"He's remembered" Merry exclaimed. Farren smiled standing next to him as Gandalf smiled back, "No but the air doesn't smell so bad down here. If in doubt Meriadoc always follow your nose"
They entered onto a ledge and when Gandalf's staff shone lighter, the kingdom of Moria was revealed in all its glory. "Welcome to the dwarven city of Moria." The rest of the fellowship seemed as baffled as the hobbits. Farren laughed as Gimli looked at it in awe, 'Wait till you see Erebor Gimli'
They walked down endless halls, Farren more used to these than the others having spent time in Erebor. Suddenly Gimli peeled off towards a side room, ignoring Gandalf protests. Farren entered at the back of the group looking at the marble tomb that Gimli was grieving over. She walked over to the other side looking down at the inscription. "Here lies Balin son of Fundin" Farren collapsed to her knees softly, her grief unlike Gimli's was silent. She had known Balin the white-haired old dwarf had been one of the wisest she'd known, a constant companion on their journey.
She couldn't hear what Gandalf was saying as he read from a book. Aragorn's hand dropped to her shoulder, she looked up at him with tears in her eyes, but she would not let them fall, now was not the time to grieve. "We cannot linger" Legolas whispered, Farren nodded at him going to rise, lost in thought.
She was jolted out of her thoughts by a loud clang. Pippen had nocked a skeleton into a hole along with chains and a bucket, it clanged loudly. Farren felt her eyes widen in horror, "Fool of a Took, throw yourself in next time to rid us of your stupidity!"
Drums sounded. Drums in the deep. "They are coming" Gandalf muttered in horror. The sounds of goblins were already fast approaching. The squirrel that had poked its head out of Farren's pack, squeaked and hid again.
Frodo's blade glowed blue, Legolas' spat out a statement that confirmed to Farren that they were indeed goblins. Boromir slammed the doors shut, while almost being shot in the face by arrows. She and Legolas began to throw him and Aragorn anything they could find to bar it, "Stay close to Gandalf" Aragorn yelled at the hobbits.
"They have a cave troll" Boromir said sardonically. Legolas and Aragorn had their bows drawn, Farren stood next to them her sword drawn. A hole appeared through which two arrows were sent through. But the door did not hold, it smashed forward.
Farren twirled into action, slicing through orcs in a deadly dance, trying to keep the hobbits in sight but the battle swept her to the other side of the room alone, just as the cave troll smashed in. She was too far away to deal with the cave troll, focusing her efforts on the goblins. She caught a glimpse of Legolas run gracefully up the chain of the monster's weapon shooting it in the head. 'Show off' she thought grudgingly.
Sam ended up on her side of the room, he was hitting the orcs with his frying pan, "I think I'm getting the hang of this" he gasped, she grabbed him dragging him out of the path of an orc blade, slicing the orc in half.
"Move your feet. And use a sword, not a frying pan!"
She heard her brother scream Frodo's name, turning to see the young hobbit play peek-a-boo with the cave troll. "Farren go!" her brother screamed. She knew what he wanted but she was too far away to get there quick enough as the troll picked Frodo up by the ankle. Her brother leapt in front of Frodo, stabbing it in the belly with a spike, it screamed in pain. Meanwhile, Farren was still overrun with too many goblins to be much use. She had the most experience with trolls, knew their weaknesses, if only she could get there in time.
The troll swiped at her brother angrily sending him flying into a column, falling unconscious as the ring bearer crawled to him. "Aragorn" she cried in terror. She was almost there.
The troll stabbed Frodo in the stomach with the spike. Farren's heart stopped in terror, watching as Merry and Pippen threw themselves onto the monster only to be thrown off. 'Move Legolas!' she yelled as the elf made a move to attack the monster again. Farren ran towards the beast, running up its arm, swinging on its neck to stab it in both eyes. Screaming in pain the troll reeled around, Farren pulled herself up to its head, driving her sword down through its skull, into its brain and twisting. The troll fell forwards with a loud thud, throwing Farren from it. She rolled on impact to her feet, spinning around in the dust to look at Legolas who looked awed by her display.
The rest of the fellowship gathered around Frodo, who was miraculously sitting up, revealing a mithril vest. "Thorin gave Bilbo that 60 years ago" she breathed as the rest turned to her. Their union was cut short by the sounds of more orcs. "To the bridge of Kazadoom" Gandalf commanded.
Seeing her brother holding his side that had been smashed against a column, she ducked under his arm and pulled it over her shoulder as she helped him run. If they survived this she was going to have a new thing to tease him about.
There were too many of them, they were surrounded. Aragorn muttered to her that he was fine, pulling himself upright, drawing his sword. Farren knew that there was no way that they were getting out of this predicament. Legolas grabbed her shoulder pulling her behind him, only for her to push her way next to him again.
In a light-filled doorway down the hall, booms sounded with a loud roar. The goblins fled in fear. "Gandalf?" Farren murmured.
"What is this new devilry?" Boromir asked.
"A balrog" Farren froze, fear spreading up her spine, she knew the dangers of this beast. Had read about it in myths and legends, no wonder the orcs had fled. "This foe is beyond any of you. RUN!".
The fellowship sprinted down steps, Boromir skidded to a stop almost topping down a huge gap. Legolas grabbed him to pull him to safety, only to trip on the man's cloak, making them both fall, thankfully, backwards.
'Now is not the time for elves to suddenly become clumsy Legolas!' Farren thought desperately.
"Lead them on Aragorn. Do as I say" Gandalf commanded, pushing her brother forward. They ran down the steps towards the bridge, Legolas leapt gracefully across the gap, beckoning them forward as the roars of the Balrog came closer. Gandalf leapt across to be balanced by Legolas, arrows flew at them. Farren grabbed one out of the air before it could impale Sam's head.
Boromir jumped with Merry and Pippen across the gap, but their weight proved to be too much, more of the stairs collapsed. Aragorn tossed Sam across to be caught by Boromir while Legolas fired arrows at the orc archers.
"Nobody tosses a dwarf" Gimli growled getting ready to jump.
"I do!" Farren yelled, shoving him hard mid-leap.
Giving him the extra momentum, he needed, allowed Legolas to frantically grab his beard, ignoring Gimli's protests about his beard. More of the stairs collapsed, Farren pulled Frodo back as she and Aragorn retreated. The gap was not jumpable, but a rock crashed behind them causing the stairs to slide forwards. Together they leant forwards, Legolas caught Farren by her waist, she threw him a thankful smile as they ran on.
"Over the bridge" Gandalf yelled, he and Farren were the last to cross, as the Balrog appeared they both still stood in the middle of the thin bridge. Farren heard the others calling her and Gandalf's names but she stood by Gandalf, something was telling her to stay.
"Go child, this is beyond even you" the wizard whispered, Farren backed away slowly. Aragorn looked on the verge of climbing back down the stairs towards her but she shook her head at him and remained on the bridge looking up at the demon, the other.
"You cannot pass!" a glow of protective light glowed around Gandalf and Farren, "The dark fire will not avail you flame of Undin. YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"
The Balrog faltered but took a step forward. "STOP!" Farren screamed and to everyone's surprise, the creature did.
Silence filled the cavern, apart from flicking flames. "GO BACK TO THE SHADOWS" she yelled looking the beast in the eyes. It turned almost as if to go, but the bridge below it collapsed, almost taking Gandalf with it, Farren pulled the wizard back just in time. He was looking at Farren with both shock and pride. Farren's chest heaved, she felt as if she had just run thousands of miles, which technically she had run quite a few over the last hour.
A fiery whip suddenly curled around Gandalf's ankle, dragging him over the bridge edge. Farren leapt forward her hands scrambling at the old mans. He looked sadly at her, "Go child. They will need you" he looked up at the fellowship on the stars, "Fly you fools" he commanded before letting go of Farren's hand, tumbling into darkness.
Frodo scream filled her ears, but orc arrows were flying past her head, one so close it cut into her face, along her cheek. She sprinted towards her brother as Boromir yelled Aragorn's name, he and Legolas pulling the hobbits up the stairs away from the arrows.
Farren reached her brother, watching as the weight of leadership fell onto his shoulders. He would not lead alone, she promised, grabbing his hand and pulling him after the others.
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A/N Good news! I will now be updating this fic every 2 days for the rest of April! I hope you are excited! Thank you so much for 1k reads! It's amazing and all your comments are really kind, feel free to drop a comment about theories [Now I'm slowly dropping some slightly clearer pointers ;) ]
Did you guys enjoy the more humorous parts of this chapter? It was fun to balance cation and humour!
Wren