Where There is Light, There is Shadow Chapter 5:
Where There is Light, There is Shadow Chapter 5: Dark Thoughts
Disclaimer: I do not own The Lord of the Rings, as much as I wish it otherwise.
Yeah, I really don't have much of an excuse for not updating. Feel free to throw all sorts of fun and creative things at me. Like rotten old pears, or eggs that have been out in the sun too long. You know, when they start to smell? I'm not really sure how much longer this particular story will go on, but it doesn't really have too much of a plot, so I'll just update whenever I get some random inspiration. Enjoy :)
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"Hey Merry, Guess what I can do!"
"I don't wanna know, Pip!"
There was a grown form the whole Fellowship as Pippin's words cut through the surrounding dark. They had been traveling through this mine for several days now, and the lack of light was getting to them.
"Ugh, Pip, get your fist out of your mouth."
The only light that they could see was the small bit that radiated out from Gandalf's staff, practically blinding anyone who tried to look directly at it. Everything else was still intensely dark, and they could hardly see one another. They had been walking for quite some time now, so when Gandalf unexpectedly stopped, everyone crashed into everyone else, falling in extremely awkward positions.
"Ooof!"
"WHAA!! Get your hand off of my-!"
"Aww man, that was my ribcage you-!"
"Merry! Get your foot out of my face!"
"GAAK! Gimli, get off my chest, I can't breath!"
"Stop pulling on my-!"
"I think I just broke my-."
"Whose leg is this!?"
"Ok, who just bit me!? Who the hell just bit me!?"
"ARGH!!" And then Gandalf was up, staff radiating light once more, on what looked like a slightly deformed version of 'Twister.' Everyone hastily got off each other, seeing what they looked like. There were a few embarrassed apologies, but mostly grumbling and the hugging of bruised limbs.
"Next time you're going to stop, say something first, will you?" Strider said, clutching his ribcage.
Gandalf chose to ignore him. "We have a bit of a dilemma." He said, fixing his wild hair with as much dignity as he could muster." You see, I really can't remember the correct pathway." said the wizard, pointing to the three separate passageways.
"Aww, just great."
"Fantastic."
"Just what I wanted, Indecision!"
The wizard slowly turned around, eyes blazing, and glared down at the hobbits, silencing Merry and Pippin.
"Some cooperation would be helpful." He said, voice strained with suppressed anger. Strider quickly moved over to him, and they began to whisper to each other, with lots of gesturing towards the openings.
After a while, they signaled Gimli to come over and join them. More frantic gesturing. The others sat on the floor, or on some old rocks lying around, while the minutes ticked by.
Frodo tried to suppress a giggle. The others looked at him questionably.
"Ah, well-" he said, slightly embarrassed, "It's…just a thought really, rather silly, but umm…" he gestured over to their whispering companions. "What if they were all talking about us?"
"Wha-?" His fellow companions looked at him in confusion.
"You know, making it look like they had some things to discuss when really they were all just gossiping, or saying things about us" Every head slowly turned towards the small group.
"Well, now, I don't think they would do that Sir…" But even Sam sounded doubtful. Suddenly Strider glanced their way, and then hastily turned back again, finding all eyes on him.
"Oh! What was that!?"
"Looked pretty suspicious to me."
A little while later, Gandalf looked back at them, quickly averting his eyes.
"Wait, are they…?" Boromir was beginning to have doubts too.
Then all three of them tried to unobtrusively glance back, and hastily reformed their huddle when discovering they were being observed.
"…No way…" Even Legolas was getting suspicious.
"Ummm, Legolas…?" Merry said slyly. The elf glanced down at the hobbit questionably.
"Can you make out what they're saying…?"
"Merry!" Frodo said, trying to sound admonished. "Don't make Legolas do that!"
The elf sat in thought, then, to everyone's surprise, he slowly inched forwards to the group. When he was close enough he stopped, closing his eyes in concentration to better hear them. They all sat in anticipated silence for a few moments, when suddenly Legolas's eyes widened in surprise.
"I don't believe that!"
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"Ahhh, why are they all staring at us?" Gandalf and Gimli stopped talking and looked at the ranger.
"Who is staring at us?" Gandalf inquired. Strider nodded his head at the rest of the fellowship. Gandalf took a quick glance, then turned back, clearly surprised to see everyone looking at them.
"I haven't the slightest idea."
"They're staring at us?" Gimli asked. All three turned, and briefly met the eyes of the other group. There was a rustle of activity from both groups, as they all met back to discuss.
"What do you think they're doing?" Inquired the dwarf, beginning to feel uncomfortable. "They're talking to each other and all throwing suspicious glances our way…"
"Do you think they're talking…about us?" Strider said, almost nervously. They risked a quick glance, to find that the other members had moved closer together, whispering and pointing at them. To his dismay, Aragorn realized that Legolas was slowly shifting closer to the three.
"Look at them…" Gimli started, "What do you suppose they're saying?"
"Whatever it is… I'm not too sure it's friendly." Strider said, feeling quite uncomfortable.
"I bet it's that Took again," Gandalf said under his breath, "Or maybe Meriadoc…one of them must have started it."
"I don't know…it might just as well been Boromir, with his war mongering and all…"
"Well, Boromir may be more aggressive, but I don't know about war mongering. Could it have been Legolas…or one of the other two hobbits?"
"Well it obviously was one of them, but which?"
"Ahem!" Strider loudly cleared his throat, and slightly inched his head behind him. Gandalf and Gimli peered over his shoulder and saw Legolas leaning slightly towards them, a little bit away from the others. They each changed glances with each other.
"Well," Gandalf started, a little louder than usual. "It could be the pathway on the right, it seams to start off at the correct leveling we're looking for." Gimli and Strider nodded vigorously in agreement. A quick glance over his shoulder showed the elf back with the others, talking rapidly. He breathed a sigh of relief.
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"They saw me listening in and changed the subject, but I did manage to hear a few words of their conversation." Said the elf to Boromir and the hobbits.
"And, were they…" Merry inquired.
"Well, I only managed to catch a few words, but from what I heard…" They all stared at the elf, tense with anticipation. "Well, I cannot be certain, but I did hear a few names get tossed around."
Just then the smaller group broke apart, and the three walked over to where they were sitting. Gandalf addressed them. "I have no memory of this place, and none of us can decide on the correct path. Seeing as we cannot sit and talk," he said, putting emphasis on the talk, "All day, there is a proposal we have for you."
"Oh no." Said Frodo in despair, "We're going to have to split up and search all three."
The wizard's eyes widened in surprise, "Yes, how did you guess." He said, eyes drifting over to Legolas suspiciously.
Frodo took no notice, "It's what always happens!" He said darkly, "A large group decides to split up, they get cut off from each other. And that's when people start dying."
"Dying!?" The other three hobbits said in union.
"I see it all the time in books and tales, it's the perfect opportunity. It allows the predator to slowly pick its prey off one by one, alone in the dark, where no one is close enough to hear them scream, or it uses their dying cries to bring more for the feed."
"Wow. What have you been reading?" Strider said in wonder.
"Mr. Gandalf sir, I don't really like the sound of this 'splitting up' business." Sam said, clearly worried.
"Or any of this, 'no one to hear you scream' type thing." Pippin put in.
"Oh come now," Gandalf said, "You can read a good many thing in a book, but that doesn't mean it's always bound to happen."
"Besides, that sounded more like your usual horror type book, the whole predator-prey thing going on with the whole group. This is more…" Strider suddenly trailer off, stopping himself.
"What?" Said Pippin.
"Oh!" Merry said, eyes lighting up, "In this case the predators not after everyone," he said, oblivious to the big folk's hushing noises, "It's only hunting Frodo."
"Mr. Merry!" Sam reached across and waked him on the head.
"Oh, I'm so sorry cousin!" The young Brandybuck said apologetically, turning a bright shade of red.
"Thanks Mer." Said Frodo, shifting unconsciously closer to Sam. He sighed. "No really, it's all right."
"We'll have to split into groups of three" continued Gandalf, "Aragorn, Gimli and myself-." He was cut off by various protests.
"No way! Not the three of you together!"
"Now that's just asking for trouble."
"Not all in the same group!"
The suspicions from earlier had not been forgotten. Gandalf loudly cleared his throat. "Ahem! As I was saying, Aragorn, Gimli and I will be in one of each of the three groups, seeing as both Strider and I have been to the mines before, and Gimli obviously knows more about Dwarves than the rest of you."
There was a collective "Ooohhhhh." From the others. "Now than," Gandalf went on, "There shall be three groups, one for each doorway. Each group will move forward for a predetermined amount of time, before heading back. We shall all meet back in this room, and determine what pathway is the correct one. Understood." They all nodded. "Now just to determine the groups..."
Gimli, Pippin, and Boromir, got the tunnel on the right. Gandalf, Merry, and Legolas had the tunnel on the left. And lastly, Strider, Frodo, and Sam were assigned the middle tunnel. They all said their farewells, and departed down their respective paths into the gloom.
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Seeing as this is a bit of a cliffy, or well, it sets you up for the next chapter, I will try to update within the week. And I don't have any excuse not to, I'm off school and I have no life what-so-ever! Well, thank you anyways for bothering to read this story. I sincerely hope it wasn't a waste of your time! :S
hoom