FIC: ECHO OF THE GLADDEN FIELDS 2/? 
 
Author: Lily Baggins 
 
PAIRINGS: Frodo/Aragorn 
 
RATING: NC-17 violence, Angst, h/c, sex 
 
Disclaimers. The usual. I make no money off of this and do not own  
these characters, much to my chagrin. They belong to Tolkien  
Enterprises, or whoever has the rights now, and I only give them  
interesting---and usually unpleasant---ways to spend their time.  
 
As usual, I'm messing with canon and taking some mighty creative  
license. Things happen here that definitely did NOT happen in the  
book or the movie--- I'm sure Tolkien would lock me up in Barad-dr  
and throw away the key if he read this. 
 
Feedback: Sure---but as an fyi, I can't check my mail from home, so  
won't be able to reply until Monday. Archiving: Feel free.  
 
*** 
 
Aragorn wasted no time calling to the others. "Legolas! Boromir!" he  
called even as he ran to the water's edge. The other two swiftly  
followed, Legolas with his bow, leaving a stunned Merry, Pippin, and  
Gimli on the shore. They could hear the sounds of splashing near the  
boat and a hobbit's faint cry.  
 
 
Luckily the boat had not gone out terribly far and the water,  
although well over a man's head, was not exceedingly deep. The men  
immediately took off swimming, but Legolas approached cautiously,  
knocking an arrow on his bow. Suddenly, two luminous eyes turned  
toward them from the darkness. Legolas let an arrow fly and the eyes  
disappeared into the blackness of the night, although the elf could  
see no sign that his arrow had hit its target. 
 
 
Aragorn and Boromir ignored the icy water as they dived under the  
boat. There was a slight unexplainable glow under the water, and the  
ranger could just make out the shape of a small person at the bottom  
of the river, moving gently with the current. Heading toward it, he  
tucked the body under one arm and rose to the surface.  
 
 
It was Sam. Aragorn couldn't see what sort of shape the hobbit was  
in, but he was relieved to find a thready pulse. Boromir came up to  
the surface to take a breath and Aragorn passed the unconscious and  
deathly cold hobbit off to him.  
 
 
"Boromir, take Sam!" the ranger shouted. "Take him to the shore,  
quickly!" With that Aragorn, joined by Legolas, dived back under to  
search for Frodo. The ranger knew only one thing: He would not stop  
searching until he found Frodo. And it had nothing to do with the  
Ring. 
 
 
Meanwhile, Legolas skirted along the river bottom looking for the  
source of the light. His keen Elven eyes finally found it: the Phial  
of Galadriel. It looked to be resting on the sand, but was not moving  
very quickly with the current. Of Frodo there was no sign. Knowing he  
was running out of air and would soon have to resurface, the elf  
grabbed for the Phial---and encountered something he could not see  
wrapped around it. Puzzled, Legolas felt around a bit more and  
realized small invisible fingers clutched the star-glass. Realizing  
it was Frodo wearing the Ring, the elf wasted no time grabbing him  
and floating up.  
 
 
"I've got Frodo and the Ring!" he called loudly as he surfaced,  
feeling for Frodo's head to make sure he kept it above water. Aragorn  
soon resurfaced, his face a momentary mask of relief. It was replaced  
quickly with concern. 
 
 
"Here, I will take him, Legolas---you bring the boat in," the ranger  
said, strangely reluctant to entrust Frodo to anyone else. He grabbed  
for the hobbit and stopped suddenly, realizing he did not see Frodo  
in the elf's arms.  
 
 
"He is wearing the Ring," the elf explained hastily, seeing the  
ranger's apprehensive look. "I would not have found him but for  
this." He held up Galadriel's star-glass.  
 
 
Aragorn nodded and feeling for Frodo's chest, tucked him under one  
arm and made his way to the shore as fast as he could go.  
 
 
As he neared the riverbank, the ranger could hear Boromir yelling for  
Merry and Pippin to start a fire and boil some water. The man was  
pressing on Sam's back to expel water from the hobbit's lungs. Sam's  
face was gray, and his lips and the tips of his ears were tinged with  
blue, but he was alive.  
 
 
Legolas caught up to them and Aragorn motioned for him to help  
Boromir with Sam. Suddenly, Sam brought up some of the water from his  
lungs and coughed, his breathing becoming raspy.  
 
 
"Keep working on him, Boromir," the ranger told him. "We need to make  
sure we get every bit of water we can out of them." He knew the  
complications that could set in from near-drowning: shock, lung  
damage, brain damage, and possibly pneumonia even days later.  
 
 
Aragorn deposited the invisible Frodo on the grassy bank next to Sam,  
a bit rougher than he had intended to in his panic. Feeling his way  
down Frodo's face, he rested his fingers against the cold neck and  
was relieved beyond comprehension to find a weak pulse. Frantically,  
the ranger felt around and finally managed to find Frodo's right  
hand, which was minus the Ring. Grasping for the left hand, Aragorn  
located the thick gold band around one of the small cold fingers.  
With a yank, he tugged the Ring off and instantly Frodo became  
visible. Aragorn's breath caught at the sight. 
 
 
Long dark lashes lay on deathly pale waxen cheeks, and like Sam,  
Frodo's lips, eyelids, and the points of his ears had a slightly  
bluish tinge that did not bode well. The hobbit's coat sleeve was  
stained with blood, and his hand appeared to be bleeding slightly as  
well. Frodo's dark mass of curly hair was wet and stringy and dotted  
here and there with mud from the river bottom. For a split second,  
the ranger longed to lean down and kiss the cold rosebud mouth,  
making it come warm and alive under his. But he knew that was not  
possible. For the hobbit was not breathing.  
 
 
Trying to control his emotions, Aragorn slipped the Ring in Frodo's  
pocket as he flipped the hobbit none-too-gently onto his stomach.  
Leaning forward, the ranger placed his hands on Frodo's back and  
pressed down many times, pumping the water from his lungs. The ranger  
was seriously afraid he would injure the hobbit or crack a rib with  
his strength.  
 
 
"Come, little one," Aragorn urged, "stay with me. Let it go. "  
Suddenly frothy water poured out of Frodo's mouth and the hobbit  
coughed, taking in irregular gasps of air.  
 
 
Legolas's voice cut through the silence.  
 
 
"Boromir, Sam has stopped breathing," the elf said frantically. "Turn  
him over, quickly!" Together, Legolas and Boromir flipped Sam over  
onto his back. Tilting the hobbit's chin back, Legolas cleared an  
airway and lowered his mouth to Sam's, breathing air into his lungs.  
After two tries, a ragged intake of breath could be heard and all  
three rescuers sighed in relief. Behind the small group huddled over  
the stricken hobbits, Gimli, Merry, and Pippin watched silently,  
their eyes afraid. Small tears flowed down Pippin's cheeks.  
 
 
Aragorn kept pressing on the back of his own small charge, willing  
Frodo to expel all the water from his lungs and start breathing  
properly. Frodo began to wheeze painfully and the ranger felt like a  
torturer, but continued his treatment. "Easy, Frodo," he murmured to  
the listless hobbit. "It will be over soon."  
 
 
A minute later, Frodo choked and then vomited a large amount of water  
onto the riverbank. He moaned softly as his eyelids fluttered and his  
breathing resumed a normal rhythm, although it was still much too  
labored for Aragorn's liking.  
 
 
The ranger sighed and carefully rolled Frodo onto his side in case he  
vomited again. He ran his hands down the hobbit's body as he checked  
for other injuries, relieved to see that other than the wounds he'd  
noted earlier, there seemed to be none. 
 
 
Rapidly he yanked Frodo's coat off---not the easiest task since it  
was saturated with water---and rolled Frodo's shirt sleeve up to bare  
his arm, grimacing. Legolas's arrow had apparently pierced it all the  
way through. Given the small size of Frodo's forearm, the wound was  
rather large, but not life-threatening provided no infection set in.  
Aragorn looked at Merry and Pippin as he applied pressure to stop the  
bleeding.  
 
 
"Merry, put some hot water on to boil and bring me my pack," Aragorn  
called to him, then turned to Boromir and Legolas, who had just  
finished pumping the last of the water from Sam's lungs. "How is Sam?  
Any injuries?" 
 
 
Boromir shook his head. "Nay, none that we can find. He seems to be  
in one piece, but is still very cold. I'm going to get these wet  
things off of him." He looked over at Frodo's forearm, his eyes  
narrowing. "What happened, Aragorn? It looks as if he took an arrow." 
 
 
Legolas looked grim. "Aye, he did. I was aiming for Gollum and Frodo  
was in front of him, invisible. I did not see him," he finished  
sadly.  
 
 
"Don't blame yourself, Legolas," Aragorn told him. "You could not see  
Frodo, and probably saved his life from Gollum. He's very lucky he  
only got shot in the arm and not worse." The ranger shook his  
head. "If this is anybody's fault, it is mine. I should have known  
better than to leave them . . ." 
 
 
"No, Aragorn," Legolas said gently, "you were watching out for their  
best interests at all times. You could not have foreseen this." 
 
 
The ranger nodded grimly, but the pain in the gray-blue eyes told  
Legolas that he didn't take it to heart.  
 
 
Merry returned with the hot water and Aragorn's pack, and the ranger  
found his athelas and steeped it. With a gentle cloth he cleaned  
Frodo's arm, pouring warm athelas water into the wound and binding it  
up as tightly as he dared. It would be extremely painful for the  
hobbit for a long while, of that Aragorn was certain. That done, he  
cleaned the bite wound Frodo had sustained on his hand, praying that  
Gollum's teeth didn't cause an infection. Elbereth only knew where  
those teeth had been, the ranger thought as he gently wrapped the  
hand in cloth, marveling at its small size next to his own. 
 
 
Merry's voice cut through his concentration. "Aragorn," the hobbit  
asked, looking at his two friends lying on the rocky ground, "when do  
you think they'll wake up?" 
 
 
Aragorn shook his head. "I don't know, Merry. Soon, we shall hope."  
He could not give voice his fear that one or both of them might not  
wake up at all. 
 
 
To be continued