Get ready for some cute ship moments in this chapter
The higher we went, the colder it got and wasn't accustom to such freezing temperatures. Finally the hobbits could barely get through the snow and I was wading up to my shins. At one point, I found myself towards the back with the elf. Silence kept us from bickering but I started to notice him glancing at my gloves from time to time.
"What is it?" I finally asked in an annoyed tone.
"It is nothing," he replied coldly.
"Good. If it's nothing then maybe you can stop staring at Tooth and Claw," I sassed.
"You talk as if they are your own," he shot back.
I wasn't quite sure how to react to that. They were indeed not mine but yet I didn't want to let them go. They were all I had left now that Mearrokko was gone.
"They are," I dared to say and he looked at me with fury in his eyes so I decided to rephrase, "…all I have left,"
"I should think you would want to forget about your past. It is a dangerous one," he said carefully as his hand moved closer to claw.
I drew Claw before his face, almost unsheathing him but I thought better of it. However, the elf had seen enough, I was still a thief who wouldn't let go of her precious treasure. He just looked at me as if to say 'I'm watching you' and then headed to the front of the group.
I had no more encounters with him but soon Legolas became the least of my worries. The clear skies turned to grey ones and we were suddenly wading knee-deep in snow as a blizzard raged around us. The hobbits could barely stay above the snow and Gimi was just as bad off. I seethed in jealousy as Legolas easily walked on top of the snow while I trudged along. It took me a while before I noticed he was giving me a strange look and kept glancing down at my feet. When I followed his gaze to my feet, I saw that they were above the snow as well. It seemed that my Elvish dexterity also let me walk upon snow. The prince's face was priceless as I walked with ease through the blizzard as he did.
Can't blame him, a human girl walking like an elf.
Ha, he hasn't even seen me when I run. I smirked.
We all believed the snow storm would pass but it kept coming and then we realized, it was not a natural phenomenon.
"There is a fell voice on the air," Legolas called over the storm.
I could hear it too but just barely. It sounded like some kind of incantation, something that egged the storm on.
"IT'S SARUMON!" Gandalf shouted.
Just after he yelled, there was a large CRACK from above and we looked up to see boulders of snow and rock heading for our path. They barely skimmed past us, making us all jump back and duck in fright.
"He's trying to bring down the mountain, Gandalf!" Aragorn called, "We must turn back!"
"NO!" Gandalf resisted as he tried to carry on.
The voice carried on, making the wind harsher and the snow colder. Finally Gandalf tried his own sort of chant to counter Sarumon's spell but it only seemed to make the White Wizard more determined! Then, when the chanting became its loudest, lightning struck from above, causing snow and ice to topple down! I watched in horror as the cold quickly took me and the rest and we were buried under the frigidness of Sarumon's hatred. More of it fell, pounding away at me until I could breathe no more.
I am not dying AGAIN! I thought and began to fight my way out.
My body fought the numbness trying to consume me as I dug through the many layers of white above me.
AIR! AIR! I thought as I felt my lungs burned for fresh wind (Even if that wind was a biting one)!
As my hand shot through the last layer, a hand grabbed mine and pulled me out from under the snow. I looked up after a few heaving breaths to see Aragorn who was now trying to get the hobbits unburied. When we had all clambered out from under the avalanche, the ever common debate began again!
"We must get off the mountain!" Boromir shouted to Gandalf who was still digging himself out, "We can take the Gap of Rohan!"
"The Gap of Rohan takes us too close to Isengard!" Aragorn shouted back.
"If we cannot pass over the mountain, let us go under it!" Gimli suggested for the hundredth time, "Let us go through the Mines of Moria!"
Gandalf only looked into the distance, desperate for another way. After a silence filled with howling wind, he spoke.
"Let the Ring Bearer decide,"
"We will go through the mines," Frodo finally said, deciding and sealing Gandalf's fate.
It was back down the mountain for us. Back through snow and cold but I guess it could've been worse: we could've all died in Sarumon's blizzard. The days it took to get from the peak of the mountain to the mines were silent. Everyone seemed spent from the storm and even hopeless, as if the mines weren't safe. Most of all Gandalf, he had a look of doom painted on his face for some reason. I was led to believe that the dwarves had taken back Moria…unless…
"The walls of Moria!" Gimli exclaimed at the sight of craggy cliff.
They were very impressive and I couldn't even see the top of them! But…was there a door? That question was soon answered.
"Dwarf doors are invisible," Gimli explained as we searched the walls for this hidden entrance.
"Their masters cannot find them if their secrets are forgotten," Gandalf sighed in annoyance as he continued to tap the walls with his staff.
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Legolas murmured, getting an irritated growl from Gimli.
That was uncalled for. I thought. Even if elves and dwarves hate each other, that was still unnecessary!
I would've given the elf a death glare but he was in front of me which tempted me more to just stab into his spine. Going through an underground space with an annoying elf would be the death of me! Eventually the wall led us to a murky lake and it was before that unsettling lake that Gandalf found the door. The stone glowed, revealing an intricate pattern of trees and above them was Elvish read the Elvish aloud, 'Speak friend and enter'.
"What does that mean?" Merry asked with a confused face.
"Well it's very simple, if you are a friend, you speak the password and then you enter," Gandalf said simply.
Wise old man. I thought slyly.
He put his tangled staff to the door and spoke a few Elvish words…
…Well maybe not that wise…
He tried once again…
…
In a sudden frustration, the old man tried to push the door open as a last resort. But of course, the Dwarvish door wouldn't open through mere force.
"What are you going to do now?" Pippin asked.
"Knock your head against it!" Gandalf snapped at the hobbit, making me stifle a laugh.
"And then we'll try you!" Gandalf snapped at me as well, "You have a debt to pay so pay it by keeping quiet!"
I muffled my laughing and nodded, realizing how angry a wizard must feel when his wits aren't enough to aid him. So we all got comfortable because we would be there for quite a while as Gandalf tried every spell he ever knew!
"I do not like this…" I whispered to myself as I watched the water.
"You will once get inside," Gimli chuckled, "We will all be welcomed heartily by my kin!"
"Not the mines, the water," I replied, scanning the ripples on the surface.
Aragorn sensed it too as he ceased Merry and Pippin from throwing rocks into the lake. Something about it called to me but it a different way. It said 'use me' but I couldn't use a lake, it was almost as if it were calling me into a trap.
"I feel it too," Legolas said as he stared out on the water.
Finally we heard Frodo speak up.
"It's a riddle…what's the Elvish word for friend?"
"Mellon," Gandalf spoke and a rumbling came from the doors.
Slowly, they opened revealing the darkness of the mines but I could barely focus on that. The water grew more and more restless: something was in there and it didn't want us in its territory. As we entered Gimli was rambling to us about the Dwarven hospitality but I could barely hear. Now my worries had shifted from the lake to the ground beneath us. Every so often, I'd feel a faint crunch under my feet, something that sounded of bone. When Gandalf lit his staff, I could confirm my suspicions.
"They're all dead," I breathed.
It was then that the rest of the Fellowship noticed the bodies, Gimli being effected the most. He was grief-stricken to see his kind's skeletons lying with mouths agape on the mine floor. They looked very old so it was safe to guess they had lost to a greater power long ago. Legolas yanked out an arrow from one of the ancient bodies and immediately recognized the craftsmanship.
"Goblins," he scoffed, making us all draw our weapons.
"We never should've come here," Borimir said as we slowly backed out of the mines, "We make for the Gap of Rohan. GET OUT!"
We would've made a clean escape if it weren't for the beast that awakened from the water.
"Strider!" Sam called making us all turn to see Frodo being dragged off by a large, wet tentacle.
"I knew it," I hissed.
Sam severed the tentacle as quickly as he could and the tentacle retreated into the water. But there was more where that came from. At least a dozen or more shot out from the water, seizing Frodo! I followed Aragorn and Borimir into the water to cut down the tentacles and I unsheathed my gloves as far as they could go, making my claws as long as half of a short sword. The three of us sliced away at the creature, Tooth and Claw sliced straight through the whip like arms as I tried to inch closer to Frodo. At last, the beast's head emerged and it opened its fang-filled mouth to swallow the Ring Bearer. If that thing ate him, the ring would be lost in the belly of an octopus!
Aragorn sliced the tentacle that held Frodo and Borimir was there to catch the little hobbit.
"Into the mines!" Gandalf shouted and we all made for the door.
Legolas shot the animal once more, keeping it at bay for a split second. Still, it was long enough for us all to make it in! He wasn't moving with us and I grabbed the back of his collar, yanking him in and taking him by surprise. The beast's many arms banged against the walls, shaking the ground and making us run faster. Finally, the ceiling above caved in behind us, saving us from a watery demise but locking us in the darkness of Moria. When the last boulder fell, blocking the moonlight, there was a sudden darkness and we all stood there, breathing heavily.
"We have now but one choice," Gandalf said, making a light with his staff.
When it illuminated the cavern, I noticed a hand on my shoulder that I followed to Legolas who stood behind me. I turned to him to see a terrified look on his face then when his eyes met mine, he quickly removed his hand. I couldn't even roll my eyes because I looked at him with the same scared expression.
"We must travel through the mines of Moria," Gandalf continued, making us break eye contact, "Be careful, there are fouler things than orcs in the deep places of the world…"
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Next chapter, we get to see some mithril!