Boromir and Aragorn started herding the Hobbits and Gimli down the side passage as Gandalf shut the doors and began murmuring spells over it. He had just begun a second spell when something huge slammed against it from the other side. Gandalf stumbled back, gasping from the affect of the failed spell. While the wizard tried to get his breath back I stepped up to the door and placed my hand on it. The mind of the creature seeped into my own. And I thought every Thought that it did. Every memory and desire that had ever crossed its sick, twisted mind. I looked for compassion, and found only burning rage. I could feel him searching me as well. I felt him touch every corner of my mind and I showed him all the form I could become. All of the wars that I had fought in. And close to three thousand years of professional assassinations. I showed him all of it. And when he had seen all there was, he laughed. I placed my hand in front of the door and erected a mental barrier between us. It would hopefully hold him for a few minutes. "Come on Gandalf" I grabbed him arm and helped him down the steps. He reached around and grabbed my other arm I fought the urge to scream. "What are you?" He asked as we came upon the fellowship. "My name is Asan Bucklinger. I will explain more later".
Our small band of travelers raced down hundreds of flights of stairs and through countless passages. Sometimes we could hear the screams and yell of goblins behind us, other times we ran in complete silence. Down, across, down again, and suddenly there were no more stairs.
Boromir slid to a stop, skidding on pebbles and was about to fall when Aragorn wrapped an arm around his chest and pulled him back. There was about a four-foot gap in the stairway heading down to the bottom floor. Easy pickings for a trained ninja warrior like me. Legolas leapt like a fluffy fairy over the pit of doom and gestured to Gandalf to follow. The wizard jumped over with room to spare. Sam followed right after, jumping surprisingly well for a little guy. Gimli followed, after gallantly declining help from Aragorn, saying "Nobody tosses a dwarf". Well nobody jumps down into fire and hell to save one either kiddo. And that was almost the end of our mule headed, pint-sized friend. His toes were the only part of his anatomy that were touching the stone on the other side. He was about to go over where Legolas leapt forward and grabbed a handful of his beard. "NOT THE BEARD!" The Dwarf shrieked as blondey pulled him to safety. Boromir grabbed Merry and Pippin, clutching them tight to his sides as he jumped, carrying all of them to safety. Sorta, if you didn't count the arrows flying at us from random holes in the cliff wall. Frodo, Aragorn and Myself were the only ones left on this side. The Ranger grabbed Frodo and was about to jump when the stone beneath my feet cracked and then vanished into the fire below. I threw myself backward as Aragorn and the Hobbit surf boarded the now free-standing pillar to the other side as it fell. And I thought I was the cool one.
The gap was now over twenty feet in length. Too far for a mortal to jump, keyword being mortal. "Asan". Gandalf shouted. "there should be another stair on the lower level. We will meet you there". "no time for that. Just backup". I ran back to the top of the steps to get a head start. This was going to require strength, speed, and a well thought out math-metical deduction. I would have to get by on two out of three. I took off running, and when my foot hit the last step, I shifted. Turning into a lion and using my strengthened muscles to leap the gap.
