KAT

In the early hours of the morning Boromir woke up to see Aragorn still sitting by the fire, looking into the darkness. Gandalf had fallen asleep, and Aragorn looked like he was about to fall asleep.

'Get some sleep, my friend.' Boromir said, going over to Aragorn. 'You look like you need it.'

Aragorn was reluctant to allow Boromir to take over, he was still wary about the ring's effect over him. 'I will stay awake for a while longer.'

Boromir was insistent. Eventually, Aragorn gave in and moved away from the fires, settling himself down by the four hobbits. He was still worried about what Boromir could do to Frodo. Sleep overcame him, however, and he drifted into an uneasy sleep.

***

Boromir sat by the remains of the fire, which had by now gone out. He didn't have the same uneasy feeling as Aragorn, and it wasn't long before his mind turned to the One Ring again. All he planned to use it for was to help the people of Gondor – he wouldn't dream of using it like Sauron would. Aragorn and Gandalf didn't seem to share his view, however. He would have to take the ring without them noticing.

It had almost worked the first time. He had managed to get the ring from Frodo the previous night when he had been sleeping, and had had it on him all day without the hobbit even noticing. Aragorn had even asked him that day whether he had the ring, and the hobbit had answered without even checking!

He had hidden it in the forest when they had got there that evening, when he had gone to check it was safe to set up camp. Some probably harmless creature of the forest had obviously tried to steal the ring when they heard rustling in the trees, but Legolas' bow had scared it off. Of course, he had tried to put the blame on Aragorn, but he knew it wouldn't have worked. Now, no one (apart from him) knew how the ring had got there. Aragorn would probably come up with some clever idea that everyone would immediately believe.

Then, an idea suddenly hit him. 'What,' he thought, 'would happen if the ring-bearer accidentally died? They would have to appoint a new ring-bearer, and then he could have the ring.'

Boromir looked over to the peacefully sleeping hobbit, who now had the ring securely back on the chain around his neck. Everyone was asleep – how easy would it be to go over, stab Frodo, and then scream, wake everyone up and pretend an orc had come before he could do anything?

The more he thought about, the more he liked the idea. He got up from the ground and took his sword from his belt. He crept over to Frodo's sleeping body as quietly as possible. He knelt as close to the hobbit as possible without waking Aragorn or Sam, who were on either side of him.

When he got as close as he possibly could, he lifted the sword above his head, ready to strike.

'Boromir!' He heard Gandalf shout from behind him. 'What do you think you are doing?'

Boromir jumped in surprised, his sword shallowly cutting Frodo's injured arm. Frodo immediately woke up as well, and was more than a little surprised to see Boromir kneeling over him with his sword pointing at his chest.

Boromir turned to face Gandalf. As he did, he seemed to snap out of the trance the ring had had him under.

'What was I doing?' Boromir cried. 'I didn't mean to… I would never want to…' He stuttered, not believing he had just tried to kill Frodo.

'The ring is getting to you, Boromir. I can sense your weakness.' Boromir heard Aragorn say. Boromir turned again to see Aragorn wide-awake and trying to comfort Frodo, who looked as white as a ghost and was visibly shaking.

'Please forgive me.' Boromir cried, falling at Gandalf's feet. 'I never meant to kill Frodo!'