Welcome to my new fanfic, called The Terrors of Moria. This little plot bunny has been nagging in my mind for ages and it won't stop until I write this story. This is set about 2 years before The Fellowship of the Ring, but Moria is already mostly deserted.
Summary – When Legolas and Aragorn have to travel to Rivendell from Mirkwood, they have to travel through the Mines of Moria and face an ancient evil that the Dwarves awoke, and it's not the only one there. How will the troublesome two survive?
Disclaimer – Unfortunately I don't own any of the lovely character that you recognise, although I do own the ones that you don't recognise. This disclaimer goes for the entire story because I'm too lazy to write it out for every single chapter.
It was early in the morning in the Woodland Realm of the Elves but already two people were awake and ready to travel. Aragorn, or Estel as he was called by the Elves, a Man who was a visitor to Mirkwood was stood by the horses waiting for his Elven friend to appear. Little did he know, his Elven friend, Legolas Greenleaf, was sat in a tree above him, watching his friend grow evermore impatient.
"Come on Legolas, we need to set off now to get back in time." Aragorn grumbled. He felt a presence behind him and turned around to see King Thranduil. The King chuckled when he saw the expression on Aragorn's face and asked, "Hasn't my son appeared yet? He was awake quite early this morning."
"I know he was awake as he jumped on me and woke me up. I think he was excited that he is going to see Elladan and Elrohir again."
King Thranduil chuckled and bid Aragorn farewell. Aragorn turned back to the horses but as soon as he had turned, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped in surprise and turned to see the younger Prince of Mirkwood, Nahir.
Nahir also chuckled at Aragorn's expression although instead he leant towards Aragorn and whispered, "I know where my brother is. We should go and surprise him." Aragorn smiled at Nahir and as one, they walked to the tree that Legolas was in.
An hour later both Aragorn and Legolas were on their way to Rivendell, to the House of Elrond. They were out of Mirkwood and were making good time to the Old Ford. Legolas was still grumpy after being knocked out of the tree he was sat in. This meant there was no conversation between the two of them. They soon reached the Old Ford and crossed the River Anduin. When they reached the high pass over the Misty Mountains they found that the entrance to that pass was blocked and there was no way through it. The two of them reigned in their horses and sat considering their options
"Well this is quite a predicament. We can either find another pass near us, go down to the Gap of Rohan and then pass through there or we can go through the Mines of Moria." Aragorn concluded.
"I think that the easiest path is to go through the Mines as there is no other pass close to here and the Gap of Rohan is too far away for our supplies. If we go to the Mines, the Dwarves may give us more supplies to last us on the other side of the Misty Mountains." Legolas said.
As this seemed to be the best solution to their little problem the two travellers turned southwards and continued on their journey to Rivendell.
Night fell quickly and Aragorn and Legolas set up camp. Now that Legolas had cooled off from his earlier temper at Aragorn and Nahir, the conversation was much livelier.
"I hope that no trouble will befall us on this journey." Aragorn said.
Legolas laughed and replied, "You hope for things too much. Every journey we have been on together has ended with disaster in one form or another."
"Humph. I can name a time where our journey hasn't ended in disaster." Aragorn huffed.
Legolas laughed again and asked, "Go on then. Name a time."
Aragon turned thoughtful and started to think about all of their journeys together. "What about the time when I brought Gollum to your father to imprison and we met up before I got there?"
"No, that ended badly as well. Gollum fought you, bit your arm and then escaped from us. I ended up chasing after and catching him while you were getting lost."
"You just had to remind me of that. How about the time when we went hunting with Elladan and Elrohir?"
"Elladan and Elrohir ended up being chased by Orcs so we had to chase the Orcs and kill them before those brothers of yours got caught by them."
"Did that really happen or are you just making this up?" Aragorn asked.
"It was only when you were 14 and I know that you humans can't remember that far back." Legolas teased. Aragorn playfully smacked his friend and then went to sleep.
Dawn broke on the second day of the pair's journey and already the two of them were ready to carry on with their journey. They mounted their horses and led them the way that they needed to go. Ahead of them was the Gladden river that they needed to ford before they came to the Moria Gate on the eastern side of the Misty Mountains. After they passed through the Mines of Moria they would be able to turn north and head to Rivendell.
Aragorn and Legolas stopped on the bank of the Gladden River at noon and rested there to give the horses a break and to eat some food. As they were eating, Aragorn felt like something was watching him. Although he looked around he couldn't see anyone until he realised that Legolas was missing and there were trees all around. He soon figured out that it was Legolas watching him and settled down.
Soon Legolas came back and the two of them mounted their horses, ready to ford the river and enter the Mines. The horses plunged into the river at the command of their masters and soon they has crossed the river and started down towards the Mines.
Well that's that for this chapter. I will put the next chapter up in the next week or so. Ta ta for now.