Disclaimer: I'm back and Q gave me complete rights to Star Trek and LOTR. Just kidding. I still own nothing. Enjoy.

CHAPTER 8: Queer Lodgings Part II

The enormous marshmallow had been consumed mostly by the Hobbits, who were chasing each other in circles. After a few minutes, Q became quite bored with watching them.

"All right, Halflings, that's sufficient. It's time to go to sleep!" he said, snapping his fingers. Three Hobbits didn't bother to stop and just ignored the entity, but Pippin blew a raspberry at him. Q was appalled. "Where did he learn that? Don't Middle Earthens have any manners at all? They're boring me and all they can do is that!"

"Now that you're bored, you can fix my hair," Legolas demanded.

"Fine," Q sighed and snapped his fingers again. Instantly Legolas' hair was restored to its usual length. Immediately a screech resonated through the air and the entire fellowship, with the excepltion of Sam, Pippin, Merry, and Gimli (who was still unconscious) glanced up at the sky. Frodo clutched his shoulder as a black shape floated over the moon. Wesley glanced at Q for some explanation, but was met with only the unexpected look of confusion.

"They are the nine," Gandalf whispered to Q and Wesley, but the whole of Rivendell could have heard his words through the silence that engulfed them. A look of shocked understanding crossed the entity's face, but Gandalf's statement had meant no more to Wesley than if Q had started babbling about the structure of the universe.

"They were men once," Aragron explained in Wesley's ear, his voice like the wind, causing Wesley to jump in surprise. "Then the Dark Lord Sauron gave them rings of power and transformed them into his slaves. They will hnever stop hunting the bearer of the one ring, for they are drawn to its power." Out of the corner of his eye, Wesley saw Frodo shudder. Then, as suddenly as it had come, the shadow passed.

"They have no power in Imladris," Gandalf explained. Then, more silently, he added, "not yet." He motioned for Aragorn to come aside with him. As they disappeared from the dimming light of the campfire, Q smirked and, with a snao of his fingers, he was gone. Only Legolas and Wesley seemed to notice, for Boromir was occupied with his thoughts and Frodo was still shaken from the appearance of the Nazgul. The Elf and the young human exchanged a knowing look. Then they went over to Frodo, whose face was as pale as snow. Neither of them really knew what to say, so they just sat in silence, knowing their plans were being changed.


"Sauron shouldn't have been ab le to bring the Nazgul back so quickly," Aragorn whispered anxiously.

"Do you think this has something to do with Q?" Gandalf asked Elrond. They stood in a corridor, just outside the Homely House. The Half Elf was silent for a moment.

"Perhaps, indirectly, Q is affecting the Dark Lord. I don't believe he is working with him."

"You two seem to know quite a bit about Q," Aragorn stated.

"He's been here once before, many years ago. As a matter of fact, he fought in the battle of Dagorlad, disguised as a mortal. He was actually quite useful, believe it or not. He might prove beneficial once again ont his quest, Elrond said.

"You bet I will!" Q exclaimed, coming out of hiding.

"Since Sauron's servants have obtained physical forms sooner than expected, haste is more necessary than ever," Elrond said, ignoring Q's enthusiastic comment and appearance. "The fellowship will need to leave as soon as possible, tomorrow if it can be arranged."

"Tomorrow!" Q shouted in alarm, "But we're just starting to have fun."

"Q, the fate of the world rests on the success of this quest. This is not one of your games. I strongly sugtgest you take this seriously or I will put you in a sack and leave you here!" Gandalf declared. Q crossed his arms and pouted.

"Why don't we just leave now?" he whined. Instinctively, he snapped his fingers and the entire fellowship stood on the path just outside of Rivendell, glancing around in shock. Gimli was waving his axe around, while Pippin was pinching himself to be sure he was awake.

"Why are we here?" Q hollered, jumping up and down angrily. "We're suposed to be in Mordor. This isn't Mordor!"

"It appears that your powers aren't functioning as they should be," Legolas said, his blue eyes staring disapprovingly at Q. "I suggest you not try to use them again."

"Well, I suggest you shut your ancient mouth before I light your precious hair on fire again."

"I think we should set off since we're already out of the safety of Rivendell. The sooner weleave, the sooner we're finished," Wesley said. The entire fellowship turned to him, some in agreement, others in surprise.

"Wesley is right," Frodo said. "Lead the way, Gandalf."

A reluctant expression on his face, the wizard turned and set the pace.

"Nice way to spoil the fun, Wes," Q grumped beside him. Wesley ignored him and fell back to walk beside Frodo. The entity made a rude gesture at Wesley and then walked to Legolas' side. The Elf ignored him completely, glaring slightly at him. Q decided it would be unwise to say anything. Then who could he bother, he thought. Aragorn! Q waited until the Ranger at the end of the line reached him.

"So, are you ready for deeds of daring do, to go where no man has gone before?"

"I would rather have had time to say farewell to Arwen," Aragorn said, not looking at the entity.

"Oh, whatever will she do without you? Whatever will you do without her?"

"That's not your affair," The Ranger replied, trying to keep his composure.

"Oh, but it is."

"Q, go entertain the Hobbits."

"They seem to be amusing themselves." It was true. Pippin and Merry were practicing their sword fighting while Sam was cringing as he looked on. After a few moments, Pippin stopped.

"I'm hungry," he stated matter of factly. "Where's the food?" Gandalf stopped in his tracks and Frodo ran into him. Wesley, being more observant stopped as did the rest of the line behind them. The wizard locked eyes with Legolas, who shrugged, not looking very happy. Boromir turned around and looked at Sam, who seemed to understand that there was a problem. Aragorn glared dangerously at Q.

"Look what you've done, Q! You snapped your fingers and now we're on our quest with great speed, but lacking food and supplies! What do you propose we do now?"

For a moment, there was silence in the group.

"We don't have food?" came Pippin's wimpering voice.

"It's okay, Pip. We have Gandalf with us. He won't let us starve," Merry comforted his cousin.

"Great," Gandalf muttered. "There's another Hobbit who blindly places his faith in me. That makes two: Merry and Frodo."

"Why don't we just go back to Rivendell and get some provisions?" Sam asked.

"We can't go back," Frodo sighed, turning around to face the rest of the group. "That would mean admitting defeat." Wesley stared awestruck at the Ringbearer, thinking that he was crazy.

"We just left there a few minutes ago. It will take us scarcely an hour to return, get supplies and be on our way again," Gimli shouted.

"I thought you didn't like the Elves, Master Dwarf," Q teased.

"I don't, but I like starvation even less."

"Amazing!" Q exclaimed. Gimli growled.

"If we turn back every time things get difficult, this quest is doomed. We have to keep going," Frodo insisted. The quiet chirp of a cricket was the only sound that could be heard.

"Q," Gandalf summoned. "You caused this problem. Now you must solve it . . . without taking one step back towards Rivendell."

"As you command," Q scoffed, raising his fingers.

"Don't!" Legolas hollered, but, alas, his words were in vain. Snap! As if in slow motion, something began to appear from the sky, something huge. "Get out of the way!" Legolas shouted, clearing a large space in the center of the group or the creature to fall. It hit the ground with an ear splitting thump and a jolt that knocked everyone off their feet. Then, the meal' roared. Beside him, Wesley felt Frodo trembling like a twig in a tornado.

"Q, what is that?" he hollered over the ruckus.

"It's a Middle Earthen horse."

"It most certainly is not!" Aragorn yelled. "It's the fell beast of one of the Ringwraiths and it is very much alive!" Legolas loosed an arrow from his bow, striking the creature in the neck. It gave a cry of pain and turned on the Elf.

"Do something, Q!" Wesley commanded. The entity shrugged and snapped his fingers. Nothing happened. He tried again. Still nothing happened. The third time produced the same result and the beast was closing in on the Elf. Legolas drew his daggers just as Aragorn and Boromir reached the sight. Their swords plunged into the sides of the beast. It turned its attention to them, giving Legolas time to make his move. His dagger met the creature's throat and was embedded deeply into it. Giving one final, raspy cry, the beast collapsed to the ground.

"Dinner is served, Q declared, snapping his fingers, much to the Elf's annoyance. Instantly, slices of the beast appeared on plates in the hands of each member of the fellowship.

"Why is it you can do these things, but not what we really need you to do, like destroy the fell beast?" Aragorn hissed. Q shrugged, looking at the ground.

"I don't know."

"It's not bad, actually," Sam commented, eating his meat. "It's a little tough, but not bad at all." Q perked up a bit.

"See, you stubborn human, everything turned out fine. Come along, people. We have a lot of ground to cover."

"Can't we take a rest?" Gimi groaned.

"We just set out."

"We have time to rest. We weren't supposed to leave until tomorrow," Aragorn argued.

"Are you sure? Leg me check." Q raised his hand, gave everyone time to brace for impact, then snapped. A book appeared in hiws hand, opened to approximately the middle. The entity's eyes widened in shock.

"We weren't supposed to leave until December 25th!"

"Who says?" Gimli demanded.

"The Fellowship of the Ring."

"That's us. We decided to leave tomorrow, though. Therefore we can rest," Gimli declared.

"But tomorrow isn't December 25th. It might irreperably damage fragile minds not to follow the plan written in this book."

"How about you just tell us that tomorrow is December 25th? Then we won't be confused and neither will you," Pippin suggested.

"I am not confused!"

"Really?" the youngest Hobbit asked.

"Yes, I know everything!"

"Then why don't you know why your powers aren't working right."

"I do know. I just didn't want to tell you because the explanation would melt your mind."

"No it wouldn't."

"Yes it would."

"No it wouldn't."

"Yes it would."

"How old are you?" Pippin asked.

"Yes it would."

"You're confused."

"No I'm not."

"Shut up!" hollered Legolas, the only other person still awake. Pippin lay down.

"I won."

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did."

I hope you all liked the chapter. I will try to post more soon. Please review.

Thank you very much.

MornieGalad