Beauty and a Beast

The Fellowship’s boats passed through a canyon. Boromir glanced at Aragorn’s boat across the water.

Aragorn, meanwhile, lifted his head, half-smiled and tapped Frodo on the shoulder.

"Frodo, the Argonath! Long have I desired to look upon the kings of old. My kin.”
Aragorn smiled.

The Fellowship looked up in awe at the towering splendor of the Argonath. Two majestic statues, carved right out of the rock, proudly stand on each side of the Anduin. Two vast quarries lined the cliffs to either side of them, where once their stones may have been hewn for their building. Their left arms were held aloft, their palms facing outwards in gesture of warning. Solemn and stern are their faces, the silent wardens of a long vanished kingdom. Voices sang out in the light.

“Et Eärello Endorenna utúlien. Sinome maruvan ar Hildinyar tenn' Ambar-metta!”
The voices sang.

*Out of the Great Sea to Middle-earth I am come. In this place I will abide, and my heirs, unto the ending of the world!*

The Fellowship sailed past the statues towards a great, roaring waterfall. On either side of the falls, the land rose in two hilltops crowned by distant ruins. In the center of the rushing water a pinnacle of rock rises sheer from the cascade. As they disembarked on a gravel beach, Boromir looked troubled and appeared to be fighting a conflict within him, and Frodo glanced at him, looking perturbed, as the Fellowship started to make camp.

“We cross the lake at nightfall. Hide the boats and continue on foot. We approach Mordor from the north.”
Aragorn said.

"Oh, yes?! It's just a simple matter of finding our way through Emyn Muil? An impassable labyrinth of razor sharp rocks! And after that, it gets even better!”
Gimli shot back.

Pippin looked up, alarmed.

“Festering, stinking marshlands, far as the eye can see!”
Gimli added.

“That is our road. I suggest you take some rest and recover your strength, Master Dwarf.”
Aragorn said, calmly.

“Recover my…?! Phrrrrr…”
Gimli said, outraged.

“We should leave now.”
Legolas said to Aragorn

“No. Orcs patrol the eastern shore. We must wait for cover of darkness.”
Aragorn replied.

"It is not the eastern shore that worries me. A shadow and a threat has been growing in my mind. Something draws near...I can feel it!”
Legolas said, with some fear in his voice.

Legolas’s gaze wandered over the dark pine woods, with a dark, brooding statue nestled amongst their needles.

“No dwarf need recover strength!”
Gimli boasted, before turning to Pippin.
“Pay no heed to that, young Hobbit.”
He added.

Merry, returned with some wood for the campfire, looked around.

“Where's Frodo?”
He asked.

Sam, who was half-dozing, roused with a start. Aragorn looked over the camp. His gaze stopped on Boromir’s shield, lying with his baggage.

Arryn froze, her eyes not blinking at all.

She could see Frodo wandering through the forest. He stood by an immense stone head, long aged and lost from its body, lying with its side in the ground. Boromir, gathering wood, saw Frodo and approached him across the leaf-littered earth.

“None of us should wander alone, you least of all. So much depends on you. Frodo?”
He asked. Frodo didn’t answer, so Boromir tried again.

“I know why you seek solitude. You suffer; I see it day by day. You sure you do not suffer needlessly? There are other ways, Frodo, other paths that we might take.”

"I know what you would say. And it would seem like wisdom but for the warning in my heart.”
Frodo said, defensively.

“Warning? Against what? We're all afraid, Frodo. But to let that fear drive us to destroy what hope we have…don’t you see, that is madness?”
Boromir scoffed.

“There is no other way!”
Frodo exclaimed.

“I ask only for the strength to defend my people!”
Boromir shouted, as he threw the gathered wood to the ground.

“If you would but lend me the Ring…”
Boromir said, sounding tired.

“No.”
Frodo stepped back.

“Why do you recoil? I am no thief.”
Boromir asked.

“You are not yourself.”
Frodo said, a bit alarmed.

“What chance do you think you have? They will find you! They will take the Ring and you will beg for death before the end!”
Boromir shouted at the young Hobbit

Frodo began to walk away from Boromir.

“You Fool!”
Boromir spat out, as he started after him. They began to run, Boromir closing in on the Hobbit.

“It is not yours, save by unhappy chance. It could have been mine!”
He shouted, as he tackled Frodo.
“It should be mine! Give it to me!”

The two struggled, Frodo wrestled the Ring into his hand, and he clutched it in his hand.

“Give it to me!”

“No!”

“Give me… Give me the Ring!”

“Nurgh…ugh!”
Frodo struggled, before slipping the Ring on, and disappearing. He kicked Boromir and ran away.

“I see your mind. You will take the Ring to Sauron! You will betray us! You’ll go to your death and the death of us all! Curse you! Curse you! And all the halflings!”
Boromir cried out, looking around desperately

Boromir slipped and fell to the ground. The madness of the Ring left him and he came to his senses.

“Frodo?...Frodo?...what have I done?...please...Frodo!”
Boromir pleaded

Arryn gasped, and she stumbled back. She almost fell, if Legolas didn’t catch her arm, and steadied her.

“Arryn. What’s wrong?”

“I…I…saw…”
She stuttered, and she couldn’t speak. Legolas sat her down on a log, and she began to speak clearer.

“I saw…Frodo and Boromir…He tried to take…the…Ring…from Frodo. Frodo put the Ring on……and……he disappeared…Boromir came back…to…his senses, but I do not know what became of Frodo, but he is still out there…”
She managed to get out. Aragorn nodded, before he stood up.

“Everyone split up, and look for Frodo!”

Frodo dashed up a set of dark steps, the world of the Ring blurring away around the Hobbit.

"Frodo, I'm sorry! Frodo!”
He could Boromir’s far away voice.

Frodo, in the "shadow world," climbed up onto a seat of stone framed by two stone eagles. A great shape loomed before him from afar. The image rushed towards him and his vision rose to a pinnacle— the dark tower of Barad-Dûr, where the burning Eye of Sauron stared back menacingly. Frodo, rushed to remove the Ring, fell off of the seat and landed on his back. He sat up, trying to catch his breath. Before him was a high structure on the cliff edge, surrounded by the pines. A stairway ran up through its center, to a seat dwarfed by stone eagles on top.

********

Aragorn approached, with Arryn behind him.

“Frodo?”
Aragorn asked.

“Huh?! It has taken Boromir.”
Said a startled Frodo.

“Where is the Ring?”
Aragorn asked, intensely.

“Stay away!”
Frodo exclaimed, as he scrambled up, and retreated from Aragorn, who followed him.

“Frodo!”
Aragorn exclaimed.

Frodo stopped.

“I swore to protect you!”
Aragorn said, a bit confused by Frodo’s actions.

“Can you protect me from yourself?!”
Frodo asked, as he held the Ring out on his palm

“Would you destroy it?”
Frodo added.

Aragorn, looked at the Ring, slowly approached Frodo. The Ring began to whisper.

“Aragorn...Aragorn…Elessar…”
Before it changed the name, “Arryn…Arryn…Melantha…”

Arryn walked over Frodo and her brother, and knelt beside Aragorn, and they both reached out, towards the Ring.

With both hands, Aragorn and Arryn closed Frodo’s hand over the Ring and pushed it to the Hobbit’s chest, refusing the temptation.

“We would have gone with you to the end, into the very fires of Mordor.”
Arryn said, speaking for both herself and her brother, who nodded in agreement.

“I know. Look after the others, especially Sam. He will not understand.”
Frodo said, serenely.

Aragorn nodded but then he saw Sting’s blue glow. He stood suddenly, with Arryn a few seconds behind him.

“Go, Frodo. Run. Run!”
Arryn ordered, before planting a kiss on his head, and she pressed something in his small hand, before turning away from him.

Frodo ran from the hilltop. The siblings walked out from beneath the ruin and found a troop of Uruk-Hai advancing towards them. Arryn gave a half-smile, to her brother, and they walked towards them, touching her sword to her forehead in a gesture of acceptance to the challenge, her brother making a copy of the gesture. They attack. Aragorn and Arryn cut several down, but they forced the, up the stairs of the seat.

********

Meanwhile, Sam was searching frantically for Frodo in the woods.

“Mr. Frodo!!!”
Sam called, anxiously.

He heard the clashes of sword on sword. His eyes widened. Battle!

***********

“Find the Halfling! Yaggh! Find the She-Elf!”

The Uruk- Hai leader shouted to his troops. As soon as Arryn heard that, she knew that Saruman knew about her, so she pulled the hood of her cloak over her head, as she continued fighting.

“Elendil!”
Aragorn shouted, as he jumped onto the Uruk-Hai massing below him.

Legolas and Gimli ran forward from behind the ruin. Legolas shot several Uruk-Hai; Gimli landed blow after blow with his axe.

“Aragorn! Arryn! Go!”
Legolas shouted to the pair.

*******

Frodo ran and hid behind a tree. Across the way, Merry and Pippin hid in a space under some fallen tree trunks.

“Frodo!”
Merry exclaimed, softly.

“Hide here! Quick! Come on!”
Pippin beckoned.

Frodo looks at them, with a look of anguish on his face, before he shook his head.

“What’s he doin'?”
Pippin asked Merry.

Merry paused for a moment, before realizing.
“He's leavin’.”

“No!”
Pippin cried, as he ran out towards Frodo

“Pippin!”
Merry shouted, going after him.

Merry and Pippin were out in the open. Several Uruk-Hai were coming down the hill, towards them.

“Run, Frodo! Go!”
Merry said to Frodo, quietly; before he cupped his hands over his mouth, and called to the Uruk-Hai.

“Hey! Hey you! Over here!”
Merry called

“Hey!”
Pippin cried.

“Over here!”
Merry shouted

“This way!”
Pippin yelled, waving his arms in the air

Both Hobbits ran away from Frodo. The Uruk-Hai troop followed them. Frodo made a break for it, running in the opposite direction.

“It’s working!”
Pippin said to Merry.

“I know it’s working! Run!”
Merry said.

******

Back at the hilltop, Legolas, Aragorn, Arryn and Gimli continued to fight the Uruk-Hai. In one smooth move, Legolas stabbed one Uruk with an arrow then shot it out at another. Gimli wielded his axe. Aragorn stabbed one behind his back. Arryn pushed a poorly made sword, out of her way, before the sword beheaded her.

********

Meanwhile, Merry and Pippin ran across an old stone bridge. At its far end, they stopped and see Uruk-Hai running towards them. The Uruks were closing in, both in front and behind. An Uruk ran up to them, with his battle-axe raised. But Boromir came charging in, knocked the Uruk back, and killed him with his own axe. He threw a knife at another, as more closed in.

********

Legolas killed Orc after Orc. He shot down an Uruk who had closed in on Aragorn. Arryn felt a pair of huge hands close around her neck, and a huge Uruk-Hai, held her by her throat, against a tree. Arryn struggled against it, but the Uruk-Hai’s grip tightened drastically on her throat. She felt her air supply being cut short. She scratched at the Uruk-Hai’s arms, but nothing worked.

She let out a soft cry, as she felt herself about to limp, but she saw an arrow pierce the skull of the Uruk-Hai, and she dropped to the ground. She lay there, motionless, for a few moments, before trying desperately trying to stand. Someone caught her arm, and steadier her. She touched her neck to find a large bump,

‘I’ll look at it later.’

Three loud ox-horn blasts were heard.

“The Horn of Gondor!”
Legolas said, looking away from Arryn, and towards where the horn blasts had come from.

“Boromir!”
Aragorn shouted, as he ran down the slope towards the sound, but Uruks were between him and Boromir. The forest swept by as he went. Arryn looked up, to see a few low branches from trees, above her. She jumped up, and she began leaping from tree to tree, above her brother’s head, hoping to reach Boromir, but she also attracted some of the Uruk-Hai’s attention, and they began firing arrows near her head. She avoided each one, and she kept running

Boromir sounded the Horn of Gondor again, as more Uruks attacked him.

Aragorn battled madly towards Boromir.

Boromir killed two more. Merry and Pippin took out some Orcs.

“Run! Run!”
Boromir shouted to the Hobbits. Arryn jumped down from the branches, and she landed beside Boromir, and she pulled out her sword, and she lashed out at the Uruk’s beside Boromir.

The Uruk-Hai leader walked into view on the misty hilltop beneath the dark trees.

Boromir fought on, oblivious to the presence of the leader.

Merry and Pippin continued to throw rocks. The captain aimed his black-fletched bow at an unknown Arryn. He shot, but Boromir turned to see that the arrow was headed into the temple of Arryn, and he pushed her out of the way. Arryn rolled on the leaf covered ground, and she looked up to Boromir jerk backwards at the blow to his left shoulder. Merry stopped in mid-throw as Boromir fell before a solemn statue as the sunlight streamed by. Arryn raised herself up on one elbow, and she saw that Boromir had taken the arrow for her.

“No!”
She shouted, as the Hobbits looked at him in shock.

Boromir began to breathe hard as the Uruks came closer. Boromir gave a battle cry, rose and swung his sword at one, who fell. The Uruk chieftain growled and walked further down the slope. He lifted his bow, and shot again, as Boromir turned to look at him. A black arrow flew into Boromir’s stomach. He dropped to his knees again, gasping. Merry and Pippin still stood in shock, rocks in hand. Boromir stared into their eyes, but against death, they can do nothing. Summoning his will to fight for them, the warrior swung his sword at another Uruk and he shakily got back up. The captain shot him once more time, in the chest. Boromir fell on his knees and he stayed there, swaying a little and blinking. The ox-horn was cloven in two.

Merry and Pippin looked at him, aghast. With all the courage they could muster, they took up their swords and attacked the Uruk-Hai, but they never had the chance to strike. The Uruk-Hai lifted them up and carried them off. Merry and Pippin waved their arms frantically. The Uruk-Hai troop walked away from Boromir, who looked on helplessly. The troop passed by Boromir where he was kneeling, suffering, as though he did not exist.

The captain, now left alone, stopped before his foe. Boromir swallowed and stared back at him. The chieftain snarled and pulled his bow back, ready to deliver the final blow. Just then, Aragorn crashed into him, and his arrow flew off harmlessly.

The captain and Aragorn fought. Aragorn lost his sword and was thrown to the ground; when he got up, the Uruk-Hai warrior threw his two-pronged shield at Aragorn and pinned him by the neck against a tree. The Uruk raised his sword and he struck, but Aragorn slipped beneath the shield and dodged the blow.

Arryn picked up her bow, and she nocked an arrow, and she shot it at the Uruk Hai. It lodged in his arm, and he turned to his original target, with a small stream of blood coming from her eyebrow, and with a look of determination on her face. He threw something at her, and it lodged itself in her arm. Arryn gently pulled the knife from her arm, and she tried to keep more blood from spilling from her arm.

The Uruk saw that she was an easy target now, but before he had a chance to do anything Aragorn pulled out a knife and stabbed the captain on the leg. He roared and pulled out the knife, licking the blood from it, and threw it at Arryn, who has found her sword and used it to bat the knife away. Aragorn closed in on the Orc and in a flurry of swordplay, sliced his arm off and then stabbed him in the chest. The resilient captain pulled himself up on the sword, closer to Aragorn, snarling, defiant. Aragorn grimaced, pulled his sword out of the injured warrior, swung it wide, and hacked off the Uruk-Hai’s head. The rest of him fell to the ground.

Aragorn paused a moment, panting. He then raced to Boromir, where Arryn was already kneeling before the fallen warrior.

“No!”
Aragorn exclaimed.

Boromir, pale and bloodied, was now lying on his back, his head close to a tree.

Aragorn knelt near Boromir, who grabbed his shoulder.

“They took the little ones.”
Boromir said.

“Be still.”
Aragorn said, trying to heal the fallen warrior.

“Frodo! Where is Frodo?”
Boromir asked, anxiously.

“We let Frodo go.”
Arryn responded, trying to keep from tears.

“Then you did what I could not. I tried to take the Ring from him.”
Boromir said

“The Ring is beyond our reach now.”
Aragorn answered

“Forgive me. I did not see it. I have failed you all.”
Boromir said, weakly.

“No, Boromir, you fought bravely! You have kept your honor.”
Arryn said, struggling to keep her voice steady, as she remembered the fact that he had taken the arrow for her, and she reached out to pull the arrows from Boromir.

“Leave it! It is over.”
He said, as he grabbed her hand to prevent her from taking the arrows out.

Tears spilled from her eyes, and she looked away for a moment, before turning back.

“The world of men will fall, and all will come to darkness… and my city to ruin.”
He said, sadly.

“I do not know what strength is in my blood, but I swear to you I will not let the White City fall…nor our people fail!”
Aragorn promised.

“Our people? Our people.”
Boromir broke out into a weak smile, as he reached out for his sword. Arryn grabbed the hilt of his sword, and she helped Boromir clasp it to his chest.

“I would have followed you my Brother…my Captain…My King!”
Boromir said, drawing one last breath, before he passed.

Arryn’s lip quivered and she hung her head, her salty tears spilled onto her lap. She looked up, and she brought her lips to his forehead, in respect, before more and more tears spilled from her eyes.

“It should’ve been me…He took the arrow for me…”
She sobbed.

Aragorn looked behind and he saw Legolas standing a few feet away from the pair. He waved him over, and he gently took Arryn’s shoulders, and led her away. He sat her down on a rock, and he tended to her wound. The entire time, Arryn said nothing, but tears streamed down her face. When he saw done, Arryn leaned forward, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, and she hugged him with what strength she had left. He stood her up, and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her to his chest, her tears soaking through his tunic.

“It should’ve been me…"

Legolas looked at her, with a questioning look.

"he…took the arrow for me…it was meant for me…not him…he didn’t have to die…”
She sobbed.

“Shh…Arryn…what happened could not have been prevented…you’re safe now…”
He said, soothingly, as he stroked her matted hair.

She looked up at him, tears brimming her eyes. He touched the bump on her neck, and he saw that it was a bruise, from when the Uruk-Hai was nearly strangling her. She let go of him, and she walked over to the lifeless body of Boromir, and she removed the black arrow shaft from his body. Not bearing to look at it, she flung the arrow away from her, and she sank to the ground. Legolas sat down beside her, and she turned and buried her head in his shoulder, letting out a soft sob. Legolas put his hand on her head, and he held her like that, until her soft sobs died away.
*****