Chapter Eight: A Tale Told

Frodo slept that night in his own bed for the first time in almost a year. He felt more at home than he had in a long time and slept more easily than he thought he would. He felt his cheek stroked, his brow kissed and his covers brought up under his chin, just like his parents used to do. He felt Sam’s presence so strong that he almost expected to have breakfast and tea waiting for him when he woke and soon hear his beloved gardener and guardian working away outside, but he knew that would never be again. His tears were wiped away almost before they fell.

Rosie needs to be told and my brothers and sisters, came Sam’s voice in the morning.

Frodo groaned. "Yes," he said softly. "How I will get the strength to do that, I don’t know."

I’ll tell them.

It was after second breakfast that Frodo found enough courage to leave and go down to Number 3. He found to his surprise that Rosie was already there, sitting on a couch with Marigold with the rest of the family sitting around as well. The Gaffer was standing.

"Hello, Mr. Frodo," came Rose’s voice. "I understand you have news of Sam."

Frodo’s lip quivered. He was on the verge of tears again. "Yes." He braced himself to look into her eyes. "I’m sorry, Rose. I’m so very sorry. I’ve ruined everything. Sam loved you so much." He looked around at Sam’s brothers and sisters. "He loved you all very much. He left to help me, but it was..."

"Are you trying to say that he’s not coming back?" Marigold asked in a very small voice.

"He’s....he’s...buried in Gondor," Frodo said softly. "That’s....that’s...where I...killed him."

He lowered his head and began to cry again as he heard shocked gasps and weeping. He only raised his head again when instead of sobs, he heard more sharp intakes of breath.

Rose stood and reached out in wonder to the gently luminous being who looked back at her with eyes overflowing with love and the sweetest smile she had ever seen, but her fingers held nothing. Her tears though had already been wiped away. Marigold and her siblings were looking at their brother in open-mouthed amazement.

Frodo turned and stared at his best friend who looked back at him and smiled.

"I want to tell you what happened," Sam said to his family and the lass he had dreamed of marrying. "I want you to know about the finest hobbit there ever was. My master and friend."

Frodo opened his mouth to protest.

Not a word, dear, came Sam’s voice in his head.

But, Sam, you’re the...

Not. A. Word.

Frodo sighed. Stubborn Gamgee.

Stubborn Baggins. Now sit down and be still.

Frodo obeyed with another sigh.

Sam turned back to his rapt audience. "I realize naught of this is going to make sense, but it’s all true. Mr. Bilbo once owned a Ring that Mr. Frodo inherited when he came of age and Mr. Bilbo left. It was after he left that Mr. Gandalf found out the Ring was a very evil thing wrought by the dark lord Sauron himself and that the entire Shire, indeed all of Middle-earth, was in grave danger while the Ring existed. So Mr. Frodo had to take it away to destroy it before Sauron could claim it and destroy everything with it.

"It was a very brave thing Mr. Frodo did because the Ring worked its evil powers on him from the moment he had it. It tormented him without end while he held it and he had to find a way within himself to resist what it was trying to do to him. You cannot imagine what it was like for him. I can’t even imagine it and I was there. It was darkness beyond the greatest dark we had ever known. It was a nightmare that got worse each day and there was no waking from it. Mr. Frodo took it all into himself, tried to contain it, so it wouldn’t hurt anyone else. It tore his heart apart and gnawed away at his mind, but he set his will against it and still went on, day after day, month after month, until his head was bowed under the weight of it and his body worn down by exhaustion. Still he went on."

Frodo squirmed under the praise and found he couldn’t look at Rosie or any of Sam’s siblings who now looked at him in a new light. He tried to protest again, but was again warned away.

"You’re right," the Gaffer said when his son paused. "We don’t understand any of this. How could a ring be evil? And who is this Sauron? And where’s Gondor? What were you doing there? You’ve always got your head full of Mr. Bilbo’s old tales and I never saw the use of them."

Sam looked at his family sympathetically. "There’s a lot more to it, but it’s no tale for lasses to hear. Just know it’s over and the Ring is gone and it can’t hurt anyone more and it’s because Mr. Frodo got it there, to the Fire, to Mordor, leagues and leagues and leagues away from here, and there it was destroyed."

But not by me. Don’t make me a hero, Sam. Please.

But you are one, dear. The greatest the Shire has ever known.

I killed you. I couldn’t destroy it. I still wanted it. It was an accident that it’s gone at all.

It was no accident. You didn’t kill me.

Rose stood and walked over to Frodo. "Thank you, Mr. Frodo," she said softly. "Thank you for protecting us."

"I couldn’t protect Sam," Frodo said. "He’s going to say it wasn’t my fault, but it was. I am not the hero he thinks I am."

He stood and walked out the door. He cried himself to sleep that night. He was wakened later when he felt Sam’s presence in the room. He lay on his stomach and didn’t look up.

"You told them it wasn’t my fault, didn’t you?"

"I told them the truth. That you were overcome and that I still loved you."

"They’ve already forgiven me."

"Of course."

"How could they? I’ve taken away someone they loved very much. They should hate me. I hate myself. I had someone taken away too who I loved very much."

Frodo felt his battered soul held once more by Sam’s overwhelming love. "They don’t hate you because they see I don’t. They can forgive because they can see I have. I haven’t been taken away, dear. No Ring could do that to us. When I was dying, I saw Light and Love that I so wish to share with you. I begged to be able to stay with you."

Frodo began to cry again. He felt Sam’s gentle touch on his back and wrapped in such love he fell back to sleep. "Thank you," he murmured.