AN: Ah ha! I finished my exams! Vacation starts NOW!! Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed. They made feel so loved! I am glad you like it. Updates will be fairly frequent from now on, maybe twice a week.
This is story will be exceedingly long (good news? Bad news?). Unfortunately it will feature only our dear Yugi and the pharaoh. The others must wait for another story to get featured! Now here is the update I promised. Hope you enjoy!
PS: About the confusing POV shift, it was something I am trying to do. I was (and still am) trying to do POV shifts without a break in narrative. Tell me if it gets really confusing. But I just want to see if it works or not.
It was chaos. There were arrows whistling, spears hurling, swords ringing. Dark and gruesome creatures were pouring in, orcs and trolls with their black and gnarled weapons. In the midst of the frenzy the Fellowship had forgotten about the newly encountered child. It was not until later, when they hurried down the endless flights of stairs in pitch darkness, was their memory sparked, quite literally. For suddenly a golden glow leapt in the darkness, and its warm light illuminated the steep stairs beneath them and the walls about them. They turned and looked, and saw the light came from one the gold trinkets the child wore. It was a large ring shaped pendant, and it was glowing brightly. One of the many golden bits that hung on the outside of the ring was levitating by some unseen magic, and pointed to the direction they were travelling.
Such was the shock of the discovery that their fleeing steps slowed and almost halted. Gimli asked, his voice harsh with suspicion, "What sorcery is this?"
"Does it matter at this moment?" The child replied impatiently, "It is less a peril to you than the horrid creatures behind you, and that should be satisfaction enough."
Gandlaf went on with out turning around and commanded, "Do not slow your steps! By this light we should travel faster. Explanations must wait until we are a safer distance away."
Thus they trudged on by the bright golden glow, and their steps seemed surer. The faint and muffled sound of drums came to their ears time to time again, but there was no other sound of pursuit. They travelled in silence for somewhat less than an hour, and finally Gandalf halted.
"It is getting hot!" He gasped. "We ought to be down at least to the level of the Gates now. Soon I think we should look for a left-hand turn to take us east. I hope it is not far. I am very weary. I must rest here a moment, even if all the orcs ever spawned are after us."
Gimli took his arm and helped him down a seat on the step, and the company gathered near. The hobbits took seats as well, but the elf and Aragorn remained standing, ever watchful. Briefly Gandalf told the company what transpired when he was alone to hold the door of Balin's burial chamber, before turning towards the young boy.
"And you, child!" He said sharply, a steely glint in his eyes. "Have you no explanation to offer us? What is your name? What is your business here, and whence comes your strange magic?"
"I have little explanations." The child replied swiftly and surely, with earnestness in his ruby eyes, "My name is Yugi, as I have told you. I can not tell you where I come from, for I myself do not know of its position relative to your land. And I have no business here. I did not intend to come here. As for my magic," He paused, as if carefully considering his words, before saying, "It is a family tradition, and the details are too lengthy for casual conversation."
For a while Gandalf looked at the child closely, as if probing the truth in the child's eyes. Finally he turned away his gaze in silence. No one spoke for a while, but at last Gandalf stood up, and they now went on again. Yet the young boy slowed his steps, until he was tailing the company, and from there he watched them with furrowed brow.
"What's wrong, Yami?" Yugi asked, confused over his other half's action, "Why are you slowing down? Are you worried about something?"
"I have an ill feeling." Replied the ancient spirit in troubled tone, "They are walking into a certain doom... No, perhaps they are not, but he certainly is." He paused for a second, before saying darkly, "A great darkness is approaching. Even now it comes closer." He spoke no more, and began to walk again, slowly and almost reluctantly, still tailing the company.
Presently they entered a cavernous hall flanked with impossibly tall pillars. The sound of endless drum beats suddenly returned, louder and clearer than before. Gandalf shouted his warning and directions loudly, and the company picked up their pace. Even now the great hall was swarming with black shapes, orcs and trolls, brandishing their many weapons. Still reluctantly, the child picked up his pace as well, weaving between the stone pillars to avoid the many arrows whistling his way. Yet he was not fast enough, dropping farther from the company before him, and slowly falling into the rank of the orcs.
Suddenly, the chaos seemed to subside, and a hushed silence fell. The child stopped and looked, and saw from the ranks of orcs a dark form slowly emerged, a shape made of shadows and fire, hideous and grotesque. The monster let out a long shriek, and raced forward. A loud horn answered in the distance, and the voice of Gandalf shouted, "Over the bridge! Fly! This is a foe beyond any of you! Fly!"
The child scooted side way, hiding behind a stone pillar, out of the direct path of the monster. He was too far from the stone bridge now to flee that way. He did not seem afraid though, and his ruby eyes were glinting. "A formidable beast, yes." He muttered, "But not yet a match for the fearsome creatures of the gods." His hand slowly reached for the deck of cards hidden in his pocket even as the monster stopped before the stone bridge and drew itself to its full menacing height.
"Yami, don't!" Yugi cried his warning, "We don't even know what it is, never mind how to fight it. We can't be rash."
"I am sorry, aibou, you are right, we can not be rash." The ancient spirit replied, and withdrew his hand from the pocket.
So now the child stood there, watching silently. The monster stood on the brink of the chasm, right before the bridge, while Gandalf stood in the middle of the slender stone bridge, facing the monster. The exchange was short, full of puzzling sentences all to difficult to understand. The boy did not realize the full peril of the situation, until the moment the slender bridge crashed, and both the monster and the wizard fell down the depth of the chasm.
"No!" Yugi let out a small gasp.
Presently the rest of the slender stone bridge crumbled and fell. There was a stunned silence on both side of the chasm, a deadly, deafening silence. After what seemed like the eternity, there was again movement. The orcs and trolls rushed forward. They had caught sight of the child, and were determined to return with at least some prize. The child turned and a cold smirk was on his face. The day was long, and his patience was wearing thin. He pulled out his deck of cards, and without looking chose the one he wanted. Thrusting the card in the air he cried, "Raigeki!"
The Fellowship was already fleeing up the great stairs when they heard the screams and shrieks of the black creatures, ear splittingly loud. Their steps halted, and they turned and looked. The sight before them was so shocking that for a second their very breath was frozen. Across the deep chasm, the stone hall was covered with a web of lightning. Like glowing snakes they swam in the stone hall, killing blindly. The orcs are falling faster than eyes can keep account of, the corpse on the ground too numerous to count, and the few remaining creatures were leaping about madly and shrieking in vain. The grey stone floor itself was turning black from the lightning.
"By the Valar!" The elf exclaimed softly, his voice trembling.
Slowly the lightning faded, leaving a dark and empty hall. There was a shadow, not tangible enough to be seen; yet not ghostly enough to pass unnoticed. Then from the shadow another shape emerged. It was a creature they have never seen before, almost to fantastical to be true. It was large, with a slender body of gold and a head of shaggy mane, looking like a cross between a lion and a wolf. It had two pairs of wings white as snow, long and powerful like the wings of an eagle. Even now the creature was flying towards them, with the strange child on its back.
The beast landed before the stairs, and the child leaped off its back nimbly. He bowed to the beast slightly and muttered something in a tongue they have never heard. The beast lowered its head as if bowing, before slowly vanishing into the shadows. The child climbed up the stairs and cast them a disdainful look with his ruby eyes, before turning away.
"Come, child," Aragorn said in a impossibly calm voice, "Follow us, for you do not know the way."
He did not wait for a reply, but began leading the company down a wide passage in sure and swift steps. Wordlessly the child followed.