Chapter Five - An Ancient Octopus

Authors note: I may have accidentally pulblished the same chapter twice. Please forgive me, I am not good with technology. Also, the next one to comment will get a pink sparkly unicorn! How does that sound?

The Fellowship stood in front of the doors the mines of Moria. Every member wanted to do something different, but wouldn't dare say it out loud. Instead, they just patiently waited for Gandalf to figure out the password.

Gandalf wanted to figure out the password, Boromire wanted to go through the Gap of Rohan, Aragon wanted to grab everyone's cloak and wrap it around his freezing shoulders, Gimli wanted to get to the feasting and drinking in Moria, Pippin wanted to go swimming in the small pond right beside them, Merry wanted to shove Pippin into the small pond right beside them, Frodo wanted to put on the ring, Sam wanted to ride off with Bill the pony, Legolas wanted to try that snowy mountain again, and Galadrisfedoraconversa wanted to get to whatever was on the other side of that door.

She had learned to recognize an abandoned mountain when she saw one. Or, not entirely abandoned, but infested with orcs and the like. She also knew that a pond was not a good sign. When Aragon stopped Pippin from throwing more rocks into the water, she smiled. He was smarter than she made him out to be. There had to something nasty in there. She used to travel often to the southern coast and explore dark caves in coves and find all sorts of unsavory creatures.

Unsavory creatures in that part of the world were hardly documented, for they were not easy to find. Those that found them had traveled to some dark, forsaken place, and would rarely ever return. Unsavory creatures are dangerous and do not like enabling people to spread the tale of their monstrous appearances. They do not suffer explorers to live.

Frodo finally helped Gandalf to figure out the password, distracting his mind from the dreadful ring. They then waltzed in, Gimli grinnning with excitement, ready to see his long lost kinfolk. It only took a moment for the grin to fade. There were dwarvish skeletons scattered all across the dusty floor, their skulls bearing the expression of panic and hopelessness.

Some of the corpses were holding up their axes in a futile attempt to stave off death. They had been laying there, grasping their weapons desperately for at least a decade. Their bones were wrapped in cob webs and remnants of clothing that were threadbare with decay, and largely consumed by moths.

"This is a tomb!"exclaimed Boromir.

It was a tomb, one carefully guarded by a monster. As the entrance door slowly closed, and Gimli wept over the fallen, a snake like thing from the water appeared close to them. Seven more snake like things rose. They were actually more like massive, long, slimy arms, with a head to follow.

The head was terrifying, with too many eyes and a beak for a mouth. A beak, like on a bird. However, this was no bird, this was a deadly sea monster.

It didn't take long for the monster to start attacking them, and Galadrisfedoraconversa quickly unsheathed her sharp sickles. When one of the arms got to close to her, she simply sliced through it, chopping the flesh like a chef chops raw salmon. The team was doing a sufficient job of defending themselves, till the horrid creature grabbed Frodo.

Frodo. They would have hated to lose anyone in the Fellowship, but Frodo was the ring bearer. The whole Fellowshio was built around protecting him and helping get to Mordor and destroy the ring. The fate of the world depended on it. That was mostly everyone's mindset, except Galadrisfedoraconversa. She was pretty much just there for the ride.

I'll admit to you that she actually had no hate for Sauron. In fact, if he had offered her a job, she would have taken it. She would have not mind being an orc battalion commander. When it came to this ordeal, she simply chose a side. None of it was personal, she literally flipped a coin and journeyed to the Council of Elrond. Of course, she would have stayed home, but her neighbors forced her to leave...

She shuddered as she remembered all that happened to her back at home...,