Chapter 5: Into the Mines

The Fellowship slowly trudged down the mountain, not saying a word. They were more concerned about trying to stay cold and keep the Hobbits warm. The Jedi let the freezing weather flow through them, making it more bearable for them. They did not dare use their lightsabers for warmth. The temptation to get too close to the blades was extremely high in these conditions.

Within a matter of days, they reached the base of the mountain and followed a rocky path alongside it.

"Frodo!" Gandalf called. "Come and help an old man!"

The Hobbit stood next to him and let Gandalf put some of his weight on him.

"How's your shoulder?" he asked.

"Better than it was," the Hobbit answered.

"And the Ring?" Gandalf's voice dropped to whisper. "You feel its power growing, don't you? I've felt it too. You must be careful now. Evil will be drawn to you from outside the Fellowship. And I fear from within."

Frodo became anxious. "Who then do I trust?"

"The Jedi are repelled by the Ring, Frodo, so you can trust them, but you must trust yourself. Trust your own strengths."

"What do you mean?"

"There are many powers in this world for good or for evil. Some are greater than I am. And against some I have not yet been tested."

Gandalf succeeded in confusing the Hobbit with his riddles, but he was saved by a gasp from Gimli.

"The walls," he breathed, "of Moria."

He pointed across the lake at a gigantic wall that was embedded in the mountain. At first glance, it would appear that it was just part of the mountain, but Gimli knew better.

"Dwarf doors are invisible when closed," Gimli explained, tapping the wall from time to time.

"Yes, Gimli," Gandalf agreed. "Their own masters cannot find them if their secrets are forgotten."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Legolas asked.

Gimli gave the Elf a wicked glare.

"Let's see," the wizard mumbled, brushing some dust off the wall to reveal a symbol. "Ithildin. It mirrors only starlight and moonlight."

On cue, the full moon revealed itself, causing the wall to glow. The symbols formed a radiant door that dazzled the Dwarf.

Gandalf read the inscription on the door. "It reads, 'The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Speak, friend, and enter.'"

"What does it mean?" Ahsoka asked.

"It's quite simple. If you are a friend, you speak the password and the doors will open."

Gandalf turned to the door and began speaking Elvish with an epic tone while the Fellowship waited in suspense.

Nothing happened.

Gandalf tried Dwarfish.

"Nothing's happening," Pippin observed.

A glare from the wizard silenced him.

"I once knew every spell in all the tongues of Elves, Men, and Orcs," he fumed.

"What are you going to do, then?" Pippin asked.

"Knock your head against these doors, Peregrin Took!" he exclaimed. "And if that does not shatter them and I am allowed a little peace from foolish questions, I will
try to find the opening words."

"We could cut through them," Anakin suggested.

"And what do you supposed the Dwarfs will think when we shatter their doors?" Obi-Wan asked. "I don't think they'll be rolling out the welcome mat."

For what seemed like hours, the Fellowship sat in silence as Gandalf tried every password he had ever known with no results. Anakin passed the time by dismantling and rebuilding his lightsaber four different times, but that too lost its luster.

"Mines are no place for a pony," Aragorn said as removed the supplies off of Bill. "Even one as brave as Bill."

"Bye-bye, Bill," Sam said as the pony walked away.

"Don't worry, Sam," he assured. "He knows the way home."

A sudden splash shook everyone out of their stupor. It turned out to be Merry and Pippin throwing rocks into the water.

Aragorn firmly grabbed Pippin's arm which held a rock and gave him a warning. "Do not disturb the water."

Finally, Gandalf gave up. "Oh, it's useless."

Ahsoka was fast asleep until a tremor in the Force awakened her. "Master, I sense a disturbance in the Force."

"So do I," Anakin replied, his hand firmly gripping his lightsaber.

Anakin, Aragorn, Boromir, and Obi-Wan watched the water ripple slightly as something swam in it.

"Be on your guard," Aragorn whispered.

"You don't need to tell me twice," Ahsoka said.

At that moment, an idea came to Frodo. "It's a riddle. 'Speak "friend" and enter.' What's the Elvish word for friend?"

"Mellon," Gandalf answered.

At long last, the doors finally opened. Quickly and quietly, the Fellowship entered the Mines of Moria.

"Soon, Master Elf, you will enjoy the fabled hospitality of the Dwarfs," Gimli boasted. "Roaring fires, malt beer, ripe meat off the bone!"

Ahsoka's mouth watered. "Oh, that sounds wonderful."

"You won't have to contain your excitement much longer, lass. This, my friend, is the home of my cousin, Balin. And they call it a mine. A mine!"

Gandalf lit up his staff and found on the floor scattered corpses.

"This is no mine," Boromir corrected. "It's a tomb."

The entire room was covered in dead, decaying bodies of Dwarfs and strange creatures alike. Gimli began crying in anguish, seeing his fellow brethren among the
dead.

Legolas plucked an arrow from a dead Dwarf. "Goblins."

Immediately, Boromir and Aragorn drew their swords with the Jedi igniting their weapons as well.

"We make for the Gap of Rohan," Boromir said. "We should have never come here."

"Why are you so obsessed with that gap?" Ahsoka asked.

Suddenly, a massive tentacle snatched Frodo and began to drag him out of the mines.

"Help!" Frodo yelled as his fellow Hobbits tried cutting the tentacle.

"Strider!" Sam called to Aragorn.

Finally, the badly damaged tentacle retreated into the water, while five more tentacles took its place. Three of them smacked the Hobbits down while two of them lifted Frodo into the air. Legolas shot one of his arrows at the tentacle holding Frodo, but it did little to slow it down. Boromir and Aragorn started slicing the tentacles near the shore, but the skin was too thick. However, they were no match for lightsabers as Anakin and Obi-Wan slashed a couple of tentacles near the other Hobbits.
Ahsoka Force Jumped over the lake and grabbed on to one of the tentacles near Frodo.

"Hold on, Frodo," she encouraged. "Try and grab my hand."

The Hobbit tried to reach, but then the tentacle that was wrapped around him started to lower into its mouth.

The head of the creature had jaws like a shark, but the top of its head seemed to have tentacles like hair.

"Back off, ugly!" she demanded, throwing her yellow shoto into its head.

While it did not penetrate the brain, the creature did groan in pain, giving the swordsmen on the shore enough time to cut the tentacles holding Frodo.

"Into the mines!" Gandalf commanded.

"Legolas!" Aragorn exclaimed.

With incredible accuracy, the Elf shot an arrow, hitting the creature's eye. Rex shot the other one quickly before disappearing into the mines.

"Come on!" Anakin urged while making sure everyone got inside before he followed suit.

To their horror, the creature climbed out of the water, desperate to reach its pray. Ferociously, the Jedi started slashing at it, desperate to keep the creature at bay, but fortunately, a cave-in finished it off once and for all.

Overwhelmed with all that has just happened, Frodo embraced Ahsoka with a rather clingy hug.

"Thank you," he whispered.

"It's okay, Frodo," she said softly. "It's over."

"We now have but one choice," Gandalf announced, lighting his staff. "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."

The Jedi kept their lightsabers lit to keep the darkness at bay.

"Quietly, now," Gandalf warned. "It's a four-day journey to the other side. Let us hope that our presence may go unnoticed."

Moria was an impressive cavern filled with several paths. The bridges that crossed to the other side were over sheer drops into the darkness, but fortunately no one had fallen in yet.

To pass the time, Gandalf gave the Fellowship a history lesson. "The wealth of Moria was not in gold or jewels, but mithril!" He indicated it by pointing at a shiny
surface on the rocky wall.

"What's mithril?" Obi-Wan asked.

Gimli decided to answer with pride. "It is a metal that is as hard as dragon scales. We dwarfs use it to build armor or jewelry fit for kings. That is why we mine for it."

"Masters, look!" Ahsoka exclaimed, aiming her lightsaber down.

The Jedi and everyone else looked down to see walls of mithril that seemed to go down for miles.

"Incredible," Anakin breathed.

Gandalf continued. "Bilbo had a shirt of mithril rings that Thorin gave him."

Gimli's eyes widened. "That was a kingly gift!"

The old wizard agreed. "Yes! I never told him, but its worth was greater than the value of the Shire."

Rex whistled. "Can you imagine the credits, Generals?"

Obi-Wan shook his head. "I daresay I cannot. A shirt worth more than a city seems outlandish."

"Your tales are outlandish, and yet, they are true," Boromir retorted.

"Touché," the Jedi Master replied.

For what seemed like an eternity, the Fellowship journeyed through the abandoned city. No sound was made except for the hum of the lightsabers, the quiet footsteps, and the occasional falling of rocks. Everyone was on their toes in the event of an attack, but so far, no one has dared to cross them. Occasionally, the Jedi made marks on the wall to make sure they wouldn't get turned around.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Anakin whispered, his legs getting sore from walking.

"Gandalf has walked for over 300 lives of Men," Aragorn answered. "He knows Middle-Earth more than any of us could. We should be fine."

"I have no memory of this place," the old wizard stated, staring at a crossroads.

The Hobbits and Ahsoka groaned.

After getting a fire started, the Fellowship scattered the area, giving each other room. Boromir and Aragorn sat together, smoking pipes, Legolas kept his Elf-eyes out for danger, Anakin was levitating rocks around him, Obi-Wan was meditating (of course), Captain Rex patrolled the area, but not too far in case they got separated, the Hobbits and Ahsoka conversed with each other, and Gandalf sat on a rock pondering his next move.

"Are we lost?" Pippin asked, keeping his voice down.

"No," Merry answered.

"I think we are."

"Shh! Gandalf's thinking."

"Merry."

"What?"

"I'm hungry."

Frodo stared solemnly at the path behind him when movement caught his eye. Whether it was a Goblin or not, the creature was cautiously stalking them, thinking
that it hadn't been noticed. Anakin noticed it too, for he dropped all of his rocks, save for one which was being aimed at the creature should it pop its head out of cover.

"Something's down there," he explained to his calm comrades.

"It's Gollum," Gandalf said without turning his head.

Frodo's eyes widened. "Gollum?"

"He's been following us for three days."

"Shouldn't you have mentioned it earlier?" Ahsoka asked, gripping her lightsabers fiercely.

"Stay your hands!" the wizard ordered. "Let him be."

Reluctantly, Anakin and Ahsoka lowered their weapons.

"He escaped the dungeons of Barad-dûr?" Frodo wondered.

"Escaped," he replied mysteriously, "or was set loose. Now the Ring has brought him here. He will never be rid of his need for it. He hates and loves the Ring, as he hates and loves himself."

Anakin, remembering the story Gandalf told him in Rivendell, realized that it centered on Gollum. To further his proof, he stole a glimpse of Gollum. He seemed to have decrepit skin and crawled on all fours, but what shocked him were his eyes. They were yellow and held expressions such as hatred and lust. Just like a Sith.

Gandalf continued. "Sméagol's life is a sad story. Yes, Sméagol he was once called, before the Ring found him, before the Ring drove him mad."

"It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill him when he had the chance," Frodo sneered.

Anakin nodded in agreement.

Gandalf stared at the two incredulous. "Pity? It is pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo?"

Frodo realized the error of his words, for he looked down in guilt.

"Do not be too eager to deal out death and judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends."

Ahsoka noticed Anakin's face was ridden in guilt. He never revealed much about his past, but his look told her all she needed to know: he made the wrong choice at one point. Even Obi-Wan was guilty. He remembered his very first duel with Darth Maul, how that savage killed his former master. He touched the Dark Side and instead of killing the monster, he created one when Maul returned with a vengeance. Those people the former Sith Lord killed when he returned was something Obi-Wan would live with for the rest of his life.

Gandalf went on. "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."

Frodo's face became one of sadness. "I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened."

"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."

Anakin smiled as his thoughts returned to Padmé. If there was one good thing that he had done in his entire life, it was falling in love and marrying his angel.

"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 were also meant to have it. Anakin was meant to become the Chosen One, though he did not ask for it. These Jedi and the warrior; they were all meant to come and aide us in our time of need. These are encouraging thoughts, Frodo."

Gandalf looked up and chuckled. "It's that way!"

The Fellowship stirred and Captain Rex quickly returned.

"He's remembered!" Merry exclaimed.

"No," the wizard corrected, traveling down the road, "but the air doesn't smell so foul down here. If in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose."

They traveled down a corridor, until they came across an expanse of space with columns.

"Let me risk a little more light," Gandalf said, his staff glowing brighter. "Behold, the great realm and Dwarf-city of Dwarrowdelf."

Everywhere they looked, the Fellowship saw hallway after hallway that seemed to stretch for miles. The columns made the skyscrapers back on Coruscant look insignificant compared to these.

"There's an eye opener, and no mistake," Sam breathed, taking in every detail.

They travelled down the widest corridor for a couple of hours, until Gimli gasped in shock when he saw more of his dead kinsman.

"Gimli!" Gandalf exclaimed as the Dwarf ran to a familiar room.

The Fellowship quickly followed him and came into the only room with sunlight. Among all the corpses was a magnificent, white tomb that contained someone who
Gimli held dear, for he was weeping.

The wizard read the inscription on the tomb:

"Here lies Balin, son of Fundin

Lord of Moria!

He is dead, then."

Ahsoka gave Gandalf a sarcastic "no kidding" look, but he paid no heed.

He removed his hat in respect. "It is as I feared."

Suddenly, a book that was clutched tightly on one of the corpses caught his eyes. He absentmindedly gave Pippin his hat and staff to hold on to as he opened the
door, which was layered in dust.

Legolas nudged Aragorn. "We must move on. We cannot linger."

"He just lost someone he cared about," Anakin snarled, giving the elf a nasty look. "Show him respect."

'"They have taken the bridge and the second hall,"' Gandalf read. '"We have bared the gates, but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes. Drums, drums in the deep. We cannot get out. A Shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out. They are coming!'"

Suddenly, a loud smash was sounded in the room. The Fellowship whirled around to see Pippin standing in front of a headless corpse that sat in front of a well. Apparently, he fiddled with the arrow that was stuck in the corpse's chest, causing the head to fall. To add insult to injury, the rest of the body followed the head, clanging down the hole as it went. The noise echoed Moria and most likely alerted the enemy of their presence.

Pippin shied away from Gandalf's furious look. Rex considered shooting the idiot, but he knew that it wouldn't bode well with the others. The Fellowship let out a breath they realized they were holding when the banging in ceased.

"Fool of a Took!" Gandalf snarled, snatching his staff and hat from the Hobbit. "Throw yourself in next time, and rid us of your stupidity."

Ahsoka felt bad for the young Hobbit, but she learned a long time ago that curiosity tended to lead to hazards in war. And sure enough…

BOOM! BOOM!

The sound of a constant rhythm sounded in the city followed by a series of screeching.

'"Drums in the deep,'" Ahsoka whispered.

Frodo pulled out Sting, which was glowing blue.

"Orcs!" Legolas exclaimed, bringing out his bow.

Boromir ran to the entrance to seal the door when two arrows landed directly in front of him.

"Get back!" Aragorn commanded to the Hobbits before helping Boromir close the door. "Stay close to Gandalf!"

As the Men closed the door, they heard a deep, menacing roar n the distance.

"They have a Cave Troll," Boromir announced with annoyance.

They bared the door with various spears and axes, hoping to slow them down. The door shook as the Orc army tried to break through. The Fellowship drew out their weapons, prepared for the bloodshed that would occur.

"Let them come," Gimli growled, standing on Balin's tomb. "There is one Dwarf yet in Moria who still draws breath."

The Orcs were carving through the door slowly but surely with axes and swords. The door would not last long. When one of the holes was big enough, Legolas fired an arrow, hitting the intended target. Aragorn fired his arrow, his accuracy true.

"Try not to get separated!" Obi-Wan commanded. "And try not to do anything reckless, Anakin."

Before Anakin could offer a comeback, the door finally came crashing down.

Cliffhanger! Sorry for the lack of updates, but my step-dad went through nose surgery, throwing us off. He's fine now! I won't take too long to update, because this is one of my favorite moments for obvious reasons.

If you are wondering why Frodo hugged Ahsoka, know that he was inches away from death…again and Ahsoka went to save him by jumping into the fray. Romance between the two? NO!

This wasn't my favorite chapter, but next one will be. Tune in. Review! Vote! Be happy!