Gimli was speaking to Legolas about the hospitality we would all soon be enjoying, but I shook my head. I followed with my back turned to them so that I could watch the water. When I reached the doors I turned around as Gandalf placed a crystal in the top of his staff and illuminated the entrance. I stumbled backwards next to Frodo and looked around in horror. All around us were the skeletal remains of Dwarves who were riddled with arrows and other fatal wounds. Boromir was looking around with a look on his face that matched mine.
"This is not a mine, it is a tomb." He said in horror. Gimli ran to the nearest corpse and fell to his knees.
"Nooooooo! NOOOOoooooo!" He cried in grief and horror. Legolas knelt next to a skeleton and pulled one of the arrows from it.
"Goblins." He spat the word before tossing the arrow down like it had burned him. Aragorn, Boromir and I all drew our swords while Legolas notched an arrow in his bow.
"We make for the Gap of Rohan. We should never have come here." Boromir said. The hobbits huddled around me as we began to back out of the mines. I agreed with Boromir we should never have come here. We would have been safer on the mountain.
"Now get out of here. Get out!" Boromir yelled as there was a scramble to get out of Moria. I had my hand on Frodo to make sure he made it out when I felt something slimy and wet wrap around my ankle and before I could say anything the tentacle jerked backwards trying to haul me and Frodo out of the cave.
"Frodo! Cainmar!" The hobbits yelled. I twisted so that I was able to slice through the tentacle holding Frodo so that he was freed. Merry and Pippin dragged him backwards.
"Strider!" I heard Sam yell as I tried to cut through the tentacle holding me without cutting my own leg off. The only thing I was able to do was make it angry. I heard Merry yell for Aragorn as I kept slicing and cutting. There was a great splash as many of the things tentacle's shot out of the water knocking the people around Frodo away and grabbing the hobbit.
"No!" I shouted. "Let go of him you slimy bastard!" But I was too far from Frodo to be able to cut him free again. We were dangling above the water now and I twisted so that I could grab the tentacle holding me and bit into it. I heard the creature give a shrill squeal and it slammed me against the water. It felt a sharp pain near my hairline and it felt like it had just slammed me into the walls of Moira itself and it was enough to stun me. My vision blurred and I vaguely heard Frodo call for Aragorn. Through my fizzy sight I saw Legolas shooting arrows at the creature while Aragorn and Boromir slashed through tentacle after tentacle only for more to appear. A great gray wet body heaved itself out of the water and a large tooth filled mouth opened as Frodo screamed. Boromir and Aragorn sliced through the tentacle's holding me and Frodo and we dropped. Frodo landed in Boromir's arms while I landed in Aragorn's. I was still so addled that I did not even care that it was Aragorn holding me.
"Into the Mines!" Gandalf shouted.
"Legolas!" Boromir yelled as they struggled through the water. I did not see what Legolas did since I was pressed tightly against Aragorn's chest. We ran past him into the Mines as the creature groaned I heard a tearing sound and then we were enclosed in darkness. The darkness lasted only a few moments as Gandalf lit his staff and shoved through the rest of the Fellowship to where Aragorn and Boromir were still holding me and Frodo.
"Frodo! Are you alright?" Gandalf demanded as he checked him over. The hobbit nodded mutely while still shaking. I groaned as my thoughts began to work again and I hissed as I felt a stinging pain at my hairline, it was then that I noticed a warm wetness covering the side of my face.
"Cainmar! Aragorn sit him down." Gandalf ordered. Aragorn knelt and sat with me on the ground so that my back was resting against his chest. Gandalf shooed the rest of the Fellowship away as he pulled my hood back only far enough to see the cut and not expose my hair.
"A nasty cut to be sure, I imagine you hit a rock when it threw you against the water, but nothing to worry much about. You should be fine in a few hours, till then I suggest you allow Boromir to help you along." I nodded and before Gandalf could say anything more I leaned over Aragorn's arm and threw up. I coughed up the rest of the disgusting lake water that I had swallowed when I hit the water.
"By the Valar that thing tasted disgusting." I rasped out. I heard Gandalf laugh at that and I gave him a weak smile.
"What?" I heard Aragorn ask.
"I doubt you noticed, but when he was hanging there he managed to reach around and bite the tentacle holding him in an attempt to get it to release him." I heard Aragorn chuckle this time and he handed me a cloth to wipe away as much of the blood as I could as well as hold against the cut. Gandalf pulled my hood back down and gestured for Boromir to come over. Gandalf quickly explained what he wanted Boromir to do and the man reached down to help me to my feet. I slowly stood and had to lean against Boromir until the wave of dizziness passed. Gandalf returned to the front of the group and addressed them.
"We now have but one choice, we must face the long dark of Moira. Be on your guard, there are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world." He told them and we began the long walk through Moira. "Quietly now, it is a four day journey to the other side. Let us hope that our presence may go unnoticed." Aragorn handed me my sword which I had dropped at one point and I gave him a nod of thanks. The sword had belonged to my mother and she said it was the most beautiful of all the weapons ever created by Men, Elves and Dwarves alike. The blade was solid white with an inscription running down the middle that read 'May the line of the Frost Queen be ever unbroken, and her battles be victorious' in the language of the Frost people. The guard and grip were a light blue while the pommel was the color of the bluest sapphire. The entire sword from pommel to point was half as tall as me and lighter than any Elvish sword could ever be. I sheathed the sword and allowed Boromir to help me as we climbed the steep staircase. Merry and Pippin both dropped back to ask me if I was alright and to see if they could help me in any way. I lightly ruffled their hair and told them that I was fine before sending them off to walk with Frodo and Sam. Aragorn was walking behind me and Boromir, no doubt he was there to catch me if I should fall. After a few hours I was fine and left Boromir to walk behind the hobbits and I couldn't keep the smile off my face as they looked around in awe at the massive space of the Mines. I was not sure how long we walked, since it was hard to tell time in places like Dwarf mines, it could have been hours or days. Gandalf paused next to one of the walls and touched the silvery-white lines that were running through the rock.
"The wealth of Moria was not in gold, or jewels, but Mithril." He told us. I had always found Mithril to be one of the most beautiful metals to have ever come from the earth. It shined with the color of the stars. He shined his staff over the edge of the path and all looked over the edge in awe at the sheer vastness of the abandoned Mines.
"Bilbo had a shirt of Mithril rings that Thorin gave him." Gandalf said, though it sounded like he was talking more to himself than us.
"Aww that was a kingly gift." Gimli said with a note of awe in his voice and I had to agree with him.
"Yes. I never told him, but its worth was greater than the value of The Shire." Frodo stumbled and I caught him before he could fall as he stared at Gandalf with a look of utter disbelief and shock. We moved on and came to another set of steep stairs and slowly began to climb. I darted forward to catch Pippin as he slipped and nearly went over the edge.
"Pippin." Merry scolded. We soon reached a junction with three paths and we stopped and waited for Gandalf who was looking at the doors with a puzzled expression.
"I have no memory of this place." He murmured. We decided to rest here until Gandalf either decided or remembered. I sat next to Boromir and pulled out my pipe to smoke along with Gandalf.
"That was a brave thing you did." Boromir said and I turned my head to look at him. My cloak was something that had been made by Lady Galadriel herself. On the outside it was black as the night but on the inside of the hood I could see through it. It wasn't clear but it was enough for me to be able to see even though others couldn't see me.
"Oh?" I asked.
"The way you fought that creature at the lake to try and free Frodo while having no care for your own safety."
"Frodo is now the most important person in all of Middle-earth. All our fates rest on him, we can not afford for him to be killed or eaten." I told him. Boromir nodded and we lapsed into silence.
"Are we lost?" Pippin asked Merry a little while later.
"No." Was Merry's immediate reply.
"I think we are." I smiled. Pippin was right, but I was not about to say so.
"Shh. Gandalf's thinking." Sam said.
"Merry!" Pippin whispered.
"What!" Merry snapped back in a whisper of his own.
"I am hungry." That got a quiet laugh out of me. I had spent so long with the frost covering my vocal cords that it was not even something that I had to think about doing anymore, this allowed me more time to focus on other things, like the fact that I did not actually want Aragorn dead. I still wanted to hit him every time I looked at him, but the desire to kill him had faded into nothing. I heard the soft sounds of something climbing the stairs behind us and my hand slipped into my cloak to grip one of the many knives I kept on my person at all times. I saw Legolas stiffen and I knew he heard it too. Frodo quickly made his way to Gandalf's side and pointed behind us.
"There is something down there." He said.
"It is Gollum." Gandalf answered.
"Gollum!"
"He has been following us for three days." I raised an eyebrow at that. How had I missed him for that long of a time? Though at least I knew how long we had been here now.
"He escaped the dungeons of Barad-Dur!"
"Escaped, or was set loose and now the Ring has drawn him here. He wont ever be rid of his need for it. He hates and loves the Ring, as he hates and loves himself. Smeagol's life is a sad story. Yes, he was once called, before the Ring found him. Before it drove him mad."
"It is a pity Bilbo did not kill him when he had the chance." Frodo said. I agreed with him. While his story might have been sad it did not change what he now was. A twisted being that would do anything to have the Ring once again. He was a danger to this quest and for me that was enough to do away with him over.
"Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death and many that die, deserve life. Can you give it to them Frodo? Do not be so eager to deal out death and judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play, yet for good or ill...before this is over. The pity of Bilbo, may rule the fate of many." While I liked the hobbits immensely, I had noticed that they were too quick to forgive and trust things that they should not, and that might just do them harm before this quest was through.
"I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened." Frodo said sadly. I also wished that this had not fallen to Frodo. He deserved to be safe in his home drinking ale and dancing with pretty hobbit maids, he deserved to be happy.
"So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." I had a feeling that Gandalf was speaking more to me than to Frodo with those words. "There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, in which case you also were meant to have it and that is an encouraging thought. Oh! It is that way." He said standing. I doused my pipe and stood as well.
"He remembered!" Merry said happily.
"No, but the air does not smell so foul down here. If in doubt Meriadoc, always follow your nose." Gandalf said from the doorway of the rightmost tunnel. We followed Gandalf through the tunnel until it opened up into a massive cavern and not even I could feel where the end of it was. In the small amount of light given off by Gandalf's staff I could see many stone columns rising from the floor to a ceiling that I could not see.
"Let me risk a little more light." The amount of light shining from his staff doubled and I felt my eyes go wide as I looked around. "Behold the great realm and Dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf." I could see no end to the wide open space and I was not the only one looking around in amazement.
"There's an eye-opener and no mistake." Sam said as we walked through the great city.