Thanks to:
MarigoldG [I'm glad you saw my attempt to make Boromir the older-brother type figure. That was the idea, and it's encouraging to see that somebody got it! Thanks for your review, they're always very nice to get!], Pervinca [No, it's not the end! I love these two as well ^.~ ], D45 [I'm glad you liked it! Like I said, not the end. Thanks for sticking with the story!], Meir Brin [This was inspired by your suggestion to do something with Legolas, so thanks a bunch for the idea. I admit, I was running a little dry…thanks for the encouragement and for sticking with the story ^.^], Mr. BittleWinkle [ ahh ::blush:: now I'm embarrassed ^^. Thank you for your review!] and last but not least Resisting Arrest [ Thanks ^^, I try. By the way, I love the penname]. Thank you all for your reviews. Enjoy the first part of the…fifth part…!
Stumbling Across Danger[the fifth installment to 'A Cheap Shot']
"Mr. Legolas?"
"Be silent, Master Took." Legolas whispered in the eerie darkness, and laid a light hand on Pippin's small shoulder. "It has only been several hours since we entered Moria, and already you feel the need to complain. We are wet and Moria is cold. A Hobbit voice can get very unnerving in a silent darkness."
"But, Mr. Legolas – "
"I said be quiet and I mean it."
Pippin looked up and glared at him despite the fact that the glare was only lost in the blackness. He curled his hands into fists and shoved them into his pockets, the set his chin stubbornly forward as his brows drew down. "You're still holding a grudge because I took some of your hair."
"Do not remind me, Master Peregrin, I am not one to take pleasure in the thought of sneaky little Halflings stealing my hair." the Elf's voice was uptight and Pippin could tell that Legolas still, indeed, held the grudge. He gave a ragged sigh and rolled his pale eyes. He just did not understand why sometimes Elves could be more intolerant than Men. Boromir was never cross with him –
Pippin's little mouth widened into a grin. That last thought had been a lie – Boromir was always cross with him, but he still did not mind as much. Boromir would always sit next to him after their quarrels and tell him stories of Gondor and such, and eventually (though very reluctantly) apologize.
"I'm sorry for stealing your hair, but I think I mentioned that." Pippin replied smartly, hovering close to the Elf's hip so he would not lose his way. The Mines were dark and the rock beneath them was uneven, so he had to stay close or fall into some unknown pit. Only Gandalf's staff guided them in direction. "Do you want it back?"
"Tell me, Master Took, what would I do with a detached lock of my hair?" Legolas' voice was annoyed, and hearing an Elf use that tone was amusing. "Tie it back to the hewn strands with my bowstring?"
"Oh, so now I'm Master Took again. I thought I was Master Peregrin."
"Can you find nothing better to do than nag me, my good Hobbit?" Pippin smiled once more, and this time he felt Legolas looking at him with a little less than friendly eyes. "Go and plague Boromir with your nonsense." The next words spoken by the Elf were in no way cruel – there was a bit of a smile in his voice, he meant what he said. "Or better yet, Gandalf."
"But I always plague Boromir. And by the way, Gandalf separated us, remember?" Pippin's brow creased in a frown. "I don't know why he would do such a mean thing."
Legolas exhaled softly. "I cannot imagine why, either." he replied with tired sarcasm, and placed a gentle hand on the Hobbit's back to push him forward so he could keep better track of him. The Hobbit had not been watching where he was headed and his nose crushed painfully into something hard and covered in leather. Boromir yelped and turned blindly to see what had smacked him in the back.
"Sorry Boromir." Pippin said through a flat voice as he rubbed his nose painfully. "I didn't see you."
"Well neither did the Elf, obviously." Boromir growled. He was feeling a little rude at the moment from the embarrassment of actually letting out one of his rare high-pitched yelps. All eyes seemed adjusted to the lack of light, and Legolas could see the man of Gondor's glare through the darkness. "You were supposed to be watching him."
"Well you were supposed to be walking faster than a snail, my good Captain." Legolas replied coolly, and Pippin laughed quietly at Boromir's incoherent grumbling. "Go…we're already nearly separated!"
"This is the last time I take up the rear with you." Boromir's voice was hard as he directed the vow to Legolas, then glared at the laughing Pippin. "Or you."
Pippin outright giggled this time, and took a wide step forward in a move to give Boromir what he needed: a big bear hug around the knees. But just as his foot moved out, it hit the thinness of air and the Hobbit fell. Legolas, both surprised and now disturbed, reached down with quicker than sight arms and tried to snatch the Hobbit before he fell. Unfortunately, a Dwarf's city is no place for an Elf, and Legolas lost his balance in the rocky terrain and stumbled forward.
Now Boromir reached out to catch the Elf who had reached out to catch the Hobbit but the weight of the two and the velocity of the event only brought them all down in a heap of arms and legs and cries of distress. First Pippin hit, then Legolas' light body, and then Boromir's brawny self hit the stone ground.
Legolas groaned. "What happened?"
"We fell into a crevice."
"I have established that, Boromir." Legolas snapped, and the tall man growled a rude reply. "I meant 'where did the crevice come from? The others were far ahead of us and should have warned us of it!"
"They probably did." Boromir answered slowly, peering up into the darkness. Only slivers of light filtered through cracks high in the mountain. "But we were so far behind it would have been difficult to hear even one of Gandalf's shouts."
"You hear them so often I trust your judgment." The Elf held a priggish tone and Boromir felt his face heat up in ire but he kept it to himself. He resented the fact that the Elf knew all too well his relationship with the wizard and did not keep his comments and opinions to himself.
"Maybe if we all shout very loudly…" Pippin, first on his feet, sucked in a breath and began to yell out Gandalf's name when four hands and two bodies scrambled with the best of their might to silence him. The result was Pippin flat on his stomach with Legolas arched over him and trying his best to hold himself up and keep Boromir from crushing the two of them.
Boromir peeled himself off of Legolas after a moment and whispered harshly to the Hobbit, "Have you lost what little sense you had to begin with?! This is a mine! If rocks are not disturbed and fall down here to bury us alive, then goblins will certainly hear you!"
"Aye, try and keep silent, Master Took." Legolas agreed in the same whisper, and pulled himself off of Pippin and to his feet. "They will find us soon enough, but until then remain silent and still. And stay away from Boromir." Boromir made a face at Legolas and the Elf saw, but stuck his nose in the air proudly. Pippin seemed oblivious, but he felt around for the wall and leaned his weary little body against it.
The Hobbit looked around with his adjusted eyes and saw that the structure they had fallen into was wide and deep. How could the Fellowship have missed it? He inched with his back to the wall, his thin shirt providing no protection against the sharp rock. He ignored the tiny bit of pain, however, and continued to explore.
Boromir and Legolas were arguing about Legolas' last comment and did not seem to notice him. He turned his attention back to exploration: it seemed like the crevice narrowed as it approached the east and became lower and lower. So low that he could reach up and touch the rocks with his palms. He did, but when he pressed it, pebbles, dirt and small rocks tumbled down onto him. He spit and coughed it out, and retreated back to where Legolas was spouting whispered Elvish curses indignantly while Boromir looked on in bewilderment.
"It's kinda loose back there." he told them, but was ignored. Pippin repeated himself once more but gave up and went to go sit back against the hard wall. He hugged his knees and rested his chin on them, waiting for something interesting to happen (a man arguing with an Elf was just stupid).
It just so happened that a foot away from Peregrin Took's shoulder was a curious centipede. It scuttled around above him as if deciding what to do, then, being a centipede and being magnetically attracted to any partial opening of clothing, it slid down the back of his shirt.
Pippin screamed in response to the feel of something with more than two legs traveling down his back, and both Man and Elf snapped their gazes to him in surprise. Pippin panicked a little, jumping around and such while shaking his shirt out, but Legolas and Boromir were not looking at him.
The fear in their eyes was directed toward the collapsing eastern end of the crevice.
to be continued…