*First person pov*
It feels as though the very spirit of the world has been drained out of this haunted mountain. Crows loomed overhead, yet no sounds were heard. I wonder if that was how the crows; the thieves, operated. Although this was not a mountain filled with treasure. They would have no reason to be here.
"What kind of an army would linger in such a place?" Gimli remarked in absurdity.
"one that is cursed." Legolas retorted. "Long ago the Men of the Mountain swore an oath to the last King of Gondor."
Everyone knew about this story. The people who are not in good graces of society at least. Everyone knew how the men were the one who brought this upon themselves. The people of Gondor who were criminals already told them it was no use being a soldier, that one day their greed and fear would eat their nobility.
"to come to his aid, to fight." Legolas continued, that oath was a prime mistake. "but when the time came, when Gondor's need was dire, they fled...vanishing into the darkness of the mountain ... And so Isildur cursed them- never to rest until they had fulfilled their pledge."
That was their mistake, not knowing their cowardice before signing up for something. People like me saw that there was no benefit in being a soldier, only grief and death. So we stayed away from that, only minding our work and getting honest- well, as honest as it can be, money.
"Who shall call them from a grey twilight, the forgotten people? The heir of him to whom the oath they swore. From the north shall he come, need shall drive him. He shall pass the door to the paths of the dead." Legolas recited.
I looked to Aragorn in front of me, he stood silent the whole time. Was he angry with his people for abandoning their king?
We all stood silent, the mountain understood the grim situation all too well and stayed silent as well. Only the hooves of our horses could be heard, and the faint sound of weak wind.
Before us, at the root of the mountain, a stone edge pillar with a door in front. The mountain itself looked dead.
The path to the door was filled with dead branched trees. They were low and sharp, we would not be able to go on our horses.
We walked on foot, with our horses trailing by the reins. The door ahead of us welcomes us with a gaping mouth. It was warning us to not enter, but it was not mad, just wants to save us from a mad fate.
"The very warmth of my blood seems stolen away." Gimli utters as the trees shadow loom over his small figure.
"The way is shut. It was made by those who are dead, and the dead keep it. The way is shut." Legolas reads the inscription above the door, his voice echoing as he reads the last passage.
A gushing wind comes out of the doors. A wailing rough sound moving along with the wind. The mountain seemed to understand that someone wishes to enter its domain.
I held on to my hat, but I could not hold on to my horse. All of our horses rode away, spooked by the course voice that went through their ears.
"Brego!" Aragorn shouts after his horse.
I stood my ground and exhaled a sharp breath. I looked at the passage. There was no use chasing after the horse. Something far ancient is awaiting for us in the deep depths of the haunted mountain.
Gimli turns to the mountain and held out his axe. His eyes were wide and he couldn't keep still, funny, I thought he grew up in mountains?
Legolas and Aragorn turn to the mountains as well. Legolas frowns, not knowing what we should do now. Aragorn on the other hand, had a face as set as stone.
"I do not fear death." Aragorn said. He walks through the entrance.
Legolas looks at me, then nods. He, too, walked into the entrance.
I turn to Gimli. He turns to me with a flabbergasted look. I shrug at him. "I do miss the thrill of finding treasure."
With that, I walked inside.
"Well, this is a thing unheard of...An elf will go underground when a Dwarf dare not...oh I'd never hear the end of it!" Gimli exclaimed, and after a while I could hear rapid running behind me.
I smiled, he's far too proud to be left behind.
*~*~*
I button up my coat, it was windy, but it did not remind me of the sea. But rather, of death and resentment. Even me, who was immune to the cold could feel the bitter chill of it.
Aragorn lit up a torch, leading the way. He comes across two paths, he looks to the one besides us and quickly retracts his torch. Going on his way again.
It was a blocked path. Filled with the skulls of the men who inhabited this place. I wonder what would have happened if they had listened to the thieves. Would they still suffer the same fate?
I didn't bother to dwell on old fates, nor to share any sympathy for these men. We had warned them, they would not listen. I turn on my heels and follow Aragorn ahead.
"What is it? What do you see?" Gimli's words tripped over each other as he asked Legolas that.
"I see shapes of men and horses."
"Where?" I could not see Gimli, but I knew by the sounds of his armour that he was looking around frantically.
"Pale banners like shreds of cloud." Hearing the alarm in Legolas's description, Aragorn turns around and pointed the torches around us. His eyes were quick with alarm. Yet we carried on.
"Spears rise like winter thickets. through a shroud of mist. The dead are following." Legolas looks down, focusing his senses on what was ahead of us.
He looks up to us. "the dead have been summoned."
Me and Aragorn looked at each other with wide eyes. I could feel my heartbeat getting quicker, I'm having the chance of a lifetime to see a myth come alive. Whether I would be able to tell tales of it would be another story.
The three of us rushed to the direction of the dead. We had to be there to negotiate peacefully before we end up just like the dead.
I could hear Gimli panicking behind us, but of course acting cool as usual. Until he panics again and calls out after Legolas.
Ghostly hands wrap around us as we stumble upon a fog filled room. Their skeletal hands wrap around our bodies, yet they did no harm. I let them touch me. Once again, it was the mountain telling us to turn around from a sad fate.
I try reach for the hands, wanting to see if they would pull me anywhere, but I could not touch them, nor they on myself. They were just lingering over our bodies. These were not like the spirits of my home.
Legolas spins around, looking down on the hands with his arms spread out. A confused frown was present on his face. And maybe perhaps even revulsion from the fact that these came from corpses.
Aragorn practically did the same, albeit he was more calm about it. Perhaps it was because he felt a sense of responsibility over these dead people, so he let the hands slightly linger over him.
Gimli tries to blow the hands away. Let's just say these people were stubborn both in life and death.
Aragorn glances down and locks his jaw. He looks up from the ground, "Do not look down." He warned without even sparing a glance at us.
I looked down. Hmm...no wonder the ground was not even. This felt like an all too familiar sight.
I look back to Legolas and Gimli. Legolas looked at the ground and gulped, his nose scrunches up, his lips pushed to a thin line. He looks up to me and sighed, still going on his way.
Gimli pauses. He looks down, seeing the human skulls he closes his eyes. He continues to step forward and collides with a gingerly crunch, he cringes and waddles rapidly forward.
I wonder if that was my reaction the first time I went to find a treasure hoard and find a scene similar to this. I mean I did, but I wonder if I showed it so outwardly like this.
Thinking about it again...maybe it is a little bit fucked up I'm used to this sight.
We turn around a corner, leading us into a huge hall. Only a chunk of the floor was left, the other side of it was already crumbled. Even now I can hear some parts of it falling down. There was also a staircase leading to another room. I have a guess that it was a throne room. But where were the other parts of it?
The weak wind from earlier returned in this room. And so did the chilling voice. "Who dares enter my domain?"
A ghostly green figure appears at the bottom of the staircase, his skin was ripped, and even his nose was gone. Basically, he looked like a corpse.
"One who will have your allegiance." Aragorn declared.
"The dead do not suffer the living to pass." The ghost spoke, but with every word he spoke it was as if his skin was being ripped apart. I rest a hand on the hilt of my sword.
"You will suffer me!" Aragorn retaliates.
The dead king laughed. His laugh echoed all through the halls, reverberating off the walls and deafening our ears with it. His face distorted from a dead man with ripped skin to no skin at all, only holes resided on his eye sockets, his very teeth looked like it was floating out of his face.
As he laughed a green mist appeared out of the mountains behind us. A building forms on the edges of the mountain, soldiers start to sprawl out of the fragments of the building, bearing spears and shields with torn armour on their skeletal bodies.
"The way is shut. It was made by those who are dead. And the dead keep it." More ghosts sprawl out from the corners. We were surrounded. "The way is shut. Now you must die." The ghost king shook his head matter of factly.
Legolas whips out an arrow, shooting straight at the ghost king's head, but it merely flies through.
I pull out my sword. "our weapons are useless." I whispered. Gimli grumbles, holding up his axe.
Walking towards the ghost, Aragorn argues. "I summon you to fulfill your oath."
Enraged, the ghost king quickens his pace advancing towards us. "None but the king of Gondor may command me!"
He hurls his sword to attack Aragorn, yet, Aragorn blocks his attack with his sword. Anduril, when the hell did the blade got reforged?
"That line has been broken!" The king of the dead exclaims, flabbergasted.
Aragorn grabbed the king by the throat, holding the sword against his neck. "It has been remade." Aragorn retorted and shoved the king back.
The ghost looked at the standing Aragorn in astonishment. Aragorn looks around at the soldiers. "fight for us, and regain your honour. What say you?" He looks at the dead army, walking through them while holding up his sword, to show that he was really the heir of Isildur.
"What say you?" Aragorn repeated.
"Ah! You waste your time Aragorn. They had no honour in life and they have none now in death." Gimli remarked. I kicked his feet.
Gimli yelped and turned to me with evident fear in his eyes. I scowl at him. "shut up." I mouthed.
Aragorn ignored Gimli's rude observation. "I am isildur's heir. Fight for me and I will hold your oaths fulfilled. What say you?"
The ghost king's gaping mouth opened. And the distorting laugh came again. But this time the ghosts were slowly disappearing.
"You have my word! Fight and I will release you from this living death!" Aragorn looked around at the remaining ghosts. "What say you?" He pleaded, but all the ghosts did was just go back to being dead.
"stand you traitors!" Gimli shouted.
The dead army was gone. Which meant that we came here for jack shit.
A/n: I added some backround stuff about the ghost btw. And yall as promised.....my fit!!! Anyways i had a blast yesterday with the feast it was so fun I swear. I just wished we had more time to mingle about y'know, cause i didnt rlly get a chance to get pics with my out of classroom friends :(( BUT IT WAS STILL A FUN DAY
tbh I could've gotten a pic with a guy but he didnt ask so i wasnt gonna shame myself and degrade myself by asking him xoxo
Anyways hope yall liked this chapter and gave a vote!!