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 Mines of Moria chapter – all the fun stuff. (Or not so fun, depending on how you take it.
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.
Additional notes – we paraphrase quotes from Buffy the Vampire Slayer twice in this chapter (we think) and have borrowed a word from the show Red Dwarf.
Andreah – mas impaciente, no? Calmate, por favor.
Chapter Six
The Mines
~*~*~*~
Blackness. A complete darkness that seemed to be a living thing—not that it bothered Rowan very much. Someone made a sort of panicked bleating noise and Rowan was fairly certain she knew who it was. Then Gandalf took his staff and made a bit of light so they could see their way.
"We must be careful," he told the nervous Fellowship, "it is a four day journey through the mines. Let us hope that our presence go unnoticed, as there are fouler creatures than Orc down here."
While the entire Fellowship seemed to be less than happy campers, the girls from the future were probably the least happy. While Rowan was getting worried gut feelings about the flesh and blood monsters that awaited them, Mia was frightened for a completely different reason. Her reason was a personal monster that she usually called a phobia of caves and the dark. Or rather, what could be lurking in the dark.
And in the mines of Moria, things lurked there and not even the Tolkien-expert could remember every thing that might pop out of the shadows.
As they progressed through the mines, Mia grabbed a random hand, keeping her eyes trained on the light. She probably should have looked, but it wasn't like there was going to be any problem—
"Who's holding my hand?"
Whups. Mia wondered if she was blushing. "Sorry, Frodo!"
"No, it's all right," said the slightly bewildered Ringbearer, "but why—"
Rowan stifled a laugh as the two began a whispered conversation, and felt sorry that Mia had the presence of mind to keep her voice down low. "Oh, yeah, sure," the other girl muttered, rolling her eyes.
Legolas looked at her, puzzled. "What—"
Okay, here's a rock and hard place. Rowan shrugged, mumbling something about Mia having Orc issues. True enough story, and it kept a certain book-whacking girl from getting angry. Provided that Legolas doesn't ask anymore! Rowan thought with a sudden touch of alarm.
Luckily, Legolas decided against pursuing the subject of 'issues,' and instead asked, "Do you expect to find anything worse than Orcs in this place?"
"Call me optimistic, but I hope to find the secret entrance to Narnia," Rowan replied, a tad sarcastically. "Yes, I am expecting that!"
"Ai! You and Mia have a penchant for being sarcastic?"
"She does. I don't. That was just to answer a rhetoric question and I'll be going over there." Rowan pointed to a spot three feet ahead, making good on her statement. Gimli gave her a puzzled look, but all she did was smile at him.
Soon, the Fellowship came to a three-way intersection of passages. Gandalf had no idea where to go and for the life of them, neither Mia nor Rowan could remember the exact tunnel themselves. Everyone settled down to rest while Gandalf pondered the direction to take.
Though some decided that 'resting' could get a tad bit boring after a while.
"Go talk to him," Mia hissed, poking Rowan and nodding at Legolas. Rowan gave her a dirty look, not appreciating the statement in the least. "Oh, come on—I wanna know how to kill Orcs."
"Shoot them, duh," Rowan said, rolling her eyes.
Mia glared. "Um…hello?!"
"Hi?" Sam offered.
Rowan ignored him in favor of smirking evilly at Mia. "Oh, right, you can't use a bow worth beans."
"Thanks ever so."
Merry and Pippin snickered until Mia gave them a look.
"Okay, okay, fine. I'll go," Rowan said, getting up and walking over to Legolas. "But only because I want to, too."
"Yeah, I was kind of counting on that one," Mia said under her breath.
~*~*~*~
Legolas heard footsteps, and turned slightly. "Are you as worried about Orcs as I am, Rowan?" he asked with a smile.
Rowan smiled back, shrugging a little. "More or less…though don't the elves usually call them…" Good grief, she'd asked Mia and shouldn't she remember it? Come on, I know I know this…aha. "…Yrch?" At least I'm pronouncing it right, Rowan thought absently, vaguely recalling a Randy-Mia argument a few months ago (or was it longer now?) on correct Elvish pronunciation.
"Indeed, but I doubt that everyone is as knowledgeable in the elven tongue as you and your friend," replied Legolas, still smiling.
Good grief, does he know I had to double-check? He probably suspected it. "The two words sound alike," said Rowan after a too long beat. "More or less…I can't see anyone missing the meaning, really."
"Especially if it is a battle cry," Legolas agreed, nodding.
"Yeah, can't imagine anyone missing it then."
They both paused, probably realizing the conversation was to forget worries about Orcs and other fearsome things that might await them, and glanced at each other. Then Rowan asked, "What's it like in Mirkwood?" in an innocent tone…
…quite forgetting that Mia had advised her not to ask an elf about what their homes were like.
~*~*~*~
As per to the fact that Mia's back was to them and she knew that Rowan would yank out her ribcage if any spying was done, she asked Merry and Pippin to tell her what was going on. "Why don't you just turn around?" asked Pippin.
"'Cause Rowan will yank out my ribcage and wear it as a hat if I do," Mia replied offhandedly.
The two hobbits blanched. "Really?"
"That was sarcasm and exaggeration. She would be mad enough to do so," Mia said, grimacing. Then she smiled hopefully. "So, can you tell me what's going on?"
Even after ten minutes, all Merry and Pippin could discern was that Rowan and Legolas were doing a whole lot of talking and nothing. Mia had more or less expected that and figured that was enough 'spying', so she changed the subject and let them babble on about their favorite pranks. (Filing the information away for further reference, of course.)
Frodo left at one point to talk to Gandalf, so Mia immediately started looking for Smeagol, who she knew had to be lurking around there somewhere. Rowan will totally go bananas if she knows I'm still calling Smeagol by his given name…heck, didn't RANDY go bananas when I insisted on doing that? she thought, squinting into the darkness.
Of course, Smeagol spotting was not to be her career, as per to the facts that it was far too dark and Gandalf suddenly stood, saying, "It's that way!"
"You've remembered?" Merry inquired, getting up.
"No, the air doesn't smell so foul down that way," said Gandalf, sounding pleased.
"Follow the nose, eh?" Rowan quipped, heading back over to where Mia and the hobbits were sitting, since she'd dumped her pack there.
"Sounds like. How did it go?" Mia asked perkily, getting to her feet. "Actually look at his face this time?"
Rowan's response was immediate.
"Ow!" Mia rubbed her shoulder, frowning as Gandalf led them through the tunnel into the caverns filled with pillars and archways. Her jaw dropped at the sight (and she felt relived that it was now lighter) and she said, "Gimli, or Gandalf, please correct my pronunciation if it's wrong…isn't this Dwarrowdelf?"
"Indeed it is," said Gandalf.
How does she do that? Rowan wondered.
For a time, the eleven of them walked through the city silently, almost afraid to speak louder than a whisper. If either of the future-girls had been in the mind to compare, they might have likened the city to an immense cathedral. But before anyone could start making comparisons, Gandalf led them down a northern path, and then into a room where a single shaft of light shone on a large stone.
"'Here lies Balin son of Fundin, Lord of Moria,'" Gandalf read, almost missing Pippin's poking around. "Ah."
"Something's not right here," Mia hissed at Rowan. The comment got a frown. "I'm serious."
Pippin touched a skeleton that sat on the side of a well, and it toppled over, creating a series of crashes and bangs as it fell.
"See, that should have happened either a few days ago or somewhere else," Mia said.
Rowan shook her head, not understanding. The other girl decided to leave it go for the moment, and looked towards the doors as Gandalf started his 'fool of a Took' rant. If Pippin hadn't knocked something over, I might have, Mia thought, just to create some noise—
Legolas suddenly looked around. "What's that?" he said.
All were quiet. Soon the sounds of distant, rhythmic beats could be heard.
"They are coming," Gandalf said quietly.
The beating was getting louder. Boromir and Aragorn ran to the door, nearly getting hit by an Orcish arrow in their efforts to bar it. Rowan turned in time to see the blood drain from Mia's face. Oh, jeez. Not now. She grabbed her friend's arm and said, "Just do it, Mia. You did it before!"
"There's a slight difference between kicking people and knifing Orcs!" Mia protested, drawing one of the two long daggers she'd chosen as weapons. (Her using a sword had caused a reaction of her falling over.) "And…okay, I'll do it, but I have to say this."
"What?"
"They have a cave troll!" Boromir shouted.
"We are doomed!" Mia groaned, not in the least bit sarcastic.
I may just hurt you for that one! Rowan thought, nocking an arrow and firing it at the first Orc she saw. She missed her target by about four inches and got its arm. Okay, fire again! Yes! Thank…CAVE TROLL! She fired again. And again.
While Rowan had been in the middle of firing, Mia had raced into the melee and come face to face with an Orc. "Uck," Mia said, and did the first thing she could think of. Of course, trying to pull a karate kick and then follow it with a stabbing wasn't the best of plans and the Orc backed her into a corner, seemingly taking its time. It had a really disgusting grin on its face too.
Wait. I may be a girl, but that doesn't mean I can't kick some ORC BUTT! Mia lunged forward with the dagger and got it in the face. And then the throat, and that lunge actually sent her to the ground. Ack! she thought, getting to her feet immediately and taking in the surrounding battle (their side was winning) before charging on again.
The battle in Balin's Tomb went on fiercely, cries of fear and battle cries mingling together. Aragorn sliced at a leader orc, just as the cave troll stabbed Frodo with a large spear.
Mia let out a shriek and would have run to turn the troll into shish kebab, had Legolas not fired the death arrow into the troll. And Rowan stumbled over the Orc corpses to shove her.
"That's not what I needed!" Mia snapped.
"Save your bickering for later. Run for it!" Gandalf shouted.
Aragorn picked up Frodo as they ran out (and Legolas did have to drag Gimli out, much to Mia's surprise) but soon stopped in surprise. "I thought you were dead!" Aragorn cried.
"He's alive?" Merry said.
"Obviously," said Rowan, shooting Mia a look. The look got a shrug in return. "Gandalf, can we keep running?"
"A moment," he told her.
For once, Rowan was the one who nearly had a hissy fit. "A moment! Does no one remember what just happened?" she demanded. Those who listened (one hobbit and one teenage girl) shrugged in response. "And don't look at me like that, Mia, I know you know what—"
"Yes," Mia interrupted. "Yes, I remember but—"
There was a distant booming, and fire seemed to race along the archways in the distance. Noises that Rowan had figured to be the Orc army suddenly quieted. Oh, crap, she thought calmly, exchanging a panicked look with Mia.
"—but I wish I didn't," Mia finished in a whisper, turning slowly.
It would have been a stretch to say who looked the most worried at the sight of the advancing flames and darkness—Gandalf or one of the two girls.
"Ai!"
You can say that again, thought Rowan.
"What new devilry is this?" exclaimed Boromir.
"A Balrog," said Gandalf, leaning on his staff. He looked at the girls. "Has the future given anything on defeating this?"
"Only advice we have is to run like hell!" Rowan exclaimed.
"And pray!"
"We will—" Boromir began.
"No, this is a fight beyond your abilities," said Gandalf while Rowan jabbed Mia's side. (She'd been ready to smack Boromir.) "I will hold it back…but. We must run!"
They ran, across the narrow Bridge of Khazad-Dum (Mia wondered if she was praying aloud or hearing things again) and Gandalf stood alone against the Balrog. He won but at too great a price—the Balrog's whip grabbed him and he fell into shadow.
"Fly, you fools!"
Fly they did, and finally made it back into the light, where no Orcs could find them. The Fellowship finally had time to grieve—and Mia the softhearted would have told them, had Rowan not said, "Don't spoil the whole thing. Not even as a comfort. They'll insist on staying."
"Fat lotta good that'd do," Mia hissed, looking misty-eyed. It was a wonder that she'd kept watching. "With Orcs around!"
"Exactly," Rowan agreed, feeling shaken herself. There was such a difference between reading of something and actually seeing it happen. "So shut up."
Mia glared and walked over to Frodo. She didn't say anything, merely touched his shoulder hesitantly. He looked up at her, and held her gaze for a few moments.
Wonder what's going on, Rowan absently, as Aragorn said, "We must leave this place, to tend to wounds and grief in safer areas. Ladies, can you walk?"
Oh, what a question! "Hmm, let me think. I feel like a guy on a Harley dragged me for fifty miles over mountainous country—" They all stared (minus Mia, who was laughing despite herself.) Rowan sighed. "Yes, I can walk!"
"What's a Harley?" Pippin asked Mia as they left the gate to Moria.
Mia blinked. And sighed. "How the smeg do I explain that one?" she murmured.
"What's 'smeg?'"
"Oh, look, an obvious distraction!" Mia said, pointing and then starting to jog down the mountain.
Pippin frowned. "But—hey!"
To Be Continued – in Chapter Seven, where they enter Lothlorien and the girls get a most disturbing vision…