Merullyra Flintwater - A Pippin Took love story

The diamond and the beast - chapter 3

There was an eyrie green glow within the cave itself and it reflected off pools of water with made dripping sounds as water fell from the stalactites above. With each step further into the cave pippin grew a bit more wary. Ra however, took the exploring in her stride as she ducked under and leapt over rocks lined with old skeletons. But she soon stopped when she came to a cavern. Many large animal carcases were decomposing all over the floor, some quite fresh. Pippin crept up behind her and then tapped her on the shoulder making Ra jump out of her skin. Relieved to see it was pippin she gently hit him and they began to laugh, until pippin noticed the mess on the floor in front of them. Then it was quiet as Ra and pippin began to look around. Ra saw another pool of water hidden in a small indent on the cave floor. It didn’t look to deep so she put her hand in to touch the bottom. However, the puddle was deeper than she thought, the ‘floor’ that she had seen was just the reflection off the ceiling. She carried on reaching into the pool until she felt a rock; it was as cold as the snow that lay on the mountains of Moria. Her hand felt along the bottom, she then felt something come in contact with her fingertips. She closed her fist around it and pulled her hand from the pool. She unwrapped her fingers. In the palm of her hand lay a small diamond in the shape of a tear that was strung from a thin silver chain. She held the chain between her thumb and forefinger and let the diamond spin around, causing multi-coloured shards of light to leave its surface.  Suddenly there was a huge rumbling noise, Ra stuffed it into her pocket, and in a second pippin had run straight back to Ra and managed to jump into her arms. She looked quite shocked at him and the fact she could hold his weight, but then her arms began to shake and they both fell to the ground. They got to their feet quickly and didn’t make sudden movements. Ra looked across at pippin, who was looking back around in all directions as she whispered, ‘what in Gandalf’s name was that?’ Pippin shrugged at her and looked over his shoulder.  Without warning Ra grabbed pippin by the shoulders and pushed him behind a rock, then she snuck down beside him. ‘What are we-‘, he started but Ra shushed him before pointing at a shadow that had cast itself up the wall of the cave. Then out of a gaping hole to the right of the cave, a stone was kicked out of the shadows and rolled along the floor. It stopped just in front of where pippin and ra were hiding. There was a growling noise that rolled around the cavern as a huge paw thudded the floor, then another. Ra’s eyes widened as the shadowy beast came into view. It was a green in colour, its fur the colour of an old rotting oak tree that had seen better days. It had the face of a cat or lion but where its eyes would be there were empty sockets. Nothing burned in the darkness of them. It’s body was the size of a horses but its stubby, but well built, legs made it shorter. The fur on its body seemed to have formed into scale like mattered lumps and it had a line of long black hair running from its neck to the end of its spindly tail. The creature lifted its head up in the air and took in a deep breath. ‘I hope it doesn’t smell us’ pippin gulped as he leant on the rock. The rock began to move forward slowly but pippin didn’t notice. The creature’s ear twitched, its empty gaze fixed upon the rock. It paced towards them cautiously. Ra placed her hand oh her forehead and sighed. ‘Well done pippin’ she said sarcastically. He scorned at her ‘what?! It wasn’t my fault!’ he protested. Ra hastily put her hand over his mouth ‘Shush you silly bugger, it’s already heading this-‘, she said but stopped when she realised they were no longer alone. The creature was stood with its front paws on the rock peering over at them. It opened its gaping mouth to reveal two rows of razor sharp teeth dripping with saliva. ‘Hi there, I’m pippin’ pippin joked but his eye’s writhed with fear. He began to crawl backwards along the floor away from it. ‘nice...thing. good boy, girl, whatever you are’ he attempted to smile as the creature leapt down from the rock and slowly padded towards him. The creature was only a few inches away from pippins face when he heard Ra shout to him ‘Pippin get ready to run!’ and she pelted an old bone at the creatures head. It turned and snarled at her and began to run towards her. Ra turned and ran in the opposite direction from pippin, who was making sure he would see the mouth of the cave again. He ran until he couldn’t breathe, making sure to take a torch with him. When he reached the ladder Ra was hid behind an old stone carving, as far away from the creature as she could, and breathed heavily. She held her breath and without thinking she sprinted to the opposite side of the cavern, un-noticed. The creature walked in circles, constantly looking, scanning the cave. It began to sniff the air again, its fur rustled in a foul smelling breeze that blew in from small cracks in the cave wall. After a few moments It began to slowly walk back to the hole from which it came. Ra saw this as her chance and as quickly as she’d arrived, she disappeared back into the dark tunnel. Pippin was outside panting heavily enjoying the evening breeze. He sat down in the grass for a few minutes while he caught his breath. He looked down at the blue water that ran past him down the mountain, thinking about clenching his thirst, but thought otherwise when he remembered what it really was. Then Pippin stood up so quickly he might have fallen over again. He walked up to the hole and shouted in cautiously. ‘Ra? Ra are you ok? Ra?!’ he began to panic on the spot. He paced up and down for a few seconds and then decided to go back in. But before he did he shouted into the cave again, ‘Ra? I’m coming to find you Ra don’t worry’ he took one step and felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun round as quickly as possible to be met with a familiar face. Ra was stood with her hands on her hips smirking at him. ‘you miss me?’ she laughed at his embarrassment. Pippin looked at her with his red cheeks ‘I got kinda worried! Don’t blame me, how did you get out anyway?’ he murmured. They began to walk, ‘Well I couldn’t see where I was going for the majority of the time so I ended up missing the ladder, but I found another tunnel that surfaces behind that big rock over there’ she gestures to a huge lump of rock that protruded out of the hill side. ‘im just glad you’re ok, didn’t want you getting eaten’ pippin joked. Ra took pity on him when she knew she’d given him quite a fright and suddenly thought of an idea to help them both calm down after today’s adventure. ‘fancy going for a drink?’ she smiled at pippins reaction. 'i know a great place! Me and Merry go all the time. it's called the green dragon!' he smiled. Ra looked at him, her heart dropping, 'is merry your lass?' she asked sadly. Pippin burst into fits of laughter, Ra didn't see what was funny though. 'what?' she asked a hysterical pippin. 'Merry's my best friend! He is my best friend!' pippin laughed harder as Ra rubbed her head with her hand. 'dear god, i am a bit dopey arent I? she laughed at her own mistake as they carried on walking.