Disclaimer: All Star Trek related characters and concepts belong to Paramount; all Lord of the Rings related characters and concepts belong to J.R.R. Tolkien. I am merely borrowing them.
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THE SHADOW RIDERS
Chapter Nineteen: The Ring is Mine
"I am glad that you are here with me," said Frodo. "Here at the end of all things, Sam."
-J.R.R Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
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Hoshi thudded against the wall with a crash, one broken (and as yet unused) piece of the water jug still clenched in her fist, the other scattered to some other corner of the room when she had dropped it. The fall stunned her, and she merely lay for a moment, desperately trying to regain her breath.
This had to be some kind of trick; it couldn't be real. How was this Malcolm Reed, this blank-eyed stranger who had actually dealt her such a harsh blow?
He said again, "Captain..." and Hoshi shivered, because his voice sounded the same. His hands were wreathed in flame, and in his eyes danced the ghostly reflection of the fire burning in the palantír.
"Malcolm?" she said, her voice cracking. He did not move, and carefully she picked herself up from the floor and faced him across the palantír. "Malcolm, it's me, it's Hoshi, what are you doing?" she cried at him, and for all the effect her words had, she might have been speaking to a stone.
She did not want to touch him, but something must be done, so she reached down and gripped his hands, intending to pull them away from the palantír. But instead she found her mind whirling, pulled away from the little room, and out into the wide world. Sauron was watching them both; she could feel his presence in her mind, and she fought him as she had done so many times before, and cast him out yet again.
Her mind's eye whirled around Mordor and saw a massive army of orcs on one side of the Black Gate and another, smaller army of Men on the other. And beside her, in a manner she could not explain, she felt a hint of Malcolm's presence, like a warp trail in space. It was indeed him—she could not have explained this either, how she knew, but this was truly Malcolm. Changed, but still himself. So she followed the trail and whisked onward, watching in shock as the Black Tower blew itself to pieces in fast forward and Mordor emptied of orcs and became a truly dead land.
And there, in that smoking, ruinous wasteland, she saw a shuttle touch down, and men begin to search, not stopping for hours. At last only one was left, and she heard the call as he followed it down into the deep hole in the earth.
She went after him as he plunged down the stairs, calling to him, but he did not hear. He reached the black door at the very bottom and wrenched it open, and Hoshi was pulled back into her own body as he did so, and both she and Malcolm looked up at the very same instant.
"Hoshi! Malcolm!" cried the captain. "Where have you been?"
Malcolm looked dazed, and Archer reached out a hand to him, but it went right through his shoulder. Both men gazed at the errant hand in shock, and Hoshi stared at the both of them. "What happened to you?" whispered Archer.
"We called you," said Malcolm dully.
Fight it, Malcolm, fight it! Hoshi urged him silently.
"And I came," said Archer, obviously bemused. He looked around the room at them and once more waved his hand through Malcolm's shoulder. "I don't know what to do, though."
"Place your hands on the stone," said Malcolm.
"Oh, no, you don't," Hoshi cried, leaping around to the front and placing herself between it and Archer. "Don't touch that stone. Malcolm's not himself—he's being controlled by Sauron!" The name would mean nothing to Archer, she realized as soon as she said it.
Her captain looked back and forth in confusion. "Touch the stone, Captain!" yelled Malcolm suddenly. "Don't do it!" Hoshi said instantly. "It's Sauron, you can't let him have what he wants!"
"And what does he want?" said Archer, eyes wide.
"The ship's memory core," Malcolm said. "He will use it to hold his power and siphon it from the Ring, so even should that be destroyed he may live on. If you help him he will reward—reward—you greatly..." He shook his head. "Reward you..."
"Malcolm, fight him!" cried Hoshi, and with that Sauron came swooping into her mind, redoubling his attack. Here was what she had feared—all his strength was suddenly poured into her mind, overwhelming her barriers, taking over. Fire exploded through her body and she fell to the ground, screaming uncontrollably as spasms of pain raced through her veins. Someone called her name, but she could not answer...
And then suddenly he was gone as quickly as he had come, leaving in her mind a vision of a golden ring and a voice calling, "The Ring is mine!"
She opened her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks, and saw Malcolm's own dirty, tear-streaked face above her, his hands on her shoulders. The captain, his outline blurred, stood behind him. "He just left, Hoshi," whispered Malcolm, and she could feel him trembling. "He just left, he's gone, he heard Frodo, he'll destroy them both," he babbled, breathing heavily. "We have to get out of here now, while he's distracted." He turned and looked at the captain. "I'm sorry, sir. Go back to Enterprise."
With one sweep of his hand he knocked the palantír from the pedestal, flinging it against the wall. It hit the hard stone and cracked, splitting into three large pieces and many smaller shards, and the Captain vanished, his mouth wide as if trying to say something, but they did not hear it.
Malcolm lifted her up and onto his back, and she rode pig-a-back like a little child as he raced up the stairs. He pressed himself into the hollows of the wall as a pair of orcs passed, and then raced out to the front, where not one but two horses stood waiting.
"How on earth?" breathed Malcolm, but did not stop to question. They heard a rumble, and felt a tremor travel up through the floor. Hoshi clambered onto one and Malcolm quickly mounted the other. Without waiting for a command, the horses took off in a flat-out gallop, taking them over the bridge and out onto the road in a matter of seconds. Hoshi risked a look back and saw the Eye writhing atop its tower as if in pain.
"Malcolm, look!" she screamed over the noise of hooves. His head whipped around and they both saw the Lidless Eye burst into flames, looking back and forth in a panic. A great earthquake shook the land, but the horses did not stumble as they galloped onward. The tower began to crumble beneath the Eye, falling as if in slow-motion sideways, taking Sauron with it. He swelled and brightened—Malcolm screamed, "Look away!"
She turned around just as the Eye shrank to a pinpoint of light. The shockwave came a split second later, throwing the horses to the ground and tumbling them both off. The ground shook and cracked for what seemed an eternity, and Hoshi lay trembling with her hands over her head for a long time after it finally died away, leaving a heavy silence around them.
A pair of hands stroked her back, smoothed her hair, and drew her up from the ground into a strong embrace. She shook in Malcolm's arms, eyes tightly shut, as he rocked back and forth, just holding her tight. It took her a few minutes to notice that he was trembling as hard as she herself was, and finally she drew back and looked into his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Hoshi," he whispered in English, tears running down his cheeks. "I wanted to come sooner, I tried to come sooner, and I just couldn't."
"It doesn't matter," she whispered. "You came. That's what matters."
"I came to save you and I think you ended up saving me," he said, his voice hoarse.
"We saved each other," she told him, gripping his hand tightly. Another tremor shook the ground, and they looked back to see the great cone-shaped volcano violently erupting.
"Frodo," murmured Malcolm, bowing his head. "He's the one who bore the Ring all this way. He must have succeeded at last."
"He's in there?" whispered Hoshi in horror, staring at the volcano. "He'll never make it out."
"I don't know," said Malcolm, another tear cutting a trail through the dirt on his face. "It doesn't look very hopeful, does it?"
The horses whickered behind them, and Malcolm, with a long heavy sigh, picked himself up from the ground. His eyes rested on the mountain still, as lava and flame belched from the top in great fiery gouts of red. He held a hand out to Hoshi and looked her up and down as she stood, her legs shaky.
"You need a good square meal," he said quietly. "Oh, Hoshi, I am so sorry you went through all that. I'm so sorry."
"Stop apologizing," she told him pointedly as she climbed onto the back of the horse again. "It was not your fault. It's all over now. Sauron made a nice explosion, didn't he?"
Malcolm, mounting the other horse, stared at her for a moment, stopping with one leg lifted to reach over the broad back. Then he laughed, throwing his head back and sinking to the ground. "Oh yes, Hoshi, he did blow up bloody well!"
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They rode for the Gate, since it was much closer than Cirith Ungol. The path was treacherous, and the horses picked their way through it slowly, in no hurry now that Sauron was gone. Hoshi dozed upon her mount, letting it follow Malcolm, and as the hours passed merely looked around at the wide open spaces. Even Mordor had its own charm after being shut up in the Tower for so long. Her mind felt blessedly free, no threat from anywhere daring to intrude upon her mind. High above she saw birds flying, and her heart rejoiced that some life existed here after all.
Malcolm rode ahead in silence, his shoulders slumped. She could tell he was weary, as was she, but there would be little rest until they were out of this place. Somewhere she was worried that they would not even get out, for they had little food or water, but even that would not dampen her spirits.
One of the birds above wheeled lower and lower, and she realized suddenly that it was much bigger than she had originally thought. Someone was on its back, too, someone dressed in white robes and carrying a long staff. The great eagle skidded to a halt in front of them, and Malcolm slid off the horse with a glad cry.
"Gandalf!" he shouted, running to the old wizard. Gandalf flung his arms around Malcolm and embraced him tightly.
"So you have succeeded," he said as Hoshi approached, still mounted. He held Malcolm at arm's length and looked him up and down, and then examined Hoshi as well. "I sent Shadowfax to you right after we reached the Gate. I am glad to see he was there for you on time."
"I was most grateful," said Malcolm. "And greatly surprised to see him! That cannot have been very long to run all the way from the Gate to the Tower."
"He is a Mearas," said Gandalf, patting the white horse's neck. "He may do things beyond the comprehension of Men and other horses."
Another tremor rocked the earth, and both Malcolm and Hoshi looked at the volcano, instantly worried. "What of Frodo?" said Malcolm. "I saw him in Mordor, you know. I passed him on the road. He did not see me, but I saw him, and Sam as well."
Gandalf let out a great laugh, startling them both. "He and Sam are safe," he cried, slapping Malcolm on the back. "We found them hours ago on the slope of Mount Doom, both tired and hungry and wounded but alive. They are winging their way back to the camp at Cormallen as we speak. Indeed, they may already have arrived." He wrapped one arm around Malcolm's shoulder and gave him another squeeze. "And now we shall bring you back to Minas Tirith—unless you'd rather stay here, of course."
"Oh, no, no, I think we'll take your offer," said Malcolm hastily, breaking into a weary smile.
"Shadowfax will bring your good horse here safely home," said Gandalf, helping Hoshi down from the other horse. Two more Eagles had landed just beyond the first, and Gandalf led them over, helping each one up and then mounting the first one himself.
Shadowfax and the other horse whinnied and began to trot as the Eagles rose from the ground, their great wings beating out large clouds of dust from the rocky soil. Hoshi gripped the feathers beneath her as the Eagle shot into the sky; somewhere, she heard Malcolm give a whoop of delight, and off they went, away from Mordor and away from the Tower, never to return again.
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I'm taking a bit of liberty here. Ever notice in the movie that when they start fighting Gandalf is no longer sitting on Shadowfax? Well, I decided he had to go save Malcolm, and that's what happened to him.
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THE SHADOW RIDERS
Chapter Nineteen: The Ring is Mine
"I am glad that you are here with me," said Frodo. "Here at the end of all things, Sam."
-J.R.R Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
Hoshi thudded against the wall with a crash, one broken (and as yet unused) piece of the water jug still clenched in her fist, the other scattered to some other corner of the room when she had dropped it. The fall stunned her, and she merely lay for a moment, desperately trying to regain her breath.
This had to be some kind of trick; it couldn't be real. How was this Malcolm Reed, this blank-eyed stranger who had actually dealt her such a harsh blow?
He said again, "Captain..." and Hoshi shivered, because his voice sounded the same. His hands were wreathed in flame, and in his eyes danced the ghostly reflection of the fire burning in the palantír.
"Malcolm?" she said, her voice cracking. He did not move, and carefully she picked herself up from the floor and faced him across the palantír. "Malcolm, it's me, it's Hoshi, what are you doing?" she cried at him, and for all the effect her words had, she might have been speaking to a stone.
She did not want to touch him, but something must be done, so she reached down and gripped his hands, intending to pull them away from the palantír. But instead she found her mind whirling, pulled away from the little room, and out into the wide world. Sauron was watching them both; she could feel his presence in her mind, and she fought him as she had done so many times before, and cast him out yet again.
Her mind's eye whirled around Mordor and saw a massive army of orcs on one side of the Black Gate and another, smaller army of Men on the other. And beside her, in a manner she could not explain, she felt a hint of Malcolm's presence, like a warp trail in space. It was indeed him—she could not have explained this either, how she knew, but this was truly Malcolm. Changed, but still himself. So she followed the trail and whisked onward, watching in shock as the Black Tower blew itself to pieces in fast forward and Mordor emptied of orcs and became a truly dead land.
And there, in that smoking, ruinous wasteland, she saw a shuttle touch down, and men begin to search, not stopping for hours. At last only one was left, and she heard the call as he followed it down into the deep hole in the earth.
She went after him as he plunged down the stairs, calling to him, but he did not hear. He reached the black door at the very bottom and wrenched it open, and Hoshi was pulled back into her own body as he did so, and both she and Malcolm looked up at the very same instant.
"Hoshi! Malcolm!" cried the captain. "Where have you been?"
Malcolm looked dazed, and Archer reached out a hand to him, but it went right through his shoulder. Both men gazed at the errant hand in shock, and Hoshi stared at the both of them. "What happened to you?" whispered Archer.
"We called you," said Malcolm dully.
Fight it, Malcolm, fight it! Hoshi urged him silently.
"And I came," said Archer, obviously bemused. He looked around the room at them and once more waved his hand through Malcolm's shoulder. "I don't know what to do, though."
"Place your hands on the stone," said Malcolm.
"Oh, no, you don't," Hoshi cried, leaping around to the front and placing herself between it and Archer. "Don't touch that stone. Malcolm's not himself—he's being controlled by Sauron!" The name would mean nothing to Archer, she realized as soon as she said it.
Her captain looked back and forth in confusion. "Touch the stone, Captain!" yelled Malcolm suddenly. "Don't do it!" Hoshi said instantly. "It's Sauron, you can't let him have what he wants!"
"And what does he want?" said Archer, eyes wide.
"The ship's memory core," Malcolm said. "He will use it to hold his power and siphon it from the Ring, so even should that be destroyed he may live on. If you help him he will reward—reward—you greatly..." He shook his head. "Reward you..."
"Malcolm, fight him!" cried Hoshi, and with that Sauron came swooping into her mind, redoubling his attack. Here was what she had feared—all his strength was suddenly poured into her mind, overwhelming her barriers, taking over. Fire exploded through her body and she fell to the ground, screaming uncontrollably as spasms of pain raced through her veins. Someone called her name, but she could not answer...
And then suddenly he was gone as quickly as he had come, leaving in her mind a vision of a golden ring and a voice calling, "The Ring is mine!"
She opened her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks, and saw Malcolm's own dirty, tear-streaked face above her, his hands on her shoulders. The captain, his outline blurred, stood behind him. "He just left, Hoshi," whispered Malcolm, and she could feel him trembling. "He just left, he's gone, he heard Frodo, he'll destroy them both," he babbled, breathing heavily. "We have to get out of here now, while he's distracted." He turned and looked at the captain. "I'm sorry, sir. Go back to Enterprise."
With one sweep of his hand he knocked the palantír from the pedestal, flinging it against the wall. It hit the hard stone and cracked, splitting into three large pieces and many smaller shards, and the Captain vanished, his mouth wide as if trying to say something, but they did not hear it.
Malcolm lifted her up and onto his back, and she rode pig-a-back like a little child as he raced up the stairs. He pressed himself into the hollows of the wall as a pair of orcs passed, and then raced out to the front, where not one but two horses stood waiting.
"How on earth?" breathed Malcolm, but did not stop to question. They heard a rumble, and felt a tremor travel up through the floor. Hoshi clambered onto one and Malcolm quickly mounted the other. Without waiting for a command, the horses took off in a flat-out gallop, taking them over the bridge and out onto the road in a matter of seconds. Hoshi risked a look back and saw the Eye writhing atop its tower as if in pain.
"Malcolm, look!" she screamed over the noise of hooves. His head whipped around and they both saw the Lidless Eye burst into flames, looking back and forth in a panic. A great earthquake shook the land, but the horses did not stumble as they galloped onward. The tower began to crumble beneath the Eye, falling as if in slow-motion sideways, taking Sauron with it. He swelled and brightened—Malcolm screamed, "Look away!"
She turned around just as the Eye shrank to a pinpoint of light. The shockwave came a split second later, throwing the horses to the ground and tumbling them both off. The ground shook and cracked for what seemed an eternity, and Hoshi lay trembling with her hands over her head for a long time after it finally died away, leaving a heavy silence around them.
A pair of hands stroked her back, smoothed her hair, and drew her up from the ground into a strong embrace. She shook in Malcolm's arms, eyes tightly shut, as he rocked back and forth, just holding her tight. It took her a few minutes to notice that he was trembling as hard as she herself was, and finally she drew back and looked into his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Hoshi," he whispered in English, tears running down his cheeks. "I wanted to come sooner, I tried to come sooner, and I just couldn't."
"It doesn't matter," she whispered. "You came. That's what matters."
"I came to save you and I think you ended up saving me," he said, his voice hoarse.
"We saved each other," she told him, gripping his hand tightly. Another tremor shook the ground, and they looked back to see the great cone-shaped volcano violently erupting.
"Frodo," murmured Malcolm, bowing his head. "He's the one who bore the Ring all this way. He must have succeeded at last."
"He's in there?" whispered Hoshi in horror, staring at the volcano. "He'll never make it out."
"I don't know," said Malcolm, another tear cutting a trail through the dirt on his face. "It doesn't look very hopeful, does it?"
The horses whickered behind them, and Malcolm, with a long heavy sigh, picked himself up from the ground. His eyes rested on the mountain still, as lava and flame belched from the top in great fiery gouts of red. He held a hand out to Hoshi and looked her up and down as she stood, her legs shaky.
"You need a good square meal," he said quietly. "Oh, Hoshi, I am so sorry you went through all that. I'm so sorry."
"Stop apologizing," she told him pointedly as she climbed onto the back of the horse again. "It was not your fault. It's all over now. Sauron made a nice explosion, didn't he?"
Malcolm, mounting the other horse, stared at her for a moment, stopping with one leg lifted to reach over the broad back. Then he laughed, throwing his head back and sinking to the ground. "Oh yes, Hoshi, he did blow up bloody well!"
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They rode for the Gate, since it was much closer than Cirith Ungol. The path was treacherous, and the horses picked their way through it slowly, in no hurry now that Sauron was gone. Hoshi dozed upon her mount, letting it follow Malcolm, and as the hours passed merely looked around at the wide open spaces. Even Mordor had its own charm after being shut up in the Tower for so long. Her mind felt blessedly free, no threat from anywhere daring to intrude upon her mind. High above she saw birds flying, and her heart rejoiced that some life existed here after all.
Malcolm rode ahead in silence, his shoulders slumped. She could tell he was weary, as was she, but there would be little rest until they were out of this place. Somewhere she was worried that they would not even get out, for they had little food or water, but even that would not dampen her spirits.
One of the birds above wheeled lower and lower, and she realized suddenly that it was much bigger than she had originally thought. Someone was on its back, too, someone dressed in white robes and carrying a long staff. The great eagle skidded to a halt in front of them, and Malcolm slid off the horse with a glad cry.
"Gandalf!" he shouted, running to the old wizard. Gandalf flung his arms around Malcolm and embraced him tightly.
"So you have succeeded," he said as Hoshi approached, still mounted. He held Malcolm at arm's length and looked him up and down, and then examined Hoshi as well. "I sent Shadowfax to you right after we reached the Gate. I am glad to see he was there for you on time."
"I was most grateful," said Malcolm. "And greatly surprised to see him! That cannot have been very long to run all the way from the Gate to the Tower."
"He is a Mearas," said Gandalf, patting the white horse's neck. "He may do things beyond the comprehension of Men and other horses."
Another tremor rocked the earth, and both Malcolm and Hoshi looked at the volcano, instantly worried. "What of Frodo?" said Malcolm. "I saw him in Mordor, you know. I passed him on the road. He did not see me, but I saw him, and Sam as well."
Gandalf let out a great laugh, startling them both. "He and Sam are safe," he cried, slapping Malcolm on the back. "We found them hours ago on the slope of Mount Doom, both tired and hungry and wounded but alive. They are winging their way back to the camp at Cormallen as we speak. Indeed, they may already have arrived." He wrapped one arm around Malcolm's shoulder and gave him another squeeze. "And now we shall bring you back to Minas Tirith—unless you'd rather stay here, of course."
"Oh, no, no, I think we'll take your offer," said Malcolm hastily, breaking into a weary smile.
"Shadowfax will bring your good horse here safely home," said Gandalf, helping Hoshi down from the other horse. Two more Eagles had landed just beyond the first, and Gandalf led them over, helping each one up and then mounting the first one himself.
Shadowfax and the other horse whinnied and began to trot as the Eagles rose from the ground, their great wings beating out large clouds of dust from the rocky soil. Hoshi gripped the feathers beneath her as the Eagle shot into the sky; somewhere, she heard Malcolm give a whoop of delight, and off they went, away from Mordor and away from the Tower, never to return again.
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
I'm taking a bit of liberty here. Ever notice in the movie that when they start fighting Gandalf is no longer sitting on Shadowfax? Well, I decided he had to go save Malcolm, and that's what happened to him.