A/N: I've gotten requests from both Shilo and rogue solus to update with at least one more chapter. I'm going to try and make this a half-decent one. I hope it works. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I know I put one of these in at the first chapter for all of them, but I felt it was overdue. Do ANY of you honestly think I own these characters? No? Good, because I don't.

… - Smeagol

{…} - Gollum

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Chapter 7: Odd Ends

Gollum slunk along the rocks with the ease of years of experience. All that time in the Mines of Moria had given him a gracefulness in moving across rocks that few creatures besides orcs and balrogs ever gain. His thin shrunken body seemed to blend in with the rocky background as they went along. The hobbits always managed to make sure he stayed in sight though.

Why must they do this to us? We only wants the Preciousss!! Gollum thought to himself as he led the group to the Black Gate. He rather liked the hobbit with the Precious; that hobbit understood him. The other one, the one that was always protecting the one with the Precious, he didn't like at all. Good master hobbit calls us Smeagol. Bad hobbit calls us Gollum. We likes the good hobbit and don't like the bad!

{Why don't we gets rid of the bad hobbit? We don't need him}

Master likes the stupid one. We must not harm the stupid one!

{But Master doesn't know if it's us that kills the other one. That tall being that is not an elf gives us a bad feeling. We should get rid of him too.}

No, no, Smeagol doesn't like murder! Smeagol doesn't like remembering…

Gollum kept this dialogue up with himself for quite some time as he kept guiding the group through the craggy landscape. Eventually they reached the bog-land. The mean hobbit insulted his intelligence when he accused Gollum of being stupid enough to lead them the wrong way and into a marshland. Smeagol glared at the hobbit, then snuck a glance at the other three people in the group. None of them seemed to agree with Sam's assumption. In fact, the other hobbit and the shorter human looked as if they disagreed with him entirely. Only the older human looked as if he shared a bit of Sam's point of view.

But the humans didn't know this realm yet. Smeagol took heart in this as much as he could and led them on. This promised to be an interesting journey.

********

Merry raced with the others through the woods. They had to put as much distance between themselves and the army of Uruk-hai as possible. What I wouldn't give for an ale right now, he thought as they kept running. Maybe some of this throbbing pain would go away if I had one.

A sound in the forest behind them made him crane his neck to see behind him. Just beyond Ron and Pippin, one of the creatures had followed them into the forest; the one that had seemed particularly interested in eating them before. It was clutching a wicked-looking dagger in it's right hand and running at them with all of the force it could muster.

That was all the encouragement Merry needed to run faster. When he'd reached a tree that looked promising, he began to climb into the branches. Pippin and Ron followed suit. Ron hadn't gotten far when the creature dragged him down. The Uruk-hai soldier brandished his weapon. "I'll skin you alive, hobbit filth!"

As the knife threatened to draw close to Ron, the boy seemed to notice a shadow suddenly looming over them both. As he looked up, a mass of roots came slamming down on the Uruk-hai. His upward gaze was met with two gigantic amber eyes. A woody voice spoke, "That was a close one, young Orc."

A giant hand of twigs picked Ron off the ground and held him in it's grasp. He glanced over and saw Merry and Pippin restrained in the other hand. Merry gave him an encouraging look and glanced up at the creature. "What are you?"

The bristly voice answered in a slow drone. "I am an Ent. A tree-herder of ancient days. They call me Treebeard. And what are your names, young orc spies?"

Pippin spoke up. "We're no' or' spies! We're hobbits! O' the Shire!"

Merry added his support. "Halflings! Little Folk!"

Ron shouted, "And one human! No orcs here!"

Treebeard gave a slow nod. "Maybe you are who you say. And maybe not. The White Wizard will know."

A dread filled Merry. The White wizard??…"Saruman."

Looks of fright filled the faces of the three captives as the Ent marched on to wherever he was going.

*******

Aragorn's hopes fell when he saw the smoldering pile that was the remnants of the Uruk-hai. He saw no signs of movement or life anywhere. His horse balked slightly when it smelled the scent of the creatures once more, but with a little urging, it went within twenty feet of the pile. The horse refused to go any closer. With a small sigh, he dismounted, gave the animal's nose a pat of encouragement, and slowly walked up to the smoking waste. The other three were right behind him.

Gimli began prodding the burnt corpses with his axe. It was not a pretty sight. A small voice called out from behind them. "Mobiluscorpus." Hermione had her wand drawn and was slowly moving bodies off the pile, a slight green tinge to her face as she saw the remains. Legolas was standing beside her, a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. He obviously didn't like seeing the results of the Rohirrim's attack, either. His elf eyes glanced over every body as it was moved, searching for something that might lead them as to what happened to their friends.

Then Aragorn spotted one of the hobbits' dagger sheaths in the pile of burnt refuse. He held it up for the rest of them to see. Gimli's head drooped in sorrow. Hermione had tears in her eyes that were very close to falling. Legolas was saying words of a blessing, his hand moving from Hermione's shoulder to give her a hug. She tolerated it for a long moment before slowly pulling away and walking away from the pile. The tears were flowing freely from her eyes.

The heir of Isildur fell to his knees and let out a cry of anguish. He had failed them. All three of them were gone, and it was his fault. He buried his face in his hands. How could he deal with this?

As he knelt there, Aragorn noticed three crushed spots on the dead grass. That's where they were laying. A weird feeling coursed through him when he looked at the spots. His ranger skills told him that the hobbits and Ron hadn't been laying there helplessly. There were flattened patches of grass nearby signifying that there were creatures trying to crawl. Notifying the others of this, he got up and started to act out what had happened. His suspicions were confirmed when, at the spot he indicated, they found the sliced ropes of their friends. He then told them that the tracks of the hobbits and Ron led away from the battle, into the forest.

At this revelation, Gimli looked as if he could have kissed Aragorn. They were all relieved when he didn't proceed to do so. Legolas's eyes began to shimmer with a hopeful gleam again and he got the usual determined look back on his face. Hermione's tears had stopped. She quickly composed herself and set off into the woods, not looking back once. Aragorn admired her bravery and nonchalance at going into the dreaded forest. But then again, she didn't know the legends about it.

Not stopping to think about it, Aragorn led the other two members of their group after the retreating back of the girl. A voice saying "Lumos!" drifted back to them, and they saw a light go on from the tip of Hermione's wand. If anything around her moved too quickly, she would say "Nox!" and throw a hex at it. Nothing got by her.

As they walked further into the trees, Legolas told Aragorn that a presence was drawing closer. Gimli drew his axe as he heard this. The trees began moaning and creaking even more than they already had. Hermione had brandished her wand threateningly again, pointing it at every little sound. She had a look of defiance and determination on her face. Arda help the one that got her mad.

Legolas told them both to lower their weapons. Both did so reluctantly. The excess creaking stopped. A hand appeared on Aragorn's shoulder. "The White Wizard." Out of his peripheral vision, he saw Legolas glance behind them.

As if by a silent agreement, they all pivoted around at the same time and each threw a destructive thing at the sudden white blaze. Nothing penetrated the light, though. Aragorn's sword grew so hot it scorched his hand. Gimli's axe was split. Legolas's arrow never left it's bow. He didn't think it was wise to attempt to shoot something that could repel an axe. Hermione's curse had at first seemed to do something, but was then dispelled a moment later. The light faded. They all stared in astonishment.

"Gandalf?"

********

Dobby stepped out of the room. He had just finished one of his Elvish lessons. He had learned what some of the names of the Elves meant. For instance, he now knew that Elrond's name meant "star dome." What weird names these beings have. Then Dobby realized that to them, Dobby was probably a pretty odd name.

In payment for his lodging, he had agreed to Galadriel's terms; a story a week about his own realm, and daily odd jobs around the city. His house-elf magic could come in handy for some of the smaller jobs and make it easier on the elves. He was more than happy to oblige. After all, the elves were being exceptionally nice to him. He would feel at home working for once instead of being treated otherwise.

So off he went, mending things here and there, using simple sweeping magic to clean the little bit of dust that the elves managed to leave around. He also stopped and mended garments and carried packages for some of the elves along the way. He was always happy to help in exchange to listening to them talk and improve his Elfin grammar.

As he was listening to a young lady elf chatter about her hair as he carried her shopping bags, he overheard a conversation going on behind them. He recognized the words "Rohan", "Saruman", "destroy", and "conquer". Fear flooded him when he heard the word "Elessar". He had heard Galadriel call Aragorn that as they had departed from Caras Galadhon. That meant that some of his friends were in the middle of danger!! Things had been going so well, and now he had to worry.

He handed the young lady her packages and turned around to face the two soldiers discussing the matter. He looked up at them and asked them directly. "Elessar?"

The two soldiers glanced at each other and began rummaging in their robe pockets for a quill and paper. Before they got far Dobby made a pen and paper appear. They looked at him appraisingly and began writing. When they had finished, they gave him a note and said the name "Galadriel."

Guessing what that meant, the house-elf took the note to Galadriel. She smiled at him. As she read the note, however, the smile faded slightly.

~Dobby, it appears that Saruman has sent a band of ravagers against the kingdom of the Rohirrim. Aragorn is supposedly in that area at this very moment. The soldiers said that they are sure Aragorn can take care of himself, but I know you must still be worried. There is no need to fear for your friends' lives. If they die, it will not have been in vain.~

Dobby listened to this and started a little when he heard Gandalf's name again. He decided to ask her about it. She told him that Gandalf had been resurrected as Gandalf the White, now on an equal par with Saruman. Dobby was overjoyed by the fact that his friends would now have the canny old wizard that reminded him of Dumbledore so much to help them through. With renewed confidence, he gave Galadriel a smile and went off to trim the hedges.

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A/N: So, what did you think? Reviews are always welcome! Flames too! And I'll take a cookie if you've got one! Thanks!