Authoress Note: Welcome to Chapter 6 of Easterling Princess. I thank you to all of those who have been following this story. It does mean a lot and your reviews keep me going in this story. I have gotten to one of the good parts of this story. This was also a pain for me to write, that is for sure. Because I wasn't sure of how it was going to turn out and I had to rewrite it a few times to make sure that it flowed pretty well, but I am not sure of how it turned out. Without further ado chapter 6.

Chapter 6

The fellowship slowly entered Moria.

"Soon master Elf you will enjoy the fabled hospitality of the Dwarves. Roaring fires, malt beer, ripe meat off the bone. This, my friend, is the home of my cousin Balin. And they call it a mine. A mine!" Gimli said proudly.

Asta stumbled on something bumping into Boromir who caught onto her before her face met the hard ground. Asta looked at Boromir in thanks. Her eyes widened. This was not mine.

"This is not mine. It's a tomb!" Boromir stated Asta's fears.

There were dead dwarves all over the floor like a great battle had happened right here in the mines.

"Oh! No! Nooo!" Gimli yelled, he was not expecting this. No, not this.

Legolas picked up one of the arrows that was in one of the fallen dwarves. "Goblins." He stated throwing it to the ground. Legolas quickly pulled out his bow and put an arrow into it.

Aragorn, Asta, and Boromir pulled out their swords.

"We make for the Gap of Rohan. We should never have come here." Boromir stated, his fear beginning to rise. He would not allow the young hobbits to be killed by goblins.

Asta backed up slowly trying her best not to show the fear that she felt right at that moment. Hell she had been in war and she wasn't scared of war, but she was scared of this?

They go back towards the way that they had come.

"Now get out of here! Get out!" Boromir shouted.

They hadn't even noticed that something was beginning to creep towards them. They headed to the exit.

Frodo was grabbed from behind and pulled towards the water.

"Frodo!" Yelled at his friends.

"Strider!" Sam yelled.

"Help!" Frodo yelled.

"Get off of him," Sam yelled before he cut off a tentacle.

The creature released Frodo. It then hit the three hobbits and grabbed Frodo again causing the brown-haired hobbit to scream again.

"Aragorn!" Merry yelled.

Asta jumped into action. She began to attack the creature. "What sort of devilry is this?" She yelled

A tentacle grabbed onto her veil and pulled it off of her face causing her to gasp.

Boromir can cut the tentacle that had Frodo which caused the beast to drop Frodo and he caught him.

"Into the mines!" Yelled Gandalf.

A tentacle shot out and hit Asta right square in the chest causing the air to leave her lungs and her to go flying near the entrance of the mines.

"Legolas!" Boromir yelled for the elf.

Asta scrambled to her feet holding her chest still looking rather winded.

Aragorn grabbed onto her arm and began to pull her along with him. "Into the cave! Run!"

Legolas shot an arrow into its eye causing it to pull away.

They ran into the cave.

The creature hits the entrance and causes the walls to collapse leaving them in total darkness.

A faint beam comes from Gandalf's staff when he hits it off of the ground. "We now have, but one choice. We must face the long dark of Moria. Be on your guard. There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world." Gandalf gave his warning to them.

They begin to walk across the floor and up the stairs carefully.

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

Asta shivered as she walked. Being in such a dark place scared her. The words that Gandalf had said still echoed inside Asta's mind. She saw a hand in front of her face. She looked up and saw Boromir holding out his hand to her. She carefully took his hand and he pulled her up.

Boromir looked her over trying to make sure that she was alright. He was concerned that she had gotten hurt. Even though she was an established fighter it was their job to protect one another from dangers.

Asta looked into his blue eyes with her violet ones. She wasn't sure why Boromir was looking at her like this.

"The wealth of Moria was not in gold or jewels, but mithril," Gandalf said. as they continued up the stairs. "Bilbo had a shirt of mithril rings that Thorin gave him."

"Oh, that was a kingly gift!" Gimli said proud of the dwarf that he once knew.

"Yes, I never told him, but its worth was the greater value of the Shire."

"Pippin!" Merry called out to the dark-haired hobbit that slid into him.

Asta held her hand out to the hobbits to help them up the stairs. She pulled up Frodo first followed by Sam, Merry, and Pippin.

"We will take a rest here," Gandalf said to the fellowship. He knew that the hobbits were most likely the ones that needed the rest.

Asta rubbed her face. She missed her veil and knew that it was long gone. Now people were going to see her face. She wasn't going to get used to that. She hated it when people looked at the scar that she had on her face. Asta put her hand on her chest. It was still sore from when she had the wind knocked out of her. No doubt that she would have a bruise on her chest due to that creature.

Boromir looked over at her. "You alright?"

Asta forced herself to look at the Gondorian Captain. She wasn't sure if he was concerned about her well-being or was just being kind to her because Gandalf had told him to. "I am fine." She said as she removed her hand from her chest. She wasn't going to allow him to know any more than that.

"You sure? You took quite a hit out there."

"And that matters to you how?" She questioned him moving past the captain.

Boromir grabbed her arm. "I was only concerned about your wellbeing. You are a woman after all."

Asta's eyes narrowed at Boromir. "I am a woman, yes, but I do know how to handle myself. I have been in many battles." She said moving towards Gandalf. She was upset that Boromir thought of her as weak. He after all had given her a scar on her face. If anything that made him weak. He had harmed a woman and she was the only woman that had been in battle due to her being the princess of her people.

Boromir winced knowing that he had made a mistake with what he said. Granted she was a woman, but he knew that she was a skilled warrior. A skilled warrior who could kill him if he angered her enough. He looked down gripping his hands together.

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This is the end of chapter 6. I hope that you all enjoyed it and please review it to let me know how I am doing with this story. Hopefully, I will be updating this story soon again. Sooner than this time that is for sure. Asta and Boromir are having problems again. Will Boromir just suck it up and quit sticking his foot in his mouth so to speak. Until next time.