Chapter 4 has arrived, lovelies! :)
Enjoy and review! Reviews make me super-duper happy, dontcha know?
~:Elven Kat:~
"Look lass! The walls of Moria!
Calemireth looked up at the sheer rock wall. It loomed over them, dark and foreboding. Legolas joined her, his eyes scanning the stone.
"Dwarf doors are invisible when they are closed," Gimli informed them, tapping the wall with his axe.
"Yes Gimli," Gandalf said, nodding. "Even their own masters cannot find them if their secrets are forgotten."
Still beside Calemireth, Legolas snorted.
"Why does that not surprise me," he said.
Gimli narrowed his eyes at the Elf Prince angrily and grunted. They came across a vast lake. Calemireth felt a presence beneath the shadowy waters.
"I hope we do not linger here for too long," she whispered.
Gandalf ran his hand along the wall, brushing off some dirt.
"Ah. Ithildin," he muttered, revealing patterns in the rock. "It mirrors only starlight and moonlight."
Calemireth looked up, seeing the clouds part and unveiling the full moon. The patterns on the wall began to glow, exposing an ornate arch with Elvish writing.
"It reads 'The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria, Speak Friend and Enter'," Gandalf told them.
"What do you suppose that means?" Merry asked.
"It's quite simple. If you are a friend, you speak the password and the doors will open," Gandalf replied.
"Annon Edhellen, edro hi ammen!" (Gate of the Elves, open now for me!)
Nothing happened. Gandalf cocked his head to one side, confusion spreading across his face. He tried again.
"Fennas Nogothrim lasto beth lammen!" (Doorway of the Dwarf-folk, listen to the word of my tongue!)
Still nothing moved. Calemireth kept herself from snorting in amusement.
"Nothing's happening," Pippin said.
Gandalf walked to the door, placing his hands upon it and pushing.
"I once knew every spell in all the tongues of Elves, Men, and Orcs," he grumbled.
"What are you going to do?" Pippin asked the wizard.
"Knock your head against these doors, Peregrin Took!" Gandalf said angrily. "And if that does not shatter them and I am allowed a little peace from foolish questions I will try to find the opening words."
Pippin fell quiet. Aragorn began unloading the packs from Bill the pony. Bill had followed Sam faithfully from Bree but now, the Mines were no place for a pony. Sam bleakly watched pony leave. Calemireth could not help but feel a twinge of her own sadness for Sam.
"Bye bye Bill," the Hobbit said quietly.
As the Fellowship sat, waiting for Gandalf to remember the password, Merry began to toss rocks into the water. Pippin was about to launch his own rock when Aragorn caught his arm.
"Do not disturb the water!" Aragorn hissed.
Calemireth felt the evil in the lake again. She shuddered ever so slightly. Legolas sat down next to her. His presence alone was comforting and somewhere deep down inside of her, Calemireth wished to cling to him and bury her face in his chest. Quickly, she pushed aside those feelings.
What are you doing Calemireth? she thought furiously to herself. You are a warrior!
She sat up stiffly. Her face became expressionless.
"It's a riddle!" said Frodo suddenly.
The Fellowship turned to him.
"Speak friend...and enter. What's the Elvish word for friend?"
"Mellon," Gandalf responded.
With a low rumble, the door slowly opened. Calemireth glanced at the lake before she entered, noticing the ripples on the surface of the water. Gandalf placed a crystal on top of his staff and whispered to it, causing it to illuminate and emit a faint light.
"Soon, master Elf, you will enjoy the fabled hospitality of the Dwarves," Gimli told Legolas. "Roaring fires, malt beer, ripe meat off the bone! This, my friend, is the home of my cousin Balin. And they call it a mine. A mine!"
"This is no mine," Boromir began, looking around.
"It is a tomb," Calemireth finished for him.
All around them, bodies of Dwarves lay on the floor, pierced with arrows.
"No!" Gimli cried out.
Legolas picked up an arrow, studied it, and then tossed it aside in disgust.
"Goblins!" he hissed.
"We make for the Gap of Rohan!" Boromir yelled. "We should have never come here!"
They began to back away slowly. Calemireth kept her eyes on the far side of the room, waiting to see if any Goblins entered. An arrow was notched to the string of her bow.
"Frodo!"
Calemireth whirled around to see Frodo being dragged towards the lake by a giant tentacle.
The Watcher, Calemireth thought.
She had heard of this creature before. It guarded the West Gate of Moria, challenging anyone who came near it. Aragorn and Boromir waded into the lake, slashing at the creature's tentacles. Legolas and Calemireth each fired an arrow into the Watcher as he dropped Frodo into the arms of Boromir. They retreated into the Mine as the Watcher reached out his tentacles, grasping the stone of the doorway. The stone began to crack under the pressure and soon it began to crumble. The ground shook as the rock crashed down behind the Fellowship, sealing the entrance and plunging them into complete darkness. Unconsciously, Calemireth reached out for Legolas, her hand finding its way into his. She heard Gandalf mumble to himself. The crystal on his staff lit up again. Calemireth pulled her hand away quickly when she realized what she had done. Legolas looked at her curiously.
"I thought you were Gimli," she mumbled, hoping he would buy her lie.
"We now have but one choice. We must face the long dark of Moria," Gandalf said. "Be on your guard. There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world."
They followed the light of Gandalf's staff as he led them away from the destroyed Dwarven door.
"Quietly now. It's a four-day journey to the other side. Let us hope that our presence may go unnoticed."
~:✿:~
They spent the next three days walking through caverns and over narrow bridges that hung precariously over what seemed like bottomless chasms. A silvery mineral shown through the rock all around them.
Mithril, Calemireth mused.
On the fourth day, they came to a crossroads. Three different doorways leading to different places. Gandalf stopped suddenly and looked around, puzzled.
"I have no memory of this place," he said.
The Fellowship rested there, waiting for Gandalf. Calemireth stood on a rock overlooking the drop they had just climbed up. She was keeping an eye on the creature that followed them. Gollum, the twisted, deformed remainder of what was once a Hobbit. Legolas joined her, revulsion crossing his face as he saw what she was looking at.
"Filthy creature," he hissed quietly.
Calemireth agreed with him.
"Ah! It's that way!" they heard Gandalf exclaim.
The two Elves joined the rest of the group quickly.
"He's remembered!" Merry said happily.
"No, but the air doesn't smell so foul down here," Gandalf stated. "If in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose."
They made their way down the passage and emerged into a wide open space.
"Let me risk a little more light," Gandalf muttered, whispering to the crystal on his staff.
It grew brighter, illuminating the giant hall they stood in.
"Behold! The great realm and Dwarf-city of Dwarrowdelf!"
"Now there's an eye opener, and no mistake," Sam gasped.
And how it was. Great columns stretched ever which way, as far as the eye could see.
"Oh!" Calemireth heard Gimli exclaim.
The Dwarf ran to a room not far from them. Calemireth followed her Dwarven brother as he ran into the room and fell to his knees in front of a tomb. A single ray of light rested upon it. The others joined them.
"Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria," Gandalf read. "He is dead then. It's as I feared."
The wizard removed his hat in respect as Gimli grieved, his small body shaking. The room was filled with skeletons. Gandalf walked over to one and retrieved the large book that was grasped in the bony hands. He opened it, brushing the dust off of the pages. He began to read aloud from the page.
"They have taken the bridge, and the second hall. We have barred the gates, but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes. Drums, drums in the deep. We cannot get out. A Shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out..They are coming."
A chill ran down Calemireth's spine. These poor Dwarves. A sudden noise made them all turn to see Pippin staring down a well. With each loud clang as metal hit stone, Pippin winced. They listened intently, hoping nothing had been disturbed. Slowly, the Fellowship began to relax with each passing moment of silence.
"Fool of a Took! Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity!" Gandalf berated him.
And then, it came. The distant boom of drums. Boromir ran to the door, peering out. As soon as he did, several arrows lodged themselves into the wood beside his head. He retreated, slamming the door closed behind him.
"They've brought a cave troll!" he said, voice dripping with sarcasm.
Legolas began tossing the axes of the fallen Dwarves to him as he barred the door. Standing back, Calemireth strung an arrow to her bow and pulled back, aiming at the door. Legolas and Aragorn did the same as Boromir drew his sword.
"Let them come! There is one dwarf yet in Moria that still draws breath!" Gimli roared.
The door shuddered as the Orcs began to break it down. It splintered, allowing Calemireth to see the ugly faces behind it. She fired arrow after arrow through the narrow slits, hearing the Orcs squeal as they were hit. The door finally gave, the Orcs bursting through. The cave troll was not far behind. Calemireth shot an arrow at it but the troll ignored it. Swinging its chains, the ugly creature lunged at the elleth. She dodged the flying metal. The troll then focused his attacks elsewhere. Orc after Orc came after Calemireth who cut them down one by one. From the corner of her eye, she saw the troll trap Frodo in a corner. To her horror, the troll thrust a spear into Frodo's chest. Merry and Pippin cried out and jumped onto the trolls back, stabbing it with their swords. Calemireth pulled an arrow out of her quiver, notching it to the string and nodding to Legolas to do the same. As the troll threw off the Hobbits, the two Elves fired, their arrows protruding from the creature's throat. It gurgled and stumbled forward. Finally, it came crashing down. The Fellowship then turned their attention to Frodo, who lay motionless, face down on the ground. Aragorn gently turned him over. The Hobbit's chest heaved as he gasped for breath.
"He's alive!" Sam gasped, breathing a sigh of relief.
"You should be dead," Aragorn said in shock. "That spear would have skewered a wild boar."
"I think there is more to this Hobbit than meets the eye," Gandalf said, smiling.
Frodo pulled his tunic down a bit, revealing a bright, shiny shirt.
"Mithril!" Gimli exclaimed. "You are full of surprises Master Baggins."
They heard more Orcs coming towards them.
"To the bridge of Khazad-Dûm!" Gandalf yelled.
~:✿:~