The Dame of Dúnedain

The Bridge of Khazad-dum

Legolas only rolled his eyes and pulled him up. The stairs that Aragorn and Frodo were standing on crumbled and Aragorn threw Frodo up, stumbling on the falling staircase. He was hanging on by the ledge and Alaina's eyes widened, "Aragorn!"

He pulled himself up and the roar of the Balrog got closer. He looked across the gab, holding onto Frodo's shoulder, "I'm all right!"

Alaina stood there hopeless, looking at her brother across a gap that was too far to jump across. The roof shook again causing boulders to fall, one fell on the staircase above Aragorn and Frodo, severing the bridge. Then a low crack was heard, the staircase they were on's base started to crack. The staircase was loose and it wobbled around, "Hang on!" Aragorn yelled to Frodo, trying to balance out the stairs. "Lean forward!" Aragorn demanded, they both did and the stairs went with them, crashing into the stairs the rest of the group were on. Legolas caught Aragorn and Boromir caught Frodo. 

Everyone had a quick sigh of relief before they began running down the steps again. Gandalf guided them around a bunch of fire once they were on solid ground, "Over the bridge!"

Though Gandalf stayed behind to distract the beast that came out of the fire. It was huge and almost pitch black aside from the fire spots on its body. They then came to a very narrow, one person at a time bridge across a gaping pit of lava. Aragorn went first, then Boromir, then the hobbits, then Gimli, then Legolas and Alaina. 

They made it to the stairs out of the mine on the other side but Frodo noticed Gandalf was still on the bridge, facing the Balrog one on one. "You shall not pass!" Gandalf said holding his sword in one hand and staff in the other.

The beast spread its arms and lit itself on fire as Gandalf chanted, "I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor! The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udun!"

His staff created a light shield around him and the Fellowship watched as the beast brought a solid flame sword down on it, it simply bounced off and shattered. Aragorn ran down the steps to the beginning of the bridge as they all watched everything that happened before them.

The beast only grew a whip of fire and a large crack filled the air as it swung it around. Gandalf yelled once more, louder this time, "You shall not pass!!" And then brought his staff down creating a burst of light. The beast stepped back.

It waited for a moment before growing angry and then marched forward, only when the beast stepped onto the bridge, it crumbled beneath it, bringing the beast down into the depths of Moria. The whip was the last thing to go down with it and Alaina and the group watched in horror as the whip came back up and wrapped itself around Gandalf's foot, dragging him down.

He hung on to the edge of the cracked bridge, unable to pull himself up. Frodo ran forward but was stopped by Boromir. Gandalf stared at them for a moment, "Fly! you fools!" and then he let go.

Frodo let out a blood-hurling scream and tried to run forward but Boromir kept a tight grip. Everyone's mouths had dropped and it seemed as though they were all frozen. Alaina blinked a few times and was pulled out of the trance as an arrow flung past her head and hit the stone behind her. She turned towards Legolas, "Get them out!"

Legolas nodded as Alaina ran back down the steps and grabbed on to her brother's arms. His eyes were stuck on the ledge as arrows flew past them both. Boromir carried Frodo out and Alaina dragged Aragorn by the arm up the steps and around the corner, up more steps. Soon, they were out in the daylight with the blue sky above them and the rocky terrain below them.

No one spoke for a few moments, Sam sat down with tears in his eyes. Merry held Pippin as they both cried. Legolas looked sad and it reminded Alaina of when she first met him. Boromir held Gimli back as the dwarf attempted to run back in and take down the entire goblin army and the Balrog.

Alaina walked towards Legolas and put her hand on his shoulder, he stopped zoning out on the distance and forced a smile on his face as he saw her. She stepped in front of him and put her hand on his cheek, forcing him to look at her. "We are going to get through this together, Legolas."

He smiled for real this time as her hand dropped and she looked at him, doing a good job of keeping tears from forming in her eyes. He let out a breath as he brought his hand up and used his thumb to wipe off a drop of orc blood that sat on her cheek. They had a quick moment before Aragorn yelled out, "Legolas! Get them up!"

Legolas went to help get Merry and Pippin up only to get stopped by Boromir, "Give them a moment, for pity's sake!"

Aragorn cleaned off his sword, "By nightfall these hills will be swarming with orcs, we must reach the woods of Lothlorien," he sheathed his sword, "Come, Boromir, Legolas, Gimli, get them up." He walked towards Sam and helped him stand, "On your feet, Sam," he pat the hobbit on the shoulder. He looked around, "Frodo?" Then he saw Frodo, walking away, "Fro—!" Alaina placed her hand on Aragorn's shoulder to stop him.

Frodo simply turned around slowly, as if he had been walking away in a daze. Alaina gave him a small smile as she walked towards him. The Fellowship watched as she got to him and wrapped her arms around the hobbit. Frodo needed it, he wrapped his small arms around her as well, tears were running down his face.