The Elves would depart
from the Gray Havens, and into the Valinor may they dwell, for the troubles
on this Earth is too grave for them to bare. May their troubles be left
for others to deal with, until the Undying Lands allow the dying to come
forth. For now?
They cry,
"Cowards!" And shield their eyes from the burning flame that was once Evil and great.
From the time they cried out their pleas of survival, I found myself tripping over the batted dress I wore, its strings of the worn material tickling my legs. I had to stop and gather my composure, but the slower I got the closer they got. Curiosity had the best advantage on you, and whether you knew it could cause trouble you still feel powerless under it and so I turned my head to see exactly how close they were. I cried out.
The dark riders had me by my arms, their large wings flapping up and down and all the while trying to pull me up. Struggling, I was able to squirm free and hit the dry land underneath me. I felt my arm starting the throb from the fall but I looked up and saw it coming back down, its dark shadow casting over my helpless body. Screaming, I kicked up my legs to block him but somehow it went through his body like a ghost, and the dark angel raised its large gloved hand and grabbed my face.
I saw nothing but my Ring watch, moving in circles in the center of the flaming eye.
"Death is my burden." I cried, my eyes flying open.
I cocked my head side to side, adjusting to the strange darkness and the soft dripping of what sounded like water. I felt for my guns, which came as a habit when I was traveling, and froze still when I didn't feel them, nor my holsters.
"Your weapons had fallen into the lake." Legolas said, peering out from a shadow. "And you were tossing in your sleep. I suppose those things around your legs were uncomfortable so I removed them."
I touched my eyebrow with a shaky finger and pulled myself up. "I wasn't uncomfortable. I was having a bad dream."
"You are still bleeding from your arm." He said, removing himself from a stone rock and landing gracefully at my side. He knelt down and took my left arm in his hands in a gentle, soothing touch. "And you have a rather large bruise there as well."
"Nothing I can't handle." I stiffened as his long, slender fingers ran themselves against the dried blood, his eyes dark and never leaving my wound. "You can stop now."
He stopped immediately and lowered my arm. "The others are resting, if you are curious."
"Oh that's right, Elves don't sleep." I went to stretch my arms out but stopped at the pain in the left one, then something dawned on me and I looked at Legolas. "You were watching me sleep?"
He smiled. "I watch everyone. I feel better that way."
I nodded but I was still wondering about the dream I just had. Well, it wasn't a very good dream now was it? I shuddered, remembering getting sucked into that small town and running away from those hooded... things, and not being able to see their faces and knowing I couldn't do anything but wait for death.
Death. I laughed at myself for being so afraid of something that wasn't all that big of a thing. I mean, I wasn't frightened if I were to die from saving the world, that would just make me happy, and I am truly positive that I won't be dying anytime soon, in that case. But if death came upon, in a nightmare or not, I would be ready to fight. And the battle I was planning on winning would be simple as any others I encountered.
"Gandalf still has no memory of this place." I looked up to see Boromir admiring the stone carvings on the walls. "He says he needs time to think, hopefully soon he will decide for this place is undeniably dangerous."
"Not to mention sacred." I said, turning to the carvings besides my head. "These look about a hundred years old."
"Shut up Pippin, Gandalf is trying to think." Sam's voice echoed off the cavern. "We don't care that you're hungry."
Legolas came up from my side and observed the carvings as well. I grinned at him lopsidedly as he rested his hand on my shoulder and absentmindedly stroked a still moist strand of my hair that fell loose from its braid. He had no idea what he was doing. Shaking my head, I turned back to the carvings and ran my fingers along the strange people, who were obviously holding axes up to a great dragon, his fiery breath being blocked by a smaller Dwarf holding what appeared to be a shield.
"Hmm."
"What?" Legolas asked, pulling his hand back from realisation. "Mani naa ta?"
I shook my head, pointing to the carving I was observing. "They seem to be telling a story. I cannot tell though."
He leaned in and ran his large hands across the carvings. "It tells a story about a war long long ago, between the Dwarves and the Elves. I remember it. I was there battling against the evil that was threatening to both my home and the Dwarven dwellings."
"Oh really?" I ran my fingers across it once more, letting my eyes wander upwards. Something strange caught my eye at the far corner, right besides the stone Legolas was perched on. I knelt on my knees and touched the finely carved stone of a cloaked figure, a long sword in his hand and raised at what appeared to be a woman. Then my dream did a flashback on me and I jumped away from the stone wall, the hand that touched the wall shaking wildly. "Oh my Lord."
"Lara, are you alright?" Legolas asked, running to my side and stooping down.
I didn't bother answering him as I stared with my large eyes at the stone wall in front of me. How the hell- No. It was just a rather strange, inaccurate coincidence. So what if that woman looked awfully much like you, and so what if you've dreamt about those big, black riders? Doesn't mean anything. You're always jumping to conclusions, I scolded myself.
"Lara?"
"Yeah, I'm alright." I snapped, standing and looking back at the carvings uneasily. "Where's my bag?"
"Right here." Boromir came up to me, my bag held in his outstretched hand. "R-Right where you left it."
I couldn't pry my eyes away from his gaze. He stared at me with longing and glanced at my bag with his eyes steady and growing dark. When I didn't grab my bag, Legolas snatched it roughly from the man in front of me and escorted me towards where the others sat around a circle. I looked up as Gandalf spoke with Frodo, his gaze sweeping over to regard me. I looked away quickly and sat myself between Merry and Pippin, stretching out my legs and taking my bag from the Elf who squeezed himself between Merry and myself.
"Are we lost?" Pippin asked me.
"No." I whispered back.
"I really think we are." He replied.
"For the last time, keep quiet." Sam hissed.
"Merry?"
"Yea, Pip?"
"I'm hungry."
Smiling, I rested my head against Legolas' shoulder since he was a bit taller than I was, and listened to the whispers of Merry or Pippin, randomly giving a remark or just letting my eyes carelessly wander around our surroundings. Water dripped from the top of the stone marks, either making a loud splash or just a soft drip, either one waking me from my thoughts. But this time it wasn't a dripping that caught my attention. It was a soft grunt and I turned my head to the thin set of ladders just down the edge of the cavern.
His bright, lifeless eyes stared up at me and I reached for my knife.
"Mani naa lle umien, mellon amin? (What are you doing, my friend?)" Legolas asked, eyeing me nervously.
"Don't you see that?" I hissed, motioning to the thing looking up at me. "What the hell is it?"
"That is Gollum." I looked up at Gandalf, who had come down from his perch spot. "He has been following us for three days, to be exact, and not once did he falter."
"Who the hell is Gollum?" I asked.
"I think someone should be told the tale of the one Ring." Gandalf gave me that look of his that absolutely read, I am the wisest man in the entire universe! But I smiled awkwardly and he reached out his hand for me to take. "But we must walk now, for I know we must travel that way."
"He's remembered!" Merry said hopefully, standing quickly on his large, curly feet.
"No, but the air doesn't smell so foul down here. If in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose."
"Like toucan sam." I breathed, walking besides Gandalf down a passage on the left side of the cavern, where the loud tapping of Hobbit feet and the dragging of Gimli's ax was heard as we came closer and closer to a lit space. But obviously, since Gandalf illumined his staff more, it was not enough for us to travel under and as his staff grew bright so did the wide space of towering stone pillars and a very large, empty space. "Wow."
"My thoughts exactly." Merry breathed, coming up beside me and brushing his neck against my arm.
"This is the great realm and Dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf, my Lady, since your wandering eyes speak much for yourself." Gimli said, gripping his ax and pulling it closer to his chest. He wasn't as chip as before about traveling through the Mines, probably because all of his family and friends were dead. Regardless, he had a stout heart and I patted his shoulder comfortingly.
"It's truly wonderful." I whispered as I looked around the great space.
"If you want to truly see beautiful my Lady," Boromir came up besides me, brushing past Legolas. "Then you would truly have honor is seeing my city, for the stars are always out at night and the white shines bright."
I smiled. "I would very much like to see that city."
Legolas made some sort of snort noise and I shot him an angry glare. He returned it with a roll of his eyes and he straightened his back, his head high and peering in disgust at the stone pillars, and then at a tall, ajar stone door. Light gleamed through the crack of it and Gimli let out a small gasp of suprised, throwing down his ax and running straight for it.
"What's his problem?" I asked Boromir.
"The chamber of Mazarbul." Aragorn said.
"Gimli, come back!" Gandalf shouted, following the Dwarf in a quick pace.
Gimli paid no attention to the wizard, and with a cry of surprise, he opened the door fully and disappeared. I hurried the Hobbits in front of me and followed quickly, my gaze gazing around the Dwarrowdelf space with suspicion. Something was growing in the back of my mind about this place and I didn't really enjoy it. Entering the chamber, I leaned against the door and watched as Gimli knelt down before what looked like a crypt, his metal head gear banging against the stone grave.
"No, no, no." He repeated, sobbing like a mad man.
Boromir looked back at me and gave me a grim frown, then turned and gripped the dwarf's shoulder firmly, almost comfortingly and glanced back at me once more. I turned away, and looked at Gandalf, who leaned over the crypt and nodded thoughtfully.
"Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria." He then turned to regard Gimli. "He is dead then, as so much I feared has come true."
"Balin." I whispered, remembering when Gimli bragged about his cousin living here in the mines. I shook my head gravely and looked away, suddenly saddened at the Dwarf's lost. It brought me back to when I lost my father, and I took me a moment gain my self control and I turned to see Gandalf holding up a dust covered book, pieces of it falling apart as he turned the pages with cautious. Legolas moved besides me and nodded.
"We must move on, we cannot linger anymore."
Gandalf, who was now looking quite pale and still flipping through each page slowly, stopped his scan and began to read from the old, batted book that was crumbling in his hands at each turn of the pages.
"They have taken the bridge," He read. "And the second hall. We have barred the gates, but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes. Drums.. Drum.. Drums in the deep." He turned another page, the previous one crumbling at his touch. "We cannot get out. A shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out.. They are coming."
Closing the book roughly, he let it fall onto the crypt and contemplated in his mind. The whole passage from that book sent shivers down my spine, whether I showed it or not, and I couldn't help feel my blood run cold as my eyes ran over to where Pippin stood, holding Gandalf's things and the look of horror on his face. Another shiver and a loud clanking of what sounded like metal against metal and everyone froze. What has Pippin done?
"What have you done?" I asked, not really knowing I said it aloud.
"Fool of a took!" Gandalf spat, advancing on the shrill Hobbit and grabbing his stuff. "Throw yourself in next time and rid us all of your stupidity and ignorance!"
Drum.
My head snapped to the door and I pushed myself off of it.
Drum.
It was the drumming Gandalf was talking about. This time it was clearer and it was getting closer and closer the more I backed up. Someone grabbed my arm and pulled me further back, but my eyes were still fixed on the door.
"What is it that?" I whispered.
No one answered me and they didn't have to. I felt the pain I was normally feeling grow in the back of my head and my kneels buckled, pulling me to my knees. The drumming grew louder and the pain shot from my head and down my spine. I tensed at the touch on my shoulder, throwing it off angrily.
"Frodo, your sword is glowing!" Sam shouted.
The strange sounds outside made my head shot up, despite the pain welling there.
I quickly looked to Legolas for an explanation, and his face was screwed up in anger. "Orcs!"
I relaxed. "Oh please."
"Barricade the doors!" Boromir shouted, brushing past me and opening the doors fully.
"Lara, get back with Gandalf and the Hobbits." Aragorn said, seizing me by my arm and throwing me back.
"Get off." I snapped, throwing my arm away from him. "I'm not staying back anywhere."
"Your weapons were taken from you!" He shouted. "You have nothing to protect yourself, or the others."
"Excuse me? I have my own two arms, not to mention my own two legs!"
A loud swish was heard and Boromir pulled his head inside the door, looking alarmed. "They have a bloody cave troll."
Middle Earth even have cave trolls? Bloody hell, this journey was getting more and more exciting by the second. Gandalf pushed the Hobbits as far back in the chamber as possible and before he argued with me, I stood in front of him and paced myself in a fighting stance, just in case an Orc happened to think he was getting to Gandalf or the Hobbits without going through me first.
A loud thump made me turn and look over at Gimli, who stood atop of the crypt, his ax in one hand and the other raised and ready to thump anything that got in his way.
"Let them come," He growled, thrashing his ax in the air. "There is still one Dwarf yet in Moria that still draws breath!"
I smiled grimly and turned my head to Gandalf. He was gazing at the door longingly, and I couldn't help but catch the look of defeat on his eyes. I had to turn away since Gandalf was our leader, as hard as I was to admit that, and that just made me feel bad. Sighing, I readied my fists and at the blink of my eye that doors were being banged on and the shrill shrieks of Orcs were heard behind the wooden doors that Legolas tried so hard to barricade.
Well, they didn't hold up very long did they? Shaking my head sadly, I watched as the first Orc easily slid its arm through a gap in the door it had made, and that's when Legolas let go the first arrow. Then, as Aragorn shot the second arrow, the doors were barred down by dozens and dozens of Orcs. The last thing I saw was arrows flying at them and their bodies sprawling on the floor before I was grabbed and pulled away.
I looked down as the Hobbits pulled me along, right near a stone pillar. They scrambled up a set of steps but a noise to my left made my head snap sideways and I watched as an Orc came charging at me, a metal shaft in its hand.
I pouted and waited for it to come, and as soon as it got close enough I let my leg come in touch with its neck. It fell sideways, its shaft clanking besides him. I bent over the ugly thing and reached out for its neck, taking it in my hands and snapping it sideways. Smiling with my accomplishment, I stood and looked up as a couple came at me from both sides.
Sighing and taking a look to my side, I caught a glimpse of a metal chain hanging from the top of the chamber. Smiling broadly, I turned to the Orcs and blew them a kiss before flipping back repeatedly, until I felt the metal chain hit my back. Straightening myself out, I grabbed onto the chain and started to climb just as the Orc threw its shaft against it.
It cried out in defeat.
I stopped midway and laid my feet on the side of the wall, pushing myself from it like a swing. As soon as I got as high as I wanted, I gave myself one last push and flipped on top of a stone balcony and where the Hobbits were. They gave me a look but I ignored it and went to grab them but a roar to my side caught my attention.
I turned around slowly and peered over as an incredibly large, as it was ugly, troll standing a good inch shorter than the chamber, a bar leash being dragged by a cowering Orc, and before it got the chance to enter midway it swung its large cub at Gimli and missed by a hair. I let out a sigh of relief and hurried the Hobbits being a pillar and turned back to the troll.
Taking a deep breath, I looked back at the metal chain and took a few steps back. I wasn't going to let this troll ruin my fun. I ran forwards, leaping at the edge of the balcony, and grabbed onto the metal chain and getting swung a few inches away from the trolls cub. That's when I let go, ignoring a cry from Legolas and landed on its weapon.
It stopped before swinging it and gave a dumbfounded groan, trying to get me off.
"Ah, no you don't." I hissed, pulling my knife from my ankle. It wasn't much, but it was quite deadly.
I twirled it between my fingers before letting it ease through the rough skin of the cave troll, its cries of pleas echoing off the walls and rumbling the chamber. I ignored it and continued to jab it until it got a grip on my boot and swung me carelessly in the air like some ragged old doll. I sat myself up as it continued to hold me with its arm reached out, I pulled out a flare gun from my pack and aimed it at the troll. It gave me a quizzical look before I pulled the trigger, letting the flare gun both burn his face and make me fly back into the jagged wall.
Despite getting throw a good twenty feet, I smiled as I landed with a tumble on the ground. I saw the thing thrash its arms wildly about, trying to end the extreme burning its face was having at the moment. Then I tore my gaze away from the troll and remembered something. The Orcs had fled. But before I had the chance to say it was over, it wasn't.
The troll roared madly and stopped throwing its arms around, suddenly fixing his gaze at the stone pillar I hid the Hobbits at. The Hobbits. I let my mouth hand open as I watched it swing its club at the balcony, destroying whatever was under its attack. I let out a sigh of relief when the Hobbits jumped back in time, Sam tumbling off the balcony and Merry and Pippin jumping on the other end. But Frodo? I looked up as Frodo attempted to hide from the query eye of the troll.
I hesitated but jumped on my weary legs and ran over to the other end of the chamber, where the walls were jagged enough for someone to climb on. Someone like me. I threw back my braid and grabbed onto the lowest rocks, letting my feet sink in and I went to ease myself up but something sharp dug into my back and I winced in pain, looking down at the hungry looking Orc.
"Bastard!" I cried, elbowing his face. I didn't bother to watch him cower down in pain and went to climb again, but this time at least three Orcs both grabbed onto the straps of my bag and threw me back, backing away as my body fell against the hard ground there. Groaning, I opened my eyes and watched as the Orcs started to rummage through my bag. "No you don't!" I lunged at the one with my bag and socked him in the jaw, able to grab my bag but was grabbed by the other three.
"Let her go!" I ducked as I spotted Legolas and his aim at the Orcs. His arrow barely nipped my ear and it found its way through an Orc. He released another arrow, killing all the Orcs and running to my side. "Quick Lara, over here."
"Aragorn! Aragorn!" Someone cried.
I pulled away from Legolas and saw Frodo trying to run away from the troll. The troll suddenly grabbed the metal chain and swung it angrily at Legolas, who was firing his arrows through the troll's neck. I jumped back as did Legolas, before the chain hit either one of us. I banged into another pillar and covered my head as the troll swung the chain at it, the pieces crumbling down a top of me.
Coughing away the stone dust, I looked up as the troll's arm hung a good ten feet above me, a round and small figure in its grip. The figure turned out to be Frodo, who being dangled around like a limp sausage. He looked down at me pleadingly, his sword falling from his hands. Standing up, I grabbed it before it fell and looked up at the troll.
Without thinking this over, I grabbed the hilt with both hands and charged at the troll, grabbing onto the metal chain and as soon as I was lifted up I jumped on his shoulder and thrashed Frodo's blue sword into the troll's neck. I wasn't ready for the impact the sword had on the troll because the small looking thing caused much damage to the troll.
It roared and I saw a glimpse of Frodo getting flung out of the troll's oversized hand and over by a far corner. I also noticed the strange spear in its other arm, as well as the metal chain, and eased the sword out of his neck, able to stab him one last time before flipping off him and landing on my feet on the deceased bodies of Orcs.
I looked up, ready to see the troll advance on me, but instead it limped forwards and with the spear it swung it into something. I couldn't see since the pillar was in my face so I laid my head back as I sunk in between the dead Orcs.
"Frodo, no!" Aragorn cried.
"Mr. Frodo?" Sam called. I felt him run past me and I jolted forwards. "Frodo!"
The troll stumbled back, the spear he was holding lodged into his chest, and his thumbs touching his mouth. My eyes widened and I crawled on my feet, walking limply over to Sam and laying my hands on his shoulders. What I saw startled me. Frodo was sprawled on his belly, Aragorn leaning over him sobbing and a trail of blood dripping down a crack in the stone floor. I shook my head grimly and turned to watch the troll tumble down against the floor dead.
I turned my head back to where Frodo's dead body laid and choked on some words to say. Nothing could be said, nothing. But as I watched dazedly at Frodo's body, I realised that he was moving and trying to sit up, but with Aragorn questioning him and Sam running out of my grip and towering over him, it was kind of complicated.
I suddenly got a wave of dizziness and Leaned against whatever was left of the crypt, my head spinning and the sharp pain in the back of my head growing once again.
"Frodo, you're alive, you're alive!"
"Y-Yes Sam." Frodo laughed. "I.. I am alive."
"You should be dead!" Aragorn breathed, touching the thin fabric laying against Frodo's chest.
"That spear could have killed a wild boar." Boromir said.
"Ah-ha." I gained my composure and wiped the sweat from my forehead.
"There is more to this Hobbit than meets the eye, eh?" Gandalf said, leaning against his staff.
"Who would of guessed that a Hobbit would wear a mithril!" Gimli huffed as soon as we gathered everyone and headed towards the doors. "Dragon skins, my Lady. That is what mithril is."
I nodded, not that interested in what the Dwarf was saying.
Suddenly, as Gandalf went to speak, drums and loud shrieking were heard again. The same shrieking as when the Orcs and that damned troll attacked us and slowed our pace. I turned to Legolas as his hand gripped my shoulder as for comfort. I found none there and looked up at him sadly, my head shaking. He frowned and withdrew his hand.
"More Orcs are on their way." Frodo breathed.
"We must make quickly to the bridge of Khazad-Dûm!" Gandalf said sternly, and with that we were off running through the darkness of Dwarrowdelf, my pace not as steady as it was before.
They cry,
"Cowards!" And shield their eyes from the burning flame that was once Evil and great.
From the time they cried out their pleas of survival, I found myself tripping over the batted dress I wore, its strings of the worn material tickling my legs. I had to stop and gather my composure, but the slower I got the closer they got. Curiosity had the best advantage on you, and whether you knew it could cause trouble you still feel powerless under it and so I turned my head to see exactly how close they were. I cried out.
The dark riders had me by my arms, their large wings flapping up and down and all the while trying to pull me up. Struggling, I was able to squirm free and hit the dry land underneath me. I felt my arm starting the throb from the fall but I looked up and saw it coming back down, its dark shadow casting over my helpless body. Screaming, I kicked up my legs to block him but somehow it went through his body like a ghost, and the dark angel raised its large gloved hand and grabbed my face.
I saw nothing but my Ring watch, moving in circles in the center of the flaming eye.
"Death is my burden." I cried, my eyes flying open.
I cocked my head side to side, adjusting to the strange darkness and the soft dripping of what sounded like water. I felt for my guns, which came as a habit when I was traveling, and froze still when I didn't feel them, nor my holsters.
"Your weapons had fallen into the lake." Legolas said, peering out from a shadow. "And you were tossing in your sleep. I suppose those things around your legs were uncomfortable so I removed them."
I touched my eyebrow with a shaky finger and pulled myself up. "I wasn't uncomfortable. I was having a bad dream."
"You are still bleeding from your arm." He said, removing himself from a stone rock and landing gracefully at my side. He knelt down and took my left arm in his hands in a gentle, soothing touch. "And you have a rather large bruise there as well."
"Nothing I can't handle." I stiffened as his long, slender fingers ran themselves against the dried blood, his eyes dark and never leaving my wound. "You can stop now."
He stopped immediately and lowered my arm. "The others are resting, if you are curious."
"Oh that's right, Elves don't sleep." I went to stretch my arms out but stopped at the pain in the left one, then something dawned on me and I looked at Legolas. "You were watching me sleep?"
He smiled. "I watch everyone. I feel better that way."
I nodded but I was still wondering about the dream I just had. Well, it wasn't a very good dream now was it? I shuddered, remembering getting sucked into that small town and running away from those hooded... things, and not being able to see their faces and knowing I couldn't do anything but wait for death.
Death. I laughed at myself for being so afraid of something that wasn't all that big of a thing. I mean, I wasn't frightened if I were to die from saving the world, that would just make me happy, and I am truly positive that I won't be dying anytime soon, in that case. But if death came upon, in a nightmare or not, I would be ready to fight. And the battle I was planning on winning would be simple as any others I encountered.
"Gandalf still has no memory of this place." I looked up to see Boromir admiring the stone carvings on the walls. "He says he needs time to think, hopefully soon he will decide for this place is undeniably dangerous."
"Not to mention sacred." I said, turning to the carvings besides my head. "These look about a hundred years old."
"Shut up Pippin, Gandalf is trying to think." Sam's voice echoed off the cavern. "We don't care that you're hungry."
Legolas came up from my side and observed the carvings as well. I grinned at him lopsidedly as he rested his hand on my shoulder and absentmindedly stroked a still moist strand of my hair that fell loose from its braid. He had no idea what he was doing. Shaking my head, I turned back to the carvings and ran my fingers along the strange people, who were obviously holding axes up to a great dragon, his fiery breath being blocked by a smaller Dwarf holding what appeared to be a shield.
"Hmm."
"What?" Legolas asked, pulling his hand back from realisation. "Mani naa ta?"
I shook my head, pointing to the carving I was observing. "They seem to be telling a story. I cannot tell though."
He leaned in and ran his large hands across the carvings. "It tells a story about a war long long ago, between the Dwarves and the Elves. I remember it. I was there battling against the evil that was threatening to both my home and the Dwarven dwellings."
"Oh really?" I ran my fingers across it once more, letting my eyes wander upwards. Something strange caught my eye at the far corner, right besides the stone Legolas was perched on. I knelt on my knees and touched the finely carved stone of a cloaked figure, a long sword in his hand and raised at what appeared to be a woman. Then my dream did a flashback on me and I jumped away from the stone wall, the hand that touched the wall shaking wildly. "Oh my Lord."
"Lara, are you alright?" Legolas asked, running to my side and stooping down.
I didn't bother answering him as I stared with my large eyes at the stone wall in front of me. How the hell- No. It was just a rather strange, inaccurate coincidence. So what if that woman looked awfully much like you, and so what if you've dreamt about those big, black riders? Doesn't mean anything. You're always jumping to conclusions, I scolded myself.
"Lara?"
"Yeah, I'm alright." I snapped, standing and looking back at the carvings uneasily. "Where's my bag?"
"Right here." Boromir came up to me, my bag held in his outstretched hand. "R-Right where you left it."
I couldn't pry my eyes away from his gaze. He stared at me with longing and glanced at my bag with his eyes steady and growing dark. When I didn't grab my bag, Legolas snatched it roughly from the man in front of me and escorted me towards where the others sat around a circle. I looked up as Gandalf spoke with Frodo, his gaze sweeping over to regard me. I looked away quickly and sat myself between Merry and Pippin, stretching out my legs and taking my bag from the Elf who squeezed himself between Merry and myself.
"Are we lost?" Pippin asked me.
"No." I whispered back.
"I really think we are." He replied.
"For the last time, keep quiet." Sam hissed.
"Merry?"
"Yea, Pip?"
"I'm hungry."
Smiling, I rested my head against Legolas' shoulder since he was a bit taller than I was, and listened to the whispers of Merry or Pippin, randomly giving a remark or just letting my eyes carelessly wander around our surroundings. Water dripped from the top of the stone marks, either making a loud splash or just a soft drip, either one waking me from my thoughts. But this time it wasn't a dripping that caught my attention. It was a soft grunt and I turned my head to the thin set of ladders just down the edge of the cavern.
His bright, lifeless eyes stared up at me and I reached for my knife.
"Mani naa lle umien, mellon amin? (What are you doing, my friend?)" Legolas asked, eyeing me nervously.
"Don't you see that?" I hissed, motioning to the thing looking up at me. "What the hell is it?"
"That is Gollum." I looked up at Gandalf, who had come down from his perch spot. "He has been following us for three days, to be exact, and not once did he falter."
"Who the hell is Gollum?" I asked.
"I think someone should be told the tale of the one Ring." Gandalf gave me that look of his that absolutely read, I am the wisest man in the entire universe! But I smiled awkwardly and he reached out his hand for me to take. "But we must walk now, for I know we must travel that way."
"He's remembered!" Merry said hopefully, standing quickly on his large, curly feet.
"No, but the air doesn't smell so foul down here. If in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose."
"Like toucan sam." I breathed, walking besides Gandalf down a passage on the left side of the cavern, where the loud tapping of Hobbit feet and the dragging of Gimli's ax was heard as we came closer and closer to a lit space. But obviously, since Gandalf illumined his staff more, it was not enough for us to travel under and as his staff grew bright so did the wide space of towering stone pillars and a very large, empty space. "Wow."
"My thoughts exactly." Merry breathed, coming up beside me and brushing his neck against my arm.
"This is the great realm and Dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf, my Lady, since your wandering eyes speak much for yourself." Gimli said, gripping his ax and pulling it closer to his chest. He wasn't as chip as before about traveling through the Mines, probably because all of his family and friends were dead. Regardless, he had a stout heart and I patted his shoulder comfortingly.
"It's truly wonderful." I whispered as I looked around the great space.
"If you want to truly see beautiful my Lady," Boromir came up besides me, brushing past Legolas. "Then you would truly have honor is seeing my city, for the stars are always out at night and the white shines bright."
I smiled. "I would very much like to see that city."
Legolas made some sort of snort noise and I shot him an angry glare. He returned it with a roll of his eyes and he straightened his back, his head high and peering in disgust at the stone pillars, and then at a tall, ajar stone door. Light gleamed through the crack of it and Gimli let out a small gasp of suprised, throwing down his ax and running straight for it.
"What's his problem?" I asked Boromir.
"The chamber of Mazarbul." Aragorn said.
"Gimli, come back!" Gandalf shouted, following the Dwarf in a quick pace.
Gimli paid no attention to the wizard, and with a cry of surprise, he opened the door fully and disappeared. I hurried the Hobbits in front of me and followed quickly, my gaze gazing around the Dwarrowdelf space with suspicion. Something was growing in the back of my mind about this place and I didn't really enjoy it. Entering the chamber, I leaned against the door and watched as Gimli knelt down before what looked like a crypt, his metal head gear banging against the stone grave.
"No, no, no." He repeated, sobbing like a mad man.
Boromir looked back at me and gave me a grim frown, then turned and gripped the dwarf's shoulder firmly, almost comfortingly and glanced back at me once more. I turned away, and looked at Gandalf, who leaned over the crypt and nodded thoughtfully.
"Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria." He then turned to regard Gimli. "He is dead then, as so much I feared has come true."
"Balin." I whispered, remembering when Gimli bragged about his cousin living here in the mines. I shook my head gravely and looked away, suddenly saddened at the Dwarf's lost. It brought me back to when I lost my father, and I took me a moment gain my self control and I turned to see Gandalf holding up a dust covered book, pieces of it falling apart as he turned the pages with cautious. Legolas moved besides me and nodded.
"We must move on, we cannot linger anymore."
Gandalf, who was now looking quite pale and still flipping through each page slowly, stopped his scan and began to read from the old, batted book that was crumbling in his hands at each turn of the pages.
"They have taken the bridge," He read. "And the second hall. We have barred the gates, but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes. Drums.. Drum.. Drums in the deep." He turned another page, the previous one crumbling at his touch. "We cannot get out. A shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out.. They are coming."
Closing the book roughly, he let it fall onto the crypt and contemplated in his mind. The whole passage from that book sent shivers down my spine, whether I showed it or not, and I couldn't help feel my blood run cold as my eyes ran over to where Pippin stood, holding Gandalf's things and the look of horror on his face. Another shiver and a loud clanking of what sounded like metal against metal and everyone froze. What has Pippin done?
"What have you done?" I asked, not really knowing I said it aloud.
"Fool of a took!" Gandalf spat, advancing on the shrill Hobbit and grabbing his stuff. "Throw yourself in next time and rid us all of your stupidity and ignorance!"
Drum.
My head snapped to the door and I pushed myself off of it.
Drum.
It was the drumming Gandalf was talking about. This time it was clearer and it was getting closer and closer the more I backed up. Someone grabbed my arm and pulled me further back, but my eyes were still fixed on the door.
"What is it that?" I whispered.
No one answered me and they didn't have to. I felt the pain I was normally feeling grow in the back of my head and my kneels buckled, pulling me to my knees. The drumming grew louder and the pain shot from my head and down my spine. I tensed at the touch on my shoulder, throwing it off angrily.
"Frodo, your sword is glowing!" Sam shouted.
The strange sounds outside made my head shot up, despite the pain welling there.
I quickly looked to Legolas for an explanation, and his face was screwed up in anger. "Orcs!"
I relaxed. "Oh please."
"Barricade the doors!" Boromir shouted, brushing past me and opening the doors fully.
"Lara, get back with Gandalf and the Hobbits." Aragorn said, seizing me by my arm and throwing me back.
"Get off." I snapped, throwing my arm away from him. "I'm not staying back anywhere."
"Your weapons were taken from you!" He shouted. "You have nothing to protect yourself, or the others."
"Excuse me? I have my own two arms, not to mention my own two legs!"
A loud swish was heard and Boromir pulled his head inside the door, looking alarmed. "They have a bloody cave troll."
Middle Earth even have cave trolls? Bloody hell, this journey was getting more and more exciting by the second. Gandalf pushed the Hobbits as far back in the chamber as possible and before he argued with me, I stood in front of him and paced myself in a fighting stance, just in case an Orc happened to think he was getting to Gandalf or the Hobbits without going through me first.
A loud thump made me turn and look over at Gimli, who stood atop of the crypt, his ax in one hand and the other raised and ready to thump anything that got in his way.
"Let them come," He growled, thrashing his ax in the air. "There is still one Dwarf yet in Moria that still draws breath!"
I smiled grimly and turned my head to Gandalf. He was gazing at the door longingly, and I couldn't help but catch the look of defeat on his eyes. I had to turn away since Gandalf was our leader, as hard as I was to admit that, and that just made me feel bad. Sighing, I readied my fists and at the blink of my eye that doors were being banged on and the shrill shrieks of Orcs were heard behind the wooden doors that Legolas tried so hard to barricade.
Well, they didn't hold up very long did they? Shaking my head sadly, I watched as the first Orc easily slid its arm through a gap in the door it had made, and that's when Legolas let go the first arrow. Then, as Aragorn shot the second arrow, the doors were barred down by dozens and dozens of Orcs. The last thing I saw was arrows flying at them and their bodies sprawling on the floor before I was grabbed and pulled away.
I looked down as the Hobbits pulled me along, right near a stone pillar. They scrambled up a set of steps but a noise to my left made my head snap sideways and I watched as an Orc came charging at me, a metal shaft in its hand.
I pouted and waited for it to come, and as soon as it got close enough I let my leg come in touch with its neck. It fell sideways, its shaft clanking besides him. I bent over the ugly thing and reached out for its neck, taking it in my hands and snapping it sideways. Smiling with my accomplishment, I stood and looked up as a couple came at me from both sides.
Sighing and taking a look to my side, I caught a glimpse of a metal chain hanging from the top of the chamber. Smiling broadly, I turned to the Orcs and blew them a kiss before flipping back repeatedly, until I felt the metal chain hit my back. Straightening myself out, I grabbed onto the chain and started to climb just as the Orc threw its shaft against it.
It cried out in defeat.
I stopped midway and laid my feet on the side of the wall, pushing myself from it like a swing. As soon as I got as high as I wanted, I gave myself one last push and flipped on top of a stone balcony and where the Hobbits were. They gave me a look but I ignored it and went to grab them but a roar to my side caught my attention.
I turned around slowly and peered over as an incredibly large, as it was ugly, troll standing a good inch shorter than the chamber, a bar leash being dragged by a cowering Orc, and before it got the chance to enter midway it swung its large cub at Gimli and missed by a hair. I let out a sigh of relief and hurried the Hobbits being a pillar and turned back to the troll.
Taking a deep breath, I looked back at the metal chain and took a few steps back. I wasn't going to let this troll ruin my fun. I ran forwards, leaping at the edge of the balcony, and grabbed onto the metal chain and getting swung a few inches away from the trolls cub. That's when I let go, ignoring a cry from Legolas and landed on its weapon.
It stopped before swinging it and gave a dumbfounded groan, trying to get me off.
"Ah, no you don't." I hissed, pulling my knife from my ankle. It wasn't much, but it was quite deadly.
I twirled it between my fingers before letting it ease through the rough skin of the cave troll, its cries of pleas echoing off the walls and rumbling the chamber. I ignored it and continued to jab it until it got a grip on my boot and swung me carelessly in the air like some ragged old doll. I sat myself up as it continued to hold me with its arm reached out, I pulled out a flare gun from my pack and aimed it at the troll. It gave me a quizzical look before I pulled the trigger, letting the flare gun both burn his face and make me fly back into the jagged wall.
Despite getting throw a good twenty feet, I smiled as I landed with a tumble on the ground. I saw the thing thrash its arms wildly about, trying to end the extreme burning its face was having at the moment. Then I tore my gaze away from the troll and remembered something. The Orcs had fled. But before I had the chance to say it was over, it wasn't.
The troll roared madly and stopped throwing its arms around, suddenly fixing his gaze at the stone pillar I hid the Hobbits at. The Hobbits. I let my mouth hand open as I watched it swing its club at the balcony, destroying whatever was under its attack. I let out a sigh of relief when the Hobbits jumped back in time, Sam tumbling off the balcony and Merry and Pippin jumping on the other end. But Frodo? I looked up as Frodo attempted to hide from the query eye of the troll.
I hesitated but jumped on my weary legs and ran over to the other end of the chamber, where the walls were jagged enough for someone to climb on. Someone like me. I threw back my braid and grabbed onto the lowest rocks, letting my feet sink in and I went to ease myself up but something sharp dug into my back and I winced in pain, looking down at the hungry looking Orc.
"Bastard!" I cried, elbowing his face. I didn't bother to watch him cower down in pain and went to climb again, but this time at least three Orcs both grabbed onto the straps of my bag and threw me back, backing away as my body fell against the hard ground there. Groaning, I opened my eyes and watched as the Orcs started to rummage through my bag. "No you don't!" I lunged at the one with my bag and socked him in the jaw, able to grab my bag but was grabbed by the other three.
"Let her go!" I ducked as I spotted Legolas and his aim at the Orcs. His arrow barely nipped my ear and it found its way through an Orc. He released another arrow, killing all the Orcs and running to my side. "Quick Lara, over here."
"Aragorn! Aragorn!" Someone cried.
I pulled away from Legolas and saw Frodo trying to run away from the troll. The troll suddenly grabbed the metal chain and swung it angrily at Legolas, who was firing his arrows through the troll's neck. I jumped back as did Legolas, before the chain hit either one of us. I banged into another pillar and covered my head as the troll swung the chain at it, the pieces crumbling down a top of me.
Coughing away the stone dust, I looked up as the troll's arm hung a good ten feet above me, a round and small figure in its grip. The figure turned out to be Frodo, who being dangled around like a limp sausage. He looked down at me pleadingly, his sword falling from his hands. Standing up, I grabbed it before it fell and looked up at the troll.
Without thinking this over, I grabbed the hilt with both hands and charged at the troll, grabbing onto the metal chain and as soon as I was lifted up I jumped on his shoulder and thrashed Frodo's blue sword into the troll's neck. I wasn't ready for the impact the sword had on the troll because the small looking thing caused much damage to the troll.
It roared and I saw a glimpse of Frodo getting flung out of the troll's oversized hand and over by a far corner. I also noticed the strange spear in its other arm, as well as the metal chain, and eased the sword out of his neck, able to stab him one last time before flipping off him and landing on my feet on the deceased bodies of Orcs.
I looked up, ready to see the troll advance on me, but instead it limped forwards and with the spear it swung it into something. I couldn't see since the pillar was in my face so I laid my head back as I sunk in between the dead Orcs.
"Frodo, no!" Aragorn cried.
"Mr. Frodo?" Sam called. I felt him run past me and I jolted forwards. "Frodo!"
The troll stumbled back, the spear he was holding lodged into his chest, and his thumbs touching his mouth. My eyes widened and I crawled on my feet, walking limply over to Sam and laying my hands on his shoulders. What I saw startled me. Frodo was sprawled on his belly, Aragorn leaning over him sobbing and a trail of blood dripping down a crack in the stone floor. I shook my head grimly and turned to watch the troll tumble down against the floor dead.
I turned my head back to where Frodo's dead body laid and choked on some words to say. Nothing could be said, nothing. But as I watched dazedly at Frodo's body, I realised that he was moving and trying to sit up, but with Aragorn questioning him and Sam running out of my grip and towering over him, it was kind of complicated.
I suddenly got a wave of dizziness and Leaned against whatever was left of the crypt, my head spinning and the sharp pain in the back of my head growing once again.
"Frodo, you're alive, you're alive!"
"Y-Yes Sam." Frodo laughed. "I.. I am alive."
"You should be dead!" Aragorn breathed, touching the thin fabric laying against Frodo's chest.
"That spear could have killed a wild boar." Boromir said.
"Ah-ha." I gained my composure and wiped the sweat from my forehead.
"There is more to this Hobbit than meets the eye, eh?" Gandalf said, leaning against his staff.
"Who would of guessed that a Hobbit would wear a mithril!" Gimli huffed as soon as we gathered everyone and headed towards the doors. "Dragon skins, my Lady. That is what mithril is."
I nodded, not that interested in what the Dwarf was saying.
Suddenly, as Gandalf went to speak, drums and loud shrieking were heard again. The same shrieking as when the Orcs and that damned troll attacked us and slowed our pace. I turned to Legolas as his hand gripped my shoulder as for comfort. I found none there and looked up at him sadly, my head shaking. He frowned and withdrew his hand.
"More Orcs are on their way." Frodo breathed.
"We must make quickly to the bridge of Khazad-Dûm!" Gandalf said sternly, and with that we were off running through the darkness of Dwarrowdelf, my pace not as steady as it was before.