This, my friends, is the end to Part One. I will do this as Tolkien did with his masterpiece. You know what I'm talking about. ;) Part One will be named Quest of the Fellowship. A bit late for this title? Probably. Do I honestly care? Nope! Bai for now!

~Hoshiko

A Fellowship no More

They traveled along the edge of Mirkwood for two weeks, and eventually the green fields turned into brown, lifeless dirt.

'The Brown Lands.' Relnik said, looking out into the dreary darkness. 'Oh, how I wish I was back under the mountains of Greenwood!' He said, and they continued on their way. The hobbits, by now, were trudging, for though there was no snow on the ground, it was frightfully cold, and it rubbed even their tough hobbit-feet raw.

'Who said hobbits shouldn't wear shoes?' Param asked, rubbing his foot one night. 'Even this is too much for me!' he said, and lay down to sleep. Relnik and Froin had offered to keep watch that night, and while they sat in the quiet, Param's loud snores ringing through the darkness, Relnik turned to Froin.

'What did the Lady Nimril give to you?' he asked, and Froin grasped the necklace that was around her neck.

'She gave me her Star-stone, as a sign of unity between Elves and Dwarves.' Froin answered quietly, and Relnik nodded. The time in Greenwood seemed to have changed their points of view on each other. It was easy to see another friendship was forming between the two, both putting aside their differences. Except from Greenwood, this was a rare thing among the two races still. Those not immediately effected by Gimli and Legolas never seemed to know that connection, and these two had never been immediately effected by it. They could at least sit next to each other with out bickering of something.

The night remained quiet, until there was a loud sound in the night, like an animal call.

'What is that?' Froin asked quickly, hopping to her feet and getting out her new axe. Relnik looked around with his elvish eyes and could see five pairs of green, glittering eyes in the dark.

'Wargs!' he said, and loaded his bow. 'Wake the others, quickly!' he cried, and shot into the dark. He hit something, and it screeched in pain.

'What's going on?' Terry asked sleepily from the middle of the group.

'Attack!' Froin cried, and they all seemed to awake immediately, pulling out their swords.

'What are they?' Dweller asked, pulling out Elendil.

'Wargs, and possibly something else!' Relnik answered, right before an arrow whizzed passed his head. He immediately shot where it had come from and hit something, it screeched also. 'Excuse me, I was wrong, definitely something else.' He corrected himself, and though the night was dark, the light of the moon made the outlines of a dozen or more orcs riding wargs apparent. Before anyone had any time to react, an orc kicked his warg in the side, and it jumped in the middle of the group, followed by all the others.

'Elendil!' Aradraen cried, and immediately started slaying orcs. The hobbits cried out, too, and did the best they could. Before they knew it, two wargs, one in front, and one in back surrounded Param and Terry. They immediately faced a different warg, and swung rather wildly with their swords, cutting the beasts' throats.

'Well, that was lucky!' Param said before another one jumped at him, and he stabbed it in the middle of the face.

'I think we might actually be getting the hang of this, Par!' Terry said before he picked up a rock and flung it at an orc's head, hitting it hard. The thing fell and Terry smiled at his own throwing skills.

Brom and Ondril, however, were having a worse time. Five orcs and wargs surrounded them, not particularly to their liking. A warg smiled winningly at its newfound meal, but Brom sliced its nose off. As it reeled back in pain he sliced his throat with one swift movement and it fell to the ground.

'That'll teach you to snarl at Mr. Ondril!' Brom said, as Ondril himself slew another offending creature. They were doing well with it, until one orc knocked the sword out of Brom's hand, and nearly took his head off.

'Brom!' Ondril cried, and the orc turned on him. It was about to throw a knife at him when it fell off its warg, dead. Froin came over and pulled her axe out of it's neck, smiling.

'This is a good axe!' she roared, laughing, and turned around slaying many others. Brom shook his head and stood up, getting his sword after Ondril came over to him.

'I'm all right, Mr. Ondril!' he said, though he staggered when he stood.

'Brom, you're going to kill yourself!'

'Better me than you, if you get my meaning.' Brom said, and turned to fight another, but found that there were no more to fight, for they were all on the ground, dead. There had been less than they had seen, and Dweller looked around the camp.

'It is not safe here, they have found us.' She said, panting. 'Get your things, we must flee from here, now!' she cried, and they all did so quickly. When they were done, she pointed south, and they followed her, going at the quickest pace they had for a good, long time. They continued in this fashion until the break of day, when Relnik could see no sign of any more orcs, and everyone collapsed on the ground, too tired to go on. Everyone fell asleep immediately, though Relnik stayed awake to keep watch.

They slept through out the day and night, and when they were all awake they set out again. Walking at a normal speed now, they reached the North Undeep, which was deeper than it had been previously, and stopped to camp.

'Rest up, I am not sure how we will cross yet.' She said, and they made the camp. Here there were many ruins of a time long ago, when the Numenorians still had rule over the land.

'We should go.' Relnik said, looking into the forest. 'Something lingers in the woods.'

'No, we can not.' Dweller said, walking to her half brother, putting her hand on his shoulder. 'The hobbits need their rest, we need to stop.'

'Where are we going after this?' Param asked, and Dweller sat by the fire.

'We either have the option of going over to the Wold and traveling south, over the lands of Rohan, or staying on this side, and go over the Emyn Muil. It is up to the Stone Bearer, Ondril.' Ondril looked up at the faces of his comrades, seeing them all tired and weather-beaten.

'I… need time to think of It.' he said, and stood. It was plain to see the Stone was taking its toll on the hobbit, and Brom looked worriedly at his master.

'Mr. Ondril…'

'Yes, I will need time to think of it alone.' Ondril said, and walked off into the forest himself. He seemed to be the only one to notice that Teredon was not there with them, though the man's items were.

'He doesn't eat.' Brom muttered to himself, and fed a few more faggots to the fire.

Ondril walked through the forest, trying to find the man of Gondor that had walked off by himself. He found him a little while later, sitting by himself and staring straight in front of him. When the hobbit came up to him he jumped slightly.

'Are you sure you dare trust me with such an item?' Teredon asked, and Ondril sighed. 'If you do, you are the only one.'

'That is what has been bothering you?'

'No one seems to understand that I am not Boromir.' He looked at Ondril with a fire in his eyes that did remind him of the long-dead man. 'Yet have I asked for the Stone? No! I could have many times, yes, but I did not.' He said, and Ondril opened his hand, and in his little palm laid the stone.

'Would you take it if I offered it?' Ondril asked, and the color drained from Teredon's face. His look changed, though, and in his mind he could hear a voice calling Teredon… Teredon… the true… King!

'I-I… I would not know if I would deny it…' Teredon said, hand outstretched towards the stone. Ondril looked on, fearing what he had just done. 'It is… precious…' Teredon muttered, hand inches away from the stone. His eyes trailed up to Ondril's, though, and his closed the hobbit's hand over the stone. 'But I will not accept it. It was appointed to you, only you could do It.' he said, and Ondril nodded.

'You are truly a valiant man.' Ondril said, and placed it back in his pocket. 'Not many would deny it.'

'As I have said before, I am not Boromir.' Teredon said, and turned back towards the group. 'Are you not coming?'

'No, I came out here to be alone. Go back, I will be fine.' Ondril said, and Teredon nodded, color coming back into his face. He walked back to the camp, leaving Ondril to think of his own things. When he arrived at the camp, Dweller looked at him, becoming suspicious of his face. In reality he was pleased that he did not take the Stone, but she interpreted it differently.

'What have you done?' She asked, and he looked at her confused.

'I did nothing. I was just having a conversation with Ondril.' Teredon said, but she refused to believe him. 'I left him alone to think.'

'Did you?' Dweller asked. Her trust in him had been diminished once he had confronted her that one night. The fact that he had seemed very shifty from mistrust in himself had led her to believe he was planning something.

'Yes I did.' He said, surprised at her mistrust.

'Aradraen!' Relnik said, appalled at his younger sister's actions and tone. 'I do not think he would have harmed him!'

'Have you not seen the shiftiness in his eye?' Aradraen barked back in Sindarin, 'I do not trust him, for all we know he could be doing the same as Boromir!' She said, and stood, hurrying off into the place Teredon had just come. Relnik shook her head and Froin pat Teredon on his back.

'It's all right, we've all been on edge lately.' Froin said, but Teredon stared into the fire.

'She's going off into the wrong part of the forest…' Teredon said, and something caught Relnik's eye.

'There is something out there…' he said, before a loud shriek pierced the air.

'Mr. Ondril's off by himself!' Brom cried, running off into the forest. Froin practically picked up the other two hobbits and set them on their feet.

'Grab you packs, and go hide, now!' she said, and the two obeyed. They ran to the forest, and after a bit of running, Terry found a hollowed-out log.

'Param! In here, quickly!' He said, and practically shoved his older cousin inside the log. The two hid, hardly breathing.

'Where are the others?' Param asked, and Terry shook his head as much as he could.

'I don't know, but shush!' he said, and Param kept quiet, for fear that they would be discovered.

Back at the camp, however, Teredon looked around frantically, trying to remember which way Ondril had gone.

'Do not worry about Ondril, Aradraen will keep a good eye on him, it is our skins we must worry about!' Relnik said, just as orcs began to jump through the foliage. The three started fighting immediately, Froin chopping off a few orc-necks, Relnik shooting many with his bow, and Teredon stabbing many in the stomach, eventually working their way away from the campsite.

Aradraen searched around for the small hobbit, he could not have gotten far. She was relieved when she saw him sitting on top an old ruin, thinking.

'Are you all right?' she asked, and he jumped about a foot in the air.

'What? O-oh, yes, I'm fine.' He said, and she stood next to him. 'I just had a strange experience, that's all.'

'I knew it! Did Teredon hurt you at all, did he do as Boromir, did he try to take the Stone?' She said quickly, and he looked up in surprise.

'No! No, nothing of the sort!' he said, stopping her. 'He was right, no one had trust in him, not even you! I offered him the Stone, and he was tempted, but he denied. He let me go and think by myself.' Ondril said, and Aradraen saw the truth in his eyes.

'He spoke the truth…'

'Yes, he is a brave and noble man.' Ondril said, and she looked down thoughtfully. Could she have been wrong? Obviously she had been wrong. He had been right, she had no respect for her own race, and she had let that cloud her judgement of him. The fact that there had been weak men had made her perception of him be of the same weaknesses. This train of thought was broken, though, for she could see Sting in its sheath glow blue.

'Orcs!' she said, and Ondril jumped up, pulling out his sword. 'Go, quickly, they are near.'

'But the other's-'

'Go! We must let you go, I will fight them off.' She said, and turned, long braid swinging behind her. Ondril ran the other way, back near the camp. The orcs came quickly, hundreds of them, and she fought them off quickly, killing them one by one. None seemed to see that Ondril had run off the other way, and she was left to fight alone, until Relnik and Froin joined her. Together they were a good team, and no orcs stood a chance. If one orc were to come from behind Relnik so he did not see, Froin threw her sword into its back. If one archer aimed an arrow at Aradraen, Relnik would shoot it before it had a chance. Before long they had all fallen, and through the quiet they could hear a strong, proud, and loud sound.

'What is that?' Froin asked, breathing hard.

'The horn of Gondor, Teredon is in trouble!' Aradraen cried, and they all raced off to the source of the sound.

Brom ran through the forest of the North Undeep, calling out frantically. 'Frodo, Mr. Frodo, where are you?' he screamed, unable to keep from calling his master his previous name. He ran, heart racing, until in the other part of the forest he could see the small figure of his master, running south. When he saw him he ran faster, but Ondril acted as if he did not hear. 'Frodo, wait along, now, I'm not that fast!'

'Samwise, let me go alone this time!' Brom stopped dead in his tracks, as did Ondril.

'What?'

'I want to go alone!' He said, and when he turned Brom could see tears streaming down his face. 'I don't want you to go through that again!'

'Weather you want to hear it or not, you went through more than I did!' Brom said, and Ondril turned on his heals, walking again. 'You let me go with you, or-or…' he looked around frantically, and saw next to him the streaming Anduin. 'Or I'll go into the river!' he said, and Ondril stopped again. 'You know what happened last time!'

'Brom, no!' Ondril cried, but Brom took no heed to his word. He jumped into the water and swam as well as he could, until he could not touch the bottom any longer. He started to sink. 'SAMWISE!' Ondril screamed, and ran in after Brom. He ran out to the spot in the water that Brom had gone, and he fished frantically for his friend. He could see bubbles where Brom was, and he grabbed in that direction, getting hold of his coat. He pulled with all his strength, and pulled his sputtering companion out from the water.

'Are you mad, my good lad? You could have been killed!' Ondril cried, and Brom shook his head once a large amount of water left his body.

'Don't you see, Ondril? I don't care if I died! You can't make it alone, you need someone! No one could make it alone, I'm never going to leave you to do it with out me!' he said, he now was crying.

'Oh, Sam!' Ondril cried, tears coming again to his eyes as well as Brom's as he clung onto his friend. 'Though I'd rather you not, I'm so glad you have, you haven't a clue! Come along, get your pack, I have mine, we cannot stay here much longer.' He said, and helped Brom up. They walked off down the Anduin getting Brom's pack at the campsite. Ondril clapped his friend on the shoulder.

'We will go, and may he others find a safer road! Dweller will look after them. I don't suppose we shall see them again.'

'You've said that once before Ondril, and I'll give you the same answer. Yet we may, Mr. Frodo. We may,' said Brom.