Hello everyone! I have a longer chapter for you all this time...finally...
So I'm not too good at battle scenes so feedback would be especially appreciated for this one, as it always is!
Thank you to those of you who review and follow, I truly appreciate it.
Conversations in italics are in Elvish.
Enjoy!
Chapter 10
Even to an elf, the great halls of Moria were an awesome sight to behold.
Manwathiel felt tiny, like an insignificant grain of sand in the vast room filled with rows upon rows of great stone pillars. The light of Gandalf's staff could scarcely show the majesty of such a place, and it was hard to comprehend what it would be like with proper lighting.
Gimli let out a sharp cry and suddenly ran off to the side into another room. It was much smaller, and in the center there was a gray tombstone.
"Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria. He is dead then." Gandalf stated somberly.
Gimli wept, leaning his head against the tomb. His sorrow only added to the feeling of dread and apprehension growing steadily in everyone's hearts. The usually gruff and prickly dwarf was grieving profusely over his lost Cousin, showing a side of him that most are never even aware of.
"We must move on." Legolas whispered urgently to Aragorn, "We cannot linger."
The wizard picked up a large dusty book from the ground, blowing off the cobwebs. Opening it to the last entry, he began to read aloud.
"Aragorn, we must keep going." Legolas anxiously looked back at the door that they had come through. Aragorn placed a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.
"Drums…drums in the deep. The ground shakes…we cannot get out…they are coming…we cannot get out."
An eerie silence fell over the Fellowship as Gandalf read the last feverishly scribbled words. Pippin errantly twisted the hand of a dwarf skeleton, causing it to fall backwards down a well and beyond. It pulled a large chain and a bucket with it, producing a crashing and clanging noise that echoed throughout the caverns. The little hobbit squeezed his eyes shut, very much afraid.
"Fool of a took!" Gandalf slammed the book closed. A puff of dust erupted from its frail pages. "Next time you might as well throw yourself in and rid us of your stupidity!"
No one got to know what Pippin would say, because it was at that moment that they heard them. Balin's drums. One deep boom after another that seemed to come from the very innards of the earth. They resonated through the stone, the sound remaining long after it had been made.
Frodo pulled his sword halfway out of its sheath. To Manwathiel's dismay, it was bright blue.
"Orcs!" Legolas spat.
Boromir ran to the door, only to barely miss getting his head shot off. "They have a cave troll," he said bitterly.
Aragorn and Legolas started to barricade the doors, as the hobbits gathered behind Gandalf. Gimli stood on Balin's tomb, brandishing his cousin's axe.
"Let them come!" he growled. "There is one dwarf left in Moria that still draws breath."
Manwathiel stood in front of the hobbits with Gandalf. "Stay close to me if you can." She told them, "but if the fighting grows too near then find a place to hide."
They nodded and clustered around Frodo, instinctively protecting him.
Legolas and Aragorn backed up to join the front line, pulling out their bows. Manwathiel already had hers nocked with an arrow and aimed steadily at the door.
"Perhaps you should stay back with the hobbits My Lady." Boromir said to her. Manwathiel gave him a withering look.
"I can take care of myself, thank you very much." she retorted, restraining herself from rolling her eyes. Her disgust at being treated as less capable than a man distracted her momentarily from the fear roiling in her belly.
Her focus was jolted back by the crashing of crude orcs weapons smashing into the wooden doorway. They hacked mercilessly at the beautifully carved wood until there was a hole big enough for them to fit through, and began pouring through.
The Fellowship had taken out a few with their arrows, but it was at too close of a range now for bows. Gandalf whirled about with his surprisingly sturdy staff, along with his sword. The hobbits each attempted to defend themselves with their weapons, but Sam seemed to be more comfortable with his use of a frying pan.
Manwathiel sprang into action, stabbing the first orc that came her way in the neck. The second and third were easily dispensed of as well. She parried a few blows with another orc that came her way and was just about to deliver the final lethal blow when it fell to the ground. She looked up and saw Legolas twirling his hunting knives and looking slightly guilty.
"I had that one!" she shouted, throwing a small knife into the heart of another adversary.
"I know…" He slashed another orc in the throat and spun around to stab another.
"Then why did you- Legolas behind you!"
The prince jumped around just in time to move away from the cave troll's heavy mace. It roared as it yanked its weapon from the ground and looked around for the prey that had managed to escape it.
Manwathiel dragged Legolas behind one of the pillars with her and paused, breathing heavily.
"I don't need saving." She said when the troll was farther away, given up on his quarry.
"I realize that." he held up a hand to her perplexed expression. "I don't know, Manwathiel. I don't know."
She shook her head and ran to one side while he went to other, attacking the troll simultaneously. She hacked at its legs while Legolas shot an arrow meant for its head, but they succeeded more in annoying the troll than anything else. The arrow and blade were repelled by its tough skin.
The rest of the battle passed in a sort of blur for Manwathiel, as none of the orcs were very much of a challenge for her. Legolas had an errant thought at one point that she was terrifyingly beautiful, descending upon her adversaries in a dance of death. He had no idea that a few moments later, she was thinking exactly the same thing about him.
She tried to keep an eye on the hobbits but inevitably they were separated, and she had to trust them to look after each other.
A scream of pain tore through the room, and Manwathiel jerked towards the sound. She saw the troll finally fall to the ground in defeat, and the rest of the orcs shortly taken care of. The rest of her companions ran to a corner of the room, and she followed them, afraid of what she would find.
Frodo was laying on the ground, motionless.
"The troll hit him." Legolas said softly. Manwathiel fell to the ground beside the little one, a tightness growing in her chest.
"I have failed him…I have failed all of you."
Frodo's eyes opened, and he inhaled deeply. "I'm alright." He said, looking at the worried faces of his friends. "I'm not hurt."
"How can this be?" Aragorn mused.
Frodo pulled apart his tunic to reveal a shimmering shirt of precious mithril. There was a collective wave of relief, broken only by the screeching of Goblins.
"Aragorn, take them to the bridge of Khazad-dum. You know the way." Gandalf instructed, ushering them all back into the main hall.
"Here we go again."
A/N: Thank you for reading, please review! Have an amazing day!
