Hope ↠ LOTR

X. Pain

The growling morphed into a thundering snarl, everybody turning to face the glowing orange light that flickered against the walls behind a monumental doorway. Gimli's victory shouts had faded and instead their hearts were filled with trepidation.

"What is this new devilry?" Boromir asked from their huddle.

Nobody responded to him, but Gandalf closed his eyes with the sounds growing ever closer. The light had begun to seep into the cavernous halls they stood in, the growling getting louder and deeper the more the creature stepped towards them.

"A Balrog. A demon of the ancient world," at his words of Gandalf their faces became much more fearful, "this foe is beyond any of you. Run!"

At his cry they all began to run away from the monstrous figure that shadowed them, darting through a doorway. Boromir was the first to run down the set of stairs but his footsteps faltered when he reached the edge of the broken staircase, the torch he had been holding falling down in the fiery chasm that lay beneath them while he hovered over the edge. Legolas reacted quickly and grabbed a hold of the Man, pulling him backwards and against the stairs to save him from falling into the flames. Athena was behind them, holding her arms out to stop the Hobbits from running out too far like Boromir had done.

"Gandalf," she heard Aragorn whisper to the wizard.

"Lead them on Aragorn. The bridge is near," he ordered but Aragorn was hesitant to do so which resulted in Gandalf pushing him towards the group. "Do as I say! Swords are no more use here."

There was an intact portion of the staircase to the side of them so they took that path, hurrying down the steep stairs to escape the neverending snarling that followed them. They were forced to stop when a gap in the staircase made itself known, Legolas effortlessly jumping over it and gesturing for the Grey Wizard to follow after him. Gandalf turned to the Balrog that was hidden behind a corner, watching as stone crumbled from the ceiling from the heavy footfalls of the monster.

"Gandalf," Legolas urged him, catching his attention once more.

This time he did not allow himself to become distracted and he jumped over the gap with the Elf stabilising him once he had made it. The sound of whizzing arrows pierced the air before they hit against the bottom of the staircase they were stood on. Athena turned her head to spot a collection of Orcs firing at them from a distance, immediately pulling out her bow and returning the gesture with Aragorn and Legolas doing the same. Legolas had a much easier time when it came to shooting at the Orcs due to his exceptional eyesight even with the darkness shrouding their enemies.

Boromir held onto Merry and Pippin before launching the three of them over the gap, the stone crumbling underneath their feet before tumbling down and leaving a larger gap in its wake. Aragorn decided to resume getting the rest of them to safety while his sister continued to focus on firing at the Orcs, one of them meeting her arrow and falling to the ground.

He threw Sam across the gap and into the arms of Boromir before turning in an attempt to do the same with Gimli, but he was firmly denied.

"Nobody tosses a Dwarf!" He jumped the distance himself but he had much smaller legs than those around him so instead of making it across he teetered on the edge. Athena did not see what happened but by the sounds of his struggle and the words that he cried out she could vividly imagine what had actually happened. "Not the beard!"

"Athena!" Aragorn called out and held out a hand to her to gesture for her to go next.

"Not without you," she stated back, pausing her firing to look over at him.

"Don't make me throw you too."

She was hesitant to jump over before her brother, wishing for him to get to safety before she even thought about it herself. Even though she was the older of the two he had assumed the role of a leader amongst the Dúnedain so she was used to following his command the same way that he was used to her pushing back against him. Oftentimes they would bicker when doing jobs together, his role of Chieftain clashing with her role of older sister. Their arguments never lasted very long and they always managed to come up with a compromise that ensured they were both together instead, but this was not one of those situations where it would be possible.