For the usual disclaimer please see Ch. 1
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I apologise for taking so long to update.
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Ch. 6 Hell Holes And Great Debates
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The darkness was all but complete. It was an eerie darkness, the kind that envelopes you, consumes you. The only sound she could hear was the laboured breaths of her companions, as they worked to get their breathing under control after their mad dash into the mine. All else was silence.
Sitting in the dark quietness that was called Moria Karla couldn't help but wonder what Gandalf would find when he went to examine the door. Even from where she was sitting she could hear the faint sounds of rocks and trees being piled against the door. When Gandalf finally returned, exclaiming that that way was sealed, she wasn't in the least bit surprised, but then again, from the looks on her companions' faces, they weren't either.
"What was that
thing, and was it waiting for us?" As
Frodo looked at Gandalf everyone could see that he was almost afraid of the
answer that he would get.
"As for what it was, I don't know. But
there are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world"
"The deep places of the world. What an ominous ring that has," Karla couldn't help but add. There was just something sinister and foreboding about calling Moria one of the 'deep places of the world'.
"But let us stop here and have something to eat." Now that Frodo had begun to shake off some of the terror that he felt, he was beginning to fell hungry again.
Karla, amazed at Frodo's ability to just shake off such a terrifying event, let alone eat, could do nothing but sit and watch as the hobbits ate more food in that one sitting than her whole family would have eaten in an entire day, or so it seemed to her.
Although very un-hobbit like, the very thought of food seemed to curdle her stomach. She knew she should eat, and she also knew that if she really were Pippin, nothing would have kept her away from the brief repast that they had put out. But for Karla, even the small sips of water she had managed to swallow seemed to desire to make a repeat appearance.
"Are you feeling alright Pip? You haven't touched your food."
"I'm fine Merry, just a little unnerved by that creature, whatever it was."
Gandalf must have felt that way about most of the party, because after they had eaten he decided to give them all a third sip of the miruvor. Although there was not much left, Karla had to agree that it was a good idea.
But after only a brief rest, they were off again, searching for a way out of the dark gloom the Dwarves called Moria.
It was easily decided that Gandalf, with his lighted staff would lead the way, joined by Gimli, the only one of the Company who truly felt any peace in the dark caverns of the mine.
But as they marched Karla found it increasingly difficult to keep her eyes off of Boromir. Partly that might have been because he was walking infront of her, but mostly it was because he had been increasingly on her mind.
There was just something vibrantly 'alive' about the man. While he might never have been born to be king, there was no mistaking his commanding presence that made him a good leader, none the less.
But her attention was also drawn to the quiet, unassuming presence behind her as well. So similar, yet so different were the two men of Gondor. 'I wonder how Strider would have responded to this dilemma' Karla thought.
Moving closer to Boromir, Karla felt a burning desire to talk to him, since he'd been so prevalently on her mind. Yet the closer she got, the more she hesitated. What should she say? 'I'm sorry, but did you know that you're about to die any day now?' How does one tell another about their impending demise?
"What has you so troubled, little one?"
With a little jump of surprise, Karla turned to look at Boromir. So caught up in her own thoughts, she hadn't realised that he'd been watching her, or that she'd been staring at him. Then again, maybe that was just fate telling her she had the perfect time to talk to him, but now to begin?
"Sometimes I find it so hard to believe that so much pain and suffering could come from something so small. Is the ring really that evil?"
"Evil? I don't' know if I'd call the ring evil, little one. "
"Then what would you call it?"
"Would you consider that sword you're carrying evil?"
Looking at the sword she was carrying, as it sat strapped to her waist, Karla thought about the inherent evil that could be present in the weapon. Sure, it could be used for evil purposes, but she didn't think she had used it for anything but self-preservation, even if that did mean killing a whole slew of Orcs along the way.
"No, I don't think the sword is evil."
"Then what makes you think that the ring is any more evil than that sword. It is the weapon of the enemy, much as our swords are our weapons."
"But can a weapon not be evil? Look at the way the ring has corrupted everyone who has used it?" Looking at Frodo, Karla was aware that even that far into the journey Frodo had begun to change. His attitude towards the ring had become more and more possessive, more and more secretive. The ring was starting to consume him.
Looking a Boromir, Karla could see just how much thought he was putting into his answer.
"I guess you could say that there is, I think, a darkness inside all of us. The darkness in the world calls to the darkness inside of us."
"The evil in the world tempts us to do evil things?"
"It is not a call that we have to answer, but one that we can chose to answer or not. If Gandalf were to call out to me now, I could just as easily ignore his call as answer it. So it is with the darkness within us. We can chose to listen to and answer the call of the darkness in the world, or we can choose to ignore evil's call. The temptation is present, but the choice is ours."
Not knowing how to respond, Karla could do no more than just walk beside Boromir, thinking about all the things that he had said to her. Was he right? Was the call of the ring something that each of us had a choice to ignore? If that were so, then did Boromir chose to ignore the warnings of everyone around him or did he think he was strong enough to control it?
The more she thought about it the more confused she became. Even after having talked to him she felt no closer to coming to a resolution about her dilemma. Should she speak to Boromir about her knowledge or not? She couldn't just come out and say 'So, how susceptible to the ring do you feel because very shortly you'll be put to the test and fail'.
But even as she was talking to Boromir Karla could feel Aragorn walking behind them, watching everything they did. Although he said very little, Karla had the feeling that very little passed his notice.
With a subtle nod in her direction, Aragorn once again turned his direction towards the rest of the Company. Was he trying to give her a subtle warning? A clue? Lost in the confusion that was her thoughts, Karla continued to walk, that unceasing motion that exhausted her more than anything else.
By the time that Gandalf finally called a halt to the day's walk Karla was so exhausted that even her brain had ceased to function. For the first time in her life she understood how people who are sleep deprived refer to that feeling as being 'punch drunk'. The silliest things seem amusing and there becomes no such thing as common sense (although for the most part she had determined that common sense did not really exist anyway. While some people may have some sense, there was nothing common about it).
And so, when she and Merry found a door that lead into what looked to be a chamber she was all able and willing to walk blindly into it. As long as it looked like a safe place to rest she was all for it. To her fogged and unresponsive brain the room looked safe, secure, and a good place to take a break for the night (that is if it really was night).
It wasn't until Gandalf mentioned the word 'danger' that Karla's sleep deprived brain even registered the very idea of trouble in that room. Ready to walk blindly into the room, Gandalf had to call the two hobbits back before they walked into a big whole in the floor that their sleep blinded eyes completely missed.
Listening to Gandalf's scolding about the well and the danger that it possessed, Karla was secretly fascinated by that dark spot on the floor. What exactly there was to be fascinated about, Karla could not have said. As the others were unrolling their bedrolls and preparing to make camp, Karla couldn't help but feel herself being drawn closer to the hole in the floor, much as a moth must feel when drawn closer to the flame.
Leaning over the hole, all Karla could feel was the wind on her face coming up from that dark pit whose bottom seemed endless, an bottomless hole where one could fall for all eternity and never meet the end. On an impulse, as that thought ran through her head, Karla could feel herself pick up a small pebble and drip it down the hole, expecting to hear nothing but the soft 'whoosh' of the pebble as it fell through space.
Suddenly, and much to her sleep deprived brain's surprise, there came what might have been a soft plunk, as if the pebble had hit some still water. But the sound, as it reverberated through the tunnel, seemed to magnify and grow steadily louder.
Startled by the sound, Gandalf cried out, trying to find the source of the sound, being both relieved and irritated to find out what Pippin had done.
With Gandalf's cry of ' fool of a Took' ringing in her ears, Karla was duly chastised for her lapse in thinking. What had she been thinking? Not even she knew the answer to that. Even just a few seconds after dropping that rock down the whole her own action seemed ludicrous to her. What must the rest of the Company be thinking?
Hearing the crash of the pebble falling, no one made a sound. It didn't take long for the silence in the room to feel suffocating. Everyone seemed poised, waiting for something to happen, though no one for sure knew what.
It wasn't until that moment that Karla's brain began to kick into over-drive. Suddenly she knew what was to come. Her sudden gasp was quickly followed by the almost silent tom-tap, tom-tap that echoed through the room.
"What have I done?" Feeling almost in a panic, Karla looked from one member of the Company to another, just waiting for someone to chastise her. Then again, what could they say that she hadn't privately said to herself in the split second it took her brain to register what that drum sound meant.
Gandalf, though, had to admit that, while not the smartest move one could make, it probably had very little to do with the cause of the drumming sound. Instead, it most likely was cause by their very presence in the mines.
"But, Master Took, because of your foolish actions you can take first watch."
"Like I could sleep anyway," Karla quietly muttered to herself as she tried to settle herself into a comfortable position.
But there was no comfortable position for Karla. Images of Orcs climbing up the well kept intruding into her thoughts. Even the slightest sound made her jump. What she wanted more than anything at that moment was to cover that blasted hole. But after her first time going near it, she dared not make a second.
After only an hour Gandalf came over and sat beside Karla. Deep in thought and worrying about where the Company was going to go next, he knew he would not get any more sleep tonight. As well, watching Pippin jump at even the smallest of sounds, Gandalf was clearly aware of how tired the young hobbit was.
With a kind smile, Gandalf ushered Pippin into a corner to get some rest. But after the fiasco of the day, Pippin was reluctant to move too far away from the Gandalf. After sending Pippin off to sleep, Gandalf pulled out his pipe and began to smoke.
Watching Gandalf smoke, listening to he quiet in the cave, Karla's mind was soon drawn back to the problem of Boromir. If she told him about what was to come, would it change things?
Turning in her bedroll to look at Gandalf, Karla quietly posed the question to him.
"Gandalf, if someone knew what has going to happen in the future, would they be able to change it?"
"What was that?" Having attracted his full attention, Gandalf turned to look at the young hobbit.
"Well, say you knew that something bad was going to happen to someone. Would you tell that person? And if so, would that prevent the bad thing from happening?"
Giving Pippin a long, hard stare, Gandalf seemed to be considering how to answer this question.
Not wanting to give too much of herself away, or the fact that she might know more about this journey that Pippin should, Karla mentioned to Gandalf the brief conversation that she had with Legolas on the Caradhras.
"So, I was thinking. If the choices we make determine who we are, and who we are determine how we respond to a situation, then even if we knew what was going to happen, would we really be able to do anything about it?"
"My how philosophical you have gotten this late at night, but I think that perhaps this might have been a question best put to Lord Elrond." Looking at Pippin, Gandalf had a knowing smile no his face, and for one brief moment Karla thought he might know the truth. But no sooner had she seen that look than it disappeared, hidden behind that enigmatic look that he so often wore when talking to her.
"Oh, well I guess it is a little late for that."
"Pippin, while most people think of life as a straight line, with one even leading to another in a linear sequence, try to imagine life as a spider's web."
"A spider's web? How so?"
"In life there are important events, the kinds of things that are important in shaping our live. I guess some people tend to call them 'life defining moments' or pivotal experiences."
"Ok, I understand that. Pivotal experiences."
"Now, imagine those experiences are connected in much the same way that the strands of a spider's web are connected."
"Connected like a web. I see."
"While one connection can lead you to the next, others take you away from that same point. But, all connections are important for the stability of the web. Right?"
"I guess."
"What would happen if I took away one of those connections?"
"There would be a big hole in the web."
"And what would happen if you took away one of those connections?"
"There would be another big hole in the web."
"Our lives are like that. The web of life is affected by everyone around us. Each experience we have builds connections, strengthening the web. Each experience we lose takes away a connection, thus weakening the web."
"If it is an important event, then it is something that you have to do, and if it isn't important then it doesn't matter if you do it or not, it won't change things at all."
"So, what you're saying is that life happens and we have to go through it whether we want to or not."
"What I am saying is that while there are many paths in life, many different ways of getting somewhere they all, inevitably, take you to the same place. Does that help any?"
"I don't know…maybe."
"Then get some sleep and let me think."
The next day was much of the same, endless walking. Just when Karla felt like she had walked the circumference of the earth, the Company came to a room full of dust with a single oblong block about two feet high and upon which was laid a great slab of white stone.
Stepping forward, Karla was amazed at the stonework. She had never seen such elegant stonework in her life. So amazed was she that she almost missed Gandalf as he read the inscription on the stone.
It wasn't until she heard Gandalf voice the name of Balin that she became aware of what was coming up next: a cave troll. The problem was, how was she suppose to tell the group that they would soon be encountering a cave troll, something hobbits should have very little knowledge of.
Deciding to hold her tongue this time and hoping it was the right decision, Karla began to help the others search the room, looking for some clue as to Balin's fate. It suddenly occurred to her that she had no idea how the dwarf died. Was it mentioned in the movie? She had not recollection of it if it was. Then again, from the way that Gimli talked about Balin as they were hiking down Caradhras she almost felt like she knew the dwarf. So fondly had Gimli spoken of Balin that it was almost like he had been a member of the Fellowship.
Lost in thought, Karla barley noticed that Gandalf, who was standing not far from her, had stopped moving and was starting to read a book. It wasn't until his clear voice cut through the silence that she was aware of what was happening.
Listening to Gandalf read, one line reverberated in Karla's head over and over again. 'We cannot get out. We cannot get out." Looking around the room she was sure they were trapped, and if the look on Gandalf's and Aragorn's face was anything to go by, she was sure they were aware of it too.
Deciding to pack up the book and take it with them, Gandalf handed the book to Gimli and started everyone off back to the hall.
No sooner had the words left Gandalf's mouth than a loud boom seemed to come from the depths below them. Just like in the movie, just like what happened to the dwarves before them, they were trapped.
Standing there with the other hobbits, not knowing what to do and too stunned to think of something useful to do, the first thing she was aware of was Aragorn's command to shut and bar the door.
Afraid to bar the door for fear of being trapped as the dwarves before them, yet not wishing to give free access to the Orcs, Boromir finally shoved the door shut, wedging it closed with a broken sword.
Karla's worst fear had come true: they were trapped in the Chamber of records.
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