Chapter 7, A Journey in the Dark
The first "fortnight" of travel was HELL. (This is no exaggeration) We'd travel miles upon miles, with only three or four breaks in between, from before sunrise till well after sunset. It was even tougher when you COULDNT SLEEP. It seemed that no matter how I lie or where I turned there was a big, lumpy root, or some nasty, pointed rock poking me in the back. We traveled through every kind of weather good ole' Mother Nature could chuck at us: snow, wind, rain, fog, you name it! And on top of that, Aragorn continued my practice, by GETTING ME UP AN HOUR EARLIER THAN THE REST.
"If the Dark Lord is as active as Elrond's scouts claim, then we must be able to fend ourselves from any attack. You, Miss Laura, having little practice with a sword, is the most vulnerable of us all; so you must learn quickly." Now imagine being sore and tired, then pulling exhausting training sessions with man as tough as nails. After the first week and a half it became significantly easier for me to travel all day and learn how to use a sword at the same time. As we traveled on, some of the others would wake up early as well to watch me make a fool of myself as I learned to sword fight. It was nice to have some other company, even if, in the end, they would laugh at me.
As we traveled I frequently saw Gandalf and Aragorn move from the rest of our group while we rested, I had once asked Gandalf what their meetings were about but he wouldn't say. I knew what they were though without Gandalf's say; Aragorn and Gandalf were deciding which ways to take; the biggest choice would be whether or not to take the Pass of Caradhras or something else. I knew that Caradhras would only set us back, and we couldn't afford to lose any time; though I also knew that I shouldn't make it entirely known what I know.
As I traveled I found that the hardest thing to get used to was the bare feet of the hobbits. We would climb over everything and it was so strange to see them just go on over those thorns or rocky ground without shoes. I knew it didn't hurt them but it was still weird. I was also extremely pleased with my pack, which included some rope and a blanket; even though I had a full pack it felt light and was very easy to carry. But even my contentedness with my sack couldn't dim my growing dislike of Legolas. He would either (A) not talk to me, or (B) quarrel with me until I was blue in the face. I couldn't believe that an elf would actually act so immature; mind you that when we fought he wouldn't yell, but be totally calm and suave, and I felt like an idiot. It was because of the great mediating skills of Gandalf the Grey I kept my sanity. (Until the hobbits poked fun at me for arguing with the elf again…and losing.) But time did pass and finally the time came for the decision that I feared.
"Regiments of black crows are flying over all the land between the Mountains and the Greyflood," he said, "and they have passed over Hollin. They are not natives here; they are crebain out of Fangorn and Dunland. I do not know what they are about…but I think they are spying out the land…I think we ought to move again this evening. Holin is no longer wholesome for us; it is being watched."
"And in that case so is the Redhorn Gate," said Gandalf, "and how we can get over that without that without being seen, I cannot imagine. But we will think of that when we must. As for moving as soon as it is dark, I am afraid that you are right." Hearing this made me everything less than thrilled. Night traveling sucked a lot, but not as much as the practices Aragorn put me through during the day when I could have been and should have been resting.
"I think that the Redhorn gate may be surveyed more closely than you think." Gimli added.
"Perhaps the gate is not the best choice if we wish to remain unseen." Boromir agreed. Gandalf nodded and continued,
"I believe the wisest choice for us is to take the pass of Caradhras; it is both the safest and quickest way through." When Gandalf said Caradhras would be the way to go, I had to step up and say something.
"Gandalf, I don't think that would be the best way." slowly all the heads in the Fellowship turned to look at me. I looked at him from my seat and said, "I really don't think it wise to take Caradhras. We need to choose another way. It wouldn't be safe or swift to go through the pass."
"And how do you know this?" Boromir asked me skeptically.
"Listen, I just know; taking the pass through Caradhras would only set us back, and if Sauron's forces are after us we can't afford waste any time."
"I understand," Gandalf said sadly. He seemed to believe what I was saying but at the same time he appeared as if he did not want to believe. "She is right. The bitter cold and treacherous weather could hinder us, but I do not fear the Pass."
"There is another way," I said slowly, "It is the only way; the Mines of Moria." At this the company was silent; even Legolas, who never spared a silent moment to send a well-aimed jeer at me, took no advantage of it.
"It is the name of an ill omen." Said Boromir, "nor do I see the need to go there. If we cannot cross the mountains, let us journey southwards, until we come to the Gap of Rohan, where men are friendly to my people, taking the road I followed on my way hither."
"That will take us too close to Isengard." I answered, and Legolas piped up.
"Then give us another choice my Lady, for your previous idea is clearly out of favor." I said nothing as he continued, "I trust in Gandalf's judgment. I think our Lady's worries are excessive. Snow, cold, and wind: that is all that we would face on Caradhras. Would such a troupe be fearful of a little weather?" I rolled my eyes and said to Legolas,
"Open your eyes, Legolas. There could be much more at stake." he looked at me and said stiffly,
"My lady, I have seen Caradhras…unlike you. Are you intimidated by the possibility of something going wrong or unplanned? I find it childish to be afraid of what may be." Hearing him down me got me, I knew what would happen if we took the Caradhras, the situation changed and we couldn't waist time. As Aragorn silenced Legolas, I said angrily.
"Can't you see? I'm not the only one who is intimidated! You want to know what I'm worried about? You want to know why we shouldn't go over Caradhras? Ok, here it goes, we'd go halfway across the mountain, then we'd be forced to turn around and go back down! On our way up, it would get so bad that we wouldn't sleep because we might not wake up again! We wouldn't be able to start fires when it was a choice of fire or death, or get through the snow because it would be too thick! After that, we would have to turn around and get off the mountains and guess where we would go, straight to Moria. We don't have time to go up a mountain and come back down! Is that good enough for you?" Aragorn then said,
"Laura, calm yourself." Everyone was silent and Legolas looked away. HA! I thought to myselfMerry, Frodo, and Sam all looked at me fearfully as Pippin looked between Legolas, Aragorn, and myself in confusion. I took a deep breath and continued,
"I'm sorry, but I know that we can't afford to lose time. We must take the quickest possible way; the Redhorn Gate is totally watched…the mines are our only choice."
"The gap of Rohan takes us too close to Isengard and the gate is not a choice, we must take the road through the mines." He paused for a moment then added with a bit of subtle 'Gandalf knows something and you don't,' "One can never be sure when, but we reveal ourselves with good time." With that he looked at Legolas then turned his back to the fellowship. I had to fight the urge to smile but I didn't. "Moria is perilous, but we do what we must." With that he walked away from the meeting. I could tell that he already regretted the decision he had made. Slowly the rest of the grouped moved so that they could settle down and rest for the next day, but I stayed where I sat; my feelings of contentedness were slowly being replaced with guilt. As I rested my head my hand I heard Pippin's voice say,
"Well, that was interesting!" I smiled as I heard Pippin say,
"Interesting, my friend, would be an understatement." I laughed as Merry asked me, "What was that all about Laura? I've never seen you like that before." I laughed as I shook my head and stood.
"It wasn't anything!" I said, then knocked my fist gently on Merry's head, "You think too much." As the fellowship began to walk away, I saw Legolas wait for the hobbits to walk before him before he followed behind them. One look at him and I was near fuming once more. I began to walk towards him as to pull him aside so I could ask him what his problem was; I had traveled too far and dealt with his rudeness for far too long. When I was only a few feet away from him a heavy hand landed on my shoulder, preventing me from going forward any more.
"Leave him, Laura." It was Aragorn, I could tell by his voice. I turned and looked at Aragorn fiercely.
"And why should I?" I asked, "I have dealt with his snide comments and glares for the length of the journey and I want to end it now."
"Leave him, Laura. Give it time…" he repeated. I shook my head and began to walk forward once more but Aragorn held me back again. He then said into my ear,
"He knows." I was frozen into my feet. Aragorn then let me go, and walked in front of me. That was why…for months he had known and that must have been why. I looked and saw Legolas glance over his shoulder back at Aragorn and myself and for the first time in a long while his look of indifference did not bother me.
It was a very quiet trip towards Moria and no one was very talkative; except for Gimli who would sit me down and graciously tell me the stories of his people. I think the only reason I stayed awake was because he told such great stories. But even though I had the joyfulness of Gimli to lighten my thoughts, I was concerned about Moria too. Gandalf fell into darkness in Moria; and though I knew he would come back, but I didn't want Gandalf to leave. One night, after we had camped on a small hill, I confronted Gandalf privately.
"Gandalf, I must tell you something, may I talk to you?"
"Laura," he began, "I have known you for months and still you cease to surprise me." He smiled as He added, "What is it you wish to say?" I took a deep breath then sighed before I began.
"Gandalf, I don't know the way through Moria," the moment I mentioned Moria I saw Gandalf's face drop. "…or in fact how to get there, but I know what will happen when we arrive. I just ask, that you take advice from me when we are in there, because…"
"Laura," He interrupted, "I will guide the fellowship through Moria and I will avoid danger to the best of my ability, but I cannot go take heed to your counsel. But thank you for your concern-" suddenly I heard a great screeching howl. It echoed around our hill and sent chills down my spine. I asked Gandalf quietly,
"Did you hear-?"
"How the wind howls." Frodo said as Aragorn stood. I stood also, having a very disturbing feeling that it wasn't just me.
"It is the howling of the wolves of Isengard! The Wargs have come from west of the mountains!" Aragorn exclaimed and made quickly for his sword. With this the rest of the company awoke quickly from their beds. "Stand with your backs to the fire! Fling fuel upon it!" he shouted once more to the hobbits. A moment later a single wolf approached slowly through the crown of trees that surrounded us as chilling howls and glittering eyes surrounded us. This wasn't like any wolf I've ever seen; it was huge and menacing in the shadows. It growled at us as if he was leading the rest of the wolves into battle. With that Gandalf said,
"Listen, Hound of Sauron. Gandalf is here. Fly if you value your foul skin!" The wolf obviously took no heed to this because he howled one more frightening howl and leapt towards Gandalf in one huge bound. Instantly I heard the twang of Legolas' bow and a hideous yell; the wolf thumped to the ground and the woods around us seemed to growl at us. On my side of the fire were the hobbits, Boromir, and myself. The rest were on the other side dealing with the first wolf. The attack was then launched upon our group; five wolves approached Boromir and myself, Legolas' arrows struck down two of them, and the remaining three moved closer. Boromir said suddenly,
"I refuse to let a beast make the first move!" and with that he ran a few steps from the fire and drew one of the three Wargs away from the hobbits and myself. After this I saw one of the other two Wargs run to the other side of the fire, leaving only one. I quickly devised a plan that mostly consisted of running and surprising the Warg so that I could kill it. I took a slow step away from the fire then ran past Boromir who was fending off a different Warg. As I ran I heard heavy paw prints approaching behind me; it was then I realized that I hadn't thought my plan through enough. With in moments I was knocked facedown into the dirt by two immense paws. I looked up and rolled onto my back as saw the Warg running back towards me; I tried to crawl away from him but he leapt on me, trapping me in the dirt. At once I instinctively put my hands under his throat and pushed up to prevent him from biting me.
The Warg's long claws scratched in the dirt beside me as he fought against my hands; snapping his jaw furiously as I held on for dear life. I could feel the wolf's warm breath on my face; I couldn't last like this and I had to do something. At that moment, one of the wolf's madly pawing legs brushed against the sheath of my sword and I had an idea. In a brief moment, I took one hand off the wolf's throat, reached down, and made a grab at the sword's hilt. As I reached, a paw brushed my arm and pushed it down my side. I reached for the hilt, grabbed it, and with a furious grunt I stabbed it into the bottom side of the Warg. It screamed madly as it fell on its side and I stood. I saw another Warg coming at me and as it charged I stepped aside and with both hands I swung my sword at it's neck; after a few swings I cut it's head off and left it's twitching body as I returned to the fire.
Suddenly I heard Gandalf yelling something in a foreign language, and as he yelled fire sprouted from the trees surrounding us, giving us all more light to fight by. As I ran back to the fire, I was somewhat stunned, I just killed two animals… As I saw another Warg leap towards me, I swung my sword somewhat blindly at it and cut off its ear. It whimpered as it skid past me and I didn't watch it as I ran away from it. As stopped in front of the fire I heard a loud whimper and thud behind me; I saw the earless Warg lying on the ground with a flaming arrow plunged into its chest. I looked to Legolas who looked back at me for a brief moment before firing another arrow in another direction. After the death of the earless wolf, all the others retreated; the wolf must have been their leader because they fled so readily. I watched as the wolves ran and the fire in the trees died and I sighed as I fell backwards onto my butt on the slopped ground. I looked at the hobbits who looked extremely relieved; pippin and merry looked quite satisfied as their swords were also covered in blood. Why wasn't I as happy as them? What was wrong? I was attacked and I killed those wolves to protect myself. Why did I do that?
"We did it!" said Boromir with a smile as he walked back to the fire. The hobbits began to laugh and talk with each other and I heard the contented laughs and voice of Gimli as Boromir asked, "Laura, are you alright?" I nodded and put on a smile. Boromir smiled as well and he pat my shoulder with a gloved hand. "You did well for your first battle! You passed! Seems you only got a bit of a scratch," he pointed at my arm, "but look at the trophies of your bravery!" I looked at my arm. It was the arm that the paw brushed when I was beneath the Warg. It wasn't anything much, the skin was just slightly torn and it wasn't bleeding. Boromir walked away and Aragorn cam to our side of the fire and stood beside me as he asked,
"So how did you do?" I laughed as I replied,
"Well, I'm still here aren't I?" Aragorn laughed as he wiped his sword clean. He paused a bit before asking me,
"You don't seem pleased." I sighed before I asked,
"Aragorn, is it wrong for me to feel guilty? You know, after killing those wolves?" He took a breath before he answered,
"It is not wrong that you feel guilty, though I mean no offense when I say that I expected it." I nodded as I replied,
"None taken. Thanks Aragorn." He nodded as he moved toward Gimli who was now talking to the hobbits. I stood and went to talk to them as well.
Afterwards, the company had settled down and gone to sleep. We left the carcasses around us; this made it very hard for me to sleep because each dead wolf acted like a reminder. So while the rest slept I was awake and thinking about everything I did. I looked at a nearby Warg corpse; its tongue was flopped out of its mouth and its eyes were rolled back in its head. I looked away disgusted and sat up from the ground. I hoped that I wasn't the only one feeling this much remorse, though I had thoughts that I was. I hardly slept at all that night, and in the morning all the bodies of the Wargs had disappeared. We hadn't touched them; all that remained were Legolas' arrows which were all in perfect condition save one with a broken tip.
"It is as I feared," Gandalf said, "These were no ordinary wolves hunting for food in the wilderness. Let us eat quickly and go!" After a quick breakfast we walked steadily until past sunset, for Gandalf wished to reach the gates of Moria before then. When we took our breaks, Aragorn did not make me practice with a sword, but for the first time in a long while he let me rest.
As I rested, Frodo and Sam approached me.
"Laura," Frodo said, "We saw you fend against the wolves of Isengard. If you had not stopped them, some of those wolves could have attacked us. Thank you."
"As do I.," said Sam proudly. "You fought them well Miss Laura." I smiled wearily as I replied,
"Well thanks for saying something. It means a lot." We talked a while longer and as we talked I realized that I needed to thank Legolas. I shuddered at the thought of thanking Legolas, but it had to be done. Besides, I was the bigger person and it would only make me look better in the end. Before I could, our break ended and we started moving again.
After a long day's walk we arrived. As we passed I whispered to the hobbits,
"Try to make no noise. There is something in the water I think we'd better not disturb." We walked on the gravel shore until we came to a blank spot on the wall, where Gandalf ran his fingers and whispered softly. Soon the blank stone began to glow vividly revealing the outline of a door. Below the glowing rims, there were elvish writings, and an anvil and hammer surrounded by stars; beneath that were two winding trees with crescent moons in them, but the grandest and most noticeable of all was a grand star in the center of the door.
"The emblems of Durin!" Gimli exclaimed and I smiled.
"Yes," Gandalf answered, "and the words are in elven-tongue. They say The Doors of Durin, lord of Moria, speak, friend, and enter." Gandalf examined the door as Merry asked,
"What does it mean by "speak, friend, and enter?"
"That is plain enough," Gandalf said, "if you are a friend, speak the password, and the doors will open." He pointed his staff upon the star and said strongly, "Annon hellen, edro hi amen! Fennas negothrim, lasto beth lammen!" but the doors did not open. I looked around and saw the water slightly moving on the gravel shore. I then stepped forward as Gandalf placed his staff on the star and said simply,
"Mellon." Slowly, the rock wall grumbled and split down the middle before the doors swung wide open. Gandalf, Aragorn and Gimli looked at me in surprise as the door opened. I looked at them and explained, "It says, speak "friend" and enter. It's a riddle, the Elvish word for friend is mellon. So lets go." I let Gandalf go before me knowing that he knew the way and we followed him past the great steps to even more steps. After those steps, which lasted forever, we came to an arch with a flat floor that leaded onward in the dark. We stopped there, ate, and set camp for the night; I made no conversation that night, I just laid out my mat and fell asleep on the cold stone floor.
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Llenya the fair: Hope this chapter lived up to your expectation! I worked really hard on trying to make it work!
TriGemini: WOOHOO! YOUR REVIEW ROCKS!! But, what you said about her being able to shrug things off; that is what I love about Laura, her ability to take things seriously, but let the minor things go. It's a very big defining characteristic.
Yo, La Reina: Well, I am very sorry you feel that way, but if you go out of your way to bash something as frivolous as "Mary Sue" Fan Fics, I think you should find something better to do with your time.
Ms. Unknown: Well, thanks a billion, I really can't thank you enough for your loyalty.
Angel Akira: Awesome! I love to hear from new Reviewers…as for the short chapters…well, I promise that as the story gets in to the double digit chapters the chapters get longer…
Keikoman3: Thanks a LOT!!! J
