"I can't believe I passed out from fear," Willow muttered.
They had been back on solid ground for three days. The entire fellowship was exhausted and had earned a break. In turn, they had kept watch on the redhead, slowly warming up. After the first day of rest, she had woken up Sam from deep sleep when stumbling over his pans in search of food. The Hobbit was so sleepy it took him a couple of minutes before realizing that Willow was finally up. By the look of it, she wasn't injured, just starving. Everyone was happy that the story of Caradhras pass hadn't ended too badly.
Aragorn laughed. "Well, when you see it that way, it sure looks pathetic. But at least, you didn't have to dig yourself out of snow."
From outside the circle of friends around the fire, Gandalf smiled. He had to admitt that the redhead brought a joviality in the group that might have been missing if she hadn't been part of the quest. Sure there was Pippin, but he seemed to stick with stupidity. He had watched Willow closely, still haven't lost the idea that she wasn't just a human woman. She wasn't from Gondor or part of the Rohan riders and she was certainly not like Aragorn when he was going as Strider. [Then where is she from? What is she?] The redhead was a bundle of joy for the fellowship, but also carried with her a great deal of mystery and secrets to be unfold. On under circumstances, he might have thought that she what a spy for Saruman or Sauron, but she didn't have a dark soul. Purity was her name.
Gandalf had been surprised at first when he had heard Frodo and Merry discussing the redhead and the Elf of Mirkwood. He had not believe it at the beggining, but as the days passed, he could clearly see the evolution of the relationship between Legolas and Willow. He never thought he would see an Elf fall in love like that, especially not this Elf. Legolas had always seemed distant and focussed, never having time to have friends, always on the run. He didn't know what it was between them, friendship or attraction or love, but something was definitly going on. Something was going to happen soon : he felt it.
After a meal, the fellowship fell asleep, ready to go back on track the next morning. They were excited yet scared to go deep inside the earth, in the mine of Moria. Most of them felt both, but Gimli was over excited to see his cousin Balin and Gandalf frightened that he would fail the fellowship if they came upon what the Dwarves had awaken. As soon as everybody was up, they packed and there they were, walking toward the mine.
Two days later, they fell upon a path leading back to the mountains. They followed it and soon found a road crossing a lake and heading right to a rocky wall. Gandalf passed his hand on it and a fine line appeared underneath the ashes. The moon rose high over theirs head and its light reflected on the material spread over the mountain. The shape of a door appeared in luminiscent white.
"It says here Speak friend, and enter," Gandalf translated.
Sam and Frodo exchanged a glances. "Do you know what it means?" Frodo asked.
"It's fairly simple," Gandalf answered. "You say the password and the door shall open." He tried countless times to open the door, but nothing happened. Gandalf was fast losing patience and sat down heavily, letting his stick fall down.
But something strange was happening. The reflective material was giving powerful vibs and Willow felt every of it. She was attracted to the door. Unconsciously, she walked to it in a daze. As she stepped into the moonlight, her skin seemed to illuminate. She put her delicate hand on the star shaped symbol. "Mellon!" she said in a loud voice. The door opened itself.
Gandalf jaw fell. It was so simple he hadn't thought about it. The redhead was more surprising than he thought, but also strange. The way she had advanced on the door and how her body had looked like in the moonlight were both weird events.
Willow shook out the mist from her mind and looked befundled at the open door before her. With a smirk, she gestured her friends to the entryway. "Why don't you come on in!"
"Now, my friends, you are going to meet Dwarf hospitality : a good night sleep, a piece of meat, one good ale. And they call it a mine! A mine!" Gimli exclaimed.
Boromir lowered his torch down. "It isn't a mine. It's a tomb," he said as a matter of fact.
Several squelettons covered the stairs and the ground, most of them Dwarves, but also an other kind of creature. Legolas crouched down before a body with an arrow stuck between ribs. "Goblins!" he exclaimed with a grimace.
"Lets get out of here!" Boromir yelled, but when they retreated back to the entrance, the stones Merry and Pippin had thrown in the lake had disturbed a beast from under the water. Several long slimey arms shot out of water and grabbed Frodo. After a fight with the beast, the fellowship ran back inside the mine and the roof near the door collapsed on the crawling creature, blocking the exit behind them. "We don't have a choice now," Boromir muttered.
"Silence," Gandalf whispered. "It's a four day walk and maybe we can hope to go through without being discovered." Leading the way with his glowing stick, the wizard kept silent through most of the way. When they came about three path leading to different way, he finally stopped walking and the tired crew collapsed on their butts.
"I don't like this place. It makes my skin crawl," Willow whispered to Legolas.
The Elf nodded, understanding her because he was feeling the same way. His place wasn't underground but above ground, in trees. Elves didn't live in mines and caves, but on oceans and in forests. Legolas saw the redhead shiver and he surrounded her shoulders with his arms, trying to calm her. [The poor girl is frightened.]
In silence, Aragorn watched the scene. He had found out about the similarities between the Elf and the redhead at the same time than Gandalf. He still found it weird, but he understood how a mortal could love an immortal being. He loved Arwen after all even if there was something else going on. He *knew* Willow wasn't an ordinary human girl. She was different. He could feel it in his guts.
When Gandalf suddenly decided on their way to go, they followed him silently, having a weird feeling about the Moria. The bad feeling dissapeared when they reached the city of the Dwarves with the high columns sparkling with minerals encrusted in the stone. Half way through it, they reached open doors and a sinister sight was set before them. The doors lead to a small room covered in dead Dwarves. A stone tomb rested in the middle of the room.
It was Gimli's cousin final resting place.
The Orcs had fallen on them, locking them in this room. They had killed them all. Arrows struck from every skeletton.
The recommandation was now to travel in complete silence, not even a whisper. But Pippin's badluck was a curse. He stumbled onto a corpse near a hole and it fell in it, taking the chain and the bucket attached to it in the deeper parts of the Moria.
Suddenly, drums from below them were heard. Not a minute after, they were under attack. The Orcs were everywhere, but they didn't give up. Legolas shot as many as possible before they could cross the door and Gimli was working only on revenge instincts. The four Hobbits and Willow were doing their best with a sword and the redhead had the advantage on her enemies most of the times because of her combat skills. Aragorn wasn't missing any of the ugly beasts and Gandalf had is share of the fight as well as Boromir.
Things suddenly got ugly when a monstruous cave Troll came in the room. Willow was panicking. She couldn't handle it anymore. Frodo had just receive the pointy end of a lance through him and Legolas had scared her shitless when he had jumped on the Troll. She fell on her knees and screamed.
The rest of the Orcs stayed still and they got nervous as they felt the energy pouring from every cells of the redhead. Her skin became shiny and long red hair floated around her like a haze of fire and blood. The Orcs ran out of the room, recognizing power stronger then they were.
Gandalf watched, amazed at the sight before him. Wind blew around the room, swirling around the redhead in the corner. Light seemed to come out from her body and thousands of voices joined her own. He couldn't hear what she was saying, but the power seemed to flow with her voice. The fact that the Orcs had ran when seeing her was proof enough to him that Willow was much more powerful than she let on.
Distracted by the light coming from the young woman, the Troll left his prey alone and turned to her, opened his mouth and growled loudly. Seeing the last opportunity they had, Legolas took an arrow and launched it with perfection in the mouth of the Troll. Dying, the beast fell hard on the ground. The Elf returned back to the redhead.
All of the sudden, everything became silent. No more wind, no more voices, no more words flew out of Willow's lips. With a groan, the redhead fell down before her on two hands and she held one to her nose as blood ran down from it. She breathed heavily. Tears rolled down her cheeks. Legolas took a step toward her and she crawled backward rapidly. "Don't come near me!" she cried.
"Willow, you are hurting," he argued softly.
"I said don't come near me!" She weeped in her corner, hugging her knees to her chest.
Gandalf sat down on a broken piece of the tomb and waited. The others did like him. The redhead finally stopped crying. "Willow," Gandalf said gently.
The witch lifted up her head and looked at the wizard. "You don't know how close I came to lose it," she whispered. "I promised myself I would never lose control again." She snorted. "It never came to me that I might find myself deep underground with a bunch of Orcs and a Troll attacking us. Oh, I've seen much bigger opponants in the past, but Buffy was much stronger than them. Today, I realized how vulnerable I am, how vulnerable will all are. Frodo would have been killed if not for that mithril thingy Bilbo gave him."
"But you saved us Willow. You scared the Orcs away." Gandalf stopped talking when he heard the scream made by those creatures. "I'd like to discuss this further, but we don't have time. Lets get out of here!"
Legolas helped Willow stand up and they ran behind the rest of the fellowship.
"To the bridge of Khazad-dûm!" Gandalf yelled.
The crew ran as fast as they could, chased by hundreds of Orcs. They appeared from everywhere. Some came by the roof, others by doors, others through the ground. Soon enough, they were surrounded. Legolas squeezed Willow's hand and she was ready for another display of magical power when a loud growl made the Orcs scream. Their high pitched voices chilled the fellowship, but it was nothing compared to the growl. If something else than Willow's power scared them enough to ran away and hide meant it was bad knews.
No more Orcs around them, they looked around. From the way they had been coming now advanced a bright orange light, like a thousand flames glowing in the dark. "What is this new trick?" Boromir asked Gandalf.
The wizard closed his eyes in hope to concentrate enough to identify the new foe. Willow did the same, but the surge of dark power from the creature repulsed her so, she stopped to concentrate and cursed. "Fuck!"
Gandalf felt it soon after. "A Balrog," he said darkly. "A demon of the ancient world." Legolas froze. He had heard the name before. He was older than the others thought and the knowledge of ancient world demon hadn't been lost to him. Gandalf continued. "This adversary is stronger than you. Run!" The Elf didn't have to be told twice as he knew what they were up against. He pulled Willow with him and they lead the crew to a never ending flight of stairs. They started to go down as fast as possible.
In the middle of the second part of it, there was a big hole, but still close enough from the rest of the stair to jump. Being the one with the greatest agility, Legolas jumped then called the others one by one. Gandalf jumped first then Willow. Just as the redhead had made it pass the hole, an arrow hit the first step. Orcs were shooting arrows at them, slowing them down. The elvish archer shot an arrow with a rapidity and precision born of centuries. But he didn't have the time to kill all the Orcs. A part of the upper stair had just fallen in emptyness. Letting his bow fall on the ground, he turned back to the rest of the crew and helped Boromir stabilize when he jumped with both Merry and Pippin. Aragorn took Sam and he launched him across the hole. Gimli jumped himself but not far enough. Legolas caught him by his beard, enjoying this moment of revenge against the Dwarf.
Orcs still continued to shot arrows at the members of the fellowship, giving time to the Balrog to catch them. But Willow would have none of it. Her anger was building up and she felt it when her power surged through her entire body. This time, she didn't lose control. She heard the Orcs scream when they noticed her eyes had turned black and that the air flew around her like a tornado. With deadly precision, she shot bolts of lightening at the screaming creatures. When most of them had fallen in the hot lava bellow, the rest ran away and the witch smiled evilly. Her eyes became their natural green when she felt Gandalf's hand on her shoulder, calming her down. She turned back to see Aragorn and Frodo jump as the upper part of the stair moved in their direction then fell down in the flames bellow.
"Come on! Quick!" the man said.
Legolas grabbed his bow and joined them in their descent toward the bridge of Khazad-dûm. When they were near enough, a shape formed itself in the flames behind them. A dark shadow covered in flames growled at them. The gigantic wingeg demon chased them to the narrow bridge. Not taking the time to look at the beast behind them, the fellowship crossed the bit of rock leading to the exit. But Gandalf wouldn't let the Balrog follow them. He wouldn't permit it.
Turning back in the middle of the bridge, Gandalf faced the demon. "You can not pass! I am the bearer of the the flame of Anor! You can't defeat me! Go back in the shadows!" Lifting up is magical stick, a light surrounded him and when the demon's fire sword hit Gandalf's one, the Balrog was repulsed and he growled in frustration. He produced a whip from the flames covering his body, a long red whip in the shape of a snake tongue. "You shall not pass!" the wizard yelled. He slammed down the stick and the sword in the middle of the bridge. When the Balrog stepped on it, the stone collapsed to the middle. Gandalf put down his weapons as the ancient world demon fell in the precipice.
But in a supreme last effort, the demon crackled the air with the whip, catching the wizard's ankle. "Gandalf!" Frodo called, trying to go back to help him, but Boromir stopped him from running to his death.
Hearing his name, the wizard looked up and saw that Boromir had to stop Frodo, Aragorn watched helplessly and that Legolas had to virtuality drag Willow with him to the stair leading to freedom. "Run you fool," he said, then let go of the bridge and fell down with the demon.
They had been back on solid ground for three days. The entire fellowship was exhausted and had earned a break. In turn, they had kept watch on the redhead, slowly warming up. After the first day of rest, she had woken up Sam from deep sleep when stumbling over his pans in search of food. The Hobbit was so sleepy it took him a couple of minutes before realizing that Willow was finally up. By the look of it, she wasn't injured, just starving. Everyone was happy that the story of Caradhras pass hadn't ended too badly.
Aragorn laughed. "Well, when you see it that way, it sure looks pathetic. But at least, you didn't have to dig yourself out of snow."
From outside the circle of friends around the fire, Gandalf smiled. He had to admitt that the redhead brought a joviality in the group that might have been missing if she hadn't been part of the quest. Sure there was Pippin, but he seemed to stick with stupidity. He had watched Willow closely, still haven't lost the idea that she wasn't just a human woman. She wasn't from Gondor or part of the Rohan riders and she was certainly not like Aragorn when he was going as Strider. [Then where is she from? What is she?] The redhead was a bundle of joy for the fellowship, but also carried with her a great deal of mystery and secrets to be unfold. On under circumstances, he might have thought that she what a spy for Saruman or Sauron, but she didn't have a dark soul. Purity was her name.
Gandalf had been surprised at first when he had heard Frodo and Merry discussing the redhead and the Elf of Mirkwood. He had not believe it at the beggining, but as the days passed, he could clearly see the evolution of the relationship between Legolas and Willow. He never thought he would see an Elf fall in love like that, especially not this Elf. Legolas had always seemed distant and focussed, never having time to have friends, always on the run. He didn't know what it was between them, friendship or attraction or love, but something was definitly going on. Something was going to happen soon : he felt it.
After a meal, the fellowship fell asleep, ready to go back on track the next morning. They were excited yet scared to go deep inside the earth, in the mine of Moria. Most of them felt both, but Gimli was over excited to see his cousin Balin and Gandalf frightened that he would fail the fellowship if they came upon what the Dwarves had awaken. As soon as everybody was up, they packed and there they were, walking toward the mine.
Two days later, they fell upon a path leading back to the mountains. They followed it and soon found a road crossing a lake and heading right to a rocky wall. Gandalf passed his hand on it and a fine line appeared underneath the ashes. The moon rose high over theirs head and its light reflected on the material spread over the mountain. The shape of a door appeared in luminiscent white.
"It says here Speak friend, and enter," Gandalf translated.
Sam and Frodo exchanged a glances. "Do you know what it means?" Frodo asked.
"It's fairly simple," Gandalf answered. "You say the password and the door shall open." He tried countless times to open the door, but nothing happened. Gandalf was fast losing patience and sat down heavily, letting his stick fall down.
But something strange was happening. The reflective material was giving powerful vibs and Willow felt every of it. She was attracted to the door. Unconsciously, she walked to it in a daze. As she stepped into the moonlight, her skin seemed to illuminate. She put her delicate hand on the star shaped symbol. "Mellon!" she said in a loud voice. The door opened itself.
Gandalf jaw fell. It was so simple he hadn't thought about it. The redhead was more surprising than he thought, but also strange. The way she had advanced on the door and how her body had looked like in the moonlight were both weird events.
Willow shook out the mist from her mind and looked befundled at the open door before her. With a smirk, she gestured her friends to the entryway. "Why don't you come on in!"
"Now, my friends, you are going to meet Dwarf hospitality : a good night sleep, a piece of meat, one good ale. And they call it a mine! A mine!" Gimli exclaimed.
Boromir lowered his torch down. "It isn't a mine. It's a tomb," he said as a matter of fact.
Several squelettons covered the stairs and the ground, most of them Dwarves, but also an other kind of creature. Legolas crouched down before a body with an arrow stuck between ribs. "Goblins!" he exclaimed with a grimace.
"Lets get out of here!" Boromir yelled, but when they retreated back to the entrance, the stones Merry and Pippin had thrown in the lake had disturbed a beast from under the water. Several long slimey arms shot out of water and grabbed Frodo. After a fight with the beast, the fellowship ran back inside the mine and the roof near the door collapsed on the crawling creature, blocking the exit behind them. "We don't have a choice now," Boromir muttered.
"Silence," Gandalf whispered. "It's a four day walk and maybe we can hope to go through without being discovered." Leading the way with his glowing stick, the wizard kept silent through most of the way. When they came about three path leading to different way, he finally stopped walking and the tired crew collapsed on their butts.
"I don't like this place. It makes my skin crawl," Willow whispered to Legolas.
The Elf nodded, understanding her because he was feeling the same way. His place wasn't underground but above ground, in trees. Elves didn't live in mines and caves, but on oceans and in forests. Legolas saw the redhead shiver and he surrounded her shoulders with his arms, trying to calm her. [The poor girl is frightened.]
In silence, Aragorn watched the scene. He had found out about the similarities between the Elf and the redhead at the same time than Gandalf. He still found it weird, but he understood how a mortal could love an immortal being. He loved Arwen after all even if there was something else going on. He *knew* Willow wasn't an ordinary human girl. She was different. He could feel it in his guts.
When Gandalf suddenly decided on their way to go, they followed him silently, having a weird feeling about the Moria. The bad feeling dissapeared when they reached the city of the Dwarves with the high columns sparkling with minerals encrusted in the stone. Half way through it, they reached open doors and a sinister sight was set before them. The doors lead to a small room covered in dead Dwarves. A stone tomb rested in the middle of the room.
It was Gimli's cousin final resting place.
The Orcs had fallen on them, locking them in this room. They had killed them all. Arrows struck from every skeletton.
The recommandation was now to travel in complete silence, not even a whisper. But Pippin's badluck was a curse. He stumbled onto a corpse near a hole and it fell in it, taking the chain and the bucket attached to it in the deeper parts of the Moria.
Suddenly, drums from below them were heard. Not a minute after, they were under attack. The Orcs were everywhere, but they didn't give up. Legolas shot as many as possible before they could cross the door and Gimli was working only on revenge instincts. The four Hobbits and Willow were doing their best with a sword and the redhead had the advantage on her enemies most of the times because of her combat skills. Aragorn wasn't missing any of the ugly beasts and Gandalf had is share of the fight as well as Boromir.
Things suddenly got ugly when a monstruous cave Troll came in the room. Willow was panicking. She couldn't handle it anymore. Frodo had just receive the pointy end of a lance through him and Legolas had scared her shitless when he had jumped on the Troll. She fell on her knees and screamed.
The rest of the Orcs stayed still and they got nervous as they felt the energy pouring from every cells of the redhead. Her skin became shiny and long red hair floated around her like a haze of fire and blood. The Orcs ran out of the room, recognizing power stronger then they were.
Gandalf watched, amazed at the sight before him. Wind blew around the room, swirling around the redhead in the corner. Light seemed to come out from her body and thousands of voices joined her own. He couldn't hear what she was saying, but the power seemed to flow with her voice. The fact that the Orcs had ran when seeing her was proof enough to him that Willow was much more powerful than she let on.
Distracted by the light coming from the young woman, the Troll left his prey alone and turned to her, opened his mouth and growled loudly. Seeing the last opportunity they had, Legolas took an arrow and launched it with perfection in the mouth of the Troll. Dying, the beast fell hard on the ground. The Elf returned back to the redhead.
All of the sudden, everything became silent. No more wind, no more voices, no more words flew out of Willow's lips. With a groan, the redhead fell down before her on two hands and she held one to her nose as blood ran down from it. She breathed heavily. Tears rolled down her cheeks. Legolas took a step toward her and she crawled backward rapidly. "Don't come near me!" she cried.
"Willow, you are hurting," he argued softly.
"I said don't come near me!" She weeped in her corner, hugging her knees to her chest.
Gandalf sat down on a broken piece of the tomb and waited. The others did like him. The redhead finally stopped crying. "Willow," Gandalf said gently.
The witch lifted up her head and looked at the wizard. "You don't know how close I came to lose it," she whispered. "I promised myself I would never lose control again." She snorted. "It never came to me that I might find myself deep underground with a bunch of Orcs and a Troll attacking us. Oh, I've seen much bigger opponants in the past, but Buffy was much stronger than them. Today, I realized how vulnerable I am, how vulnerable will all are. Frodo would have been killed if not for that mithril thingy Bilbo gave him."
"But you saved us Willow. You scared the Orcs away." Gandalf stopped talking when he heard the scream made by those creatures. "I'd like to discuss this further, but we don't have time. Lets get out of here!"
Legolas helped Willow stand up and they ran behind the rest of the fellowship.
"To the bridge of Khazad-dûm!" Gandalf yelled.
The crew ran as fast as they could, chased by hundreds of Orcs. They appeared from everywhere. Some came by the roof, others by doors, others through the ground. Soon enough, they were surrounded. Legolas squeezed Willow's hand and she was ready for another display of magical power when a loud growl made the Orcs scream. Their high pitched voices chilled the fellowship, but it was nothing compared to the growl. If something else than Willow's power scared them enough to ran away and hide meant it was bad knews.
No more Orcs around them, they looked around. From the way they had been coming now advanced a bright orange light, like a thousand flames glowing in the dark. "What is this new trick?" Boromir asked Gandalf.
The wizard closed his eyes in hope to concentrate enough to identify the new foe. Willow did the same, but the surge of dark power from the creature repulsed her so, she stopped to concentrate and cursed. "Fuck!"
Gandalf felt it soon after. "A Balrog," he said darkly. "A demon of the ancient world." Legolas froze. He had heard the name before. He was older than the others thought and the knowledge of ancient world demon hadn't been lost to him. Gandalf continued. "This adversary is stronger than you. Run!" The Elf didn't have to be told twice as he knew what they were up against. He pulled Willow with him and they lead the crew to a never ending flight of stairs. They started to go down as fast as possible.
In the middle of the second part of it, there was a big hole, but still close enough from the rest of the stair to jump. Being the one with the greatest agility, Legolas jumped then called the others one by one. Gandalf jumped first then Willow. Just as the redhead had made it pass the hole, an arrow hit the first step. Orcs were shooting arrows at them, slowing them down. The elvish archer shot an arrow with a rapidity and precision born of centuries. But he didn't have the time to kill all the Orcs. A part of the upper stair had just fallen in emptyness. Letting his bow fall on the ground, he turned back to the rest of the crew and helped Boromir stabilize when he jumped with both Merry and Pippin. Aragorn took Sam and he launched him across the hole. Gimli jumped himself but not far enough. Legolas caught him by his beard, enjoying this moment of revenge against the Dwarf.
Orcs still continued to shot arrows at the members of the fellowship, giving time to the Balrog to catch them. But Willow would have none of it. Her anger was building up and she felt it when her power surged through her entire body. This time, she didn't lose control. She heard the Orcs scream when they noticed her eyes had turned black and that the air flew around her like a tornado. With deadly precision, she shot bolts of lightening at the screaming creatures. When most of them had fallen in the hot lava bellow, the rest ran away and the witch smiled evilly. Her eyes became their natural green when she felt Gandalf's hand on her shoulder, calming her down. She turned back to see Aragorn and Frodo jump as the upper part of the stair moved in their direction then fell down in the flames bellow.
"Come on! Quick!" the man said.
Legolas grabbed his bow and joined them in their descent toward the bridge of Khazad-dûm. When they were near enough, a shape formed itself in the flames behind them. A dark shadow covered in flames growled at them. The gigantic wingeg demon chased them to the narrow bridge. Not taking the time to look at the beast behind them, the fellowship crossed the bit of rock leading to the exit. But Gandalf wouldn't let the Balrog follow them. He wouldn't permit it.
Turning back in the middle of the bridge, Gandalf faced the demon. "You can not pass! I am the bearer of the the flame of Anor! You can't defeat me! Go back in the shadows!" Lifting up is magical stick, a light surrounded him and when the demon's fire sword hit Gandalf's one, the Balrog was repulsed and he growled in frustration. He produced a whip from the flames covering his body, a long red whip in the shape of a snake tongue. "You shall not pass!" the wizard yelled. He slammed down the stick and the sword in the middle of the bridge. When the Balrog stepped on it, the stone collapsed to the middle. Gandalf put down his weapons as the ancient world demon fell in the precipice.
But in a supreme last effort, the demon crackled the air with the whip, catching the wizard's ankle. "Gandalf!" Frodo called, trying to go back to help him, but Boromir stopped him from running to his death.
Hearing his name, the wizard looked up and saw that Boromir had to stop Frodo, Aragorn watched helplessly and that Legolas had to virtuality drag Willow with him to the stair leading to freedom. "Run you fool," he said, then let go of the bridge and fell down with the demon.