Frodo stood watch for another half-hour but nothing came to pass. Shrell had fallen asleep. She looked very peaceful, as though she was in a grassy field sleeping under the sun. Safarien also looked quite content. Frodo guessed she was probable dreaming of counting money or something along that line.
Soon Frodo could sleep. Sam was standing watch.
Frodo couldn't really sleep. He dozed and dreamed but he was far from peaceful. The ring kept whirling around in his head. He tossed and turned, trying to take it off his mind but it was not use. When he finally did sleep his dreams were filled with thoughts of evil........
The Nine Riders. They drew closer and closer. The voices of Mordor surrounded them as though they might have been speaking it or perhaps thinking it. Though Frodo didn't know the language he knew what they were saying.
He realized the Riders were not surrounding him but.....Sam.
Sam was fighting them. His small sword clashed against their giant blades. They kept drawing closer and all Frodo could do was watch from a distance. He was helpless!
His thoughts changed. He saw Merry and Pippin fighting off Orcs. Brave and noble as it was they were far out numbered by the Orcs. As before, Frodo was left distressingly helpless as Merry and Pippin battled the Orcs.
Everything then went black then slowly in the blackness the ring appeared. The fiery letters seemed to shine so brilliantly. He slowly picked the golden ring up. The voices drew closer. He felt the need to put on the ring. His finger shakily moved towards it. Then he put it on.
At that second there was a blaze of fiery red. An eye appeared, red as the flame that circled it and instead of a normal eye it had a black slit, much as the eye of a snake. The eye of Sauron.
His thoughts went back to Sam and the Riders. It was too late! Frodo saw from afar the menacing cloaked figures run their swords through the faithful Samwise and within that moment Frodo felt as though every thing was lost.
He saw Pippin and Merry vanquished by the Orcs and then he saw himself. Surrounded in darkness with only the ring in his possession and he could only watch as turned into a creature of hatred and darkness.....a Gollum.
Frodo awoke with a start. He was shaking with fear. He looked around making sure that Pippin, Merry and Samwise were all okay.
"Did you dream?" came the voice of Arwen. She was standing guard.
"Yes..." he answered, shakily.
"Of the ring, Frodo?" she asked drawing closer, her eyes blazing. "Of your friends?"
"What do you know of my dreams?" Frodo asked, alarmed.
"Everything, Frodo, Everything." She still came closer. "I hate the thought of your pain. You suffer from this burden but why, Frodo? You suffer needlessly. I could spare you of this burden."
Frodo scrambled backwards on the ground. Arwen still drew nearer.
"All your pain washed away. Your fears gone" she continued.
"Stay back" Frodo cried. He came to the edge of a drop off over a rock they had climbed over the day before. It looked like a long fall. Arwen came closer.
"Give it to me!"
Memories of Boromir filled Frodo's mind. Arwen had the same look on her face. The look of rage and greed.
As she came closer, knife in hand, Frodo could see a cleary and almost translucent figure behind her.....Boromir. His face and expression the same as Arwen. He seemed to become part of her.
"It's mine!" She cried and lunged at him. Frodo was just able to roll out of the way and escape the blade but fell off the edge of the rock and was left hanging be one arm.
"Don't make me kill you!" She raised her knife and brought it down towards him. He had no choice. He released the rock and fell.
He hit the ground hard and was left winded. He could hear the screams of Arwen from above.
"I'll find you! It's mine! It's mine!"
To Frodo's alarm her cries of agony grew closer. He scrambled to his feet and ran. many thoughts filled his mind. 'Wouldn't it be easier just to slip on the ring and stay unseen.'
Frodo forced the thought out of his mind. He did not know where he was going. He climbed rocks and passed trees but he was lost. When he grew tired from running he stopped. He sat down with his back against a tree, put his head in his hands and sobbed. If everything had seemed hopeless before it seemed more now. Perhaps everyone would go after the ring. How could he altar such a fate.
Frodo tried to clear his mind and sleep but all he could hear through the night were the cries of the frustrated Arwen..........to be continued.