Upon hearing Gimli's words of awe, the Fellowship looked up and stopped to stand and gaze upon the vast cliff face in front of them. Sheer and brooding, rising above them, stone and shadows protruding from the stale mists beyond.
"I can't make out any doors here Chief" Cortana updated, "Not even secret ones. Could this really be the entrance to Moria? It looks like a normal cliff face" Gimli had said that Moria was a mine. Maybe they weren't searching for a door, a subtle miner's shaft...or a hole in the ground?
"If we are heading inside the mountains…Then how do we get in? I don't see an entranceway from where we are" Chief says with uncertainty, surprised that he hasn't picked anything out either. "Your eyes are good Chief...but not that good. The entrance is hidden. It seamlessly blends with the mountain wall. It cannot be seen with the naked eye!" Gimli explains to him.
Chief began to cycle through the spectral range, scanning the world around him. First infrared, than to ultraviolet and beyond. Gandalf looked around in surprise, as if sensing exactly what Chief was doing. He had been wondering about how much the Spartan would be able to figure out about this world. The UNSC were not advanced enough to unravel Arda's secrets...but perhaps he had underestimated John? He was no simple human, that much was clear!
Chief realised that there were some curious radiation spikes coming from the wall around a 50m diameter, something familiar. Chief then realised what. He had detected such a field before! From the wraiths, when Gandalf had repaired Cortana, and any other time he had used his 'powers'.
"There seems to be some common link between all the...magic's of this world" He begins to tell the others, hating himself for using that word. "We need to be looking for an, err, enchanted door of some kind, something no one could usually find"
Gandalf looked at the Chief in amazement. "Astounding Chief. This is correct, there is a causal link between all the powers of this world...but how do you know all this?" Gandalf knew nothing of Quantum Science or electromagnetism. Chief smiled a little, he had just figured one more thing out. He now knew something that even Gandalf didn't!
"I imagine there are things I know about the world that even you aren't aware of, sir." John couldn't help but say with a hint of sarcasm. Gandalf chuckled, he got the reference. He remembered Rivendell. He remembered almost everything.
Gimli knew the way, and begins to lead the Fellowship around the large lake in front of them. Arriving to a part of the cliff, Gimli knocks his axe against a rock and then continues on. The rest of the Fellowship catches on as they move along the rock wall, taping and prying, searching for a door. Both he and Gandalf would know it when he found it!
"Yes, they were made using the powers of the old world!" Gandalf says impatiently, they could be searching for days like this! He still hoped that they would turn back. "Yet of course, what lies hidden cannot be discovered easily. Your own lords and elders Gimli could not even find the Door of Durin. The truth of the secret was forgotten long ago!"
A light but obvious smirk from behind them causes the two to turn round. Legolas is responsible. "Why doesn't that surprise me?" He says sarcastically, trying to get a rise out of the dwarf. Gimli doesn't give him the satisfaction, but not before he grumbles something disrespectful in dwarfish, causing Gandalf to look disappointingly at him.
Chief was musing on the problem also. Cortana had information on it, the secret doors were very ingenious for this era. "While it will be a pain to find...its secrecy is of course a tactical advantage" She explained to him. Chief understood its application.
"The mine is like a fortress. If the enemy couldn't locate the entrance, this would present a great opportunity for an ambush, or a way to retreat from the enemy!" John says out loud, keeping the rest of the Fellowship, and the hobbits more to the point as the others work. Merry and Pippin had been bombarding Gimli and Gandalf with questions for almost half an hour. He hoped that the two would be grateful to have some peace for a while, but to his surprise, he insults Gimli in the process.
"There is no honour to be had in it! Dwarfs never run from battle, Master Chief!" Gimli replies arrogantly. John wasn't very impressed.
"Then the dwarves are fools!" He replied in kind. Gimli was very offended, but he wasn't about to pick an argument. Legolas smiled secretly behind them. He couldn't have been more amused as the proud dwarf began to turn purple with embarrassment.
A foot splashes into shallow water. Frodo gasps at the coldness, pulling his leg back, looking up at his surroundings. It's a great pool beside the rock face, with dead branches bearded with moss hanging damp above the water. Gandalf approaches the rock between two twisted, gnarled trees, seemingly intrigued by subtle etchings in the rock and bark.
"Hey Chief!" Cortana suddenly pipes up, "The radiation spikes seem to be reaching a peak, it's possible we're only a few feet from what we're searching for!"
Sure enough, Gandalf was beginning to slow down. He too was sensing the focus of energy centred around this point. He runs his hand over the cliff face. "Now…let's see. Ithildin, a door of the old times...It mirrors only starlight…and moonlight".
He looks up at the black night sky, and as if by command the light of the moon breaks through. Framed within the sharp shadows of the two trees, silvery lines begin to grow and expand across the rock. Like illuminated chalk, like neon, bright and shining with brilliant white. They outline a door formed of two columns beneath an arch with a star in the centre.
Gimli stares in awe at the gate of his forefathers. Cortana was also taken by the construct, intrigued as ancient runes and letters begin to form around the doors' lay lines. "We could do with some of these at the UNSC Chief. I'll be saving magic doors away in my database!" Chief couldn't help but smile. Sadly, such a trick had very little application in modern combat. Such doors would be discovered in moments, by orbiting ships or scout aircraft, blasted apart by ordinance not long after. How different the two worlds were.
Gandalf went on, pointing at the runes with his gnarled staff. "The inscription reads, 'The Doors of Durin - Lord of Moria!' Speak, friend, and enter!" Merry sniffed a little in confusion. "What do you suppose that means?" He asks, loud and bluntly.
Gandalf answered in light spirits, "Oh, it's quite simple! If you are a friend you speak the password, and the doors will open". He sets his staff's end upon the door, resting against the shape of a glimmering star.
"Annon Edhellen, edro hi ammen! (Gate of the Elves, open now for me!)" However the door remains closed. Gandalf stands in puzzlement, and then raises his hands into the air. "Fennas Nogothrim, lasto beth lammen. (Doorway of the Dwarf-folk, listen to the word of my tongue.)" Still the door does not move or make a sound.
"Nothing's happening." Pippin says innocently. Gandalf glances at him, looking slightly annoyed. He begins to push on the doors, but they remain fast. Gandalf is little stumped, lateral thinking wasn't something he needed to do often. "I once knew every spell in all the tongues of Elves...Men...Orcs." He sighs, a little lost at what next to do.
"What are you going to do, then?" Pippin asks again, still innocent to the affect his empty words are having.
"How about knocking your head against these doors, Peregrine Took! And if that does not shatter them, and I am allowed a little peace from your questions, I will attempt to use logic and words of old!" Gandalf says angrily. Pippin stares at his hairy feet in response, hanging his head like a naughty child.
Time passes. The rest of the Fellowship is seated around the doors near the lake, waiting for Gandalf to open them. Night is deepening. "Ando Eldarinwa…a lasta quettanya, Fenda Casarinwa… (Gate of Elves…listen to my word, Threshold of Dwarves…)" Gandalf says wearily. Remember, he didn't actually want to get in!
Meanwhile Aragorn is unhitching the horse that the Fellowship had brought with them to send back to Rivendell. "The Mines are no place for a pony, even ones as brave as Bill." The little pony had followed them everywhere, he had been Aragorn's for many months. From Bree to weathertop, from Rivendell to the feet of the mountain. But now it would go no further. They didn't expect it to.
Sam knew he was right, he would miss the brave little pony...actually, little wasn't the right word. Oh he knew what he meant! He would miss him terribly all the same! "Bye-Bye Bill." Sam says sadly as Aragorn pushes it gently away, in encouragement.
"Go on, Bill, go on!" And obediently, he begins to trot away. "Don't worry Sam, he knows the way home!" Aragorn says to reassure Sam that Bill will be safe. The two watch as Bill then disappears, away into the misty night. It was a shame to see such a lovely animal go.
Chief leans against the cliff wall near Merry and Pippin. They are still full of ideas and boundless energy. "Chief, couldn't you just punch the 'door' down?" Merry asks. It was a valid question, as he was strong and powerful enough to do so.
"I probably shouldn't" Chief replied, "If there are dwarves inside, I don't think that they would like us blowing down their door!" It was a fair and considerate answer.
"However Chief…it may mean that we're going to be here a while." Cortana says in reminder. Chief understands. If all else fails, he might consider doing it.
"So...what do you think's inside Moria?" Pippin asks him. "Gandalf's worried Chief, I can tell. What could possibly get a wizard scared? Why doesn't he want to go through here?" There was general concern in his voice.
"I don't know. But if he's scared…Then we are all in danger. Moria was occupied by goblin men long ago. A force of dwarfs was sent to retake the hold. It's not known whether the campaign was successful. Gimli is confident, Gandalf isn't. I don't know who is correct" Chief explains, much to the horror of the hobbits.
"I'm not sure I want to go into Moria now either Chief!" The hobbits say in unison.
"Don't worry. We'll find a way. We always do!" Chief says, trying to reassure them. Chief realised what he had done, he'd spooked them again!
"Yeah I guess you're right!" Came their reply.
A few more minutes pass, Gandalf still has had no luck with the infernal door. In his idleness Merry begins to throw stones into the water, and soon after Pippin follows. They are stopped by Aragorn. "Do not disturb the water!" He says with a hint of paranoia. He had read about Moria too!
Gandalf meanwhile has finally given up on the door, angry and embarrassed by the sorry business. "Oh, it's useless!" He grumble and throws his staff away in frustration. He sits down beside Frodo, pulling off his hat. Frodo's mind is whirring away at the problem. He stands, and looks at the writings of the glimmering gateway intently. Not analysing it so much as just letting his mind relax and wander.
Meanwhile, Aragorn, Chief and Boromir watch as a ripples run through the water, growing slowly in size and intensity. Before there had been nothing. Chief was sure he could detect a shadow under the surface. He drew his crossbow, just in case.
Frodo then had his revelation. "It's a riddle!" Frodo says, the eureka moment!
The water continues to ripple ominously, as if something is moving towards them as the rest of the Fellowship watches. "Speak, 'friend' and enter...Gandalf, what's the Elfish word for friend?" Frodo asks.
Raising a surprised eyebrow, he replies "Mellon!"
Immediately the stone doors slowly swing open, rumbling deeply as the doors open fully. Gandalf cannot help but laugh in surprise. Hobbits will never stop surprising him! The rest of the Fellowship then take their attention off the water and then enter Moria. The wizard places a rough-hewn crystal into the gnarled roots topping his staff. Aragorn follows last, casting a last suspicious glance at the waters.
Moonlight floods into a shadowy rock chamber. Led by Gandalf, hat and staff in hand, they walk towards the inky blackness at the far end of the chamber. With no light however, the Fellowship cannot see where they are heading.
Chief, still gripping his crossbow, turns on the LED's mounted on his helmet, surprising the others to say the least. Gimli is too caught up in his own magnificence to notice, or rather, the magnificence of his people!
"Soon, Master Elf, you will enjoy the fabled hospitality of the Dwarves!" He announces proudly, distracting the others from Chief's sorcerous headlamps! "Roaring fires, malt beer, red meat off the bone! This, my friend, is the home of my cousin, Balin...and to think they called it a mine...A MINE, ha, ha!" Gimli laughs, remembering the splendour of the hold as he had once seen it.
Gandalf brings his hand around his staff, blowing upon the crystal as though to kindled the rock into light. It glows, as though emanating from some inner strength. With its light glimmering, Gandalf leans the staff towards the dark halls ahead, throwing into relief dirty, broken stairs and columns, upon which are tumbled many dark forms.
They had been wrong, this was wrong! It was not hospitable dwarves that were to greet them here! "This is no mine, it is a tomb!"
Chief and Gandalf's lights reveal rotted, broken and battered forms strewn about, casting long shadows across the room. The smell is utterly disgusting. The four Hobbits jump back as they soon see a skeletal body in front of them with an arrow in his chest. Chief looks all around the room with his lights as he sees dead bodies all over the place...all the skeletal remains of dead dwarves.
"Oh no...Noooo!" Gimli yells in pain as he moves from corpse to corpse with horrified eyes. "NOOOOOO!"
"We make for the Gap of Rohan. We should never have come here!" Boromir says with dread and apprehension.
"Long range motion sensors are not picking up any movement near us" Cortana reports, "But we don't know how many Goblins could be in here if we continue deeper into the mine!" Cortana says, keeping her Spartan updated. Frodo trips over a fallen dwarf, the four are backing toward the door. However, unknown to them, something stirs in the water behind them.
"We go now!" Boromir bark at them, taking control. "Get out of here, get out!" His voice echoes throughout the hollow dead hallway. The company starts for the door, but stop dead when they see what happens next.
Suddenly, Frodo is grabbed from behind and pulled off his feet. A long, snaking tentacle pulls him down. "Frodo!" Sam, Merry, and Pippin yell as Merry and Pippin quickly grab onto Frodo to stop him from being dragged into the water. "STRIDER! CHIEF!" Sam yells.
Chief and Aragorn sprint for the doorway, just as the cry of "HELP!" Escapes from a panicking Frodo as the tentacle continues to try and pull him into the water. Sam runs to his master, drawing his blade, hacking at the tentacle with wild abandon.
"GERR'OF HIM!" He bellows, and breaks the grip of the slimy mass. It retreats back into the water, the end of the tentacle hanging pathetically, limp at the tip. Just as they were thinking the danger had gone, another dozen or so tentacles explode from the water, smashing everyone backwards and pulling a screaming Frodo clean into the air.
Chief and Legolas loose of a shot, the arrow impaling a three pronged tentacle clawing heavily at the hobbit's feet. Chief aims differently, his bolt embeds itself into something just below the surface. The predator below! For a moment, all the tentacles spasm wildly, as if without control, then resumed their onslaught.
Aragorn and Boromir had charged into the building swell of the lake. They hack away at the writhing tendrils savagely. The two men just hold their own, but with every second they risk being overwhelmed. What is to stop a tentacle from snaking around their feet, abducting them too whilst their backs are turned?
Chief knows where his values lie. He drew his claymore, and marched over to aid his friends, severing anything that came his way in disciplined and deadly arcs, viscera exploding all around him. A fast and sweeping melee ensures. Even Chief wasn't fast enough to engage every tentacle, of which there were many. The waters are swirling all around them, angry and boiling, displaced by some massive shape below. As water continues to push up from the depths, the creature finally rises up from the depths, like something out of a horror movie.
Cortana gasps in surprise "That is one, ugly, mother fu-" Just as it is opening its massive jaw, drowning out the rest of the sentence! As the loud and terrible roar escapes from its monstrous maw, Frodo hanging right above a row of huge, articulated teeth. Cortana looks on in horror. The claws, the teeth and tentacles. The stuff of her nightmares. It was the Flood all over again!
They had little time. Chief knew he could end it in a split second. One frag, pull the pin, chuck some lead down the creatures throat. But with the others so close, he didn't want to risk hitting them. Yet he spies an opening, a weakness in the creatures' furious, yet undisciplined offence. He knows how to free Frodo.
"BOROMIR, ARAGORN! FOLLOW MY LEAD!" Raising his claymore up and down in vicious figure of eights, annihilating any flesh in front of him, Chief clears a path for the men. "Two tentacles holding Frodo, dead ahead. Get ready for when he falls!"
Chief leaps forward, and sweeping as wide as he can, he cleaves at the tentacles. The blow connects, and the creature wreathes in pain. The first sheers completely, but other doesn't. Weakened, the limb cannot support Frodo's weight any more. Boromir is ready and waiting, and as the hobbit begins to fall he catches Frodo easy. Another tentacle punches into chief. He stands fast, and drawing has knife, holding the claymore in reverse grip, lunges down and hacks it to pieces. He advances on the beast itself.
"INTO THE MINES!" Gandalf yells, knowing the power and fury of the unnamed creature.
"LEGOLAS!" Boromir yells out as two tendrils advance towards him. Chief hears, understands what is happening, and brings his sword down. elven steel bites into flesh with a sickening thud. The creature roars, and its concentration broken, its flailing arms miss every one of its targets. They could end it here, but they see no point in wasting their energies slaying a feral beast.
Aragorn, Chief and Boromir begin to retreat. Chief follows behind, sheathing his knife. Boromir runs for the gates with Frodo, just as a colossal hand-like appendage claws after them. Chief couldn't possibly miss that movement. Legolas takes aim, and releases just as Chief spins round and slashes viciously at the clawed hand of the monstrous animal. The attacks stun the beast once more. As it screams and hesitates, everyone retreats.
"Into the cave!" Aragorn yells. Chief looks back. Chopping a tentacle that speeds towards him, and stops in surprise when he sees the creature rise onto solid ground, on crab-like legs. "Well that's just not fair now is it?" Cortana moans in her realisation that it can walk as well as swim.
Everyone still needs time to escape. Chief takes a bolt, and throws it like a dart. It joins the arrow that Legolas launched not a moment ago, biting deep. Focussed solely on a single target, every limb remaining attached to the beast descends on the Spartan.
This is like nothing Chief has ever fought before. He jumps, slime riddled limbs pulverise the ground where he'd just been standing. He cleaves diagonally with his sword, flesh tears and sinews pop, a brace of body parts collapse into each other in a sickly pile. In agony, the creature rears up, and Chief advances. He lunges, straight at the centre of the abomination. The creature comes back down, straight onto the edge of the Spartan's sword. Held fast by armour lock and liquid crystal bionics, the blade punctures straight through the beast's underbelly, cleaving right to the base of its mouth. The creature squeals, and jumps backwards in reaction, losing a number of segmented teeth for its troubles.
Stunned and bleeding, a window of escape exists now. John can finally retreat. Chief easily catches up to the others. But the beast is on them. It is utterly relentless, reckless beyond anything sane. It claws desperately at the door ahead of it. Yet it is a clumsy animal. As the massive creature slams into the side of the mountain, the doors give way, and the rock supported above collapses. By the time the stone has settled, the way is utterly impassable.
There is almost silence now. Only panting and heavy breathing of winded and frightened warriors to break the deadly hush. "Good thing you didn't break the door down after all Chief!" Pippin remarks in shock. Chief looks round and stares at him. The hobbits are as bad as Cortana!
"Your powers of observation astound me, Peregrine Took!" Gandalf sighs, deep and bitterly, knowing now that they have no other options left. "It seems we now have but one choice..." His staff now lit, he strikes the ground, and it shines all the brighter. Burned out torches rest against the wall. Aragorn takes one, and uses kindling powder, the same as on weather top to light two torches that he has found.
Chief simply turns his head-lights lights on. "Show off!" Cortana remarks jokingly, even though everyone's seen the trick already. They still do not understand how this is even possible however. Merry and Pippin begin shoot between the LED's and Gandalf's crystal, looking too and throw over and over, as if in hope that the secrets of their workings will appear to them out of thin air.
"We must face the long dark of Moria!" Gandalf continues grimly, "Be on your guard at all times...there are fouler, and older things than Orcs in the deep places of the world!" His face is set grim, he is deadly serious now.
He and the rest of the Fellowship now turn their attention towards the twisting passageways and dark halls of Moria.