Chapter 64

ARINA'S POV

It was cold and miserable, and to top it off, it was snowing. I hated all of it, and I was starting to truly dislike our guide. Gandalf had not allowed us to stop once it was too cold to. He had tried to keep us warm, and I had done my best to help as well, but our efforts were failing. It put me in a sour mood, and my heart reached out to the four hobbits traveling with us.

As we were continuing our pace, Frodo slipped and fell, but luckily Aragorn was there to help him back up. I turned around slowly when I saw Boromir pick something up. My hazel eyes narrowed as he held the Ring by its chain. I didn't trust him at all.

"It's a strange thing, that we must suffer so much fear and doubt...for so small a thing," he muttered, looking at it. "Such a little thing."

Feeling uneasy, I bared my teeth as Aragorn slowly put his hand on his sword. I made no sound, but I was ready just in case something should happen. The fact that it was over powering the man so easily concerned me. Then again, he was just a man and men naturally fell to these sort of things.

"Boromir," Aragorn demanded, shaking the other from his thoughts. "Give the Ring to Frodo."

When the Ring was back in the hobbits hand I tried to relax, but something was a little different at that point. He paused when he noticed my position, and for a second I saw the uncertainty flash across his face. Once he walked past me, we continued on our journey. We didn't stop that night, and after a brief break, it had started snowing again. I had made sure that Frodo and the other hobbits were as warm as they could be and kept up my course.

This was the stupidest thing I had ever done, no one had ever taken the mountain at this time of year. Winter, of all times! If it had been summer, we would not have been assaulted so. I thought of Thorin and my family back at Erebor, and wondered how they were fairing as we trudged through the snow. At this point, there was nothing any of us could do except for keep moving. Legolas walked past us on top of the snow and part of me wanted to push him off the mountain ledge. The amusement I received from that gave me a little more strength to keep going. I tried to stay with Sam and the pony he was leading, and rumbled comforts to the animal.

"There is a fell voice on the air," Legolas breathed, and my ears twitched.

"It's Saruman!" Gandalf cried, hearing it as well.

Just as he spoke, rocks broke off and came down at us. Gasping, I shoved Sam and the animal against the rock and commanded the pony still. Pushing myself to my human form, I tried my best to take care of them.

"He's trying to bring down the mountain! Gandalf we must turn back!" Aragorn cried.

"NO!" Gandalf snarled, and got to his feet.

He began to chant something in defiance, but his power proved to be useless. Saruman was much stronger than he was, and lightning struck the rocks. It sent a wall of snow down on us, and everyone cried out. It was so cold! The shock of it had me gasping, and I closed my eyes tightly against it. Everyone slowly dug themselves out, and Legolas reached out to get me out of the snow. I pulled Sam with me, and uncovered the pony as best we could.

"Are you all right?" Legolas asked.

"I'm cold," I growled, and he smiled.

There was a brief argument ahead of us as everyone decided on where to go. There were enough options, but if we got to close to Saruman, he'd certainly catch us. My mind went blank for a moment, and Frodo jerked me out of the thoughts when he spoke.

"We will go through the Mines."

"Wonderful," I growled. "That's it, I'm done with this snow..."

"Arina?" Aragorn asked.

"Stay put," I hissed, struggling the rest of the way out of the snow.

Legolas helped me up and Gimli turned a concerned eye toward me. As he opened his mouth, I pointed a firm finger at him to be quiet. This was worse then the Quest for Erebor. Thorin. In my anger, I found that I wanted nothing more than to go home. Grinding my teeth together, I closed my eyes for a moment and let out a sigh. Then, I gathered myself and glared at the snow for a moment.

"I'm clearing a path," I grunted. "Saruman knows I'm here, there is no use in hiding."

"How would you do that?" Boromir asked, and I rolled my eyes.

"She doesn't like the cold," Gimli grunted. "Best let her be."

Standing fully, I looked over the edge of our cliff. It was a good long drop, and gave me enough space for what I wanted to do. I was not carrying them, they wanted to do this quest, I was not about to be their transportation. In fact, I was questioning why I was even here with them. Leaping from the ledge, I ignored the startled yelps and I pushed for my transformation.

Gold wings opened, and scales replaced my skin. The familiar rush I got from turning into a dragon was welcome, and suddenly I wasn't cold anymore. That relief was good enough for me. Pumping my wings, I felt a pulse at my mind within moments and I bared my teeth in a smile. Clamping down on my barriers, I kept Thorin's face at the front of my mind. Coming into view of the Fellowship, I tried to ignore their gasps. Legolas snatched the reins of the pony from Sam, and held fast. Legolas had seen the dragon before, and so had Gandalf. Gimli had seen it once, but it had been a long time.

Opening my mouth, I summoned the fire that burned in me. My chest glowed and it stretched all the way up my neck and I melted the snow as we began our journey back down. Another two days without rest, and we were finally at the bottom of the mountain. I wanted to kill the wizard who tried to kill us, and I wanted to strangle Gandalf for attempting to take us over the mountain. When I turned human, I was extremely grouchy, and extremely tired. Gimli immediately came over, and I put a hand on his shoulder to keep standing. He grumbled a little, and looked at me. I patted his shoulder in thanks. Taking a breath, I sighed softly.

"My Lady, you should have gone back to Erebor," he rumbled. "The King needs you."

"I will return to Erebor once we get to the mines, Gimli," I nodded to him. "There are questions that need to be answered. I was asked to help during this journey, and help I shall. It is no matter. If this quest fails, we are all dead anyway."

"Aye, I suppose you're right," he sighed.

I sat down next to the fire that was made, and stared at the flames for a while as they cooked something to eat. A cloak was suddenly dropped on me, and I jumped. Aragorn held a hand up in apology, but I sighed and nodded my thanks.

"So, that was impressive," he rumbled, also handing me a plate of food.

"Like I said, don't irritate me," I grumbled, and he grinned.

I slept like the dead that night, and for the first time in years someone actually had to wake me up to get me moving. Gandalf glanced at me once I came back from eating and taking care of things.

"Your strength..."

"Is fine. Four days without rest gets to you," I replied flatly.

We traveled for the whole day and into the night before we arrived at the walls of Moria. It was the West Gate entrance, or the Door of Durin. I had learned much about this place after the great battle Thorin had fought in. Not to mention I was queen, so I had to know these things. It had been said that the password to get into the mountain had been lost as time went on, but Erebor's extensive library had proved that wrong. There had been several books written about Moria, all the way up until they had fled the mountains. They had done something, something terrible, but the explanation had been lost in the pages. That made me unsure, because I wasn't sure what we'd find.

Balin had said that after a good year, he had the mines up and running again. There was much to clean up, but he was confident that it could be done. Looking up, I watched Gandalf find the door, and turned to face the moon as it came out from behind the clouds. I noticed Gimli's look of excitement as the moonlight shined where the door was. As usual, dwarf gates were invisible most times. It was a beautiful gate that lit up under the light provided by the moon.

"It reads, The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Speak friend and enter," he rumbled.

"What's that mean?" Merry asked.

""Simple," I sighed, glancing back to see Aragorn grab Pippin's hand.

The hobbit had thrown stones into the water, and I tensed a little. I felt something suddenly wrong as I stared over the lake and that alone had me moving toward the door. Gandalf stepped aside with a slight bow to his head. I touched the door quietly, and took a breath. I was terrified of what we might find in here. Ever since Gandalf spoke of not wanting to go in here, my hope of seeing Balin was fading.

"It's a riddle," I smiled, looking up at the gate.

"You know the password?" Gimli asked hopefully.

"Mellon."

The great cracking of rock sounded and the doors slowly opened for us. It was amazing to see it open. I was unsure what we'd find in here, but I ignored Gimli's words as he spoke of what it was like for dwarves to Legolas. Little did Gimli know, was that Legolas was present at the marriage between Thorin and I. That made me smile, until Gandalf used his staff to light the way. We were greeted with the skeletons of dwarves, and there were bodies everywhere. Dread washed over me, and I let out a breath of shock. Sadness hit me so hard that I felt crippled by it, and had to use every ounce of my strength to stay standing. No, this couldn't be.

"This is no mine...it is a tomb," Boromir whispered. "We make for the Gap of Rohan. We never should have come here…we have to get out of here, get out!"

Just as everyone began to slowly back out of the mine something grabbed Frodo who started screaming. Sam cried out, and Aragorn rushed past me and sliced off the tentacle that held the hobbit. I ran and grabbed him, and pulled Frodo to shore as Aragorn backed away. He held his arm out in the usual protective stance, but it was suddenly useless. Tentacles shot out of the water, hitting everyone and I felt the air leave my chest. I had me gasping, but I scrambled to my feet at the screaming. Somewhere in the chaos, our pony ran off.

Legolas shot an arrow at the beast and Boromir and Aragorn ran into the water to fight the creature. I pushed a transformation into a large wolf the size of a warg and jumped into the fight. I bit and tore at any part of the flesh I could find and Aragorn sliced off a tentacle. I jumped and caught Frodo on my back, and made a dash for shore.

"Into the Mines!" Gandalf cried, and we ran.

Whatever we had been fighting came after us and just as we got into the safety of the mountain, the door was brought down from the anger of the creature. I let Frodo slide off my back and I was human again in seconds. Panting for breath, I checked on Frodo to make sure he was all right.

"I'm all right," he nodded.

"Well..." Gandalf sighed, hitting his staff on the floor to light up his stone. "We have but one choice. We must face the long dark of Moria. Be on your guard, there are far older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world."

I waited for everyone to walk ahead of me, hearing as Gandalf said it'd take four days to reach the other side. He was hoping we'd go unnoticed. What I had seen at the gate, and how he was speaking had me rooted to the spot. I didn't want to go any further. I knew what we were going to find. My breath left my chest as softly as I could make it, and I reached out and laid a hand on the rock wall to steady myself.

"Arina?"

"Give me a moment," I whispered, hearing Aragorn coming over.

"What is it?" he asked slowly.

"Nothing...it's nothing," I said shaking my head. "Let's go."

He said nothing as I gathered myself and walked after the others. We traveled through the ruined mines, and I tried hard not to look at the bodies of the dead. This place was in ruins. Balin had been so happy when they had reclaimed this place. It had been fine just thirty years ago, and it was then I realized. Thirty years was enough time to turn this place into what we were seeing. Oin, Ori, Balin and so many others were probably dead. My heart clenched painfully, and I kept my mouth shut as we traveled.

So much recent activity. I'm not spoiling anything for the next chapter :P

Misty, as usual thank you. You've given me fresh ideas to work with to make this story better and your reviews as usual are welcome. There is so much happening, but we'll see what happens :P

Thank you to all who follow this story!