Chapter Two: "Uglier than a…"
Disclaimer: I don't own Lord of the Rings. Or the people. Or the places. Or the… Well, I think you get the point.
Sorry If my posts are a bit slow, school is starting and I have too much homework for any sane person to handle. Thank goodness for the weekends.
"Gimli, draw your axe!" Gimli shot up and tripped over a bag of lembas wafers in his haste , but in an instant he was up again . Legolas leaped over the edge of the boat and landed just on the bank of the rushing river .
Gimli hastily unravelled a coil of rope and tossed an end to the elf, who had just enough time to tie it to a sturdy tree before- "Hoom , Hoom! What's this ? A rope around my middle? Well, let's not be hasty. Young elf-child, what is this rope?"
Treebeard unwound the rope and held it up. Legolas was lost for words. He was just about to stutter out an explanation when he was cut off by Gimli's shout of, "Legolas! That creature you shot rests on the other side of the river! It looks like a-" "Hoom! My! A dark creature?"
Treebeard stepped across the river , with Legolas clutching a branch, in three huge strides. They soon came to the other side of the river and could see the animal that Legolas had shot down.
It resembled a snake with wings, and was mixed colors of dirty browns and greens that blended into the ground. It's face was grotesque. It resembled an orc on a bad hair day with jagged teeth, a crooked nose, and lopsided eyes.
One was beady and seemed to flash around, changing places by the second. The other eye was huge and stayed constant, looking straight ahead of its face. They felt like the two eyes were prying into them.
Treebeard staightened up and called to Gimli, forcing Legolas to drop to the ground. Gimli was then faced with a problem a bit more trivial than the monster- how to get down from the boat and on to the bank of the river.
Gimli eyed Legolas, then decided that he would have to make the jump; there was no getting around it. The mustered all his courage, made a dignified leap-
And landed flat in the water. Treebeard drew him up and held him down face to face with the monster. He could smell the acrid breath and see every disgusting wart on it's face. "Why, it's uglier than a-"
"Gimli! We'd all be better off if nobody hears whatever you were about to all this monstrosity. Dwarves are not known for having gentle tounges," Legolas whispered to his friend and strode over to the creature.
Water flowed sparingly onto the riverbed, and when the splashes returned to the river, they were dyed a murky color. It was soon plain to see the branding of ashy letters onto the creatures back- Melkor.
Gimli was nonplussed, and thumped back onto the ground to delve into this deepest memories. Even Legolas could not draw from his mind the meaning of the word. Only Treebeard, Oldest of creatures living on Middle Earth, could take meaning from the letters.
"Melkor. Morgoroth. Oh dear, this means great trouble. Great trouble indeed. This name has not been heard since I was an Enting, before Sauron was ever strong in Middle Earth. How shall this go, great evil is again in Middle Earth," Treebeard began muttering to himself.
Legolas stirred at the name of Morgoroth. "In Khazad Dum, as Mithrandir fought the evil monster, he cried 'Balrog of Morgoroth.' Could this creature not have been a great deal more vicious?"
"Who is Mogoroth anyway? A servant of Sauron? If so, he is great indeed. This shall be quite difficult with not the resources of before," Gimli murmurred in reply.
Treebeard slowly shook his head. "Elf, you are quite right. This could have been much more evil. I cannot see why this was all that was sent by him from his dark depths. For the dwarf is wrong. It is, indeed ,the other was around. Sauron himself was a very minion of Morgoroth."
"He is the lord of evil, the blackest thing ever to exist. He cannot be killed, for he is not a man. He was not foolish as Sauron and pour all his power into an object. He is full and well; a spirit. He lives in the depths of the earth, and has undoubtedly come to finish what Sauron started."
"Hoom, hoom. We must not expect to be so lucky this time. This assault will be many times more powerful." Legolas and Gimli were frozen. Men alone could not take such strengths.
After a few moments, Legolas said,"We must go to Minas Tirith and warn Aragorn. He must know long in advance as possible." Treebeard lifted up both the elf and the dwarf and set off for the City of Kings. Gimli whispered something foul as the apple he had been saving fell from his pocket.