Chaos Unleashed: Part Two

Chapter Twenty-Six

Kathryn's POV

I stopped in my tracks to avoid bumping into Aragorn, looking up at the impossible climb ahead of us. "You expect us to climb that?" I squeaked. There were stairs carved right into the mountainside, partly concealed among the rest of the jagged terrain. They shot straight up at a ridiculous angle, right up to the very tops of the mountains' peaks. All of a sudden, I felt my anxiety starting to kick in. "I can't climb that!"

"If misses doesn't climb, misses will be left behind," Gollum hissed from ahead of me. I glared at him. "We must climb the winding stair!"

"He is right," Aragorn said, glancing over his shoulder. "There is no other way over the mountains."

I exhaled, trying to calm my pounding heart. "Help," I whimpered to myself, swallowing hard as we began to make our way up the stairs, one after the other.

"Kathryn?" I turned to see Merry and Pippin standing just behind me, brows creased with worry. "Are you all right?" Merry asked.

"It's nothing, I just..." I paused. "...I'm afraid of heights," I admitted quietly.

Pippin's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, is that all? Don't worry, we'll be right behind you! I won't let you fall!"

His boyish grin was infectious, and I felt my nerves relax slightly as I smiled back at him. "Thanks, Pippin."

Beside him, Merry scoffed. "Please. If anyone, I'm the one you should trust not to let you fall."

"What?" Pippin looked offended. "And why's that?"

"I seem to recall you almost falling off some stairs just like this one back in the Mines of Moria."

"Merry, that was different!" the redhead rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"How?!"

I shook my head, laughing at their antics. "Well, I have faith in you anyways." I turned back to face the stairs as Aragorn started up, clenching and unclenching my fists as I eyed the obstacle before me. Okay. It's cool. You're cool. You're going to do this, and not be a huge-ass baby about it. Slowly, I reached out my hands and pulled myself up the first step. Then another...then another. See? Look at that. You've got this. Then a smaller rock shifted out of place beneath my foot, and I nearly screamed as I slipped a bit on only the third step.

This is it. This is the end of me. I am going to die right here and right now.

Thankfully, Merry's voice popped up from behind me again, a welcome distraction from my anxiety. "You okay, Kathryn?"

I nodded even though I knew he couldn't see. "Yeah...I think so," I said a bit shakily. "Oh man..." I groaned. "This is not what I need right now."

But then his voice came again, this time quieter and more serious. "Oh no, I didn't mean about this, I..." He paused, unsure of what to say. "...I meant about the battle, and...Erin."

Like a reflex, I immediately cringed at the same. It took a minute for me to answer. "It's whatever," I managed to say, though I knew they wouldn't believe that for a second. "I still can't believe it happened, but...we don't really have time to dwell on it now." And that was, in all honesty, the bitter truth. We were so close to finishing this quest that we weren't able to stop and properly mourn the loss. We had to get in and out of Mordor as fast as possible, and that was the main focus.

Just as I was about to push those thoughts out of my head, however, I heard Pippin's little voice from behind his best friend. "Why did she do it, Kathryn?"

Something inside me snapped. I felt myself shudder, and a lump rose in my throat. I couldn't tell them. I knew they had watched her suicide, but I didn't dare try and explain it to them. Certainly not this soon. "I don't know, Pippin." The scene replayed itself in my head, and I envisioned Erin crumpling to the ground. "I don't know." The hobbits fell silent at that, and before I knew it, I was being sucked back down into a whirlpool of my own dark thoughts again. Why did she do it? Surely there could've been another way...there must've been. It killed me to think that Erin, of all people, had seen no other way out. Erin had always been the one who over-analyzed things, thinking of every possible scenario under the sun and being insanely careful in making her decision. So if even she had seen suicide as the best option, what did that mean for the rest of our journey? Is there any hope at all? Who knows if we're even going to finish this thing?

A small voice in the back of my head peeked through the maze of pessimistic thoughts, scolding me for thinking so negatively when we were so close to our goal. But even so, I couldn't help feeling less and less hopeful every day. Now we'd lost four people in total – people who could never be replaced in a million years. At this point, it almost seemed like the rest of us were just waiting around to see who would be next.

But for now, at least, I just tried to keep myself focused on putting one foot in front of the other – literally. As my mood sunk lower, I climbed higher and higher up the stairs, praying to whatever god cared to listen that things started to look up for our broken Fellowship.

oOo

Kaia's POV

The climb up to the top of the stairs was tedious and tiring, and I'm pretty sure it put all of us in a bad mood by the time we finally stopped. My arms ached, my calves burned, and once I pulled myself up that last step I nearly collapsed on the cold ground from exhaustion. Unfortunately, though, there was no time to rest. I forced myself to stand straight up, moving out of the way so that other people could gather on the landing.

As I stepped around Gandalf and got a good look at where we were headed, though, my nose wrinkled in disgust. "Oh, God! That looks like a nightmare!" The tunnel was pitch-black, giving off the most eerie vibe I'd ever felt from a place (and that was saying something). The only way I could make out the rough, jagged rock walls was from the faint light of the outdoors seeping in, and the longer I stared at the blackness, the more I felt my skin crawl. I took another hesitant step forward, nearly gagging. "And it smells awful!" It was like there were a thousand corpses rotting in there.

"Yes, Precious..." I glared at the skulking creature as he slipped past me and crawled up to the entryway. "Very dangerous place, it is. Orcses come in here sometimes...leave lots of nasty smells!" He made his iconic retching sound.

My eyes narrowed on Gollum. "Orcs? Aren't you supposed to be leading us on safe paths?"

And then he cackled. Fucking cackled. "Stupid little girl! There's no such thing as safe paths into the Shadow Lands."

I balled my hands into fists, advancing on him. "You little shit!" I exclaimed. "You did this on purpose! You're going to get us all killed in there!" I felt a hand pull me back as Gollum shrunk away from me. Turning, my eyes locked with those of our wizard leader. "Gandalf, we can't go this way. He's leading us into a trap!"

"No!" Now Frodo was interjecting, and I looked over to see him giving me a look that might've caused a couple flowers to wither. "We will not change our course! This is the only way into Mordor."

Gollum grinned from where he was perched behind the Ringbearer, and I'd never seen the thing look more malicious. "Go in...or go back."

I stared him down for several seconds, unwavering, until Frodo once again spoke, eyes sweeping over everyone in the group. "We will not go back." Not waiting for anyone else to argue with him, he stepped into the tunnel, allowing Gollum to lead the way once more. One by one, the rest of the group hesitantly followed him in, with Faramir, Boromir, and myself filing in last.

Within seconds, we were enveloped in darkness. I felt suffocated by it, mentally kicking myself for still being as afraid of the dark as I was. "Frodo," I heard Gandalf say quietly from the front, "take out your phial. You will most certainly need it in a place like this." I frowned slightly. Did Gandalf already know what was coming, too? Frodo did as he was told, and a moment later, a bright white glow illuminated the cavern.

As soon as my eyes adjusted, I almost wished he'd left it in his pocket. I had been completely right with the assumption that corpses littered the place; that's exactly what cause the smell. Ancient bones of countless dead things were scattered all across the floor, and I heard the anguished cries of Kathryn and a few others as they too realized what made up our new terrain. But it wasn't the sight of the bones that bothered me, really. It was the fact that they smelled...fresh. Too fresh. And the deeper into the tunnel we went, the more my gut twisted in apprehension. We're not alone in here.

But Frodo was determined. Not once did he stop as Gollum led us around multiple twists and turns, deeper and deeper into the blackness. Initially, I'd tried to remember the path Gollum was leading us on in case of emergency, but it didn't take long for me to get totally disoriented. Everything looks the same in here. Oh God...we are so fucked. The air was thick and stale with its stench, and I anxiously flexed my fingers as we walked. We need to get out of here. This is a disaster waiting to happen. "Frodo-" I started.

"Shhh!" Gollum hissed, his head poking up from behind a large boulder ahead. "Quiet!"

"Shut the hell up," I growled back at him.

"Quiet, misses!" he said again.

"Why do I need to be quiet?" I questioned. "Hmm? Is there something in here that you don't want me to wake up, maybe?" Gollum ignored me, and I was just about to open my mouth again when I was interrupted by a muffled squeal from ahead.

"Kathryn!" I heard someone whisper.

"What is that?!" my dark-haired friend said. "What did I just step in?" Another pause, and then another soft yelp. "It's sticky! My hand just touched it! What the fuck?!"

My heart dropped like a stone. Sticky...Oh God. I know exactly what that is. "It's a web..." I said quietly as we kept moving. My eyes widened as I noticed the stringy white substance now clinging to the walls.

"A web?" Faramir's confused voice came from in front of me. I heard the squelch of people's shoes as it started getting thicker on the ground. "Whose web?" I didn't answer him, praying to God that I was wrong. Maybe something happened to her since we changed all these things in Middle-Earth. Maybe she died a long time ago, and there's really nothing to worry about.

And then I heard Frodo's cry from up ahead. "Gollum? ...Gollum!"

"What's happened?" someone asked.

"He's gone!" the hobbit replied, spinning around. "I've lost him!"

"Or he's left us for dead," I muttered, hand settling on the knife in my belt.

"Do we know the way out?" came another voice.

A pause. "...No," Gandalf said. "...We do not."

After a few seconds, Aragorn started conversing with the wizard as the rest of us stood there in silence, trying to think of a solution. For awhile, everything was still. Not a single sound echoed throughout the cave other than the two men's voices and the soft breaths of everyone else.

But then I heard it.

I was on edge immediately, whipping out my knife and spinning to face the direction of the sound. "Kaia?" Faramir asked, following close behind as I moved up to the front of the group. "What is it?"

"I heard something," I said.

Frodo glanced my way as I passed him, looking frightened. "What?"

"A hiss," I answered, eyes frantically scanning the darkness in front of me. I took a few hesitant steps away from the rest of the group, towards a particularly dark tunnel that was covered in webs. Then it came again. Another gurgling hiss.

This time, I wasn't the only one who'd been paying attention. Frodo perked up, too. "Was that it?"

I nodded. "Yeah." Gripping the small weapon in my hands, I crept further and further into the tunnel, with Faramir and Frodo sticking close. The webs were everywhere. Where are you, spider? You've got to be here somewhere...

And then I heard a scream.

Instantly, I froze, spinning on my heel as more shouts echoed from back where the others were. What the fuck? "KATHRYN!" I shouted, running as fast as I could back down the tunnel. It was a trap. The damn thing lured us away! But by the time we'd gotten back, it was too late. They were gone.

"I heard someone telling them to run!" Faramir exclaimed. "They must've-"

Another screech, but this one wasn't at all human. Turning a final time, I looked up into all eight eyes of the biggest, most disgusting spider I'd ever seen in my entire life as Shelob charged straight at us. I nearly dropped my knife, stumbling backwards. "RUN! GO!" I yelled over my shoulder, pushing Frodo and Faramir back into the web tunnel.

"Kaia, what about the others?" Faramir cried.

"Just GO!" I shouted back. "Frodo, hang on to that light!"

It was absolute chaos. The three of us were stumbling blindly down the pathway, trying our best not to get caught up in the thick layers of web that now coated every wall, ceiling and floor. I could hear Shelob's legs hitting the walls behind us as she gave chase, and I felt absolutely defenseless. These were her tunnels, and her webs. She knew exactly where she was going, and we didn't have a clue.

I was snapped out of my panicked thoughts when I tripped on a rock, falling flat on my face. I pushed myself up as quickly as I could, sticky web clinging to my hair and clothes. A bloodthirsty screech rang out, and I twisted around, whipping my knife at Shelob as hard as I could. It hit one of her eyes, blinding her for good, and she screamed in pain. I was back on my feet in the blink of an eye, ditching the scene and running as fast as I could.

"Kaia!" Faramir asked, doubling back. "Are you all right?"

I shook my head, dismissing it. "Keep going!"
Suddenly, there was another shout from ahead, and the light from Frodo's phial stopped moving forward. We came around the bend a second later, and my eyes widened to see the Ringbearer caught right in the middle of a freshly spun web. He was flailing like a madman, panicking and trying to get out. "Frodo, wait! Chill out, I got you!" I rushed up to him, grabbing one of Legolas' knives off my back and cutting through the strands. Faramir joined in, but these webs were tough. I heard Shelob's legs scraping against stone again, and another spidery wail. She was pissed now.

Frodo was looking back, his face pale. "Kaia..."

"Hang on, I'm working on it!" I snapped, making another cut.

"Kaia!"

"Frodo, shut up!" Another cut.

He was scrambling to run away just as Faramir freed him. "Kaia!"

"FRO- Shit!" Something hit me hard in the back, and again I fell to the ground. My stomach rolled as I heard the sickening sound of Shelob letting out her stinger, and I knew I had to act fast. Dagger still in hand, I tried to swing up and cut whatever leg was pinning me down, but couldn't reach. Faramir was on the spider in an instant, swinging his sword high and nailing Shelob in the head. It wasn't much, but it was just enough for her to lose her hold on me. I rolled to the side, stabbing up and hitting a different leg.

The spider wailed in pain, and Faramir grabbed my arm, pulling me along again. Frodo looked absolutely terrified, but I grabbed his hand as we ran. "Come on, go! We've got to keep moving!" And move we did. Faramir was leading now, and I frowned when he suddenly took a sharp left, leading us off into a different branch of tunnel. "What are you doing?"

"The less webs there are, the closer we are to an exit!" he called back. "It's thinner through here!" I looked around. Sure enough, he was right. The web count had significantly dropped in this area. Oh, thank God. Maybe we'll get out of this alive yet.

As if on cue, Faramir abruptly came to a stop. "Dude!" I shouted. "Keep running!"

But when he turned around, he looked devastated. "We can't."

"What?" I ran up next to him, skidding to a stop when I saw what he meant. The path suddenly ended in a huge drop-off, so dark that I couldn't even see the bottom. My jaw dropped.

"What do we do?" Frodo asked. "We can't stay here!"

"No..." Faramir agreed. "And we can't go back there." More shrieks came from the spider.

Frodo cast a fearful glance over his shoulder. "It's getting closer!"

Faramir's gaze turned to me. "Well, Kaia? Any brilliant ideas?"

I looked at him, then back to the drop-off. "One. And we'll probably all die because of it." Then, without missing a beat, I spun and grabbed the Phial of Galadriel right out of Frodo's hand.

"What are you doing?" Frodo asked, darting forward to try and grab it back.

Before he could, I chucked it straight over the edge. "Throwing a light ahead so we can see where we're going!" And as soon as the phial left my hand, before I could hesitate, I did the second dumbest thing I'd ever done in my entire life. I jumped.

I won't lie, I screamed bloody murder as I threw my body over the side, sliding down the sloped wall at an impossibly fast speed. I kept my eyes trained on Frodo's bright little light as I fell, totally ripping up the palms of my hands on the rock wall. Within a few seconds, I hit solid ground again and rolled, slowly coming to a stop flat on my back. I heard similar screams and thuds as Frodo and Faramir followed me over, watching as they both groaned into the dirt before sitting up. The angry shrieks of Shelob faded away; the spider knew that she'd lost her prey this time.

"Well." I turned my head to look at the redheaded man with black blood splattered across his face. "That could've gone a lot worse."

He rolled his eyes, exhaling as he leaned back against a boulder. "That is the last time I trust you to come up with brilliant ideas."

"Oh, come on." I laughed a bit, feeling at ease now that the immediate danger was gone. Frodo went to retrieve his light that had rolled a few feet away. "That was fucking awesome and you know it."

He slowly picked himself off the ground, walking over to help me up as well. "Whatever you wish to keep telling yourself, Kaia."