I wanna say thanks, thanks, thanks to "someone" for reminding me that Frodo isn't the only important one here and that Lara has a right to feel weak, (Which won't happen a lot, mind you), and just might be the center of attention as much as Frodo usually is. So, go :P at Frodo, and let's go Lara! ^^ By the way, sorry for the extremely short chapter.
"We must not stop." Gandalf told us, hurrying along the Hobbits who were a much slower crowd than the lot of us. "They are gaining on us and a new evil is present in my mind. We must hurry!"
I was slightly taken aback by the speed Gandalf could muster. He might be old, but I was starting to suspect this wizard to be more than a magic doing, old fart. He turned back to regard me and I nodded, easily reading his mind. Why must he keep looking back at me? I was fine, just a little feverish, nothing I can't handle.
Prying myself from my thoughts, I bumped into Boromir and saw that everyone had stopped. Rubbing my sweat from my forehead, I turned my head slightly around and winced as the sound of feet tapping against stone and shrill cries of Orcs filled the entire Dwarrowdelf and I watched with a cold chill as they emerged from cracks in the ceilings, crawling along the large pillars like hungered spiders.
I shuddered at the thought.
A hand gripped my shoulder and I shot my head up to the beholder. I cringed up at Legolas. He was staring down at me rather hard and I nodded, reading his gaze and turning back to the hundreds and thousands of Orcs piling out together, their eyes the only light being provided in the blinding darkness. Gandalf's staff suddenly dimmed and I grabbed a handful of Legolas' vest in a nervous reaction.
He patted my shoulder but that brought no comfort. We were all done for, I knew it. They were advancing on us, and we all backed up as far as we could until our backs were against each other, all trembling with fear. All our weapons were useless here and I sighed in defeat. This was the end.
"We will survive. We will survive." I looked down at Sam, who had his eyes squeezed shut and his head wobbling side to side. I frowned. We won't survive. I wanted to say that, I really did, but it wouldn't be appropriate, so I turned back to the fate of our lives and shuddered. Well, good-bye tacos, good-bye techno music and good-bye Brice.. Hillary.
I suddenly felt so homesick. I have never felt this way before, and I've been gone longer than I have since being in Middle Earth. Maybe this is what it's like to know death was your only fate, that it's going to happen and it's the kind that is so slow, and from the looks of it it didn't look that good.
An Orc, that was advancing first, locked eyes with mine and crawled up on his legs, his long fingers clenching in and out and gazing at me hungrily. Anger coursed through me when remembering the pain in Gimli's eyes when finding his relative dead, and all those Dwarves and all I wanted to do was reach out and choke that blasted thing but...
The Orc reached out its long, bony arm and unclenched its fingers when they reached me. Instead of grabbing me, which I assumed it wanted to do, it clawed my cheek pretty badly and I cried out in pain. Before I touched the blood dripping there, I did what I've wanted to do and took it by its neck and ringed it until he choked death and fell limp against my grip. I side kicked another Orc approaching and pulled back when its neck snapped.
"They are going to kill us one by one." Gimli huffed behind me.
"No, they are going to try." I side kicked another Orc and this one attempted to leap on Gimli, but the Dwarf managed to kill it with a rough blow from the hilt of his ax. The Orc fell dead.
One by one, each Orc advanced on us and each one I killed, feeling my arms grow tired but I still killed them. Legolas' hand was on my waists, holding me tightly against him just in case something happened. I would have to thank him afterwards for that, and threw a full forced punch into a rather large Orc's cheek.
I pulled my arm back and grimaced. My knuckles were ripping and the debris on the Orc's skins were rubbing against my own and remaining there. When I waited for the next Orc to appear, I noticed the one's on the side starting to attack Boromir, Aragorn and Gandalf. I cocked my head back to the front and watched as about five leaped forwards, one tackling me down and the others tackling whoever down. I felt Legolas shout and the Orc on top of me snarled and spat in my face. Everything suddenly stopped and the look on the Orc's face tightened and whimpers were followed by a thunderous groan from somewhere down the city. The Orc atop of me panicked but, as the other's scrambled and fled through the way they came, I wouldn't let him go and pinned him against the stone floor, angrily spiting in his face.
"How do you like it now?" I spat, clenching my hands into fists and punching each cheek repeatedly. "Fucking bull arse!"
"Lara- Get up." Legolas ordered, grabbing me by my arm and lifting me to my feet.
I reached out as the Orc scrambled to his feet and grabbed him between my hands. With an angry snarl on my face, I squeeze tightly until I felt my fingers easing through the flesh of its neck and when its eyes rolled up in the back of its head, I pulled my fingers out and wiped them down on my shirt.
I suddenly froze and turned to where a bright, fire like light illumined down from us. "Why are we all looking at that?"
"Can- Can it be?" Legolas breathed, his hand jerking to his bow.
"Gandalf." Boromir said firmly, turning his head to the wizard. "What is this new devilry?"
"It is just a light." I whispered.
Gandalf shook his head and gazed at the light longingly. "It is called a Valaraukar. A demon of the ancient World, long ago. He is the demon of power and stands as a man, flames at its sides that would burn from a distance away." He turned to us all. "We must flee now. Your weapons are of no use now. Run... Quickly!"
And we ran, as fast as we could and surprisingly the Hobbits hurried themselves a bit faster this time around. Frodo tumbled a little, and I quickly grabbed him by the cuff of his collar and hurried him forwards. Just as we turned the corner I stopped, something strange getting my attention. Breathing heavily, I stared off as the demon Gandalf had described appeared a distance away, and indeed it looked primitive, flames captured around its large head and beady eyes.
If Legolas did not grab me by my waist, I would have stayed there longer. Prying my head to my front, I stumbled down very thin steps along a stairwell. There had to be thousands of them and the fellowship had already gone forwards and I caught up easily, since they had stopped.
"Gandalf- Gandalf, I've seen the Valaraukar.. the demon!" I said, swallowing a rather large lump in my throat.
When he did not answer me I realised something was wrong. We stopped just at a clearing, where a large gap lay in between where we wanted to go and where we currently were. But something else was wrong. Seeing the desperate look on Gandalf's face, I turned my head slowly to where he was gazing and stood quite still, watching as the orange light illumined at the top of the beginning of the stairwell.
"Oh no." I whispered.
"We must leap forth to the other stairwell!" Boromir shouted.
Legolas, who gave my arm a light squeeze, jumped first and landed gracefully at the other end. He beckoned Gandalf over, and with a great jump he fell into the arms of the Elf. Gimli jumped next, tossing himself since his Dwarven priorities did not consist of getting thrown around, and with a little help from Legolas he made it on the other end fine.
Aragorn, who gave me a quizzical look, jumped next and called for Frodo and me. I went to oblige, since I did not want to remain there any longer, but the end of stone steps crumbled, causing me to slip and slide down the steps. I heard everyone yelling behind me and I quickly grabbed onto a loose stone. Frodo was holding on for dear life, his eyes bloodshot and holding no sign of fear. I shook my head sadly and heaved myself back on the steps.
I held up my finger to Frodo, and he nodded, grabbing onto my waist. We were going to jump across to the others, and I was ready to run and leap when a groan from the demon echoed off the stairwells and I looked up as a large rock fell from the roof and tumbled just behind Frodo and me, crumbling the stone there and creating yet another large gap.
I groaned and rubbed my temple with my finger.
"Lara, the stairs are wobbling!" Legolas cried.
I looked down and indeed they were wobbling. Oh, that was just great.
"Hold onto me Frodo." I demanded, trying to balance out the weight of the stairwell. "Lean left- Lean right, lean right! Ah-ha." I blew out a breath as my balance lost itself and grabbed the Hobbit closer to me. "Lean forwards, lean forwards!" Frodo shouted along with the falling of the stairwell. It leaned forwards as it start to crumble, and I realised that one of us was going to make it and one of us not. Taking a deep breath and bracing myself for the fall, I hit the edge of the other stairwell with my head and heaved Frodo up as the others grabbed him.
I hung onto the edge of the stairwell as best as I could, but I became dizzy again from hitting my head. My palms were sweating as the orange light gleamed brighter and my fingers begun to slip from the stone.
"Go on!" I cried.
The fellowship made their way away from the steps as a rock came tumbling down once again. Legolas, whose face was contorted and tight, backed away from reaching for me as the rock hit where I was holding onto and everything suddenly stopped. The screams felt far away, the gush of wind nothing to me and as I begun falling I realised the screams were indeed from my mouth. I reached up my arms for something to grab onto, but the rock that caused me to tumble followed close by.
Darkness suddenly erupted around me and the last thing I saw before I fell into a shock of dizziness was the blinding light of the demon of the ancient world. What world, and I did not know, but for some reason I felt like I did.