Today we will travel to the Mines of Moria with Legolas! Sorry I haven't been updating- been busy.

The Mines were unnaturally silent. Gimli seemed sure that his dwarf kin would come to welcome us, but as Gandalf led us farther into the Mines, I became more unsure. Tauriel's horse seemed skittish and I was worried. The horse could sense something I could not. I didn't know what to do with the eighteen lash marks, either. Nothing I could do would reflect on Tauriel. Herbs could cure the horse's injuries, but it would not transfer to Tauriel. I needed the bandages for any other injuries that the Company got. Despite Elen Dome being my only connection to Tauriel, I would probably sacrifice the horse if it meant one of the hobbits would live. I would part with the horse only as a last resort. If Tauriel returned and found that her horse was dead, who knows what she would think about me then?

"Where is everybody?" Pippin asked. Gandalf's eyes were narrowed. I stumbled over something and heard it crunch beneath my boot. I lifted it up. By the light of Gandalf's staff, I saw the skull of a dead dwarf, now shattered.

"We must get out!" Aragorn said urgently. "Something has happened here. We return to Caradhras." I agreed silently with the Ranger. I had seen the arrows before a long time ago, before I assisted the dwarves on the Lonely Mountain. They were the arrows of goblins. I guessed that they were lurking deep inside the Mines, waiting to kill anything that moves. Suddenly, I heard a crumbling noise and the squid smashed our exit. Immediately we were in complete and absolute darkness. Then Gandalf relit his staff and it became the only light in a very dark place. I laid an arrow on my bow.

We camped in a room with a well. I was checking all possible exits when I heard a great crashing noise coming from where Pippin was sitting with his back against a well. A skeleton was falling into the well, making echoing noises as it went down. We all glared at the foolish hobbit. Now we were surely going to be killed. I only had three dozen arrows and my knives. Aragorn had a sword. Gandalf had his staff and Boromir had a sword, too. Frodo had Bilbo's old sword, Sting.

"Fool of a Took!" Gandalf exclaimed. I listened. Something was stirring far below us, something that had been asleep a long time. I knew that the dwarves had been dead for a very long time. Most of their corpses were rotting and decaying. Then I heard the drums. It wasn't an echoing sound, more of a large heartbeat coming from deep within the Mines. It was an oddly sinister sound, even though drums were also used in music when I was in Mirkwood.

"We must get out of here." Boromir said urgently. I extended a hand to Merry, who was seated on the floor. I pulled him up and listened. A faint scratching noise was getting louder from the main hall. I motioned toward another door.

"We leave by that route." I told everyone. Gandalf nodded. I heard the familiar whistling of an arrow and heard it thud on the door. I examined it closely. It was a goblin arrow. Then the creatures came, all at once. I fired arrow after arrow, but eventually I pulled my knives out, too. Boromir was hacking away at the goblins. Gandalf was using both his sword and his staff, and Aragorn was using his Ranger's sword. The hobbits were stabbing with tiny daggers. I heard a distinct roar and immediately, I knew what it was.

"They have a cave troll!" Boromir exclaimed, voicing my observation.

With a roar, it crashed through. The taller people of the company began to distract it, and Gimli was hacking away at it. Its hide was very thick, but I knew there was one way to kill it, along with most other living creatures. Shoot it through the brain. As I was processing this, the cave troll took a swipe at me and I went flying. We were all distract when it grabbed one of the dead goblin's spears and shot it at Frodo.

My heart plummeted at the sight of the slouched hobbit. Merry and Pippin shouted with rage and began to stab the troll with their knives. I knew they would feel like little needles to the troll, and it would only irritate him further. I scrambled up on the troll's chains and balanced precariously up on his head. I drew three of my arrows and shot the troll through the brain. I leaped off of it as it crashed to the ground. I rushed over to Frodo. Sam was cradling the dead hobbit's head in his lap, and tears were running down his face. I felt a stab of grief shoot through my heart. Our quest was failed. I knew I had failed the little master just as I had failed my best friend. But then Frodo coughed and sat up.

"There is more to this hobbit than meets the eye." Gandalf said. Frodo nodded and revealed his shirt of Mithril armor. I gasped. Mithril was a precious metal that could not be pierced. If Frodo kept it, then he was safe from all injuries to the torso. How ironic. The only spot that Tauriel was injured on was her torso. The shirt would have done her more good than Frodo. But she had not died, and was not close to death.

I suddenly registered the utter silence of the tomb of Balin. The goblins had disappeared, and there was now a faint glowing light coming from the main hallway. Gandalf narrowed his eyes and I thought it seemed that he was staring past the doors of the tomb and beyond.

"This is nothing any of you could kill." he announced. "You must flee, as quickly as you can." I hauled Frodo up and led the way. "Go to the Bridge of Khazadum!" Gandalf called after us. Gimli took charge and led us to the stairs with no railings. I heard once again the hiss of arrows and I returned fire. We began the dash down the stairs. I was afraid that one of us, especially Frodo, would lose balance and fall. Without any railing, we could easily plummet to our deaths. The horse was very skittish as we began down the stairs.

"You cannot risk your life for a horse, Legolas." Aragorn said breathlessly as we ran down the stairs. I could feel the room getting warmer as some unknown beast pursued us. I clenched Elen Dome's reins even harder. I would not let Tauriel's horse die underground without any light or life surrounding it. I would not let it be killed by the goblins. The strain of the run was starting to tire the horse and blood ran down the whip marks, coloring the normally white horse blood red.

"I will not let her go!" I said, and I knew there was a double meaning laced into my words. Suddenly, a chuck of rock fell up ahead. The stairs broke and a piece fell into the chasm below us. I stumbled. The horse reared up. I passed the reins to Merry.

I jumped and made it. One by one, the company joined me until Aragorn, Frodo, and Elen Dome were left. Gimli's jump had broken of a chunk of the stair we were on and the jump was even greater than before. Then another rock fell, and the three were stranded on a wobbly section of stair. My heart clenched. Aragorn encouraged Frodo to lean forwards and backwards. The horse refused to listen. Elen Dome was panicked.

"Aragorn!" I called at last. He glanced up briefly, then returned to his balancing act. "Let go of the reins." He let go. I slowly drew an arrow. Merry stopped me with one hand, his large hobbit's eyes wide and surprised.

"You're shooting her?" he asked. I swallowed. It was the only way. I knew it. Everyone else knew it, too. The horse would have to die, or Frodo, the ring, and the future King of Gondor would perish in the Mines of Moria, all because of one horse. But I knew doing it would be like killing Tauriel herself. She loved Elen Dome. I shook his hand off and fired. The horse let out a scream of pain.

"Kick it off the edge." I said coldly to Frodo. The dark-haired hobbit hesitated. "Do it now!" He reached out with his foot and shoved the horse off the edge.

Sorry for the delay in posting. I wanted to do it right. Please vote on a sad or happy ending for Tauriel and Legolas.