Chapter 2

All the elves of Lothlorien gathered before Galadriel, save on. Celeborn remained where he had been left, frozen in time as a rock black image of himself.

"My kin," Galadriel addressed the elves. "As you all know we are facing a time of great peril."

This drew a nervous murmur from the crowd.

"But fear not," Galadriel continued. "For I have foreseen what shall come to pass, and in the coming fourth age the elves shall reign supreme over all of middle earth."

The crowded whispered amongst itself at this news. Galadriel raised her left hand displaying the ring for all to see. Shadow fell across the area and the elves looked about nervously.

"I have the power to defeat even Sauron," Galadriel declared. "Join with me and we shall take conquer middle earth and reign over it, making all others our slaves."

A wave of shadow emanated from the ring washing over the entire crowd in but a few seconds. Then the normally calm and passive elves erupted into boisterous cheers.

"Hail Queen Galadriel!" the chanted repeatedly.

A slow evil smirk slowly grew upon Galadriel's face.

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The Fellowship had stopped to make camp at ruins of Amon Hen. As they finished setting up camp the party noticed that Boromir was not amongst them, neither was Frodo.

Boromir had craftily cornered the little hobbit and was now demanding that he give him the ring. Frodo instead ran away from Boromir as fast as his little hobbit legs could carry him. He kept looking back at Boromir who stalked after him, a crazed and possessed look in his eyes. In looking back so often Frodo missed a tree branch on the ground in front of him and tripped falling to ground. Boromir was above him almost instantly. He grabbed the diminutive Hobbit and tried to take the ring from him. However was able to kick Boromir back away from him. He used the precious few seconds he had gained to slide the ring onto his finger, however when he did so nothing happened. Frodo took the ring off and stared at it in bewilderment. Boromir also stared at it a disappointed look on his face.

"It's not the real ring," Frodo said confused.

"Then where is the real one?" Boromir demanded angrily.

"I don't know," Frodo replied. "But we should tell the others."

Boromir nodded reluctantly and the two sound the rest of the party.

"Where were you?" Aragorn demanded to know angrily as he saw Frodo and Boromir return.

"We have problem," Frodo said ignoring Aragorn question. "This ring is a fake."

He held the ring up for the others to see and Legalos quickly snatched it away.

"What do you mean a fake?" Aragorn asked.

Legalos set the ring down and hacked it with his sword. The ring split into two pieces. Everyone in the Fellowship looked on in amazement and confusion.

"What is this?" Gimli asked picking up the remains of the ring. "Where is the real ring?"

"I don't know," Frodo replied as he tried to recall when he may have lost the ring.

"Maybe it is still in Lothlorien," Pippin suggested.

"But how then did this ring come to be in our possession?" Gimli asked.

"Quiet," Legalos hissed at them all. "Something is approaching."

They all fell silent. Most of them could not hear anything, however Legalos and Aragorn could.

"Get down," Aragorn ordered as he dove and pulled Frodo and Sam to the ground.

Legalos likewise dove and dragged the other two Hobbits, Merry and Pippin, to the ground. Gimli was able to drop quickly and avoid the hail of arrows that came flying from out of the woods. Boromir however was not as lucky as the other and he caught two arrows directly in the chest. A hoard of Uruk-Hai emerged from the forest and rushed towards the fellowship.

"Go," Boromir yelled drawing his. "I shall hold them off."

The hobbits began to flee towards the canoes. Legalos, Aragorn and Gimli all drew their weapons. The Uruk-Hai charged them and they stood their ground chopping them down as they came.

"Legalos, help the hobbits," Aragorn said seeing them struggling to launch a canoe.

Legalos turned to help Frodo and Sam into a canoe he then shoved it outward into the river. There was the snap of a bow releasing its arrows and Legalos let out a weak cry of pain before falling into the canoe with Frodo and Sam, an arrow lodged in the back of his left shoulder, leaving Merry and Pippin to fend for themselves. Two Uruk-Hai grabbed the two remaining hobbits and ran off with them. Boromir tried to chase after them but he was growing weak from his wounds. He quickly found himself cut off by the leader of the Uruk-Hai. He was a particularly foul creature with a white hand painted on his face. He fired an arrow at point blank range into Boromir's chest. Boromir was flung back by the force of the arrow and he hit the ground roughly.

However Boromir struggled back to his feet. He held his sword high and began to charge at the nasty creature once again. The Uruk-Hai fired another arrow dropping Boromir to the ground once again. Boromir struggled to gain his feet once more but no longer could. The Uruk-kai stood over him and drew its sword, ready to deal the killing blow.

However before he could kill the fallen Gondorian a figure came charging out of nowhere to block the blow. The creature looked up to see Aragorn standing there and angry look in his eyes. Before the Uruk-Hai could react Aragorn brought his sword up and hacked off the offensive creature's head in a single swing.

"Boromir," Aragorn said kneeling down beside his companion.

"Go," Boromir ordered him. "You can do no more for me."

Gimli came running up, "Aragorn, we must hurry or they will cut us off from the canoes."

As Aragorn watched Boromir closed his eyes and breathed his last breath. Aragorn quickly whispered a prayer for his fallen comrade and then picked up his sword and ran with Gimli back to the canoes. The two warriors hacked and slashed their way through the Uruk-Hai, who were much less organized now that their leader was gone. They quickly launched the last canoe, forgetting to take paddles with them. They floated along with the current as they watched the angry Uruk-Hai curse at them from the banks of the river.

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"Legalos! Legalos!" Frodo cried as he shook the fallen form of his elven companion.

Legalos stirred and then awoke clearly in pain. Frodo and Sam had managed to remove the arrow from Legalos' shoulder and bandage it, however neither of them were skilled healers and it was a mediocre bandaging.

"What happened?" Legalos asked.

"You passed out," Frodo replied. "You had an arrow in your shoulder. Sam and I were able to bandage you up."

"And what of the rest of the fellowship?" Legalos inquired.

"Merry and Pippin were captured," Sam answered sadly. "We know not about the fate of the others."

"Then all may be lost," Legalos said sadly.

"We must try to save them," Frodo said. "I can't leave my friends to die."

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"It appears we are up the river without a paddle my Dwarven friend," Aragorn joked.

"'tis no laughing matter," Gimli said showing his lack of a sense of humour. "We have failed in our mission to ensure that the ring is destroyed."

"No," Aragorn disagreed. "We may have lost the ring, but as long as we still draw breath our mission is not failed."

"But we have no idea where the ring is," Gimli stated.

"Perhaps we don't," Aragorn said. "However I believe that the ring is in the hands of the elves of Lothlorien."

"Why would the elves have the ring?" Gimli asked.

"I know not," Aragorn replied. "But we must get back there to make sure it is not used for purposes of evil."

"Easier said than done my friend," Gimli said contemptuously. "Like you said, we're up the river without a paddle."