They continued south. The River Running was now out of sight and the forest that had been beside them was now nearly gone. The weather was nice. There was a slight breeze about the trees and the sun was shining brightly. Strider was now leading the party and seemed to know exactly were to go. Sauranox was riding beside Frodo and gave him a weird glance. There was something almost familiar about him and Frodo was almost sure it was the thick eye brows.

"What is the world like that the Under-dwellers live in, Arwen?" asked a curious Pippin.

"Dark, gloomy, and cold from what I hear" answered Arwen.

"I would be freezing in such a place" shuttered Merry.

"The Under-dwellers are like spirits. They do not feel as we do" Arwen said.

"They wouldn't be cold?"

"No"

After a bit of talk of Under-dwellers they talked of goblins and trolls. Myrth did a good job of frightening every one by saying that some goblins still roamed around the land (The ones that survived the battle of 5 armies). This was true but most had been killed by wood elves. So, this conversation led them to talk of Sauron which lasted long until the set camp. It was a restless night for Frodo. It always seemed that some thing was watching him. Something darker than the night itself. He didn't sleep for hours but after what seemed like ages he drifted off.

"Mr. Frodo, wake up! Some thing is here!" Frodo awoke to Sam shaking him.

"What do you mean 'something'" he asked sitting up.

"Well, I'm not quite sure, Mr. Frodo, sir but from a distance it looked like one of those Black Riders" Sam answered. Frodo stood up alarmed. Sure enough there was a Black Rider on horse back swiftly coming towards them.

"Run!" Frodo called and everyone was up in an instant and scattered every which-way in another. Frodo and Sam stayed together and they could here Shrell, Merry and Pippin not far behind. It was dark as ever and Frodo had no idea where he was going and before he knew it he had fallen into some kind of ditch. The others fell down as well and it was a trouble some matter of who was where but before they could sort themselves out there was a pounding of hooves and then they stopped and the sound of footsteps could now be heard. The Rider stopped near the hole and peered down and then jumped into the it. Everyone was as silent as possible as the Rider explored the ditch. They could feel his presents as he drew nearer to them. Frodo thought that it was surely the end when Merry lifted a rock from the dirt and hurled it up onto the path above. The Rider turned and got out of the ditch and galloped after where the noise had been. Everyone was relieved but still frightened. Incase there were more Riders they thought it best to stay in the ditch for the night. It was an uncomfortable sleep considering everyone was squished by the other in some way but they awoke to the sound of Smeagol tormenting and teasing them.

"The nasty hobbitses sleeps in holeses! Like nasty worms!" he sang and mocked.

"Oh, I wish the Riders found you, miserable creature" a rather squished Pippin moaned.

"No, Riders couldn't find the tricksy Smeagol, no! They didn't find us, precious, did they?" He sat by the edge of the ditch and cocked his head and watched them. They were having lots of trouble trying to get out when there were voices in the distance and Smeagol scurried off.

"It looks like we caught a goblin!" said a deep familiar voice. At that moment two men peered over the edge of the ditch.

"I don't think we caught goblins, Gimli"

"I'm blessed! It's Frodo and his friends!" said the dwarf leaning over to get a closer look.

"Gimli? Legolas? I never expected to see you two again!" Frodo was shocked and pleased at the same time.

"Oh, let's get you out of there, then" said Legolas. He let down a rope and one by one they climbed out. Frodo explained about the whole journey and Gimli and Legolas told their tale as well. It tuned out that they had been trapping goblins for money and hadn't heard of the ring since it had been thought destroyed. Shrell was introduced and Gimli and Legolas found her to be just as likable as the other hobbits. After a long conversation they decided to find the others and set out at once. It wasn't long before they found them further up the path. Luckily with all of the ponies. All that knew Legolas and Gimli were very pleased and said hello at once. Frodo introduced (or tried to introduce) the rest of them.

"This is Myrth the Red and Saura---" he was cut off by Sauranox.

"I think I should inform you that there never was a Sauranox" he said then pulled down the viel that had covered from his eyes down. It was Gandalf! Everyone stood there shocked.

"Gandalf?" Frodo gasped.

"Yes, Frodo. I to have returned and though Sauranox wasn't a wizard there was one wizard considered 'the Black'" he told them.

"Who?" asked Sam.

"The wizards name was Sauron the Black." everyone was speechless.

"You mean--"

"Yes. The Sauron that we fear now."

"But how--"

" He was a good and powerful wizard once but as the years rolled on he wanted more and more power and the only way he could get it was by making mortals afraid and so he became more and more evil but couldn't make the elves fear him and so he created the ring against them" He answered after cutting off Sam twice. "But now is not the time to talk of how Sauron came to be. We must stop him. We will need all the help we can get."

"Then we shall go as well!" cried Gimli.

"Very well" said Myrth with a nod and they started out at once. Smeagol did finally find them along the way and continued to follow them. It was many weeks across bare, treeless land and finding the mountains that surrounded Mordor seemed so far away.

It was incredibly hot and they had to rest much more often then when they started the journey but not usually was there a beast that attacked them till one dark summer night. They had been sitting around a fire telling tales when there was a squeak from Shrell and when they looked she was gone. They could here the cackling of goblins and they quickly grabbed weapons and ran towards them.

When they found Shrell she was tied up and one of the goblins had a rusted sword to her throat. Legolas aimed his bow and shot it though the head. Shrell did her best to hop away from the other goblins but soon fell to the ground and Frodo had to save her before she was stepped on. Her untied her as fast as he could and they fought the remaining goblins. It was a long and horrid battle but soon the goblins were destroyed. They were about to return to the fire when there was a rumbling in the ground and an immense goblin stood in front of them.

"I am Og, son of Bolg!" he shouted. "You shall suffer!" He came charging towards them as many other goblins followed. Frodo was soon attacked by five of them and he began to swing his blade. He had to be very quick on his feet to dodge the giant goblin-swords and even quicker to stab them but with much work the five lay dead on the ground. It was a short victory considering two more goblins attacked him. After a lot of swinging and dodging the two stabbed at the same time. Frodo was just swift enough to duck before the sword would have pierced him. The two goblins stabbed each other and fell to the ground. Frodo stood up to see the gigantic shadow of Og over him. He looked up at the fierce goblin's face. Og gave a dreadful swing of his sword and it nearly crushed Frodo but he ducked just in time. Frodo returned with a stab to Og's stomach but Og was able to dodge it and after many close calls Frodo finally stabbed Og in the leg. The goblin gave a cry of pain and rage. He grabbed Frodo by the neck and picked him up off the ground.

"Now I shall crush your bones, halfling!" he roared and tightened his grip on Frodo's neck. Frodo found it hard to breathe and just when he thought he couldn't take it anymore he heard a cry from Sam.

"You leave Mr. Frodo alone, beast!" he cried. Frodo look down to see Sam thrust his sword into Og's stomach. Black goblin blood squirted everywhere. Og's eyes went wide, his grip on Frodo's neck loosened, and he fell to the ground lifeless.

Frodo fell to the ground rather hard and was struck unconscious but when he woke up it was daylight and he was laying near where the fire had been.