Chapter 4 Reviews:
Hel – I had decided that I should try to add a bit of my humour (God help us all) to this fic, but you know, I hadn't thought about the comedic potential of getting so many orcs in through one window – I should take advantage of this suggestion. *Amilyi begins to furiously type at her keyboard* There! That should do it! Thank you for the improvement!
A/N: Back on some form of a story track…
~Chapter 5~
"I'm hungry!" Yutgrug complained. Since Grôltakh had given him a cloak to stop him from complaining about the cold, he had begun complaining about everything else.
"I'm hungry!" Grôltakh mimicked. "I'm thirsty! I'm sleepy! I want to stop! Are we there yet Grôltakh? Why aren't we at Gondor yet Grôltakh?" Grôltakh shook his fist at Yutshrug before clouting him heavily over the head "Shut up, or I'll make you complain about a bloody nose and a headache!" Once more, a threat had silenced Yutshrug to a whimper. Spirits within the group were waning, trust in their leader falling every day because they seemed no nearer to their goal. There was a question burning in the back of Ragnäkah's mind, but he worried that the answer would not be agreeable. He would wait until they were alone before he would ask it. They came to a sudden stop in the middle of nowhere along the middle of a cliff-face path. Grôltakh looked upwards. "There it is."
Three metres above them, there was a small craggy opening covered mainly in moss and snow.
"Bloody hell," Ragnäkah whispered. "How're we all meant t' get through that?" He asked more loudly. His friend did not reply. Grôltakh began to climb upwards and disappeared into the cliff face. Moments later he reappeared. "Pass me some rope!" He called to them down below. Three long ropes were chucked at him from three different directions, and Grôltakh managed to catch two. The other fell down and around Yutshrug's head. Grôltakh disappeared for one more time, before he finally returned again. "Come on up! It's not the first entrance that I would have chosen, but we can all fit through and it's easier to get in than some of the others!" Ragnäkah was the first to climb up, deftly swinging through the window and down the rope onto the other side.
The room was enormous, with a high vaulted ceiling and many cold grey pillars decorated in small, almost unnoticeable scrawls and text. Orkish and dwarvish bodies lay scattered across the floor, some mauled before death, others mutilated afterwards. It was just another consequence of one of the wars to him. There were many windows in this room, but there weren't any as big as the one that Grôltakh had led them through. Ragnäkah turned towards Grôltakh.
"Erm…" Grôltakh's head snapped around from the window to him, a glare on his face.
"What?" He snarled. Ragnäkah tried to remain passive, but he didn't enjoy being snarled at. His voice took on the strained tone of repressed anger and malevolence.
"I was going to ask: have you ever led before?" He received a growl as a reply, and then Grôltakh finally spoke.
"A small band of orcs, yes - but never a group this big." Ragnäkah's fear had been realised.
"Brilliant," he sighed. "Absolutely, bloody brilliant."
Yutshrug was next in, clumsily pulling himself up the cliff face, slipping every now and again, tangling himself in the rope and falling down onto the floor on his face on the inside of the mountain.
"Three through, three hundred and thirty four or so to go," Ragnäkah grinned.
Ragnäkah turned and watched as several orcs seemed to have been thrown down from the window. One look up to see an uruk there confirmed that this was true, and before the orcs had time to pick themselves up, baggage was thrown on top of them. Each orc let out a collective grunt. Now if the Uruk-hai could keep this pace up, then maybe they would all be inside before tea time. Now that was a very Yutshrug-ish thought. The uruk returned with more bags, and tried to put it through the gap. It wouldn't fit through lengthways, but widthways it would. However, this particular uruk had about as much intelligence as Yutshrug, and did not figure this fact out for himself as he kept trying to jam it through the window lengthways. Grôltakh slapped a hand to his eyes and shook his head. Ragnäkah felt the same way. Perhaps they would be here even longer than previously thought.
~End of Chapter 5~
A/N: Heh heh – I now have this amusing mental image of an uruk forcing several snaga through this gap that's barely wide enough for two. Hmm, it doesn't feel finished. I know it's short – I didn't have long to write this. From now on, I will not groan in any way about chapter length (unless I am replying to a review, of course) :D .