Frodo's Forgotten Quest

PROLOGUE

They were on their way to mount doom when Sam felt a trickle of sweat go down his face. We're almost there, he thought, feeling his heart lift. They were going when suddenly Sméagol appeared from the darkness and muttered from behind Sam, "Wicked masterssss, must'ntss destroy precioussssss. Give preciousssss to smeagol, yesssssss, to Smeagol."

Sam suddenly turned around but it was too late. Smeagol threw himself upon Frodo. Frodo staggered on by their combined weights while Sam watched helplessly as both were fighting over the ring. Gollum was tearing over the ring, but Frodo's sudden desire for the ring had overpowered Sméagol and Frodo fought with such force and fury that Sam was surprised. Finally Frodo managed to throw Smeagol off him.

"Down, down" yelled Frodo, "Down you creeping thing, and out of my path! Your time is at an end. You cannot betray me or slay me now. Begone, and trouble me no more! If you ever touch me again, I shall cast you into the Fire of Doom."

"Lookout" cried Sam "he'll spring! Quick master. Go on; go on, no time to lose. I'll deal with him." With that Sam took out his sword and faced Sméagol as Frodo went on. "Now at last I can deal with you."

But Gollum didn't make a step forward. Instead he whimpered to the ground and wept "Don't kill us; don't kill us with nasty blade. When precious will goes we'll die too!"

Sam's hand wavered. His mind was hot with wrath and the memory of evil. It would be just to slay this treacherous and murderous creature, but after all Sam knew how it felt after one had put on the ring. The blasted thing was always on your mind with always the desire to wear it.

"Oh curse you, you stinking thing! Go away I don't trust you. Be off or I shall hurt you." Sam forced Gollum to turn back. As Sam turned to look for his master so did Sméagol and he quietly followed him into the darkness.

The path climbed on. Sam had reached the cracks of doom. As he moved forward he could see Frodo, who was standing on the brink of the chasm at the very Crack of Doom.

"Master!" cried Sam.

Then Frodo stirred and spoke with a clear and more power fuller voice Sam had ever heard. "I have come but I do not choose now to do what I came to do. The ring is mine." And suddenly Frodo disappeared. Sam gasped but he had no chance to cry out, for at that very moment several things happened. Something struck Sam heavily at the back and he lost conscious.

And far away, as Frodo put on the ring and claimed it for his own, even in Sammath Naur the very heart of his realm, the power in Barad-dur was shaken, and the tower trembled from its foundations to its proud and bitter crown. The Dark Lord was suddenly aware of him, and his eye piercing all shadows looked plain to the door that he made; and the magnitude of his own folly was revealed to him in a blinding flash, and all the devices of his enemies were at last laid bared. Then in his wrath blazed in consuming flame, but his fear rose like a vast black smoke to choke him. For he knew his deadly peril and the thread which his doom now hung.

From all his policies and his webs of fear and treachery, from all his stratagems and wars his mind shook free; and throughout his realm a tremor ran, his slaves quailed, and his armies halted, and his captains suddenly steerless, bereft of will, wavered and despaired. For they were forgotten. The whole mind and purpose of the power that wielded them was now bent with overwhelming force upon the mountain. At his summons, wheeling with a rendering cry, in a last desperate race there flew, faster than the winds, the Nazguls, the Ringwraiths, and with a storm of wings hurtled southwards to Mount Doom

Sam got up, he was dazed and semi-conscious. He looked up and could see Sméagol and an invisible person fighting over something. Then suddenly Sméagol tried to bite the ring off Frodo's finger.

Frodo screamed in agony, but was still invisible which made it apparent that Sméagol bit the wrong finger. With that Sméagol began to scream as he was turned upside down and was cast into mount doom itself. Sam couldn't believe it, his master killed Sméagol. Sam then fell into the darkness unconscious and lost.

With the murder of Sméagol, Frodo's heart became harder and stronger, stronger than he had ever felt before. Stronger than the journey had ever made him.

With that he remembered what the Lady Galadriel told him "The ring gives power according to the measure of each possessor. Before you could use the power to try to feel the presence of others you would need to become far stronger and to train your will to the domination of others." He was far stronger than before but not strong enough to feel the others. But he was strong enough to feel the presence of those close to him, the ringwraiths. As he tried to feel the presence of them he immediately felt the anger of Sauron and the Ringwraiths presence, which were coming after him of which one was missing. But Frodo saw the phial of Galadriel, but realized that it would never light for him after what he had done.

But Frodo had a plan on how to take on the ringwraiths. He had plenty of time to prepare for them.

From the distance all of a sudden appeared the ringwraiths, as soon as they arrived Frodo appeared before their eyes, but still had the ring on his finger.

The ringwraiths were not at all happy to see Frodo. The leader among them spoke "You have fought valiantly Halfling but the time has come for you to hand over the ring, for that ring doesn't belong to you. Either you give it to us willingly or we take it by force."

Frodo didn't seem bothered at all by this. Instead he laughed. "Firstly in case you had no idea, I am now the new Lord of the Rings. I am now your new master. The ring is mine. If you force me I shall destroy all those who come in my way. I give you two offers. Either you join me or you go back to your Lord Sauron in one piece."

The Ringwraiths sneered and jeered at this. "Hand us the ring Oh Great Master, before we show you our power and the wrath of Sauron."

Frodo made no sign to move and so the ringwraiths progressed forward. With that Frodo pointed the ring to them and bellowed in a strong and stern voice "Halt, I the Lord of the Rings command you to stop at once."

After that the ringwraiths were hit with such a force that they were knocked of the Nazguls and lay on the floor. He then picked up Sam's hand, which had the phial of Galadriel in it, and cried "Aiya Earendil Elenion Ancalima!" With that a blinding light came out of the phial that made the Ringwraiths retreat. Quickly Frodo pointed his ring at the ceiling of the cave and with all his might concentrated on it to fall.

The cave collapsed onto the ringwraiths and some of them were thrown into the cracks of doom. And all of a sudden the cave began to give away and tremble. It was not the only thing trembling. The whole of Mordor shook in fear as its power was bent and weakened. The people and warriors of Gondor believed that the ring was destroyed.

The cave was collapsing and there was nothing for anyone to do. With that Frodo gave Sam, who was unconscious, one last look and departed taking with him sting and the Nazgul of one of the ringwraiths.

After a while when all hope for Sam being rescued was dark, Gandalf came on Gwahior the wind lord. Gandalf with no time to lose picked up Sam and looked around for Frodo. There was no sign of the little hobbit. He casted a spell which would reveal him the presence of all living beings but He could find no trail of the hobbit. There was no time to lose the cave was falling apart fast and he had to leave before it was too late. Gandalf sighed, he was forced that the poor hobbit died in the attempt of destroying the ring. He believed that Frodo had casted the ring into the cracks of doom and that was why everything around them was falling. He did not have the faintest idea that the ring was still alive and so was Frodo.

Chapter 1

Sam couldn't remember where he was all he knew was that he was in terrible pain. At times he thought he could see Gandalf. He even had nightmares which kept haunting him. He could see his master, Frodo, who was happy and seemed to be enjoying himself, when out of nowhere dark clouds appeared and swallowed Frodo into the darkness. Sam desperately plunged into the darkness after his master. He had to help him. He felt cold and scared, and thought that he was falling. And then all of a sudden Frodo emerged from the darkness. He was no more the same hobbit. Frodo turned to stare at Sam and started to laugh, a terrible laugh which made the back of Sam's hair stand. Sam felt as if he was being watched. Frodo was saying something, but Sam couldn't understand what he was saying. He caught sight of something gold flash on his finger. It was the ring. The ring! With that all of his memory flooded back to him of the previous night. He failed the mission! They did not destroy the ring! What would Gandalf say had he been alive? And with that he woke with a start.

Sam sat up immediately and saw a bunch of people staring at him as if he came back from the dead. With that a huge commotion was made with many sighs of relief. Sam still saw them as a blur and couldn't tell what was happening. Many people forced Sam back telling him he needed rest but Sam wouldn't rest. He rubbed his eyes and everything came to focus. He could see Merry and Pippin beaming at him (they both changed so much since the last time he saw them), Legolas and Gimly with a wide smile and Gandalf behind them all who was looking relieved to see Sam alive and well.

Sam couldn't speak. Gandalf was alive! He couldn't believe it. Sam was at the same time happy and sad to see Gandalf. How was he to going explain to Gandalf what happened at the cracks of doom? Gandalf and the rest understood Sam's shock and a long silence prevailed. Pippin was the one who broke the silence.

"We're all proud of you Sam; we can't believe that you managed to destroy the ring. Although it is sad to know that Frodo died in the attempt"

"What?" Sam couldn't believe what he was hearing. Did they not know what happened at Mordor?

"Yeah, don't you know?" said Merry, "You were probably unconscious at the time, anyway it turns out that Frodo managed to destroy the ring and Gollum in the end. Unfortunately, Frodo died in the attempt. We don't know whether it was done by the Ringwraiths or Gollum. It could have even been an accident. Once the ring was destroyed the power of all Sauron's men broke and Sauron himself perished for good. We were losing the war badly, but we won in the end."

Sam gaped. They had no clue of what happened at Mount Doom. "How long has it been since this happened? How did I get here?"

It was Legolas who answered this time "It has been three days and three nights. Gandalf saved you, at the time the Ringwraiths had already reached there before him. When Gandalf came half of them had been unconscious or were killed. That makes us think that it was Frodo's doing and that they killed him."

Sam couldn't bring himself to say it. Their knowledge of what happened was totally unexpected.

Gandalf sensed Sam's fear and pain. "Now enough talking, you can hear all about this affair later, you can also tell Strider and I what happened later when you have the strength for it. Aragorn, the heir of Isildur, is now the new king incase you didn't know. Now off to bed."

"No, Gandalf you don't know what really happened."

"It's okay; you can tell us later when you feel better."

"You don't understand. Frodo is still alive and so is the ring."

"What? Pippin, Merry go and call Aragorn as quick as possible. Tell him it's urgent. Till then Sam tell me what happened."

"Well it's hard to say it. In short sir, Frodo is the new Lord of the Rings.

Hidden in the mountains of Ered Lithui, Frodo quietly sat in the shadows. Frodo had become much stronger and learned to his great fear that Gandalf and Aragorn have learned of his continuing existence. Sam without the faintest of ideas didn't know that Frodo was using Sam to spy on Gandalf and the others. He was most shocked to find out Gandalf was still alive. Sam had possessed the ring and so had received some of its powers without knowing. This allowed Frodo to enter into Sam's mind and find out what was going on. But Frodo was careful to make sure that Sam wouldn't feel his presence. Sam had already felt it in his dreams. Frodo no longer had interest in Gandalf and Sam's talk, he was now pondering about how strong Gandalf and Strider became. Gandalf the Grey had returned from the dead more powerful as Gandalf the white. While Aragorn, heir of Isildur, was now the king and much more powerful than ever. Both, Gandalf and Aragorn alone could take on all of the nine ringwraiths. Frodo himself could only take on one or two.

Frodo knew that to become stronger he would need to acquire the other rings of power. Three rings for the Elven-Kings under the sky. The Elven rings were out of the question as they were not made by Sauron and were not meant to be used as a weapon. The fact that Lothlorien was also a powerful stronghold kept Frodo quiet. The Elven rings he would conquer after he would conquer the other rings. Once he had the elven rings he would give the power of the elven rings to the other rings, and would also make the elven rings a weapon of destruction.

Till then the elven rings were out of the question. Nine rings Made for Men doomed to die. The nine rings made for man, the ringwraiths, were too powerful to overthrow. Their power was made by the ring and depends on it and the stronger Frodo becomes the stronger they become. But Frodo had a plan. The power of the ringwraiths depended on the will of Frodo, but Frodo wasn't strong enough to completely overpower them. But Frodo was strong enough to bend the power of the ringwraiths, which weakened them greatly. The ringwraiths knew this and dared not to challenge Frodo's power. But they were still the servants of Sauron and were in constant strain of what to do as Frodo weakened the power of their master. Frodo had become far stronger and was no more under the influence of the ring's power; it was Frodo himself who was controlling the ring with his own free will.

Frodo at times spied on them as he spied on Sam, but was more careful as they unlike Sam could detect his presence and find them. But from as much as Frodo could gather they were scared of what they should do. Their master's power was trembling and the haffling was becoming ever stronger. They believed that when the time came when Frodo was to overthrow Sauron, they would show Sauron their true colors and betray him. This made Frodo happy as it meant that all Frodo had to do was become stronger and Sauron himself would fall under the treachery of his servants.

Seven for the Dwarf-Lords in their halls of stone. This left the last seven rings made for the dwarves which were long lost. Of the seven, four were destroyed by the fire of the dragons. The remaining three were to be recovered. They were present at Moria, which Durin had once possessed. Only after recovering the ring could he duplicate them until there were full seven. He would also need the mithril, as the ringwraiths took his. He would also need it to convince the dwarves. After recovering the seven could he take on the ringwraiths and Sauron himself. Once Sauron was conquered would he go for the elven rings. The Palantir would also be necessary. Frodo rose and began to prepare his Nazgul. It was going to be a long journey and he needed to be swift. He needed to beat Aragorn and Gandalf to the race before the council started, before they realized that he was after the other rings of power. The council was to happen after two to three days by the time which he, Frodo, would be too far ahead for them to reach. His Nazgul was much faster and stronger than ever before. It was time for the second war to begin.

Frodo began to recite "One ring to rule them all and one ring to find them. One ring to rule them all and in the darkness bind them."