Hello Again my readers, Nuincalion Griffondor here again with another chapter. I am happy that more people are enjoying my work. But y'all want to read the next chapter, so without further adieu, we begin THE BRIDGE OF Khazad-Dum.
The drums then came faster, and seemingly closer.
"They are coming!" cried Legolas.
"We cannot get out," said Gimli.
"Were trapped," Elrohir says, and turns to look at me,like this was somehow my fault.
"Why must orcs make such loud noises," Demos whines, putting his paws on his ears
I rushed to the door, Boromir running next to me, he rushes to look out, and I do to, we both move out of the way as two arrows embed themselves in the door, I see several larger figures in the dark, as well as many smaller forms. Boromir slams one side of the door, and I slam the other.
"They have a cave troll." he says.
"Aye, and more than one." I tell him frankly.
"Slam the doors and wedge them!" shouted Aragorn. "And keep your packs on as long as you can: we may get a chance to cut our way out yet, hobbits stay close to Gandalf."
"No!" said Gandalf. "We must not get shut in. Keep the east door ajar! We will go that way, if we get a chance."
Legolas, Aragorn and Elladan all come over and the four of us begin using the fallen dwarves weaponry to wedge the door, as we do this, I begin muttering spells of strengthening and closing, devoting a rather sizable amount of energy to doing this, while still leaving me enough to fight with.
I draw my bow and stand next to Elladan and Aragorn, whom also have their bows drawn, Elrohir and Legolas stand next to Boromir, their arrows aimed at the door, and Boromir's sword drawn. Gandalf and the hobbits are all behind us, Glamdring and Frodo's dagger glowing blue in the faint light of the room. Gimli jumps on top of Balin's tomb, "Let them come, they will see that there is still one dwarf in Moria that still draws breath."
I shake my head as the door gets rammed into again and again, eventually the door begins breaking, and holes form in it. We killed a few through these holes, but another would just take its place. Then the door came down, and Goblins, and the Black Uruks of mordor came in. I dropped my bow and drew my sword, and charged. Cutting down orcs, and knocking others off their feet, so that Demos could quickly and effectively rip their throat out. I heard sounds of the others fighting across the room. Then, through the rooms entrance, came a cave troll.
"Woah, big ugly," Demos says looking at the troll for a second then snapping at the neck of an orc that I had knocked over for him.
I cut the arm off the orc i was fighting, killed it, then picked up its scimitar and threw it at the troll, impaling its arm. It roared in pain as the blade embedded itself in it's arm. Six orcs charge at me, and I send fire whipping towards them, setting them on fire. The run around, screaming in pain, causing others to begin panicking. I use my magic to set my blade on fire and attack the troll, I give it a solid slash upon the leg, and it grabs my cloak, and rips it off, revealing my face. I angrily stab the arm, causing ti to roar in pain, and spin round, giving legolas the opportunity to shoot straight through the roof of its mouth. Causing it to fall the the floor dead, I nod to Legolas and begin killing the orcs again with Demos, we work our way over to Elladan, who looks at me, and smiles. The orcs begin fleeing the room, and Gandalf yells 'Now is the time! Let us go."
We all begin moving towards the east door, when a great orc chieftain, almost man-high, clad in black mail from head to foot, leaps into the chamber; behind him his followers clustered in the doorway. His broad flat face is swart, his eyes like coals, and his tongue red; wielding a great spear. With a thrust of his huge hide shield he turns Boromir's sword and bore him backwards, throwing him to the ground. Diving under Aragorn's blow with the speed of a striking snake he charged into the Company, I move Frodo behind me, and the Orc looks into my eyes, and sweeps my legs out from underneath me, bats Demos, who leapt towards him, away, and thrust with his spear straight at Frodo. The blow catches him on the right side, and Frodo is hurled against the wall and pinned. Sam, with a cry, hacks at the spear-shaft, and it broke. But even as the orc flung down the truncheon and swept out his scimitar, Andúril came down upon his helm. There was a flash like flame and the helm burst asunder. The orc fell with cloven head, and body, the two halves of him lying on the floor. His followers fled howling, as Boromir and Aragorn sprang at them. The drums begin beating once again.
"We need to move now," I say looking at Frodo, with a heavy heart, picking him up gently. Legolas and Elrohir began dragging Gimli, Elladan shepherd the hobbits to the door, I was first in, so Boromir and Gimli didn't see my face, and more importantly my eye. Boromir pulls the eastern door closed, plunging us into darkness, once again, the door has great iron rings on either side, but can not be fastened. I felt Frodo move in my arms, and I yelp, almost dropping him.
"I am all right," gasps Frodo. "I can walk. Put me down!"
"I thought you were dead Frodo," I say to him, "That strike would have skewered a Wild boar."
The others gave happy exclamations, noticing Frodo is alive. I set him down, and Gandalf then tells us, "We have not the time to ponder this mystery, Down the stairs all of you, wait at the bottom for a few minutes and If I am not there go quickly and choose paths leading right and downwards."
"We cannot leave you to hold the doors alone," Aragorn and I say at the same time, and Demos adds on, "Old wizard, have you gone senile?"
"Do as I say," Gandalf cries, "Swords are of no more use here, and Arindil, you must light the way."
I sigh angrily, and rush forward, conjuring a ball of fire to my hand, and running down the stairs, the others following. Boromir was right behind me, followed by Elladan, then the hobbits, then Aragorn, then Gimli, then Legolas, finally Elrohir brought up the rear. We kept a quick pace, but it was a bit hard for Frodo, I could hear his labored breathing from behind me.
Suddenly at the top of the stair there was a stab of white light. Then there was a dull rumble and a heavy thud. The drum-beats broke out wildly: doom-boom, doom-boom, and then stopped. Gandalf came flying down, colliding with Elrohir and Legolas.
"Well, well! That's over!" The wizard says struggling to his feet with the aid of Elrohir and Legolas. 'I have done all that I could. But I have met my match, and have nearly been destroyed. But don't stand here! Go on!"
He moves to the front with me, Gimli following close behind us now. Doom, doom the drum-beats began again: but now they sound muffled and far away, but they are following. There was no other sound of pursuit, neither tramp of feet, nor any voice. Gandalf took no turns, right or left, for the passage seemed to be going in the direction that he desired. Every now and again it descended a flight of steps, fifty or more, to a lower level. By the end of the hour, we had traveled at least a mile, all of us were feeling the strain of the pace, even Demos, who was panting and once again complaining, this time about how his feet hurt. We stopped so that we could all catch our breath. I stood apart form the rest of the group, keeping my face turned away, so that Boromir and Gimli could not see my eye. Demos lay upon his back, panting and complaining about the mines, and how he never wanted to come through here again. I noticed that it was starting to get rather warm around here.
"It is getting hot!" he gasps. "We ought to be down at least to the level of the Gates now. Soon I think we should look for a left-hand turn to take us east. I hope it is not far. I am very weary. I must rest here a moment, even if all the orcs ever spawned are after us."
Gimli takes his arm and helps him down to a seat on the step. "What happened away up there at the door?" he asks. "Did you meet the beater of the drums?"
'I do not know,' answers Gandalf. 'But I found myself suddenly faced by something that I have not met before. I could think of nothing to do but to try and put a shutting-spell on the door. I know many; but to do things of that kind rightly requires time, and even then the door can be broken by strength. As I stood there I could hear orc-voices on the other side: at any moment I thought they would burst it open. I could not hear what was said; they seemed to be talking in their own hideous language. All I caught was ghâsh: that is "fire". Then something came into the chamber – I felt it through the door, and the orcs themselves were afraid and fell silent. It laid hold of the iron ring, and then it perceived me and my spell. What it was I cannot guess, but I have never felt such a challenge. The counter-spell was terrible. It nearly broke me. For an instant the door left my control and began to open! I had to speak a word of Command. That proved too great a strain. The door burst in pieces. Something dark as a cloud was blocking out all the light inside, and I was thrown backwards down the stairs. All the wall gave way, and the roof of the chamber as well, I think. I am afraid Balin is buried deep, and maybe something else is buried there too. I cannot say. But at least the passage behind us was completely blocked. Ah! I have never felt so spent, but it is passing. And now what about you, Frodo? There was not time to say so, but I have never been more delighted in my life than when you spoke. I feared that it was a brave but dead hobbit that Aragorn was carrying."
I snort and say, "I was so startled when you began to move, that I nearly dropped you, I was more than relieved though."
"What about me?" Frodo says. "I am alive, and whole I think. I am bruised and in pain, but it is not too bad."
"Well," Aragorn says, a light humor in his voice, "I can only say that hobbits are made of a stuff so tough that I have never met the like of it. Had I known, I would have spoken softer in the Inn at Bree! That spear-thrust would have skewered a wild boar!"
"Hey, find something original Aragorn, I said it first(A/N: Tee Hee)" I tell him and humor in my voice, so that he knew I did not mean it.
"Well, it did not skewer me, I am glad to say," Frodo says; "though I feel as if I had been caught between a hammer and an anvil."
"You take after Bilbo," Gandalf says, with a kind smile that went to his eyes. "There is more about you than meets the eye, as I said of him long ago."
We now went on again, at a slightly faster pace this time, I notice a slightly reddish glow up ahead.
Gimli spoke before I, his eyes, in the dark, just as keen as mine. "I think," he said, "that there is a light ahead. But it is not daylight. It is red. What can it be?"
"I see it too, It looks a bit like the glow of fire," I say and he nods
"Ghâsh!" Gandalf mutters. "I wonder if that is what they meant: that the lower levels are on fire? Still, we can only go on."
We begin moving again, I soon see some way ahead stood a low archway; through it the growing light came. The air thick with heat, and the smell of smoke.
When we came to the arch Gandalf went through, signing to them to wait. As he stood just beyond the opening we saw his face become alite by a red glow. Quickly he stepped back.
"There is some new devilry here," he says, "devised for our welcome, no doubt. But I know now where we are: we have reached the First Deep, the level immediately below the Gates. This is the Second Hall of Old Moria; and the Gates are near: away beyond the eastern end, on the left, not more than a quarter of a mile. Across the Bridge, up a broad stair, along a wide road, through the First Hall, and out! But come and look!"
We all peer out. Before was *gasps* another cavernous hall. But this one is taller and far longer than the previous one. We're near its eastern end; westward it ran away into darkness. Down the centre stalked a double line of towering pillars. They were carved like boles of mighty trees whose boughs upheld the roof with a branching tracery of stone. Their stems were smooth and black, but a red glow was darkly mirrored in their sides. Right across the floor, close to the feet of two huge pillars a great fissure had opened. Out of it a fierce red light came, and now and again flames licked at the brink and curled about the bases of the columns. Wisps of dark smoke wavered in the hot air.
"If we had come by the main road down from the upper halls, we should have been trapped here," Gandalf says. "Let us hope that the fire now lies between us and pursuit. Come! There is no time to lose."
Even as he spoke I heard again the pursuing drum-beat: Doom, doom, doom. Away beyond the shadows at the western end of the hall there came cries and horn-calls. Doom, doom: the pillars seemed to tremble and the flames to quiver.
"Now for the last race!" Gandalf says. "If the sun is shining outside, we may still escape. After me!"
He turned left and sped across the smooth floor of the hall. I rushed to keep up with him.
"Let's be honest, this is hardly the worst situation the two of us have been in, remember Gundabad." I say to him and he turns his head towards me, and I give him a small smile, and I could see in his eyes that he knew I had forgiven him now, and that he had already forgiven me for holding onto the grudge as I did.
"Yes I do, and if I recall correctly there were at least twice as many of them, and there were only the two of us."
As we ran I heard the beat and echo of many hurrying feet behind. A shrill yell went up: we had been seen. There was a ring and clash of steel. An arrow nearly missed me, hit the ground next to me.
Boromir laughs. "They did not expect this," he says. "The fire has cut them off. We are on the wrong side!"
"The Idiot orcs, they were fools to light this fire, they have just guaranteed our escape." I say, my chest feeling light, and laughter leaping from it
"Look ahead!" Gandalf calls. "The Bridge is near. It is dangerous and narrow."
I look ahead, and as sure as day, there was the bridge of Khazad-Dum, the bridge was only wide enough for one person to cross at a time.
"Blasted dwarven defence systems." I mutter under my breath.
Gandalf stops right before the crossing and the others came up in a pack behind.
"Lead the way, Gimli!" he says. "Pippin and Merry next. Straight on, and up the stair beyond the door!"
Arrows fell among us. One struck Frodo and sprang back. Another pierced Gandalf 's hat and stuck there like a black feather. Legolas, Elladan, Elrohir and I all drew our bows, but then I saw something that made my arms go numb, and drop my bow. Coming through the ranks of the orcs, was one of the greatest elf banes of them all, a nameless terror, one that was told to the elven children to scare us. A Balrog of Morgoth, one of eight. To top off this, trolls had put ston gangways for the orcs to cross the fires, but the Balrog held my attention. I came as a shadow amongst the goblin ranks, and when it came to the fires, it walked right through them, it taking on the fires as it walked through them, making it all the more dangerous, in its hands are a many tongued whip of fire, and a blade made of the same fire.
"Ai! ai!" Legolas cries in terror. "A Balrog! A Balrog is come!" Gimli stared with wide eyes. "Durin's Bane!" he cried, and letting his axe fall he covered his face.
"FIRE MONSTER," Demos shrieks and bolts across the bridge
"A Balrog," Gandalf mutters. "Now I understand." He falters and leans heavily on his staff. "What an evil fortune! And I am already weary."
"You won't be alone," I whisper to him, and he looks at me, and I give him a determined look back
The dark figure streaming with fire raced towards us. The orcs yell and pour over the stone gangways. Boromir seemeed to gather his wits about him, and raised his horn and blew. Loud the challenge rang and bellowed, like the shout of many throats under the cavernous roof. For a moment the orcs quail and the fiery shadow halts. Then the echoes die as suddenly as a flame blown out by a dark wind, and the enemy advanced again.
"Over the bridge!" cries Gandalf, recalling his strength. "Fly! This is a foe beyond any of you. I must hold the narrow way. Fly!"
"Aragorn Go! Keep Elladan back there!" I say giving him a look, and he put his hand on Boromir's shoulder, and the went the entire way across the bridge. Gandalf and I stopped half way across the bridge, and turned to face this terrible foe.
I mutter the word, "Cala" under my breath. And a bright light shown in my hand.
Gandalf stood in front of me, leaning on the staff in his left hand, but in his other hand Glamdring gleamed, cold and white. Our enemy halted again, facing us, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings. It raised the whip, and the thongs whined and cracked. Fire came from it's nostrils.
"ARINDIL," I hear Elladan cry, as Gandalf begins speaking. "You cannot pass," he says. The orcs stilled, and a dead silence fell throughout the cavern, like a blanket of silence was thrown over it. "I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass." Gandalf says, and shield of white energy seems to surround us like a bubble.
"Fall into the abyss fell beast of Morgoth," I hout, and decide to throw caution to the wind for once.
"I am the Leónare, flame of the shadows, Daughter of the Maiar Mairon, whom you would know as Sauron. Fall into the Abyss, Flame of Udûn, you shall not pass." I yell, and add my power to the shield of energy.
The Balrog made no answer. The fire in it seemed to die, but the darkness grew. It stepped forward slowly on to the bridge, and suddenly it drew itself up to a great height, and its wings were spread from wall to wall. It raised its great blade, and brought it crashing down upon our shield. I feel my energy levels drop tremendously, as I took the attack for gandalf, knowing he had the better chance for defeating this thing. I flew back, barely catching myself on the side of the bridge, my blade sliding off the edge of it though, falling into the eternal abyss of Khazad-Dum. I looked over to Gandalf, who brought his staff down upon the bridge, and Shouted to the Balrog, "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"
The bridge shook and I began to fall, but a pair of hands grabbed mine, standing there was Elladan, who pulled me back onto, and off of the bridge. The Balrog, then attempted to step onto the weakened bridge. It crumbled underneath it, causing it to fall into the abyss. Gandalf sighed and turned around. Then I heard the crack of the whip, and gandalf fell to the ground, his staff and sword flying from his hands. I yell his name as I run onto the bridge again. But I could only hear his last words, before he fell.
"Fly You Fools!"
Woah, I hope you guys like that chapter, I am only really continuing this story because you guys like it…. Ok that my not be true, I probably would still continue it even if you didn't, but If you have read this far, I can only assume you do like it. Till next time, peace out, Nuincalion Griffondor.