Disclaimer: AU Story. My third large LOTR fic. I can't stop! None of the characters or settings are mine. They all belong to Tolkien. (Apart from Emáten) I wish I were related to Tolkien, don't you? It would be so cool! Oh, and the plot here is derived from my own imagination. Hope you enjoy.

Radia: Loved my holiday, thank you. St Lucia is a small island in the Caribbean and it's so warm... Don't worry about it, my geography is about as good as a mole's. Brégo (hopefully) will be OK but its nice to see that you're concerned for him. Poor Brégo! Rosie still has a little part to play in the story yet in a very Rosie-frame-of-mind too. She's a lot of fun to write! You want this fic to keep going? It's got about four or five more chapters to go, if that's any consolation and I do have a vague idea for another... Arg! Please don't hurt me! I'm writing *stares at blistered hands* Oh, yes, I remember reading some of Budgielover's work, somewhere. Another hobbit torturer, I believe? Thanks for the recommendation! But, man, you are freaky! You and your Nazgûl friends...

Shirebound: Thank you! I find it's always a lot more interesting to write a story if you can skip from one scene to another. A different environment so one doesn't go a little flat. That's what you're really good at- keeping one place so realistic and exciting all the way through a fic. The Fellowship will come together! They've got to!

Skye: Yes, you detailed Tolkien-impersonator, you. I don't know, I think if you sent off an example of your work to publishers, they'd publish it. Unlike SOME publishers who don't like me at all...*mutters about Puffin and David Fickling darkly* More evil Frodo to come!

ViNguyen: Oh dear! Well, I hope you did well on your tests. Not only that but you all get well soon! How awful for both your brother and sister to get ill. Huggles to them and you!

MagicalRachel: We can give you time! *hands over big sack filled with little coloured balls reading '1 minute'* Now write! Write! The sun frazzled my hair, I'm surprised it didn't get to my brains, actually! Oh, glad you liked that line, I thought it sounded quite Sammish. Yay for your Merry fic! And an impatient yay for Olympics! Nah, I'm kidding- I just can't wait for the next chapter

QTPie-2488: First off, I would like to thank you for your wonderful reviews for both Lost in Moria and Trials of Lórien. I am so grateful for all the time you spent reading my fics. Yes! Frodo has returned, but to what purpose...?

Alatariel: I'll get the Fellowship together! If it's last thing I do! And at this rate, it probably will be. Not long now, I promise!

Elbereth: Ah! Another Sam fan. Glad you liked that line- he gets all the poignant stuff here.

TrueFan: Hooray! You return! Go you on your science test! *blush* No, I'm not a literary sensation. Or I wouldn't have got rejected another time. *angry grumbles* Sorry- but I love that song! Gets my feet going, anyhow. Yep, loved my holiday, thanks. Me? I'm fine. I'm writing. St Lucia is in the Caribbean and it's lovely! Where you going for Spring Break? Or are you just lounging? Lounging's gooood. How are you then? And most importantly, how is the funky red lamp? :-D

~ ~ No! My book (Dogs are at War) got rejected. Again. First by Puffin and now by David Fickling. Damn *does Gretta Garbo pose* I vant to be alone...

~ Chapter Thirty-Two ~

"Gandalf, why all the rush?" Bilbo asked as he was fair dragged through the Hobbiton fields.

"Do you not even remember why Frodo went back, you foolish hobbit?" the wizard cried in exasperation, tripping on his robes. Bilbo did not reply for sometime but then said, very slowly,

"It really has returned, then? The Black Rider has come for Frodo?"

"He left to try and stop the last Nazgûl but he will not remember. I thought we had more time than this to find him."

"But what will he do? Frodo can't face a Black Rider," Bilbo cried. He was in terror for his cousin and though he longed to see him again, safe and happy, he loathed to give him the news. What could any of them do against a wraith?

"Gandalf, couldn't you do something?"

"What do you suggest? I could throw light at it- blind it. But I could not destroy a creature of the night. Not alone. That is why we need to bring the Fellowship together again. Only with their combined efforts may Frodo find a way of vanquishing this evil. Somehow."

Gandalf stopped then and the pair stood together on the very hilltop Frodo had as he gazed out across the Shire. There, the wizard pursued his lips and whistled. The note echoed across the landscape for miles, singing out its song as clearly as the first bird of the morning. Then, for a moment, silence reigned. The air was like glass. Muffled hoofbeats could be heard approaching. Bilbo spun around and gasped in awe as he saw Shadowfax breach the horizon.

"Shadowfax," Gandalf said, "So you have not forgotten me."

--

Brégo cantered down the riverbank and reared suddenly as a high-pitched note pierced the air. His riders could not hear it but the horse knew it was a summoning call. He turned and snorted, stamping his hooves and searching for the caller.

"What is wrong, Brégo?" Aragorn asked, coming close to his ear, "What do you hear?"

The horse twitched then fell calm. The note had faded away. But there was still a sound. Brégo paused, listening intently to the cries. He lifted his head and searched the trees in the distance for any sign of life. Legolas was looking too. After a while, he let out a yell of surprise, making his companions wince. Gimli turned round in the saddle to glower at him.

"What was that for?"

"You will never believe who is coming towards us from the woods yonder," the elf replied. He leapt down from Brégo's back and began sprinting down the Brandywine, waving his arms and laughing loudly.

"Who...?" Aragorn started as he squinted at the horizon but then he heard Legolas call again.

"Sam! Sam, it's us!"

"Sam? But what is he doing here?" Gimli cried. But Aragorn was already running. His heart was flying ahead of him, eager to embrace the hobbit and hear his voice again. Eleven years seemed suddenly to weigh down on his shoulders.

Sam flung his arms round Legolas' knees, bringing him crashing to the ground.

"Master Legolas!" he cried, "I never thought I'd see you this day. I never- I-"

But he was too overwhelmed to say more. Aragorn came next, falling down next to his friend and immersing Sam in a huge embrace. Too choked with tears to say anything at all, they just sat there in a circles, arms interlinked and eyes shining. In the end, they were forced to look up when Gimli fell off the horse.

--

Emáten sat down by the side of the path and Merry and Pippin collapsed on either side of him. They delved into their packs and took out as much food as they could. As the hobbits tucked in, Emáten got to his feet and went to stand beside Frodo.

"Frodo...?" he ventured nervously, "You must try and eat something. You have had no rest, food or water all day. If there is anything wrong, well, I know I am not the person you would tell but Master Meriadoc and Master Peregrin...do you not think Sam would want you to be happy and well?"

Frodo flinched at the mention of Sam. He gazed up at Emáten and the man bit on his lip, averting his eyes.

"Emáten," Frodo said quietly, "I am haunted by the Ring." There was something deeply frightening in those blue eyes just then. What appeared to be a flame. "Like a darkness that grows in my mind...and I cannot be rid of it. It wants something. It wants me to do something for It. Go to someone. But I won't...I can't let It control me again." The flame grew, enveloping the pupils of Frodo's eyes. Emáten lunged out and grabbed him by the shoulders, his heart pounding in fear.

'Ash nazg durbatuluk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatuluk, agh burzum- ishi krimpatul...'

"Emáten! Emáten!"

The man was dimly aware of Pippin's voice, as if calling him from a far distance. Someone shaking him.

"Stop it Frodo! What are you doing to him? Get off him!"

In his mind, Emáten saw a black chasm open. Frodo was standing there, surrounded by fire, trapped by the blaze. Behind him, a great eye loomed, encased in the body of the One Ring.

"Help me, Emáten! Please...don't let It take me again!" Frodo screamed as the eye drew ever nearer. Emáten, almost out of his mind with terror, plunging into the golden flames, lifting Frodo clear. Then he was running into unfathomable darkness. Shadows danced and grew all around, threatening to plunge down on them both. And then there was a great light. It filled the caverns of the hobbit and the man's mind, flowing over the iniquity in a wave of diamonds. Emáten could feel himself floating and his eyes, which he did not know had been closed, flickered open. And he found himself looking up into the face of the king.