riding a horse himself and it make him much more spottable and leave a clearer track.

...

His best bet for getting away is preparing Hide from Undead in his remaining empty slot, running away as far as he can in the eighty minutes that gives him, and hoping to get enough time to prepare spells the next morning before the wraiths track him down, if they choose to do so but need their horses' sight to do it.

The spell can cover the others on the hilltop, but more people obviously leave more tracks, and the wraiths apparently have a reason to follow them and (hopefully) not him. They're supposed to be after the ring artifact.

What the Abyss is up with that ring? If Frodo thinks wraiths are after it, and isn't competent to put it in a lead box, why is he still carrying it around instead of letting them have it and running as far away as he can? The bloody thing's blinding! Anyone who sees him wouldn't be able to think about anything else!

Yes... why should Frodo be left to carry the Ring around where it's perfectly visible?  And leading everyone to just keep thinking about it?  Drawing in the wraiths and who knows who else on some perfectly innocent civilian halflings?

And the only person they have to help them is Strider... and whatever he might be doing, he didn't tell Frodo to put the Ring anywhere safe!  And he didn't do anything like what Gord has done!

Surely Gord should come back and help the halflings?  Protect them before the wraiths get at them?