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Pirates in the Fellowship Chapter 10
The Fellowship had once again come to a pause in their travels through the dark and dreary mines as they waited for Gandalf. The wizard was sitting off by himself, trying to figure out which passage they needed to take. They had been traveling for quite a few days now, and most of that journey had been in silence, which made Jack feel like he was going to go out of his mind.
The only thing that had so far intrigued him about this place was when Gandalf had given them a brief history of how Moria gained its wealth through mithril. When Jack had laid eyes on the silver veins running through the rock wall to his left, his pirate instincts kicked in and he had spent the rest of his time studying the ground hoping to find a few pieces of the valuable metal, even though Aragorn had informed him that his search was pretty much pointless. The ranger had told him that by now either the dwarves or the orcs would have picked up any fallen pieces and the orcs didn't mine the tunnels like the dwarves did. Smirking at that memory, Jack reached into his pocket and removed quite a large piece of the shining sliver substance that he had seen lying in their path, and began flipping it along his fingers as he had done with the cursed gold coin. Aragorn, who was seated next to Boromir and again puffing on his pipe, caught a tiny flicker of silver from the corner of his eyes and turned to Jack who was still smirking and fiddling with the mithril. He smiled at his friend,
"Leave it to Captain Jack Sparrow to find the treasure."
Jack chuckled. "What can I say? I just couldn't resist mate."
This remark gained a few chuckles from almost everyone, but silence again over took the group as they waited for the wizard, who was having a conversation with Frodo, to figure out their path. Getting up, Jack made his way over to where they had dropped their packs, and began rummaging through them until he finally found one of the water skins. Uncorking it, he slowly trudged over and leaned against a small portion of wall by Gandalf and began to sip the cool liquid.
"Where did you get your arrows engraved, and who taught you how to use a bow, Jack?" Jack shifted his gaze over to Legolas, who was carefully examining one of Jack's arrows, a smile coming to his features when he ran his fingers over the pirates' symbol.
"Both were my doing." The response came from Aragorn as he also grabbed one of the arrows, twirling it between his fingers. "We figured that he may have to have a better knowledge of weapons, since it seemed that he was going to be staying here for a time, and he has also been taught some elvish."
"You can speak elvish?" Will asked in surprise.Jack shrugged as he screwed the cap back onto the water skin before he answered Will. "I can understand it, but I can barley speak it. Oh by the way Strider, what you told Barbossa to do before he knocked you off the plank, genius, mate."
"What DID you tell Barbossa to do?" Will asked.Aragorn gave them a crooked smile as he repeated the phrase, "Auta miqula orqu."
Will leaned forward and cocked an eyebrow, "And that means..."
Legolas laughed and shook his head. "He told him to go kiss an orc. Honesty Estel, no wonder he knocked you off."
Aragorn began to laugh along with Legolas as Jack pointed out something else a youthful Aragorn had let slip from his lips."Do you remember telling Will...er, what was it again? Oh yeah. Dolle naa lost." Jack asked the ranger, stumbling slightly over the pronunciation, while Aragorn just started to laugh harder.
"What? What did he say to me?" Will demanded.
Jack smirked evilly, "He said that your head was empty."
Will glared at Aragorn, whose laughter came to an abrupt halt when he saw Will once again giving him a death glare. The ranger smiled weakly and tried to make a joke. "I haven't seen that face for a while."
"You have a lot of nerve Strider!"
Aragorn held up his hands, palms up, in submission to the blacksmith. "I apologize, but Will you must remember that at the time, I really didn't like you."
Will glowered for a long moment, and then finally shrugged. "It's all right, I hated you at the time and I said worse about you so all is forgiven."
"Why did you two hate each other?" Boromir asked curiously, finally getting in on the conversation that had been entertaining him for the last few minutes. Aragorn made a face at rehashing the story.
"It's a rather long tale..."
Boromir smiled hopefully, "Well you can at least begin it, it's not like we are going anywhere any time soon."
"I heard that Boromir!" The man of the south's eyes went wide and he cringed when Gandalf snapped out a reply to his comment.
chuckled and patted him on the shoulder "Very well, as usual it begins with ANOTHER one of my many mishaps..." While everyone turned their attention to Aragorn as he began to weave his story, Jack turned his attention to what Gandalf was saying to Frodo.
"It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill him when he had the chance!" Frodo stated as he cast a quick glance back towards where the creature Gollum was, watching the Fellowship.
Gandalf looked up at the young hobbit sharply. "Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death, and some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo?"Frodo looked down as the wizard continued, "Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise can not see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, for good or ill before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many."
Frodo sighed and sat down sorrowfully next to Gandalf. "I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened."
"So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, in which case you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought." Gandalf said with a smile to the hobbit next to him.
Jack frowned a little as he thought about the wizard's words. He began wondering about the forces that had brought Will and him to Middle-Earth, and also the ones that had first united a younger Aragorn and Legolas with the two of them. Were they both here for the will of good or had they been brought by the will of the evil forces at work here in Middle-Earth? Were the four of them meant to fight and die together, to stay by each others' sides through what seemed to be their most trying times? That's very interesting. Jack thought.
"Ah! It's that way!"Everyone looked up and at Gandalf in surprise when the old Wizard finally announced he knew the way.
"He's remembered!" Merry said happily as he hopped to his feet.
"No, but the air doesn't smell so foul down here..." Gandalf paused and placed a hand on the hobbit's shoulder. "If in time of doubt dear Meriadoc, always follow your nose."
Pippin turned back to face Aragorn and Legolas and asked before they began to descend the stairs. "Can you both continue with the tale as we travel?"The two friends smiled at the hobbit as they began to follow Gandalf.
"I'm afraid that you will have to ask Jack and Will that question, for we are up to their part of the story." Legolas informed Pippin, who took off after Jack. Jack was still deep in thought when he felt a sudden sharp tugging on his sleeve. Looking down he laid eyes on Pippin who was looking up at him hopefully.
"Legolas said to ask you and Will to continue with the story." Jack was about to go along with his little friend's wish when Gandalf advised him to save the story because they needed, to once more, travel in silence. Pippin in response sighed sadly, wanting very much to hear Jack's versions of events.
"Don't worry, mate. Once we get out of here I promise to continue where Aragorn left off." Jack whispered so only Pippin could hear him. Pippin grinned ear to ear, happy with the pirate's promise before he slowed his pace and dropped further back into the line next to Merry.
Before long the Fellowship finally came upon a more open space with broken ornate columns lying fallen across the floor. Gandalf looked around him and then raised his staff saying, "Let me risk a little more light."
At the command the soft light illuminating form the small crystal set at the top of the staff grew brighter, "Behold the great realm and Dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf." Gandalf announced to the group who began studying their surroundings in awe, revealing to them a hall of stone lined with tall pillars and arched ceilings as far as the eye can see. The dark halls were edged with silver light from the wizard's staff, shivering in a light not seen for years which graced their stones.
"Now there's an eye opener and no mistake." Sam said in amazement as they again proceeded down the spacious hall, still picking their way around corpses and such scattered along the ground. They shortly came upon a room, which had a ray of sunlight shining through the chamber where, of course, more corpses lay scattered about. Upon seeing the room Gimli gave a sudden cry and leapt away form the group paying no heed to Gandalf, who called out to him, but rather running into the chamber.Now where is he going? Jack wondered as he and Will followed their companions into the chamber in pursuit of Gimli, who was now kneeling before a tomb openly sobbing as Gandalf began to decipher the writing.
"Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria. He is dead then. It's as I feared."
Will sighed as Gimli wailed in agony and in response Boromir placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to offer the dwarf whatever comfort he could."Poor Gimli."
Jack nodded in agreement at Will's statement. Legolas also felt bad for the dwarf, but all his senses were screaming that there was danger close by and he voiced his opinion to Aragorn, "We must move on, we cannot linger!"
Aragorn agreed with the elf but said nothing as he listened to Gandalf begin to read a passage form a book he had recovered that had been in the lap of a dead dwarf by the tomb.
"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..."Gandalf paused and looked up at the other who were scanning their surroundings nervously, especially Will and Jack, before he turned the page and continued, "We cannot get out. A shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out! They are coming!"
An uncomfortable silence fell until Will suddenly shouted in horror, "Pippin, NO!"
But the warning to the hobbit was too late for just as Will had uttered the words, Pippin's curiosity had beaten him and he reached out and lightly twisted an arrow sticking out of a dwarf corpse seated on the side of the well, causing its skull to slip off and fall into the well with a loud crash, followed closely by the rest of its body, dragging a chain and bucket down with it. Jack cringed as did Pippin, with every thud and crash caused by the fallen dwarf body until silence finally again over took them. After a moment had passed Legolas, Will and Aragorn all visibly relaxed and Boromir let out a breath he hadn't even known he was holding, but the feeling of uneasiness still hadn't left Jack as Gandalf slammed the book he was holding shut.
"Fool of a Took! Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity!" Gandalf yelled as he yanked his hat and staff out of the hobbit's hands and turned away from him. Pippin stood awkwardly with his gaze to the floor until he picked up on a light drumming noise. Looking up he saw Gandalf turn back toward him, worry etched in his features as the drumming became louder, almost sounding like a steady heart beat. Will shifted around nervously as his ears picked up on light screeches now accompanying the drum beats. Oh God, this can't be good...
"Orcs!" Legolas said in alarm, and as if to verify it Frodo pulled out Sting, which was glowing a pale blue. Jack felt a twinge of fear run through his body as Boromir ran by him to go risk a look outside of the doors, which almost earned him two black feathered Orc arrows in the face.
"Get back! You stay close to Gandalf!" Aragorn ordered to the four hobbits as he threw down his torch and made his way over to Boromir and helped him work he doors shut. Jack's eyes widened when he heard Boromir mummer that they had a cave troll.
"They have a what?!"Aragorn spun around to see Jack, looking like he was ready to drop dead on the spot, and Will looking much the same. It had completely slipped the ranger's mind that Jack had been extremely uncomfortable, to say the least, when they had paused with Frodo by Bilbo's stone trolls. It was then that he also realized that this was both Jack's and Will's first experience with Orcs as well.
"Jack, Will, just picture fighting Barbossa's crew again!" Aragorn yelled over his shoulder as he impaled the door with one last axe.
"This is just a little different Strider!" Will yelled back, fear evident in his young voice.
"Yes this is different. This time when you kill them they stay dead." Legolas responded as he took his place next to Aragorn, bow and arrow in hand.
Jack took in a deep breath before moving forward to stand next to Legolas, telling himself, Picture your mutinous crew, picture your mutinous crew. Making up his mind that that was who he was fighting Jack reached over his shoulder, retrieving one of his arrows and notching it in his bowstring, and took aim along with Legolas and Aragorn, who were poised and ready to fire. Will, on the other hand, stayed where he was, frozen in fear as the orcs began pounding on the doors.
"Oh my God, Oh my God..."
Boromir heard him murmuring and looked over his shoulder to see Will, eyes wide with fear and gripping his sword so tightly that he was surprised the handle didn't snap under the pressure.
"This can't be your first battle?"
Will suddenly registered that Boromir had slipped back next to him. "No, but it is with Orcs."
Boromir nodded, smiling reassuringly. "Just try and stay close to me, my friend."
Will managed to return the smile, and intended to do just as Boromir told him. Jack by this point had almost completely convinced himself that he was once again fighting Barbossa's crew, and stood ready and almost eager to engage in the battle that was about to occur as the orcs began to use their weapons to bust through the door. The three archers waited until a large enough hole formed in the door before Legolas fired first, the end result being an inhuman shriek. As the elf retrieved another arrow Aragorn released his, followed almost immediately by Jack's own arrow. Jack was about to reach for another when the doors finally gave away and the armored beasts flooded into the room.Jack suddenly froze and felt the eagerness for battle leave him as he watched the Orcs charge at him and his companions.
"I'm really starting to not like this place." Jack said aloud as he put away his bow and unsheathed his sword, preferring to start off with something he knew he really couldn't mess-up with. As his first attacker came charging at him the pirate easily side-stepped and as the orc began to pass him by he ran it through wit his sword, piercing its heart. Jack pulled his blade free and studied the black blooded tip before looking down at the fell beast as black blood began to ooze out of the neat puncture wound. Jack couldn't help but smile when the orc didn't rise. This may be a little bit easier than my mutinous crew.
With a yell, Aragorn beheaded an orc, and as the body fell he gained a clear view of Jack. He watched with amusement as Jack suddenly gained back his usual cocky smirk and smart-ass attitude and lashed out, slitting the throat of a passing orc before moving on to face another opponent. Aragorn, satisfied that Jack would be fine now, turned to his left and fought yet another opponent for a few seconds before he stabbed the orc through the stomach. He finally caught sight of Will.
The blacksmith fought extremely well, with the same skill he had while fighting Barbossa's crew, but the uncertainty still easily showed through. But that began to fade as he beheaded his attacker, and realized that this was one of the reasons he had spent three hours, each day practicing sword play.
Aragorn was still a little worried until he realized that Boromir still lingered near Will and was making sure to stay by his young friend. With Boromir there he will be fine. Aragorn didn't even bother to checkup on Legolas, Gimli or Gandalf; he knew the wizard and elf could hold their own just fine, and Gimli at this point had enough rage built up to take on twice as many orcs that they were facing now, so needless to say Aragorn wasn't concerned.
The ranger spun around deflecting another blow from an orc sword while trying to find where they hobbits were when he heard a great roar. Looking up, back towards the doorway, he saw the cave troll finally being lead in by a chain held by orcs, breaking through the door frame.
Legolas fired an arrow at the troll, hitting it in the shoulder, which gained a roar of pain for the beast as it clapped a hand over the wound. Aragorn risked a quick glance back at Jack who looked like he was about to go into a panic attack, until Legolas lead the pirate with him, further back into the room.
He was drawn away from his two friends by a small yell. Turning to once again face the cave troll, he saw Sam dive in-between its legs and crawl along the floor to try and escape it. But to Aragorn's horror the troll spotted the fleeing hobbit and again began to pursue him.
"Boromir, Will!"Sam crawled right into a corner and turned around to still come face to face with the troll, with its foot raised ready to stomp him. The hobbit cringed when suddenly the troll fell back. And he could hear Aragorn yelling to pull.Will tightened his grip on the chain and along with Aragorn, who was in front of him, and Boromir who was behind him, again yanked on the chain attached to the cave troll's collar, pulling it further away from Sam, giving the hobbit a chance to retreat. Suddenly the cave troll whipped its arm and hammer around and the three holding the chain ducked down to avoid the blow. Will and Aragorn had by this point had already released the chain but Boromir on the other hand hadn't and the troll twisted its arm and chain, whipping the unsuspecting man across the room and slamming him into the opposite wall, knocking him out for a brief moment.
When Boromir finally came to, he saw an orc standing over him ready to strike. With no warning, a blade, thrown from across the room, impaled itself into the orc's neck. Boromir sat up and shook his head, trying to rid himself of the daze that still clung to his mind as he looked up and spied Aragorn who nodded slightly to him.
"It's nice to see that you copied my 'trick'." Will stated flatly to Aragorn who smiled evilly.
"Yes, well, mine includes a heaver blade, which means it calls for more talent."Will rolled his eyes and grumbled something about Aragorn not starting the 'heaver blades are better than the thinner ones' argument again as he moved off to resume fighting. Meanwhile Jack fought with Legolas up on a ledge, switching between his bow and sword, glad to be away from the cave troll, which once again cried out in pain as Legolas shot it with two arrows at the same time, chasing him away from Gimli, who had fallen.
"I thought you hated him?" Jack yelled the question to the elf teasingly. Reaching over his back Legolas retrieved one of his long knives and stabbed an orc in the face. "I don't hate him, I just love mocking him, like you love to do to Will with the whole pirate situation." the elf yelled back.
Jack would have laughed but by now the troll had spotted the two of them fighting on the wall and was now using its chain to whip at them. The first blow had been aimed at Legolas, and then to his horror the second was aimed at Jack, who fell back with a yell. "I hate you, you bloody bastard!"
Legolas smirked with amusement at Jack as he dodged the chain again, which this time wrapped itself around a pillar. Legolas stamped on it, making sure it was safely wrapped before he darted up it.Jack's eyes went wide at the agility of the elf as he watched Legolas position himself, a leg on each of the troll's shoulders, and fire an arrow into the troll's head. The troll screamed and began to flail about, causing Legolas to have to jump down, and land gracefully on his feet. Jack took the troll's moment of distraction to retreat from the ledge and head back down to join his companions as they continued to fight the slowly retreating sea of Orcs, using any means to fight. Jack was so engrossed in the battle that he didn't register that something had gone wrong until he heard Sam calling out Frodo's name in panic.
Looking up the pirate could see in-between the pillars and caught sight of Frodo, pinned to the wall, gasping in pain from the spear that the cave troll had stabbed him with. By now the others began to notice the scene that was unfolding, and Merry and Pippin were so enraged by this that they dove onto the cave troll's back, stabbing him with their short swords. Gandalf and the others stood stunned for a moment longer, Sam being the first to begin the fight again, trying to reach his injured friend's side, followed shortly by the rest of the Fellowship's frenzied efforts to reach the Ring-bearer. Jack silently cursed himself. Only now did he realize that he did hear the Ringbearer's panicked calls, but he had been so engrossed in fighting that he had pushed them aside, and except for Aragorn, it seemed like everyone else had too. Much to their relief the Orcs were now dealt with, leaving only the flailing, enraged cave troll to deal with. Reaching over its head the troll finally grabbed Merry, and began swinging him around eventually throwing him to the ground.
Gandalf and Gimli charged forward take turns stabbing at the troll and dodging his swinging arms, Gimli once again getting knocked to the ground. Will and Boromir stood away from the other questioning Merry, making sure the Hobbit was alright after his fall while Jack made his way over to Aragorn, who was laying at the base of a pillar, out cold.
"Aragorn..." Jack said the ranger's name frantically as he shook him, not getting a response. Oh Christ!"Estel, please get up!!"
Aragorn's eyes jerked open and he sat up quickly "Jack... what happened? Where is Frodo?" Jack sighed sadly and cast a glance in the direction Frodo was in. Aragorn followed the glance and he spotted Frodo lying face down, apparently dead. Aragorn tried to get to his feet, but he was still too shaken from being thrown by the troll to stand, so he crawled over to Frodo's body. Aragorn shook his head and paused a second before he flipped Frodo onto his back, uttering,
"Oh no..." As Aragorn turned him over, Frodo gasped for breath.
Sam, wide-eyed, ran forward and knelt next to his master. "He's alive!" He said looking up at Gandalf, who sighed in relief. Frodo sat up all the way, his hand over his chest as Aragorn looked at Frodo.
"I'm all right, I'm not hurt."
"You should be dead! That spear would have skewered a wild boar." Aragorn exclaimed in amazement. Gandalf took a step forward leaning on his staff.
"I think there is more to this hobbit than meets the eye..."Frodo slowly unbuttoned his shirt, revealing the glimmering Mithril shirt, a gift from Bilbo, to the rest of the Fellowship.
"Mithril! You are full of surprises, Master Baggins!" Gimli said, amused. Jack froze, his ears again picking up on the screeches of the orcs.
"Gandalf..."
The wizard paused and listened, also recognizing the sounds of the orcs. "To the Bridge of Khazad-dûm!"