The Unbroken Covenant

This next part is my most favorite scene from "The Fellowship of the Ring". It gets to me just about every time I watch it, so naturally I had to tell it in my own style. I'll do my best to not state the obvious to you guys throughout the remainder of this story; that last chapter served as a bit of a prologue, if you'd like to call it that.

For this, I am highlighting what I determine to be the most significant moments between Sam and Frodo. But I'll try to not be redundant.

Story © unicorn-skydancer08

All rights reserved.

Sam tore through the woods of Amon Hen at his utmost speed, desperate to find Frodo before anything happened. "Frodo!" he shouted over and over, as dried leaves and twigs crunched and snapped underfoot, as he pushed low branches out of his way. In his heart, the Hobbit prayed fervently that Frodo was safe, that he would be able to catch up with him in time.

Boromir was already dead, and Pippin and Merry had been taken prisoner by the Orcs. What became of Aragorn and the others was anybody's guess.

If no one else, Sam was determined to find Frodo, and make sure he was safe.

When Sam reached the water, the waters of the Great River Anduin, he could see a single boat heading for the eastern shore—with Frodo inside it!

"Frodo, no!" Sam cried out, racing frantically to the edge of the beach, where the land met the water. "Frodo!" he called again after his master, his voice loud enough to carry to the other side, and with every bit of his heart in it. "Mr. Frodo!"

Frodo simply kept rowing onward, as though he hadn't heard, and he never looked back once. But Sam could have sworn he heard him murmur sadly, "No, Sam."

Seeing there was no other option, aside from turning around and walking away (which, in this case, was out of the question), Sam resolutely waded out into the water after Frodo. The water was as cold as ice, and it made Sam's muscles seize up, but he kept going. Hearing the splashing, Frodo stopped and glanced briefly over his shoulder.

Upon seeing Sam, he hollered out, "Go back, Sam! I'm going to Mordor alone!"

"Of course, you are," Sam shouted back, as he waded further. "And I'm going with you!"

"You can't swim!" Frodo warned.

But Sam pressed on, and it wasn't long before the floor of the river disappeared altogether from beneath his feet, and he was compelled to swim for it.

Just as Frodo had stated, Sam was not a very good swimmer; for that matter, he couldn't even float, and he promptly began to sink. Though he flailed the water with his arms and legs, giving it everything he had within him, he just couldn't make it.

"Sam!" Frodo cried urgently, seeing that his friend was on the verge of really drowning.

Sam barely had time to hold his breath, before the water closed completely over his head, and the unfortunate Hobbit vanished from Frodo's sight. A fair amount of bubbles and ripples followed his submersion. "SAM!" Frodo now wailed at the top of his voice, as he leaned out anxiously over the edge of the boat.

Under the surface, it was eerily silent, clear as crystal, and deathly cold. The water enclosed Sam on every side.

Even then, Sam continued to strive to reach the surface, but the more he fought, the farther he sank.

His lungs screamed for air. Strange colors began flashing before his eyes. More than anything else in the world, he yearned to breathe. He needed to breathe! The poor Hobbit practically clawed through the water, but his efforts proved to be futile. Somehow, the surface world always remained beyond his reach.

Sam could not go on anymore. He let the last bit of breath left in him go in a spume of bubbles.

This was how it would end for him, he knew in the back of his mind. He was going to die, here and now, and the river would serve as his grave.

There was nothing more he could do, nothing left for him…and he therefore ceased to struggle, and gave himself up for lost.

Yet just as he was on the verge of sinking into total oblivion, something plunged into the water and grabbed Sam by the wrist. Without really thinking about it, Sam closed his own fingers around the thing—which proved to be Frodo's hand. No sooner had Frodo felt Sam's grip than he pulled him up, using every ounce of his strength.

Though Sam was bigger and considerably heavier than he was, Frodo managed to haul him to the surface.

The very second his head broke through the water, Sam drew in a long, gasping breath of precious air, and launched into a hysteria of violent coughing and retching. Frodo dragged the sopping wet Hobbit into the boat with him, and there Sam lay by Frodo's knees for a time, breathing in the sweet, life-giving air.

When he had recovered himself, and could breathe properly again, Sam struggled to a sitting position so that he and Frodo were facing one another directly. Frodo couldn't be sure, but he somehow sensed that the water pouring down Sam's face and dripping abundantly off his chin was not merely river water. Sam's heart spilled over with emotion as he said to his young master in a thick voice, "I made a promise, Mr. Frodo. A promise! 'Don't you leave him, Samwise Gamgee.'"

He paused only a second before adding on softly, "And I don't mean to…I don't mean to."

And as Frodo's eyes entangled with Sam's, and Frodo saw all the love and friendship, and the pure devotion in those swimming brown depths, something inside of him melted.

"Oh, Sam," was all Frodo could bring himself to say, before he reached out for his beloved companion and engulfed him in a tight hug, tears streaming shamelessly down his face. Sam readily returned Frodo's impassioned embrace, sniffling, burying his head in Frodo's shoulder.

The two Hobbits clung to one another like that for a time—whether for a minute, or for an hour, or for an eternity, neither of them knew. But when they finally relinquished their grip in the end, and Sam found himself gazing into Frodo's tear-streaked face once again, Frodo rested his hands gently on both his shoulders, and told him in a quiet, somewhat calmer voice, "Come on."

And so Sam readily took up his oar, and the two thus proceeded to make their way towards the eastern shore, together.