It's been a few hours and it was hopeless, the gate just won't open.
Merry and Pippin were throwing stones in the water until finally someone decided to talk, not really start a conversation but just break the silence beside my grandfather grumbling in Elvish.
"Don't disturb the water." Aragorn said as he stopped. I saw as something was steering in the water until I got frustrated with the situation we were in and asked with annoyance in my tone "For God sake's grandfather! You can't open the door, it just says speak the password as friend... don't know friend? As in..." forgetting the meaning of friend in Elvish.
"MELLON!" I shouted.
The wall rumbled loudly and I heard Grandfather said "Sometimes Ella's impatiences comes good when needed." And I smiled but as I could hear the door open I quickly look back at the water. I felt a hand on mine and I turned to see Legolas.
"Come." he said gently.
As we walked through the doors of Moria my nose was attacked by the smell of thousands of rotting corpses.
"Soon, master elf and chosen one, 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. And they call it a mine, A MINE!" Gimli exclaimed loudly.
"What do they cook with? Dead rat?" I asked in disgust from the smell. I heard Legolas chuckled while I saw at the corner of my eyes that Gimli rolled his eyes.
Grandfather quickly lit up his staff and I walked beside Legolas I could hear crunching beneath my feet, and as I looked down I could see skeletons everywhere. I gasped in horror and examined the skeletons of the corpses. Few were of dwarves and many more were of goblins.
"This is no mine... it's a tomb."Boromir said gravely.
I watched as Gimli looked around the mine gravely, not believing his eyes.
"NO! NOO! NOOOOO!" he yelled in anguish.
Beside me Legolas quickly pulled out an arrow from a dead corpse. "Goblins!" he said as he quickly pulled out his bow and arrow, I did the same and Aragorn and Boromir unsheathed their swords.
"We make for the gap of Rohan... We should never have come here." Boromir said carefully backing out of the mine. "Now get out of here... Get out!" Boromir shouted.
Everyone slowly backed out of the mines, but then I could hear the halflings scream, mainly Frodo.
"Strider!" Sam called out and everyone went to Sam. Strider? Was that Aragorn's nickname?
"Aragorn!" I yelled and pointed towards Frodo.
Aragorn quickly charged to Frodo to help, just as Sam had cut a tentacle to free Frodo. Then more came out and pushed everyone to the ground and it grabbed Frodo's ankle and hoisted him into the air. Aragorn and Boromir quickly fought off the tentacles to try to reach Frodo but it was getting helpless. Legolas had tried to fire an arrow, but only managed to loosen the grip.
I could not have Frodo die on me. I quickly aimed my bow and arrow right at the beasts head. I only made it more angry then it grabbed me from the waist, and I screamed.
"Kill it!" grandfather yelled as I heard the fear quiver in his voice. The beast had released Frodo and he fell into Boromir's arms. The monster was about to put me in his mouth for he felt great power within me until Aragorn stabbed it and it died and released me in midair and I was about to prepare myself to meet the ground but I felt a pair of strong arms caught me just before I hit the ground, I looked over to see Legolas, he smiled at me.
"Into the mines!" I heard Grandfather yell.
Everyone quickly ran for the mine and I was still in Legolas' arms, as everyone was in I looked in Legolas' eyes and I blushed but he put me down and I said "Thank you."
"Here at your service M'lady." he said as he bowed.
"Ella don't scare me like that." grandfather said as he pulled me in a quick embrace.
The gate closed on us which means we are stuck here unless there was another way. "Well we now have but one choice, we must face the long dark of Moria be on your guard there are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world... Quietly now it's a four day journey to the other side let us hope that our presence may go unnoticed." Grandfather said as he lead us through the darkness of Moria.
"The wealth of Moria was not in gold or jewels but mithril." Grandfather leaned forward and looked down the edge.
Everyone else did the same as Grandfather made his staff grow brighter, lighting up the caves pits. As he did the bottom glowed brightly. He quickly took his staff back and continued to walk.
"Bilbo had a shirt of mithril rings that Thorin gave him." Grandfather said.
"Oh! That was a kingly gift!" Gimli said next.
"Yes, I never told him but it's worth was greater than the value of the Shire." Grandfather said causing Frodo to look at him with with disbelieving eyes.
A day has passed and we found ourselves walking up steep stairs. It all ended however when Grandfather confronted three doors. I saw the puzzled look play at Grandfather's face until it finally went blank.
"I have no memory of this place." Grandfather said.
It was then decided that we would take a break until he could remember the way.
I sat down and wondered how my family was doing back on earth, I sighed and Gimli came near me and asked "What's wrong beautiful lassie?"
He made me giggled and I said "Nothing, actually just missing my parents and sister."
"You have a sister?" Merry and Pippin asked in union.
I giggled again and said "Yes, she's shorter than me and she has brown hair with tan skin with hazel eyes, and she's really into guys. Her name is Ally."
"Yeah, the annoying little thing she is. A practical naughty girl she is" grandfather said. Grandfather never got along well with Ally considering she would insult his stories and call him a sham of an old man, boy was she wrong.
I chuckled and said "Yeah she was annoying and very mean but she is my sister."
"She's the complete opposite of Ella. You can't compare apples and coconuts." grandfather said to everyone since everyone was interested in my sister.
Then suddenly "Ah! It's that way!" Grandfather said.
"He's remembered!" Merry said as he stood up and made his way towards the middle door.
"No but the air doesn't smell so foul down here if in doubt Meriadoc always follow your nose." Grandfather said as he walked through the middle door. I chuckled and remembered the first time grandfather told me to always follow my nose.
"Let me risk a little more light." Grandfather said as he made his staff glow brighter.
We soon was all in a room which gave me the goosebumps.
"Behold the great realm of the Dwarf City of Dwarrowdelf." Grandfather exclaimed.
"There's an eye opener and no mistake." Sam said.
"Gimli!" Grandfather shouted loudly as Gimli ran off into another room completely ignoring Grandfather's calls.
"We must move on, we cannot linger." says Legolas as we entered the room that Gimli has run off to, I look at him and so does Aragorn.
Grandfather spots a book in the arms of one of the corpses, he picks it up and flips to the end and starts reading. "They have taken the bridge, and the second hall. We have barred the gates but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes, drums sound in the deep. We cannot get out, a shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out, they are coming." His voice trails off as if foreshadowing the events to come.
Pippin had moved unnoticed by anyone towards a corps that had been balanced over some sort of open large well. Something fell off the corps and down the shaft, making a loud clanging noise. Everyone jumps and looks towards Pippin. The entire corps follows, creating even more noise.
"Fool of a Took, throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity." Grandfather hisses angrily. I look at poor Pippin, and he looks so forlorn and dejected. I move over to him and squeeze his small shoulder. "He has anger problems." I said.
Out of nowhere the deep thrum of a drum is felt through the floor. It sounds again, like an ancient heartbeat. I was suddenly scared and wished I was back home but my soul craved for adventure. It increases in tempo, and the sounds of shrieks can be heard. We all turn and look out the doorway into the hall. Frodo pulls out his dagger and it's glowing blue.
"Orcs." says Legolas. I tried not to faint but I was kind of excited because I have never seen an Orc. Boromir starts for the door to shut them, and an arrow almost hits him in the face.
"Get back, and stay close to Gandalf." Aragorn shouts to the hobbits.
Aragorn and Legolas help Boromir to shut and bar the door.
"They have a cave troll." Boromir says as he turns to catch an axe that Legolas threw at him to bar the door. Everyone draws their weapons, and prepares for the inevitable battle. I along with Legolas and Aragorn draw my bow and knock an arrow.
"Let them come, there is one dwarf in Moria that still draws breath." says Gimli as he stands atop the stone coffin.
As the enemy starts to break down the door small holes start to appear, through those we manage to shoot some arrows. I was kind of good. The the marks on my body glowed, Legolas turned to me and said "I'm here." I gave him a warm smile then the door breaks, and a host of orcs rushes through.
All I could say was they were ugly, as in U-G-L-Y you ain't got no other why you're ugly hey hey you're ugly. I wonder how they were born? Did they gather poop and put some spell on them just like frosty the snowman instead they used poop instead of snow. We continue to barrage them with arrows, but switch to our swords. Everyone jumps into the fray, stabbing and slicing wherever they can reach. The Orcs usually came to me since the glows on my body really gave attention.
To say I was nervous and afraid was an understatement.
A cave troll was led into the room on chains, and my mouth fell. You gotta be kidding me, a troll? It smashed through the door way and roared. It was armed with a giant metal hammer, and immediately starts throwing it around. Sam jumps between its legs. I get an idea, if I could somehow manage to roll between its legs and slice its hamstrings I would be able to immobilize it.
It turns and goes to step on Sam; I follow behind it but trip a little which throws me off balance. I manage to slice the inside of its leg. Then realized that I only enraged the creature further. Aragorn and Boromir pull on its chain and forced it to back away from me and the fallen Sam who was behind me.
The troll picks up the chain and flings Boromir into the wall like he was an irritant bug. For a moment he is knocked unconscious, only to wake to the sight of an orc above him. I lose an arrow and hit the orc in the middle of its head. I really wanted the orc to kill him but then people around here would be angry at me for not helping him and I also knew without the one ring controlling him he would have been a good man.
Legolas had been shooting arrows at the troll; it starts to use the chain as a whip. I watch helplessly as Legolas is stuck on a ledge, ducking to stay out of the way of the chain. I cannot help him, for I'm battling three orcs at once. I try to watch to make sure that if he needs help I can aid him. The chain manages to get caught around one of the larger stone support beams. Legolas makes sure it's caught tight and uses it as a tight rope to the creature. He climbs up onto the troll's massive shoulders and shoots three arrows into the back of its neck. The creature is momentarily stunned, but continues destroying the room with its hammer. In a way it helps us, as it swings the hammer around it hits more orcs than any of us.
The troll then corners the hobbits on an upper ledge. it singles Frodo out. Frodo screams for Aragorn's help. Aragorn grabs a large spear that he found and stabs the troll. The troll smacks Aragorn into the wall, Frodo jumps up from the ground and goes to the limp form of Aragorn.
"Frodo, the spear!" I shout. He looks over his shoulder then shakes Aragorn. Frodo ducks and turns to face the troll, he gets shoved into another corner and the troll takes the spear and stabs him. Frodo falls limply to the ground. Merry and Pippin jump onto the troll's shoulders and start stabbing. Everyone focuses on destroying the troll. I move in and start slashing with my knives. The troll bears its throat while giving a roar. Legolas uses this to his advantage and shoots an arrow into the troll's throat. It touches the blood that's coming out of its mouth and groans, and then falls to the stone floor with a thud.
We all hurry over to Frodo's limp form, I was close to tears because I just got to know Frodo and now I was losing him.
Aragorn turns Frodo over, and to everyone's amazement he breaths. He reveals the mithril shirt that Bilbo had given to him as a gift. Then we all hurry back out into the hall. The sound of more orcs fills the room. We race to the bridge of Khazad-dum. Our company becomes surrounded by a host of orcs, they crawl down the ceiling and pop up from holes in the ground which scared the hell out of me.
The sound of a deep roar fills the hall, at the end it starts to glow with a red light. If I wasn't in a rush then I knew I would be trembling with fear. I could feel the coldness of my fear running up and down my spine and legs.
"Grandfather." I speak. He turns and looks at me with so much concern as if I would never survive this time. "I'll be fine." I said as I squeezed his hand. "We must hurry." He nods. The orcs too, see the glow and flee as fast as they can. He doesn't move the fellowship, instead he says, "It is a Balrog, a demon of the ancient world. This foe is beyond any of you. RUN!" he shouts. So we run to the bridge. I start running as fast as I could.
Boromir runs first through a small doorway, he almost stumbles off and into the abyss. Legolas grabs him and manages to pull him back from the ledge. I hear Grandfather say "Lead them on Aragorn, the bridge is near." My eyes widen and I was gonna stay with grandfather as I could feel the tears in my eyes. "GO ELLA!" he shouted.
We continue running as fast as we can towards the bridge. We run down a flight of stairs, everyone stops to see that it was broken in the middle. Legolas jumps first and gracefully lands, next is Grandfather as he's jumping orcs start shooting arrows from the walls. Boromir grabs Merry and Pippen and leaps off the ledge, Legolas and Grandfather catch them. Aragorn picks Sam up and throws him into Boromir's arms.
"Nobody tosses a dwarf." Gimli says. Then heaves himself to the other side. His small movement breaks the ledge of the stairs, Aragorn tosses Frodo up to Legolas and catches him, there was horror in my eyes.
Frodo manages to try as best he can. The section of stair slowly balances out, although we still pivot on a central part. "Now lean your weight forward by slowly loosening your hips." They do this and we fall into the waiting arms of our comrades. Legolas catches me, and when he sets me down looks at his hand. I hide my face and hurry to follow Boromir. I chance a look back and see the stair falling to its side.
We reach ground level, and we all head full speed towards the bridge. Legolas reaches for me, and I took his hand. The entire fellowship manages to cross the bridge, and then I look over my shoulder and see Grandfather standing alone in the center.
"Aragorn!" I say. He looks down at me. This causes Frodo to look out over the bridge.
"You shall not pass!" shouts Gandalf.
"Gandalf!" shouts Frodo helplessly.
"Grandfather! Come on!" I shouted with fear as tears started to run down my face. I felt at unease at what grandfather was doing. I felt something bad is about to happen.
"I am a servant of the secret fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. The dark power will not avail you flame of Udune." says Grandfather. We watch helplessly from the ledge. A white ball of light encircles Gandalf. The Balrog draws its sword and hits the light, it acts as a shield.
"Go back to the shadows." Grandfather says louder. The Balrog advances onto the bridge and brandishes a whip made of flame.
"You shall not pass!" shouts Grandfather.
He slams his staff onto the bridge. The Balrog takes another step onto the bridge and it collapses. It appears that Grandfather will survive unscathed. I smiled in relief and held my hands out for a hug and grandfather did the same but the Balrog cracks his whip and it wraps around Grandfather's ankle.
"NOOOOOOO!!!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.
Legolas had to hold me from going to help my grandfather, and Aragorn held Frodo as he yelled "NO! GANDALF!" He turns and shouts "Fly you fools." With that he slips over the edge into the deep dark of Moria.
My heart just stopped, I felt my body lost its strength. The pictures and memories of me and my grandfather came flashing into my head. The marks on my body didn't glow. They faded as soon as grandfather let go.
Legolas carried me out and tears were pouring down my face. We made it out into the light physically. Mentally was a whole other matter for a lot of us. We made it outside leaving Moria behind along with the greatest wizard, our only hope, my grandfather. The Fellowship all collapsed onto the ground heartbroken. The hobbits were crying, Legolas looked forlorn, Boromir was comforting an angry Gimli, Aragorn was just wiping his sword looking grief stricken, and me? Well I was in my own little world beating myself up. I was just staring at nothing in particular and I had a blank almost dead look to my eyes I was sure.
"Legolas! Get them up!" Aragorn said.
"Give them a moment! For Pete sake's!" Boromir said. I'm on his side for once but only this once I was with him.
"By nightfall this hills will be swarming with orcs! We must reach the woods of Lothlórien. Come, Boromir, Legolas, Gimli, get them up!" Aragorn said.
I felt like giving up, if I haven't agreed to come in Middle-Earth they could all just went to earth and live there, grandfather would still be visiting me and telling me great stories and show great fireworks. I might be hanging out with Merry, Pippin, Sam, Frodo, Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Arwen and etc. and we will go to the park and travel through out the world being the weirdest group on the face of earth. And who knows I might be dating Legolas.
But I was too sad to stand up, I lost my courage to push forward. My grandfather was dead and I could never get him back.