Chapter 19 - A Cloister of Trials

Daniel, Jeremy, Julliet, and Legolas arrived at the end of the yellow brick road, and arrived at a cliff with a suspension bridge crossing a river. On the other side of the river was the Temple of the Grenouilles. It was kind of in the shape of a pyramid, and there was stone stairs going up and reaching an arch to enter the temple.

"So should we go in?" Daniel asked. They all started walking across the bridge. Jeremy looked down and saw frogs jumping in and out of the river. They were green frogs.

"Hey! Why don't we go down there to get the frogs?" Jeremy said, proud that he had an idea.

"Well, Chantal gave me this note that said she wants 15 GOLDEN frogs. . ." Legolas said. "So I think we'll have to enter the temple to find them."

"I hope it doesn't take too long." Julliet exclaimed. "I am worried about Merry and Pippin, who knows what Gandalf will do to them!"

"Ew. I don't even wanna think about it!" Daniel said. Julliet kind of smirked. They continued across the bridge and soon arrived at the bottom of the stairs. "I guess we're going up . . ."

"Well I wonder what makes you say that!" Julliet said, sarcastically. Daniel made a face at her, and she made one back at him. So they finally all four went up the stairs. Once they were at the top they were in a small foyer room.

"There's no door to get in . . ." Legolas said, observing the room with his eyes. There was nothing in the room except a little alter in the center with something on it that looked like you need to put something in it. There were a bunch of hieroglyphs on the walls. It was some strange language, and there were pictures of frogs eating little stick men.

"I wonder what this means. . ." Daniel said, looking at the hieroglyphs. Julliet went and inspected them too.

"It looks like Entish writing." Julliet concluded.

"Can you translate it?" Daniel asked.

"Not for you!" Julliet shot back.

"Why not!" Daniel demanded. "C'mon! We have to hurry to save Merry and Pippin!" Julliet rolled her eyes.

"You are too stuck up! I don't even know why I came with you on your stupid quest!"

"Because he did." Jeremy said, pointing to Legolas.

"O yeah." Julliet replied.

"Well Julliet, if you aren't going to translate it for Daniel, can you translate it for me?" Legolas asked, in a sucky voice.

"OK. Anything for you babe." Julliet said, walking over to the walls. She inspected them for a while. "It says we need something called the "Grenouille Sphere" to put on the altar to open a secret door."

"Well this is great!" Daniel said. "Where are we gonna get one of those?"

"Oh stop complaining!" Julliet said. "It says right here that it's in a small cave underneath the suspension bridge!" Daniel rolled his eyes. Everyone just stood there. After a few minutes, Julliet broke the silence. "Well what are you waiting for Daniel? Go get the sphere!"

"You get it!"

"Don't back talk me! You get it!"

"WAIT!" Legolas interrupted. "This won't get us anywhere. I'll go and get it." Just then, he left and started heading down the stairs.

"He's so brave!" Julliet said.

"He probably just said that and is gonna leave so he doesn't have to be with you!" Jeremy said.

"WHAT!" Julliet screamed. She whacked him over the head. Within minutes, Legolas finally returned with an aqua coloured ball in his hand. He went up and placed it in the slot. At first, nothing happened, but soon, it started glowing and the room started shaking. Then, in front of them, another huge door opened, revealing a dark room.

"Whoa!" Jeremy said.

"Let's go!" Daniel said, and the four elves walked into the room.

"You know Legolas, I AM scared of the dark . . . Maybe you should carry me." Julliet said. Legolas rolled his eyes and was thankful that the room was dark so Julliet didn't see it. It was starting to get too dark. Daniel said a little chant, and a small flame came floating above his finger.

"There, now at least we can see a little bit." Daniel said. They were in a narrow hallway, and the walls were made of yellow stone. Soon, they saw a light at the end of the hallway. They all started running to it, and once they were there, they found a huge room with stairs and platforms all over the place. The room seemed lightened by a huge magical sphere floating at the top of the room.

"Wow!" Julliet said. "Where do you think we can find the frogs?" They were all looking around the marble stairs and platforms. There were tunnels running in and out of everywhere.

"I don't know, but let's start looking." Legolas said. Jeremy saw in the distance a figure wearing black disappear around the corner.

"A wa - a wa - wa - wa- weird." He said.

"Why are you studdering?" Julliet demanded.

"The same reason why you're so bossy!" Jeremy replied.

"OK split it up!" Daniel said, he knew someone would end up with a black eye, most likely Jeremy. "Let's just keep going. They entered the maze and were searching for hours and couldn't find any sign of a golden frog. Every once in a while Jeremy kept noticing a black figure running around in the maze. Finally, they entered another chamber. It had hieroglyphs on the walls too. "So what's it say?" Daniel asked. Julliet went and inspected.

"It says: 'Find the Golden Frogs in the center sphere'." She read aloud.

"Do you think it means that light thing-a-ma-jig in the middle?" Jeremy asked. Legolas was stroking his chin.

"Probably." He responded.

"But how do we get up there?" Daniel asked.

"I don't know." Legolas answered. "Julliet, is there any more written on there?"

"Yeah, but I can't understand it . . ." She answered. They all thought for a while.

"Well we'll find something." Daniel said. Just then, they heard laughing coming from the other room. They all ran out to see Sarah Mac at the top of the huge sphere.

"It's a Ringwraith!" Jeremy announced, pulling out his dagger. Legolas and Daniel readied their bows, and Julliet pulled out her sword.

"What do you want?" Daniel yelled up to Sarah Mac.

"I want Pippin!" She screamed down. "And I know you want these frogs, so why don't we switch?"

"Pippin isn't with us!" Legolas said.

"Too bad, I guess no frogs for you then . . ." Sarah Mac said, jumping off the sphere, and landing on the ground unsheathing her sword. "Get ready!" She said. Then she did a back flip and jumped onto a platform across and above the four elves. Daniel and Legolas both started shooting their arrows frantically at her, but she kept dodging them.

"Curse you, heathen!" Julliet yelled, running up the stairs and meeting her at the platform.

"Julliet . . . I didn't think it had to end this way . . ." Sarah said.

"Aw too bad!" Julliet said. She struck her sword at Sarah and she blocked it with her sword. "En garde!" Julliet yelled, as their swords clashed together. They were both taught very well.

"Shouldn't we help her?" Daniel asked.

"No, this is between them." Legolas answered. "They used to be sisters, and then Sarah turned to the dark side. Their father, Mark taught them both very well how to sword fight. Only the better one will win . . ." So the three male elves observed Julliet and Sarah fighting. There were swords clashing, and sweat running down both their faces.

"This is it!" Julliet yelled. She was about to stab Sarah, when she kicked Julliet's sword out of her hand and it went sliding across the floor.

"Haha! Whose the better sword fighter now?" Sarah said, proudly kicking Julliet onto her back. "Well Julliet, I guess this is goodbye . . ." She had her sword right up to Julliet's throat, when suddenly Julliet heard a voice in her head.

"Use the force!" It kept repeating.

"Uh wrong story, but whatever!" Julliet said. She held out her hand to her sword, and it magically slid over to her hand. This caught Sarah by surprise, and Julliet stabbed her.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sarah screamed in agonizing pain. Then she fell to the ground. Julliet sheathed her sword and was panting heavily. She sat on the ground, staring at her sister's corpse. Legolas, Daniel, and Jeremy ran up to her.

"Don't worry Julliet." Legolas assured her, putting his hand on her shoulder. "She's gone to a better place now, a place where she can start over." He said, looking to the ceiling.

"Or the other place." Jeremy said, looking down to the ground. Daniel elbowed him. Julliet nodded to Legolas and stood up.

"Well I guess we should get those frogs . . ." She said, and they kept searching for a way to get up to the sphere.