Rose opened her eyes. The first thing she registered was darkness. She sat up. As her eyes adjusted, she saw that she was lying in a rocky, barren wilderness. She blinked and rubbed her eyes. A wilderness? Her confused brain managed to piece together the last few minutes before she'd blacked out. They'd been in the TARDIS- her and the Doctor and they'd been laughing about a close escape from a bunch of Slitheen on Kronos Minor.

This was not the TARDIS. It wasn't Kronos Minor either- unless an area of the planet had a rocky, foul-smelling area that she and the Doctor didn't know about.

She heard voices coming from behind a rock. As quietly as possible, she stood up and moved toward the origin of the sounds. As she crept closer, the voices stopped suddenly. A little wary, she carried on until she was peeping out from behind the rock.

There was a crater. The rock seemed to be lodged in the side. She looked down. Two faces looked up. She studied their owners for a moment. They were small, very small, but in most other aspects looked human. Apart from their feet, which looked too big for their owners and were very hairy.

One of them had brown hair, the other blonde. The blonde stood up, brandishing a dagger. The brunette followed suit, but slowly. Rose raised her hands in a 'surrender' sign. "Who are you and what do you want?" yelled the blonde. Very to the point- the Doc would like him. Thought Rose, in the part of her mind that wasn't telling her to laugh at the sight of the midget waving a dagger.

"I'm Rose," she replied cautiously- in her experience, small people were not to be underestimated "This may seem a stupid question, but where are we?"

The blonde opened his mouth to give what was no doubt going to be a rather cheeky reply, but his friend got there first. "Do you not know? This is Mordor, or the Black Land as it is known to some." His voice was soft and when he looked at her, his eyes reminded her sharply of the Doctor, even more so than his friend's greeting. "My name is Frodo Baggins and this is my friend Sam."

Minas Tirith was quiet. The day's swarm of people had retreated to their homes. The only people out were the guards.

The Doctor stood on a balcony outside his room. Any normal day hed've been observing the city around him, but even the beautiful white stonework and buildings failed to attract his attention.

The reinforcements had arrived in the city that morning. There were many of them, but from what he'd heard, they were all too few. And none of them had news of Rose. There were now very few places she could be.

Something nudged his arm. He looked into the anxious face of Pippin. Smiling, he nodded a greeting. The hobbit turned, crossing his arms and leaning on the balcony side, which was almost as tall as he was.

"What's the matter?" the Doctor asked, concerned for the small citadel guard member standing next to him.

"I was about to ask you the same question." Came the reply. The Doctor smiled.

"I'm fine- just miss my friend." Pippin nodded.

"Same here- life's just not the same without Merry around. What's your friend called?"

"Rose. Rose Tyler. We got separated while we were travelling. I'm sure she's in Middle-Earth somewhere, I just don't know where." The Doctor sighed softly. The sound did not escape Pippin's sharp hobbit-ears though and he tried to provide some comfort.

"Well, chances are she's not in Mordor- it's something like 5 to 1 she landed somewhere else."

"Thanks. Mordor's that really nasty place right? Where all that smoke's coming from."

"Yes, that's it. It's the home of Sauron- you must've heard about him by now." At a nod from the Doctor, he continued "Sauron made a ring and tied his life force to it. The ring can only be destroyed in Mt Doom, or Orodruin. That's its proper name. My cousin Frodo was given the ring by Bilbo and now Frodo's got to destroy it. He's in Mordor with Sam right now- at least, that's what we hope. If Sauron gets his ring back, then we're doomed."

"Ouch." The Doctor agreed. From what he'd heard of Sauron, it was no wonder everyone wanted him dead.

They spent a few moments in silence. After a while, Gandalf came in.

"Peregrin Took- bed for you. You will be up early to serve the steward tomorrow…" his words were cut off as a bright light shone from the edge of Mordor. Massive bolts of energy flew upwards, tearing the sky apart with an almighty crash. It reminded the Doctor of the energy beam that had destroyed Skaro and countless other planets before it turned on Gallifrey. With a shudder, he turned his thoughts back to the present.

Pippin looked downright terrified. Gandalf, on the other hand, looked as though he had expected this. The Doctor's sharp ears strained to hear him speak above the sound. "It has begun"

A few hours after Rose met the hobbits, a creature came up. They had not heard its approach- at least, Rose hadn't- until a pale head peered over the edge of the crater, followed by a spindly body. Thin as sticks, the creature climbed down like some sort of animal. Rose studied it for a moment. At least she was past the phase of going 'eew!' at rather ugly aliens she and the Doctor happened to meet.

Bulbous eyes gleamed in the semi-darkness. Rose was sure that whatever the thing was, it was studying her as much as she was it.

"Who iss thissss precious? Who hasss joined nice master?" its voice was raspy and certainly not pleasant.

"Sméagol- this is Rose" came Frodo's reply "She found us just after we woke up"

"We hopes nice master had good sleep Gollum" here it made a sound like someone trying to vomit with nothing in their stomach "Hasss sshe brought food? Nice fish perhaps?"

"Sorry" Rose was repulsed by the thing- Sméagol- although she tried to hide it "I don't have any food. Just a bit of water" she had been holding a bottle of Vittel when she got sent to Mordor.

Sméagol looked upset "No food? Sméagol longs for nice fissssh, oh yes precious we do. We haven't had fish since tricksy men tried to shoot us, no we haven't"

"It served you right then- and I 'ope you learned a lesson!" Sam shouted. Rose blinked. Although he had been like that to her, she had thought it was just because she had been new to him and therefore not to be trusted. It seemed that his anger went further than just shouting at her.

Sméagol glared at Sam before doing an impressive attempt at reproachfulness. "Sméagol was being good. Good Sméagol deserved nothing gollum."

Sam opened his mouth but Frodo looked at him meaningfully. "Sam, leave him alone. You know he's helped us this far- why do you still distrust him?"

"Because" explained Sam in the tones of someone who has tried the argument a million times "he's a liar Mr Frodo, a phoney. He wants the Ring- and he don't care what he does to get it."

"No, no" grinned Sméagol "Good Sméagol help master, good Sméagol show the way to Mordor!" he crawled over to Frodo, pawing at him. Rose looked on in disgust. She had always hated suck-ups and almost sympathised with Sam over his hatred for Sméagol.

Frodo looked sorrowfully at Sam, then at Rose. "Come on, we need to get going. Rose you can come with us or stay here. It's your choice."

Rose looked back at Sam, then at Sméagol, at Sam, then back at Frodo. "I'll come." She replied "Got nothing else to do anyway."