Wow… So many reviews that make me happy…

Thanks guys!

~0~0~0~

It was now an hour since Gorluk and Faroth had started their new adventure into Moria. (After they had been in the tunnel for a few moments, Gorluk had realized how dark it was, and so they had to turn around to find a branch outside that they could use as a torch. Once Gorluk was able to figure out how to light a fire, they resumed with their journey).

So far, Gorluk and Faroth told one another about themselves. Gorluk told Faroth his story, staring from when he was picking flowers one early autumn five months ago in Mirkwood, to when the battle with the Wargs started. Faroth, on the other hand, said nothing about his pack or any details about his life, and instead told Gorluk his battle with the lake monster, which Gorluk remembered nothing about.

"I was behind a boulder when the creature grabbed you by the ankles," He explained. "I knew that you needed help, so I ran up to it and grabbed onto the giant arm with my teeth until it let go of you. When you fell, you actually fell into the lake, so I had to swim in there and pull you out. By the time I had dragged you to the shore safely, the lake monster had disappeared, and you woke up thirty minutes later."

"The lake monster went away just like that?" Gorluk asked incredulously.

Faroth nodded and beamed with pride. Gorluk was impressed by his bravery. The young Warg had more skill then he would ever begin to realize!

Faroth suddenly stopped and stared ahead. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Gorluk asked with a mixture of confusion and alarm.

Faroth peered into the darkness with uncertainty. "I could have sworn that I heard a noise, like a rumble in the distance…"

Afraid, Gorluk stood closer to Faroth and raised his torch up like a shield, and they continued walking.

Deeper and deeper the tunnel went, and Gorluk became more and more afraid. But then, Gorluk heard the noise too.

GRRRRRR….

"Did you hear it now?" Faroth asked with anxiety. Gorluk nodded with his mouth gaped open. But this time, they didn't stop but walked much slower.

GRRRRRRRR…

The sound was getting louder now. Gorluk couldn't tell where it was coming from, for it seemed to echo around the walls.

GRRRRRRRRRRR….

"It's getting closer," Faroth whispered in fear. By now, Faroth was walking beside Gorluk with his tail between his legs, while Gorluk was shivering with terror. "Maybe we should turn around…" he began, but his voice was cut off from the sound. This time, it was so loud that it echoed throughout the tunnel, but that wasn't the only thing that was different. It was loud enough that Gorluk was able to finally tell where it was coming from…

"Faroth?" Gorluk asked while trying to hide his grin. "When was the last time you were able to eat?"

Faroth looked up with confusion, but thought for awhile. "I think… I think that my last meal was three days ago. Why?"

"Well…" Gorluk was struggling to contain his amusement. "I think that I have figured out where the noise is coming from…"

It took a while for Faroth to understand what Gorluk was trying to say. At first the Warg tried to open his mouth to object, but he instead began to howl with laughter, which echoed around the tunnel with a surprising loudness.

"So it was my stomach growling all along! No wonder I had heard it first!" he said between fits of laughter.

Gorluk laughed too, but that was when he realized a slight issue: Faroth would have nothing to eat until they got out (and he didn't exactly know when).

Faroth saw the worry in Gorluk's face. "It's alright," the Warg reassured him. "There's bound to be something down here that I can eat." He looked up at the ceiling of the tunnel. "Like right there!"

Gorluk watched as Faroth bent down and sprang towards the air with surprising speed. When he landed, Gorluk saw that he had caught something in his mouth. Something black with wings…

"Is that a…" Gorluk tried to ask nervously but his voice trailed off.

"Ah pffhat Yuu mean?" Faroth said trying to talk with an object in his mouth. Gorluk knew that he had meant to say was Bat.

"Have you ever eaten a Bat before, Faroth?" Gorluk asked.

Faroth shook his head. "I've ahways wanhhtehh to thouhhh," he added.

Faroth sat down and started to tear off the Bat's wings. Gorluk's face almost turned green. He decided that he needed to rest too, so he sat down and thought about the travelers, and where they could be at the moment. Gorluk was hoping that they were walking down the same path as he and Faroth were in right now. But what Gorluk would never realize until later was that they were in the tunnel exactly parallel to the tunnel that the travelers were in. But this tunnel went deeper and deeper underground instead.

Before he knew it, Gorluk's head dropped down and he fell into a deep sleep. When he awoke a few hour later, he saw half a dozen bat's wings scattered on the ground (including the other pieces of the Bats that he didn't want to think about), and Faroth was curled up asleep. Gorluk stood up and stretched. "I think that we should go on Faroth," He said. Faroth lifted up his head and yawned loudly. "Is it Morning yet?" he asked. Gorluk shrugged. "We're underground, remember? We can't see the sky from here." Faroth nodded and stood up. Together they walked down the tunnel at a quick pace as the path began to almost go down. Soon, the path became unusually steep. Gorluk started to notice that the air was getting stuffier, and strangely warmer.

"Do you think that we're going the wrong way?" Faroth asked. "This doesn't seem where they were meaning to go."

Gorluk sighed. "Let's just walk one more mile, and if this path gets worse, we'll turn around." But Gorluk didn't know what he would do if that happened.

As they walked on, Gorluk saw up ahead the path take a sharp turn. When they passed that corner, they stopped with shock. Right before them, the path turned into three separate tunnels. Two seemed to climb upwards, but one seemed to go downwards.

"Well this is difficult," Faroth said after a long silence. "It's obvious that we won't go towards the path that goes downwards. The only way to go is up if we are ever able to find the travelers again. But yet, there are two paths that go up! What should we do?"

It was as if Faroth was saying the same exact thought that went through Gorluk's mind. Gorluk was about to answer, when they both heard an eerie voice coming from the downwards tunnel.

My…Precioussss….

It was almost like a hissing sound, except that it was in the form of words. Gorluk and Faroth glanced at each other in panic, but none of them moved. The voice was starting to get closer.

My Precioussss is losssst….

Gorluk blinked. The voice almost sounded… sad, but yet in a creepy way.

"What should we do?" Faroth whispered in a shaky voice. Gorluk thought for a moment, and then said "I'm not sure. Maybe we should wait here until the person comes. Maybe he lives in these tunnels, so he can show us where to go." As he said this, Gorluk secretly drew his knife out of his pocket. Whoever it was, it was a stranger so he wasn't going to take any chances.

Gorluk began to hear footsteps, except for the footsteps sounded more like a flapping noise. As the footsteps became louder, he also began to hear someone breathing (or hissing) loudly. Through the torchlight, Gorluk saw the figure of some skinny creature crawling closer and closer. But then it stopped and stood still. It must have finally noticed them for the first time. For many moments, they silently stared, none of them moving. Finally, it was brave Faroth that stepped forward and broke the silence.

"Hello stranger!" Faroth said, trying to sound as cheerful as possible. The creature shrank away like a scared cat, but Faroth continued anyway. "My friend and I are trying to find our way through these tunnels, and we were hoping that maybe you could help us in our dire need."

The Creature didn't answer Faroth at all. Instead, he said, "It's definitely a Wargses Preciousss. It smells likes one too, Gollum! Gollum!" It coughed like it was coughing up a hairball. Gorluk wandered if it was because it was ill. "And Orcses preciousss, Orcses!" it continued. "A little wargses and a little Orcses sounds like a meaty mouthful!" It cackled. Before Gorluk and Faroth could object or even try to run, there was a flash that appeared in the creature's pale eyes, and the sound of its voice changed. "But Orcses taste nassty precious! Smeagol wants Batses instead!"

Gorluk and Faroth watched as the creature continued to argue with itself. Gorluk didn't find it hard to tell which side of the creature was which, for one voice sounded cold and hissing, while another voice sounded more child-like with less hissing. Gorluk decided to try to talk to the creature's nicer side.

"Smeagol? Is that your name?" Gorluk asked him. Smeagol looked up at the sound of his own name. "An Orcses and a Wargses in these tunnels preciousss! But where did they come from, we wanders?" Smeagol cocked his head to one side in curiosity.

Gorluk decided that it was time to introduce themselves. "This is my friend Faroth," Gorluk began slowly, gesturing towards Faroth. "He lives in the Misty Mountains. My name is Gorluk. I come from Mirkwood…"

Before Gorluk could even finish, something about Mirkwood seemed to spook Smeagol badly. "Nassty place! Place with Elvses with the bright eyes! We dursn't goes there again, we dursn't!"

Smeagol whimpered, hugged himself, and began to rock back and forth. Gorluk and Faroth never realized this, but this creature was indeed the well-known Gollum who was held a prisoner in the Woodland Realm for a short time, but later escaped with the help of Orcs… who were also Gorluk's comrades. But Gorluk had no idea of this, for it happened while he was away.

Gorluk stepped forward to try to calm the wretched creature. "Smeagol…?" he said. Strangely enough, when he heard his name, Smeagol snapped out of his bizarre spell.

Gorluk tried to talk to him again. "We are here because we are trying to find a group of travelers. Have you seen anyone else come by here?"

Smeagol looked confused. "No, we hassn't seen anyone down these tunnels preciousss. 'Praps it could tell us what they looks like?"

Gorluk thought for a while. "Well, there's a Dwarf with a brown beard with them, and an Elf. There's also two men, one tall with dark hair, and another one who has a fancy horn hanging from his belt. Then there's four creatures called Halflings, if you've ever heard of them, and a Wizard." Of course, it wasn't a very accurate description, but Gorluk tried his best.

Smeagol's eyes darkened when he heard Halflings. "Does it mean Hobbitses preciousss?" it growled. Gorluk shrugged, pretending not to be daunted by Smeagol's sudden discourtesy. "I guess that's another name for them. Have you met one before?" Smeagol growled again. "Yesss precioussss, long time ago. We hates them, especially Bagginses."

"Bagginses?" Gorluk asked with surprise. "You mean Baggins? One of the Halflings is named Frodo Baggins!" something flashed in Smeagol's eyes. "Well…" he said slyly. "When did it last sees thems?"

"We saw them as they were walking into Moria through the Western Gate." Both Gorluk and Faroth said with excitement. Smeagol suddenly grinned. "Yess, then the path they must be taking is down that aways!" he pointed towards the tunnel that plunged downwards. "Are you sure?" Faroth asked uncertainly. "Yesss, of course preciousss! We know these paths well, we does!" Smeagol said, still grinning.

Gorluk and Faroth wasted no time. They began to walk as fast as they could down the path. But after a few paces, Gorluk turned around and waved to Smeagol. "Thank you!" he called. Smeagol stayed where he was until their torchlight disappeared from the tunnel. He cackled and started running through a different tunnel, the one the middle that went up. "Stupid Orcses," He cackled. "We shows them the wrong way! Now we shall take back what was ours, OURS!"

~0~0~0~

Aaaaand that's how Gollum was able to find the Fellowship in Moria!

What will happen next?

WILL Gorluk and Faroth figure out that they're going the wrong way? WILL they find the Travelers again?

WILL Gollum learn to use proper Grammar?

Their fate will be revealed… Next Chapter!

Dun-da-daaa!

~Tatharwen