When the Worlds Cross
By Heather and Jane
Disclaimer: Middle-Earth and its peoples belong to the great J.R.R. Tolkien. Mia, Rowan, and Randy belong to us. Any and all similarities to real life events/people are pure coincidence—unless they appear with permission (reason for this will come in a later chapter.)
Summary: The journey begins, a snowball is thrown, and a water creature rears its ugly head, in that order. (And Sam learns why Mia should not be allowed to have a hissy fit.)
Authors' Notes: co-written between Jane and Heather, two Lord of the Rings fans that are trying to keep true to the story. First part more movieverse than bookverse, but will soon go to bookverse. Credit to Heather's father and our friend Wesley as story consultants.
Thanks for all the reviews. And Andreah—here it is.
Enjoy.
Chapter Five
Mountains, Friends, and Mayhem
~*~*~*~
The next night, the Fellowship left Rivendell to begin the long trek to Mount Doom. For the most part, they all got along. There were only two problems— the first one being that elves and dwarves did not get along. So Gimli and Legolas were not being particularly nice to each other. The other was that Boromir did not like having the two girls along. Not that the girls really had much love for Boromir anyway—they did try to get along with him (well, Mia did and Rowan just ignored anyone who was bothering her) but nothing came of it.
"Might as well just give it up," Rowan muttered as they passed the 'three league' mark, according to Gandalf. She didn't really care—their feet were going to hurt no matter how far they had been traveling. "You know what happens."
Mia gave her a look. "No, not exactly. Anymore…things are different."
"Don't you dare have a hissy fit!"
"I was not going to have a hissy fit!"
"What's a hissy-fit?" asked Sam, who had been listening to the conversation in puzzlement. The two girls from another time were a constant source of puzzlement for the gardener and he was having no luck in figuring out what they were talking about half the time.
The girls exchanged glances, and Rowan said, "Remember when Mia was having a panic reaction after Weathertop?" Sam nodded. "Try imagining her angry while doing the exact same thing. Exactly," said Rowan as Sam paled. "Don't want that to happen. Very bad to let her have a hissy fit…no one escapes unscathed."
Mia looked annoyed. "I'm not that bad."
"Really? We'll see," said Rowan, glancing down. And then sighing. "You're still wearing tennis shoes."
"Walking shoes. And, well…they're comfortable," snapped Mia at last, moving ahead by a few paces. Rowan snickered and caught up with her.
Sam shook his head, again wondering about the girls of the future.
And so began the journey.
They traveled with relative ease for some time, the days blending into each other, heading for a small mountain range called the Caradhras. Merry and Pippin tried to liven the journey up at times, because they felt everyone was being more than a little depressing. It took Mia a full day to explain exactly why not skipping around happily would work wonders for the success of the journey. And even then, neither she nor Rowan was too sure about whether or not the hobbits got it.
As the Company drew nearer to the mountain range (and had a close encounter with spies from Mordor) Gandalf and Aragorn began to seem agitated. Mia and Rowan knew exactly why the wizard and the ranger were not the happiest of campers. A rather large dilemma lay before the Fellowship. There were two ways to get to the other side of Caradhras.
Therein lay the problem. One was to go over the mountain, a method Gandalf did not like. He knew that the mountain did not let people pass very easily (the girls knew this too and didn't like the idea of an avalanche landing on everyone's head.) The other way was to go through the mines of Moria, within the mountain, and Aragorn disliked the idea. He said the mountains were supposed to be a cursed place and dissuaded Gimli, who wanted to go through the mines for obvious reasons.
While the wizard, men, and dwarf debated this (Legolas was keeping an eye out for more spies and the hobbits were doing something else) Rowan said, "Gandalf's not exactly hunky-dory about the mines of Moria either, is he?"
"There's a big honking demon creature under there," said Mia under her breath, also looking for spies. Or possibly, a certain member of the Nazgul that the girls had not forgotten—though the Riders did not seem to have plans to pursue the Ringbearer any time soon. Seeing nothing, she looked back at her friend. "And anyone who pays attention to history here knows about it…dwarves delved too deep…Pippin, will you stop trying to play King of the Mountain?"
This is why you don't give hobbits a sword and tell them to amuse themselves for a moment, Rowan thought, joining Mia in the endeavor to get Pippin to quit leaping around on the boulders.
The final decision for the moment was to try to pass over the mountain before the Fellowship went to Moria—everyone seemed hopeful that the mountain would allow them to pass over and they would not have to risk the mines. Mia and Rowan both knew that going over the mountain would have been a bad idea but chose not to mention a thing to anyone. Though they didn't discuss it at all, they had the same reason for not telling. Perhaps something else would change and the passage through Moria would be all the more perilous. Or perhaps it wouldn't.
They had no idea. Therefore, events passed as the girls remembered them. (And Mia was very happy about staying true to the sacred storyline.)
~*~*~*~
If mountains had wills, then Caradhras' was not to allow the Fellowship of Nine to pass. This was made evident as they tried to climb up the mountain, which apparently attracted all clouds that held snow. Mia gave up voicing her frustrations at snow falling down her back (as most of them would include obscene words) and stomped along through the rising snow banks, muttering. Her shoes were for walking, not for wading through the snow.
"Look, Mia and her comfort footwear are being all upset," Rowan teased, being the one with somewhat warmer feet. Mia glowered at everyone in general. "When you get frostbite, don't complain."
"Ha-ha." A clump of snow toppled onto them and both reacted with a yelp.
"All right?" Legolas called from up ahead.
"More or less," replied Rowan, hurrying along and brushing the snow from her hair.
Mia followed, muttering, "Elf can dance about on snow. Elf not so bothered by snow. Mia not at all happy with said elf. If elf walks on snow, will retaliate." A puzzled Merry looked at her but she added nothing to that.
As the group started to climb higher, it became all the more evident that the mountain did not want them to pass. They practically became entrapped by the snow, as it was. Once they realized this, they all knew they would have to go back and go through Moria.
Boromir, Aragorn, and Gimli started to tunnel a way of the wall of snow, as Legolas walked on top of it, helping them. The hobbits were practically freezing, and Gandalf told the girls to make sure that everyone stayed walking. "Translated," said Rowan, helping Sam pull Bill the Pony along, "make sure no one keels over or suffers from hypothermia before we get to a warmer area."
"Hypo-what?" asked Frodo.
"Something that happens when you're in the cold for too long."
Sam shivered. "I think we're coming close to that!"
"No kidding, Samwise. Argh. I am so jealous of the elves," Mia said snarkily as she tried to get an icicle out of her hair and glared at Legolas at the same time.
"Oh, Mia, shut it." Even Rowan was getting cranky.
"Shut it? How nice." The slightly taller girl muttered again (something not too complimentary) and got back to moving.
Legolas half turned. "Hurry!" he called to them.
"Hurry? Oh, that is it." Before anyone could ask what she meant, Mia grabbed a handful of snow, packed it together, and before anyone could stop her, threw it in Legolas' direction. It actually scored a hit and she ducked beneath the snowdrift as he turned around, looking puzzled.
Rowan groaned. "Nice maturity, there."
"Shh!" hissed Mia, glancing up nervously. Frodo and Sam were staring at her, while the other two were laughing despite the freezing cold. She smiled at them briefly and then went back to frowning at Rowan. "And it's your fault—you're the one who introduced me to the guy who taught me how to throw hackey-sacks!"
"And you applied that to snowballs?"
"Uh, yeah?"
If it hadn't been so cold, Rowan might have attempted smacking Mia upside the head. "Agh!"
"They're getting more'n'more interestin' all the time," Merry muttered to Pippin.
"And funnier too!"
~*~*~*~
The Fellowship finally got back down from the mountain, and as the Gap of Rohan was too close to Isengard (where Saruman the bad wizard lived) the only route left to them was to go through the mines of Moria. The only person who was happy about this was Gimli, since he'd been harping on choosing the route through Moria half of the journey. Of course, he had no idea what was coming and the girls had decided not to tell certain things of the story.
After all, thought Mia as they approached the mines, no sense in getting everyone hyped up for a battle we're not even sure will happen and then there's the whole telling the end thing that I have a problem with…
"The walls of Moria!" said Gimli as the company stopped, startling Mia out of her reverie and making Rowan frown absently at the great walls.
The only way in was through the west gate. And once they got in, shadows awaited them.
No cause for celebration.
As they approached the gates under the cover of night and a few clouds, Gandalf told Sam that it was time to let Bill go, as the mines of Moria were no place for pony. Sam was reluctant to let Bill go, and Mia felt sorry for him—she hadn't liked Bill's leaving in the books and certainly didn't like it now.
"How are we to enter Moria?" asked Merry, staring at the walls. "I do not see any doors."
Gandalf glanced to the sky and saw the cloud cover parting. "Look now!" he said once the moon was showing her face. "Can you see anything?"
When the Company looked, they could see lines of a silver light upon the stone, which grew brighter as the moon's light grew stronger. "Now," said Gandalf, smiling. "Can anyone tell me what it is?"
"Ithildin," said Mia immediately. "Reflects only starlight and moonlight."
Gimli looked at her. "And just how did you know that?"
"I read about it," the human girl replied, sitting down on rock.
"Of course," Rowan muttered.
"How are we to get in?" Gimli asked, turning to Gandalf. "The word to open the Gates has long since been forgotten. Do you know it, Master Wizard?"
Gandalf said, "No." He waited for everyone to stop muttering or staring at him (or in the case of the girls, laughing) and added, "The word will come to me…I know many spells and many phrases, and the doors will open on a command in the Elvish tongue. After all, the inscription there says 'speak friend and enter.'" He indicated the spot with his staff before pointing said staff at the doors and shouting in Elvish.
Nothing happened.
"La palabra es amigo," Mia muttered, covering her grin with her hand.
"Shush." Rowan frowned at her, correctly guessing that the Spanish phrase had something to do with the word being 'friend.'
Some moments passed, much of them filled with Gandalf muttering and pushing at the doors before he finally sat down to contemplate. Mia watched Sam and Aragorn release Bill, and then turned her eyes to Boromir. He had just thrown a stone into the pool, in an effort to release tension. Not the best of moves.
"I wouldn't do that!" she said.
Boromir looked at her. "If you're so smart, why don't you tell us how to open the Gates?" he said, half sneering.
"The same way Bilbo escaped a certain cave," Mia drawled. "How about that, sir?" Frodo looked at her, then back at the Gates, seemingly thoughtful. Whoops, Mia thought.
Rowan smacked her forehead. "You might as well have put up a big, old neon sign!"
"Aha!" said Gandalf (who had been ignoring them) as he stood. "I have it. Mellon." The Gates opened. Everyone stared at the wizard as he smiled at them. "It was a riddle—too simple a riddle for a suspicious mind."
Feeling relieved that the wait was over, the Fellowship walked towards the opening. Suddenly, Frodo cried out and Mia turned around to see a tentacle pulling Frodo to the pool. "Frodo!" she yelled, at the same time Sam yelled, "Strider!"
"Mia! Down!" snapped Rowan, drawing her bow.
Oh, boy, party time. Mia ducked, heard a few things fly over her head, and saw Sam hack at the tentacle that had Frodo. It let go but then more appeared out of the water, writhing like a ton of snakes. She gulped and scrambled to her feet, moving away from the archers and helping Sam pull Frodo into the mines.
"Quickly! Move!" Gandalf cried, though he need not have. All of the Fellowship had run into the mines, including the wizard, and he was now turning, looking at the doors as if to close them.
The tentacles suddenly grabbed the doors and pulled inward, closing them with a series of loud thuds and crashes.
Darkness fell upon them.
TBC – in Chapter Six, wherein the journey through Moria takes place and so does one of our least favorite scenes. Possibly posted tomorrow, pending revision… Jane: Has anyone else seen the Two Towers preview? *grin* 'Tis awesome…
Anyway, let us know what you think by clicking on the little box below and leaving a review. Ta!