When a full minute passed without Gandalf remembering vwhich way to go, Aragorn gently lowered Legolas to sit on the ground. The Elf sighed with relief to no longer be standing, but it turned into a groan that he couldn't hide when his ribs protested. Everyone looked at Legolas sympathetically, and Aragorn sat beside him, keeping a hand on his friend's shoulder as if thinking him unable to remain sitting up on his own. "Are we lost?" Pippin whisper to Merry. "No," Merry whispered back. "I think we are,"Pippin answered. "Shhh!" Said Sam. "Gandalf's thinking. "Merry?" Said Pippin. "What" "I'm hungry."
Legolas listened to the chatter of the hobbits, using it take his mind off the pain in his body. Aragorn's herbs had helped somewhat, but it was hard to dull the pain of cracked ribs when one had to breathe despite their condition. "Are you alright?" Aragorn asked, noting the shallowness of the Elf's breathing. Legolas nodded. Worried for his friend, Aragorn gently pulled Legolas closer to his body, letting the Elf lean against him as they waited. "Ah!" Said Gandalf a minute later. "It's that way." "He's remembered!" Merry exclaimed. "No," said Gandalf. "But the air doesn't smell so foul down here!" Aragorn and Boromir helped Legolas to stand and they slowly followed Gandalf into the left passage.
"Behold the great realm and dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf!" Said Gandalf. The Fellowship walked through the hall, but the sight of the 'great realm' only revealed more dwarf bodies. Gimli gave an exlamation of dismay and ran into the chamber, which housed a tomb. "No!" He cried. "Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria," Gandalf read. "He is dead then. It's as I feared." He reached down to one of the corpses and removed a book from its hands. Legolas looked around warily. He felt a sense of unease that had nothing to do with his injures. "Aragorn," he said. The human looked at him. "We must move on," said the Elf, urgently. "We cannot linger!" Trusting Legolas' instinct s more than anyone, Aragorn opened his mouth to tell the others, but Gandalf began to read from the book.
"They have taken the bridge, and the second hall. We have barred the gates, but cannot get out. A shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out... They are coming." A second later, a loud clatter rang through the room, startling everyone. Pippin looking sheepish stood by a well, which now contained the skeleton of a dwarf that the hobbit had accidentally knocked down it. "Good of a Took!" Gandalf exclaimed. "Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity!" Suddenly, the sound of drums filled the room, and the hobbits' faces melted into panic. "Orcs!" Legolas exclaimed. Boromir unwisely looked out the door and an arrow suddenly slammed into it, narrowly missing his face.
"Get back!" Aragorn told the hobbits. "Stay close to Gandalf!" Ye looked at Legolas, not knowing how the Elf would survive a fight. The Elf shrugged free of his friend's hold. "I'll be fine," he said. "Protect the Ringbearer; he is more important than I." Aragorn greatly wished to dispute that statement, but he knew what Legolas meant; the Ring must not fall into the hands of the enemy. "They have a cave troll!" Boromir exclaimed, as he closed the door. "Let them come!" Gimli shouted, jumping onto Balin's tomb, axe st the ready. "There is one dwarf yet in Moria who still draws breath!" Orcs suddenly start pounding at the door.
Legolas, leaning against the dwarven tomb to keep weight off his injured leg, pulled his arm out of the sling and painfully raised his bow, notching an arrow. The door began to splinter and he fired, hitting an orc through the hole. Aragorn did the same, firing at the orcs as they continued to hit the door and eventually made it into the room. A cave troll entered behind the orcs and Legolas shot at it, limping away from the tomb backwards. He kept firing as he walked up some steps onto a wall ledge, putting the pain in the back of his mind. From there, he could more easily slay their foes with his bow, and he killed several orcs before the troll turned towards him and swung a chain that it held.
Legolas wasn't quick enough to completely avoid it, thanks to his injured hip, and he received a glancing blow. Pain flared through his midsection do badly that he nearly blacked out, and he knew that at least one of his cracked ribs had been broken fully. Shaking his head to clear it, Legolas pushed himself up from the floor, his body screaming at him. He saw that's the troll's chain had wrapped around a nearby pillar and he got up painfully, making his way across it and standing on the creature's head. Not bothering to hide a groan, he drew two arrows and fired them into the troll's head.
The troll roared, but with anger, not impending death. He reached up a head to brush the offending pest from its body and Legolas stumbled away, slipping and on his rear. He slid down the creature's back and down its leg, landing on the floor, where he laid unmoving.