Wow. I honestly thought that I would at least make it to 10 chapters. Did that happen? Nope. Oh well. Thank you again to all of my reviewers, your support has been greatly appreciated! The first chapter of "The Return of the King" will be up sometime tomorrow!

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING... except Alice. XD

Alice rides, long and hard, all through the night, not stopping once. Nahar's powerful hooves seem to crush the dirt beneath their weight as he propels himself forward. She recalls that it took her four days to run from about Emyn Muil to the edge of Fangorn Forest, Rohan being about the same distance from the large rocky outcrop, it's just South East instead of North East. By dawn, she can see the black rocks of Emyn Muil far off in the distance to the North, a tiny speck barely worth noticing. But notice it, she does.

When she finally tells Nahar to slow down so she can rest at the joining of the River Snowbourne and the Entwash, exhausted from the events of yesterday and yester evening combined with getting absolutely no sleep. The horse quickly comes to a stop, and seems barely winded when she slides off his back. She rubs his face.

"You're pretty smart, huh, Nahar?" The horse nods, almost as though he can unders-… wait. "Can you understand me?" The horse nods again, grunting in an affirmative way. Her eyes widen considerably. "… Woah." He curls his feet underneath himself, laying down on the dead grass, and she lays next to him. "Can you wake me in two hours?" He grunts again, and she quickly falls asleep.

In what feels like seconds, she can feel a wet tongue sliding over her face… and like someone just finished up using a jackhammer on her forehead. She rolls over with disdain, mumbling something about needing a few more minutes. Then something nudges her side roughly. She opens one eye to see Nahar's black nose and his big green eyes staring down at her. She stands, and looks up at the sky. Sure enough, it's been about two hours, if her guesstimating* is accurate. She turns to her companion, and gives him a weak smile.

"Thank you for waking me." He sees her grimace of pain and whines softly, "Sorry, I just have a hangover from all that beer I drank last night." She grins slightly, "Good thing that I did a lot of drinking games back home, normally with stuff stronger than what we used last night. We should press on." She pauses, thinking, "You wouldn't happen to know where there's any water near here, would you?" He shakes his head, and she shrugs before quickly hopping up onto his back. "Didn't think it would hurt to ask. Noro lim, Nahar." He starts off at a trot, and she points ahead to where they can see one of the small river off-shoots from the Entwash before it means up with the Anduin, "Let's see if we can at least make it to that small river by nightfall, eh?" He responds by going into a full gallop, and she clings to his fur, trying to not fall off as her headache throbs behind her eyes.

They follow the River Entwash as far South West as they can until it joins with the Anduin. On her right, facing South, she can see small Rohirrim towns and forests. Behind the towns and forests are the Lamedon's, or White Mountains. By the time she dismounts that evening on Cair Andros, a small island in the center of the Anduin and a part of North Ithilien, her hangover has completely dissipated, but her longing for, at the very least, Aragorn's presence hasn't diminished in the smallest of amounts.

The river is shallow enough for a normal horse to cross while having a bit of trouble, but Nahar, larger than most normal horses, crosses with ease. In the distance, Alice can see Minas Tirith, the White City of Gondor.

It makes her heart ache.

A small city in the distance can also be seen. Alice guesses that it's Osgiliath. She sighs and then looks at Nahar, who has elected to go to sleep standing. She goes to a nearby tree and pulls off some large branches, having to use Ringil occasionally to hack them off. When she finishes, she piles them on the ground next to Nahar, and lays down on them. She's never fallen asleep as fast as she did that night.

The next morning…

Nahar wakes Alice again at dawn, nudging her softly. She wakes up faster than she did the day before, but doesn't feel any less tired. She sighs, and walks down to the river to get some water to drink. The realization that she's alone hits her again, and unlike yesterday when her headache prevented her from thinking about much else, today it hits her full force. She cannot stop the tears as her fear, anxiousness, and longing to be with her friends again overwhelm her senses. As she sits at the riverside, sobbing quietly, Nahar comes and lays down by her, letting her lean on his massive frame. She's not totally sure how long she sits there, crying on the shoulder of a massive, owned-by-gods, super-intelligent horse. When the tears finally recede, Nahar quietly licks her face, and stands up. She stands with him, thanks him softly, and then climbs up onto his back. They get back over the Anduin, and Alice sits up straight on the horse's bare back. She can smell something on the wind.

Osgiliath is burning.

"Noro lim, Nahar! Noro lim!" She cries out, urging the horse on. He takes off at a full gallop, racing towards the now-burning city.

An hour later…

Alice and Nahar sneak into the stone city, both having to resist the strong urge to cough. She leaves the large, black horse just inside the city, afraid that he may give her away. She stalks through the city, using a technique Aragorn taught her a few months back when she asked him about stealth. What she doesn't know is that Frodo, Sam, and Faramir are already in the city, having arrived just before dawn. She does know, however, that the Nazgûl has already arrived, being able to hear the great flapping of its beast's wings from even this distance.

She spies a nearby tower that will be high enough for her to see the entire city, and it seems to be near the center. She sneaks around corners, avoiding as many Men as she can. Finally, she reaches and races up the steps of the tower to a window on the second floor. There's a gaping hole in the wall, like a rock was thrown through it.

She ascends the stairs, taking them two by two, racing to the top. She can hear the screeches of the Nazgûl, and knows that it's close. When she makes it to the hole, she can see rocks being launched from across the river by the Orcs. She makes note to watch where those rocks are being thrown, as it would suck for one to hit her. A movement catches her eye, and when she follows it, she realizes there is a huge, dragon-like beast flying about with a Nazgûl on its back. She draws Ringil, and waits for the beast to hold still. He flies over, and hovers above a building for just a moment. In that moment, Alice launches Ringil with every fiber in her being, taking precise aim to injure one of the beast's legs.

The beast recoils, screeching as it flies away, Ringil having dismantled one of its long, fingering talons.

As the fell beast flies over her building, she ducks down to not be seen, and notices an arrow that has also pierced its side that she hadn't noticed before. She wonders if it was possibly one of the archers down below. When the Nazgûl seems to be gone for a moment, she stands back up and looks at where it was hovering, and sees a familiar head of blonde hair quickly moving off the building. She takes in a sharp gasp. "Sam!"

She scans the area, mapping out which pathways she needs to take in order to get to the Hobbit (and Ringil) in her head, and then quickly descends the stairs. This time, she doesn't care for what the Men about her think, she races down the halls, praying to catch up with Sam and figure out where the hell is Frodo.

"… how could the end be happy?" She hears the young Hobbit say, and she pushes herself harder, trying to follow the voice, "How could the world go back to the way it was… when so much bad happened?... But in the end, it's only a passing thing… this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when that sun shines, it will shine out the clearer." She slows, realizing she's close. She spots Ringil laying on the ground, sneaks over to it, and picks it up quietly, listening to Sam speak. "Those were the stories that stayed with you… that meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But, I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories, had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going… because they were holding onto something." Then a voice that floods her mind with relief speaks.

"What are we holding onto, Sam?" Alice picks that moment to make herself known.

"That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo." The Hobbits turn, gasping with evident shock. "And it's worth fighting for." They both smile at her widely, before turning and accepting a hug she offers them. "I should hate you two right now," she says between her soft sobs and silent tears, "This merry goose chase you've led me on." She pulls away from them, "I haven't seen Aragorn, Legolas, or Gimli in two days, y'know." They grin at her, even though they both have tears of joys leaking out of their eyes.

"Who is this woman, Mr. Frodo?" Says an unfamiliar voice from beside them, and she hears the sound of bows being drawn. She looks up at the young man before her, not five years older than she.

"My name is Alice Half-Elf, Lady of Rivendell, and daughter of Lord Elrond the Wise." She tells him, lying easily, as she does consider Elrond to be a father-figure to her, and she's sort of a half-Elf, seeing as she had Fingolfin inside her for such a long time. Both Hobbits nod, knowing that she couldn't tell a total stranger she was from a distant world, and that it would be easier to just lie.

"She's one of our companions that set out with us from Rivendell, one of the ten. She…" Sam stops, and looks at her. "This is Faramir, Boromir's brother. Tell 'im about what happened." Her eyes widen, and then she looks back up at the bedraggled man.

"I loved your brother, and I was with him when he died. I would have given myself up for him if I could have, but by the time I knew what was going on, he was almost dead already." She swallows dryly, "I still grieve his loss, even though it has already been about a month's time since his passing." Faramir's eyes widen considerably at her words, and a few of the men behind him gasp.

"How did he die?" Her neither gaze nor voice waver.

"He died defending Frodo's cousins, Merry Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, both Hobbits. Boromir was very fond of them both, having taken the time to teach them swordplay." She smiles grimly, "I think if they had been children and not full-grown Hobbits, Boromir would have adopted them as his sons." Both Sam and Frodo chuckle at the thought, albeit a bit darkly. Faramir is quiet for a moment, seemingly lost in a reverie, before snapping out of it. He walks up to Frodo and kneels beside him.

"I think, at last, we understand one another, Frodo Baggins." He stands, and a soldier that stands behind Sam speaks up.

"You know the laws of our country, the laws of your father. If you let them go, your life will be forfeit." Faramir pauses, but it's not a look of consideration, deliberation, or even inner conflict that passes his features. It's a look that Alice could not fully pin down as any one expression. She glances down at a worried Frodo and Sam.

"Then it is forfeit. Release them."

Later that day…

Faramir leads them through a maze and ruins of Osgiliath. He stops just inside the entrance of a tunnel.

"This is the old sewer. Runs right under the river through to the edge of the city. You'll find cover in the woods there." Alice glances distrustingly at the creature known as Gollum as it slithers past her. She stands by Faramir's side. "You will not join your friends?" Alice shakes her head.

"Our destinies are no longer entwined." She gets down on her knees, and kisses both men on the forehead. "I'll miss you both. I'm glad to see you both alive." Frodo and Sam share a look, before rushing forward and enveloping her in another hug.

"I wish you would come with us, Alice." Sam mummers in her ear.

"Me too, Sam." She pulls back, but keeps a hand on each of their shoulders. "But I an appointment in Minas Tirith. Not Mordor." She squeezes the soft skin beneath her fingers gently, "I'll see you soon, though." She looks at them from underneath her eyelashes. "Be brave, you two. Only a few more miles to go." They both nod understandingly. Sam turns to Faramir.

"Captain Faramir, you have shown your quality, sir." Faramir takes a step back. "The very highest." The ranger grins.

"The Shire must truly be a great realm, Master Gamgee, where gardeners are held in high honor." The blonde Hobbit immediately looks sheepish, and Alice laughs. "What road will you take once you reach the woods?"

"Gollum says there's a path, near Minas Morgul that climbs up into the mountains."

"Cirith Ungol?" Gollum tries to creep away, but Faramir grabs him by the back of the neck and throws him against a wall. He looks at him sternly and holds him by the throat. "Is that it's name?"

"No." Gollum says, shaking his head. "No." Faramir's grip tightens. "Yes." The ranger turns to Frodo, but his grip on the creature doesn't loosen.

"Frodo, they say a dark terror dwells in the passes above Minas Morgul. You cannot go that way."

"It is the only way. Master says we must go to Mordor, so we must try." Alice cringes at the voice of the pathetic looking creature.

"I must." Faramir throws Gollum to the ground, and then nods at Frodo.

"Go, Frodo. Go with the goodwill of all Men." He turns and walks down the sewer, Sam follows. Gollum goes to creep after them, taking a wide path around the tall man. Faramir reaches down and grabs him by the throat again. "May death find you quickly if you bring them to harm." He throws Gollum down the tunnel after them. Gollum pauses to look back at him and goes into the sewer, holding up one arm in pain.

"Come on, keep up." Alice hears Sam tell the strange being a bit further down the passage. She doesn't turn to face Faramir when she speaks to him.

"Was this wise?" The ranger softly sighs.

"I have no idea." She grins, and then turns and winks at him.

"Come on, we have a battle to win." He returns her grin, and the two take off back out of the tunnel.

END OF ALICE IN MIDDLE EARTH: THE TWO TOWERS

STAY TUNED FOR:

ALICE IN MIDDLE EARTH: THE RETURN OF THE KING