All other things, to their destruction draw, only our love hath no decay; this, no tomorrow hath, nor yesterday, running it never runs from us away, but truly keeps his first, last, everlasting day.
-- John Donne
At the entrance to Mordor the fellowship had met up again, including Gandalf who had somehow managed to get out of the mines of Moria. There had followed a mass murder of orcs, and they were now at the foot of Mt. Doom.
'Frodo, set off along that path, and don't stop. It will lead you to the ledge over the fires of Mt. Doom, where you must throw away the ring. Whatever happens, don't stop running.' Gandalf ordered.
'Shouldn't someone go with him?' Aragorn asked doubtfully.
'This is Frodo's task, and only Frodo can destroy the ring. He must go alone.' Gandalf replied.
'But what if he gets attacked by orcs on the way up!' Sam asked.
'We will all be behind him, fighting off any creatures of evil.' Gandalf said. 'But you must go, Frodo. Now! Already Sauron and his army are drawing near.'
'Good luck, Frodo.' Merry said, hugging his friend. There was the sound of orc horns in the distance.
'Go Frodo! Now!' Gandalf said again, and this time Frodo didn't wait. With one last look back at all his friends, the people he had grown so close to, before running off along the path up Mt. Doom.
Frodo was half way there when he stopped. He was panting heavily, running continuously uphill was not his strong point. He looked back to see a huge swarm of orcs lower down, fighting with the fellowship. The quicker he got rid of the ring, the sooner they would all go away. He started running again.
The first invasion of orcs had passed, and the rest of the fellowship started to go along the path of Mt. Doom.
'Strider!' Pippin suddenly said. 'There's something up there with Frodo!'
They all looked up to where they could see Frodo running along the path. Not far behind, there was some smaller creature running after him.
'Gollum!' Gandalf said.
'We must get to him!' Merry said.
'No, Frodo is more than a match for Gollum. He is safe for the moment. But we will continue up the path.' Gandalf said.
Suddenly, from a small distance behind Frodo, another swarm of orcs appeared from a crevice in the mountain.
'Oh no!' Gimli and Legolas said together.
'Frodo isn't a match for all of them!' Aragorn said.
'We shouldn't have let him go alone!' Sam said.
'We must get to them before they get to Frodo!' Gandalf said, and they all started running up the mountain.
They reached the orcs quickly – they are not the fastest creatures in the world. Unfortunately, there were loads of them. The fellowship started attacking them, but only half the orcs stayed for the fight. The other half stayed for a bit, before going after Frodo again.
Frodo was nearly there – he could see the entrance to Mt. Doom. He knew there were orcs following him, but he just kept running.
'If I get rid of the ring, they'll go away.' He kept muttering to himself.
He reached the ledge over the fires of Mt. Doom, and yanked the ring from the chain around his neck. He took one last look at the ring, before holding his hand over the edge, closing his eyes and letting the ring go.
When he reopened his eyes, he saw, as if in slow motion, the ring falling down. He was about to turn back, when he felt something extremely sharp dig into one of his legs. He looked down to see Gollum, his teeth sunk into Frodo's leg. The worse sight, however, was all the orcs, blocking the exit from the ledge. The ring had not yet reached the fires.
At once, all the orcs leaped at him. Frodo fell, as about 50 swords and daggers dug into his legs at once (obviously, they had gone for the heart first, but Frodo was still wearing the Mithril mail shirt). He screamed, the pain was excruciating. Then there was a large explosion from the fires below and all the orcs fell dead. The ring had been destroyed, their strength had gone.
It hadn't got rid of Gollum though. He was still there, angered by the destruction of the ring.
'My precious... destroyed!' It shouted, biting into Frodo's leg again.
Frodo just closed his eyes where he was lying on the floor. He wanted everything to stop; he wanted to be back in Bag End. Instead he was lying above a gigantic fire with some creature his uncle had angered ages ago attacking him. He was suffering pain he had never felt before in his life in his legs – he didn't want to look at them. He knew already that he had been crippled.
He cried into his arms as he felt Gollum crawl along his back, biting him every so often. Frodo knew what it was going to do – it was going to bite him in the neck, Gollum was going to kill him. Frodo cried harder.
The fellowship was almost at the top of the mountain when the explosion had occurred. They couldn't help cheering as all the orcs around them fell to the ground, dead. The ring had been destroyed!
Their happiness turned to anxiety as the minutes passed and there was no sign of Frodo.
'Wait here.' Aragorn had ordered, and had sprinted off towards the entrance to he mountain ledge.
Frodo was lying with his eyes closed, waiting for the bite of death from Gollum, when he felt Gollum run back along his legs and away.
Frodo moaned; Gollum was gone, but so was his ability to walk. His legs were still issuing unbearable pain.
Then he heard a familiar voice, a friendly voice. 'Oh my God, Frodo. What happened to you?'
'Strider... you came...' Frodo muttered between moans and screams of pain. 'They attacked me... orcs... Gollum!' Frodo opened his eyes to see Aragorn kneeling by him.
'Frodo, I'm going to carry you out of here. That means I'm going to have to hold your legs – I'm afraid this is going to hurt you... a lot.'
Frodo nodded. Aragorn put one arm round Frodo's back, and then placed the other around what was left of Frodo's legs – there was blood absolutely everywhere.
The second Aragorn touched Frodo's legs, Frodo issued the worst scream he had ever heard anyone produce.
'It's okay.' Aragorn tried to comfort Frodo. 'I'm going to get you out of here.'
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Gollum's Revenge by Deutzy
Story notes: This is based on the film, rather than the book. There are some things in this part that may not make sense at the moment, but they will do in the next few parts. I know the fellowship disband, and Merry and Pippin get captured, but all will be explained!!!
