Chapter 4: The Mines of Moria.
The group walked through the entrance hall to the mines with an air of deep sorrow, Gimli just couldn't believe this, and the dwarves were once great people who could throw a banquet fit for several kings.
Sara and Claire just walked through silently, knowing of what was to come they found they couldn't speak a word; they just gazed around at the bodies.
Boromir stopped and waited for Claire to meet with him, she walked up slowly and looked up at him sadly, like a little puppy.
"Do not worry, soon we will put a stop to this evil, once and for all!" he said to try and cheer her up.
Sara was still shaken from her latest ordeal, and now this, things didn't seem to be getting any better, and to make things worse she knew of what was to come. They walked through the great halls almost in procession out of respect for the dead.
"Can you see anymore of what is to come?" Frodo asked the girls.
Claire looked at him for a moment, then she looked back at Sara who was staring at the ground, "no, unfortunately we can not see any further for the time being."
Aragorn looked at them sceptically as if he thought that there was something these two virtual strangers knew that they weren't telling him.
Claire fell behind with Sara again, "look on the bright side, without this there can be no Gandalf the white."
"I know your write but they don't know that, and its gonna hit them hard, especially Frodo, he loves Gandalf." She said in a quite whisper, so that none of them could here what they were saying not even Legolas with his keen elf senses. The halls had a ghostly light that emanated from gandalfs staff, apart from that there was nothing but darkness throughout, which only added to the atmosphere.
"We will have to keep on going and no one must let their guard down!" Aragorn called from in front of the group.
They began to climb up. Rocks were tumbling everywhere and Sara's new elven cloak was in danger of being ripped on the sharp stone if she wasn't careful.
"God I sure wish I'd tried harder in P.E" Sara said to Claire once they were over the top and back onto flat ground again.
"Me too!" the girls were a little out of breath but they weren't the only ones, Gimli was also finding it hard and was the last too reach the top" Legolas went to offer him his hand.
"No thanks, I can manage"
The fellowship reached three passageways.
"Are we lost?" Pippin asked
"No" merry answered.
"I think we are"
"Shhh Gandalf's thinking!"
Sara stifled a small giggle; they were all sitting on various rocks waiting for Gandalf to sniff out the right passageway for them to go down.
"Merry"
"What?"
"I'm hungry"
The whole group was hungry and they hadn't eaten since camping round the campfire. Claire walked over towards one of the entrances and took a deep breath through her nose, it was this one, she could smell fresh air, or at least fresher air than what was coming out of any of the other holes, but at this rate Gandalf wasn't going to realise for another half an hour.
"Its this one!" Claire called.
"How do you know?" Gandalf asked.
"Because the air smells fresher down here."
"How did you know to use your nose?"
"Um...we are taught to rely on our scent where I come from"
Gandalf eyed her suspiciously, Aragorn and Legolas laughed, Gandalf was not used to being outsmarted.
Frodo walked over to the passage, "what is that?"
"It is the creature Gollum" Gandalf replied, "he has been following us since we left Rivendell,"
The fellowship walked over to see Gollum, it was only Gandalf, Aragorn and Legolas who had seen this creature (Sara and Claire had seen him but only on the films) but he had gone.
"Is he dangerous?" Frodo asked.
"He only wants his precious, but he isn't very strong, and couldn't do us any harm.
"We have been travelling for 4 hours now, how long will it take us to reach the end of these mines?" asked merry.
"At least 4 days." Aragorn walked over to a clear spot, "we shall rest here, although one of us will have to stay on guard."
Legolas volunteered himself for guard duty, and the rest tried to settle down on the uncomfortable stone floor, while Legolas sat on a rock listening for any sound, it was no use trying to find anything with his eyes, Gandalf's staff light had gone out and it was now near enough pitch blank in the mine.
Legolas was sat there for a while listening hard, although Gimli and Gandalf's snore made things difficult to hear. He looked up, not far away a noise had been made, it sounded like someone stepping on bones, and he quietly lifted his bow and tip toed over to where he thought he had heard the noise.
Sara was in a light sleep, when she was awoken by the same crunching noise that Legolas has gone off to investigate. She looked over to see where Legolas was and found him not there, she began to worry, although Legolas could take good care of himself, she knew he wasn't safe wondering around this place by himself so she picked up her bow, armed it with an arrow and walked off to try and find out where Legolas had disappeared to.
Legolas walked around, listening for any sign of the thing that had made the first noise and there was another crunch, but this time it came from back closer to where they were all camping.
Sara walked on, she had just stepped on something that had made a load noise, she continued to walk in search for the Elf and something was moving but what it was she didn't know.
Legolas knew there was something out there now and he had his bow and arrow poised, ready to shoot down anything that moved, he was walking backwards now until he came to a large stone column, he rested his back up against it, if the thing was coming his way now he was sure to catch it.
Sara was walking slowly, she knew that if she found anything, then she wasn't likely to hit it, but at least she could scare it off, she moved over to a stone column so that she could have the element of surprise if anything came her way.
Legolas knew that whatever it was it was behind this stone column.
Sara walked over to the column, she stopped a minute, she could here the sound of a bow being pulled back, something is behind there, she decided, so she decided to count to three in her head, and then attack, one...two...THREE she sprang round the side of the column and found herself face to face with an extremely sharp arrow. She gulped but then breathed a sigh of relief, it was Legolas, she looked at him as he lowered his weapon, "and I nearly shot you just then."
"I would have hit you first" Legolas replied ruefully, although he was still concerned that he had heard something back there, it was probably gone by now.
"I heard you mention something about me at the council of Elrond, but I didn't quite catch it, what was it you said?" Legolas asked innocently.
"Um...um...nothing" Sara was grateful that it was dark otherwise he would have been able to see her blushing, although she sensed that he already knew what he said and was just playing with her.
"All I managed to catch was 'god he's cute when he's angry'" he said, "Whom were you referring to?"
"Um...I was referring to...um...no one!" she replied, she was now bright red.
"It wasn't no one, who was it" he pressed.
She gave up, she might as well tell him, he probably knew already, 'god Claire's gonna laugh her head of when she hears about this' she thought to herself, picturing the expression that her friend was most likely to have. "I was referring to you."
"Oh, well I'm glad you think that I'm 'cute'"
They had now reached the rest of the campers, Legolas went over and sat on his rock, Sara looked at him, he smiled, "are you going to go back to sleep?" he asked, "you'll need all your strength for tomorrow."
"Nah, I'm not that tired, can I keep you company?"
"Yes, of course."
She went over and sat by him, the pair were talking for hours about their opinions on everything from the weather to love, but it was not long before the others woke up and they started to attempt to make some sort of breakfast.
Claire woke up and saw Sara with a grin on her face; she looked as if she had just experienced heaven.
"Oh my god, what have you been up to?" Claire asked, getting up to go and join her friend.
"Oh, nothing," Sara replied coyly.
"Yeah right, spill!"
"Well," Sara said, loving keeping her friend in suspense, "I just spent all night with the most amazing, gorgeous, talented and caring elf in the whole of middle earth."
Claire's eyes widened. "I know what you're thinking, and no. We didn't get up to anything, we just talked." Sara said, reading her friends mind.
Claire laughed out loud, not being able to stop herself, causing the group to look up, "Sara just told me a really funny joke." Claire said.
"What was the joke?" said Sam coming over to them, "I could do with a laugh"
Sara looked at Claire, who was smiling; she was getting revenge for yesterday.
"Um, I don't want to bore you with my silly jokes, honestly its not worth hearing."
Sam looked at her, Boromir came over to them, "I'd like to here it" he said
"And us!" Merry and Pippin joined him.
Sara was racking her brains to try and find a suitable joke to tell them all.
"Ok, why did the chicken cross the road?" everyone looked puzzled by this, except Claire who was fighting to keep a straight face.
"I don't know, why did the chicken cross the road?" asked Aragorn. Sara was now also fighting to stop herself from laughing insanely.
"To get to the other side!" Sara couldn't stop herself, she burst out laughing along with Claire, and they were clutching their sides, whilst the rest of the fellowship just looked at them puzzled.
"So where is the joke?" merry asked.
"You have a strange sort of humour," said Gandalf.
Sara looked at Claire, and started giggling again, it took the pair a few more minutes to calm themselves down, and Sara still had to bite her lip.
The group packed up all their belongings, the girls didn't have much to carry because they were girls and therefore too good for that sort of thing.
Claire was walking along, they would probably reach Balin's tomb today, she thought, this would be where they would fight the cave troll. Boromir walked with her, holding her round the waist protectively, they hadn't had chance yet to finish what they had started the other day, but as soon as they could get away for five minutes, she was going to drag him off, and...
Sara walked along with Gimli; she was talking to the Dwarf about what the mines of Moria used to be like.
"They were magnificent," he said "you could always rely on a Dwarf to show great hospitality, much better than anything any Elves could do"
Legolas looked around at this, Sara looked at him and rolled her eyes. It was strange to think that these two would form the strongest friendship that there has ever been between a Dwarf and an Elf.
Gandalf lit his staff again, and the room they were in suddenly appeared, Gimli gave a cry, just in front of them was a large stone coffin, Gandalf walked towards it to read the inscription on the top .
"Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria." He is dead then. It's as I feared." Gandalf handed his staff and hat to Claire and Pippin.
Gimli was looking at the tomb, he muttered a small prayer to himself, "Kilmin malur ni zaram kalil ran arag. Kheled-zâram. Balin tazlifi."
"What does that mean?" Sara asked Claire.
"I'm not sure" she replied, the group was silent for a minute.
Legolas looked around the room, "we must move on we can't stay here"
The room was littered with the bodies of dead orcs and Dwarves.
Gandalf walked over to where a small book, possibly a diary lay, he read aloud what it said on the page, "They have taken the bridge and the second hall. We have barred the gates but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes. Drums, drums in the deep. We cannot get out. A Shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out. They are coming."
Claire walked over and noticed Pippin stood by a well, he was looking at a skeleton and he reached out to touch it and it fell into the well along with a bucket, making a loud noise as it went any hopes they had of passing through unnoticed were now dashed. Gandalf looked furious.
'Poor Pippin' Claire thought, all the poor hobbit wanted was to have a decent meal, and rest in a nice bed, in fact that was what they all wanted, but the hobbits were not used to this sort of life, and obviously weren't going to get used to it for a long while.
"Fool of a took, throw yourself in next time, and rid us of your stupidity!" Gandalf said scornfully.
Sara looked worried, she knew exactly what was about to happen, and she walked over to where Legolas and Aragorn were stood.
"What if we are attacked?" she asked him, "I don't think I am a good enough fighter to defend myself or anyone else"
"Don't worry, I will not let anything happen to you." The elf said this with such certainty that she felt completely reassured, she wanted to hug him, but she did not know how he would react to physical contact.
There was a rumble and the room almost felt like it was shaking, everyone's eyes turned towards the door. Frodo pulled his sword out of its sheath, it was glowing blue; orcs were coming.
"Frodo!" Sam shouted, he realised what this meant and went over to guard his friend.
Boromir walked over to the door and two arrows were shot in.
"Boromir!" Claire shouted, she went to run over towards him but was stopped by Aragorn. He looked at her, "get back, stay close to Gandalf!" he ordered
But there was no way he could stop Claire she ducked under his arm and ran towards Boromir, taking out her sword, ready to fight any on coming evil.
Sara was stood over in the corner with the hobbits, behind Gandalf, who had also drawn his sword.
"They have a cave troll" Boromir was now putting a thick plank of wood across the door to hold them, but they all knew that this would not hold for long.
"Let them come! There is one dwarf yet in Moria that still draws breath." Gimli shouted defiantly.
At that moment the Orcs bust through the door, and came at them, brandishing swords and bows.
They fought them; Sara even managed to get a few good shots of her arrows, to which Legolas shot her a gorgeous smile.
At Boromir's side, stood Claire slashing at the Orcs with accuracy and precision, if this wasn't so life threatening then it would be fun, she thought.
Then the ground began to shake, as something large and monstrous approached; the cave troll.
The troll was hideous it had a face that looked like he had been hit by a frying pan a few times, and he was holding a huge club that looked as if it could knock out ten men at a time.
Sam was stood over by the tomb, using his knife to stab an Orc, "I think I'm getting the hang of this!" he shouted, then he looked up at the troll, and the poor little hobbit looked as if he was going to wet himself. The troll went for Frodo, and dragged him across the stone floor.
"Frodo!" Sara, Aragorn and Claire shouted.
"Aragorn, Aragorn, ARAGORN!" Frodo could do nothing to stop this creature; it was too strong.
Claire ran over towards the troll, getting ready to shoot it with an arrow, she aimed for it's chest, but before she could release the arrow, it looked straight at her, and grabbed her with its gigantic hands, and tossed her against the wall, she slid down and lay in a crumpled heap on the floor.
Sara had just watched this happened, she looked horrified, she wanted to go and make sure that Claire was all right, but she couldn't get to her.
Aragorn was preparing to attack, he went straight for its chest and stabbed it, the troll looked at its new wound for a second, and then carried on attacking, the sword hadn't even been able to pierce it's thick skin.
Aragorn had rescued Frodo from the troll, before he stabbed it, but the troll now swung for him and knocked him over to the side, Frodo ran over to check on Aragorn. Sara looked over her shoulder, she saw Frodo going over to Aragorn, she knew what was going to happen next, "Frodo, noooooooooooo!" she screamed, but it was too late, the troll hurled a huge spear at Frodo piercing his body, Merry and Pippin jumped on the trolls back attacking him with all their might. It took Sara a few minutes to remember that it couldn't hurt him because of the Mithril coat that Bilbo had given him at Rivendell.
She ran over to Claire, Boromir was knelt by her side, he had propped her head up with his cloak, Sara looked at him, "have you checked for a pulse?" she asked.
Legolas shot and arrow at the troll, it crashed to the ground with a loud thud. Aragorn crawled over to where Frodo lay unconscious. He rolled him over, "oh no" he whispered.
"He's alive!"
"It's alright I'm not hurt" he said opening his eyes, everyone who was watching him looked shocked, it was only Sara and Boromir that were not with Frodo, they were tending to Claire.
Aragorn couldn't believe his eyes, "You should be dead. That spear would have skewered a wild boar." He said with disbelief. Frodo sat up.
"I think there is more to this hobbit than meets the eye!" Frodo revealed the coat.
"Mithril, you are full of surprises master Baggins!" said Gimli.
"I think you had better go and check that Claire is alright."
They all got up and walked over to where Claire was still lying. Sara put her index finger under Claire's jaw line to check for a pulse, "she's alive! But she's not breathing, we have to revive her, quick!"
Aragorn looked to Gandalf, "I'm not able to treat humans with magic." He replied.
"We have to do something! There is no way on this planet that I am leaving this place until she is awake, Sara knew that if she was left for too long then she would possibly slip into a coma, or worse...die.
"Right that's it, Boromir, do you know how to resuscitate someone?"
The group looked puzzled at this, they obviously didn't have any conventional methods of reviving a person.
"No, I'm afraid I don't." he said sadly
"ok, all you have to do is breathe into her mouth, ok? I'll do the rest."
"ok"
Boromir bent down and breathed precious air into Claire's mouth, Sara felt Claire's hand move, "She's awake!" Sara screamed.
Claire's eyes fluttered open and she found herself staring straight into Boromir's, he lifted her up on to her feet, and kept his hand round her to keep her steady.
"Are you alright?" Sara asked Claire, sounding concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine" the two girls hugged.
"Don't scare me like that again, ok?"
Claire nodded. She tried to walk, but she felt too dizzy, Aragorn came over to her and supported her on one side with Boromir on the other, and they walked.
There was another noise. "More Orcs are coming." Said Legolas.
"To the bridge of Khazad-dûm!" shouted Gandalf.
They all ran into a great hallway, but soon Moria was filled with Orcs, and they were completely surrounded. There was a strange noise coming from one direction, and a red glow appeared on the walls, the Orcs saw this and turned fleeing from this new monster.
"The Balrog." Whispered Claire.
Aragorn heard this, his eyes widened in shock.
Legolas was holding up his bow ready to fight this evil, but he soon lowered it, realising that a simple arrow would not stop this great beast.
"What is this new devilry?" asked Boromir, he had obviously not heard what Claire had said.
"A Balrog. A demon of the ancient world. This foe is beyond any of you. Run!" Shouted Gandalf.
Claire could not run, and if Boromir and Aragorn kept supporting her like this then they would be too slow, so Boromir swept her up in his arms and ran.
They all fled, running as fast as they could, Gandalf fell behind.
"Gandalf!" Aragorn shouted.
"Lead them on, Aragorn. The bridge is near." Aragorn did not move, Gandalf shoved him on, "do as I say! Swords are no more use here"
The stone was beginning to crumble, and there was a gap in the bridge, Legolas jumped over it easily, and turned around and signaled for Gandalf to jump. Next it was the turn of Merry and pippin, boromir took one under each arm and jumped, as they were in mid-jump some more of the bridge crumbled away and Legolas had to pull them over to get them to safety. Next it was Sara's turn, she took a running jump, and nearly missed the edge, if it wasn't for Legolas catching her, she would have fell to her doom, they shared a brief moment. Aragorn next threw Sam across, the poor hobbit made it across safely.
Aragorn turned to Gimli, "nobody tosses a dwarf!" he said backing away from Aragorn, the little dwarf jumped on his own, but nearly fell off, Legolas grabbed his beard to pull him back on "oh no, not the beard!" he shouted.
Claire was the next one to go, she jumped and cleared the gap easily, but hit the ground hard, Boromir rushed to her side to make sure she was alright.
The last to go were Aragorn and Frodo, the bridge looked like it could collapse any minute, Aragorn grabbed Frodo by the back of his shirt, they prepared to jump, "ready, hold on!" shouted Aragorn. The rock began to sway, "Hang on!" some more of the rock fell away, they had to go soon, "lean forward, steady!" Aragorn jumped, they made it barely.
"Come on, now!" shouted Legolas.
"Over the bridge, fly!" said Gandalf, Gandalf was stood in the middle of the bridge, he had turned to face the Balrog, he turned around to see that the others had waited for him, they were on the other side of the bridge, and Gandalf was stood in the middle.
"Gandalf, NO!" Sara shouted, but it was no use, this had to happen.
"You cannot pass!" shouted Gandalf to the great beast, it had reached them, and was stood in front of the wizard, making him look small in comparison.
"Gandalf!" screamed Frodo.
"I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor! The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udun! Arrghh! Go back to the Shadow!! YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!" the bridge broke at his final line, and it gave way, taking the Balrog with it. Gandalf sighed and turned around. Sara and Claire exchanged scared looks. They saw a whip of fire spring up from the deep, it wrapped itself around Gandalf's ankle and pulled him to his doom, he grabbed on to the edge to stop himself but the girls knew it was no use.
"Gandalf!" Frodo tried to run to help Gandalf but Boromir stopped him.
Gandalf was hanging on to the edge, "fly you fools" he muttered and let go of the bridge, falling into the dark abyss.
"No, No!" shouted Frodo, Boromir had to pick him up to stop going to throw himself over the gap as well .
The fellowship emerged from Moria in shock, they didn't seem to stand a chance now.
*END*
The group walked through the entrance hall to the mines with an air of deep sorrow, Gimli just couldn't believe this, and the dwarves were once great people who could throw a banquet fit for several kings.
Sara and Claire just walked through silently, knowing of what was to come they found they couldn't speak a word; they just gazed around at the bodies.
Boromir stopped and waited for Claire to meet with him, she walked up slowly and looked up at him sadly, like a little puppy.
"Do not worry, soon we will put a stop to this evil, once and for all!" he said to try and cheer her up.
Sara was still shaken from her latest ordeal, and now this, things didn't seem to be getting any better, and to make things worse she knew of what was to come. They walked through the great halls almost in procession out of respect for the dead.
"Can you see anymore of what is to come?" Frodo asked the girls.
Claire looked at him for a moment, then she looked back at Sara who was staring at the ground, "no, unfortunately we can not see any further for the time being."
Aragorn looked at them sceptically as if he thought that there was something these two virtual strangers knew that they weren't telling him.
Claire fell behind with Sara again, "look on the bright side, without this there can be no Gandalf the white."
"I know your write but they don't know that, and its gonna hit them hard, especially Frodo, he loves Gandalf." She said in a quite whisper, so that none of them could here what they were saying not even Legolas with his keen elf senses. The halls had a ghostly light that emanated from gandalfs staff, apart from that there was nothing but darkness throughout, which only added to the atmosphere.
"We will have to keep on going and no one must let their guard down!" Aragorn called from in front of the group.
They began to climb up. Rocks were tumbling everywhere and Sara's new elven cloak was in danger of being ripped on the sharp stone if she wasn't careful.
"God I sure wish I'd tried harder in P.E" Sara said to Claire once they were over the top and back onto flat ground again.
"Me too!" the girls were a little out of breath but they weren't the only ones, Gimli was also finding it hard and was the last too reach the top" Legolas went to offer him his hand.
"No thanks, I can manage"
The fellowship reached three passageways.
"Are we lost?" Pippin asked
"No" merry answered.
"I think we are"
"Shhh Gandalf's thinking!"
Sara stifled a small giggle; they were all sitting on various rocks waiting for Gandalf to sniff out the right passageway for them to go down.
"Merry"
"What?"
"I'm hungry"
The whole group was hungry and they hadn't eaten since camping round the campfire. Claire walked over towards one of the entrances and took a deep breath through her nose, it was this one, she could smell fresh air, or at least fresher air than what was coming out of any of the other holes, but at this rate Gandalf wasn't going to realise for another half an hour.
"Its this one!" Claire called.
"How do you know?" Gandalf asked.
"Because the air smells fresher down here."
"How did you know to use your nose?"
"Um...we are taught to rely on our scent where I come from"
Gandalf eyed her suspiciously, Aragorn and Legolas laughed, Gandalf was not used to being outsmarted.
Frodo walked over to the passage, "what is that?"
"It is the creature Gollum" Gandalf replied, "he has been following us since we left Rivendell,"
The fellowship walked over to see Gollum, it was only Gandalf, Aragorn and Legolas who had seen this creature (Sara and Claire had seen him but only on the films) but he had gone.
"Is he dangerous?" Frodo asked.
"He only wants his precious, but he isn't very strong, and couldn't do us any harm.
"We have been travelling for 4 hours now, how long will it take us to reach the end of these mines?" asked merry.
"At least 4 days." Aragorn walked over to a clear spot, "we shall rest here, although one of us will have to stay on guard."
Legolas volunteered himself for guard duty, and the rest tried to settle down on the uncomfortable stone floor, while Legolas sat on a rock listening for any sound, it was no use trying to find anything with his eyes, Gandalf's staff light had gone out and it was now near enough pitch blank in the mine.
Legolas was sat there for a while listening hard, although Gimli and Gandalf's snore made things difficult to hear. He looked up, not far away a noise had been made, it sounded like someone stepping on bones, and he quietly lifted his bow and tip toed over to where he thought he had heard the noise.
Sara was in a light sleep, when she was awoken by the same crunching noise that Legolas has gone off to investigate. She looked over to see where Legolas was and found him not there, she began to worry, although Legolas could take good care of himself, she knew he wasn't safe wondering around this place by himself so she picked up her bow, armed it with an arrow and walked off to try and find out where Legolas had disappeared to.
Legolas walked around, listening for any sign of the thing that had made the first noise and there was another crunch, but this time it came from back closer to where they were all camping.
Sara walked on, she had just stepped on something that had made a load noise, she continued to walk in search for the Elf and something was moving but what it was she didn't know.
Legolas knew there was something out there now and he had his bow and arrow poised, ready to shoot down anything that moved, he was walking backwards now until he came to a large stone column, he rested his back up against it, if the thing was coming his way now he was sure to catch it.
Sara was walking slowly, she knew that if she found anything, then she wasn't likely to hit it, but at least she could scare it off, she moved over to a stone column so that she could have the element of surprise if anything came her way.
Legolas knew that whatever it was it was behind this stone column.
Sara walked over to the column, she stopped a minute, she could here the sound of a bow being pulled back, something is behind there, she decided, so she decided to count to three in her head, and then attack, one...two...THREE she sprang round the side of the column and found herself face to face with an extremely sharp arrow. She gulped but then breathed a sigh of relief, it was Legolas, she looked at him as he lowered his weapon, "and I nearly shot you just then."
"I would have hit you first" Legolas replied ruefully, although he was still concerned that he had heard something back there, it was probably gone by now.
"I heard you mention something about me at the council of Elrond, but I didn't quite catch it, what was it you said?" Legolas asked innocently.
"Um...um...nothing" Sara was grateful that it was dark otherwise he would have been able to see her blushing, although she sensed that he already knew what he said and was just playing with her.
"All I managed to catch was 'god he's cute when he's angry'" he said, "Whom were you referring to?"
"Um...I was referring to...um...no one!" she replied, she was now bright red.
"It wasn't no one, who was it" he pressed.
She gave up, she might as well tell him, he probably knew already, 'god Claire's gonna laugh her head of when she hears about this' she thought to herself, picturing the expression that her friend was most likely to have. "I was referring to you."
"Oh, well I'm glad you think that I'm 'cute'"
They had now reached the rest of the campers, Legolas went over and sat on his rock, Sara looked at him, he smiled, "are you going to go back to sleep?" he asked, "you'll need all your strength for tomorrow."
"Nah, I'm not that tired, can I keep you company?"
"Yes, of course."
She went over and sat by him, the pair were talking for hours about their opinions on everything from the weather to love, but it was not long before the others woke up and they started to attempt to make some sort of breakfast.
Claire woke up and saw Sara with a grin on her face; she looked as if she had just experienced heaven.
"Oh my god, what have you been up to?" Claire asked, getting up to go and join her friend.
"Oh, nothing," Sara replied coyly.
"Yeah right, spill!"
"Well," Sara said, loving keeping her friend in suspense, "I just spent all night with the most amazing, gorgeous, talented and caring elf in the whole of middle earth."
Claire's eyes widened. "I know what you're thinking, and no. We didn't get up to anything, we just talked." Sara said, reading her friends mind.
Claire laughed out loud, not being able to stop herself, causing the group to look up, "Sara just told me a really funny joke." Claire said.
"What was the joke?" said Sam coming over to them, "I could do with a laugh"
Sara looked at Claire, who was smiling; she was getting revenge for yesterday.
"Um, I don't want to bore you with my silly jokes, honestly its not worth hearing."
Sam looked at her, Boromir came over to them, "I'd like to here it" he said
"And us!" Merry and Pippin joined him.
Sara was racking her brains to try and find a suitable joke to tell them all.
"Ok, why did the chicken cross the road?" everyone looked puzzled by this, except Claire who was fighting to keep a straight face.
"I don't know, why did the chicken cross the road?" asked Aragorn. Sara was now also fighting to stop herself from laughing insanely.
"To get to the other side!" Sara couldn't stop herself, she burst out laughing along with Claire, and they were clutching their sides, whilst the rest of the fellowship just looked at them puzzled.
"So where is the joke?" merry asked.
"You have a strange sort of humour," said Gandalf.
Sara looked at Claire, and started giggling again, it took the pair a few more minutes to calm themselves down, and Sara still had to bite her lip.
The group packed up all their belongings, the girls didn't have much to carry because they were girls and therefore too good for that sort of thing.
Claire was walking along, they would probably reach Balin's tomb today, she thought, this would be where they would fight the cave troll. Boromir walked with her, holding her round the waist protectively, they hadn't had chance yet to finish what they had started the other day, but as soon as they could get away for five minutes, she was going to drag him off, and...
Sara walked along with Gimli; she was talking to the Dwarf about what the mines of Moria used to be like.
"They were magnificent," he said "you could always rely on a Dwarf to show great hospitality, much better than anything any Elves could do"
Legolas looked around at this, Sara looked at him and rolled her eyes. It was strange to think that these two would form the strongest friendship that there has ever been between a Dwarf and an Elf.
Gandalf lit his staff again, and the room they were in suddenly appeared, Gimli gave a cry, just in front of them was a large stone coffin, Gandalf walked towards it to read the inscription on the top .
"Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria." He is dead then. It's as I feared." Gandalf handed his staff and hat to Claire and Pippin.
Gimli was looking at the tomb, he muttered a small prayer to himself, "Kilmin malur ni zaram kalil ran arag. Kheled-zâram. Balin tazlifi."
"What does that mean?" Sara asked Claire.
"I'm not sure" she replied, the group was silent for a minute.
Legolas looked around the room, "we must move on we can't stay here"
The room was littered with the bodies of dead orcs and Dwarves.
Gandalf walked over to where a small book, possibly a diary lay, he read aloud what it said on the page, "They have taken the bridge and the second hall. We have barred the gates but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes. Drums, drums in the deep. We cannot get out. A Shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out. They are coming."
Claire walked over and noticed Pippin stood by a well, he was looking at a skeleton and he reached out to touch it and it fell into the well along with a bucket, making a loud noise as it went any hopes they had of passing through unnoticed were now dashed. Gandalf looked furious.
'Poor Pippin' Claire thought, all the poor hobbit wanted was to have a decent meal, and rest in a nice bed, in fact that was what they all wanted, but the hobbits were not used to this sort of life, and obviously weren't going to get used to it for a long while.
"Fool of a took, throw yourself in next time, and rid us of your stupidity!" Gandalf said scornfully.
Sara looked worried, she knew exactly what was about to happen, and she walked over to where Legolas and Aragorn were stood.
"What if we are attacked?" she asked him, "I don't think I am a good enough fighter to defend myself or anyone else"
"Don't worry, I will not let anything happen to you." The elf said this with such certainty that she felt completely reassured, she wanted to hug him, but she did not know how he would react to physical contact.
There was a rumble and the room almost felt like it was shaking, everyone's eyes turned towards the door. Frodo pulled his sword out of its sheath, it was glowing blue; orcs were coming.
"Frodo!" Sam shouted, he realised what this meant and went over to guard his friend.
Boromir walked over to the door and two arrows were shot in.
"Boromir!" Claire shouted, she went to run over towards him but was stopped by Aragorn. He looked at her, "get back, stay close to Gandalf!" he ordered
But there was no way he could stop Claire she ducked under his arm and ran towards Boromir, taking out her sword, ready to fight any on coming evil.
Sara was stood over in the corner with the hobbits, behind Gandalf, who had also drawn his sword.
"They have a cave troll" Boromir was now putting a thick plank of wood across the door to hold them, but they all knew that this would not hold for long.
"Let them come! There is one dwarf yet in Moria that still draws breath." Gimli shouted defiantly.
At that moment the Orcs bust through the door, and came at them, brandishing swords and bows.
They fought them; Sara even managed to get a few good shots of her arrows, to which Legolas shot her a gorgeous smile.
At Boromir's side, stood Claire slashing at the Orcs with accuracy and precision, if this wasn't so life threatening then it would be fun, she thought.
Then the ground began to shake, as something large and monstrous approached; the cave troll.
The troll was hideous it had a face that looked like he had been hit by a frying pan a few times, and he was holding a huge club that looked as if it could knock out ten men at a time.
Sam was stood over by the tomb, using his knife to stab an Orc, "I think I'm getting the hang of this!" he shouted, then he looked up at the troll, and the poor little hobbit looked as if he was going to wet himself. The troll went for Frodo, and dragged him across the stone floor.
"Frodo!" Sara, Aragorn and Claire shouted.
"Aragorn, Aragorn, ARAGORN!" Frodo could do nothing to stop this creature; it was too strong.
Claire ran over towards the troll, getting ready to shoot it with an arrow, she aimed for it's chest, but before she could release the arrow, it looked straight at her, and grabbed her with its gigantic hands, and tossed her against the wall, she slid down and lay in a crumpled heap on the floor.
Sara had just watched this happened, she looked horrified, she wanted to go and make sure that Claire was all right, but she couldn't get to her.
Aragorn was preparing to attack, he went straight for its chest and stabbed it, the troll looked at its new wound for a second, and then carried on attacking, the sword hadn't even been able to pierce it's thick skin.
Aragorn had rescued Frodo from the troll, before he stabbed it, but the troll now swung for him and knocked him over to the side, Frodo ran over to check on Aragorn. Sara looked over her shoulder, she saw Frodo going over to Aragorn, she knew what was going to happen next, "Frodo, noooooooooooo!" she screamed, but it was too late, the troll hurled a huge spear at Frodo piercing his body, Merry and Pippin jumped on the trolls back attacking him with all their might. It took Sara a few minutes to remember that it couldn't hurt him because of the Mithril coat that Bilbo had given him at Rivendell.
She ran over to Claire, Boromir was knelt by her side, he had propped her head up with his cloak, Sara looked at him, "have you checked for a pulse?" she asked.
Legolas shot and arrow at the troll, it crashed to the ground with a loud thud. Aragorn crawled over to where Frodo lay unconscious. He rolled him over, "oh no" he whispered.
"He's alive!"
"It's alright I'm not hurt" he said opening his eyes, everyone who was watching him looked shocked, it was only Sara and Boromir that were not with Frodo, they were tending to Claire.
Aragorn couldn't believe his eyes, "You should be dead. That spear would have skewered a wild boar." He said with disbelief. Frodo sat up.
"I think there is more to this hobbit than meets the eye!" Frodo revealed the coat.
"Mithril, you are full of surprises master Baggins!" said Gimli.
"I think you had better go and check that Claire is alright."
They all got up and walked over to where Claire was still lying. Sara put her index finger under Claire's jaw line to check for a pulse, "she's alive! But she's not breathing, we have to revive her, quick!"
Aragorn looked to Gandalf, "I'm not able to treat humans with magic." He replied.
"We have to do something! There is no way on this planet that I am leaving this place until she is awake, Sara knew that if she was left for too long then she would possibly slip into a coma, or worse...die.
"Right that's it, Boromir, do you know how to resuscitate someone?"
The group looked puzzled at this, they obviously didn't have any conventional methods of reviving a person.
"No, I'm afraid I don't." he said sadly
"ok, all you have to do is breathe into her mouth, ok? I'll do the rest."
"ok"
Boromir bent down and breathed precious air into Claire's mouth, Sara felt Claire's hand move, "She's awake!" Sara screamed.
Claire's eyes fluttered open and she found herself staring straight into Boromir's, he lifted her up on to her feet, and kept his hand round her to keep her steady.
"Are you alright?" Sara asked Claire, sounding concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine" the two girls hugged.
"Don't scare me like that again, ok?"
Claire nodded. She tried to walk, but she felt too dizzy, Aragorn came over to her and supported her on one side with Boromir on the other, and they walked.
There was another noise. "More Orcs are coming." Said Legolas.
"To the bridge of Khazad-dûm!" shouted Gandalf.
They all ran into a great hallway, but soon Moria was filled with Orcs, and they were completely surrounded. There was a strange noise coming from one direction, and a red glow appeared on the walls, the Orcs saw this and turned fleeing from this new monster.
"The Balrog." Whispered Claire.
Aragorn heard this, his eyes widened in shock.
Legolas was holding up his bow ready to fight this evil, but he soon lowered it, realising that a simple arrow would not stop this great beast.
"What is this new devilry?" asked Boromir, he had obviously not heard what Claire had said.
"A Balrog. A demon of the ancient world. This foe is beyond any of you. Run!" Shouted Gandalf.
Claire could not run, and if Boromir and Aragorn kept supporting her like this then they would be too slow, so Boromir swept her up in his arms and ran.
They all fled, running as fast as they could, Gandalf fell behind.
"Gandalf!" Aragorn shouted.
"Lead them on, Aragorn. The bridge is near." Aragorn did not move, Gandalf shoved him on, "do as I say! Swords are no more use here"
The stone was beginning to crumble, and there was a gap in the bridge, Legolas jumped over it easily, and turned around and signaled for Gandalf to jump. Next it was the turn of Merry and pippin, boromir took one under each arm and jumped, as they were in mid-jump some more of the bridge crumbled away and Legolas had to pull them over to get them to safety. Next it was Sara's turn, she took a running jump, and nearly missed the edge, if it wasn't for Legolas catching her, she would have fell to her doom, they shared a brief moment. Aragorn next threw Sam across, the poor hobbit made it across safely.
Aragorn turned to Gimli, "nobody tosses a dwarf!" he said backing away from Aragorn, the little dwarf jumped on his own, but nearly fell off, Legolas grabbed his beard to pull him back on "oh no, not the beard!" he shouted.
Claire was the next one to go, she jumped and cleared the gap easily, but hit the ground hard, Boromir rushed to her side to make sure she was alright.
The last to go were Aragorn and Frodo, the bridge looked like it could collapse any minute, Aragorn grabbed Frodo by the back of his shirt, they prepared to jump, "ready, hold on!" shouted Aragorn. The rock began to sway, "Hang on!" some more of the rock fell away, they had to go soon, "lean forward, steady!" Aragorn jumped, they made it barely.
"Come on, now!" shouted Legolas.
"Over the bridge, fly!" said Gandalf, Gandalf was stood in the middle of the bridge, he had turned to face the Balrog, he turned around to see that the others had waited for him, they were on the other side of the bridge, and Gandalf was stood in the middle.
"Gandalf, NO!" Sara shouted, but it was no use, this had to happen.
"You cannot pass!" shouted Gandalf to the great beast, it had reached them, and was stood in front of the wizard, making him look small in comparison.
"Gandalf!" screamed Frodo.
"I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor! The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udun! Arrghh! Go back to the Shadow!! YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!" the bridge broke at his final line, and it gave way, taking the Balrog with it. Gandalf sighed and turned around. Sara and Claire exchanged scared looks. They saw a whip of fire spring up from the deep, it wrapped itself around Gandalf's ankle and pulled him to his doom, he grabbed on to the edge to stop himself but the girls knew it was no use.
"Gandalf!" Frodo tried to run to help Gandalf but Boromir stopped him.
Gandalf was hanging on to the edge, "fly you fools" he muttered and let go of the bridge, falling into the dark abyss.
"No, No!" shouted Frodo, Boromir had to pick him up to stop going to throw himself over the gap as well .
The fellowship emerged from Moria in shock, they didn't seem to stand a chance now.
*END*