Update time, thank you to everyone who followed, reviewed etc.
Shock rendered me mute for a few seconds. I could see it, like when you are a child looking at an array of clouds and someone says it resembles something and then it suddenly does when you think of it. One moment I was staring at some old decaying treasure, rusted by water, and overgrown with green slime, and the next, I saw and knew it to be my uncle Oin's horn, smashed in and broken.
"How…how did it end up in the water?" I asked, swallowing a growing fear.
"He must have dropped it."
"How could he? He cannot hear without it."
Gideon shook the stray drops of water, scraped the snails and plant life from the horn and then stuffed it into his own bag. "They're going now." He nodded past me to the open gate of Moria. "We have to keep up."
"What about Oin's horn?"
"For now, we just have to hope for the best."
Considering the best was that the lake had been deeper years before and Oin had lost it in the watery depths by accident, and now had been deaf all these years, I was feeling rather grim as we went to the gate of Moria.
Grim was not even close to what was waiting for us beyond the gate. First there was the darkness all around us, not even so much as the pin prick of a lit candle to suggest someone was present, or shed light upon the walls. Master Gandalf had to cast an enchantment, causing the crystals at the top of it to light up. Despite the small size of the translucent rocks, they shed a decent amount of light.
"This is to be the home of my cousin, Balin." Gimli said. "He sought to take it back from the foul creatures that invaded it years ago, when it was the greatest of dwarf kingdoms. And to think we called it a mine. A mine!"
My eyes adjusted to the light that was provided. There were long shadows cast around us, and there was a heavy, damp smell, and something that was unfit to breathe in. Something foul and old. Ages of dust and cobwebs were piled in the corners. The shadows stretched farther as we took a few tentative steps forward. My eyes followed them to their sources.
My heart stopped painfully, my breath caught in my throat. Bones. At first my mind thought of animal bones, trying to numb myself to shock again, and not see something as it was. But the truth could not be hidden for longer than a moment, and my heart began to accelerate as soon as it all sank in. Skulls with dark empty sockets, frail hands gripping at the air, and ribcages stripped of flesh. What skin did remain was dried and wrinkled beyond recognition, resembling a tanned hide. The only thing that remained dwarvish about them was the beards, which they bore even in death.
"This is no mine, it is a tomb." Boromir breathed, as we all saw the dead among us.
"No…no…" Gimli was in equal shock. Deaths we had anticipated. The piles of corpses were not what we had pictured at all. There was simply too many splintered shields, too many protruding arrows, fallen swords and bare bones to be taken in all at once.
All of them had been brave men once, and they had run straight into their doom, making it only steps into the mountain.
I began to back away, slowly, trying to control the rate of my heart and the steadiness of my breathing. Legolas plucked an arrow from a warrior's chest. "Goblins." He bit out, a look of disgust on his face. The arrow was dropped, and he drew one of his own, fitting it into his bow. The others followed his lead, drawing swords, and I grasped my own. We still did not know what lay beyond our perimeter of light.
"We make for the Gap of Rohan." Boromir said, inching backward quickly. "We should never have come here."
"Frodo, Sam." I called behind me, a bit weakly. "Get out. Merry, Pippin, you too."
The hobbits had already been starting for the door, never having seen before such a grotesque display of death. In truth, neither had I. But at least I had heard the stories more often.
"Get out!" Boromir ordered them.
"Frodo!" I heard multiple yells from the mouths of each of the hobbits. "
"Strider, help him!"
"Help!" Frodo shouted, a great amount of panic in his voice. I spun around my heel and saw something. It reminded me of a squid I had once seen in a fishermen's net in Dale. But this one was incredibly and horribly gigantic. It's size have it great strength as it lifted Frodo as though he weighed nothing. Strength, size, and the speed with which it would move it's tentacle made for a frightening combination.
The hobbits were fast enough to grab hold of Frodo and pull hard enough to keep him from being dragged into the water and drowned. They continued to call out for aid, as the monster tugged back at Frodo's legs.
Suddenly more of the giant, twisting tentacles shot out of the water, and grabbed hold of Frodo again, any spare ones creeping through the air in search of others. Something in me finally snapped back, and my body took over, subduing my mind. I raised my sword and struck out at the first arm of the squid to come at me. The
The flesh of the monster was soft, and split easily under the blade, oozing a strangely dark blood. From somewhere in the depths of the water there was something like a scream, as Aragorn also slashed at the beast. An arrow flew by me, sinking into the arm that clutched Frodo, before Legolas pushed past me, and took aim of the creature again.
"Get back inside, Fali." Boromir pushed past me as well.
"No." I answered, quite plainly, stabbing into one of the arms again. "Frodo, stab it!" I shouted at the hobbit. But Frodo was stuck, the tentacle around him making it impossible for him to reach for his sword as he was swung about the air.
The water was in chaos itself, being splashed around by the beast, making it almost impossible to see exactly what it was. I stepped into the water to attack it again, but I felt hands on my shoulders pulling me back. I suspected Gideon, and shot him the briefest of looks, only to find it had been Boromir. Gideon remained on the shore, standing in the narrow space between the dark caverns of Moria and the water-beast. He was quickly ushering the hobbits into the same area.
Frodo shouted out again. In great fear his words took on an unintelligible quality, half speech and half plain cries for help. He hung perilously over deep water, which swirled around, and torrents of mist sprayed into the air from it's center. I saw something grey and slippery from within, much like the tentacles. Gills, likely.
"Aragorn!" I shouted to the ranger.
Aragorn swung his sword, and with such accuracy that it sliced completely through the arm which held Frodo. I was surprised . Mine had only left a mark, though a painful one. To sever an arm of that size entirely…what were elvish blades even made of?
The beast shrieked. Frodo fell, and Boromir managed to catch him before he fell completely into the water. The severed appendage collapsed into the lake, dousing the two of them with water from head to toe.
"Into the mines!" Gandalf called, pushing Gideon and the hobbits into the caves. I retreated instantly, as the rest of the tentacles began to move along the ground like snakes, trying to grab at us.
"Hurry, Fali!" Gideon said, rushing out to snatch my entire arm and pull me along by it. He stabbed at the end of one of the tentacles when it came to close to my ankle.
"Legolas!" Boromir called the elf back as he hurried Frodo to the safety of the mines. The elf stood on his place on the shore and continued to take aim of the creature. At Boromir's call he looked around and saw that the others were already behind him. He fired the last arrow and it flew through the spray, eliciting another high pitched shriek from water-beast. Through the great mist I could see the end of it, stuck in the animal, probably within its eye from the way it continued to howl on.
We returned to the shadows, trying to melt into the walls as the tentacles followed, wrapping along pillars and still covering the floor. The farther and farther they followed us the more steps backward we took, until I feared I may step unrespectfully upon the foot of a fallen dwarf.
The rock cracked under the force of the beast's tentacles. The fractures in the stone were soon growing at the same rate as the tentacles themselves. Gideon and I were smart enough to take the hobbits under our cloaks and lower our eyes, knowing what was going to happen. Gimli shielded his eyes in the same fashion. We had grown up in a dwarf kingdom, we knew something of the collapse of a mine.
There was a low rumble of the structure of the gate losing all its stability, and then a thundering crash as they were torn apart and rock piled upon rock, smashing and colliding into a great heap. A thousand little pieces of shale and boulder were cast out at us. Dust flew out in an enormous cloud. The others were quick to shield their faces as the mess rolled over us.
The dust filled my throat, drying it out. I coughed, burying my face into the corner of my cloak. Frodo was likewise having a coughing fit. After a moment we all poked our heads out, eyes blinking away the last of the floating dust. "Are you alright?" I asked Frodo.
He was drenched, and the dust had clung to his body on any patch left exposed, but he nodded. "Alive and well." He cleared out his throat with a one forceful cough.
"You're not hurt? The beast didn't injure you?" I questioned further.
"It made a few attempts." Frodo checked himself over quickly, and Sam did the same from the corner of his eye. "But it didn't manage to."
I looked around me, taking in Gideon's pale face. A scratch from a piece of stray debris was bleeding lightly, emphasizing just how white he looked. I touched his shoulder, and even gave one of his braids a comforting, friendly tug. The gateway was destroyed, nothing but a mound of jumbled stone. There remained only a small hole of light at the very top.
"Miss Fali…? You don't suppose we could climb up there and fit ourselves through?" Sam asked.
"No Sam." Gideon answered before I could. "It's too unstable."
True to his words, the last few wobbling slabs fell into place, shutting out the last of the moonlight.
Frodo sighed.
"It figures we should have no luck." Merry drooped his shoulders.
"We have but one choice." Gandalf said, as he restored light to the caves again. "We must face the long dark of Moria. Be on your guard. There are older and fouler things than Orcs in this underground world."
"How long is the journey to the other side?" Gideon asked.
"Four days." Gandalf answered.
"Four? But Erebor can be traveled across so easily."
"These mines go deep."
There was nothing more to do than walk on, for those four days. Four days with no hunting, four days with no sun or sky, four days of finding corpses strewn on the floor.
The walking was pasted in near silence. No step was permitted to echo on our journey through dim mines. We came upon some silver veins in the stone, running like a million tiny rivers through the rock. "Silver?" Pippin asked me.
I stared at the lines and shook my head. "No," I brushed my thumb over the vein. "Even more rare Pippin. Mithril. I've only ever seen it in some of the armouries back home."
"You don't make coins out of it then?"
"No, that would be a waste. Mithril is unbreakable."
"Bilbo was given a shirt of Mithril rings by Thorin." Gandalf said, in a hushed tone. His patience with Pippin had returned.
"A kingly gift!" Gimli remarked.
"I never told him, but it was probably worth more than all the Shire." Gandalf added, guiding us along.
On and on we went, up stairs and down stairs, by this corridor and that one. The only sound to be heard was the faintest brush of our boots on the stones, and few hushed snappish remarks of 'Merry!' and 'Pippin!' as the two in question bumped into one another, slipping on stairs or stepping on toes. I glanced around me, imagining this was what Erebor looked like when it had been abandoned. The only thing that was different was a hoard of orcs in the place of a dragon.
"It probably killed him." The words nearly shocked me in the immense quiet.
"Gideon…" I sighed, grabbing at my heart. "You startled me."
He was holding out Oin's ear-horn. "That beast in the water must have killed Oin." He grimaced. "Oin and a few others, just like it tried to drown Frodo."
"He shouldn't have died that way." I frowned thinking of it. "He was old, he should have passed away in bed. He was too adamant about coming here though. You knew Oin, he believed he was the best healer under any mountain."
"It's so strange…" Gideon whispered. "Having proof he's gone now…has been gone for years. All this time everyone was hoping there was someone alive in here."
"Someone may still be alive in here." I quieted him. "It takes four days to cross this kingdom, surely there is some hall to hide in."
"Fali, I saw what lay beyond the gate with you." Gideon voice was hopeless in tone. "I see them right now…" He motioned to more fallen men, propped up against the walls.
"Gimli?" I asked, quickly.
"Yes, Miss Fali?" He asked.
"Do you think we will find anyone down here?" I asked him, hope still in my eyes.
He paused for a moment. "I hope so, lass."
"We must have hope." I whispered to Gideon. Hope was to be our light in this dark mine.
Gandalf paused at a crossroads of the mine, and glanced at each path in turn, three doorways staring back at us. We waited for the wizard to continue to guide us, staring down the three paths when Gandalf uttered some rather upsetting words.
"I have no memory of this place."
"What?" The word was near-gasped by myself, Gideon, the hobbits, Boromir, Gimli. The only ones who did not appear immediately phased by Gandalf's loss of knowledge were Aragorn and Legolas.
"We must move on." Gandalf continued. "Staying here will not do us any good."
He chose the path in the center and we followed in his wake. Fortunately, there were no bodies to be found. This raised my spirits. Perhaps someone was here. If no man had fallen here, surely this corridor was safe. Wasn't it?
I still walked on not making a single sound. Who knew how far a noise would carry in all this silence.
I kept up hope better than the others, though they could not be blamed. Three days had passed within the walls of Moria. I was quick to enjoy the benefits of traveling through the mines. Thus far we had not heard so much as the squeak of a mouse, and certainly not the sound of an orc. Though it did get a bit chilly in the gloom it was nothing when compared to the snow we had faced.
Of course the cheer of my mind could not always keep the bodily pains away. Most of the pains were ones of hunger. As I had said, there was no hunting to be had under the mountain. We had rationed the food accordingly, but even I could not ignore the fact that our supply was running low, and we currently had no way of replenishing it.
One night (or rather we thought it to be night, we had not viewed the sky for days) we all sat clustered around the fire, while Gandalf smoked and tried to map out where we were in the mountain. Hunger did not suit Merry and Pippin very well, and they spoke to each other in a quick, almost sarcastic manner.
"Are we lost?"
"No."
"I think we are."
"Shh! Gandalf's thinking."
"Merry?"
"What?"
"I'm hungry."
Frodo started behind me, and I glanced at him. "Frodo?"
"Down there." He pointed below us, and I saw something scurry away into the shadows. Something that resembled the creatures of my nightmares as a child, human-like but not at all human itself. A shiver ran through me.
"What was that?" I asked, but Frodo had already scrambled over to Master Gandalf.
"There's something down there!" He sounded frightened, and I tried to search the carverns below to catch sight of the creature again.
"It's Gollum." Gandalf answered. He did not sound at all surprised by the thing's presence.
"Gollum?"
"He's been following us for three days." Gandalf nodded.
"Three days?" I asked. And we had noticed him only now? I stood, and now more curious of the creature than afraid I began to descend to see if I could see him again. I tried to stay within the limits of Gandalf's light, and then stared into the dark.
A small rustle came from the depths. I stared. It came again. And then again. Had the creature climbed all this way up? And so quickly?
There was a more intense rustle, this time loud enough to capture the attention of others. Then something flew up through the darkness, and into my face. I had to put my hand over my mouth from making any loud noises of surprise.
My hand gripped the hilt of my blade instinctively, and I spun around to strike at the little dark creature.
"Oh." I beheld a raven in front of me. "Oh! Look, it's one of the ravens of Erebor!"
True to its form, the messenger bird placed one clawed foot in front of the other, and dripped it's head in an odd little bow of respect.
"Do you think it belongs to the soldiers?" I asked. I held out my arm, and the bird hopped onto it. No message was tied around it's leg. "It doesn't bear word from anyone. No one is using it."
"It's probably been living off insects in here all these years." Gideon said. "It's probably a nestling from the original ravens." He stroked the bird affectionately.
"Fali." I turned to Boromir, who had spoken.
"Yes?" I asked. I looked from the raven to him, and beheld a serious expression. "Boromir?"
"Bring the raven here."
I did not like the vague order. "Why?"
He looked at me apologetically. "There is nothing else to hunt in these caves."
"What? No!" I brought the bird closer to me. "These ravens are meant to be messengers, not game."
"We do not know how much longer we will be in these halls."
I stared from the dark feathers to him, to the bird and back. "Aragorn…" I attempted briefly.
"I am afraid he's right." The ranger sighed.
I stared at the trusting bird for another moment. How many ravens had I seen back home? How many did their work so willingly?
How else would we find food down here?
I sighed, and stepped forward to Boromir, bearing the raven.
He held out his arm for the creature to step onto. "Do not worry, I'll not be cruel with him." He promised.
I was just raising my arm to transfer the unfortunate raven when Gandalf, much relieved, said "Oh! It's that way."
"He's remembered!" Merry grinned.
"No, but the air doesn't smell so foul down here. If in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose."
I smiled. We had found our way. Soon we could leave Moria behind us. With joy, I lifted my arm and freed the bird, sending it off toward the ceiling. Boromir and I watched it leave.
"It seems that the raven and us have found a bit of luck at last." Boromir replied, then turned to gather his things.
Gideon stood behind me, and appeared to have watched the whole event with tight apprehension. I shook his shoulder. "Don't worry, Gideon." I smiled. "Soon we'll all be out of Moria."
Soon everything would be restored to normal again.