And here's the second!

Chapter One Hundred and Four: The Fire Burns Auburn on the Mountainside

Time seemed to freeze, the horror of the moment pinning Nelly to the ground. She could see Sam scrambling desperately to the edge of the walkway, hear him crying out Frodo's name over and over, but she could not move, she could not breathe –

Frodo was gone, he was gone, and –

"Hold on!" Sam yelled, thrusting his uninjured arm down over the edge, and Nelly's heart seized painfully. "Hold on, Frodo!" He looked up over his shoulder, terror wrought into his face. "Nelly, help me!"

Help?

Hope?

With a sob of effort, she dug her fingers into the stone of the walkway and dragged herself forward, a blinding, white-hot pain bursting out from her shattered ankle, and throbbing up her legs. The wound in her shoulder was a cruel, stabbing ache, and the slash across her chest shrieked with every inch she crept forward, every inch it was dragged across the ground. Nausea swam in her stomach, and her head span, but Sam needed help, and it did not matter that she was broken. He needed help, and she needed to try.

She gritted her teeth, felt her nails splintering against the rock, and pulled harder, dragging herself closer to Sam. Closer.

"Get off him!" Sam bellowed. "Get off him, you beast, get off! Hold on, Frodo – no!"

An agonised scream rose up from the abyss, and Nelly sobbed again, cursing the dead-weight of her leg and the pain that consumed it, and crawling closer –

"Stop it, stop!" Sam was screaming, reaching down over the edge of the cliff, and Frodo was screaming too, and she could hear the growls of an orc, and she could feel a deep, deep rumbling – a rumbling within the mountain itself.

Well, that can't be good…

The world began to swim before her eyes, and she crawled closer, pursing her lips to try to keep from vomiting, and then she reached Sam's side, and looked down.

And her heart stopped.

Somehow, Frodo had caught the edge of the walkway as he fell, but the orc had managed to catch him, and it was ripping the flesh from the back of Frodo's legs with its teeth as the young hobbit screamed. Before her eyes, the orc dug its claws into Frodo's back and dragged itself up, and as Frodo screamed, she saw his fingers begin to slip –

And Sam's hand was still inches away.

"No!" Sam bellowed. "Get off him!"

With a snarl, the orc leapt up, pushing off of Frodo's back and seizing Sam's hand, and Sam shrieked. Kicking at a whimpering Frodo as he did, the orc used Sam's arm to clamber up towards the walkway, and fury overtook Nelly's fear.

Pushing herself up on her wounded arm, she struck out with the heel of her good hand, placing the blow as Nori taught her, and the creature squawked as its nose shattered, and then she punched it square in the chest, and it tumbled backwards over the edge, down towards the flames.

Breathless, Nelly collapsed against the walkway, watching the orc's flesh burst into flames moments as it struck the lava, and as she did, she spied something else – a glint of gold floating on the surface of the magma.

And then she looked back at Frodo, just in time to see his left hand fail. She screamed as his fingers slipped away from the hold, and he cried out as he swayed into the rock, held onto life only by the sweating, trembling fingers of his right hand.

"Don't you let go," Sam roared. "Don't let go!"

Nelly sobbed as Frodo gazed up at them, his eyes wide and hopeless and tearful, and she shook her head desperately. "Don't, don't leave us, you utter bastard, don't leave us-"

A desperate laugh bubbled from Frodo's lips, and he glanced down at the fire below.

"Take my hand!" Sam ordered, and Frodo looked back up.

Biting down on his lip, he threw up his left hand, but it slipped through Sam's fingers and fell limp to his side, and again he swayed dangerously above the rock.

His little finger slipped from the hold.

"Reach!"

With a cry of effort, Frodo threw his left hand up again, and as his body rose it dislodged his right hand, and he began to fall –

And Sam's hand seized his, and he stopped falling, dangling instead from the hand of his friend, gasping for breath.

Far below them, the glint of gold had vanished. Another low, loud rumble rode out through the mountain, and Nelly grabbed onto Sam's arm, helping him pull with all her might. Between the two of them, they had claim to one working arm, and together they heaved, but as they did, the pain wreaking through Nelly's body grew fiercer and fiercer. Soon, it clouded her eyes, until all see could see was a blur of red and brown, and the vague shape of Frodo as they dragged him up onto the rock beside them.

"We, we need to go," Sam gasped, as another rumble shook the ground. "I think, I think we've upset the mountain."

Frodo laughed weakly, but then there was a sound like the hiss of a thousand snakes, and a glow of brighter red rose up through Nelly's blurred vision.

"We need to go, now!" Sam yelped, and Nelly could vaguely make out him getting to his feet.

Good, she thought. Sam can run. Sam will make it.

"My… my legs," Frodo stammered, and she saw Sam crouch beside him, and heard his cry of pain as he hoisted Frodo up over his shoulders.

"Sam," she said, but her voice was so quiet. "Sam… make sure you… you get Bróin."

"Wha – oh, Mahal," Sam whispered. "Nelly, I – I didn't see, I didn't – oh, Mahal, help us all!"

"Can't… can't carry us both, Sam," she breathed, smiling slightly. "We did it. Now, get out of here."

She heard Frodo cry out, but she did not mind. She knew Sam would always look after Frodo, she knew that he would make sure they got down the mountain safely, if there was any way it could be done. She could feel nothingness calling to her now, beckoning her with promises of cool and calm and relief from the pain, and she closed her eyes.

The ground shook again, so violently this time that she felt the rock crack beneath her, and she swallowed, gritting her teeth and hoping that it would be quick and pretending she was ready to go.

"That'll be the day," growled Sam's voice from somewhere above her, and then something took her good arm and hoisted her up off of the ground. With a growl of pain, Sam wrapped his arm around her waist and stumbled forward, dragging her onwards with Frodo still on his back. Step by agonising step, they staggered towards the door, but Nelly knew they would be too late. She could feel the stone trembling, and the smoke swirling around them as it rose, and it was getting hot – unbearably, unbelievably hot –

And she realised that the swell of searing orange around the vague dark of the walkway was the magma itself – their path was a bridge on the brink of drowning, and they were going to burn. They were going to catch light like the orc before them, and they were going to burn alive, and Sam was moving as fast as he could, but he was badly wounded and carrying the dead weight of two full-grown hobbits, and it was not enough –

"By the Valar!" a familiar voice croaked in horror, and Nelly forced her head to rise up, blinking to try and bring some clarity to the blurred edges of the world, and she saw a shape before them.

It was a huge, dark, bulking shape, but at its height she could make out a smear of red – but not the red of fire. It was deeper. Auburn. Safe.

Bróin.

Sam let out a strangled cry of relief, and Toothy let out a howl in return, darting forward along the thin walkway towards them. Nelly felt Sam shift, heard him groan as Frodo's weight was lifted from his back, and she watched the magma seep closer, and she felt the searing heat lick at her skin.

It was going to be too late – the volcano was going to blow, they were going to burn –

Crying out through gritted teeth, Sam heaved her up, and she felt Frodo and Bróin grab her arms, and pull her up onto the front of the warg. She gasped, trying desperately to get her breath back as they boys let go to help pull Sam up from behind, and she felt vomit rise in her throat. Whether it was from the pain or the toxic fumes, she did not know, but her body shook and she gagged, pushing her fist against her mouth.

With a wild howl, Toothy turned, and shot out of the door with a speed that Nelly once thought only those with wings could possess. He tore down the mountainside, panting desperately, but the ground shook violently, and cracks in the stone tore open beneath them like ice. The warg began to stumble, swaying on his legs and letting out desperate whines of fear, and though Bróin's elbows dug into Nelly's back to try and hold her in place as he held the reins, she could feel herself slip and slide over the saddlebags.

An explosion louder than the roar of any dragon ripped apart the air, deafening Nelly even to her own screams, and a wall of heat crashed into them, and she turned her face to squint back up the mountain –

And her eyes widened, and even through the pain and the haze of the heat she could see the top of the mountain bursting away, and fire and lava and stone spewing forth from the top. A great cloud of ash was billowing into the air, reaching out and covering all the sky around them, cut only by the streaks of molten rock that shot through the sky.

Already, lava was crawling down the sides of the mountain, flowing towards them, and Toothy let out a terrified howl, running ever faster. Rocks shattered on the ground around them, and shrapnel bit into Nelly's skin, and it felt like her throat was full of ash.

"Look out!" Frodo wailed, and even as Nelly braced herself, she felt the rush of air and heard a tremendous crash, and Toothy jerked away to the side.

A boulder had hurtled into their path, but it was not the last, and Toothy veered sharply to the other side to dodge another, and Nelly was flung from his shoulders.

She sailed through the air alongside the fire and the rock, and then gravity laid claim to her and she hit the ground, first skidding and then tumbling down ten feet of sharp, coarse rock and ripping half the skin from her arms and back and face as she went. All that stopped her was a boulder in her path, and she struck it with a force that stole what little breath she had left.

Blinding, paralysing agony burned through every inch of her body, and her ankle felt like it was already being devoured by the sea of lava seeping towards her. It felt like the orcs were plunging the knife into her shoulder again and again and again, and the gash across her chest felt more like a white-hot brand being pushed against her skin.

Move – she had to move.

Her muscles screamed as she rolled over, and her good arm trembled violently as she pushed up on it, trying to move the knee of her uninjured leg beneath her. She let a shriek out from between her gritted teeth, pushing up as hard as she could, but then she collapsed to the ground once more, and felt the hot stone cut into her cheek.

A great, dark, blur loomed in her peripheral vision, but before she could even turn her head, she felt Toothy's jaw close around her, and then she was flying. The warg's grip was as secure as a dwarven clamp and held her arms close to her sides, but it was also surprisingly gentle, and Toothy charged faster than ever down the mountain.

The lava chased them down, flowing so close that Nelly was afraid her trailing hair would catch light, but Toothy carried them through, and bolted towards higher ground with no sign of slowing down. Making a beeline for a nearby hill, he carried them up higher and higher, until at last he stopped, and laid Nelly gently on deliciously cool stone at the base of a great wall of rock. He nuzzled at her, licking her face and her nose and whining, and she pulled the corner of her mouth up into a smile, reaching out a trembling hand to stroke his nose. She heard the others slump to the ground, stumble towards her, and then she felt a pair of arms wrap around her, and pull her close.

"Nelly?" asked Bróin, his sickly voice trembling with fear. "Nell, are, are you alright? Nelly!"

"Alive," she breathed, squeezing his wrist with her good hand. "We did it…"

Frodo let out a weak laugh. "We… we did. Nelly, you – you don't look so well…"

"'m sure that makes four of us," she said, but the ash tickled her throat and she coughed violently, wincing as it sent slivers of pain through her.

"Well," said Sam, his voice weak and trembling. "Let's go seeing to these wounds then. Frodo-"

"Nelly first," said Frodo. "My legs are the worst, I can do those myself. Then we ought to look at your shoulder, Sam."

Nelly closed her eyes as Sam began to peek and prod at her wounds, and then she felt someone pressing the rim of a water skin to her lips. She drank greedily, but there was little left, and she sighed, leaning back in Bróin's weak, trembling arms.

"You… alright, Bro?" she mumbled, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"No," he murmured back. "But we did it, and that's what matters."

She opened her eyes, and found that she could see well enough to make out his face, and she smiled a little. He looked awful – sick as death and covered in ash and soot, but he was alive. Frodo was alive, and so was Sam, and they might not survive much longer, given that they had no food and at least one serious injury each, but for now, they were alive.

"How did you find us?" Frodo asked, his face contorting in pain as he bound his scarf around his leg.

"Toothy found me," Bróin sighed. "I knew… knew something was wrong. So we came… to help."

"The other wargs, they drove him away in the fight," recalled Nelly, closing her eyes again. "We high enough here?"

"I think so," said Sam, though he sounded rather worried. "I don't like the look of that tower behind us, though. I saw it come down as the mountain blew up, but I still reckon there might be evil in it yet."

Nelly opened her eyes. "What tower?"

Sam nodded behind her, and she looked back.

Her heart sank faster than a stone through thin air, and as it did, Nelly's eyes rolled back up in her head, and her exhaustion finally won the battle to pull her into unconsciousness.

Because in carrying them safely free of the fires of Mount Doom, Toothy had carried them right to the feet of the ruins of Barad-dur.

I hope that you enjoyed those chapters! I wanted to get them both up today to spare you two terrifying cliffhangers on the trot, so I hope you liked them. Please let me know what you think, and until next time, have a lovely time!