KHARL
"You may go no further," Aragorn calls out to the men aboard the ships. After we were joined by the ghosties, Aragorn quickly devised a plan and lead us down to the edge of the shore. "You will not enter Gondor." The men aboard the ships laugh at Aragorn's proclamation, but the rest of us remain stoic with our weapons out. The point of my sword was in the sand while Aragorn's rested against his shoulder.
"Who are you to deny us passage," one of the men demands.
"Legolas, fire a warning shot past the bosun's ear." Legolas brought his bow up and nocked an arrow, not noticing the way the butt of Gimli's ax was brought against the bottom of the bow.
"Mind your aim," Gimli advises. When Legolas fired, Gimli nudged the bow and cause the arrow to embed itself in one of the men, the man falling to the deck with a scream. "That's it. Right. We warned you. Prepare to be boarded." The men laugh again as the continue to sail, one even bold enough to ask you and what army.
"This one," I shout back with a wicked grin. "The one that's gonna beat your ass into the dirt!" The ghosts pass through us without a hitch, sprinting through the water and aboard the ships to slaughter the Corsair pacing around the deck. "You see? That was way cooler than I thought it would be."
ANDREA
I follow Sméagol up a long ravine, columns of beaten down rock on either side of us. Ahead of us is a great, towering wall of stone with a tunnel carved through it. That tunnel is the place we're gonna have to travel through next and it's gonna be hell because I know that some kind of bug is in there. I scrunch up my nose at the foul stench wafting out of the tunnel, reminding me rotten meat.
"Ugh, do we have to go through whatever the hell that place is called," I moan.
"Mistress must go through the tunnel."
"But I don't wanna…." Oh Lord, I sound like a four year old on the first Monday of school.
"It's the only way. Go in, or go back." I let out a pathetic noise before starting forward once more with Sméagol behind me, dragging my feet a little more. The smell has grown worse now that we're actually in the tunnel and I dry heave off to the side, nothing coming up because nothing's in my stomach. God, this sucks! "Orcses filth," Sméagol explains at the face I make. "Orcses come in here sometimes." The further in we go, the less light there is and I find myself leaning heavily against the wall for support as I follow after Sméagol's scampering noises in the pitch blackness. "Hurry. This way," he shouts far ahead of me. I stumble along, but my legs seem to be made of lead.
"Sméagol?" My voice holds a desperate note that I don't like, but can't help. It was almost pitch black and all sound seemed to distort or echo the second it leaves my mouth.
"Over here." I let go of the wall and slip a few feet later, clutching at the wall again to get up. There's something on the wall now, something gross and sticky, and white.
"What is this?"
"You will see," Sméagol intones in an eerie voice. "Oh, yes... You will see..." I freeze, suddenly feeling panicked in the narrow space, breaths coming out quicker and quicker as I imagine all sorts of monsters in the darkness just waiting to grab me and make me their meal. I can't see the hand in front of my face, but still I look around me constantly in the hope that I could catch sight of Sméagol. I'm alone, though... Alone in the dark with the monsters.
"Sméagol," I shriek, almost sobbing. "Sméagol... Sméagol?!" Sméagol doesn't answer and I realize I've been abandoned here. He'd planned all of this and I've made a horrible mistake. "Sammy?" I start walking again at a slower pace, passing through the sticky substance and wincing when it catches my hair and pulls every now and then. I was close to sobbing, my entire body shaking in fear. A bubbling hiss makes me jerk in surprise, not pausing to see what it is, just beginning to run as fast as I could through this crap to get away. If I saw the creature, I'd probably freeze in fear and be eaten. In my haste I trip over something and get stuck in the white stuff, my struggles only making it worse.
"I give you the light of Eärendil—our most beloved star."Galadriel's voice makes me calm slightly, the memory soothing frayed nerves."May it be a light for you in dark places, when all other lights go out." Fumbling around until I'm able pull out the small bottle from my pocket and hold it up, I could hear scratching footsteps.
"Hail Eärendil brightest of the stars!" The clear liquid inside flares to light, nearly blinding me after the unending dark. Towering over me is a huge ass spider that almost makes me pee myself. It hisses at the light, the large Tarantula striking the ground with her forelegs. Slowly, I work my way free of the web—it has to be a web because there's a spider livin' here—and back away, still keeping the light held up. The spider moves forward in time with me, then speeds up suddenly in attack. It hits me with one of its front legs and knocks me backward, making the light fall to the ground and dim slightly. The spider squats above me and in a last ditch effort, I draw my sword and begin to stab wildly at it. A lucky hit sends the spider into sharp spasms, allowing me to get to my feet and sprint through the narrow tunnel, leaving the light behind me.
Faint light shines at the end of the tunnel, but before I can get there I run face first into another giant cobweb. I was sobbing outright now at the thought of the spider finding me. My sword is stuck tight in the web and I frantically try to wrench both it and me free and out of this blasted tunnel when Sméagol's voice drifts over to me from nearby in a sing-song tone.
"Naughty little fly, why does it cry? Caught in her web, soon you'll be... Eaten." His voice is sinister and low, promising death one way or another. Desperate, I start biting at the threads keeping me in place, freeing one arm so I could tear it off of me. Rage had joined the terror, lending me strength as I fell forwards and got back to me feet, leaving my trapped sword behind me. I bolt for the exit, knowing I wasn't out of the frying pan just yet. Sméagol leaps at me as I make it out of the tunnel, throwing me to the ground with him on top. "Got away did it, Precious? Not this time, not this time!" I let out a yell, fighting back and managing to gain the upper ground and roll him under me, my hands going to his bared throat and squeezing. "It wasn't us! Sméagol wouldn't hurt mistress!" I squeeze harder, hate consuming me. "Sméagol promised; you must believe us. It was the Precious! The Precious made us do it!"
He'll just kill me in some other way the second he gets the chance. With no remorse left in me for the creature, I stand and drag him to the edge of the ledge we were on, staring at the long fall he would have to endure even as he renewed his struggles against me. "You should have killed me yourself, Sméagol," I tell him coldly. His eyes widen as I heft him up to his feet, real control letting over me as I stare him down. "Because I can swear that I'll do it to you if you survive this." He didn't have a chance to fight back as my fist connected with his midsection, bringing my foot up to kick him off the precipice as he doubled over.
I hope he dies slow. I collapse to the ground, trying to even out my breathing and stop my limbs from shaking so badly. Energy was bubbling in me for the first time in ages, urging me to get back up and start moving. Despite my aching joints, I clamber to me feet and start back down the new set of stairs, thinking back on how I'd treated Sammy.
"What have I done?"