Disclaimer: Do I own The Lord of the Rings? No. If I did, I wouldn't be making a pathetic excuse of a story. I'd be filthy rich, living in a huge mansion, and sipping Shirley Temples in my two-acre swimming pool all day long. Then I'd go and spend all of my money on clothes, cars, and everything else I ever want. Heck, I'll even buy the actors' rights as free citizens and force them to be my personal slaves. *slides into a daydream* Yes, they will have to wear maid's dresses and address me as, "Your Highness." "Viggo, clean those curtains!" "Ian, dust off the Oscar's I bought off Peter Jackson. Say, where is Pete? Pete! Peter! Here, boy!" *The annoyed director comes walking in with a pretty, pink bell collar around his neck* "Bow wow, Your Highness" he exclaims, less than enthusiastically. "Wrong, wrong, wrong! You have to feeell the emotion. . ." *comes back into the cold, harsh, real world with a sigh* That would be the life.

Author's note: I'm sorry I take sooo long updating, but school's ever -driven teachers make sure I am supplied with enough homework to last three months.

On with the story:

Liz's POV

Soon after Gandalf found the way, we reached Balin's tomb. "Gimli!" the wizard called, hoping to sustain the frenzied dwarf. Gimli paid no heed, and soon reached the coffin. He began to weep and everyone soon reached the sarcophagus. "We must move on. We cannot linger," I heard behind me. "I agree!" I chirped, "there are goblins crawling everywhere. And whenever Legolas tells you guys to leave, and you don't, someone gets killed!"

I heard a great cry of surprise and anger come from beside me. I turned and saw quite a humorous scene. Gimli had a tight grip around Jen's waist, and Jen was protesting wildly and flailing her arms. Gandalf reached down and grabbed a blood and dust encrusted book from the grimy hands of a nearby corpse. "Eew," I thought to myself. He began to talk about drums, but I was hardly listening. I was too busy trying to keep my laughter down as I watched Jen trying to break free from the dwarfs grasp. She even began biting his gloved hands, but it didn't seem to make much of a difference.

It wasn't until she heard Gandalf when something seemed to spark in her mind. Turning as best as she could in the dwarf's death grip, she screamed, "FREEZE!" Pippin stopped right where he was; about two inches away from the arrow tip. "Turn away very, very slowly," she instructed. He obliged, but as he turned, the tip of Gandalf's hat with he had been holding brushed against the tip of the arrow. We all watched; helpless.

"You fool of a Took!" Gandalf exclaimed, yanking the things from Pippin's hand. I wanted to just call out: "Hey, it wasn't Pip's fault, your hat's too pointy!" but I decided against it. Gandalf angry is a bad thing. I glanced toward Jen, how had wrestled out of Gimlet's grasp when the dwarf was paying closer attention to the falling skeleton. She looked terrified. She grabbed my arm and pulled me behind Gandalf. Just when we reached sanctuary, the noises of the orcs and goblins started.

Jen's POV

I was panicked. I had no idea how to use the sword at my hip. And I was sure Liz didn't know how to use her knives as well. We cowered with the hobbits behind Gandalf; the safest place I could think of. I watched as the warriors barricaded the door as best as they could. As they got into a battle position, I realized I should do the same. Unsheathing my sword, I bumped Liz with my shoulder, indicating she should do the same. She unsheathed her knives and braced herself for combat.

She seemed too cocky; acting like she was invincible. She couldn't really be thinking that, could she? "This isn't a game," I warned. "It's a battle between life and death."

"Don't give yourself a heart attack. All we have to do is kill some orcs and get out of here." I was about to argue, but the door had just given way, and seas of orcs came pouring in. I held my sword with shaking hands, and braced myself.

I was surprised how more graphic everything was outside of the movie. Two orcs had broken past Gandalf and the hobbits (yes, I was relying on the hobbits to guard my life) and were making their way towards Liz and I. Liz grinned and stepped forward; while I panicked and backed away. Liz cleanly sliced a gash in one of the foul creatures' throat, leaving one for me. I closed my eyes and thrust my sword forward.

When nothing sharp had broken my skin, I opened my eyes. An orc was neatly skewered on my sword. I stepped back, allowing the nasty little thing to slide off my blade. I looked about, trying to find my friend. All I saw was blood, guts, and mayhem. Everything seemed so automatic and fast. I stepped forward, taking several deep breathes to calm my nerves. 'It's either them or me; them, or me,' I continued to think to myself. It was somewhat reassuring, but I still wasn't about to run about, gun-ho style.

I sliced several orcs, leaving most for the actual warriors and my rather bloodthirsty friend. She seemed to be having a grand time slicing and dicing orcs along side the other warriors. 'How does she do that?!' I asked myself. Here I was, having a hard time keeping on my feet from dodging so many blows; and she runs around without a care in the world, cutting of heads as easily as she would pie. I looked about, staying alert for any signs of more orcs coming my way. I seemed to be forgetting one important detail; but couldn't think of anything.

The earth under me began to treble slightly. Another tremor followed; more powerful. Several more came, until the ugly brute of a cave troll came through the doors on a leash. I bit my lip while mentally cursing myself for coming on this quest. I backed into the wall, searching for a way out of this predicament. I continued to cut down several orcs; child's play compared to the ever-increasing numbers of fetid creatures the others were demolishing.

I ducked at the blow an orc thrust at me and stabbed upward through the upper throat and out the back of the head. Elbowing one of the creatures, I saw Aragorn was tossed aside like a rag doll by the troll. Frodo was then stabbed by the spear and dropped to the floor, seemingly dead. Everyone then fought with new vigilance and rage; as if avenging their fallen comrade. I cut down only two more orcs before the whole thing was over. The Elven archer had shot the final blow.

Glancing about, I saw as Aragorn was beginning to show signs of consciousness. He eventually got up, and crawled over to Frodo, turning over the expected dead hobbit. As Aragorn turned the body over, Frodo let out a gasp. "I'm alright; I'm not hurt," he panted. "You should be dead."

"I believe there is more to this hobbit than me-" I cut off Gandalf, "Yeah, yeah. Mithril. Now let's go!" I began to tug on Gandalf's sleeve while making way for the door. Legolas turned his head, indicating more orcs were on the way. "Quickly," cried Gandalf, "To the bridge of Khazad-dum!"

* * * * * * * * *

As the orc-goblin freaks began crawling down the pillars' sides like spiders, everyone readied themselves. At first I thought nothing of it, and didn't even draw my sword. Staring at the creatures, the hundreds of them, time seemed to drag forever. Every minute seemed like a millennium. I was beginning to get worried as the familiar sound of the balrog's footsteps failed to echo throughout the cavern. 'Come on already!' I screamed mentally. I drew my sword when nothing seemed to answer. My heart began to beat faster, 'How in Heaven's name are we going to fight all of these weirdos without the God forsaken balrog scaring them away?' My answer finally came when at last the booming footfall sounded throughout the vicinity.

The hobgoblins scattered, giving me the room to sigh with relief. That relief lasted about a second when I realized what new foe was coming toward us. I didn't even bother waiting for Boromir to ask, "What is this new devilry?" I just broke into a run down the hallway of pillars. I heard more footsteps behind me, and turned to see the entire Fellowship following, Liz practically conjoined with Legolas' arm. I looked forward again and saw the edge of the stairs. I skidded to a halt right before of the edge. "Stop!" I screamed, holding my right hand one inch in front of Boromir's face. "We're taking a detour!" I shouted while pointing to the left.

We continued down the stairs, reaching the gap. I looked down into the ever-deepening blackness. The gap between the two parts of stairs now seemed twenty-five miles long. I jumped just after Gandalf and nearly fell on my face if the Elf hadn't grabbed my arm. Liz jumped just as Boromir did, but didn't make the entire jump. She grabbed the edge and hit the stone side with a thump. Liz began cussing wildly while trying to climb up. I grabbed her arms and tried to help her, but I wasn't strong enough. "Relax," Pippin said nervously, hoping to help. "Pretend it's only a three foot drop."

"Yeah!" I snapped, "a three foot drop to oblivion!" At this, Liz began to wail uncontrollably. A hand reached from behind me and grabbed Liz's hands, pulling her up with ease. I looked to see Boromir, scowling like he hated the fact that he had to drag his lazy butt over to help. Jerk. By that time, Aragorn and Frodo were about to smash into the other half of the staircase. Legolas shoved me out of the way and readied himself to catch Aragorn. How rude.

We continued running like mad to the bridge of Khazad-dum. As we neared I saw how narrow the bridge really was. 'What a wonderful place not to put safety railings,' I thought grimly. I halted at the base to the overpass, but Borormir roughly shoved my back, forcing me onto the bridge. I was slowly waking over when the Rohan warrior grabbed me by the waist and carried me to the other side. He shoved me down forcefully and watched as the rest were making there way across the bridge.

Gandalf stopped in the center of the bridge. 'Come on, old man! It's not like that giant monster's going to cross so thin a bridge.' I screamed at him mentally. That's when I felt it. The terrible jerk that rattled my arm. I looked down at my arm and saw an arrow shaft jutting crudely from my arm. 'Is this a joke?' I asked myself, reaching up to touch it. "GANDALF!" was shouted from beside me. Someone else seemed to be calling my name, but it seemed so distant.

Just as my hand was about to grab the shaft of the arrow, someone grabbed my arm and yanked me down a corridor. The blurry faces of the Fellowship seemed to whiz past me as I automatically ran with the person dragging me. As we got outside, the bright light of the sun blasted into my eyes. I sat down on what looked like a fuzzy version of a rock. I sat there, staring at the shaft. Everything was getting fuzzier and dimmer. It was then that I felt the shear pain shredding up my arm and pounding into my head. I felt my eyes open wide, but my vision didn't improve. I tried to cry out. I wanted to cry out, but no sound came from my throat. 'This can't be happening. This has to be some sort of queer dream,' kept repeating inside my head.

My good arm grasped at the wound, hoping to block out the pain. Warm, sticky fluid began to stream over my hand and down my arm. A shrill voice called out from somewhere, "Oh my God! Jen! Your arm!" I moved my hand to my face, trying to clear my mind from the numbing fog that clouded my thoughts. I couldn't see anything but blurry color. The person was screaming at me, something along the lines of "Oh God! You gonna die!" Their voices faded out, along with the colors.

The last thing I heard was, "Don't worry! Legolas will fix this! He knows all!! Just don't die!" Numbing blackness then shrouded me in its cloak.

~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~

Whew! My first battle scene. That was harder than the other authors made it look. Anyways, tell me what you think . . .please? Oh yeah, and the last part with the fuzzy stuff and colors was from experience. That's what it was like when I was ready to pass out, so I decided to put that in. And the chapter wasn't especially funny because it was a serious battle scene. And considering I felt pretty depressed for some reason while writing this, I decided to make this chapter all angsty. So: P Don't worry, I'll try to find my sense of humor after I'm done vegging and watching my fingers type in their own. And if someone can tell me where to find a beta reader, I'd be really happy because I don't know where to find one!