Chance Encounter

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Chapter 4: Awakenings

'This is it,' thought Balian as he fell through the air 'I fall to certain death.' Brother John appeared before him. The Hospitaller's face was streaked with dirt and blood but he had the same amused smile that he always wore.

"All death is certain," said the monk's voice in Balian's mind. Somehow, the memory of his farewell comforted Balian. He felt a sharp pain in his side as his body hit a rock that was jutting out from the cliff. He cried out but the wind drowned out his voice. The edges of his vision darkened. He did not feel the impact as he hit the snow-covered ground.

Pain emanated from his side. It was cold. He was tired, so tired. He wanted to sleep but something made him open his eyes. White. There was white everywhere. For a moment, he could not remember where he was, or why he was there. Then everything came flooding back and Balian started to panic.

Frodo. Frodo fell with him.

Where was Frodo?

He pushed himself up through sheer will and wiped the snow from his face. "Frodo!" he tried to shout, but it only came out as a hoarse whisper. He looked about wildly, desperately trying to locate the hobbit.

A small bump lay concealed under a cold white blanket. It was the prone form of the Ringbearer, lying face down. Balian stumbled to Frodo's side. He fell onto his knees beside the hobbit. "Frodo," he whispered softly. With shaking hands, he reached out to turn the hobbit over.

Frodo's face was pale and his lips were blue. To Balian's relief, he was still breathing. The blacksmith quickly took the hobbit into his arms and wrapped his cloak about both of them. He winced as the movement aggravated the wound in his side. With fumbling hands that were numb with cold, he tried rub some warmth into the hobbit's hands and feet. He looked up at the sky. It was starting to snow heavily and he needed to find them some shelter before they were buried in an icy grave. Picking up the unconscious Ringbearer, Balian got up stiffly and walked along the base of the cliff. After what seemed like a century, he found a small recess in the cliff face which could fit the two of them. After sending up a grateful prayer to the heavens, he crawled inside. It was cramped but he was glad that they were out of the snow.

A glint of gold caught his eye. The Ring; he had forgotten all about it. It had slipped out of Frodo's shirt and it now called to him, inviting him to put it on. It promised him that it would grant him the strength to survive in this bleak situation. It offered him the power to destroy Sauron. His body and mind seemed to be out of control. His hand itched to touch the smooth gold. Slowly, he reached out…

"…do not believe anything that it tells you…"said Legolas' voice inside his head. "…it corrupts minds by giving false hopes and promises… It must be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came…"

Balian hesitated. 'Do not do this!' cried one part of his mind, but another part

–one that was alien to him- urged him to put it on.

In his indecisiveness, he saw Godfrey as he last remembered seeing the old knight.

"…safeguard the helpless, and do no wrong" said his father in a weak voice. "That is your oath…"

Balian's hand reached up to touch his cheek, feeling the phantom sting of the slap his father had dealt him. Godfrey would not have wanted his son to fall to the Ring's power. He could not disappoint his father, the man who'd had so much faith in him. He could not give into the Ring's persuasion. His mind cleared as if someone had thrown cold water into his face. The Ring was Frodo's burden. As a member of the Fellowship,

-whether by chance or by choice- he would help Frodo to complete his task. Carefully, he slipped the Ring back under the hobbit's shirt and held him closer. They would survive this, and the Ring would be destroyed. He would see it done.

"Where did they go?" shouted Pippin desperately, peering over the edge of the path. "I can't see them anywhere!"

"No one can see anything through this dratted snow," came Gimli's gruff voice.

"Do you see them, Legolas?" asked Aragorn anxiously. His eyes were full of fear.

"No," replied the keen-sighted elf. "This snow is impeding my vision."

"We must find Frodo!" shouted Boromir. "It isn't safe for him to be all alone!"

"We have to go down and search for them when it stops snowing so heavily," said Legolas. "Hopefully they haven't gone too far." He wanted to add 'if they survived' to the end of his sentence but it seemed too morbid and he did not want to discourage the rest of the Fellowship. They were probably all thinking the same thing anyway. Boromir's omission of Balian had not gone unnoticed by the elf. That was why he had stressed the word 'they' to remind the man from Gondor that they were searching for two people and that Balian was one of them.

"We should go down now," insisted Boromir. "What if orcs find Frodo?" Apparently he was deliberately omitting the blacksmith.

"Balian is with him," said Aragorn, who obviously did not notice how hostile to each other Legolas and Boromir were. "He should be relatively safe." None of them wanted to consider the possibility that one or both of the pair could be injured or worse.

"I don't trust the man," said Boromir. "We don't know where he is from, or what his purpose is or … whether he can resist the Ring."

Legolas turned to Boromir sharply, fixing the man with an icy stare. "I have faith in Balian," he said coldly. 'And I wonder Boromir,' he thought 'are these really the reasons why you don't trust him, or do you have other motives?

Aragorn looked up in surprise. Legolas did not trust anyone easily. The blacksmith must indeed be an extraordinary person if the elven prince had faith in him.

"Legolas is right," said Gandalf. "We cannot search for them with it snowing so heavily. More likely than not we will fall to our deaths if we try to make our way down right now. We shall wait for this storm to pass before we search for them."

When Frodo woke, he could not see anything. It was dark and his head hurt. He was cold. As he slowly regained consciousness, he realized he was not alone. "Gandalf?" he whispered.

"Frodo," said a voice, too young to be Gandalf's "Frodo, stay still."

"Aragorn?"

"I wish he was here with us. He would know what to do."

Slowly, Frodo opened his eyes. "Balian?" he said, squinting up at the dark face above him. "What happened?"

"I fell," said Balian. "I'm sorry."

"How could you fall?" demanded Frodo. He was more frightened than he was willing to admit. He did not like the thought of being alone with a man he was not quite ready to trust.

"The snow knocked me off," said Balian softly. "I'm sorry."

"What are we going to do now?"

"The sun has fallen. We will wait until morning before we start looking for the others. Are you injured?"

"My head hurts." Frodo then realised that Balian might also have been hurt during the fall. "What about you?"

"I've had worse, I think," said Balian. "Rest, Frodo; you're going to need it."

A/N: Alright, so Balian and Frodo are isolated from everyone else. And why doesn't Boromir like Balian? Any suggestions. Reviews keep me inspired (hint hint)