Chapter Ten
Shingo Yabuki glanced around.
Moria was a change to the bitter cold of the Caradhras mountain, but in some ways, it was also just as bad.
Although they were on the outside of the Mines of Moria, they were surrounded by the high walls of Moria on one side, and a great shadowy lake on the other. He was already having second thoughts about his choice.
"Maybe we should have taken the Gap of Rohan." Kyo glanced around at these new lands, unable to supress the dread that was welling up within him. He hated the Dwarves as an Elf, and he hated the Yagamis as a Kusanagi. And to end up in a place that was more or less the area belonging to both..
"What's the matter, Kyo?" Iori gave a smug grin as he walked past. "Afraid of the dark?"
Chizuru ignored the two for the moment as she approached part of the wall that was in between two great trees. That part of the wall was significantly smoother than the rest of the great walls around them and she examined it closely.
"Ithildin," Chizuru spoke her findings to nobody in partucular. "It mirrors only starlight." she whispered a spell and the clouds in the sky to reveal a full moon. ".And moonlight."
Suddenly, as if by magic, the smooth area of the wall was illuminated with a bright glow as the moonlight hit the special coatings on the wall, revealing a secret door, elaborately crafted and with Elvish writing at the top.
"It reads, 'The Doors of Moria - Speak friend and enter'." Chizuru translated the letterings with ease.
"What do you suppose that means?" Chris looked at the stone doors.
"Well, it's quite simple. If you are a friend, you speak the password and the doors will open," Chizuru smiled and then spoke something loudly in Dwarfish.
Nothing happened.
Chizuru looked at the door before trying again.
Still nothing.
Ten minutes had passed and Chizuru was still trying to get the doors to open.
Kyo was sitting idly in the branch of one of the trees on the side of the stone doors, whilst Iori sat at the base of it, sharpening the edge of his axe.
"The mines are no place for a pony," K' had unloaded all the essentials from his horse's saddle as he had no intentions of taking the animal into the mines. "Even for one so brave as Bill."
"Bye bye, Bill." Kensou stroked the pony's neck as he removed the saddle.
"Go on, Bill. Go on," K' gently nudged the pony in the direction that they had come before turning to Kensou. "Don't worry, Kensou. Bill know's the way back to Rivendale."
Meanwhile, Bao and Chris were growing restless and had now taken up the activity on seeing who could throw a stone furthest into the huge lake before them.
"Do not disturb the water." K' suddenly grabbed hold of both of them, ceasing their activity, the seriousness in his eyes sending shivers down their spines. Andy was soon by his side, watching the water in the lake intently as the ripples subsided, and the two young Hobbits stepped hastily away from the edge of the lake.
"Kagura-sama," Shingo stood next to Chizuru as stood thinking of what the password could possibly be. "What is written on the doors is a riddle." He was oblivious of the ripples in the lake becoming larger. Kensou, Bao, K' and Andy began to back away, whilst Kyo, sensing something, jumped from the tree and headed towards them, deliberately kicking up dirt from the ground into Iori's face, much to the red-head's annoyance.
"It says 'Speak 'friend' and enter'," he looked at Chizuru. "What's the Elvish word for 'friend'?"
Chizuru looked at Shingo, the realisation dawning on her face as she answered "Mellon."
As she spoke those words, the two doors slowly opened before them, revealing the entrance into the dark mines within the walls.
Chizuru and Shingo looked at each other, sharing a smile, before the sorceress called to the rest of the party "Come on. Let's go."
The others followed, still looking warily at the rippling lake.
"Soon, all of you will be enjoying the fabled hospitality of the Dwarves," Iori seemed quite cheerful as they walked into the darkness beyond the doors. "Roaring fires, malt beer, ripe meat off the bone!" he cast a wicked look in Kyo's direction and added softly "though I can't guarantee the safety of a Kusanagi Elf." Iori then continued speaking to the group as he proudly announced "This, my comrades, is the realm of my cousin Miss X!" he laughed. "And they call it a meer mine!"
Chizuru picked an unlit torch from the walls, holding it out for Kyo to light with his Magatama flames, the fire transferring from his finger and onto the torch, lighting up the area for all to see.
"This is no mine." Andy's mouth fell open in shock as he glanced around at the decayed and skeletal bodies of dead Dwarves. Cobwebs had already covered the majority of them, indicating that they were long dead. "It's a tomb."
The realisation was quick to dawn upon the group and the four Hobbits lept back in fear at the sight of a corpse at their feet.
"No." Iori looked around, taking in the scene with horror in his eyes. "No!"
Kyo yanked an arrow from one of the bodies, quickly analyzing the design of the bolt before throwing the arrow back down and bringing his bow and arrow into hand. "Goblins."
K' and Andy were quick to also draw their swords.
"We make for the Gap of Rohan," Andy said as calmly as he could, his eyes darting around the dimly-lit room. "We should never have come here. Now let's get out of here. Everybody out!"
Shingo suddenly let out a yell, and everyone turned around just in time to see two tentacles shoot from the lake, wrapping around Shingo's legs, dragging him towards the water. "Help!"
"Shingo!" Kensou, Chris and Bao were there in a flash, Kensou and Chris trying to pull Shingo back, whilst Bao was hacking at the two great tentacles with his sword.
The tentacles seemed to let go of Shingo, retreating back into the lake, giving the young Hobbits a few seconds to drag Shingo back a few more inches, before the waters of the lake suddenly exploded with more tentacles heading towards them.
Chris, Kensou and Bao were all knocked away as Shingo was grabbed once more by whatever was in the lake, the limbs hauling him high above the lake and out of anybody else's reach as K', Andy and Kyo got to the scene.
The three fighters were quick to act, Andy and K' using their swords to cut through the mass of thick limbs whilst Kyo targeted the tentacles that held Shingo with his arrows.
As some of the tentacles of the creature were chopped or speared, more and more seemed to grab hold of Shingo, holding him upside down above the water where the rest of the creature's hideous form began to rise from beneath the surface of the lake. A gaping mouth with razor-sharp teeth appeared and Shingo screamed in terror as he found himself being lowered towards it.
Just then, he felt himself being jerked through the air as K' cut through the thick tentacles that had a hold of him, sending him tumbling through the air, only to be caught by Andy in the water.
"Into the mines!" Chizuru shouted to them from the stone doors of Moria as she pushed Bao, Kensou and Chris back into the corpse-filled room. At the moment, the huge creature was blocking the way that they had come from Caradhras and with it beginning to close in on them, the only safe place was back in the mines.
"Kyo!" Andy waded through the waters with Shingo still held tightly in his arms. K' was close behind him, trying to fend off the creatures tentacles as it began moving after them, rapidly gaining distance between them.
Kyo stood at the entrance to the mines, setting one of his arrows alight with his flames before scoring a direct hit into the creature's face, making it roar in pain, buying some time for Andy and K' to get out of the lake, before the creature resumed following them.
"Into the cave!" K' grabbed hold of Kyo's arm and pulling him into the mine as the creature moved out of the lake and onto the rocky land, still determined to catch up with it's prey.
The old stone foundations of the entrance to the mine began to crumble as the creature tried to force it's way through the smaller doorway, still in hot pursuit of K', Kyo, Andy and Shingo.
"Move!" K' shouted to the others as the ceiling above the entrace began to cave in, sending large and heavy boulders and rocks crashing down to the floor, sending up a cloud of dirt and dust which snuffed the flame from Chizuru's torch, plunging the room into darkness as the last rocks fell.
For a moment, all that could be heard was the sound of falling pebbles and the panting of some members of the group. Then, Chizuru's voice broke the near silence.
"Someone give me a flame," the sorceress said and was replied by a flame from K's hand, which she used to relight her torch, casting a dim lighting in the room again. "It seems, we now have but one choice. We must face the long dark of Moria," she headed to the stairs, passing the other members of the Fellowship. " Be on your guard. It is a four-day journey to the other side. And there are older and foulder things than Orcs in the deep places of the world."
"I think she's hinting at you." Kyo whispered in Iori's ear as he walked past the red-head.
"It would do you good to keep your cocky attitude in check, Elf," Iori growed as he walked up the stairs behind Kyo. "Because at the moment, I am quite tempted to see just how far I can shove your precious bow up your-"
"Will you two please stop your bickering for a moment!" Chizuru hissed at the two rivals before, reaching the top of the giant stairs, she stopped in her tracks, glancing at the three different paths in front of them.
"What's the matter, Kagura-sama?" Shingo asked quietly as he stood beside her.
Chizuru looked at each of the different pathways ahead of them, each of them appearing almost identical. "I have no memory of this place."
Shingo Yabuki glanced around.
Moria was a change to the bitter cold of the Caradhras mountain, but in some ways, it was also just as bad.
Although they were on the outside of the Mines of Moria, they were surrounded by the high walls of Moria on one side, and a great shadowy lake on the other. He was already having second thoughts about his choice.
"Maybe we should have taken the Gap of Rohan." Kyo glanced around at these new lands, unable to supress the dread that was welling up within him. He hated the Dwarves as an Elf, and he hated the Yagamis as a Kusanagi. And to end up in a place that was more or less the area belonging to both..
"What's the matter, Kyo?" Iori gave a smug grin as he walked past. "Afraid of the dark?"
Chizuru ignored the two for the moment as she approached part of the wall that was in between two great trees. That part of the wall was significantly smoother than the rest of the great walls around them and she examined it closely.
"Ithildin," Chizuru spoke her findings to nobody in partucular. "It mirrors only starlight." she whispered a spell and the clouds in the sky to reveal a full moon. ".And moonlight."
Suddenly, as if by magic, the smooth area of the wall was illuminated with a bright glow as the moonlight hit the special coatings on the wall, revealing a secret door, elaborately crafted and with Elvish writing at the top.
"It reads, 'The Doors of Moria - Speak friend and enter'." Chizuru translated the letterings with ease.
"What do you suppose that means?" Chris looked at the stone doors.
"Well, it's quite simple. If you are a friend, you speak the password and the doors will open," Chizuru smiled and then spoke something loudly in Dwarfish.
Nothing happened.
Chizuru looked at the door before trying again.
Still nothing.
Ten minutes had passed and Chizuru was still trying to get the doors to open.
Kyo was sitting idly in the branch of one of the trees on the side of the stone doors, whilst Iori sat at the base of it, sharpening the edge of his axe.
"The mines are no place for a pony," K' had unloaded all the essentials from his horse's saddle as he had no intentions of taking the animal into the mines. "Even for one so brave as Bill."
"Bye bye, Bill." Kensou stroked the pony's neck as he removed the saddle.
"Go on, Bill. Go on," K' gently nudged the pony in the direction that they had come before turning to Kensou. "Don't worry, Kensou. Bill know's the way back to Rivendale."
Meanwhile, Bao and Chris were growing restless and had now taken up the activity on seeing who could throw a stone furthest into the huge lake before them.
"Do not disturb the water." K' suddenly grabbed hold of both of them, ceasing their activity, the seriousness in his eyes sending shivers down their spines. Andy was soon by his side, watching the water in the lake intently as the ripples subsided, and the two young Hobbits stepped hastily away from the edge of the lake.
"Kagura-sama," Shingo stood next to Chizuru as stood thinking of what the password could possibly be. "What is written on the doors is a riddle." He was oblivious of the ripples in the lake becoming larger. Kensou, Bao, K' and Andy began to back away, whilst Kyo, sensing something, jumped from the tree and headed towards them, deliberately kicking up dirt from the ground into Iori's face, much to the red-head's annoyance.
"It says 'Speak 'friend' and enter'," he looked at Chizuru. "What's the Elvish word for 'friend'?"
Chizuru looked at Shingo, the realisation dawning on her face as she answered "Mellon."
As she spoke those words, the two doors slowly opened before them, revealing the entrance into the dark mines within the walls.
Chizuru and Shingo looked at each other, sharing a smile, before the sorceress called to the rest of the party "Come on. Let's go."
The others followed, still looking warily at the rippling lake.
"Soon, all of you will be enjoying the fabled hospitality of the Dwarves," Iori seemed quite cheerful as they walked into the darkness beyond the doors. "Roaring fires, malt beer, ripe meat off the bone!" he cast a wicked look in Kyo's direction and added softly "though I can't guarantee the safety of a Kusanagi Elf." Iori then continued speaking to the group as he proudly announced "This, my comrades, is the realm of my cousin Miss X!" he laughed. "And they call it a meer mine!"
Chizuru picked an unlit torch from the walls, holding it out for Kyo to light with his Magatama flames, the fire transferring from his finger and onto the torch, lighting up the area for all to see.
"This is no mine." Andy's mouth fell open in shock as he glanced around at the decayed and skeletal bodies of dead Dwarves. Cobwebs had already covered the majority of them, indicating that they were long dead. "It's a tomb."
The realisation was quick to dawn upon the group and the four Hobbits lept back in fear at the sight of a corpse at their feet.
"No." Iori looked around, taking in the scene with horror in his eyes. "No!"
Kyo yanked an arrow from one of the bodies, quickly analyzing the design of the bolt before throwing the arrow back down and bringing his bow and arrow into hand. "Goblins."
K' and Andy were quick to also draw their swords.
"We make for the Gap of Rohan," Andy said as calmly as he could, his eyes darting around the dimly-lit room. "We should never have come here. Now let's get out of here. Everybody out!"
Shingo suddenly let out a yell, and everyone turned around just in time to see two tentacles shoot from the lake, wrapping around Shingo's legs, dragging him towards the water. "Help!"
"Shingo!" Kensou, Chris and Bao were there in a flash, Kensou and Chris trying to pull Shingo back, whilst Bao was hacking at the two great tentacles with his sword.
The tentacles seemed to let go of Shingo, retreating back into the lake, giving the young Hobbits a few seconds to drag Shingo back a few more inches, before the waters of the lake suddenly exploded with more tentacles heading towards them.
Chris, Kensou and Bao were all knocked away as Shingo was grabbed once more by whatever was in the lake, the limbs hauling him high above the lake and out of anybody else's reach as K', Andy and Kyo got to the scene.
The three fighters were quick to act, Andy and K' using their swords to cut through the mass of thick limbs whilst Kyo targeted the tentacles that held Shingo with his arrows.
As some of the tentacles of the creature were chopped or speared, more and more seemed to grab hold of Shingo, holding him upside down above the water where the rest of the creature's hideous form began to rise from beneath the surface of the lake. A gaping mouth with razor-sharp teeth appeared and Shingo screamed in terror as he found himself being lowered towards it.
Just then, he felt himself being jerked through the air as K' cut through the thick tentacles that had a hold of him, sending him tumbling through the air, only to be caught by Andy in the water.
"Into the mines!" Chizuru shouted to them from the stone doors of Moria as she pushed Bao, Kensou and Chris back into the corpse-filled room. At the moment, the huge creature was blocking the way that they had come from Caradhras and with it beginning to close in on them, the only safe place was back in the mines.
"Kyo!" Andy waded through the waters with Shingo still held tightly in his arms. K' was close behind him, trying to fend off the creatures tentacles as it began moving after them, rapidly gaining distance between them.
Kyo stood at the entrance to the mines, setting one of his arrows alight with his flames before scoring a direct hit into the creature's face, making it roar in pain, buying some time for Andy and K' to get out of the lake, before the creature resumed following them.
"Into the cave!" K' grabbed hold of Kyo's arm and pulling him into the mine as the creature moved out of the lake and onto the rocky land, still determined to catch up with it's prey.
The old stone foundations of the entrance to the mine began to crumble as the creature tried to force it's way through the smaller doorway, still in hot pursuit of K', Kyo, Andy and Shingo.
"Move!" K' shouted to the others as the ceiling above the entrace began to cave in, sending large and heavy boulders and rocks crashing down to the floor, sending up a cloud of dirt and dust which snuffed the flame from Chizuru's torch, plunging the room into darkness as the last rocks fell.
For a moment, all that could be heard was the sound of falling pebbles and the panting of some members of the group. Then, Chizuru's voice broke the near silence.
"Someone give me a flame," the sorceress said and was replied by a flame from K's hand, which she used to relight her torch, casting a dim lighting in the room again. "It seems, we now have but one choice. We must face the long dark of Moria," she headed to the stairs, passing the other members of the Fellowship. " Be on your guard. It is a four-day journey to the other side. And there are older and foulder things than Orcs in the deep places of the world."
"I think she's hinting at you." Kyo whispered in Iori's ear as he walked past the red-head.
"It would do you good to keep your cocky attitude in check, Elf," Iori growed as he walked up the stairs behind Kyo. "Because at the moment, I am quite tempted to see just how far I can shove your precious bow up your-"
"Will you two please stop your bickering for a moment!" Chizuru hissed at the two rivals before, reaching the top of the giant stairs, she stopped in her tracks, glancing at the three different paths in front of them.
"What's the matter, Kagura-sama?" Shingo asked quietly as he stood beside her.
Chizuru looked at each of the different pathways ahead of them, each of them appearing almost identical. "I have no memory of this place."