The Fellowship was frozen in fear. They couldn't move, any sound might alert the Vashta Nerada to their whereabouts.
But it was too late. They had lost the chase, and now the predators were moving in. Like a spider and its web. Each strand of Vashta Nerada strategically placed along each path the Fellowship could take, to intercept it at any point. They had been clever, cleverer than the Doctor and his precious TARDIS and sonic screwdriver. They had won.
And now they were sending in the spider to catch its prey.
The Doctor felt it, deep inside him, the utter despair of failure and end. He had failed Lord Elrond, Frodo, the whole Fellowship, but most of all, the one person that he promised himself he wouldn't fail, himself. He let them win this time; he didn't even give them a fight.
Then, a miraculous idea came to him. He slapped himself on the forehead. "Why didn't I think of this before?" the desperate Fellowship didn't answer, just looked at him. "You know why? Because I'm thick! Thick-ity thick-ity thick!"
The Fellowship had no idea how to answer the Doctor, just stared at him as though he had two heads. "I know what to do!"
The Doctor picked up the rope, and tied it to the nearest skeleton. He pulled the rope around the stone slab, then around the stone well, forming a perfect triangle around the group. The Doctor hopped over the rope, and then pulled out the sonic screwdriver.
"This is going to cost me ten years of my life. But don't worry, that's nothing! Now watch! The Doctor blew on the sonic, and he blew out a golden mist and bright light fell on the screwdriver, like glowing yellow dust. The sonic screwdriver sucked in the light and dust, and the little green light at the end flickered into life. The Doctor laughed. "Wonderful, isn't it?"
The Doctor woke from his proud, dazed state, and pointed the sonic at the rope. "Just enough power to connect it to the TARDIS." He then pointed the sonic into the air, up towards the ceiling, tapping the sonic and shouting, "Come on! You can do it!"
The same whirring, vworp vworp noise filled the chamber, from the council of Elrond all those weeks ago. The Doctor had almost forgot what she sounded like, he had never been out of the TARDIS for that long.
The same strange blue box from the council of Elrond sat, once again, beside Frodo, inside the triangle rope. The Doctor laughed and ran forward, opened the creaky doors, and stepped inside.
"Oh you beauty! Ain't you gorgeous?"
The Vashta Nerada must have noticed the coming of the time-machine, because they began to enter Balin's tomb in swarming shadows.
Frodo cried out to the Doctor. "Doctor! They're inside!" The shadows stratched out long dark tendrils, but the Fellowship did not rush to enter the blue box.
They waited until the Doctor called them in. "Well come on in! " he shouted out excitedly to the others, who gratefully scrambled into the TARDIS.
Their entry was followed with ohs and ahhs, oh it's bigger than the inside, and why didn't we just use this to get to Mordor.
"Boromir, one cannot simply vworp vworp into Mordor!" the Doctor grinned cheekily at Boromir, who had no idea what joke the Doctor was trying to make.
The Doctor's Monologue
"Now you Frodo, pull that lever there, and Sam, just twist that to the left, no not your left, my left, and Gandalf, press the red button with your right hand- yes your right hand- and Pippin, do not touch the sonic blaster, it's very dangerous. Hey, look at that! The Fellowship are flying the TARDIS! I never thought I would ever say that! Wait Legolas, don't override the cooling system, that would not be very good. No Gimli, don't say that to poor Legolas, it's his first time flying a time-machine. Yes this is one and it does work. No, I will not travel back in time to tell you that an annoying elf would be on the council. MERRY AND PIPPIN! Stay away from the short-range teleport devices! No you cannot have them! Aragorn do not sword practice in here..."
The TARDIS began to shake uncontrollably. The Doctor was looking at a number of random dials and shapes on a screen and muttering "No, no, no. Something's overriding the system. They've hacked into the TARDIS mainframe. The Vashta Nerada aren't doing this, they couldn't be. Could they?"
Frodo stood beside the Doctor, listening intently to all of his meaningless mutterings. He seemed to be trying to learn from the Doctor, while the others were slowly and carefully driving the console, except for Merry and Pippin, who were messing with just about every dangerous piece of equipment they could find.
The TARDIS began to blow. "Who's doing this?" Frodo asked the Doctor, who had taken the control of the TARDIS, attempting to land it before whoever was controlling it landed it somewhere near to the Vashta Nerada. Though they weren't the only enemies of the Doctor that had come through, to watch him crash and burn.
The TARDIS suddenly stopped, and the Doctor jumped over the railing, and ran over to the doors. "Come on outside. Come and see!"
The Fellowship followed him out of the control room, after looking back at the miraculous time-machine. They all hoped they would live to ride once more in the blue box, the amazing box that was somehow bigger on the inside.
They left the TARDIS only to find they were still stuck in Moria. But they were next to a deep dark abyss, and a narrow stone bridge, not far from them.
"We've moved!" whispered an awe-struck Pippin and Merry, who had two small devices underneath their jackets.
They were about to cross the bridge when they noticed a tall dark figure blocking their path.
The Doctor shushed the two Hobbits, and stepped towards the figure, which had not moved at all. It was still, too still, like a statue. The Doctor walked closer to the figure, closer until he was right up in front of it.
The Doctor gasped. "Oh, it's you. I didn't expect that at all."
The figure stepped forward, slowly and stiffly, and was advancing towards the Doctor.
"Talk to me. Come on. I know you can speak. You spoke to me that day. That day in the Library."
The figure stepped into the light. It was wearing a white suit, an even whiter helmet, with a clear glass visor and bars of green light on the collar, which were flickering. There was only one faint bar left. Inside the visor, there was a human skull resting on the glass. An actual skull, which meant the rest of the body was probably just a skeleton too.
"We are the Children of the Library." a thousand voices whispered from the shadows. "And you are the Doctor."
"We did not- we did not- we did not know." The figure spoke with a strange, twisted voice, as though it took extra effort for it to speak, but it was definitely a woman's voice
"What didn't you know? Come on, I don't have time for riddles. Answer me directly and clearly." The Doctor was getting angry at the skeleton in a suit. It had done something that day, was the cause of the death of good people. Anything that killed good people was an enemy of the Doctor.
"We did not know who she was. Who she would be. Who she is. We are - we are sorry, Doctor." the Doctor seemed to get angrier at the suit for apologising. Yes it did do something in the Library, it killed someone so important to the Doctor. More important to him than the fight.
"You did not know. Well now you do. And you know what that means? That means you killed her before I knew her. And it broke her heart. Or hearts." the Doctor was seething now, and the suit stopped in front of him, towering above him.
"After that day, we educated ourselves. We read every book in the Library, and now we understand." the Doctor was staring into the eyeball sockets of the skull of the person the suit once was. The person he once knew.
"Understand what?"
"Understand the question. And to understand the question, is to know the answer. We found the answer." the halls got brighter, and just down the massive hall was a huge glowing light, passing through the pillars, making its way to the group.
"Doctor!" Gandalf cried. "We need to leave now! Balrog is coming!" the Doctor put up his hand to silence the wizard.
"What question?" the Doctor waved for the Fellowship to pass him and the suit. Balrog was getting closer. Gandalf stood behind the Doctor.
"Doctor who." the suit flatly said, then cried out as the Doctor passed it and ran down the bridge. "Doctor Who! Doctor Who!" the Doctor ran up to the suit and pushed it off the bridge.
It tumbled down the abyss crying, "Doctor Who! The silence will fall Doctor!"
"Not yet it won't."
The beast was like fire and rage and the deep dark shadows. It was neither flame nor dark. The Balrog, a massive creature rose from a chasm, and flames erupted from cracks in the floor around it. The Fellowship stopped as they turned the corner, missing two companions.
The Doctor and Gandalf stood on the bridge between the demon and the exit. Across the pit.
Balrog held a huge blade, a stabbing tongue of fire, swinging it in its hand. In the other hand, Balrog held an impossibly long whip, with licks of flame leaping playfully along the end. Balrog itself was a huge forty-foot man-beast, and looked not too much different from a demon found in the deepest of faiths, and might be considered to look like the devil himself.
But that was absurd. The Doctor met the devil before, and they don't look slightly alike, the devil was a little more orangey and red-ish. Anyway, it's stuck in a black hole now, in a whole different universe to this one.
Gandalf and the Doctor held their weapons. Gandalf had a sword in one hand, his staff in the other, and the Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at the beast, as though it would make any effect.
"Go back Doctor, this is not your sacrifice to take. Stay with the others, you can protect them." Gandalf whispered to the Doctor, as Balrog cracked its whip at the slender bridge.
"Gandalf, I will stand by you to the end. I'll help you." the Doctor was tapping the screwdriver, then pointed it at the beast again. The sonic began to whir, and a flame threatening to sway near the two died down.
"Well then, you must know you asked for it." the Doctor only had a moment to frown at the wizard, before Gandalf hit him with the staff, and sent him flying across the bridge, and landing on the cold floor in front of Boromir. Aragorn stepped over to carry a dazed Doctor from the bridge, while Boromir held on to a screaming Frodo.
"You cannot pass!" shouted Gandalf at Balrog, who merely returned with another crack of the flame-whip.
"I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor." Gandalf yelled at the beast, who stepped forward onto the bridge. The shadows followed in its wake. "The dark fire will not avail of you, flame of Udun."
With that, Balrog drew up to full height, spreading its wings wide, stretching them from wall to wall. Gandalf looked like a tiny figure, standing precariously on the bridge, the fiery demon towering above him. But he did not falter.
Gandalf raised his staff, and seemed to collect the light, a bright ball at the top of the staff. The light then surrounded Gandalf, bathing him in the white.
"Go back to the shadow!" Gandalf commanded the demon, who slashed at him with its sword. The wizard deflected the blow with the staff, but the bubble of light burst.
"You shall not pass!" Gandalf boomed at the beast
Balrog reached one foot over the bridge, and Boromir and Aragorn drew their swords.
Gandalf brought the staff and sword together hard down on the bridge. A blinding sheet of white flame shot out, and the staff shattered with the power. The bridge began to break, right below Balrog's feet. The Doctor began to wake, and groggily stood in awe.
The stone bridge dropped into the chasm, from right under Balrog's feet. The demon fell into the darkness. Relief flooded into Frodo's face, but only for a moment.
Balrog tried again at taking Gandalf. It lashed out with the whip, and the tongues of flame grabbed at the wizard's knees, and he was dragged down. Gandalf only just managed to hold on by his fingertips. But it wasn't enough.
Frodo was horrified. He screamed out the wizard's name, and squirmed in Boromir's grip, but Boromir never let go.
Gandalf, fierce and commanding as ever, gave the Fellowship one last drop of wisdom. "Fly, you fools!"
Before Gandalf took the drop, the Doctor managed to whisper to him. "White is very in at this time of year." Gandalf only had time to frown, until the grip on the bridge faltered. Frodo screamed out once again.
"Gandalf!" Aragorn was now screaming the wizard's name, as though that would be any help.
But the wise, old, crazy wizard who seemed to think grey cloaks and impossibly long beards were the last word in fashion, continued to tumble noiselessly down the chasm, following Balrog into the deep.
The Fellowship regrettably turned from the drop and the bridge, and ran through the archway. Frodo was still being restrained by Boromir, while the Doctor ran behind them, pointing the sonic screwdriver at random shadows and darkness, but assuring the group they weren't being followed, there were no shadows here.
Frodo had been right, the Vashta Nerada were lost, lost in the mines. But they could have escaped easily. Waited for nightfall, disappeared into the shadow, but something stopped them from crossing that bridge.
The suit that had once been Anita, had never actually crossed the bridge, It never followed them across, only blocked their way. Never touched the bridge.
So was there some sort of blockage on the bridge, something that made sure the Vashta Nerada never leave the mines? But they could escape the other side, the squid-creature-thingy should have tried to take on the Fellowship, but it had died.
The Doctor had scanned for life signs with the sonic screwdriver when the others hadn't noticed. The lake was empty, and the Doctor realised any living creature in that lake had been swallowed by the Vashta Nerada.
So if they could escape from that side, the gene barrier of the Vashta Nerada was only to make sure they would not pass the other side. A trap, maybe, they would be caught in the mines like a huge net. But no, it was much more than that. It was so they could not follow the Fellowship.
Someone had anticipated their arrival, warned the Vashta Nerada, but then locked them in. They had a chance to kill the Fellowship, but luckily they didn't. They left that up to Balrog.
So if they were going to let Balrog get the Fellowship, then they had an agreement. And a predator's agreement with a demon was always not a good sign.
Something was happening. The Vashta Nerada were scared, and ran here when they smelt the TARDIS. They got trapped here, and waited for the Doctor, while they made an agreement with Balrog.
The Doctor wasn't afraid of the Vashta Nerada. He wasn't afraid of the Mines of Moria, or Sauron and his eye. But if there was one thing that even slightly shook the Time Lord, it was something that could capture shadows, something that could cause co-operation in the hungry darkness and fiery demons, and just that something that stalks in the light, but runs free in the darkness.
He was scared of something he had no crazy, illegible explanation for. And he rarely liked things that played hide-and-seek with its food.
The Fellowship ran out of the darkness and stale air of the mines, and into the fluffy white clouds and freedom of the grassy stretches of the Dimroll Dale. They were tired, shook, and grief-stricken. All except for the Doctor of course, who was sitting on a rock, his brain spinning with endless calculations of creatures and aliens that could have been behind this.
Sam, Merry, and Pippin had slowly fallen to the ground, in groups of sobs. But Aragorn seemed restless; he didn't understand the gene barrier.
"Legolas, get them up!" he whispered urgently to the elf, but Boromir began to protest, looking around at the teary-eyed Hobbits.
"Give them a moment, for pity's sake!"
Aragorn turned to Boromir. "By nightfall this place will be swarming with Vashta Nerada." the Doctor didn't bother to tell Aragorn they were relatively safe, but really he wasn't sure. "We must reach the woods of Lothlórien. Come, Boromir, Legolas, Gimli, get them up." Aragorn nudged Sam on the shoulder. "On your feet, Sam."
Boromir looked over at poor Frodo, who had walked away. He glanced over to Aragorn, who called after the dazed Hobbit. "Frodo, Frodo!"
Frodo stopped and slowly turned around. A little tear drifted down his cheek, he looked devastated. He had lost his real guide, his old friend. He was incredibly hurt.
The Doctor stepped up to Frodo, and spoke softly to him. "The loss of a loved one is not the end of the mission." he reassured, "But not granting their last wish might be the end of theirs."
Frodo grabbed onto the Doctor, and wrapped his arms around his waist. The Doctor returned the hug, and patted the little fellow's curls. It seemed things weren't all over.
The Fellowship stood up, and through their loss and their tears, marched on towards Lothlórien, the task still upon them.
