Chapter Nine
It wasn't until the next morning when the Fellowship finally set out on their journey to Mordor. Chizuru was leading the group, followed by Iori, Andy, and the four Hobbits, whilst K' and Kyo brought up the rear.
Shingo looked at the sword Saysiu Kusanagi had given to him the night before they had departed from Rivendale. Saysiu had told him that the sword, named Sting, was of Elven make, lightweight and deadly. The blade would glow blue around the prescence of Orcs.
Another thing which Saysiu had given to him was a sort of chainmail top, though it was unexpectedly light to hold and wear, yet it was apparently extremely tough material, hard to penetrate. The material was called Mithril, and was something from the Dwarf race - not that Shingo was going to approach Iori Yagami, let alone question him about Mithril. Shingo had actually wanted to ask his master more about the sword and top but Saysiu had excused himself from the room as soon as he had caught sight of Kyo wandering about the courtyard below their balcony. It was evident that both of them had a lot to talk about.
After a while, the group of travellers stopped for a rest. The lands were becoming less grassy now and more rocky, nearing the mountains.
Andy was training Chris and Bao in the art of sword combat whist K' watched them from where he sat on a large rock. Kensou was cooking up some food whilst Shingo sat next to him, also watching Chris, Bao and Andy.
"We must hold this course, West of the Misty Mountains for forty days," Chizuru said as she continued planning their journey. "Then, if our luck holds, the Gap of Rohan will still be open to us. And from there, our road will turn East to Mordor."
"Well, if anyone was to ask for my opinion, which I note they are clearly not doing," Iori souded slightly indignant as he approached Chizuru. "I'd say we were wasting our time and taking the long way around," he stopped in front of her. "Chizuru. We could pass easily through the Mines of Moria. My cousin, Miss X, would give us a royal welcome."
Chizuru looked at Iori for a long time before saying quite bluntly "Iori, I would not take that road unless I had not other choice."
Iori's eyes darkened at the sorceress' words, but any retort that was forming was halted as Kyo, who had been standing on the other side of the area and clearly trying to avoid all contact with Iori, moves silently past him and lept onto one of the large rocks, looking at the skies.
Being an Elf, Kyo's senses were greatly enhanced and he had spotted something moving across the skies.
"What is that?" Kensou followed Kyo's gaze as the dark patch in the sky approached their direction.
"It's just a wisp of cloud," Iori waved his hand dismissively. "Probably some rain, that's all."
By now, everybody else had stopped what they were doing and were observing the dark mass in the bright sky.
"It's moving fast," Andy noted, his eyes narrowing. "Against the wind."
"Crebain from Dunland and Fangorn!" Kyo suddenly shouted as his sharp eyes recognised the moving group to be a massive flock of huge black crows.
"Hide!" K' was already moving to put out the small campfire and everybody else ran to grab various travel belongings as they dove for cover under outcrops of rock and also in clumps of bushes.
The crebain flew in low, some of them just inches from the ground as they swept past the area where the group were hiding. The sound of flapping wings and cawing voices was almost unbearable and for the four Hobbits, it was taking everything they had not to panic and start running.
As the flock flew away and over the hills, everybody slowly emerged from their shelters.
"Spies of N.E.S.T.S." Chizuru frowned, dusting herself off. "The passage south is being watched," she looked over at the huge mountain off to the side of the path that they were originally to take. "We must take the Pass of Caradhras."
"This was a mistake." Chris shivered as he walked in the ankle-deep snow that covered the ground as they walked along the path on the mountain of Caradhras. The other three Hobbits didn't say anything as they trudged along behind Andy.
Suddenly, Shingo lost his footing in the snow and was sent tumbling backwards where K' caught hold of him, stopping him from rolling further down the steep slope of the mountain.
"Are you alright, Shingo?" K' asked, helping the young Hobbit to stand.
Shingo began to nod, but stopped when he felt for the ring, which had been put onto a chain for him to wear and keep safe. The Orochi Ring of Power was no longer there.
Panic shot up Shingo's spine as his eyes began scanning the snowy path he had tumbled down, looking for the ring. To his credit and relief, he eventually spotted it, but before he could take a step, somebody else had picked it up.
Andy Bogard held the Orochi Ring of Power by its silver chain, looking at it inquisitively, like a child looking inquisitively at some new object for the first time.
"It is such a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt, over so small a thing," Andy continued to look at the gold ring. "Such a little thing."
"Andy!" K's stern voice brought Andy out of his almost mesmerised state. "Give the Ring back to Shingo."
As if he was still trying to figure out what had just happened, and slowly approached Shingo, holding out the chain with the gold ring dangling from it.
"As you wish," Andy said as impassively as he could as Shingo snatched the chain from his hand. "I care not." Andy ruffled Shingo's hair - perhaps a little too hard - and then, walked back to join the rest of the group who had stopped ahead and were all watching them silently.
K' watched Andy walk away, his hands still on Shingo's shoulders. Then, he glanced behind him, giving Kyo a silent nod of thanks as the Elf Princeling slotted the twin blades back into their sheathes on the back of his quiver strap.
As they progressed along the Pass of Caradhras, the Fellowship found themselves in incresing amounts of snow. To add to that, a storm had blown in, becoming more intense with every passing minute.
"This was definetely a mistake!" Chris shouted above the howling of the wind. The snow had become too deep for the Hobbits to walk through and were now being carried in twos by K' and Andy whilst Chizuru was trying to clear a way through at the front.
"For once, I might be inclined to agree with a Hobbit." Iori grumbled as he led the pony carrying all their stuff through the snow. "There are better places we could have gone through than this," he glanced at the Elf Prince walking on top of the snow and his scowl deepend. "And trust the Elf to show off!"
"What's that, Iori? Wishing you had Elven blood to stop you sinking into the snow?" Kyo grinned at Iori before drawing his attention away from the group and running to an outcropping on the mountain, cocking his head to one side as he looked out into the storm.
"What is it?" Chizuru stopped shovelling a pathway through the waist- high snow and glanced up at Kyo.
Kyo didn't answer straight away. He stood still for a few more seconds, his back to the group, before he finally turned around and replied "There is a fell voice on the air."
No sooner had he said that did the entire group hear a loud cracking noise and as everybody looked up, they saw about a dozen rocks detach themselves from the snowy outcropping above them, coming down fast at the ledge in which Kyo was standing upon.
Seeing the danger, Kyo leapt out of the way just as the first boulder obliterated the snowy ledge he had just vacated, keeping himself pressed against the wall of the mountain path, his eyes wide.
"Are you alright?" Chizuru looked at him, concerned.
"Yeah," Kyo nodded, letting out a sigh of relief so soft the others didn't notice. "I'll live."
"Pity." Iori murmered to himself, trying not to smile at the thought of his rival getting crushed by giant rocks.
"K9999 must be trying to bring down the mountain!" K' shouted from the back of the group. Everyone could hear the voice of the wizard clearer than before now and the spells he was reciting were affecting the conditions of the mountain. "Chizuru, we must turn back!"
"No!" Chizuru insisted as she faced the direction of K9999's commanding voice and shouted a spell back, trying to protect the group.
The chanting carried on for a few minutes before suddenly, a bright fork of lightning struck the top of the part of the mountain which the group were positioned under, sending an avalanche of snow on top of them and all of them disappeared from sight. K9999's voice could no longer be heard and a deadly silence was all that was left save for the howling of the stormy winds.
Kyo was the first to reappear from under the great pile of snow, looking around for the others. Shingo and Kensou were the next to appear, coughing and shivering as they pulled Chris and Bao from the deep snow.
"I'd say this was a great start to our journey." Iori announced sarcastically as he shook the snow out of his hair.
"We have to get off the mountain," Andy looked at Chizuru as she and also reappeared. "We should make for the Gap of Rohan and take the West road to my city!"
"The Gap of Rohan takes us too close to Isengard!" K' shouted above the storm.
"Well, if we cannot pass over the mountain, let us go under it!" Iori insisted. "Let us go through the Mines of Moria!"
Chizuru looked at the rest of the group. They were now presented with two different paths, each with their drawbacks. The route via the Gap of Rohan did indeed pass extremely close to Isengard. But on the other hand, there was a great evil located in the darkness of Khazad-dûm.
"Let the Ring-bearer decide." Chizuru finally said.
Shingo was surprised to say the least. He had been so used to everyone around him making decisions for the group, but now, the decision was totally up to him. He looked around at everyone, only to see that they were now all looking at him and waiting for him to speak. He only hoped that he would make the right choice. Especially since he had never heard of either of the two places, let alone seen them enough to make a judgement.
"We will go through the Mines of Moria."
It wasn't until the next morning when the Fellowship finally set out on their journey to Mordor. Chizuru was leading the group, followed by Iori, Andy, and the four Hobbits, whilst K' and Kyo brought up the rear.
Shingo looked at the sword Saysiu Kusanagi had given to him the night before they had departed from Rivendale. Saysiu had told him that the sword, named Sting, was of Elven make, lightweight and deadly. The blade would glow blue around the prescence of Orcs.
Another thing which Saysiu had given to him was a sort of chainmail top, though it was unexpectedly light to hold and wear, yet it was apparently extremely tough material, hard to penetrate. The material was called Mithril, and was something from the Dwarf race - not that Shingo was going to approach Iori Yagami, let alone question him about Mithril. Shingo had actually wanted to ask his master more about the sword and top but Saysiu had excused himself from the room as soon as he had caught sight of Kyo wandering about the courtyard below their balcony. It was evident that both of them had a lot to talk about.
After a while, the group of travellers stopped for a rest. The lands were becoming less grassy now and more rocky, nearing the mountains.
Andy was training Chris and Bao in the art of sword combat whist K' watched them from where he sat on a large rock. Kensou was cooking up some food whilst Shingo sat next to him, also watching Chris, Bao and Andy.
"We must hold this course, West of the Misty Mountains for forty days," Chizuru said as she continued planning their journey. "Then, if our luck holds, the Gap of Rohan will still be open to us. And from there, our road will turn East to Mordor."
"Well, if anyone was to ask for my opinion, which I note they are clearly not doing," Iori souded slightly indignant as he approached Chizuru. "I'd say we were wasting our time and taking the long way around," he stopped in front of her. "Chizuru. We could pass easily through the Mines of Moria. My cousin, Miss X, would give us a royal welcome."
Chizuru looked at Iori for a long time before saying quite bluntly "Iori, I would not take that road unless I had not other choice."
Iori's eyes darkened at the sorceress' words, but any retort that was forming was halted as Kyo, who had been standing on the other side of the area and clearly trying to avoid all contact with Iori, moves silently past him and lept onto one of the large rocks, looking at the skies.
Being an Elf, Kyo's senses were greatly enhanced and he had spotted something moving across the skies.
"What is that?" Kensou followed Kyo's gaze as the dark patch in the sky approached their direction.
"It's just a wisp of cloud," Iori waved his hand dismissively. "Probably some rain, that's all."
By now, everybody else had stopped what they were doing and were observing the dark mass in the bright sky.
"It's moving fast," Andy noted, his eyes narrowing. "Against the wind."
"Crebain from Dunland and Fangorn!" Kyo suddenly shouted as his sharp eyes recognised the moving group to be a massive flock of huge black crows.
"Hide!" K' was already moving to put out the small campfire and everybody else ran to grab various travel belongings as they dove for cover under outcrops of rock and also in clumps of bushes.
The crebain flew in low, some of them just inches from the ground as they swept past the area where the group were hiding. The sound of flapping wings and cawing voices was almost unbearable and for the four Hobbits, it was taking everything they had not to panic and start running.
As the flock flew away and over the hills, everybody slowly emerged from their shelters.
"Spies of N.E.S.T.S." Chizuru frowned, dusting herself off. "The passage south is being watched," she looked over at the huge mountain off to the side of the path that they were originally to take. "We must take the Pass of Caradhras."
"This was a mistake." Chris shivered as he walked in the ankle-deep snow that covered the ground as they walked along the path on the mountain of Caradhras. The other three Hobbits didn't say anything as they trudged along behind Andy.
Suddenly, Shingo lost his footing in the snow and was sent tumbling backwards where K' caught hold of him, stopping him from rolling further down the steep slope of the mountain.
"Are you alright, Shingo?" K' asked, helping the young Hobbit to stand.
Shingo began to nod, but stopped when he felt for the ring, which had been put onto a chain for him to wear and keep safe. The Orochi Ring of Power was no longer there.
Panic shot up Shingo's spine as his eyes began scanning the snowy path he had tumbled down, looking for the ring. To his credit and relief, he eventually spotted it, but before he could take a step, somebody else had picked it up.
Andy Bogard held the Orochi Ring of Power by its silver chain, looking at it inquisitively, like a child looking inquisitively at some new object for the first time.
"It is such a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt, over so small a thing," Andy continued to look at the gold ring. "Such a little thing."
"Andy!" K's stern voice brought Andy out of his almost mesmerised state. "Give the Ring back to Shingo."
As if he was still trying to figure out what had just happened, and slowly approached Shingo, holding out the chain with the gold ring dangling from it.
"As you wish," Andy said as impassively as he could as Shingo snatched the chain from his hand. "I care not." Andy ruffled Shingo's hair - perhaps a little too hard - and then, walked back to join the rest of the group who had stopped ahead and were all watching them silently.
K' watched Andy walk away, his hands still on Shingo's shoulders. Then, he glanced behind him, giving Kyo a silent nod of thanks as the Elf Princeling slotted the twin blades back into their sheathes on the back of his quiver strap.
As they progressed along the Pass of Caradhras, the Fellowship found themselves in incresing amounts of snow. To add to that, a storm had blown in, becoming more intense with every passing minute.
"This was definetely a mistake!" Chris shouted above the howling of the wind. The snow had become too deep for the Hobbits to walk through and were now being carried in twos by K' and Andy whilst Chizuru was trying to clear a way through at the front.
"For once, I might be inclined to agree with a Hobbit." Iori grumbled as he led the pony carrying all their stuff through the snow. "There are better places we could have gone through than this," he glanced at the Elf Prince walking on top of the snow and his scowl deepend. "And trust the Elf to show off!"
"What's that, Iori? Wishing you had Elven blood to stop you sinking into the snow?" Kyo grinned at Iori before drawing his attention away from the group and running to an outcropping on the mountain, cocking his head to one side as he looked out into the storm.
"What is it?" Chizuru stopped shovelling a pathway through the waist- high snow and glanced up at Kyo.
Kyo didn't answer straight away. He stood still for a few more seconds, his back to the group, before he finally turned around and replied "There is a fell voice on the air."
No sooner had he said that did the entire group hear a loud cracking noise and as everybody looked up, they saw about a dozen rocks detach themselves from the snowy outcropping above them, coming down fast at the ledge in which Kyo was standing upon.
Seeing the danger, Kyo leapt out of the way just as the first boulder obliterated the snowy ledge he had just vacated, keeping himself pressed against the wall of the mountain path, his eyes wide.
"Are you alright?" Chizuru looked at him, concerned.
"Yeah," Kyo nodded, letting out a sigh of relief so soft the others didn't notice. "I'll live."
"Pity." Iori murmered to himself, trying not to smile at the thought of his rival getting crushed by giant rocks.
"K9999 must be trying to bring down the mountain!" K' shouted from the back of the group. Everyone could hear the voice of the wizard clearer than before now and the spells he was reciting were affecting the conditions of the mountain. "Chizuru, we must turn back!"
"No!" Chizuru insisted as she faced the direction of K9999's commanding voice and shouted a spell back, trying to protect the group.
The chanting carried on for a few minutes before suddenly, a bright fork of lightning struck the top of the part of the mountain which the group were positioned under, sending an avalanche of snow on top of them and all of them disappeared from sight. K9999's voice could no longer be heard and a deadly silence was all that was left save for the howling of the stormy winds.
Kyo was the first to reappear from under the great pile of snow, looking around for the others. Shingo and Kensou were the next to appear, coughing and shivering as they pulled Chris and Bao from the deep snow.
"I'd say this was a great start to our journey." Iori announced sarcastically as he shook the snow out of his hair.
"We have to get off the mountain," Andy looked at Chizuru as she and also reappeared. "We should make for the Gap of Rohan and take the West road to my city!"
"The Gap of Rohan takes us too close to Isengard!" K' shouted above the storm.
"Well, if we cannot pass over the mountain, let us go under it!" Iori insisted. "Let us go through the Mines of Moria!"
Chizuru looked at the rest of the group. They were now presented with two different paths, each with their drawbacks. The route via the Gap of Rohan did indeed pass extremely close to Isengard. But on the other hand, there was a great evil located in the darkness of Khazad-dûm.
"Let the Ring-bearer decide." Chizuru finally said.
Shingo was surprised to say the least. He had been so used to everyone around him making decisions for the group, but now, the decision was totally up to him. He looked around at everyone, only to see that they were now all looking at him and waiting for him to speak. He only hoped that he would make the right choice. Especially since he had never heard of either of the two places, let alone seen them enough to make a judgement.
"We will go through the Mines of Moria."