"Brom! Where have you been? Where id Meia?" Allanon asked, but the bloody boy pushed past the druid where Aragorn exchanged words with a dying Boromir.

"I tried to take it from him, I don't what came over me," Boromir's usually hearty voice was soft and whispery, "Poor Brom he was witness to my madness. If I could apologize to him before I-I"

"No! You can't die!" Brom said loudly startling Aragorn and Boromir Brom walked over to the borderman and dropped to his knees.

"Hello, Brom," Boromir smiled," I hope you'll forgive me for being so weak,"

"You're not weak! You can't die! We're going to Minas Tirith right now and we'll get you healed!" He grabbed Boromir's hand and stood, trying to drag the borderman to his feet. When the boy realized he couldn't move the borderman, he looked at faces of the fellowship. They could not meet his sharp black eyes. Brom's legs failed him as he dropped back down and collapsed on Boromir's chest where several Black feathered arrows protruded and sobbed violently. "You promised you'd take care of me! You promised! YOU CAN'T DIE!!!

For the first time since Walker and Quickening's death, Allanon saw Brom as a child. All the boy's hard built walls and barriers melted away, leaving only a small, pale child, vulnerable to the eyes of the remaining fellowship.

"I'm sorry, Brom, I didn't want it to end this way," Boromir laboriously raised his hand and set it on Brom's silver tresses. "I'll always consider you my son, Brom, and so you shall be. I pass my name onto you, but my lineage must go onto Aragorn."

Brom nodded, sitting up, his dirty face streaked with tears. A hand gripped the boy's trembling shoulder.

"Boromir, with your permission, I would be the boy's guardian, I shall raise him as my own,"

Boromir nodded and he let his hand slid from Brom's head to his cheek.

"Yes, Aragorn, raise my son, teach him be a prince," Boromir said these words with his last breath and Brom let out a broken sound as the man's hand went limp on his cheek and fell away from his face.

"FATHER! " Brom cried in such a ragged sob that it pierced every heart in the fellowship.

Aragorn drew the crying boy away from Boromir's body. The pale child latched around the ranger's waist with gasping cries and mewling tears.

Legolas bent down and closed Boromir's eyes with an elvish prayer and turned his green eyes to Aragorn and Brom and wondered where the ranger would take them now.

Boromir's body had been set adrift downstream. The only thing not kept by the corpse was the magnificent horn, still whole and now carried by Brom.

The group now huddled over a meager, cold breakfast discussing the fate of the fellowship.

"Boromir wanted to go Minas Tirith, but I cannot believe he would want us to abandoned Merry and Pippin," Aragorn said softly. Brom said nothing his eyes stared out to the river, the wind ruffling his silver hair.

Allanon shook his head. "we came for the sake of helping Frodo and Meia. We've lost them both," The druid fell silent. They had found no sign of the girl and assumed she had left with Frodo. "I will take my party back to Rivendell. We are no use to you, but maybe we can aid that ancient house." Aragorn nodded and clasped hands with Allanon.

"Luck with you friend," He said, "We will go in search of the halflings. Brom, you can go either way. Which do you want?"

Brom drug his eyes away from the river and looked at everyone.

"I will do, as my father would," He said hoarsely, fingering the ancient ox-horn. "I will help you look for the halflings," He locked eyes on Aragorn. "Then to Minas Tirith?"

Aragorn nodded, "To Minas Tirith, after."

Brom nodded and again let his eyes drift back to the river.

So the fellowship broke a third time. Allanon, Tay, and Risca to Rivendell and Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, and Brom to find Merry and Pippin

END BOOK ONE

A/N All right! I ended the first book! Whew! I plan to take a short break to get started on the second book and to work on my stories gathering dust in my archive. I really don't have a lot planned for Book Two so if you have any suggestions please review and let me know! What should happen to Brom? Will Meia start wearing a helmet so she stops getting hit in the head. What's Rimmer Dal up too and where the heck is Sauron and what happened to Rash???Please R/R!!!