The Forgotten Love ~A Faramir Love Story~

Chapter XXVI

An overwhelming sense of dread danced over Gwen's head, unrelenting the closer and closer they got to the path of which Gollum had lured Frodo into taking. She knew these lands, growing closer and closer to Ithilien. She knew how dangerously close they were to Mordor, how they danced with a terrible fate with each step they took.

They crossed into Ithilien in the realm of Gondor the next day, at least Gwen thought it was the next day - there was no telling with the near constant darkness that blocked the majority of the horizon. Her instincts to protect the Halflings grew more and more frantic with each footstep they placed on Gondor's land. 

"The Ring must not be discovered by anyone in this land," she had whispered to Sam. Thoughts of Boromir plagued her mind, thoughts of his reactions to the Ring, how it drove him mad in the end. She remembered his father, the one who sent him to Rivendell to retrieve the Ring for Gondor in the first place. If they were seen or even captured, surely they would be taken straight to the Steward. Oh, what a fine prize he would beheld then.

She looked ahead to where Frodo, Sam and Gollum were, walking along a stream. She slowly caught up to them, walking a short distance behind, watching as Gollum jumped and splashed through the water, desperately trying to grab at a flopping fish.

"Hey stinker!" Same called. "Don't go getting too far ahead!"

"Why do you do that?" Frodo suddenly asked.

"What?" Asked Sam, confused.

"Call him names? Run him down all the time."

"Because," Sam said shortly as Gwen quickened her paces to hear the full conversation. "Because that's what he is, Mister Frodo. There's naught left in him but lies and deceit. It's the Ring he wants. It's all he cares about."

"You have no idea what it did to him," Frodo said harshly. "What it is still doing to him. I want to help him Sam." He started walking away again.

"Why?"

Frodo stopped. "Because I have to believe he can come back."

Gwen sighed. "You cannot save him, Frodo. He's gone," she spoke up, her voice soft in comparison to Frodo's.

"What do you know about it?" Frodo turned to her with a look of retort. "Nothing! You know nothing! You're just a R-" he stopped short.

"Perhaps you're right," Gwen said, shrugging and walking past him. "I am, after all, just a Ranger."

Frodo sighed. "I'm sorry, Gwen. I don't know why I said that."

"I do," Sam said. "It's the Ring. You can't take your eyes off it. I've seen you. You're not eating. You barely sleep. It's taking a hold of you Mister Frodo. You have to fight it."

"I know what I must to do, Sam," Frodo said coldly. "The Ring was entrusted to me. It's my task! Mine! My own!"

"Can't you hear yourself, Frodo?" Gwen asked, stopping in her tracks and blocking Frodo's path so he would be forced to look upon her and hear her words. "Don't you know who you sound like?"

Frodo cast his eyes down, ashamed and unable to meet her stern gaze. Yes, he knew.

Gwen sighed, shaking her head. What had become of the sweet, timid Halfling she had met in Rivendell? 

He was gone, the Ring had replaced him.

~~~

The next morning, Gollum came running into the camp, bringing with him two dead rabbits and dropping them into Frodo's lap.

"Look! Look!" He cried cheerfully. "See what Sméagol finds!"

Gollum picked up one of the rabbits, breaking its spine in front of Frodo, the unexpected snap causing Gwen to stop sharpening her sword in mid swipe, glancing up at him cautiously.