Hey! Another wonderful chapter! Thanks to horseyyay and TheFlyingHobbit for reviewing!


Hallie - July 16th (just after midnight) - The Castle

I was a little more nervous than I let on.

I sailed towards the Castle with great speed. Luckily for me, the boat appeared to move on its own, so I didn't have to embarrass myself by trying to paddle out there. Soon the Castle loomed over me.

The boat steered itself into a small, half-moon shaped dock that stretched into the water like a beach. I climbed out of the boat and gasped at the sight of what lay before me. Fruit trees and flowers were growing out of sunken pots in the marble. In between them stretched a path made of jewels. It looked like a mosaic.

Stunned, I followed the path to a gate. The gate was circularly shaped, like the doors in a hobbit hole, and seemed to be made of a single, giant pearl. The gate opened, and I continued to follow the jeweled path through the empty city to another pearly gate, which opened to reveal what seemed to be the main courtyard.

It was shaped like the full moon. Trees and beautiful flowers lined the sides of the courtyard, but the center was bare. I noticed that there was a large balcony directly opposite me. If this had been a kingdom, that is where I would imagine the king and queen would address the court. But this kingdom looked like it had been abandoned for a long time.

In the center of the courtyard was a pedestal. It was a simple cylinder, rising about 4 feet out of the ground, and it was covered in silver, so it shone like the moon. In the center of the pedestal was a small hole. It looked to be the perfect size for... the stone we'd found in Moria.

On the ground surrounding the pedestal, etched into the stone, was a compass. At the tips of each of the four cardinal points, our symbols were also carved. My swords. Eddy's eagle. Iris' flower. And triangular swirly pattern that was Liz' symbol.

I walked over and stood on my symbol, the crossed swords, and waited. I didn't know what I was waiting for, but I had a feeling that it wasn't exactly something to look forward to. I touched the necklace Haldir had given me, which curiously bore my symbol too. He'd said it was for protection. So maybe I wasn't the only one to ever use this symbol?

I waited for what seemed like hours, but in reality, was only a few minutes. Maybe the monster had died?

That's when I saw it. The thing walked out of the shadows, strolling into the courtyard like it owned it. Which, for now, I supposed it did. It was reptilian, a massive thing, probably five times my height, and covered in grey-green scales. It had beady eyes and twelve horns growing out of its head that almost seemed to form a crown. Thankfully, the monster didn't have wings, so I couldn't have called it a dragon.

I slid Elyon out of its sheath, thankful to have the comfortable sword in my hand. The monster walked closer to me, obviously thinking that I was just an easy kill. "Not today, Buster," I said, glaring at him. In that moment I decided to call him Buster. Giving him such a ridiculous name seemed to somehow gave me a burst of courage.

Buster let out a roar that shook the castle and darted towards me. I leaped out of the way, thinking that he was just going to slam into the wall behind me, but he turned at the last second, sending a massive tail my way that shot me across the courtyard like a cannon.

I landed with a thud on the hard marble some thirty yards away. That hurt. Leaping to my feet, I stuck my sword straight out in front of me and ran towards Buster, hoping to spear him like a kabob (figuratively speaking, of course- he was a little too big to become a kabob). To my surprise, Buster let out another roar, this time accompanied by flame.

I leapt out of the way at the last second, saving myself from being burned to a crisp. Okay, so obviously the frontal attack wasn't going to work. Let's try something else.

I darted underneath him. It was common knowledge that the weakest spot on any creature is their belly. I jammed my sword into his stomach and Buster let out another fierce roar, obviously in pain. Then he moved his head towards the ground, trying to get at look at whatever was stabbing him. I gulped, drawing my sword out and running for my life. Buster let loose, scorching the area underneath him. I was lucky to escape with a few minor burns on my legs, but curiously, I didn't feel any pain.

Maybe it was the adrenaline.

So obviously his armor could be penetrated by my sword, a fact for which I was grateful. I ran back around, trying to stab him in the leg. But his wonderful tail slapped me up against one of the Castle walls, knocking the breath out of me. I staggered to my feet and sprinted back towards him, thankful for my invulnerability and my stubbornness. If I'd let Aragorn go, I knew he'd be seriously injured, maybe even dead, by now. I couldn't let that happen to him. To any of them.

Suddenly I realized that the fate of Middle Earth was in my hands. That was a big responsibility. Dodging Buster's tail, I sliced at his leg, causing him to roar. I darted underneath him again, hoping to get another jab at his stomach, seeing as the first stab wound was still dripping blood. But he was smarter this time, raising up on his hind legs. If I didn't move, I'd be smashed.

It went on like this for hours. I'd slice him, he'd bash me up against a wall or try to torch me with his fire-breath. I managed to stab his underbelly twice more, but other than that, most of his injuries weren't drawing much blood. I, however, was burnt in more than one place and, if I hadn't been invulnerable, would be covered in one big bruise.

I was running away from Buster's fire breath when I noticed light on the horizon. The sun was rising. Had I really been fighting for six hours?

The castle gave a jolt, and we started to slide downwards into the ocean. Of course. The castle only came out at night. Part of me panicked that I would drown, that I wouldn't be able to breathe, but another part of me somehow knew that I would be able to survive.

The fighting went on beneath the sea for several more hours. Buster didn't seem to be tiring, but I was. Just because I couldn't get hurt didn't mean I could fight for twelve hours straight.

I turned around and went back to my useless attempts to hurt Buster. I wasn't going to get anywhere. I needed a new strategy. Sprinting out of the way of Buster's fire breath, I darted behind the pedestal, crouching down and giving myself a few crucial seconds to try to revise my strategy.

But Buster found me before I could even begin to gather my thoughts. He dragged me out from behind the pedestal, raking his claws across my chest and pinning me to the marble. Buster stared me in the eye and I saw the heat and fire beginning to gather in his throat. How could I have been so stupid and careless? Never take your eyes off your enemy, Aragorn had said. Now I was going to die for it.

I raised my hands up, Elyon still in my left, and closed my eyes as the fire began to pour out of Buster's mouth. But I didn't feel anything. Was this was death felt like? Curious, I opened my eyes to see Buster breathing fire all across me... but a shield of blue energy standing between him and me. I'd almost forgotten about my little blue ball of light, and was startled to realize that the blue energy was coming out of me. My little blue ball of light had grown up.

I rolled out of the way, still alive, and ran around to flank the monster. Buster seemed to be as surprised as I did. He looked at me, ready to give me another bolt of fire-breath, but I beat him to it.

I didn't have to think. Raising my right hand, I let loose my anger and frustration. My worries, fears, everything, poured out of me with the bolt of blue energy. It shot across the courtyard faster than a bullet and exploded, leaving long burn scars and deep gashes across Buster's side. He let out a roar of pain that shook the castle to its core.

I grinned. I had finally gained control of my powers. And, for the first time in twelve hours, I was winning. I darted around to his other side, trying to stay out of the way of his mouth. Blasting him with another bolt of energy, I was happy to see more gashes and scars appearing on his side, all gushing blood. Suddenly I noticed that I was feeling faint. I had to be the toll of magic- Iris had told me that spells draw on the caster's energy. Obviously I didn't have a lot of that left.

I had one more shot left in me. As Buster turned on me, I didn't move. I stared him down, daring him to give me everything he had. He reared up and opened his mouth, ready to shoot me with a blast of fire.

I sent the rest of my energy flying across the courtyard. It flew straight down his throat, burning him up from the inside, gruesome in a way I won't describe. The great monster crashed to a heap in the castle's marble courtyard, his charred carcass smoking. Buster was finally dead.

I'd managed to save my friends. My mission was done. Grateful, I fell to the ground, giving in to the sweet calls of unconsciousness.

Liz - July 16th - Sea of Darkness

I got nothing. I'm so mentally exhausted from worrying about everything that's going on. Raordell, Hallie, Eddy and Iris, and, of course, the fate of Middle Earth (like I could forget that little important bit of information?).

I tried to fall asleep, but I couldn't, as usual. Even if there hadn't been nightmares, the stress would have kept me awake anyways. So instead, I practiced throwing daggers at a target with a face drawn on it. I pretend it's Raordell's face, because it makes practicing a lot more satisfying.

Iris came into the training room at dawn, and literally force-fed me breakfast. I really wanted to refuse, because I felt like I couldn't really eat anything, but Iris is really scary when she's worried to the point of insanity.

Aragorn eventually docked the ship, because he figured that there was no point to stay floating in the middle of the sea.

Later in the afternoon, Haldir and Legolas went out to scout. I kind of wished that I could have gone with them, because I was getting really antsy just waiting around. I hated the feeling of not being able to do anything. Who came up with the dumb rule that only one person could "face the evil" at the castle? I wanted to go with Hallie, but magical rules wouldn't let me. Ugh!

I took out my frustration on "Raordell". It worked. Sort of.

Just before lunch, Eddy suddenly freaked out, because he had managed to see through the forest (apparently there's a barrier blocking his sight, so his eyesight was a little damaged), and he found out that Haldir and Legolas were hurt. Badly.

"I'll go with you," Eddy said, when Iris said that she was going to go find them. "You need protection, and I know where they are." Iris nodded in agreement.

"I'm going as well," Aragorn said. "It's too dangerous to stay in the forest. You may have to carry the two of them back, depending on how injured they are. You can't possibly carry them by yourselves. And Gimli, you may as well come with us too."

"What about me?" I asked.

"You can stay here and keep watch," Aragorn told me. "We can't leave the ship unattended. We will try to be back as soon as we can."

"But what about Raordell?" Eddy asked worriedly. "What if he attacks you?"

"I'll be fine," I said. "Besides, it makes the most sense for you four to go and for me to stay."

Great. I was still going to be stuck on this ship. What fun...but I guess it did make sense. Iris was the healer, Eddy was the "GPS", and Aragorn and Gimli needed to help transport the injured. And then there was me. I guess I could have worse jobs than guard duty.

I was left to guard The Stone (yes, I'm capitalizing it). Iris had been keeping it up until now, but Aragorn said that it was too important to take into the forest. We didn't even know what the stone did, but we knew it was probably important.

"Well," I sighed, shifting the stone around in my hand once the others left. "Guess it's just me and you now." The stone just shone back at me. I had never gotten the chance to examine it very closely. Its shiny blue glow reminded me of the blue sky in Colorado, although the shade of blue was much more vibrant.

I just kind of sat there on the deck, staring at the blue stone, thinking about nothing in particular. I stared at the spot where the castle had sunken below the water. I wondered how low the castle was submerged, and if I swam down, if I would be able to see it.

Probably not, I concluded. It was probably hidden by magic, or too deep to be able to swim to.

And then a hand closed over my mouth, and a dagger was pressed to my throat. "Well, well, Elizabeth, this was easier than I expected. We meet again." Suddenly, jumping into the ocean seemed like a great idea.


Cliffhangers, cliffhangers. Well, be prepared for more of them next week! And most likely the week after that but don't kill us please!