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Through the rising sound of the snow, Arya listens for a muffled voice that her ears could hear in the air.
-Cuiva nwalca Carnirasse; nai yarvaxea rasselya!
(Wake up cruel Redhorn! May your horn be bloodstained!)
-Legolas- she grabbed his arm -do you hear that?
He listened for a moment before turning to the rest of the group.
-There is a fell voice on the air!
-It's Saruman!
With a rending echo, a horde of rock slabs and boulders falls from the mountain's arms. The Fellowship shove themselves flat against the sheer cliff wall to avoid the onslaught of stone.
Arya pulling Legolas with her as she still had her grip on him.
She stands chest to chest with the elf as they wait for the last of the avalanche to fall. She looks slightly up as he was a bit taller than her and meets his blue eyes.
Legolas' breath hitches as he glances at her eyes, then nose and finally her lips which are partially opened.
She leaves him starting and pulls back with a wince when she grabs onto a particularly sharp rock to keep her balance and cuts her hand.
-Arya- Argent heard the rocks falling and felt a slight sting on his claw, a small cut forming.
-I'm fine Argent, don't worry. Don't come up into to the mountains.
-Why not?!
-I do not think we'll be here much longer.
Argent grunted in approval and kept his distance from the mountain.
Just as Arya predicted, the storm grew worse even when Gandalf tried to help calm the mountain.
-We must get off the mountain! Make for the Gap of Rohan and take the west road to my city!
-The Gap of Rohan takes us too close to Isengard!
-If we cannot pass over the mountain, let us go under it. Let us go through the mines of Moria- Arya fought the urge to chuckle in that situation. She would never forget the love dwarves had for their underground tunnels.
In Gandalf's eyes there was a shadow of doubt, of fear that lies unsaid.
-Moria... You fear to go into those mines- Saruman sits in his study in Orthanc, reading a page in a book of lore written in a strange tongue -The Dwarves delved too greedily and too deep- his attention turned to a different image, a shadow in the clouds too fast to identify but he dismissed it.
On Caradhras, Gandalf's eyes glint, fearful.
-Let the Ring bearer decide- he finally states grimly.
Arya looks expectantly at the hobbit who tries to think over the noise of the storm
-We will go through the mines.
-So be it- but Gandalf did not look too happy.
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The Fellowship travels south, along the misty shadow of an aqueduct's ruins. The Fellowship stands looking upon a vast cliff face.
-Dwarf doors are invisible when closed- Gimli tells Arya and Legolas who were standing next to him. He knocks his axe against a rock. The Fellowship moves along the wall, searching for a door.
-Yes, Gimli, their own masters cannot find them, if their secrets are forgotten- Gandalf states.
-Why doesn't that surprise me?- Arya chuckled in amusement at the elf's remark as Gimli grumbles, but says nothing.
A foot splashes into shallow water. Frodo gasps, pulling his leg back and Arya glances at the murky water before she sits beside the rock facing it while Gandalf approaches the rock between two trees, and runs his hand over the cliff face.
Beneath his hand run spidery silver lines, faint beneath the dirt as he muttered an incantation.
-It mirrors only starlight... and moonlight- the wizard said as he looks up at the black night sky, the moon appears. The silver lines grow bright, outling a door formed of two columns beneath an arch, with a star in the center she symbol vaguely familiar to Arya from old dwarves readings she had studied -It reads 'The Doors of Durin — Lord of Moria. Speak, friend, and enter.'
-What do you suppose that means?- Merry poked his head around Gandalf to look at the door.
-Oh, it's quite simple. If you are a friend, you speak the password, and the doors will open. Annon Edhellen, edro hi ammen! (Gate of the Elves, open now for me!)- the doors remained comically closed -Fennas Nogothrim, lasto beth lammen (Doorway of the Dwarf-folk, listen to the word of my tongue) -he tried again.
-Nothing's happening- Pippin said. Gandalf glances at him at him, looking slightly annoyed. He begins to push on the doors, but they remain fast.
-I once knew every spell in all the tongues of Elves... Men... and Orcs.
-What are you going to do, then?
-Knock your head against these doors, Peregrin Took! And if that does not shatter them, and I am allowed a little peace from foolish questions, I will try to find the opening words.
Arya presses an encouraging hand to Pip's shoulder.
Time passes. The rest of the Fellowship is seated around the doors near the lake as Gandalf tried again to make the doors open
Arya watched as Aragorn let the pony they had brought with them loose and the man clapped Sam on the back softly.
-Oh, it's useless!- Gandalf shouted. He drops his staff and sits down beside Frodo, pulling off his hat.
Meanwhile, Aragorn and Boromir watch as a ripple runs through the water after Merry and Pippin had thrown a rock into the still waters.
The water continues to ripple. The rest of the Fellowship watches.
-Speak 'friend' and enter. What's the Elvish word for friend?- asked Frodo.
-Mellon...(friend)- Arya said remembering Arwen's legion lessons and walking to stand besides the hobbit.
The stone doors slowly swing open, rumbling deeply. The Fellowship enters Moria behind Gandalf with an overexcited dwarf.
Arya and Aragorn keep a watchful eye on the water as moonlight floods into a shadowy chamber.
-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- she heard Gimli state.
Gandalf brings his hand around his staff, blowing upon the crystal and making it glow.
-And they call it a mine. A mine!
-This is no mine, it's a tomb!- Boromir says. Arya catches a glimpse of skeletons littered everywhere across the ground of the mine.
Legolas pulls out an arrow from the body of a fallen Dwarf, examines it and casts it away in disgust.
-Goblins!- she hears the elf curse.
Aragorn and Boromir draw out their swords. Legolas fits an arrow to his bow and Arya pulls out Echo, the silver blade glowing in the under light of the stars.
-We make for the Gap of Rohan. We should never have come here.
The four Hobbits are backing toward the door since they were the ones at the back of the group after Arya. Something stirs in the water behind them.
-Now get out of here, get out!- Boromir pushes Arya out of the door and the company starts for the door. Suddenly, Frodo is grabbed from behind and pulled off his feet by a long, snaking tentacle.
-Frodo!- the three hobbits scream. Arya reaches for Frodo's outstretched hand but misses it by a few inches.
-Strider!- she calls for the man's help.
-Help!- poor Frodo said dangling off of the slimy appendage as Sam hacked at it.
The Hobbits clutch at Frodo, attempting to keep him away from the water as more tentacles wrap around him.
The watching creature at the gate releases Frodo, and feigns disappearance under the waters. Suddenly, many tentacles come out of the water, slapping the other Hobbits aside and grabbing Frodo around the leg. He is pulled out over into the air.
-Frodo!- Sam shouts once more. Arya takes out the bow she had hanging from her back and notched an arrow, releasing it without hesitation and making one of the tentacles retreat back into the murky waters.
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