CHAPTER 7 November 2, 3018
The Fellowship walked through a misty, rocky valley led by Gandalf. The valley was cold and dark, encircled by a tall, solid wall of rock. They kept close to the wall, following instructions Gandalf had given them.
Gimli was doing his best to remember anything he could about the dwellings of his cousin, but could recollect almost nothing.
Boromir and Lothíriel remained at the back of the pack, slowly edging along the uneven path before them.
"So, how do you know Aragorn so well?" Boromir asked.
"He and I met many years ago working for the wizard."
"Doing what?" Boromir inquired.
She turned to him, stopping them in their path. "Why the questions, Boromir?" She looked quizzically at his face. "What has you so on edge?"
Boromir looked away briefly then back at her with a look she had never seen on him before. He looked troubled. His mind was on things other than the ranger.
A raspy gasp distracted them and drew their attention to Gimli pointing ahead. "The walls of Moria," he declared.
They were facing a lake that separated from a large, stone wall.
"We're going to have to keep against the wall and circle around," Gandalf explained as he kept walking. "We will reach it presently."
The Fellowship continued on in a discomforting silence for another fifteen minutes.
Boromir no longer walked beside Lothíriel; instead he seemed intent on being away from her. He trudged at the front of the company, leading them along the wall.
No one knew of what would be on the other side of the walls, except perhaps Gandalf. He seemed anything but eager to enter through the gate that had yet to be seen. Not a single person dare ask Mithrandir why he did not speak of what could be beyond, nor did they think they wanted to know. Only Gimli and Lothíriel were anxious to get inside. They wished to see Balin.
Lothíriel had met Balin on her first adventure with Gandalf. He had been the Dwarf of the Company she respected most. He cared about people, and he had a courage and gentleness not common among Dwarves.
Lothíriel was jerked out of her memories by the tapping of Gimli's axe apon the rock.
"Dwarf doors are invisible when closed," he remarked as he continued to tap the wall for the sound of hollowness.
"Yes, Gimli," Gandalf agreed with a smile. "Their own masters cannot find them if their secrets are forgotten."
Legolas cast a glance at Linwë as he sarcastically said, "Why doesn't that surprise me?"
Linwë smirked as Gimli gave an irritated growl.
The Fellowship cautiously continued along the gravel path, avoiding the lake that lay in motionless silence just to their right.
As Frodo followed Gandalf up ahead, some of the rocks beneath his feet gave way and his foot slid into the water beside him. The lake was cold as ice and black as the cloudy night its waters reflected.
Gandalf stopped abruptly and examined a large space of wall that seemed to have carvings of a sort etched deep into it. As his fingers traced the patterns invisible to the others standing far behind the old man, he mumbled something about ithildin and moonlight.
Casting a curious glance to Legolas next to her, Lothíriel wondered if they had come all this way to no avail.
She looked to Boromir behind her and their eyes met.
"We should be heading to Rohan," he said quietly to her. Lothíriel nodded in agreement.
"If this is the door, where is the entrance?" Pippin muttered to Linwë, who stood beside him.
Interrupting Pippin's inquiries, the clouds rolled back to reveal a full moon. The moon released its beams downward upon the door, and the patterns in the stone glowed a magnificent blue. The markings in the wall were shone to be beautiful Dwarven carvings of the door which only appeared when the rays of starlight and moonlight looked down on it.
"It reads, 'The doors of Durin, Lord of Moria,'" Mithrandir read aloud. "'Speak friend and enter.'"
"What do you suppose that means?" Merry asked, puzzled.
"Oh, it's quite simple," Gandalf explained. "If you are a friend, you speak the password and the doors will open."
Raising his staff and pressing the head of it against the wall he appealed to the door. "Annon Edhellon, edro hi ammen!"
Merry smiled, impressed as Pippin whispered to Frodo, "What is he saying?"
Overhearing him, Linwë translated: "Gate of the Elves, open now for me!"
Pippin smiled and turned back to a disgruntled Gandalf. The doors had stayed put.
Huffing, Gandalf cried, "Fennas Nogothrim, lasto Beth lammen."
"Doorway of the Dwarf-folk, listen to the word of my tongue."
The doors stubbornly remained sealed.
Grunting, Gimli looked about in frustration.
Pippin looked innocently up at Legolas and said, "Nothing's happening."
Pusihing on the door with his finger tips, Gandalf said to himself, "I once knew every spell in all the tongues of Elves, Men, and Orcs."
"What are you going to do then?" Pippin asked foolishly.
"Knock your head against these doors, Peregrin Took!" came Gandalf's angered reply, "and if that does shatter them, and I'm allowed a little peace from foolish questions," and with forced calm he said, "I will try to find the opening words."
The ten companions sat around for another hour in silence while Gandalf conjured everything in his age-old mind that he could. He tried simple spells, incantations, and just pleading with the door.
Lothíriel could not make out what he was saying. She sat further back, by the water, with Boromir. Her head rested gently on his shoulder in exhaustion as he polished his shield.
She heard movement and gentle talking behind her, and she turned to see Sam and Aragorn releasing their pony, Bill.
Sam was sad that Bill was going. Lothíriel guessed Sam was very fond of the pony because Hobbits were very much at home with familiarity and not with traveling about. Bilbo was much that way when he first traveled. . . And Sam was not one for adventures and meeting strange people, so the pony was a reminder of home and what Hobbits love.
Startling her out of her thoughts of the Shire, a splash echoed around them, engulfing them in uinexplicable vulnerability.
Pippin and Merry were throwing stones into the lake to see who's could travel the farthest. Merry was winning until Aragorn caught hold of his arm.
"Do not disturb the water," he chided.
Gandalf threw his staff down in surrender to his thinking. He was at a loss as to how they were to enter.
Feeling they had wasted time coming here, Lothíriel lifted her head from he cousin's shoulder to converse with Aragorn about the situation, but his eyes were fixed on the water.
Concern was visible on the ranger's face, and Boromir, also noticing, stood to stand beside Aragorn.
Lothíriel's curiosity piqued as she rose.
Standing between them she saw with dread knotting in her stomach what they were transfixed on: Ripples were beginning in the center of the pool and slowly rolling to the gravely shore.
"Do not disturb the water," Lothíriel whispered in horror.
Not even noticing Frodo's exclamation of discovery, Merry and Pippin too joined the onlookers.
"It's a riddle," Frodo concluded. "Speak friend. . . and enter." Turning to Gandalf, he said, "What's the Elvish word for friend?"
"Mellon," Gandalf answered.
Only the great cracking of rock splitting turned Boromir, Aragorn, and Lothíriel away from staring at the oncoming ripples. The doors were opening!
Removing his pipe, Gimli stood in awe.
Gandalf lead the Fellowship into the entryway as Aragorn tentatively looked back at the waves coming from the unknown source in the lake.
"Soon, Master Elf, you will enjoy the fabled hospitality of the Dwarves," Gimli said proudly. "Roaring fires! Malt beer! Red meat off the bone!"
Gandalf placed a crystal in the tip of his staff and blew gently so that the crystal produced light enough for them to see.
"This, my friend, is the home of my cousin Balin, and they call it a mine," Gimli continued, chuckling. "A mine!"
Shining the light around, the company received a good look around them.
Skeletons and weapons lay in open sight all about them. Dwarves, dead.
"This is no mine," Boromir said, disgusted. "It's a tomb."
Gimli raced to his fallen kin in grief. "No!" he cried in dismay. "Noooo!"
Legolas bent down hurriedly and pulled an arrow loose from one of the bodies. "Goblins!" He threw the arrow away from him, drawing his own weapons.
Linwë followed suit as Boromir, Aragorn, and Lothíriel drew their swords.
"We make for the Gap of Rohan. We should never have come here," Boromir said urgently. "Get out of here! Get out!"
The four Hobbits nervously huddled together as they slowly backed out of the mine. But then, Frodo was yanked by something, almost invisible, to the ground.
"Frodo!" Merry and Pippin cried.
"Strider!" Sam yelled.
Aragorn turned to see a large, black tentacle wrapped around the young Hobbit's ankle.
"Get off him!" Sam screamed as he bravely slashed at the tentacle with his sword.
The lone tentacle withdrew from him momentarily but returned a second later with three more tentacles to aid it.
The extra three knocked the Hobbits back from Frodo as the fourth tightened its hold on him.
As the company raced to Frodo's side the creature merged from the water revealing a creepy, dark monster of the lake.
Legolas bravely reached behind him and pulled an arrow to shoot at the beast's face. He did not miss.
The monster lurched in pain and released Frodo right into Boromir's arms.
"Go!" Aragorn screamed as he and Boromir sloshed through the water.
"Into the mines!" Gandalf swung his arm to indicate Moria's door.
The Fellowship did not hesitate to take shelter in the cave; Boromir still carrying Frodo in his arms at the back of the group. As soon as they made it in, the beast's tentacles clutched the doors of the cave and made to go after them, but the pressure on the doors was too much; they collapsed, blocking the Watch in the Water out, and trapping the Fellowship in the pitch black.