Frodo Baggins sighed deeply as he stood on the edge of a vast lake. He didn't know the name of this one, it was just one of the many that Gandalf and Strider had them set up camp near. It wasn't supposed to be his turn to fill up the canteens, but Pippin had asked if Frodo could do it, so that he could have sword practise with Strider and Boromir. Frodo knew he wasn't supposed to go anywhere by himself, but it was rather refreshing to move about without one of the big folk constantly watching his every movement. Frodo sighed again as he realised that due to his lack of attention, one of the canteens was now bobbing happily away from the bank. Knowing that they couldn't afford to lose one, Frodo waded in after it.
Back at camp, Strider was panting madly after his sparring session with Legolas. It had been hard, but worth it, the elf had really put him through his paces. He glanced around the camp and was just about to ask what was for dinner, when he noticed that Frodo was missing from their group.
"Where's Frodo?" asked Strider loud enough for the whole group to hear. They all stopped talking and glanced around the tiny camp, as if they expected Frodo to pop out from behind a bush and shout 'surprise'.
"I think he went to fill the canteens." said Pippin with an anxious glance towards Gandalf.
"By himself." said Strider, a look of horror on his face as he was already moving towards the lake, the rest of the Fellowship following closely behind.
Frodo looked up when he heard voices approaching the bank. He was surprised to see all the Fellowship standing there, with Strider in front. Frodo could see the relief on Strider's face when he spotted him.
"Frodo my boy. What are you doing out there?" shouted Gandalf.
Lifting up the canteen as visual evidence, he shouted back, "Filling up the canteens."
"Well come back now and let us do it." shouted Gandalf again.
Mumbling to himself about lack of trust, Frodo started to swim back to the bank. When he felt something brush against his foot. He stopped and looked around, treading water so that he didn't drown.
"I think there's" he started to say before something wrapped around his feet and pulled him down.
"Frodo" shouted Strider as he saw the hobbits head disappear under the water. He surged forward with Boromir and Legolas next to him. He dived into the lake and gasped when he realised how cold it was. He swam to where he had last saw Frodo, and without a thought he went down too. He felt rather than saw Legolas swimming next to him. If they failed to find Frodo they could swim back to the top and Boromir would go down, this would go on until they found Frodo, be he alive or dead.
Strider had gone no more than twenty feet when he saw the struggling form of the hobbit. Strider glanced around, unsure as to what had pulled him down, when he saw tentacles wrapped around his foot. He knew why the monster had gone for Frodo out of all of them. This beast must serve Sauron. Pulling his dagger from his boot and seeing Legolas doing the same, they swam down to rescue their ring bearer.
Frodo struggled against the beast, and he managed to get one foot free, which he then repeatedly used to kick the beast in the head with. He saw two shapes appear in his peripheral vision, and realised that it was Strider and Legolas. He felt the grip on his foot loosen as Strider and Legolas cut the tentacle away and, giving the beast one last kick for good measure, he felt two sets of strong arms pulling him upwards.
His head broke the surface and wiping the water out of his eyes, he felt himself being past to Boromir while Strider and Legolas hacked at the tentacles that were snaking their way towards him. When they were nearly at the bank, the beast gave up and retreated below the surface to mourn its lost limbs.
When Boromir pulled Frodo down from his back, he walked about ten paces before he stumbled and fell to the floor, grabbing his ankle and trying to suppress a scream. The Fellowship all turned towards him and they gasped in horror when they saw that half of the tentacle was still attached to Frodo's leg. Frodo heard Strider shout for his bag, when the darkness rose up to claim him.
Consciousness came to Frodo quickly and he sat bolt upright with a little gasp. Before the fog of sleep wore off he heard someone say, "They will betray you."
"Frodo, are you alright?" said a voice to his left.
He spun around and tried to scramble away whilst still sitting down.
"Frodo calm down, your safe now." said Strider soothingly, rubbing his hand up and down his back.
"What happened?" said Frodo pushing himself to his feet.
"A giant squid pulled you down into the lake and half of its tentacle got stuck to your leg." explained Strider as he pushed Frodo back down, "It's going to be sore for a couple of days, so we can rest here for a while."
"Are you sure you alright Mr Frodo, you look a little pale." said Sam once Strider had moved away.
"Yes Sam, just a little tired." Frodo replied wearily closing his eyes in the hope that Sam would leave him alone.
Frodo cried out in his dreams, there were hundreds of ghostly voices swirling around in the mist, all howling and screaming for their lost lives. Frodo realised with a start that the voices were coming from the ring and it was all the people that the ring had ever destroyed or used in its quest to get back to its master. Trapped in his nightmare, all Frodo could do was try to hide.
Strider looked up, startled when he heard a cry coming from the middle of the camp. Frodo was thrashing wildly in his sleep, like he was trying to hold off an invisible force. Gandalf and Legolas were already moving towards the struggling hobbit.
"I think he is having a nightmare." said Legolas looking at Gandalf for clarification.
"Yes I think he is, Aragorn, what did you say was in the poison?" asked Gandalf gravely.
"Worm-root." replied Strider immediately.
"This is bad, if we do not wake Frodo up, then it is likely that he will die in his nightmare." said Gandalf. "Worm-root gives you vivid hallucinations that are so frightening that you believe they are real, that it will eventually drive you insane and result in death."
In the nightmare Frodo sat rocking himself back and forth slowly; the incessant howling of the creatures was wearing him down, when he heard someone calling his name in the darkness.
"Gandalf." shouted Frodo over the din of the voices, "is that you?"
When no one answered him he slumped back in despair, only to hear Strider calling his name. "Frodo please wake up."
Strider held his breath when he saw Frodo's eyes start to flutter open, only to recoil when he saw that his whole eyes were yellow.
"I am the master of the ring, all will fear me and know my wrath." said a deep voice coming from Frodo.
"Gandalf what's wrong with him?" shouted Strider.
"The occupants of the ring are taking over, Sauron is giving them power in the hope that they will convince Frodo to go to him."
"I don't think so." said Strider determinedly, "how do we get him back to normal without him losing his mind?"
"If you can hold him still, I will try to separate the voices from Frodo's consciousness and banish them into the abyss." shouted Gandalf over the roar of all the voices.
At the same time Strider and Legolas both lunged forward and wrapped their arms around the struggling hobbit.
"No you can't do this, I will find you and next time I won't spare your lives." threatened Sauron.
With one final thrust, Gandalf pushed out the essence of Sauron, and watched in relief as Frodo slumped into Strider's arms, unconscious but alive.
Frodo opened his eyes to see the Fellowship all asleep on the ground around him, with Gandalf sitting to his right.
"Thank you for saving me Gandalf. I didn't think anyone would ever come. But how did you know which voices to take and which one to leave behind?" asked Frodo sleepily.
"Because my boy, I will always know you." Gandalf whispered as Frodo fell back asleep.