Stories of Arda - Lord of the Rings Fan-Fiction Archive

"It was you, Sam, that kept me on our dark Road," Frodo said as they stood in the room the four hobbits shared in the Citadel. "I would have been defeated long before, but you were always there for me." He turned and smiled brightly and squeezed his beloved guardian's hand, rubbing the callused fingers tenderly. "Always there. You carried me the whole way, not just up the Mountain. Harthad Uluithiad, Hope Unquenchable as Gandalf said. My own Sam, gardener of my heart."

Sam looked into his dear treasure's bright eyes, now misted over with tears, but loving ones, and felt the same form in his own. He could have happily drowned in those vast pools as he had many times since childhood. There was no longer any pain there nor madness, neither hunger nor thirst, just love and light as there had been for so very long until the Shadow came. There was the tender touch of Frodo's hand that the gardener wrapped his own fingers gently around, ever mindful of the missing finger which was still sore. Frodo sighed softly for the pain was eased more by Sam's touch than any salve. There was the sound of that beloved voice, no longer rasping from too dry a throat, no longer whispering because it had not the strength to do otherwise. It was as strong as it ever was and it spoke Elvish which always sounded so wonderful to hear from such dear lips. Sam could have sworn they were back in the Shire and none of the terrible things that had happened were real, for all the joy and light that flowed out from his master. But it had all happened, Sam knew. Their great Enemy had tried to his utmost to destroy Frodo's light, but the younger hobbit remembered how it had shone its brightest at the Fire and he marveled at it now as he always had.

He kissed Frodo's hand. "It was you, Mr. Frodo dear, that kept me on my Road. You were my light, my reason for going on. You were so fearfully brave. Bronwe athan Harthad, Endurance Beyond Hope, as Mr. Gandalf called you. No one else could have done what you did. I am that proud of you."

Frodo smiled wider to hear Sam speak as one of his beloved Elves. The song in his dear guardian's heart that Frodo had harkened to all these many years was a bit more jubilant when those words were spoken. How many nights had he fallen asleep listening to that music? It was only after they had met that he realized he had heard it even before then. It had comforted a lost orphaned lad when nothing else could, a love song sung just for him, though he didn’t know for a long time how Sam could have known to sing it. Bilbo told him once that he had told the young lad about Frodo’s hurt and Sam had begun to sing that night a lullaby that his mother had always sung to him. It had comforted Frodo on their journey, when it drowned out the incessant harsh, hate-filled voice of the Ring. They slept many nights on hard ground, but for Frodo, it was as though he had a pillow to rest on with that song reaching directly into his heart. It was for that song that he had kept taking one more breath, one more step.

"I'm even more proud of you, my Sam."

"But what for, master dear? I only did what I aught and took care of you. You had the hard part, battling that terrible thing. I just walked alongside you."

Frodo gaped. "Oh, Sam, my most beloved hobbit of hobbits! You did far more than ‘just’ walk with me! You ‘just’ fed me, you ‘just’ made sure I drank, you ‘just’ held me, you ‘just’ kissed me, you ‘just’ sang to me. You ‘just’ loved me in spite of everything. You ‘just’ about died because of me!"

Sam watched as Frodo turned away, threw up his hands and began to ran on, half to himself, as old Mr. Bilbo used to after he had had a run in with those notorious cousins of his. Sam didn’t think his former master had any idea that he had been overheard, but the younger hobbit half-smiled to hear Mr. Frodo talk the same way. There wasn’t much he caught in his master’s ramblings, but it went on for some time as Frodo paced about the room and occasionally Sam did hear a bit. "... Just walked, my eye! I’m the one who just walked!..."

A knock at the door interrupted Frodo and he looked up. "Come in!"

Aragorn stuck his head in and then stepped in.

Frodo looked at him sternly and pointed an accusing finger at Sam. "Maybe you can talk some sense into him!"

Aragorn tried very hard to keep a straight face, but he wasn’t sure he quite succeeded. He had seen and heard Frodo and Sam ‘argue’ before. "And what pray tell has our inestimable gardener done?"

"He’s doesn’t think he’s inestimable!" Frodo cried, worked into quite a state. "He doesn't think he did anything except walk beside me. Have you ever heard of anything so absurd?"

It was getting harder for Aragorn to keep a smile off his face. "No, I must say, I haven’t."

"Then tell him please that he did much more than just walk!"

"Sam, you did much more than just walk," the king said as obediently as any servant being told by his master what to do. There was more than a hint of mischief in his eyes, though he tried to keep his voice as serious as possible.

Sam was scandalized that his master was speaking so impudently to his king, but he was even more horrified when the same words came out of his own mouth. "Mr. Frodo doesn’t think he did anything more than that either so tell him that he did more than that and much more than I ever did." He blushed furiously as the words tumbled out before he could catch them. "Begging your pardon, Mr. Strider, sir....I mean my lord king..."

Aragorn smiled widely, no longer able to keep his amusement in check. "He doesn’t think so either? Now that is the most absurd thing I have ever heard." He obediently turned to Frodo. "Frodo, you did much more than just walk."

"Humph!" was all the erstwhile Ring-bearer said. He folded his arms about his chest and set his face and Sam knew he was not about to give any quarter. His master could be ever so stubborn.

Presently Frodo turned back to his Sam and pointed his finger at him. "My memories are coming back and I’m going to write down every beautiful, loving thing you did for me, every single one! And I’ll make sure a copy is left here in Gondor and in every other place I think of, so everyone for ages to come will know what happened. In fact, I’m going to start right now!" He opened the door and left mumbling under his breath. "Just walked!" said with a snort of disgust was all Sam and Aragorn heard.

"Now I see how Sauron was defeated," the king said with a wide smile as he turned to Sam. "Never cross hobbits! Our enemy thought he was the strongest force in the world, but he hadn’t reckoned with love."

Sam blushed. "Well, I’d best be looking out for Mr. Frodo," he said and padded down the hallway.

Frodo hadn’t gotten far. In fact, Aragorn would have sworn he was deliberately walking slowly to allow time for Sam to catch up. Just before they turned the corner, the king saw the Ring-bearer’s hand grasp Sam’s. In the dim hallway, their lights flared briefly as Sam’s hand clasped his master’s and they continued on as they ever had.

"Now we are just walking, Sam," Frodo said.

"Yes, master," the younger hobbit replied.

They slept that night as they had so often toward the end, limbs all a tangle, as entwined as their hearts had been so very long and always would be.

"I didn't want to go nowhere without you," Sam said, "but I would go everywhere with you."

Frodo listened to that beloved heartbeat. "And you did, dearest Sam, friend of friends, you did. My light in dark places."

When Merry and Pippin came to check on them, they smiled at those two softly glowing beings. Gandalf smiled and murmured a blessing over them as did Legolas. Gimli smiled brightly. Aragorn did as well and bowed his head. The two hobbits leaned down and softly brushed their fellows with a kiss and then they all left the Ring-bearer alone, for they knew he could not be in better hands. And Sam could not be either.

(A/N: I would have preferred to stick with the book, but this is mostly movie verse because it fit better as far as how inspiring Frodo's words to everyone. There is also a little of my own and a little from the Red Book.)

"The Ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom," Elrond said, looking at the assembled council. "Only there can it be unmade. It must be taken deep into Mordor and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came."

"One does not simply walk into Mordor," Boromir protested. "Its black gates are guarded by more than just orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep. And the great Eye is ever watchful. It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire and ash and dust. The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten thousand men could you do this."

The council devolved into a chaotic argument. Frodo stared at the Ring, hearing it speak. He had felt a spike of agony in his head when Gimli had struck it, as though he had felt the axe.

"I will take it!" Frodo cried over the din of the arguing voices. "I will take it!"

The others at the Council looked at him, astonished. Elrond considered him carefully. It was rare in his many long years of life that he had seen such bravery and only once before in such a small being. Frodo looked up at him and the Elf saw wisdom and strength there that few mortals possessed and this one was no bigger or older than a child, an infant even, in the eyes of the immortal Elves. But sometimes children are the wisest of us all. I believe we shall find that he has been well named.

Gandalf closed his eyes in grief over those fateful words. How much would they cost his dear friend he wondered? But almost immediately he received consolation and his heart was strengthened and he smiled. Hobbits really are amazing creatures. Boromir is right. Not with an army of ten thousand could we hope to defeat Sauron...but perhaps one small hobbit...?

"I will take the Ring to Mordor," Frodo said, looking uncertainly around him. "Though...I do not know the way."

Gandalf approached the little one who had accepted to take upon his slim shoulders the most terrible of burdens. Will they be strong enough to carry the peril of the world? He placed his hand on one of those shoulders and felt assurance. "I will help you bear this burden, Frodo Baggins, as long as it is yours to bear."

Aragorn looked at the frightened but determined hobbit with admiration. He knelt before Frodo and squeezed his hands. "If by my life or death, I can protect you, I will. You have my sword."

Legolas approached him as well. Frodo looked up at him. The Elf saw the fear but also the light that was within him that he had only ever seen in his own kind. If there was any hope left, it would be contained in this little one. "And you have my bow."

Gimli came to Frodo’s side. "And my axe." His father had often talked about his adventure with Bilbo so the dwarf knew hobbits were sturdy and fearfully brave. This one would be no different.

Elrond took another hard look at Frodo and then addressed the Council at large. "This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields to shake the towers and counsels of the Great. Who of all the Wise could have forseen it?" He looked back down at Frodo. "If all the mighty elf-friends of old, Hador, and Hurin, and Turin and Beren himself were assembled together, your seat should be among them."

A/N: As will be the case in later chapters as well, some of the Red Book is quoted from here.

I am going to post as I read through the tale again for my blog (http://theroadthroughmiddle-earth.blogspot.com) so it's going to take a while to get through it all. I have a lot of ideas already, but if you have something specific you want to see that I may have missed, you know where to find me! :)

The Balrog rose in all its terrible might and Gandalf seemed dwarfed by it. But such was not so. They had been originally made kindred by Ilúvatar in the beginning, but one had forsaken the light in which it had been made and one had not.

Gandalf raised his staff, refusing to bow to such a terror of darkness. "You cannot pass! I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass! The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow!"

The two met in battle, blade against blade, and it was the Balrog’s sword that was melted and broken. Gandalf swayed under the force of the impact, but was not defeated.

The others watched this as the Balrog leapt upon the bridge. Aragorn and Boromir rushed forward to the aid of their friend.

Gandalf smote the bridge with his staff which shattered and fell from him. The bridge cracked and began to fall away. The Balrog fell with it, but even in defeat, it was still a deadly foe. It wrapped its fiery whip around Gandalf and dragged him down with it.

"Come!" Aragorn cried. "I will lead you now! We must obey his last command. Follow me!"

They fled the ruined kingdom of the dwarves, each leaving behind a part of their hearts. They wept long and hard after they escaped.

Aragorn looked towards the mountains and held up his sword. "Farewell, Gandalf!" he cried. "Did I not say to you: if you pass the doors of Moria, beware? Alas that I spoke true! What hope have we without you?"

He turned to the Company. "We must do without hope," he said. "At least we may yet be avenged. Let us gird ourselves and weep no more! Come! We have a long road, and much to do."

They rose and continued. Sam looked over at his master and found him staring at the ground, looking especially thoughtful. For many days afterwards, Frodo pondered Aragorn’s words and took them into his heart to shelter his will to continue as more and more hope died in him. It kept him on his Road just as much as Sam’s unflagging support did. There had to be a reason Gandalf died. It could not be merely the senseless loss it seemed. There had to be a reason. So he kept telling himself and he thought maybe he knew what that reason was. So Aragorn could say those words and he could hear them and wrap his heart around them and they could hold together the pieces of himself that otherwise would have fallen away.

A/N: As will be the case in all chapters probably, a bit of the Red Book is quoted herein.

Galadriel looked at Aragon as the Company prepared to depart the fair land of Lorien. She gave him as a parting gift the sheath to fit the re-forged Sword, Anduril. "But is there aught else that you desire of me at our parting? For darkness will flow between us, and it may be that we shall not meet again, unless it be far hence upon a road that has no returning."

Aragorn looked at her, the fair foremother of his beloved Arwen. "Lady, you know all my desire, and long held in keeping the only treasure I seek. Yet it is not yours to give me even if you would; and only through darkness shall I come to it."

"Yet maybe this will lighten your heart, for it was left in my care to be given to you, should you pass through this land."

She handed the man the brooch that had long been in her family, handed down from daughter to daughter. "Now it comes to you as a token of hope."

The Company wondered at the remarkable change that came over the man as he pinned the green stone to his cloak, over the heart that beat in the hope of coming through the present darkness that threatened to swamp all of the world and once through it, wedding the one who had captured that heart so long ago. He looked young again and kingly and Frodo remembered how Aragorn had looked when they had stood at the foot of Cerin Amroth. The man had spoken words of love aloud to someone the Ring-bearer had been unable to see, but was sure that Aragorn saw with the eyes of his heart as easily as the hobbit saw his cousins or his Sam. He felt some kindred spirit bind them for they were both toiling for protect those they loved. There was still light left even though the shadows were deepening. It was another memory Frodo stored away.

Aragorn saw that light in his heart and held it before him as a beacon to follow through the dark night that was ahead. As long as it was there, shining brightly for him, he could go on for it was ever leading him onward, protecting him, shielding him. He wrapped himself in that light as he would a cloak and the love that was given in the gift was a warmth around him that kept the cold dark from coming to steal all hope away.

And suddenly he felt the Eye. A fierce eager will was there. It leaped toward him. He threw himself from the seat, crouching; covering his head with his grey hood.

He heard himself crying out: Never, never! Or was it: Verily I come, I come to you? He could not tell. Then as a flash from some other point of power there came to his mind another thought: Take it off! Take it off! Fool, take it off! Take off the Ring!

The two powers strove in him and he writhed, tormented. He feared he would be torn in two, his frail mortal body too weak to withstand the terrible forces that battled in him. The voice he heard sounded like Gandalf but he knew that could not be for he had seen his beloved friend fall. He held his hands against his head as though that could stop the struggle and end the agony. Stop! Stop! he begged both powers. Leave me be! He thought his mind would split apart under the assault. He could not bear it a moment longer. .

Frodo’s mind cleared for a moment. There was one instant left. The Dark Power was so close now, so very close, groping about, almost upon him. NO! he screamed and took off the Ring.

He was kneeling in clear sunlight before the high seat. A black shadow seemed to pass like an arm above him; it missed Amon Hen and groped out west, and faded. Then all the sky was clean and blue and birds sang in every tree.

Frodo was trembling with terrible weariness. He took a few deep gulps of fresh, clean air and gathered his strength, wondering if he even had enough to stand. He rose shakily to his feet. The two horrible struggles, first with Boromir and now with the Dark Lord himself, had terrified him, but had solidified his will. The chains that had held it bound fell away and he could breathe more freely. He stepped away from the chains, marveling at how strong they had looked, but now broken and useless. They would not stop him again.

He did not know the source of the voice that spoke to him, but a warmth filled him and a new strength. His heart no longer labored to beat.

A/N: As before, parts of the Red Book have been quoted. I shall leave it up to you who that other voice was. Who do you think?

Also could you all please pray for one of my brother-in-law's brothers, Tommy, who is only 20 something and already battling cancer for the second time. It doesn't seem to be as dire as we first heard, but he certainly is still in great need of prayers and healing. Hantanyel! God bless. *many hobbity hugs* Antane :)

A/N: Just in time for Valentine's Day we have this selection that starts out with a little movie verse but the rest is book and the book is quoted from. I will admit to cheating here since this is from "I Can't" that I wrote earlier, but it is most appropriate for this tale also and for this day. True love comes in many forms as it shown here by Frodo's love for Sam and Middle-earth at large and in Sam's love for Frodo that is strong enough to risk drowning. Enjoy (again!)

Frodo stood on the river bank, the Ring and its chain held in his open palm. He was weeping with the grief and strain of the choice before him. I can't go on alone, but alone I must. I can't lead anyone else to death. Gandalf has already fallen and because I chose to go that way. Boromir has fallen because the Ring is too close. I can't bear to think of Sam or Merry or Pippin being twisted. I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

The voice of Gandalf came to him then. So do all who live to see such times but that is not for them to decide. All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you.

The will hardened in Frodo. He closed his hand around the Ring and put it on his pocket, then he pushed the boat into the river and jumped in, resolutely ignoring Sam's voice calling after him. But he could not harden his heart fast enough. He turned back when he heard splashes and watched in horror as Sam's head disappeared under the water. "Sam!"

He frantically turned the boat around and reached down to his friend. "Up you come, Sam, my lad!" said Frodo. "Now take my hand."

Frodo's hand grasped Sam's and he felt his friend's fingers close around his, reassuring as it always from many tramps in the Shire, as though it had always belonged there and always would. What was he thinking trying to leave Sam behind? He did it out of love and Sam followed out of love. There was nothing Frodo knew that he could do to reward such devotion. It was going to cost Sam his life and a bit more of Frodo died inside to know that. They reached the shore again.

"Of all the confounded nuisances you are the worst, Sam!" he said, frustration, grief, anxiety and love all mingled in his voice and heart.

"Oh, Mr. Frodo, that's hard!" said Sam shivering. "That's hard, trying to go without me and all. If I hadn't a guessed right, where would you be now?"

"Safely!" said Sam, amazed, scandalized and horrified that his beloved master would ever think such a thing was even possible without his Sam looking over him. "All alone and without me to help you? I couldn't have borne it, it'd have been the death of me."

"It would be the death of you to come with me, Sam," said Frodo, "and I couldn't have borne that."

"Not as certain as being left behind," said Sam. "It's just like you used to say, Mr. Frodo. The best adventures are the dark ones and you aren't going to be on all by your own self."

"This one will be very dark, my Sam. I didn't want to lead you into it because we won't be coming back from it. This is no there and back again like Bilbo had. And I seem to recall that you once said that you wouldn't want to be in such adventures."

Sam was not about to be dissauded. "That was before I knew you were going to get away yourself. I'm sure there were times Mr. Bilbo didn't think he'd be coming back either and he did. Just you sit tight, Mr. Frodo, and let me take care of you and everything's going to turn out the way it's supposed to, just as the Lady said."

"What if it's supposed to have a sad ending, Sam? This road we are taking leads nowhere but into black night."

"Then it will be as you said when you taught me the names of the stars - we'll be able to see them better in the dark. If it wasn’t dark, we would miss out on all their beauty. And just because we are going forward into darkness, don’t mean that we can't turn around when the job is done. It's going to lead back home in the end."

"I can't dampen your spirits, can I, Sam, even though you are soaked everywhere else?" Frodo asked with a small smile.

Frodo took his gardner and guardian into his arms and hugged him tight. "I'm glad, Sam, I cannot tell you how glad."

Pippin woke from his foul dreams to enter dark waking. Slowly it all came back to him: he and Merry had been crying out for Frodo but instead of finding their missing cousin, they had run right into the orcs that had been looking for him as well. Merry struck several of them down but it was too much for even as brave a hobbit as Merry to handle. Too much even for Boromir who had come charging to their rescue. Now they were captured and Pippin did not care to think of what would happen to them now. Where was Frodo? Where was Sam? Had they gotten them too? And Strider and Gimli and Legolas? Could he hope for rescue? Should he hope? Shouldn’t they be looking for Frodo instead? That was more important Pippin knew.

Amid the dreams and waking and the torment of both, he caught strange visions of Aragorn’s stern face swimming in and out of his head and he wondered if he was dreaming again, but his heart told him no. The man was following them! He had hope again and his wits about him. He ran off a bit from his guards and left some footprints in the wet grass for Strider to see. And then a thought came to him to loose the brooch that held his cloak and he let it fall to the ground. He didn’t know why he did it, but there it lay. He was recaptured and though he thought it was for naught, he had obeyed the instruction in his heart to drop the token of hope. Elbereth smiled from her high place and the One smiled with her.

Inspiration by Antane