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-There's something down there!- Maria gets up and walks to Frodo's side who gives her a glance as she too looks down to see a thin and spider like body move along the walls of the floors below them.
-It's Gollum- says Gandalf.
-Gollum?- who was Gollum.
-He's been following us for three days- Maria was surprised she hadn't felt that... thing, following them earlier.
-He escaped the dungeons of Barad-Dûr!- the what of where she was becoming more confused the more she listened to this conversation -and now the Ring had drawn him here. He will never be rid of his need for it. He hates and loves the Ring, as he hates and loves himself.
-Sméagol's life is a sad story. Yes, Sméagol he was once called. Before the Ring found him... before it drove him mad.
-It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill him when he had the chance!- Maria hadn't expected sweet Frodo to say such things, but she understood why he said it. That creature reeked of hate.
-Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death, and some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo?- another weakness that determined one's fate, pity.
She decides to leave the both of them to sort this out and walks back to Nat, laying back down on her lap and receiving odd looks from the males around them.
-Oh! It's that way- Gandalf's sudden remark makes her groan at having to get up yet again.
-He's remembered!
-No, but the air doesn't smell so foul down here- Maria heard a small hint of amusement as Gandalf turned to look at her and sent her a wink -If in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose.
-Let me risk a little more light- he says as they walk through -Behold: the great realm and Dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf.
It was indeed a nice room with arched ceiling and columns.
She heard Gimli give a cry and run forward into a chamber filled with the dead bodies of dwarves
-No! No!- the dwarf sobbed as he lay over a tomb in the centre of the room.
-Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria.' He is dead then. It's as I feared- Gimli usted know him.
-We must move on, we cannot linger!- she hears Legolas say to Aragorn, and she agreed with him.
-They have taken the bridge... and the second hall- Gandalf read drearily from a book he had taken from one of the skeletons -We have barred the gates... but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes. Drums... drums... in the deep- he stops reading to turn the page -We cannot get out. A shadow moves in the dark.
Nat watches as Pippin strays from them and nears an old corpse with an arrow in his chest. She's too late to stop him as he twists the shaft of the arrow slightly and the skull slips off of the rotting body and into the well besides it, crashing into it's walls and resounding terribly. She grabs the frightened hobbit's arm and pulls him away but it is already too late as the rest of the body fall. It was attached to the chain of the well's bucket which fell right behind it making an even louder echoing noise.
-Fool of a Took! Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity!- Gandalf was angry and Nat understood why.
He pulled his hat and staff from the Hobbit's hands turning away when suddenly the sound of drums vibrates through the caves walls and makes a dreary noise. They had been discovered.
Maria watches as Frodo pulls his sword out a bit and sees it was glowing blue, alerting them of the danger they were now in.
Boromir rushes to the doors to have a look. Arrows hiss into the door near his face. Aragorn drops his torch and runs to Boromir with Natasha as Maria pulls out her already deployed bow and readies herself.
-Get back! You stay close to Gandalf!
-They have a cave troll- a what?
She watches as Legolas tosses weapons to Boromir and Aragorn to blockade the door while the rest prepare themselves for battle.
-Argh! Let them come! There is one dwarf yet in Moria who still draws breath!- his bravery makes Maria smile a bit until she sees the door starts to break.
Legolas and Aragorn take their places in front of her and she huffs in annoyance knowing they did so so she wouldn't be able to shoot. They truly thought they'd be able to defend her.
She looks at Nat who she sees trying to stand around Boromir but is forced behind the man as he pulls out his sword.
The monsters manage to break down the door and the fight begins.
Legolas goes to shoot the first arrow but is surprised when three come from behind him and skewer three orcs at once. Him and Aragorn spare Maria a glance and see her aiming three more arrows at the orcs. They are distracted by Gandalf and the hobbits rushing into battle rather bravely.
Aragorn then decides to pull out his sword and starts slashing orcs left to right while Legolas and Maria use their arrows to slay the ones that went near the other Fellowship's members. On the other side, Boromir is also surprised by Nat who swings her two swords killing many orcs at the same time.
Aragorn also looks up.
A cave troll smashes through the doorway, chains leading from his wrists to an Orc's hand. Legolas shoots the cave troll in the shoulder; the beast growls and claps a hand to the wound. Sam continues to stare, frozen, as the troll swings his mace down at the Hobbit who luckily reacts fast enough to dive under the troll's legs and crawl away as the troll turns.
Maria sees Aragorn and Boromir pulling on the chain of the creature but it was to strong. Deciding to abandon her attempts to hide what she could do, she jumps besides them and takes the chain from behind both men who shoot her wary looks. She plants her feet wide and pulls with all of her strength making the troll stumble back and surprising Aragorn and Boromir.
Luckily, they are soon distracted by the other orcs trying to attack them.
As the other fight, Nat and Maria give a small chuckle when they see Sam the hobbit hitting orcs left and right with his frying pan.
Nat notices the troll is looking for Frodo specifically as it searches around the columns the por hobbit had hidden behind and the monster catches him by surprise
Aragorn fight to get to Frodo's side as it drags him to the ledge while he begs for help.
Even though Frodo manages to make it let go of him and Aragorn stand it's side, it does nothing against it. The troll hits Aragorn, stunning him.
It grabs a spear and hits Frodo in the chest with it, making everyone else stare in shock.
While all the other attack the beast without reason, Maria looks at Nat and they both nod at each other, running at it and vaulting themselves onto each of the troll's shoulders.
They pull it's head back and force it to open the mouth as they see Legolas shoot an arrow into the brains through the roof of it's mouth.
The troll stumbles and the girls jump gracefully from on top of it to watch it fall.
Everyone rushes to the hit hobbit and are surprised when Aragorn rolls him over and he starts gulping in large quantities of air into his lungs.
-I'm all right, I'm not hurt- he coughs.
-You should be dead! That spear would have skewered a wild boar.
-I think there's more to this Hobbit than meets the eye- Gandalf sends a pointed look at him and he opens his undershirt to reveal a shirt of silver metal rigs bound tightly together, Maria then remembering what Gandalf had said about a shirt of Mithril.
-Mithril! You are full of surprises, Master Baggins.
-Indeed he is Gimli- states Nastaha with a laugh.
-To the Bridge of Khazad-dûm!- at this they renew their running.
As they run out down a large hall, hordes of orcs surround them and force them to stand back to back to one another. Maria feels Legolas' long hair tickle her cheek and she turns her head a little to look him in the eyes.
The elf looks back and gives her a small nod of the head as he also pulls out his swords. She looks at Nat, debating if she should use her magic now and surprise their own company or wait to see how it all proceeded.
Nat knew what her friend was thinking and was about to tell her to help them with her magic since they were in a very tight spot but paused as the orcs quieted down and looked into their ranks fearfully before running back up the walls and columns of the hall.
-What is this new devilry?- a growl makes the Fellowship turn to face an orange glow of what was clearly flames coming from the lower part of the halls
-A Balrog - a demon of the ancient world- Maria gapes at Gandalf. Has he said demon? -This foe is beyond any of you... Run!- And so they do -Quickly!
As they keep on running, the Fellowship enters a passageway and goes down a flight of steps. The flight ends in a missing segment, and Boromir nearly falls but Legolas pulls him back.
-Gandalf!- Aragorn calls for Gandalf's attention as whatever was behind them got nearer.
-Lead them on, Aragorn! The bridge is near!
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