Aragorn didn't wait around once he had picked Frodo up; he ran out of the mountain with Frodo in his arms, and ran along the mountain path to the rest of the fellowship.
Frodo wouldn't stop screaming until Aragorn had put him down, and then he burst into tears.
'Mr. Frodo, sir! What happened to you?' Sam exclaimed. Frodo wouldn't reply, he was in shock and agony, and welcomed the feel of Merry's arms around his waist. He could also sense Sam and Pippin kneeling at his side.
'The orcs attacked him, as did Gollum. The orcs were destroyed, but Gollum ran away when I appeared. I fear he could still want revenge for the disposal of the ring.' Aragorn said.
'What happens now?' Sam asked.
'The orcs we have come across here have been weak – they were bad fighters and were dependant on the ring. When the ring was destroyed, so were they. But there are things still out there that weren't completely dependant on the power of the ring – yes, they will have been weakened, but not destroyed. And Sauron remains, and he will be after us, with his great army of orcs.' Gandalf said.
'We must get out of here!' Legolas exclaimed. 'All our lives are at risk!'
'What about my master?' Sam asked.
'There is no use pretending that he will be able to walk, those orcs have crippled him. Maybe not for life, but for the time being anyway. I will carry him from Mordor.' Aragorn said.
Merry felt Frodo tense in his arms. 'Is there no other way?' He asked. 'It obviously hurts him when he's carried.'
'I'd rather be in pain than killed by Sauron.' Frodo said, so quietly only Merry heard him.
'I would never leave him here.' Aragorn said. 'Once we are out of Mordor, I can try and help ease his pain a bit, but I can do nothing here.'
'We must move, now.' Gandalf said. 'There will be time for talking later.'
Aragorn lifted Frodo into his arms again, and they set off as fast as they could down the mountainside. Frodo was too exhausted to scream anymore, he just buried his head in Aragorn's chest and cried.
They seemed to have been running for ages before they reached the black gates of Mordor. 'Thank goodness the guards have gone to join their master's army. There are only a few orcs left – they will be killed easily.' Aragorn said. With that, Legolas took his bow and arrows, and shot the few orcs standing by the gates from their hiding place.
'Let's go!' Gandalf whispered, and they all ran from the confines of Mordor.
They ran until they could run no further. They then left the road, and set up camp near the edge of a forest.
'Will we be safe here?' Pippin asked uncertainly.
'We will be safe for a while. Sauron will still be building his army, and by the time he is ready, we will be far from this place.' Gandalf said, as Aragorn laid a now sleeping Frodo on the ground.
Aragorn's shirt was heavily bloodstained where he had been holding Frodo's legs. 'I should have treated him earlier.' Aragorn said, kneeling at the hobbit's side. 'He's lost a lot of blood, I don't even want to think how infected his legs are going to become.'
'Aragorn, you couldn't have done anything on Mt. Doom. It would have been too dangerous.' Gandalf said.
'Gandalf – I've been raised by Elrond – I know about healing and illnesses. He's lost too much blood – he's going to get much worse than this.' Aragorn said, pointing out how weak and exhausted Frodo was. 'I can only do so much here – I can bind his legs with bandages, and try to give him as much rest as possible, but I can do no more.'
'Then that is what you shall do.' Gandalf said. 'I will help as much as I can.'
'So will we!' Merry, Pippin and Sam said.
'I will help in any way I can.' Legolas said.
'Same here.' Gimli said.
Aragorn sighed – they didn't understand how seriously ill Frodo could become. As far as they were all concerned, Frodo had lost the ability to walk, and that was it. They didn't realise how weak Frodo was – he'd lost a lot of blood, and he was almost certain Frodo was still in pain. There was a large chance of horrid infections getting into his blood, with so many cuts and gashes. Personally, he doubted that Frodo would actually stay alive much longer. He would just have to make Frodo as comfortable as possible.
'Okay.' He said aloud. 'Merry, sit with Frodo. I want him to see a friendly face when he wakes up. Whoever's got the pack with the medical supplies from Elrond, I need all the bandages we have. Some of you, start a fire, and the rest of you, go and find some water and get it heated up.'
Everyone scuttled off to do Aragorn's biddings. Aragorn himself sat himself at Frodo's side, and gently shook him awake.
'Frodo? I'm afraid you need to wake up for a bit, so I can treat you.' Aragorn said. Frodo slowly opened his eyes. Aragorn noticed how lifeless Frodo's normally bright, sparkling eyes were. His skin was almost white, and Aragorn could see he was struggling to stay awake.
Merry came closer and pulled Frodo closer to him to comfort him. Frodo rested his head on Merry's shoulder.
Gimli came over to Aragorn at that point, holding a large roll of bandages and a bowl of steaming water. Aragorn thanked Gimli before tearing a small bit off the end of one of the bandages. He put the piece of material in the warm water, before proceeding to clean Frodo's legs to try and avoid infection, though it was almost certainly too late. Frodo moaned into Merry's shoulder.
'Sorry, Frodo, but this has to be done.' Aragorn said, starting on the other leg. When he'd finished that, he got the rest of the bandages, and started to bandage Frodo's legs. 'Lucky you had that mithril vest on, Frodo.' Aragorn said. 'If you hadn't, you would be dead by now. At least it stopped those orcs from stabbing you in the heart.'
'It was lucky you turned up.' Sam said, from where he had been standing at Aragorn's side. 'Me and Frodo wouldn't have been able to get up there alone. How did you manage to find us, any way?' 'Well, we managed to get Merry and Pippin back from Isengard.' Aragorn said. 'It was a miracle we survived that, I'm still not sure how we managed. Then we managed to get horses from Rohan, and there we bumped into Gandalf. He wouldn't tell us how he got out of the shadows of Moria, but we were all just relieved that we had him back. We have not bothered to ask him any more. Then, we went off to Mordor on our horses, hoping to catch up with you. Luckily, we caught sight of you just before you reached Mordor, and we left our horses off the road, and ran after you. It was a lucky thing we did catch up with you as well.' Aragorn looked at Frodo, who had now fallen asleep again in Merry's arms. 'Very lucky...'
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