Hey everyone! I'm sorry for the long wait but I was having computer problems. Now I have a free day from school because I got my wisdom teeth pulled and I have to stay home from school today. I thought, what better then to try and forget the pain then sit and write. So, here's the next chapter! It may not be as good as the others…sorry.
Active Mind of a Quiet Elf
Chapter 7
The bridge of Khazad-dum!
They ran as fast as they could from the room, sprinting into the large chamber on the other side with the towering pillars of stone. The amusement he had felt before and the thrill of battle were gone. Cold dread filled him, he hated goblins.
Gandalf was ahead of him, good old Gandalf, always strong and dependable. He would never leave, never. Behind them, the shrill cries of goblins filled their ears. The slaps of flat feet on the stone so loud in his ears he was deaf to all else, even the pounding of him companion's hearts and the quickened speed of his own. They didn't seem to be going fast enough and with a quick glance over his shoulder, he was amazed to see the Hobbits following closely behind.
More goblins were popping out of the darkness, coming up from cracks in the floor. He could see them out of the corners of his eyes but he dare not take his gaze away from Gandalf, who ran with all speed, leading them on. He was, after all, the only one who knew these parts and therefore the only one he could follow, least be trapped in this dreadful, dark Dwarf hole forever. Why the blasted dwarves couldn't build smaller kingdoms, he'd never understand. They were too small to need all this.
Soon, he let himself fall behind, closer to Aragorn should the need arise that he'd have to protect him and the Hobbits. Gimli, Boromir and Gandalf ran ahead, calling out small tidbits of encouragement like hurry, or, in the dwarf's case, profanities. Above them, Legolas could hear more goblins streaming down on them from above. This was worse then he could have imagined.
Suddenly they were surrounded. Huddled into a tight circle, the Fellowship could only raise their weapons and hope fruitlessly to defend themselves against this throng of foul smelling creatures. Legolas eyes watered as he raised his bow, preparing for attack. The smell was making him sick, but it wasn't the only one he sensed. Something different was on the air, approaching, something worse…it smelled like charred hair. He knew the smell, only different. He'd once accidentally set fire to a young elf maiden's hair…a young elf maiden he had liked. Oohps.
The goblin's brandished their weapons and drooled upon the ground, shrieking. Merry ran into his back making Legolas stubble forward slightly. The nearest goblin to him stepped from the circle but Legolas' pointed arrow made him halt and crawl back into his companions, waiting.
Gimli made a fruitless, "Yeah!" Beside him. Like his small bellow could tarnish the dinner plans of these creatures. Legolas rolled his eyes and continued moving his bow, hoping onme would step forward so he could greet it properly.
Suddenly, silence fell. It was eerie. Legolas couldn't understand why the goblins had stopped crying until a loud, rumbling, guttural snort filled the chamber from some hidden place far behind them. Legolas heart clenched and his stomach turned. He'd never heard that sound but, he was sure what it was. Not far away, Gandalf turned sharply and looked through the darkness for the noise.
The goblins all shrieked and chattered amongst themselves, turning as well. A light was growing at the far end of the passage, red, orange and flickering; it began to grow…fire. It was coming towards them fast as was the intensifying smell of burnt hair. The goblins began to shriek and run, tripping and trampling over each other in their haste. Legolas had never seen anything move as quickly as they did now. But he desperately hoped they'd be able to outmatch it.
Gimli, who hadn't noticed anything, not that that was surprising, laughed cheerful and victoriously. Legolas wanted to grab his hair and pull him around to look at the light crawling towards them but couldn't. With his hand still gripped tightly on his bow, he turned to watch the light with Gandalf. Growls filled his ears from the distant beast and he hoped his worst fears were not about to come true. Lowering his bow, he waited for confirmation.
"What is this new devilry?" Boromir asked in a growling voice, as though this new magic was Gandalf's doing. Legolas didn't look at the old man, taking his silence for thought or worry, he knew not which. All he knew was that he stood, mesmerized and afraid at the sight of the flickering light seeping in through the pillars on the right, and shimmering off the wall on the left. It was torture to watch, but he couldn't turn away. Eyes wide, he hoped it wasn't his fear.
"A Balrog- a demon of the ancient world." Gandalf said quietly. Legolas felt any color in his cheeks drain. A demon, one of the only things his people feared above all else. Legolas cringed inwardly and cursed Gandalf. He was with Boromir, it was all his fault! To hell with that, everyone but himself were to blame. Not able to rationalize his thoughts, he dimly heard Gandalf say, "This foe is beyond any of you. Run!"
Legolas took off, as fast as his feet could carry him and came into a large chamber room full of orange light and stone stairways behind Boromir. When he sped around the corner her saw Boromir on the edge, teetering on the brink of falling into the vast spaced below. Cursing humans and their clumsy feet, he raced down the steps and grabbed Boromir with one hand, hoping he didn't drop his bow which was still in his other hand's tight grip. The two fell back against the stairs, Legolas cursing in elvish as Boromir's heavy, armored weight drove him into the steps.
Boromir got up as fast as he could and Legolas was helped up unnecessarily but Sam, who always seemed eager to help. Behind them, Aragorn was with Gandalf on the stairs. The old man was leaning against the wall; looking older then Legolas had ever seen him. Having known Gandalf almost his whole life, Legolas felt a string of dread at seeing the man so frail and old looking. Pushing it from his mind was the shock when Gandalf threw Aragorn away from him with a yelled, "Do as I say! Swords are no more use here!"
Confused, Legolas raced down the steps behind the rest of them, the growls of the Balrog in his ears. He was wondering who they would offer as a sacrifice to the creature if need came. Boromir or Gimli were his hope, though Merry and Pippin were a close second.
Leaping down from one stair way to the next, he landed a few steps below Aragorn who was in the lead. Ignoring his friend's blasted warnings and wishes for his safety, he ran ahead to the gap in the stairs they were coming to.
If anyone could make that jump, he could. Taking a second to plan his leap, he crouched, and flew. Turning, he called for Gandalf first, the Balrog braking into the chamber through the wall not to far from them. Gandalf had a flash of doubt in his eyes before he leapt, landing next to Legolas and grabbing the elf's arm for support. That was when the arrows began to fly.
Not believing this could get any worse, Legolas turned to see Goblins shooting at them from the ridges high above, in the dark. Stepping down a few steps, he took aim and began to fire, not caring where his arrows landed. Some hit the blasted creatures in the stomach, others in the neck.
His father's words suddenly came to him, so long ago he thought they had been hidden. "If you're going to do something, Legolas, do it right. Aim to impress, aim to hurt…aim to kill."
Anger boiled inside of him. His father! Taking aim, he let his arrow fly and imbedded it in the skull of the farthest goblin. The creature fell into the abyss with a shriek that sent his hair on end but he couldn't stop, he had to keep shooting.
Boromir grabbed Merry and Pippin and jumped. Legolas turned just in time to catch them, least they fall over the side. This was getting hard, catching his companions and shooting at the goblins. To bad they weren't all good at archery, maybe they would stand more of a chance. Maybe it was his dread, maybe the weird power his people could tap into, but somewhere he knew one of them was going to die and he desperately hoped it wasn't someone he'd come to like.
Sam was thrown into Boromir's arms, which was good. This left Legolas free to continue shooting. Behind him, he heard the dwarf's complaints, but ignored them. It was, after all, normal.
"Nobody tosses a dwarf." He heard the stubborn creature say. Legolas couldn't believe it. There was no way the stumpy creature could make it. Turning, as arrows flew around them, Legolas watched the annoying creature's progress. Now this was entertainment, no matter what peril they were it.
Gimli leapt but wasn't close enough to land. Legolas leapt forward, for reasons he himself couldn't explain, and grabbed hold of Gimli's beard. Holding tightly, he tried to pull him up but the rock beneath the dwarf was crumbling.
"Not the beard!" Gimli yelled. Legolas could have let go but something made him hold on. 'Not the beard, he says. Where else am I supposed to grab? Least he forget, he is half way over his death and I am the only one holding him on this side of life…ungrateful little…"
Cursing, Legolas gave an almightily pull and Gimli was wrenched onto the stairs and Aragorn began to shoot at the goblins. About time, too."
Suddenly, the stairs where Aragorn and Frodo waited to cross gave way and fell. Legolas' heart stopped, his legs numb as he watched Aragorn throw Frodo farther up and grab onto the very edge of his steps. Years of fun flashed through his mind, just him and the ranger but they were overshadowed by and strange sense of grief, though Aragorn was still alive. What if he fell?
Finally, Aragorn managed to pull himself up. Legolas felt his heart ease but it was no where near satisfied. The Balrog was getting closer, his feeling of looming death was increasing, the goblins were still being little pigs and Aragorn and Frodo were trapped so far, there was more impossibility that they'd make a clean jump then there had been with Gimli. It was looking bleak.
The wall through which they had come was breaking, the Balrog was pounding through. Legolas saw the end and glanced to Gandalf in front of him for support. There was none to be had.
Suddenly, a large chunk of wall broke away and fell, smashing the staircase. Legolas cursed in elvish as the staircase where one of his best friend's stood, swayed..
Standing helplessly behind Gandalf, all he could do was wait and watch. Suddenly, Aragorn said, lean forward. Legolas knew instantly what he was thinking and pushed lightly past Gandalf, waiting. He trusted Aragorn, even if he was human and had got them into trouble on numerous occasions.
The rock was coming forward; Legolas opened his arms, waiting to grab Aragorn. "Come on!" Suddenly the broken staircase slammed into theirs, sending hard shutters through his feet. Legolas felt Aragorn slam into him and the two fell down a stair until the elf and man regained their balance. What was it with stairs, and human's running into him today?
"Are you alright?" Aragorn whispered. Legolas nodded with a whispered, "Yeah!" And the two set off again with the others, all together.
Fire leapt up in front of them, from a crack in the floor. Gandalf stopped off to the side of the Fellowship, "Over the bridge! Fly!"
Legolas ran on obediently, passing Gandalf. He didn't look back until he heard a large whaling growl and felt a rumble in the floor. There was Gandalf, alone before the fire, watching the Balrog. No stories he had ever heard came close to this, Massive, the beast's outline was rimmed in flame, hunched and menacing. Glowing coals for eyes shone brightly against its shadowy skin and it spit fire from a massive mouth, the flames spitting between two curving horns.
Legolas stopped, stunned. To think, one of his people was a Balrog slayer…and what was worse, Gandalf didn't seem like he was going to move. Legolas wanted to cry out a warning but it was drowned out by the Balrog's roar as it charged forward, melting the floor at it's feet. Gandalf turned and ran, finally, his actions dislodging Legolas' own sense of dread. Pushing Sam in front of him, and listening intently for Gandalf behind, he raced with the others for the bridge as the thumping steps of the Balrog advanced.
The bridge was narrow, but no trouble for him to cross. Legolas turned to look only when he heard Gandalf's voice, farther back on the bridge.
"You cannot pass." He yelled. Legolas turned next to Sam and was astonished to see Gandalf standing on the bridge still. The idiot! He thought he could take on a Balrog all by himself? He was a wizard, a wizard Legolas had known for a very long time! How could Gandalf do this? It was treachery!
"Gandalf!" Frodo screamed. The Balrog raised itself onto it's hind legs and burst into a brighter flame, evidently just as shocked and angered as Legolas felt. Gandalf had to move, this was madness. If he thought he was being noble, he was wrong. The Fellowship needed him, he couldn't do this! How dare he do this?
Legolas was now the only one to hear him speak, his sharp hearing picking up Gandalf's low voice. "I am the servant of the secret fire, wielder of the flame of Anor." Gandalf raised his staff which glowed brightly, so bright Lwgolas nearly had to shield his eyes. "The dark fire will not avail you," He spoke louder now and finally yelled, "Flame of Udun!"
The Balrog had produced a fiery sword, which he brought down onto Gandalf's staff. Legolas flinched and looked away, the light of Gandalf burning into his closed lids. Miraculously, Gandalf was still alive when he opened his eyes again. Aragorn was beside him now, looking terrified and shocked at the scene before them.
The Balrog roared but Gandalf held his ground. "Go back to the shadow!" He growled. Aragorn leaned closer to Legolas and gripped the elf's sleeve but Legolas couldn't look away.
The Balrog stepped onto the bridge and the stone cracked. Now was the time to run, Gandalf, you noble idiot. Run and no one would think any less of you! The Balrog snapped his whip and still Gandalf stood. "You shall not pass!" He screamed, slamming his staff against the bridge. A bright flash of light shot out but the Balrog didn't relent.
Suddenly it advanced and the bridge broke, sending the wretched creature plummeting into the darkness. Gandalf turned but suddenly, the fiery whip wrapped itself around the wizard's ankle. It pulled him over the edge and let go, just as he was about to go over. Holding on with the tips of his fingers he looked up at them all.
His eyes stopped on every one of them, fear in his face until they rested on Frodo. Suddenly, he looked determined. Frodo ran forward but was grabbed by Boromir, the poor Hobbit screaming for the wizard.
"Fly, you fools." He said, and let go. With Frodo's shrill scream ringing in his ears, Legolas noticed the goblins had resumed their shooting. Raising his bow numbly, he shot back, a strange weight in his chest. Boromir called for Aragorn and still, Legolas couldn't move. Something inside him, however, made him rip his eyes from the place where one of his oldest friends had disappeared, and run, briefly grabbing Aragorn's arm as he passed.
Gandalf was gone and, as the sunlight shinning through the crevice opened up to a wide, rock field, he finally let himself feel it. The bright blue sky mocked him. Gandalf was gone.
Due to popular demand, I've decided to ignore the 'no author responses' rule and do it anyway, so, here it is!
TO MY REVIEWERS:
Rebell: I'm sorry it took so long for me to update. I had so many computer troubles.
Faerlas: You concinced me, so I decided to continue with the responses. Thank you for the information and I hope you liked this chapter.
morph: Thanks.
KerowynGreenleaf: Yeah, but I skipped out on the rule. Oh well. LOL. Thanks for the review.
AND TO ANYONE WHO I MAY HAVE MISSED OR JUST AREN'T REVIEWING, THANK YOU!