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Chapter 3: Oz and the Dead Marshes
Disclaimer: I could say that I own Buffy or Lord of the Rings, but that would be a lie and my firm doesn’t need a needless lawsuit.


“Uh oh.” Willow said, looking at the sky in the light of the rising sun. “A red sky and a red sun. Something bad happened last night.” She assessed grimly.

“We better hurry.” Angel said as they began running again. They ran across the plains, until they heard the sound of horses galloping towards them. They looked and saw a large group of horsemen ride over the hill ahead of them. “Hey, Riders” Angel shouted to them. “What’s the word on Rohan’s state?” They riders turned and surrounded the three former members of Fellowship. They raised their spears at them, as one of them dismounted.

“What’s an Elf, a Dwarf and a human doin’ out here, miles from anywhere?” The Rider asked, eyeing them suspiciously. “I’m waiting.”

“You tell me your name, we tell you ours.” Xander said, trying to sound confident.

“And why would I tell my name to a Dwarf who looks like he could get beat up by preschoolers?” Gunn asked, angrily. Suddenly Gunn’s horse started thrashing and neighing, and rose into the air above the group.

“Because it’s not nice to insult people who have witches for friends.” Willow said, smiling. The other soldiers pointed their spears at Willow, but they too flew into the air.

“Willow,” Angel said to the red haired Elf. “They get the point.”

“OK.” Willow said and the horse and spears came back down.

“I’m Angel, this is Willow and Xander. We’re friends of Rohan, and of King Holtz.”

“He’s not big into telling the difference between friends and enemies lately. Even family.” The rider said, removing his helmet. “I’m Charles Gunn, the king’s nephew, and he kicked me out. Me and my crew were trying to keep Rohan safe, and we got banished for it. Ethan Rayne’s runnin’ the show now, my uncle’s just his puppet. His spies are all over the place.”

“We aren’t spies, we’re tracking a troop of Uruk Hai that captured two of our friends.” Angel said, trying to get Gunn to trust them.

“Uruk Hai? We killed them last night.” Gunn said nonchalantly.

“Did you see two Hobbits with them?” Xander asked, suddenly worried.

“What’re Hobbits?” Gunn asked, not recognizing the term.

“Little people, they’d look kids to you.” Willow said, explaining.

“We killed anything that moved.” Gunn said, despondently. “We burned the corpses over the hill.” He said, pointing towards a pillar of smoke coming from over the hill.

“No.” Willow said, tears in her eyes.

“I’m sorry.” Gunn said, knowing from experience the pain of losing someone close. He had two horses brought forward. “These horses belonged to two of my best people, hopefully there won’t be a repeat of what happened to their last riders. Later.” Gunn said getting back on his horse and riding off with his men.

“Come on.” Angel said as they climbed on the horses and rode in the direction of the smoke. They came to a large pile of charred bodies and ashes, a spear with Razor’s head on it beside it. Xander began sifting through the burned remains of the Uruk Hai, searching for something, anything that would show that Dawn and Andrew were still alive.

“They can’t be dead, they just can’t!” Willow said, trying to convince herself. “They’re gonna be fine, they’re gonna be fine, right?”

“I don’t know Will, I don’t know.” Xander said, tossing a few burned body parts away.
He suddenly saw something that made a lump rise in his throat, he picked it up and showed it to Willow and Angel. Xander said, tears welling in his eyes. The small charred piece of leather and a sheath for a small sword was all that was left. “It’s one of their belts. They’re gone.”

“Oh God, no.” Willow said, unable to suppress a sob. Angel kicked a nearby helmet and screamed in anguish and anger. The three trackers stood there in a state of shock and sadness. Angel sank to his knees in anger, staring at the ground miserably.

“Wait…” Angel said, noticing something on the ground. “Two Hobbits were laying here,” he motioned to the ground. “They crawled this way. Their hands were tied.” Angel said, looking over the ground. He picked up a thick piece of rope cut in half. “They cut the ropes. They ran over here, but an Orc followed them. They ran away from the massacre…into Fangorn Forest.” Angel assessed, looking at the huge trees of the ancient forest.

“Fangorn, I think they were safer with the Uruk Hai.” Xander said, looking into the thick dark woods.

***Flashback***

Andrew screamed as the pair of horse hooves came down, narrowly missing him. He rolled over by Dawn and they crawled over to an Orc’s axe that fell to the ground. They were able to cut through the ropes with the axe blade and began to runaway from the fight between the horsemen and the Orcs. They had almost gotten away, when a severely injured Doc grabbed Andrew’s belt in a death grip. Andrew unbuckled his belt, leaving it in Doc’s grasp and the two of them kept running until they’d gotten deep into the woods.

“I think we lost him.” Andrew said, catching his breath.

“Think again!” Dawn said, pointing to Doc, who just jumped out behind a tree. He brandished a knife and ran after the two Hobbits. “Climb the tree!” Dawn ordered as they scampered up a large tree. They looked around from their perch and saw no sign of Doc, until Dawn is suddenly pulled to the ground. Doc stood over her with his knife.

“Shallow cuts, shallow cuts. Let the blood flow free.” Doc said smiling, holding his knife just above Dawn.

“DAWN!” Andrew screamed, looking on in horror. He was about to climb down when he felt the tree move, he looked around and saw a huge pair of eyes in the tree trunk looking at him. He screamed like a little girl and fell, only to be caught by the tree.

“Well, this should be interesting.” Doc said, bringing his knife back to strike. But Dawn’s wide eyes had turned from him to the large moving tree behind him. Doc turned just in time to see the tree stomp on him. Dawn got to her feet and tried to run, but the tree swept down and picked her up. The tree looked at the two Hobbits with interest.

“Orcs. Hmm.” The tree said.

“The tree is talking.” Dawn said, very confused and scared.

“I’m not a tree, I’m an Ent.” The large thing said.

“I’ve seen ants and they’re a lot smaller than you.” Dawn said, mixing up the words.

“He said ‘Ent’ not ant. Ents are tree herders; they take care of the forests like shepherds. Ancient beings of great size and strength, with the power to talk and control the trees and protect them from their enemies. They…”

“He talks a lot.” The Ent said to Dawn.

“Preachin’ to the choir.” Dawn replied, rolling her eyes.

“Name’s Oz.” The Ent said.

“Nice to meet you Oz, are you evil?” Dawn asked, not knowing if they could trust this being.

“No, not currently.” Oz said, raising an eyebrow. “You two are Orcs, so if anyone’s evil it’s probably you.”

“We’re not Orcs.” Dawn said, offended. “We’re Hobbits.”

“Hobbits, never heard of ‘em.” Oz said.

“Hobbits. Halflings. Shirefolk.” Dawn supplied, Oz just stared at her.

“Not ringin’ any bells.” Oz said.

“Oh come on, do we look like Orcs to you?” Andrew asked, squirming in Oz’s grip.

“They don’t all look the same. They burn and chop down trees.” Oz said, anger beginning to grow. “I hate those tree killers!”

“We aren’t Orcs, I swear!” Dawn said, getting nervous at the look in Oz’s eyes.

“I’ll take you to the White Wizard, he’ll know.” Oz said, walking towards a clearing.

“White Wizard?” Andrew asked.

“Ethan Rayne!” Dawn said, remembering Giles talk. Oz set them down in front of a tall man in white flowing robes, they looked into the Wizard’s face in complete shock.

***Emyn Muil***

“See? See? We’ve led you out. Hurry Hobbitses. Hurry!” Gollum said, showing that they’d reached the end of the rocky place. Spike glared at the creature with disgust. “Nice Hobbits.” Gollum said, scampering ahead of them.

“He’s a breath of fresh air ain’t he? I wish I didn’t have to breathe.” Spike said, looking after the little pest.

“Yeah, he really gives me the wiggins. I still feel bad for him though.” Buffy said.

“You got a crush on him?” Spike asked, smirking.

“What?” Buffy whirled looking at Spike with disgust in her eyes. “Oh God no! That’s just yuck!”

“I know, but it’s been to long since I got your knickers in a twist.” Spike said, smirking.

“OK, I made a few mistakes in my love life, but even I wouldn’t date Gollum.”

“Whatever, you know…OH!” Spike said, slipping on the wet ground. Spike stood up and looked around. “Great we’re goin’ through a swamp.”

“Swamp yes, yes. Come Mistress, we will take you on safe pats through the mist. Come Hobbits, come! We must hurry.” Gollum said, leading them on a path through the marshlands. “I found it, I did. The way through the marshes. Orcs don’t use it Orcs don’t know it. They go round for miles and miles. Come quickly, swift and quick as shadows we must be.” They walked through the swamps after Gollum for the next two days, only taking brief stops in between.

“I don’t like this place.” Spike said, looking around. “The stench, the wetness, and it’s so quiet.”

“I know what you mean, it’s weird not even hearing birds chirping.” Buffy said, unpacking some lembas bread.

“No, no birdses to eat. No crunchable birdses. We are famished, yes! Famished we are, precious!” Gollum said, picking some worms out of the ground and eating them.

“I think I just lost my appetite.” Buffy said, grossed out by Gollum munching on the worm. She took her piece of bread and threw it to Gollum. “Here.”

“What does it eats? Is it tasty?” Gollum asked, putting the bread in his mouth. He chewed it once and choked on it, spitting it into the water. “It tries to chokes us! We can’t eats Hobbit food! We must starve!”

“Well, if you must." Spike snarked.

“Cruel Hobbit! It does not care if we be hungry! Does not care if we should die!”

“You’re a perceptive little bugger.” Spike said, smirking.

“Not like Mistress. Mistress cares. Mistress knows. Yes, precious.” Gollum looked at Buffy, who shrank away from the loathsome creature. She subconsciously reached up to the Ring; Gollum seemed to get the same idea and began slowly reaching for it. “Once it takes hold of us, it never lets go.”

“Don’t touch me!” Buffy said, slapping his hand away. Gollum crawled away from the two Hobbits and looked for more worms. They walked further after into the marshes, until they came upon several fires in the water. They looked into the water and saw that there were dead bodies in the water. “Gross, the water’s full of dead bodies.”

“All dead. All rotten. Elves and Men and Orcses. A great battle long ago.” Gollum said looking into the murky water. “The Dead Marshes. Yes, yes that is their name. This way. Don’t follow the lights.”

“Why shouldn’t we follow the lights?” Spike asked, pointing to the little fires.

“They are tricksy, they are wicked. They wants all who come here to fall into the water. To join the dead ones and light candles of their own.” Gollum said.

“Great, just great. Orcs, Uruk Hai, evil wizards, wraiths, giant demons and now evil fire.” Spike grumbled. Buffy wasn’t listening, one of the fires had begun to affect her, and she began walking towards it. The flame mesmerized her, drawing her closer until she fell into the water. She looked around in he water, frantically trying to swim. She looked at the dead bodies, and they began to move. The half rotted faces of dozens of Elves and men swarmed around her, reaching out to drag the Hobbit girl deeper into the marshes. But another pair of hands grabbed her from behind and hauled her out of the water. She turned and saw Gollum pulling her away from the water. She was grateful that the miserable creature saved her, but a little shocked.

“We told you, don’t follow the lights!” Gollum said, crawling away as Spike helped her to her feet.

Later that night, Buffy woke up from a dream and again felt the need to see the Ring. She pulled it from her shirt and just looked at it, it was a simple gold ban but she just couldn’t stop looking at it. She began to run her finger along the band, she almost thought she heard it purr.

“Sooo bright.” Buffy quickly put the Ring away she looked around and saw Gollum mumbling something. “Sooo beautiful. Our preciousss.”

“What?” Buffy asked, standing up and walking over to him.

“Mistress should be resting. Mistress needs to keep up her strength.”

“Who are you, really?”

“Mustn’t ask us. Not its business. Gollum Gollum!”

“I heard you were one of the River folk.”

“Cold be heart and hand and bone. Cold be travelers far from home.”

“You weren’t much different than a Hobbit, were you?”

“They do not see what lies ahead, when sun has failed and moon is dead.”

“And I guess you wrote poetry. Giles told me that your life was a sad story. Was it…Smeagol?” Buffy asked, Gollum looked at her bewildered at being called that.

“What did you call me?” Gollum asked, looking at her full of uncertainty.

“Smeagol, that’s your name. Or it was a long time ago.” Buffy said, rubbing his shoulder.

“My name? My name…” Gollum said, deep in thought. “S…S…Smeagol.” He said, a smile creeping over his face.

“I like that name.” Buffy said, smiling back at him. “That’s what I’ll call you from now on.”

“Smeagol.” Gollum said, getting used to the name. But their conversation was cut off by a loud earsplitting scream. Spike was jolted awake as the scream came again. They knew that sound, it was the shriek of the Nazgul.

“Black Riders!” Spike said, running towards Buffy and Gollum. The wound the Nazgul gave her suddenly felt like she was being stabbed again. She winced in pain as they hid under a large bush.

“I thought those things were dead.” Spike said, looking around.

“Dead? No, you cannot kill them. No.” Gollum said, also looking around fearfully for the source of the inhuman scream. They looked into the sky and saw a huge dark shape in the sky, it circled around and the three frightened travelers saw a huge dragon like creature with a Nazgul riding on its back. The hooded figure screamed again. “Wraiths! Wraiths on wings! They are calling for it, they are calling for the precious!”

Spike looked at Buffy, she still clutched at her chest, but her other hand seemed to inch closer to the Ring. Spike grabbed Buffy’s hand and held it from her neck. “It’ll be all right, pet.” The Nazgul circled on its Fell Beast once more, and it flew away towards Mordor.

“Come Hobbits, hurry. The Black Gate is very close.” Gollum said, once the Black Rider was out of sight. They stood and continued down Gollum’s path, towards the Black Gate.





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