A Promise- a LOTR Fanfiction (Legolas) ❤︎ ✓

Chapter 8: We Cannot Get Out

"How long do you think it will take for Gandalf to remember the way?" I whisper, glancing at the wizard. He is talking to Frodo, who looks frightened.

"I am not sure." The ranger admits. "He is a wizard; he'll find a way."

I nod, still unsure. I do not want to sit here in the caves, longer than we must. I see the other members of the Fellowship trying to rest, but I am on edge. Who knows what's lurking in the shadows...

I pull out a leftover apple and offer it to Aragorn. He shakes his head, declining politely and I bite into it hungrily. I stare into the darkness, eating quietly and listening to the soft conversations around me.

"Are we lost?" Pippin whispers quite loudly, tapping Merry on the shoulder.

"No."

"I think we are lost." The hobbit continues.

"Shh, Gandalf's thinking!" Merry mutters, admonishing his friend, and Pippin falls silent for a few moments.

"Merry?" Pippin whispers again, glancing back up.

"What?!?

"I'm hungry." I grab my pack and find some dried fruit and hardened bread. Tossing it to the hobbit, he catches it with a thankful grin and takes a large bite out of the bread.

"Ah! It's that way!" Gandalf suddenly stands up.

"He's remembered!" Merry cries and nudges Pippin. I stand and make our way towards the wizard.

"No, but the air smells less foul down here." Gandalf explains, having overheard. "If in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose." I chuckle at the wizard, and we begin to walk down a passageway. After a few minutes of silence, our footsteps and heavy breathing echo longer than usual and I sense that we have entered some sort of room.

"Let me risk a little more light..." Gandalf lights his staff up and our surroundings are filled with a dim, flickering light. My jaw drops. We walk through a massive room with pillars and columns stretching to the ceiling, which is so high up that I can barely see the top. The golden, radiant light glowing from Gandalf's illuminated staff covers the darkness like water seeping into fabric.

"Behold, the great realm and Dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf." Gandalf announces.

"Well there's an eye opener and no mistake." Sam speaks, gazing in awe at the room we stand in. We walk slowly through the room, until Gimli gasps and dashes away from us, into a separate, smaller room.

"Gimli!" Gandalf calls as we pick up our pace, following the dwarf into the room lit with light. Sunlight. I smile as the light hits me in the face, taking a moment before looking around. I guess it's the elf in me that makes me love the light, but being trapped in the dark caves for a day or two has definitely made me appreciate the sun a lot more now. I finally look around the room, peeking over Boromir's shoulder. A tomb, highlighted in the sunlight, sits in the center of the rom, skeletons littered all around. Gimli has collapsed in front of it, sobbing. Gandalf follows me in and reads the inscription grimly.

"Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria. He is dead then. It's as I feared." Gandalf mutters, taking off his pointy hat and handing it to Pippin, along with his staff. His face is solemn and sad. I walk as quietly and disruptive as I can to where Aragorn and Legolas stand. He bends over, picking up an tattered, dusty book from a skeleton's hands and flips to the end of the book.

"We must move on. We cannot linger." Legolas whispers to Aragorn. I glance around the room nervously, but my attention quickly switches back to the old wizard as he begins to read.

"They have taken the bridge, and the second hall." Gandalf speaks slowly. "We have barred the gates, but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes. Drums, drums in the deep. We cannot get out." I glance at Legolas with wide eyes. "A shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out." Gandalf looks up from the book, fixing us all with a stare and reading the last sentence in a low voice,

"They are coming."

Everybody stares in silence, scared and nervous. Who is coming? The silence is suddenly shattered by a creak and a crash, and I turn to see a skeleton behind Pippin fall down the well, dragging its chain and a bucket down with it. I grimace, every crash echoing thunderously down the stone wall. Whatever hope we had of traveling unnoticed is now diminished. Pippin turns around with a guilty look on his face. Nobody makes a sound as we wait.

"Fool of a Took!" Gandalf cries, grabbing his hat and staff out of the hobbits arms after snapping the book shut. "Throw yourself in next time, and rid us of your stupidity!"

I glance sympathetically at Pippin, who looks down in shame.

We stand in silence once again, listening. The second I start to believe that nobody has heard us, I hear something and I draw out my daggers. An unsteady drumbeat starts from the bottom of the well, drawing nearer and nearer with every passing second.

Doom, doom, doom, doom...

"Mr. Frodo!" Sam suddenly cries, pointing at Frodo's sheathed sword. The Ringbearer unsheathes it slowly. It glows blue.

"Orcs!" Legolas cries, and I bite my lip. Great. Boromir and the elf run towards the large, wooden doors that hang open, the man peering outside to scout. Two arrows fly past his astonished face and slam into the wood.

"Get back!" Aragorn instructs the hobbits. "Stay close to Gandalf."

Boromir leans on the closed doors and sighs.

"They have a cave troll."

A cave troll?! I nervously twirl my daggers in my hands, watching Legolas, Boromir and Aragorn barricade the door with the axes from skeletons, or anything they could find.

I snicker as Legolas picks up a stick, and leans it against the doors.

"What's that gonna do?" I ask him, and he shrugs.

"Let them come, there's still one dwarf in Moria who still draws breath!" Gimli roars from on top of the tomb, waving his axe about. My eyes narrow in anticipation of the upcoming attack. Everyone has to make it out alive.

The doors rattle, and I hear claws and knives scraping at the doors. Everyone scrambles away from them, assembling their weapons. I hold my daggers in front of me and face the front. Legolas and Aragorn stand on either side of me, bows notched and aimed at the doors. Horrible scratching noises can be heard, and then claws start to shred the wood. A small – but quickly growing- hole is forming, and I see the hands of orcs. Legolas releases his arrow, and a shriek follows. I breath out shakily as the doors violently explode open, dozens of orcs pouring into the small, enclosed space, trapping us inside the tomb.

We cannot get out.

A/N: Ok, I don't know where to start... Maybe with THANK YOU FOR NEARLY 175 READS IN NOT EVEN 4 DAYS?! I'm speechless... Thank you <3 :*

Thank you for reeaadddinnnggg!!!!

Shay xx