~ Sightseeing in Middle-Earth ~
~ Disclaimer: ~
Erin = mine, everybody else = not mine (puns having to do with where the Fellowship is currently travelling through intended)
~ Chapter VI~
~ Moria ~
It only took us a day to get to the gates of Moria, and by the time we'd reached the gates, it had gotten warm enough that I could give Boromir his cloak back.
"You may keep it." Boromir said with a smile as I held out his cloak to him while we sat, waiting for Gandalf to figure out the gates password.
"OK then..." I said, then hesitated and eyed Boromir for a moment before tromping over to where Merry and Pippin were throwing rocks in the water. Aragorn eventually stopped them, and then Frodo figured out the doors. Sighing, I got up and headed into the mines with the rest of the Fellowship, sticking close to the hobbits, at the back, and keeping my hand on my sword, ready for what was going to come.
"We make for the Gap of Rohan. We should never have come here! Now get out of here! Get out!!" Boromir yelled, and the hobbits began to back up nervously. I drew my sword and cut the tentacle off before it reached Frodo's leg.
"I don't think that's going to be possible." I commented, and on cue, half a dozen tentacles launched out of the water at Frodo. I, being the closest, hacked at all the tentacles I could, but Frodo still got dragged out over the water.
"Soon as the creature shows it's head, shoot for the eye." I said to Legolas as Boromir and Aragorn plunged into the water to rescue Frodo. I wasn't too worried about affecting this battle - it didn't have a large roll in the scheme of things, as long as the creature brought down the doors behind us, the story would go on as normal. Boromir, Aragorn and I cut up the creature pretty bad before we finally got Frodo free, and then the creatures head showed, and Legolas shot at it's eyes. We plunged back into the mine as the creature once more reached out for the ring bearer, and we scrambled to get inside and away from the collapsing stone as the creature ripped through the walls. I tripped over some stone partway, but Boromir grabbed my arm and pulled me up. Finally, the rocks settled, and silence fell around the Fellowship.
"We now have but one choice." Gandalf's voice came in the dark, and the crystal he'd just put on the end of his staff began to glow. "We must face the long dark of Moria. Be on your guard. There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world. Quietly now. It's a four-day journey to the other side. Let us hope that our presence may go unnoticed." I resisted the urge to snort and make a sarcastic comment about how likely that was. Instead, I hiked my backpack higher on my back, and followed as Gandalf set off, staying close to the hobbits, who were clearly scared.
We walked - no, trudged - through the mines for three days after that. Frodo, after discovering Gollum was following us during Gandalf's memory lapse, became increasingly scared. Merry, Pippin and Sam tried to cheer him up and encourage him, but it didn't work. If I could have thought of something comforting to say, I would have. But I couldn't very well say everything was going to be fine. After all, Gandalf's battle with the Balrog was not exactly everything going 'fine'.
Eventually, however, we reached the dwarves great hall, and as Gandalf increased the light from his staff, I had to gape in amazement. The hall was HUGE. The pillars reached higher then some sky scrapers I'd seen at home, and were thick enough that they could have contained houses! I was so busy gaping, I completely missed Gandalf's explanation of where we were, and only caught the 'and no mistake' on the end of what Sam said. After we'd all recovered, we walked on, until Gimli spotted the door off to the side and ran off towards it. I shook my head and sighed, then followed him, at a slower pace. Now the chaos would begin.
I reached the room just as Gandalf began the translation of the inscription on Balin's tomb, then resignedly walked towards the back of the room and half-listened as Gandalf read from the book by the tomb. Then Pippin, being a normal, curious little hobbit, decided to take a look at an Orc arrow stuck into a dwarven skeleton on the edge of a well, and the skeleton went crashing down the well, accompanied by a bucket and chain. The Fellowship stood, silent, listening to the noise, and waiting for an answering one from the orcs, but none came immediately.
"Fool of a Took! Throw yourself in next time, and rid us of your stupidity!" Gandalf exclaimed, snatching his hat and staff back from the hobbit. Then the drums began. The Fellowship all went rigid with horror for a moment, including me. The drums WERE incredibly freaky when you were actually IN the mine, hearing them and knowing what was coming. Then Frodo discovered Sting was glowing.
"Orcs!" Legolas spat, and Boromir ran to the door to see.
"Watch out for archers!" I warned Boromir, and he yanked his head back just before two arrows THUNKed into the door where his head had been.
"Get back! Stay close to Gandalf and Lady Erin!" Aragorn told the hobbits over his shoulder, and Merry and Pippin immediately grouped around me, while Frodo and Sam stuck close to Gandalf. I was rather flattered that Aragorn had told the hobbits to stay close to me, but didn't think much on it, instead preparing myself as Legolas, Aragorn and Boromir barred the doors, Boromir quite disgusted to find out the Orcs had a cave troll. Gimli jumped up on his tomb and said his little line inviting the orcs to come and face the one dwarf left in Moria.
Then the Orcs came.
No book, or movie, will ever be truly able to capture the stink, sound, and general chaos and unpleasantness of a battle with Orcs - or a battle in general. There were sickening squelches as blades and arrows sunk into flesh, followed by the nauseating smell of blood, and then the floors slowly developed a coat of slick blood. There were the looks in the Orcs eyes as they attacked, savage and ruthless, and then the dullness in their eyes as their lives were snuffed out.
All in all, it was not a very enjoyable experience, and I've since blocked most of it out. The next thing I recall was the cave troll thrusting the spear it had snagged from Aragorn at Frodo. I realized I was panting, and leaned back against the wall as Merry and Pippin attacked the troll before Legolas finished it off. While the others dreaded the worst as Aragorn and Sam crawled over to Frodo to check on him, I cleaned off my sword and sheathed it, moving as little as possible, preparing for the run ahead.
Gandalf glanced at me once, when Frodo's mithril shirt was discovered, and didn't seem surprised that I was not paying attention to the scene at all. Then the sound of more orcs caught his, and everyone else's, ears.
"To the bridge of Khazad-dûm!" Gandalf called, and we set off at a run. We ran as fast as we could, and I was soon out of breath, but the Orcs still surrounded us. We stopped, a sea of Orcs surrounding us, and there was a moment of silence.
"Enter one troublesome little demon." I said softly to Gandalf, and he glanced sideways at me, an alarmed look on his face, before the red glow of the Balrog began on the walls. The Orcs ran, and I very much wanted to follow them as the Balrog came closer.
"What is this new devilry?" Boromir demanded.
"A Balrog. A demon of the ancient world. This foe is beyond any of you. Run!" Gandalf exclaimed, shooting an evil look at me, clearly annoyed that I'd called a Balrog a 'troublesome LITTLE demon', but I ignored it and simply ran, faster then I had to get away from the Orcs. I was careful not to pass Boromir, however, and let him almost tumble into the gap before Legolas saved him, with me already taking the side stairs. Behind me, I vaguely heard Gandalf telling Aragorn to lead everyone on, preparing to leave the fellowship as I had told him he would.
When we came to the gap in the stairs, I didn't even pause, but leaped right over, and Legolas landed right behind me. Everyone else, however, stopped, thus losing their momentum and any chance of getting across unassisted.
"Gandalf!" Legolas called across the gap, and motioned for Gandalf to jump. Gandalf did, and Legolas caught him. That encouraged the others, and one by one they jumped - or were tossed - across, caught by either me or Legolas, until more of the stair collapsed, and only Aragorn and Frodo were left on the other side. More rocks fell as the Balrog came closer, and a large piece crashed through the stairs above Aragorn and Frodo, and then the entire piece of stair the ranger and hobbit were on began to lean every which-way.
It took Aragorn only a few moments to figure out that the stair was in a state were it would go in the direction he and Frodo leaned in, and he told Frodo to lean forward, even though it rubbed against that general feeling of a need to survive that we all have. The piece of stair fell forward, and Aragorn and Frodo leapt off it before it fell off to the side and down. We watched for only a few seconds, then set off at a run again as more stones from the Balrogs passage came falling down.
We reached the bridge, and I faltered as I saw it. I am absolutely terrified of heights greater then 10 feet, and this bridge just HAD to be three feet across as well as being over a bottomless - at least as far as I could see - pit.
"Come, Lady Erin! There are worse things behind then ahead!" Boromir encouraged me as I slowed.
"I beg to differ." I mumbled, but sped up again and crossed the bridge. On the other side, I stopped and turned to watch as Gandalf stood in the middle of the bridge, stopping the Balrog. He had his brief prologue of a battle with the Balrog, then sighed and turned. He glanced towards me, and seemed about to say something, when the whip of the Balrog caught his ankle and pulled him over. He grabbed the bridge, but could not hold on, and then Orcs were shooting too many arrows for any of us in the Fellowship to go help him up.
"Flee, you fools!" Gandalf said, and then fell.
"NO!!!" Frodo called after Gandalf, but Boromir held him back from running onto the bridge. Aragorn was stiff with horror as Boromir hauled Frodo off, and I realized he wasn't going to come back and call Aragorn, knowing I was there.
"Aragorn!" I called, and Aragorn turned, a dazed look on his face. "We have to get out!" I turned, and Aragorn quickly followed me. We ran, following the brief glimpses we caught of the rest of the Fellowship ahead of us, until finally we came bursting out into the sunlight. The Fellowship stood or sat about in various states of grief, and I simply stood back and let them grieve, feeling extremely sympathetic for them. It was a good thing Gandalf wasn't actually dead and would be coming back. Then I spotted Aragorn storming towards me.
"Oh crap." I muttered, and glanced towards Legolas, but he seemed to wrapped up in grief to be paying attention to what was going on. No one else was within hearing range. Well, as long as Aragorn didn't shout, there was no one within hearing range. "Here we go."
"You knew this would happen?" Aragorn hissed angrily at me, stopping a few feet away from me.
"Yes." I replied smoothly.
"Why didn't you warn him?" Aragorn demanded.
"It would have changed the way things are to be played out." I replied calmly.
"So you'd rather let Gandalf DIE then change the events from what happened in this book in your world?" Aragorn spat.
"I would never let Gandalf die." I replied quietly, and turned and walked off. Aragorn could chew on that while I went and stopped Frodo from wandering off, which he was currently doing, being almost out of sight behind a big boulder. I rested a hand on the hobbits shoulder to stop him, and he looked up at me, tears welling in his eyes, sadness written on his every feature. I was once again struck by how much like children hobbits are, and crouched down and hugged Frodo. He hesitated for a moment, then collapsed into my arms and began sobbing.
Then Aragorn, who had either figured out my remark by now, or had decided to give up on it for now, called to get the hobbits up, and Frodo drew back and straightened, rubbing the tears from his eyes, walking back to the others with me as Boromir protested.
"By nightfall these hills will be swarming with Orcs. We must reach the woods of Lothlorien." Aragorn countered, then once more told the taller members of the Fellowship to get the hobbits up. Frodo went and encouraged Sam to get up, and the simple thought of Frodo encouraging anyone got Sam up and determined to go on quickly enough.
So we set off for Lothlorien at a brisk pace. After making the rounds and comforting everyone about Gandalfs 'death', I fell to the back of the line and began my normal complaining about walking instead of riding, which brought a few smiles to the others, and that made the walk more bearable as we went.
~ Disclaimer: ~
Erin = mine, everybody else = not mine (puns having to do with where the Fellowship is currently travelling through intended)
~ Chapter VI~
~ Moria ~
It only took us a day to get to the gates of Moria, and by the time we'd reached the gates, it had gotten warm enough that I could give Boromir his cloak back.
"You may keep it." Boromir said with a smile as I held out his cloak to him while we sat, waiting for Gandalf to figure out the gates password.
"OK then..." I said, then hesitated and eyed Boromir for a moment before tromping over to where Merry and Pippin were throwing rocks in the water. Aragorn eventually stopped them, and then Frodo figured out the doors. Sighing, I got up and headed into the mines with the rest of the Fellowship, sticking close to the hobbits, at the back, and keeping my hand on my sword, ready for what was going to come.
"We make for the Gap of Rohan. We should never have come here! Now get out of here! Get out!!" Boromir yelled, and the hobbits began to back up nervously. I drew my sword and cut the tentacle off before it reached Frodo's leg.
"I don't think that's going to be possible." I commented, and on cue, half a dozen tentacles launched out of the water at Frodo. I, being the closest, hacked at all the tentacles I could, but Frodo still got dragged out over the water.
"Soon as the creature shows it's head, shoot for the eye." I said to Legolas as Boromir and Aragorn plunged into the water to rescue Frodo. I wasn't too worried about affecting this battle - it didn't have a large roll in the scheme of things, as long as the creature brought down the doors behind us, the story would go on as normal. Boromir, Aragorn and I cut up the creature pretty bad before we finally got Frodo free, and then the creatures head showed, and Legolas shot at it's eyes. We plunged back into the mine as the creature once more reached out for the ring bearer, and we scrambled to get inside and away from the collapsing stone as the creature ripped through the walls. I tripped over some stone partway, but Boromir grabbed my arm and pulled me up. Finally, the rocks settled, and silence fell around the Fellowship.
"We now have but one choice." Gandalf's voice came in the dark, and the crystal he'd just put on the end of his staff began to glow. "We must face the long dark of Moria. Be on your guard. There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world. Quietly now. It's a four-day journey to the other side. Let us hope that our presence may go unnoticed." I resisted the urge to snort and make a sarcastic comment about how likely that was. Instead, I hiked my backpack higher on my back, and followed as Gandalf set off, staying close to the hobbits, who were clearly scared.
We walked - no, trudged - through the mines for three days after that. Frodo, after discovering Gollum was following us during Gandalf's memory lapse, became increasingly scared. Merry, Pippin and Sam tried to cheer him up and encourage him, but it didn't work. If I could have thought of something comforting to say, I would have. But I couldn't very well say everything was going to be fine. After all, Gandalf's battle with the Balrog was not exactly everything going 'fine'.
Eventually, however, we reached the dwarves great hall, and as Gandalf increased the light from his staff, I had to gape in amazement. The hall was HUGE. The pillars reached higher then some sky scrapers I'd seen at home, and were thick enough that they could have contained houses! I was so busy gaping, I completely missed Gandalf's explanation of where we were, and only caught the 'and no mistake' on the end of what Sam said. After we'd all recovered, we walked on, until Gimli spotted the door off to the side and ran off towards it. I shook my head and sighed, then followed him, at a slower pace. Now the chaos would begin.
I reached the room just as Gandalf began the translation of the inscription on Balin's tomb, then resignedly walked towards the back of the room and half-listened as Gandalf read from the book by the tomb. Then Pippin, being a normal, curious little hobbit, decided to take a look at an Orc arrow stuck into a dwarven skeleton on the edge of a well, and the skeleton went crashing down the well, accompanied by a bucket and chain. The Fellowship stood, silent, listening to the noise, and waiting for an answering one from the orcs, but none came immediately.
"Fool of a Took! Throw yourself in next time, and rid us of your stupidity!" Gandalf exclaimed, snatching his hat and staff back from the hobbit. Then the drums began. The Fellowship all went rigid with horror for a moment, including me. The drums WERE incredibly freaky when you were actually IN the mine, hearing them and knowing what was coming. Then Frodo discovered Sting was glowing.
"Orcs!" Legolas spat, and Boromir ran to the door to see.
"Watch out for archers!" I warned Boromir, and he yanked his head back just before two arrows THUNKed into the door where his head had been.
"Get back! Stay close to Gandalf and Lady Erin!" Aragorn told the hobbits over his shoulder, and Merry and Pippin immediately grouped around me, while Frodo and Sam stuck close to Gandalf. I was rather flattered that Aragorn had told the hobbits to stay close to me, but didn't think much on it, instead preparing myself as Legolas, Aragorn and Boromir barred the doors, Boromir quite disgusted to find out the Orcs had a cave troll. Gimli jumped up on his tomb and said his little line inviting the orcs to come and face the one dwarf left in Moria.
Then the Orcs came.
No book, or movie, will ever be truly able to capture the stink, sound, and general chaos and unpleasantness of a battle with Orcs - or a battle in general. There were sickening squelches as blades and arrows sunk into flesh, followed by the nauseating smell of blood, and then the floors slowly developed a coat of slick blood. There were the looks in the Orcs eyes as they attacked, savage and ruthless, and then the dullness in their eyes as their lives were snuffed out.
All in all, it was not a very enjoyable experience, and I've since blocked most of it out. The next thing I recall was the cave troll thrusting the spear it had snagged from Aragorn at Frodo. I realized I was panting, and leaned back against the wall as Merry and Pippin attacked the troll before Legolas finished it off. While the others dreaded the worst as Aragorn and Sam crawled over to Frodo to check on him, I cleaned off my sword and sheathed it, moving as little as possible, preparing for the run ahead.
Gandalf glanced at me once, when Frodo's mithril shirt was discovered, and didn't seem surprised that I was not paying attention to the scene at all. Then the sound of more orcs caught his, and everyone else's, ears.
"To the bridge of Khazad-dûm!" Gandalf called, and we set off at a run. We ran as fast as we could, and I was soon out of breath, but the Orcs still surrounded us. We stopped, a sea of Orcs surrounding us, and there was a moment of silence.
"Enter one troublesome little demon." I said softly to Gandalf, and he glanced sideways at me, an alarmed look on his face, before the red glow of the Balrog began on the walls. The Orcs ran, and I very much wanted to follow them as the Balrog came closer.
"What is this new devilry?" Boromir demanded.
"A Balrog. A demon of the ancient world. This foe is beyond any of you. Run!" Gandalf exclaimed, shooting an evil look at me, clearly annoyed that I'd called a Balrog a 'troublesome LITTLE demon', but I ignored it and simply ran, faster then I had to get away from the Orcs. I was careful not to pass Boromir, however, and let him almost tumble into the gap before Legolas saved him, with me already taking the side stairs. Behind me, I vaguely heard Gandalf telling Aragorn to lead everyone on, preparing to leave the fellowship as I had told him he would.
When we came to the gap in the stairs, I didn't even pause, but leaped right over, and Legolas landed right behind me. Everyone else, however, stopped, thus losing their momentum and any chance of getting across unassisted.
"Gandalf!" Legolas called across the gap, and motioned for Gandalf to jump. Gandalf did, and Legolas caught him. That encouraged the others, and one by one they jumped - or were tossed - across, caught by either me or Legolas, until more of the stair collapsed, and only Aragorn and Frodo were left on the other side. More rocks fell as the Balrog came closer, and a large piece crashed through the stairs above Aragorn and Frodo, and then the entire piece of stair the ranger and hobbit were on began to lean every which-way.
It took Aragorn only a few moments to figure out that the stair was in a state were it would go in the direction he and Frodo leaned in, and he told Frodo to lean forward, even though it rubbed against that general feeling of a need to survive that we all have. The piece of stair fell forward, and Aragorn and Frodo leapt off it before it fell off to the side and down. We watched for only a few seconds, then set off at a run again as more stones from the Balrogs passage came falling down.
We reached the bridge, and I faltered as I saw it. I am absolutely terrified of heights greater then 10 feet, and this bridge just HAD to be three feet across as well as being over a bottomless - at least as far as I could see - pit.
"Come, Lady Erin! There are worse things behind then ahead!" Boromir encouraged me as I slowed.
"I beg to differ." I mumbled, but sped up again and crossed the bridge. On the other side, I stopped and turned to watch as Gandalf stood in the middle of the bridge, stopping the Balrog. He had his brief prologue of a battle with the Balrog, then sighed and turned. He glanced towards me, and seemed about to say something, when the whip of the Balrog caught his ankle and pulled him over. He grabbed the bridge, but could not hold on, and then Orcs were shooting too many arrows for any of us in the Fellowship to go help him up.
"Flee, you fools!" Gandalf said, and then fell.
"NO!!!" Frodo called after Gandalf, but Boromir held him back from running onto the bridge. Aragorn was stiff with horror as Boromir hauled Frodo off, and I realized he wasn't going to come back and call Aragorn, knowing I was there.
"Aragorn!" I called, and Aragorn turned, a dazed look on his face. "We have to get out!" I turned, and Aragorn quickly followed me. We ran, following the brief glimpses we caught of the rest of the Fellowship ahead of us, until finally we came bursting out into the sunlight. The Fellowship stood or sat about in various states of grief, and I simply stood back and let them grieve, feeling extremely sympathetic for them. It was a good thing Gandalf wasn't actually dead and would be coming back. Then I spotted Aragorn storming towards me.
"Oh crap." I muttered, and glanced towards Legolas, but he seemed to wrapped up in grief to be paying attention to what was going on. No one else was within hearing range. Well, as long as Aragorn didn't shout, there was no one within hearing range. "Here we go."
"You knew this would happen?" Aragorn hissed angrily at me, stopping a few feet away from me.
"Yes." I replied smoothly.
"Why didn't you warn him?" Aragorn demanded.
"It would have changed the way things are to be played out." I replied calmly.
"So you'd rather let Gandalf DIE then change the events from what happened in this book in your world?" Aragorn spat.
"I would never let Gandalf die." I replied quietly, and turned and walked off. Aragorn could chew on that while I went and stopped Frodo from wandering off, which he was currently doing, being almost out of sight behind a big boulder. I rested a hand on the hobbits shoulder to stop him, and he looked up at me, tears welling in his eyes, sadness written on his every feature. I was once again struck by how much like children hobbits are, and crouched down and hugged Frodo. He hesitated for a moment, then collapsed into my arms and began sobbing.
Then Aragorn, who had either figured out my remark by now, or had decided to give up on it for now, called to get the hobbits up, and Frodo drew back and straightened, rubbing the tears from his eyes, walking back to the others with me as Boromir protested.
"By nightfall these hills will be swarming with Orcs. We must reach the woods of Lothlorien." Aragorn countered, then once more told the taller members of the Fellowship to get the hobbits up. Frodo went and encouraged Sam to get up, and the simple thought of Frodo encouraging anyone got Sam up and determined to go on quickly enough.
So we set off for Lothlorien at a brisk pace. After making the rounds and comforting everyone about Gandalfs 'death', I fell to the back of the line and began my normal complaining about walking instead of riding, which brought a few smiles to the others, and that made the walk more bearable as we went.