We walked along making as little noise as possible until Gimli spotted a room in front of us and went rushing off.
"Gimli!" Gandalf called but was ignored and we all followed the Dwarf into the room. We found him kneeling in front of a tomb in the middle of the room with his head bowed and resting on the edge of it. I walked up beside Gandalf to read the runes etched into the marble.
"Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria." Gimli began to weep and I placed a hand on his shoulder as Gandalf stepped away. "He is dead then. It is as I feared." Gandalf said and removed his hat. He walked around the tomb and stopped in front of a skeleton that was holding a large book of some sort. Gandalf passed his hat and staff to Pippin and stooped to gently pick up the book. It was so old that when he opened it some of the pages fell out or turned to dust, he gently blew dust off the other pages. I did not like the air here, there was something off about this part of Moria and I was anxious to leave here. I moved to where Legolas was standing next to Aragorn.
"We must move on, we cannot linger." He said quietly.
"I agree. There is something about the air here that I dislike." I told them. We stopped as Gandalf began to read from the book.
"They have taken the Bridge and the second hall. We have barred the gates, but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes. Drums. Drums in the deep. We cannot get out." I was shifting around full of nervous energy and I was not the only one. "A shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out. They are coming." Legolas was right, we should not have lingered here. The things that had taken the city would not have left, which means our passage would have been noticed. I jumped as I heard a loud bang and whirled around to see Pippin grimacing as the rest of the skeleton and the chains holding it slid into the well. We all held out breath waiting for any other sound to be heard, but nothing was and I released the breath I was holding. Gandalf snapped the book closed and glared at Pippin.
"Fool of a Took! Throw yourself in next time, and rid us all of your stupidity." He snapped and jerked his hat and staff away from the forlorn looking hobbit. As Gandalf turned away from Pippin the sound of a drum began to echo from the depths of the Mines. The drums got louder and faster as more and more joined in.
"Frodo!" Sam said and I turned to look at the hobbit in question. Frodo unsheathed his sword which was glowing blue right as I heard the sound of screeching. I knew that sound all too well and gripped the hilt of my sword.
"Orcs." Legolas spat. I ran to the door with Boromir as he peered out into the blackness. I jerked him back as two arrows thudded into the doorway where his head had been.
"Get back! Stay with Gandalf!" Aragorn yelled to the hobbits who gathered around the wizard. Gandalf put his arms around them as I helped Boromir and Aragorn bar the door. Legolas tossed us ax's and broken bits of wood to barricade the door.
"They have a cave troll." Boromir said with a note of exasperation in his voice. I heard the sounds of swords being drawn and I hoped that what Aragorn and Boromir had taught the hobbits was going to be enough to help them survive. With the door as shorred up as possible we backed away and drew out weapons. Gimli climbed on top of Balin's tomb and hefted his ax.
"Let them come! There is one Dwarf yet in Moria who still draws breath!" Gimli yelled. Aragorn and Legolas had bows drawn and I pulled one of my daggers out to throw. With a mighty crash something slammed into the door and it nearly gave out. These doors would not hold long and already parts were giving way. Legolas fired his bow and hit one of the Orcs only for it to be replaced by another. As Aragorn fired his bow the doors gave way and Orcs poured into the room beginning the fight. I slashed through Orc after Orc, but there was no end to them. I saw one creep up behind Aragorn and I threw my dagger into his head and it dropped dead to the ground. My distraction cost me as the sword of an Orc sliced through my side. I cried out and beheaded the Orc before covering the heavily bleeding wound in layers of frost to keep from loosing too much blood. I ended up back to back with Aragorn as we sliced through the Orcs in a deadly dance of steel. The hobbits had scattered from where Gandalf stood and I caught sight of Sam freezing and looking to the door. I turned and followed his gaze as the cave troll ambled into the room with a broken chain around it's neck. It was slamming the walls with its fists and stopped when it saw Sam. Legolas fired an arrow into its chest, but it did not even notice. It lifted its club to bring it down on Sam who was standing there frozen. I cleared a path to Sam and slammed into him at full speed as it brought the club down. Sam and I tumbled through its legs confusing it as it turned to follow us. I tossed Sam away from the troll as Aragorn and Boromir grabbed the chain around its neck and began to pull. I darted in front of Boromir and grabbed onto the chain to help pull.
"Pull!" Aragorn yelled. We pulled with all our strength and it stumbled backwards and swung around to face us. Boromir and I did not have time to let go as the troll grabbed the chain and flung us against a wall. Boromir took the brunt of the hit, but it was still enough to stun both of us as my head collided with the pommel of Boromir's sword. Aragorn threw a knife into the neck of an approaching Orc giving us enough time to shake off the hit. We nodded to Aragorn and dived back into the fray. I was trying to keep an eye on the hobbits, but it was nearly impossible in the throng of Orcs. I managed to see Sam, Merry and Pippin hiding behind a pillar and I hoped they would stay there, out of sight and out of the fight. The troll was continuing to swipe left and right with its club killing the Orcs who got in the way. Legolas got in front of the troll and shot two arrows into it sending it stumbling back. Legolas jumped onto the ledge around the room and kept firing arrows at the troll who screamed and swung the chain around trying to hit Legolas, who was nimbly avoiding it. I fought my way to where Frodo was and did my best to keep the Orcs away from him. I saw that Merry, Pippin and Sam had gotten separated and Sam was fighting Orcs off with a frying pan. Merry and Pippin had made their way to where I was and were doing their best to kill the Orcs who were attacking. The troll turned and spotted us and I frowned as it lifted its club up. Merry and Pippin threw themselves to the side while I grabbed Frodo and rolled out of the way. I heard Aragorn shout for me and Frodo as we darted around one of the pillars to hide from the troll. We kept out of the trolls sight and Frodo breathed a sigh of relief when it looked as through the troll had left. The troll appeared in front of us and roared. I shoved Frodo behind me as I slashed at it with my sword. It roared again and backhanded me hard enough to seen me flying into a pile of Orcs who looked all too happy to see me. I grimaced as I got to my feet, it felt like a few of my ribs were broken and the Orcs noticed the hesitance. They smiled and leaped for me. I grit my teeth and slammed my hands down onto the ground. The pile of Orcs around me froze solid and it was all too easy to cut their heads off. I had hesitated using my powers because of the chance that one of the others could get hurt. I heard Frodo yell for Aragorn who was fighting his way through the mass to get to the hobbit whose ankle was clutched in the trolls hand and was trying to drag him off the ledge. Finally Frodo's grip on the pillar gave and the troll dropped him as he reeled backwards. Aragorn made it to Frodo's side clutching a large stake of some kind. Aragorn drove the stake into the trolls chest and it screamed. Pippin and Merry were throwing rocks at its head hoping to distract the troll from Frodo and Aragorn. The troll swiped its hand and sent Aragorn flying into a wall where he slumped and did not get back up.
"No!" I yelled and fought to get to his side. Frodo and I reached him at the same time and I tried unsuccessfully to wake Aragorn. I looked up to see the troll plunge the stake at Frodo. I shoved him out of the way and twisted to the ground as the stake hit the wall where my shoulder had been. I rolled under the stake and grabbed Frodo as we dodged the stake until the troll blocked our path. I pushed Frodo back and felt a searing pain as the stake plunged into my body. I felt it exit and slam into Frodo. I gasped and behind me I heard Frodo do the same. The troll snorted and released the shaft of the stake. All around us the Fellowship noticed what had happened and renewed their attack with fury. Sam was yelling for us, but I could not answer. Frost was spreading down the shaft of the stake and around the front and back of the wound where it was shoved through the bottom of my ribs. The frost was trying to close the wound but could not because the stake was still embedded in me. Behind me I heard Frodo still gasping and I realized I was doing the same thing. Sam, Gandalf and Boromir fought to reach us as my legs gave out I had enough sense left to fall on my less injured side so that I would not crush Frodo. I could only watch as the rest of the Fellowship fought the cave troll and managed to bring it down. Gandalf hurried over to us and I heard something shifting toward us from my other side and I brought my sword up to cut it down only to see that it was Aragorn. My sword wavered and the blade clattered to the ground as my strength drained away.
"Oh, no." Aragorn whispered as he tried to move us. I felt tears leave my eyes as I realized I could not hear Frodo breathing anymore. As gently as possible Aragorn moved Frodo out from behind me but the movement still caused me to cry out and give more than a few raspy curses. Behind me I heard a large inhale and then a groan followed by many sighs of relief.
"He is alive!" Sam cried and I let out my own gargled sigh of relief.
"Cainmar!" Frodo cried as he crawled to my side. Boromir pulled him away before he could reach me.
"Let me go! I have to help him!" Frodo yelled as he tried to get out of Boromir's grasp.
"Frodo you cannot help him right now. Leave it to Gandalf and Aragorn." Boromir said and Frodo went limp in his arms. I was sure I was not the only one who heard the hollowness in Boromir's voice. He thought I was going to die. Luckily it was going to take a lot more than this to kill me, but that did not mean it did not hurt. Gently Gandalf propped me up so that I was laying against the wall and I had to bite my lip to keep from yelling. I saw Aragorn reach for the shaft of the stake and I did not have the energy to tell him not to touch it.
"No Aragorn! Do not touch it, not with your bare skin." Gandalf ordered. Aragorn's hand stood scant moments away from the frozen wood and he jerked his hand back. Gandalf stood and collected his staff from the ground before standing over me. Ever so gently he tapped the stake with the end of his staff and the stake shattered into tiny frozen pieces. Immediately frost covered the gaping wound before much blood could pour out of the wound. Gandalf knelt next to me and murmured words of magic over me to try and heal the damage. It was not enough and we needed to leave. If I knew he would do it I would have told Gandalf to leave me here and go on, but he would not and that left me one option.
"The Elf." I whispered and saw Gandalf's eyes light with realization.
"Are you sure?" He asked.
"No. There is no other choice." I answered. Gandalf nodded and looked around until he saw Legolas and gestured him forward and told the rest of the Fellowship to stand at the doors. From where I was leaning against the wall I would be invisible to them. Legolas knelt next to me and looked at me with sorrow filled eyes.
"Stop worrying Legolas, I am not dying today." I snapped and he looked at me with wide eyes.
"But that wound..." He trailed off.
"Would kill a human, yes, good thing I am not fully human." I told him.
"Legolas. Cainmar needs your help. I have done as much as I can to heal him and now he needs you."
"Of course." He answered immediately. "What can I do?"
"Cainmar is...unique among all the people's of Middle-earth. He can take life force from other creatures and people to heal himself. The older and stronger the person the better. This would not be asked of you if there were no other option, but we cannot linger here much longer." Gandalf explained. Legolas was looking at us with wide eyes before he slowly nodded his head in agreement.
"Thank you." Gandalf said in relief.
"Place your hand over my wound and close your eyes." I instructed. Legolas shifted so that he was kneeling in between my legs and then did as I told him. I pulled my mask down and leaned up to fastened my mouth to his. His lips parted in shock and I used that to draw out some of his life force. He shuddered and then he was kissing me in earnest. I gasped and his hold on me tightened and I found myself sitting partly in his lap. He was pouring his life force into me and I was not sure that he realized that he was doing it, too much more and he would not be able to fight as he was used to. I ripped myself away and ducked my head to pull my mask up. I looked up to see Legolas blinking in confusion as though he was not sure why it had suddenly stopped. I gently prodded the area of my wound and found that it was a little sore, but otherwise healed. Nearly all my strength had returned as well, for which I was glad. This strength would last for a while, but not much longer than that. It was borrowed energy, which meant that it would fade from me much faster than my own ever would. My other wounds had not been healed since I was using Legolas's hand to direct where the healing energy went.
"Thank you Legolas." I said and stood.
"That was..." He trailed off trying to find the right word.
"Interesting?" I supplied. The three of us walked out from behind the pillar much to the shock of the rest.
"I was going to say enjoyable." Legolas answered. I chuckled.
"Yes I could tell."
"You would not be the first male I have kissed." Legolas said and glided off to Boromir. Almost without thought my eyes found the figure of my father and I prayed to the Valar that he was not who Legolas had been speaking about. Frodo came running toward me and I caught him as he reached me.
"Cainmar! You are alright!" He exclaimed.
"Yes, thanks to Gandalf and Legolas." I told him.
"Very good. Now we should be on our way, lest we be caught again by the enemy. To the Bridge of Khazed-Dum!" Gandalf said and we took off into the caverns of Moira. Behind us I could hear thousands of Orcs swarming behind us and out of the side of my eyes I could see them crawling down from the ceiling and out of cracks in the ground. We were forced to stop as they surrounded us and we drew our weapons, ready for a fight to the death. With the Fellowship so close to me there was no way that I could use my abilities without hurting one of them so I was going to have to settle for my sword. Just as we were tensing to spring at the Orcs there was an earth shaking roar. The Orcs looked around worried at the sound, the roar came again and this time the Orcs screeched in terror and fled as fast as they could, up the columns and back through the cracks in the ground. An archway in front of us glowed red and the red glow got nearer as did the roaring.