This chapter was mostly requested by a Guest, who "pleadingly yet forcefully" pulled me out of cliffhanger-madness and out of the dank, dark pit that is Moria. Here you are, everybody, another update before school gets going again in a few days. Enjoy!
The light grew larger and larger behind them, and so the Fellowship ran faster and faster towards the bridge. Suddenly, Boromir stopped, flailing his arms, and Aragorn pulled him back. Estelyn dutifully looked down at the cavernous expanse below them. Gandalf wasted no time in pulling the hobbits toward the steep stone stairs next to them. A few hundred yards down, there was a large gap. Without hesitation, Legolas leaped across. He beckoned for her to follow, and so she did, leaping into open air for a split second, before Legolas grabbed her hand and she lightly landed again. "Gandalf!" she shouted, and the wizard wasted no time. She and Legolas grabbed him, cushioning his fall, and they barely had time to step back before Boromir came tumbling in, clutching Merry and Pippin.
Suddenly, a large section of the old stairs cracked off and tumbled into space. Estelyn gulped. Suddenly, the sharp ricochet of arrows on rock sounded, and she looked up to see a band of Orcs across the chasm, firing at them. Estelyn instantly reached for her weapons, sending a volley of arrows to meet them.
Boromir deftly caught Sam beside her, and she looked up to see Gimli prostesting. "Nobody tosses a Dwarf," he announced, before leaping as far as he could. He wasn't going to make it, she could plainly see, and apparently Legolas could too, because he lunged forward and grabbed hold of the Dwarf's long, ginger beard. "Not the beard!" shouted Gimli, but there was no more complaining to be had as the Fellowship looked up and saw their predicament.
Aragorn was left on the other side, across a monster gap, with one hobbit. Estelyn looked and her ehart fell to see that it was Frodo, their only hope, stuck on the other side of a fifteen foot gap. Suddenly, a huge rumble shook the ceiling. A large piece came free and cleaved the staircase behind them. To her horror, it began to topple precariously, threatening to send the Ranger and the Ring-bearer over the edge. It began to sway forward, but then she realized the ingenious Aragorn's plan. Just as the ruined section of stairs crashed forward, they leaped off into the waiting arms of the rest of the Fellowship. And just like that, they were on the run again, running from the ever-advancing glow behind them.
Suddenly, Legolas, in the lead, rounded a corner and let out a whoop of joy. The bridge was in sight! There was hope! This put new life into the steps of the Fellowship as they sprinted forward. They went across one by one, stopping at the other side. Estelyn was first, and she counted. One, two, three. Suddenly, Aragorn ran across, and she smiled. Everyone was across and safe!
Then, she heard a roar and it made them all turn towards the narrow stone bridge in horror. That was when Estelyn realized the error of her mistake. Gandalf stood in the middle of the bridge, sword and staff brandished, facing an impossible foe of fire and smoke.
"You cannot pass!" shouted the wizard. The Balrog took another step forward, great black horns touching the ceiling. He held a whip of fire in his hand, and he swung it at the wizard, who held his ground. "I am the Servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the Flame of Anor. The Dark Fire shall not avail you, Flame of Udun!"
His staff began to glow with shining light, pure in the dark. "YOU. SHALL. NOT. PASS!" He slammed his weapons into the bridge, and it suddenly crumbled. The Balrog took a step forward, and another...
…and the bridge broke, sending him tumbling into the abyss.
Gandalf took a step back, and he seemed very much like a weary old man at that moment. Suddenly, out of the darkness, came the Balrog's cracking whip. It wrapped around Gandalf's ankle, sending him tumbling over the edge, hanging on by nothing but sheer willpower. "GANDALF!" shouted Frodo, struggling forward, but Boromir, being smart, for once, held him back.
"Fly, you fools," Gandalf whispered, and then he was gone. "NOOOOO!" shouted Frodo, cries filled with anguish. The way out seemed like a blur. At one point, she was in the lead, and then she was in the back, and then there was sunlight and they were out into open air, and she sank down onto the ground, tears blurring her vision.
Gandalf had been one of the first people she'd met after leaving, one of the first people she had extended trust to, in the outside world. And he was gone. She felt an arm around her shoulders, and she looked up to see Legolas sitting beside her. "He's gone," she choked out.
"I know, Estel, I know. Come on, we have to go."
He gently pulled her to her feet, and she buried her head in his shoulder, tears seeping from her eyes. They stayed like that for a moment, but then Aragorn announced: "We have to go."
"For god sakes, give them a moment," cried Boromir. She pulled her head out of his shoulder and looked at the hobbits, much in the same position she had been in, heads bent with grief. "We have to get to the Woods of Lorien by nightfall."
"Lorien?" she whispered.
"You know we will be safe there," replied Aragorn. Everyone was up a few minutes later. Estelyn turned towards Legolas and gave his hand a small squeeze, before dropping it. He smiled, briefly. Eventually, they were running again, as always, across grassy meadows, towards the fair woods of Lorien.
T hey reached the borders just as twilight was setting in. Aragorn slowed to a walk, and carefully picked a path into the beautiful woods. "Be on your guard," she heard Gimli tell the hobbits. "Word is, there's an evil sorceress dwells in these woods. An Elf-witch of terrible power. Be on your guard." Estelyn was too tired and sad to care what a dwarf said.
"Well, here's one Dwarf they won't ensnare so easily. I have the eyes of a hawk and the ears of a bat."
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a golden arrow appeared in front of his face, and Estelyn had to stifle her laughter. A band of Elves, bows at the ready, appeared around them.
"The Dwarf breathes so loud, we could have shot him in the dark," said a familiar voice.
"Haldir!" she exclaimed, whirling around. The blond haired Elf raised an eyebrow, smiling. "Maegovannon, Estelyn."
The formality was stiff for a moment, before she reached forward and hugged him. "Marchwarden?" she asked, and he grinned, before turning to Legolas. "Maegovannon, Legolas, Son of Thranduil. Normally, I would not welcome Dwarves and Men to the Halls of the Lady, but given your present company, an exception shall be made. Follow me."
Without warning, Haldir stalked off, looking much like a disgruntled cat that hadn't been fed, but Estelyn laughed when she realized he always looked like that.
"What?" asked Legolas from beside her.
"Oh, nothing, just a funny memory."
He nodded, and the dusk grew as they wandered into the trees. Maybe a half a mile in, Haldir stopped proudly, extending his hand to what appeared to be a tower of radiant light in front of them, extending all the way up a hundred foot tree. But Estelyn knew exactly what it was. The Golden Realm of the Lady extended in front of them. She heard Gimli gasp, and the Hobbits make murmured comments of its beauty.
He led them up great carving staircases, past beautifully simplistic arches and seats, all the way up to where they were waiting. Estelyn knew them, but their great beauty and power still rendered her completely breathless. The Lord, Celeborn, stood, with flaxen hair and deep, serious eyes that had seen many an Age. Galadriel, Lady of Light, stood proud beside him, with hair golden as sunlight falling to her waist and pure sapphire eyes that gleamed wit humor... and maybe a hint of something darker.
"Tell me, where is Gandalf, for I much desire to speak with him?" asked Celeborn. "Nine there are here, yet ten set out from Rivendell."
A great sorrow came over Lady Galadriel's face and she answered the question herself: "He did not pass the borders of this land. He has fallen... into shadow."
Legolas spoke up, voice overcome by grief. "A Balrog of Morgoth, for we went needlessly into the Net of Moria."
"None of the deeds of Gandalf the Grey were needless in his lifetime. Go now, sleep, we will speak when the morning's light comes over us all."
A young elleth approached them. "I will show you to your rooms, if you'll just follow me." Estelyn entered her room first, she was grateful for that. She sat down on the bed, took her weapons off, set one boot on the floor and was working on the other one when sleep overcame her, a sleep ridden with grief and yet peaceful for the first time in a long time.
Thanks for all the reviews, and I hope to see you all soon! Keep on reading!
QotC: If you lived in Middle-earth, who would you be?